I woke up to the sounds of laughter filtering up from the lawn where we’d had our wedding reception. Pulling free of Brick’s hold, I blinked sleep out of my eyes and scooted off the bed. I padded over to the window and flicked the curtain aside to see what was going on.

“You’re lucky Mama Vee doesn’t see you there, angel, or she’d go on and on about you standing naked by an open curtain when there are innocent children around… and a less-than-innocent guest.”

I looked over my shoulder with a grin. Brick was leaning on his elbow, watching me affectionately from the bed. He had the sexiest bedhead I’d ever seen, his hair pushed in all directions, the silver strands in it glinting in the sunlight.

I shook my head, still grinning. “Go back to sleep, Daddy. I can deal with this one.”

Brick didn’t listen. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Deal with what, angel? Is something happening outside?”

I nodded, only then remembering that he couldn’t hear the conversation down there like I could. “My brothers and cousins are down there, laughing and making fun of your friends.”

“What?” He stood and stalked over to the window without a second thought, still naked. Silly alphas and their double standards. “Why are they laughing at my friends? And why the fuck are they all passed out on the damned ground, anyway?”

With a sigh, I explained, “My family are all laughing because your group couldn’t handle their moonshine. That’s why they’re passed out on the lawn like that. But if they wake up and find my dumbass relatives laughing at them…”

“…There’s going to be problems,” Brick finished for me with an irritated sigh. “Alright, angel. Let’s get dressed and go deal with everyone before shit starts hitting the fan, as Mama Vee likes to say.”

I perched on my tiptoes, resting my palms on his hard chest while I stretched my neck for a kiss. Brick was only too happy to oblige, then he swatted my sore butt with a wink.

“No teasing me, boy. Get dressed before we get distracted and all hell breaks loose down there.”

By the time we were dressed and making our way outside, more unicorns had gathered around the passed-out dragon warriors… and with them, the warrior’s mates.

“I caint b’lieve them big’uns caint handle the shine,” my cousin Clinton said as we approached.

Sam stood there bouncing a baby on his shoulder, glaring at Clinton. “You have a lot of nerve to stand there and make fun of these men. They’ve opened our home to you, and Sana over there healed you on the day you arrived and got shot in the leg. When we get right down to it… who the hell knows what you even put into that moonshine! It was irresponsible of you all to let them get inebriated to this point. And to have the gall to laugh at them now?”

“Hey, now. Ain’t nobody made ‘em drink it. And we ain’t no babysitters, neither,” my brother Leroy said as he sidled up beside Clint.

“… And ‘sides that, ain’t nothin’ funnier than a drunk dragon. You shoulda seen ‘em, Sam.”

Before anyone else could get a say, I spoke up. “Shut up, you nitwits. You know damned well that nobody can handle our special shine the first time around. And Sam’s right—someone should have been keeping an eye on them to make sure they didn’t drink more than they should’ve. I mean, really. What the hell were y’all thinking?”

“Settle down, Natty. Yer brothers is jes havin’ fun,” Mama Vee said as she came walking up to join us with Pappy at her heels. “Them big-ass men shoulda been able ta handle it better’n they did, that’s a fact.”

“Hey now, Vee. I don’t think I care for your tone,” Nana said as she stepped over to put her arm around her grandson’s waist. Sam patted her on the shoulder.

“It’s okay, Nana. She wasn’t talking to me.”

Nana shook her head. “Uh-uh. Nope. Blaze is my grandson, too, and through him, all the rest of these fine men. I don’t like everyone standing here gawking at them like this when they were clearly slipped a mickey of some sort.”

Mama Vee walked over and glared at her friend. I bit my lip and took a step back. This could go south fast. “Gertie, I know you think of them boys as yer kin, but damn it all, they’s grown-ass men! Ain’t none of mine gonna slip ‘em a mickey. They jes drank too much, and ya know it.”

Before any of us knew what was happening, Nana and Mama Vee were locked in a screaming match… at least, until Mama Vee grabbed for Nana’s hair.

Once that happened, the screaming grew louder, and they dropped to the ground and started rolling around, claws metaphorically out, like angry cats with a bone to pick with one another.

I sucked in a breath and shook my head, trying to ignore the high-pitched ringing in my ears from their screaming. I wasn’t all that shocked to see what was going on—in my family, crazy was normal—but by the looks on the faces of the non-unicorns around me, it looked like not everyone was prepared for such a spectacle.

I was just glad that Nana hadn’t actually taken her claws out, or Mama Vee might have been inclined to take out her horn, and that would have gotten messy fast.

I stepped around Brick and turned the water spigot on the side of the house to the maximum pressure, then grabbed the hose. I aimed it right at the two women and pulled the trigger on the nozzle, spraying them both with cold water.

I would have pulled it back after that, but the water took on a life of its own. It was as if it were being sucked into the air around us and transformed into rain… rain that fell on everyone but me, Brick, and Sam, who was holding a baby.

Even after I’d released the trigger on the hose handle, the water still kept falling, and somehow, the rain got heavier. I dropped the hose in dismay, and moved to turn off the spigot. As I turned, I noticed an intense look on Brick’s face, and realized that he was the one controlling the water.

Ah, yes. He’d told me that he could control natural elements, but I hadn’t thought he could do something like that. It was fascinating to see his gift in action, even if all our friends and family were getting soaked by ice-cold water.

Mama Vee and Nana had stopped fighting and had started laughing like crazy instead, kneeling there in the grass hugging each other and apologizing.

Sam stepped back closer to the house, shielding his child against his chest and mumbling something about foolhardy idiots, crazy old ladies, and influenza.

The rain stopped when everyone had cooled down, and it didn’t take me long to realize why Brick had done what he’d done—three drenched dragon warriors stirred and began to sit up, each of them a different degree of dazed.

Blaze looked at Brick with a narrow-eyed glare. “Did you really just conjure rain to wake us up? Not okay, you fucker. That shit was cold.”

Brick snorted. “And it was okay for you to be passed out on the lawn like a drunken sot? Come on, man—you’re making our kind look bad in front of the unicorns. They think you can’t handle their moonshine.”

Sana groaned and climbed to his feet. “I’m man enough to admit that I can’t. That shit is making my head pound worse than that time we fought the minotaur… and even with my healing powers, I couldn’t shake that for three days.”

Sana reached a hand out for Cory, who seemed equally as groggy. “Come on, Cory. Let’s go inside and get dried off. I’ll get our heads fixed as best as I can in a few minutes… as soon as I can shake my own pain well enough that I can focus.”

“Mama Vee, what the hell did you guys put in that ‘shine?” Blaze asked as he stumbled to his feet.

“Oh, a bit of this an’ a dash of that, don’t worry. Y’all will be right as rain soon enough.” Mama giggled.

“Hooligans!” Sam snorted at his nana. “I can’t believe the two of you were rolling around pulling each other’s hair and fighting like a pair of kids in a schoolyard. And in front of Sophia, too! What were you thinking, Nana?”

Nana took one look at Mama and they both started laughing so loudly I had to put my hands over my ears. I turned to look at Brick. “Can we go back inside now? I swear, my ears are going to start bleeding if I have to hear any more of this shit.”

Brick reached out and lifted me up like he loved to do, cradling me against his chest like I was his precious treasure as he headed back into the house. Sam followed us in, muttering about crazy old ladies and rowdy unicorns.

I was just starting to enjoy the blissful quiet when Sam leaned back out through the screen door and yelled at his nana again. “You should be ashamed of yourselves! I mean it, Nana. You guys need to stay out there and think about what you’ve done!”

I winced at the decibel level of his voice while Brick chuckled softly. “Sorry, angel. Let’s get you to the breakfast table, and I’ll dash upstairs and grab you some earplugs. Around here, it seems like you’ll need to remember to wear those suckers.”

I merely sighed and nodded sadly. What could I say? He made an excellent point.