Page 40 of Cosmo

“Adult hot chocolate,” Cullen said into the void. “That’s appropriate for this time of the morning. I’ll spike it with that vanilla vodka.”

“Yum.” He blinked, trying to push aside some of the adrenaline and the worry and the—the rage. Which had come out of nowhere.

Love, are you well?Hawk seemed to be tapped into his moods, just like his brothers would be.

I don’t know. Cullen is making hot chocolate.

I’ll be down in a moment. Can you warn your brothers?

Of course. “Hawk is on his way down.”

“I’ll make pancakes.” Corbin ruffled his hair. “It’s going to be okay, bro. I promise.”

“How?”

“I dunno. It’s a mystery.”

“Okay, yeah.” He chuckled. Corbin loved to paraphrase his favorite movies when he was stressed. “But maple syrup will help.”

“Maple syrup is proof that there is a greater power, and that she loves us,” Cosmo admitted. “I’m sorry, guys.”

He shrugged, pulling into himself. He wasn’t sure what the hell was going on inside of him, but there were all of these horrible feelings that just wouldn’t stop, wouldn’t cease their endless bubbling and colliding. It was ridiculous.

I’m afraid that’s partially me. Rosie. Hawk’s voice was a gentle touch, but so different than his brothers’, so much bigger.

Your fault?

I’ve been around a very long time. And I can be moody.

Well, are you moody now? I mean, are you unhappy?

No. I’ve been waiting for you for millennia. How could I be unhappy? I have my mate.

Cosmo had to smile because honestly all he did feel from Hawk’s mental voice was happiness. Hawk didn’t regret being stuck here, at least not yet. In fact, he was happy to have Cosmo.

Still, someone should have told him about the whole Guardian thing. Someone should have warned them.

“I don’t think that anyone knew,” Corbin said, answering his unspoken worries. “I still don’t understand about this whole warning thing. I know that I’m slow, but can you explain?”

Hawk came rolling in wearing a pair of bright yellow pants that looked like bananas, along with a purple velvet smoking jacket.

Interesting sartorial choices. Cosmo liked it.

“Let me see if I can explain,” Hawk said. “Over the millennia—as far as I know, and I would assume as far as most anyone knows—when the veil opens, there has always been a set of triplets who were the product of two magical species. They’ve guarded the connection between the worlds, allowing the very few stragglers in and out as it needed to happen. And protecting these separate spaces from one another. It seems like that you three got the job.”

“Well, that’s not too bad, is it?” Cullen asked. “I mean, we like this house. We like each other. Hawk’s okay. We get to go all over. Where’s the bad?”

“Well, the bad is they didn’t?—”

The vision took him in a rush, and suddenly, all he could see were oceans of blood. The entire world turned red and sticky. The smell of copper everywhere and flashing teeth and ruby eyes and anger. Just this awful, empty, mindless anger.

No, no, that wasn’t anger.

It was hunger.

Cosmo knew someone was talking to him, but he really couldn’t hear what was going on. All he could do was let the vision have him until it was done. He hoped that whatever he was seeing was just a product of his dour mood about being a guardian, but he didn’t think so.

These waves of prescience happened, and then, sooner or later, something came along to prove that his talent really was seeing what was going to happen in the future. Cosmo really wished he had a better talent, something that wasn’t going make him utterly insane one of these days.

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