I rolled my eyes at Cory’s knowing laugh as I took off in a jog after my mate. That boy was going to be the death of me if he didn’t soon learn to wait. Once Orris was out of the scene, I’d try to relax, but right now? Especially after we’d just rescued him? What the hell was he thinking?

I caught up with my angel boy at the foot of the stairs. Rather than argue, I scooped him up and carried him outside, ignoring Cory chuckling behind me.

Sam was mumbling to himself about how the RVs shouldn’t have been able to break through his force field, and Emery was fussing at him and telling him to give it a break—just another day in our happy home.

The front door was wide open, and I saw Blaze, Sana, and Peter standing on the porch in protective stances.

“Put me down,” Nathan squeaked. “Trust me, it’s for the best that they see me first, standing of my own free will.”

He was wiggling around like a greased hog, so I finally set him down. “Promise that you’ll stay at my side,” I said. “I’ll need your word until I meet these—wait, you never did tell me what lineage your family has, did you?”

I searched for answers on his face, but before he could answer, the sound of at least a dozen people screaming like banshees hit my ears. Nathan covered both ears as though he were in physical pain, but he resolutely walked to the door.

“Come on, then,” he said. “If you want to be at my side, we’ve got to go. If they’ve broken out the rebel yells, this isn’t going to be pretty. I need to shut it down fast.”

As we stepped onto the porch, I caught my mate by the wrist and asked again, “Nathan, what kind of creatures are the members of your family?”

Nathan sighed and answered, “You’ll never believe this, but they’re actually—”

He was cut off as I stepped out and smelled it… the aroma that only came from—

“FUCKING UNICORNS?” Blaze shouted in dismay.

Sana looked like he was going to be ill, while Peter just looked confused. Seriously, could he not smell the foul stench?

Everything happened in a blur after that.

“By the gods, I thought they were gone,” Cory whispered under his breath behind me. Sam tried to push by to get a better look, and Emery was giggling like crazy, but trying his best to hold it back. The tiny snorts he made were beyond adorable. I’d heard them before from the tiny Princess Cora, and now I knew where she’d gotten it from.

“Where are you bastards keepin’ my boy?”

I looked over to see a tiny woman with a hairdo that accounted for at least a third of her height. She was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt, just like the men who followed behind her. Unlike them, she had her face painted in bright colors like the clown painting that Emery had hung in Princess Cora’s room.

Strange-looking men in floppy hats and baggy clothes were all lining up behind the tiny woman and staring at us silently, as if taking stock for battle. Rolled tobacco cigarettes—homemade—hung from their lips.

Behind them was a fleet of what could loosely be called vehicles. Large, mammoth-sized boxy things held together in places with strips of silver tape and pieces of wire.

Our gate lay smashed to smithereens to the side of the frontmost vehicle, and the rest of them were parked behind it all the way down our long driveway and onto the road.

“How did you break through my force field?” Sam demanded. He walked right over to the bizarre group on the lawn, unafraid. “I need to know this—it’s important. You never should have been able to break down that gate. This is a serious security breach.”

When Blaze went to grab him and hold him back, one of the unicorn fucks stepped forward and racked a shotgun, pointing it right at Blaze’s heart. “How many omegas are you spineless shits holding hostage here? We’re here ta free ‘em all.”

The man turned and spat on our grass. Dammit. There went the lawn. Spit like that had to be caustic—I’d bet my life on it.

The woman pulled out a handgun—I knew what it was because Blaze and Cory had spent time educating us, thank heavens. She shot it up into the air, and while the rest of us pulled back in terror, the stupid unicorns just stood there as if what went up wouldn’t come down again.

“I’ll ask ya again. Where’s my son?”

“Enough!” Nathan shouted, pushing out of my grasp as he stalked down the stairs, looking every bit the proud mate of a dragon warrior. “Mama Vee! This isn’t how you go visiting! Manners, Mama. Remember? Now listen, these men weren’t the ones that took me, they rescued me! So y’all need to back off.”

The loud little woman tossed the gun down on the ground and threw herself into my mate’s arms, wrapping herself around him like a tree monkey. She was laughing, crying, and praising some unknown deity, while the others swarmed around them with big grins.

Some of the men threw their hats up in the air, while a few of them hooked their arms together and began dancing a jig—likely some vile unicorn celebration custom.

After a few whirls, one of the dancers suddenly dropped to his knees with a startled yelp, holding his leg. Blood spurted out from between his fingers.

Yep. Stupid unicorns should’ve ducked.

Blaze leaned over and snickered. “I sure hope you enjoyed your night, Daddy. Cuz there’s no way that your boy over there isn’t gonna stink like a dead skunk after that mob gets done rubbing on him. It’s gonna be weeks before he gets the stench off.”

I glowered at my friend, no matter how right he was, and stalked off the porch to stand near my mate while Sana heaved a heavy sigh and headed toward the bleeding dancer. The loud woman was the first to notice my approach.

“Natty boy, you wanna tell me who this tall drink of water is what’s wearin’ yer bite mark on that nice, big hunka manchester standin’ there?”

Nathan groaned. “Mama Vee, remember my ears? Can we talk in a normal, human decibel, please?”

Regardless of his plea, he turned and reached for my hand, a bright smile spreading his lips. “Mama Vee, I found him—the one who shares my heartsong. This is Brick, and Brick, this is Mama Vee.”

The woman let out another high-pitched squeal that had Nathan wincing right before she launched herself at me. “Woo-eee! Get in here and give yer Mama Vee some sugar, honey. We’s kinfolk now!”

Before I could process what was happening, the woman had wrapped her arms around my waist in a fierce hug. I heard my so-called friends busting their guts behind me, but all it took was one look at my angel boy’s anxious face for me to forget all about what they might think. I bent down and hugged her back tightly. Oh well. Maybe modern-day soap would be able to dispel unicorn stench.

After an overly long hug, Mama Vee turned and put two fingers to her lips. Nathaniel obviously knew what was coming, because he immediately plugged his ears right as Mama Vee let out an ear-piercing whistle, then began to yell.

“Get on out here, y’all! Our Natty boy is safe and sound, and this here’s his man! Come on out and let’s get ta know our new in-laws! And no bein’ rude to the hoity-toity dragons; for all we know, they might be nice as pie just like our sweet li’l Natty.”

She took off in the direction of the man that Sana was currently—oh, hell. He was healing the cur. And he had the man’s unicorn-tainted finger in his mouth! He’d tasted… oh, gods… I couldn’t even think about it. I blocked that out for the moment, deciding I’d owe Sana an eternal debt of gratitude for that one.

Nathan turned and wrapped his arms around my waist, whispering “I’m sorry” over and over into my chest. I just rubbed his back and tried to soothe him. Poor kid. He couldn’t help it that the only ones who were kind enough to take him in were a rowdy bunch of fucking unicorns.

And that was what I needed to remember—these people had been there for my angel when nobody else was. That’s all that mattered, stench notwithstanding.

The doors of the boxy vehicles began opening all at once, and a pungent cloud of unicorn stench filled the air when people begin spilling out of them. More men, women, and dozens of children of varying ages began pouring out and surrounding us.

Holy fuck. We were under siege.

As if reading my mind, Nathan looked up at me with a wistful smile. “I warned you it was bad.”

“Don’t worry, Nate,” Cory said kindly as he stepped up beside me. He wore a pinched smile of welcome for the intruders. “If these people are your family, then they shall be welcomed. They, ahh… won’t need us to fit them into the manor, will they?”

Emery was red-faced from laughter as he joined us. “Don’t be silly, babe. They’ll just need a place to park their rigs, and either hook up to our sewage, or dig a hole to drain their black-water tanks. Although we should probably let them hook up to power and water—it’s only neighborly. Plus, they’ll be able to cook and have running water.”

Cory and I looked at each other blankly. Cory asked first. “Rigs? And, are you suggesting they live in those metal boxes?”

I added my own question. “And what is black water? I’ve never heard of that.”

Sam wandered over and answered both questions in one. “Of course, they live in them, and black water is where the shit from their toilets is stored. They’ll need a sanitary place to drain it or things will get smelly around here.”

Cory and I shared a look. Will get smelly? Could these modern-day draconians really not smell the unicorns natural stench? Emery snuggled under Cory’s arm and looked up at him with a bright smile.

“Good news! I texted Mom when the unicorns got here, and she and Nana are on the way with all the kids. They can’t wait to meet real live unicorns. We’re hoping they’ll shift for us—I’d love to get a picture of Cora on one. Wait. Nate, is that rude to ask?”

“Hell, darlin’! Any one of my boys would be proud to shift and take any youngins y’all got out fer a ride and a picture. What’s family for?”

Cory bit back a groan at Mama Vee’s words as she joined our group again. I absently stroked Nathan’s curls while Mama Vee rattled on about how that kindly dragon feller had healed Clinton up good as new.

Nathan settled against me, and his happiness made its way to me through our heartsong. If having his family here would make him this happy, I would put up with any noxious odors.

“Alrighty, then. Whilst the alpha menfolk get us all parked and set up for a nice long stay, why don’t y’all start talkin’ to yer Mama Vee about who took ya, and what we gotta do ta put a bullet in their head. Ain’t nobody takes a son of mine like that and walks away scot-free—ain’t gonna happen. Now spill, baby boy. Yer Mama Vee’s gotta get ta target practicin’ afore the sun sets.”