Hauk closed his eyes and buried his hand in her soft blond hair. His entire body craved her now. So much so that it was hard to not scoop her up in his arms and carry her back to their bedroom. He couldn’t wait to get everyone out of his house so that he’d have unrestricted time with his brave little mouse.

“Is it just me,” Caillen said. “Or does Hauk’s hulking ass make her look so tiny that it’s a wonder he doesn’t snap her in half?”

With an irritable growl, Hauk pulled back to glare at him. In fact, everyone was glaring at him.

“What?” he asked innocently. “Like the rest of you weren’t thinking the same thing. He’s huge. She’s not.”

Syn yanked the muffin out of Caillen’s hands. “Case it’s escaped your notice, fat ass. You and Desideria have a larger height and weight ratio differential than Hauk and Sumi.”

“Hell no, we don’t… do we?”

“Yes, sweetie,” Desideria said with a laugh as she adjusted her slumbering daughter in her lap. “I know you’re nowhere near as tall as Hauk, but you’re well over a foot taller than me and he’s only a few inches taller than Sumi… and if you say anything about my weight, you’ll be sleeping at one of your sisters’ homes from now until the Qillaq moons explode.”

Caillen rolled his eyes. “What is it with women and their weight? Gah! You’re pregnant, Ria. You’re not supposed to fit into your pre-pregnancy pants right now. Not that I care, one way or the other… Woman, you are perfect in my eyes. I married a sexy, hot warrior, not a number on a scale. Or this mutant life form you’re convinced inhabits your body until you put on your makeup. How many times do I have to say it before you actually believe me?”

Desideria passed a satisfied smirk to Shahara. “You asked me why I love your brother? That’s a biggie right there. You trained him right.”

Caillen grinned, then belched.

Groaning, Shahara rolled her eyes before she gave Desideria a long, hard stare. “You were saying?”

“He’s a work in progress.” Desideria handed her daughter to Caillen. “Try not to teach her any bad habits over the next hour.” She got up. “And speaking of training, we have serious work to do to get Sumi ready for her match.”

Shahara handed Devyn to Syn. “I’m not even going to say don’t do it. I already know better. I don’t know what’s worse. What Devyn learns from you or from Vik.”

Vik snorted. “I’m not the one who sits on the couch and scratches his —”

“Vik!” Syn snapped. “You know Eleron wants to feed you to the garbage disposal, right? You keep that up and I’ll green-light her.”