Page 7 of Kodiak's Heart

“Where’s Malachi?” Laramie asked, turning back to Emersyn.

“Daddy go away. Wuby ‘tect Mama Em. Daddy ‘tects Daddy.”

“He didn’t say where he was going,” Emersyn offered softly. “Only that he’d found a string to pull and needed me to bring Ruby here.”

“Needed you both here, right Ruby?”

“I ‘tect Mama,” Ruby agreed, giving a little growl at the end.

“Laramie—” Emersyn began, but he cut her off.

“We’ll talk at the house. Why don’t you drive up and park in front while Ruby and I walk? That sound good, Ruby?”

“I yike to walk,” Ruby agreed as she wiggled to get down. Once on her feet, she bounced before holding one foot up to show off her footwear. “I yike my boots. Pweety pink boots.”

Laramie nodded. “Very nice boots.”

“Pweety,” Ruby corrected.

“Pretty,” Laramie agreed.

Ruby held her hand up, and Emersyn almost laughed as Laramie held his out to the little girl. Ruby wrapped her fingers around his pinky before leading him back the way he must have come from. They’d gone a few feet before Emersyn remembered she was supposed to be driving up to the house. She wondered what he’d meant by a surprise or two. He hadn’t finished saying what it was, but a sense of foreboding filled Emersyn’s belly as if a thousand butterflies had taken flight.

She hurried to the SUV and caught up with them. Laramie finally led Ruby to the side of the road so Emersyn could pass. She hurriedly pulled in front of the house, turned the engine off and dodged out, leaving the keys in the ignition as she went to hurry back to them. Until a man stepped out in front of her. It was easy to tell from his resemblance to Laramie that he must be one of the other Holloway brothers Malachi had told her of.

“Whoa, there.” He stepped right into her path, blocking her way to Ruby. There wasn’t a lot she could do without giving herself away. She’d hidden what she was her whole life. No one knew she was a bear shifter. Her mother had created the pheromone blocker pills Emersyn took daily. Her father had been adamant no one know she carried a Kodiak inside. So, she’d been hidden, thought to be human as it was assumed her mother had been.

“I’d like to join your brother and my daughter, please,” Emersyn said instead, trying to dodge around him. This time, a woman blocked her path.

“You smell like Malachi.” A growl rumbled as familiar green eyes took her measure.

“I… What… Who…” Emersyn shook her head in shock.

“Where’s my brother?” the woman demanded, hands fisting at her sides as her stance widened.

“You’re dead. We were told you were all killed. I… He has no idea you’re alive.” She recalled everything Malachi had told her about his sisters. “You’re one of the twins. Sidia? Or Jaeda?”

“Sidia,” the man answered. “My mate.”

Emersyn couldn’t contain the emotions spilling through her. Malachi was her best friend, stepping into the empty space left behind when they’d both lost her cousin. There’d never been anything romantic, never could be. She loved him like a brother, and he’d taken her as another sister. God, he’d be so ecstatic to learn one of his siblings still survived. She stepped into Sidia and pulled the shorter woman close for a hard hug. Tears spilled from her eyes, but she didn’t care.

“I… You don’t know what this will mean to Malachi. He thought he’d lost everyone. Except Ruby.”

“Who’s Ruby?” Sidia asked, pushing back from the hug.

A small form came hurdling at them, knocking into Sidia and almost sending her to the ground if not for the quick hands of her mate. Ruby stood in front of Emersyn growling, her small body vibrating with the rumbles coming from her throat.

“Hey, baby bear,” Emersyn said, squatting down beside her. “What’s wrong?”

“She make you cwy,” Ruby yelled and bared her teeth at Sidia.

“Oh, my God,” Sidia whispered as her gaze bounced between Ruby and Emersyn.

“Good tears,” Emersyn vowed to Ruby. “Happy ones.”

“Happy?” Ruby asked.

Emersyn nodded. “Remember how Daddy said he’d lost his family in the attacks?”

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