In the Arms of the Beast (Kings of Hell MC 5)

“What is the meaning of this? I came the moment I found out,” Magpie said, as if an intruder had any right to demand answers. “I hear the two of you split up. My child will not be growing up in a broken home!”

Beast’s confusion turned into fury. “I told you already, and I will say this again: it’s not your child!”

To Beast’s endless frustration, Laurent slid out of his arms, staring at Magpie like a child caught eating straight out of the cookie jar. “And our private matters are private.”

Magpie wagged a finger at them. “Oh, no no no! You don’t have the right to privacy when this child has literally been inside me! This baby needs stability, not two fathers who can’t decide where they stand with one another!”

Beast accidentally knocked over a chair in his anger. “And how do you even know what happens here, huh?”

Magpie’s back straightened as if he’d just swallowed a broom. “I have reliable sources within this house.”

Great. Just great.

Beast snarled. “This is none of your business. And since you just walk in here as if the place belongs to you, you should know that we were about to make up, and you fucking ruined it!”

Laurent cleared his throat and clasped his fingers at the front of his body. “It’s a delicate matter,” he mumbled. “Beast isn’t sure how he feels about fatherhood, so I’m making other arrangements.”

The bubble burst. Laurent wanted to discuss their problems in front of a stranger? Fine. “You should have asked me about this a long time ago. But now that we are knee-deep in this mess, I’m going to help save the world, and you’re going to sit at home and keep the egg safe, not run off to town and carry it around like it was made of chocolate!”

Laurent’s face went beet red. “Mess? You’re calling our baby a mess? Did you hear him?” He pointed to Beast. “This is exactly what I’m talking about! Everything is a problem to you. I’m not a pet! I look through books that could help us every day, but you’re the big man because you’re out there ripping branches off trees with your bare hands?”

Beast snarled. “I just think you should focus on the kid and keeping him safe, since you wanted him so much. I don’t know how that’s a difficult concept.”

“I can have a job and take care of Marcel. Lots of people are single parents nowadays. I won’t leave him because of hardship. I used to work from dusk ‘til dawn, and this is nothing in comparison. I can even help with what needs to be done right now with the trees, because I can multi-task.”

Words like that sounded alien in Laurent’s mouth. Every time. Every single time.

“I already told you. You are not a single parent. I am taking on this responsibility—”

Laurent scowled. “Oh, poor you, having to take on this chore. This burden.”

Beast had no idea why Laurent had to be so vicious about it, so relentlessly hurtful.

Magpie grabbed his head. “This is hopeless. What have I done?”

It took all of Beast’s willpower not to punch the bastard in the face, so he swung his arm and sent a glass pitcher against the wall instead. “You gave him an egg, and now he cares about it more than about me.”

Magpie’s eyes went wide, and Beast had never seen him so lost. So human.

Laurent shook his head. “It’s not ‘an egg’! He’s your son, and his name is Marcel. This isn’t an either-or situation.”

“Isn’t it? Because you haven’t even seen his face, and you’re ready to throw away everything we have for him. He’s stolen you away from me!”

“I am not a thing to be stolen!”

Magpie raised his arms. “How about we all take a deep breath and—”

“No,” Laurent said. “I would like for the two of you to leave.”

Beast had to fight the stinging in his eyes. “I hope you’re fucking happy,” he snapped at Magpie, before turning on his heel and storming down the corridor with muscles so tense he could feel them applying unpleasant pressure to his bones.

He walked blindly, with blood pulsing in his head like a war drum, so it took him a while to hear the steps following him. He turned around ready to smack someone.

Magpie. Of course. Beast still tasted Laurent on his lips, and he could have had his sweet husband in his arms right now, but no. This fucker had to burst in uninvited.

“What?” he snapped, keeping his fists in check only because Magpie was some kind of demonic entity, after all.

Magpie straightened his back. “If you and Laurent are having such a hard time, I could take Marcel and Laurent to New York so that the child hatches in comfort.”

Beast had Magpie backed against the wall, hand on his throat, before he could even think through the proposition. “Hands off my man and my son! They’re not going anywhere.”