Hauk scowled at the comment and question as if replaying their exchange in his head while Darling burst into laughter.

“Damn, Nyk… my wife’s not that pregnant.” Darling’s tone was filled with utter indignation.

Maris scoffed. “Oh please, honey. Zarya’s so pregnant, one good sneeze could launch your son into this world in a matter of seconds.”

Darling gave him a droll stare, but he knew it was true. Due any minute now, the poor girl was almost as huge as a shuttle craft.

And crankier than a Gondarion were-beast.

Moving closer to Hauk, Nykyrian looked back and forth between them. “And neither of you has answered my question. What had the two of you shouting lewd come-ons at each other?”

Now it was Maris’s turn to burst into laughter, as a smile toyed at the edges of Nykyrian’s lips.

With a nonchalance Maris knew he didn’t feel, Darling crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s something truly horrific, Nyk. We’re talking the stuff of haunting nightmares…”

Maris arched a brow at that dire statement. Given what each of them had survived, he could only imagine what would make the intrepid Andarion warrior flinch.

Darling jerked his chin toward Hauk. “He’s facing six weeks alone with a creature so terrifying that he’s actually in here begging me for explosive devices that can temporarily maim him so that he won’t have to go near it.”

The gape returned to Nykyrian as he faced Hauk. “Seriously? It’s a child, Hauk, not a rabid animal you’re about to be caged with.”

Hauk scoffed at his nonchalance. “I beg to differ, and need I remind you how you felt the first time you learned you had a half-grown daughter and a baby on the way? As I recall, you weren’t exactly let’s-all-go-to-the-park-and-have-fun, buddy. But six kids later, you’re fine with it all, while I’m sick to my stomach at the prospect. What do you feed them? What if he has to go to the bathroom? Huh? What do I do then?”

Darling rolled his eyes. “Your nephew’s fourteen, Hauk. I promise you, you won’t have to burp him or change his nappies.”

“Oh, how do you know?” Hauk scoffed.

“True, Darling,” Nykyrian said drily. “We still have to change Hauk’s anytime you set off an explosion too close to him.”

Maris and Darling laughed while Hauk glared viciously at Nykyrian. That alone spoke volumes about Nykyrian’s courage.

Anyone else who received such a look from Hauk would run screaming for the door.

Including Maris.

“Go ahead,” Hauk growled. “All of you. Laugh at me. Sure. Why not? But none of you have ever had to survive alone with a child, in the wilderness, for six minutes, never mind six weeks. Endurance is the hardest thing any Andarion goes through. Both the adult and the child.”

Instantly, Nykyrian sobered as if he had sudden clarity over this uncharacteristic outburst. A deep sadness darkened his green eyes before he looked at Darling, then Maris. “Would you two mind giving us the room for a minute?”