At that, Duke growled. He pulled Nat back against his chest, spooning him while Nat spooned Wanda. “Mine. I’ll take care of your needs.”
“You shouldn’t be saying that, right? You’re my boss.”
“And as the boss, I can do whatever I want.” There was a smile in Duke’s voice.
Nat tried to think of a reply. Before he could, Wanda reached over his shoulder and grabbed Duke’s nose.
“Wanda,” Nat squawked.
“Wah ba goo,” she said, stuffing her fingers into Duke’s nostrils.
Duke winced, but he was also grinning. “Hey, kiddo,” Duke said lightly, leaning back. “I don’t think you’ll find anything in there that you want.”
Nat pulled her fingers away before she could do something grosser with them. “Sorry!” He cleaned her hands on the sheets. To Wanda, he said, “EvenIam not going into his nose.”
Wanda scrunched up her face and reached for Duke’s nose again.
“Try a raspberry,” Duke said.
Nat blew a noisy raspberry on Wanda’s belly, and she shrieked with laughter.
“That’s it,” Duke growled. He hooked his chin back over Nat’s shoulder, his eyes crinkling.
For a heartbeat, Nat forgot how to breathe.
“It’s her, isn’t it?” Duke murmured. “When you told me about your ‘friend’ who has a demon child. You wanted to know how to raise this one.”
Nat blushed, caught. “Yeah. Her other dad isn’t in the picture, so I don’t really know what to expect. Before this, she mostly shifted into a raccoon because she saw me doing that.”
Duke hummed and reached for Wanda, huffing when she grabbed his finger. “You’re a little sweetheart, aren’t you, Wanda?”
Wanda gummed on his finger and tried to chew it off. But instead of chiding her, Duke grinned. He lowered himself to Wanda’s level, flashing his eyes white. Wanda flashed her eyes back at him; Nat had to swallow the urge to coo at them both.
“Aside from the glowing eyes and skin color changes, demon children are pretty placid,” Duke continued, still watching Wanda. “They don’t set fire to anything at this age. Unlike the dragonets.”
“Yeah, Ivo was having some trouble with his baby,” Nat said sympathetically. “She kept burning up our things. So we didn’t own much by the time we were kidnapped in Colorado. At least the apartment safehouse is fireproofed. We haven’t had to worry about something catching fire there.”
Duke blinked and turned toward him. “That’s right. You weren’t originally from here. Is there anything you left back there, that you need to retrieve?”
Nat bit his lip. “We had been kidnapped for a while. I don’t think our landlord held on to our things, ‘cuz we sure as Hell didn’t pay rent while we were gone.”
“Did you leave behind anything important?”
Nat’s chest ached, suddenly. “I—Yeah. There were a couple of photo albums. They contained photos of me and my Gran, from back when she was still alive. Gran insisted that my mom and dad take those photos. She—She used to believe in me. She told me that I would grow up and make all my dreams come true. But those albums are probably the first things our landlord threw away. They don’t have any resale value.”
Duke’s arms tightened around him. “I’m sorry to hear all of that. Your parents, your Gran, and the photos.”
Nat sighed, his shoulders hunching. “Yeah, well.”
“Were those small albums, or big ones?”
“Small. Those little booklets that can fit in one hand. Gran took care of me a lot, but my parents didn’t like sticking around to take pictures of us.” Nat sighed heavily. “Damn it. Now I’m sad.”
Duke rumbled. He wrapped himself around Nat, a big heavy weight that made Nat feel so safe. As though nothing out there could hurt him or Wanda. Wanda patted Nat’s cheek, too.
“Are you sure you should be doing this?” Nat asked before he could stop himself. “You’re my boss.”
“And you’re mine to protect.”
