Finn handed off Freya to her mother. "They only like you best because you're the food source."
Arabella settled on the couch, raised up her top and undid her nursing bra. As soon as Freya latched on, she raised her brows at Finn. "My breasts are never going to be the same again. I sure hope they like me best."
He moved to trace Arabella's cheek, but Grayson chose that moment to start crying.
Undoing the belt and scooping up his son, he gently rocked him and murmured, "Now, now, Gray. I know you're hungry, but I need to tell Mummy she's beautiful." Glancing up at Arabella, he took in the sight of his daughter and mate. "Both of my lasses are beautiful."
A blush crept up Arabella's neck. "Finn."
"It's true." Gray's cries died down and he kissed his son's forehead. "And one day you'll help me protect them, Gray."
His son reached for Finn's face and dug his sharp, little bairn nails into his skin. Finn leaned back a fraction. "I know you're just showing me you're ready to protect the family, but try not to hurt your dad, aye?"
He heard Arabella whisper, "You'll help protect the family as well, Freya. As much as dragon males like to think they should be the only ones ensuring our safety, we protect those we love, too. Your Auntie Faye will give you lessons from an early age, I'm sure."
Holding Gray close, Finn bounced in place and met Arabella's gaze again. "Speaking of Faye, Aunt Lorna leaving has caused more of a problem than I'd anticipated." He explained the situations around each of his cousins before continuing, "Do you have any ideas beyond scolding them?"
"You deal with these types of things every day. Why is it so hard with your family? If Tristan were acting like an arsehole, I'd tell him."
Tristan was Arabella's older brother, who lived on Clan Stonefire in Northern England. While not the friendliest of brothers-in-law, there was much Finn admired about the dragonman. "Aye, well, your brother is a special type of male. I think anyone would tell him that."
She raised an eyebrow. "Let's add that to the list of things I need to tell him the next time I speak to him."
He sighed. "Ara…"
"Okay, okay. If it weren't Faye, Fraser, and Fergus, what would you do?"
He didn't hesitate. "Invite each to my office and discuss their problems."
She nodded. "Exactly. So, why not d
o that?"
"Because they're Faye, Fraser, and Fergus. I'm merely their cousin. Aye, they'll listen when it's an emergency situation, but I'm not sure this classifies."
"If the clan starts to doubt your leadership abilities, it does."
Leave it to Arabella to lay out the truth without any sugarcoating.
It was one of the many reasons he loved her.
Declan wiggled in his bouncy seat on the floor, and despite the belt around his middle, he came close to rolling off the side. Finn quickly placed Grayson into the playpen and scooped up his other son. "Learn to walk, Dec, and you won't have to lay down in those blasted things."
Declan merely blew a giant spit bubble.
As he scrunched his eyes and made a funny face, Finn said, "See? Family doesn't find me intimidating." Arabella merely tilted her head and he added, "I can be intimidating. Scary, even."
Arabella burst out laughing and continued to do it for a full minute. Freya even stopped eating in the process and started wailing.
Getting a hold of herself, Arabella murmured apologies to Freya. As soon as their daughter was eating again, Arabella said, "Being scary isn't your way, Finn, and you know it. You're good at roping in others to help you, but not through intimidation."
"Maybe," he grumbled.
She glanced down at Freya, who had finished eating. As she propped their daughter into a sitting position on her leg and gently patted her back, she said, "Daddy doesn't understand how charming he is. I may not admit it often, but it's one of the reasons I allowed him to kiss me at all." She glanced at Finn. "Although if you let that compliment go to your head, so help me, you'll have twin duty for a month, and I'll encourage them to use you as target practice."
"Well, seeing as I'm so charming, I may be able to sweet talk you out of it…" Arabella narrowed her eyes and he chuckled. "I may wait to test out that theory for a later time, though. The doctor should clear you in the next few weeks, and I fully plan to foist off our offspring on my aunt and have you for an entire night to myself."
Freya burped, and Arabella held her out to Finn to exchange babies. As soon as she had Declan nursing, she met his gaze again. "You want sex, you know what you need to do. I'm not having any more children."