Page 6 of How to Rescue Your Surprise Baby

“Yeah,” Samantha said. “Look, they took her while I was in Utah—”

“That’s where I am right now.” Telos pinched the bridge of his nose. “Those might be the same kidnappers we’re hunting down, actually.”

There was a pause. “So you’ll rescue her immediately, right?”

“I’m on it,” Telos said. Because he didn’t feel like explaining the whole side mission of having a spell cast on him first. “I don’t even know what she looks like. Or what her name is.”

For all he knew, the kidnappers had a room full of babies with no parents. How was he going to pick out his own child? Who thought kidnapping a baby was a good idea when they needed to be fed all the time?

Fuck, he was a dad.

Fucking hell.

“Her name is Estie. Short for Estella,” Samantha said like Telos’ world wasn’t rearranging itself. “She has red hair, but she’s been changing its length and color. Along with random body parts. That isn’t from me.”

Telos tried to imagine what Estie looked like, but he still couldn’t. “That’s from my end. What color are her eyes?”

“Blue. Snub nose, and a mole on her left foot.”

“How did they take her from you?”

Samantha sighed. “I left her stroller next to me at the donut stand. I didn’t even see them coming. One moment, she was there. The next moment, some guys had grabbed the stroller and run off. They were too fast for me to chase down.”

Telos was starting to get a headache. “Shapeshifters are a dime a dozen. No one wants a shapeshifter kid... Unless she’s a mixed breed.”

Samantha cursed. “Yeah. She’s a firewalker, too.”

“Damn it. I don’t have any fireproof clothing on me. How am I going to get her out of there?”

“Mine are fireproof,” Mav said, joining the conversation for the first time. “We’ll get Uriel to spell a few so you can bring them along.”

“Fine,” Telos said, turning away. He wasn’t sure he wanted to share this sudden, overwhelming news with Mav, who would probably mock him for it. “How old is Estie?”

“Almost seven months,” Samantha said. “You’ll like her. She doesn’t cry a lot.”

Great. So now their mission involved rescuing at least six babies, and four adults. Telos sighed and rubbed his temples. “Is there anything else I should know?”

“I think Estie’s kidnappers were watching us for a while,” Samantha said in a hushed voice. “She doesn’t do the fire thing often, so there was no way for them to know unless they’d observed her for several hours.”

“So we’re dealing with creepers, on top of kidnappers. Wonderful.” Telos breathed out. “Thanks for calling me. I’ll take over from here.”

“Thanks,” Samantha said, sounding relieved. “Call if you have more questions.”

“I will. Watch your back, Sam. There’s a ton of bad guys out there.”

“Will do. Good luck, and keep me posted.”

The call ended. Telos stared at his phone, trying to process everything.

“Want some pie?” Mav asked.

Telos turned, expecting Mav to throw the pie at his face. But the other alpha remained seated on Telos’ bed, Telos’ pot pie half-eaten in his hand.

Occasionally, Mav was nice to him. Telos hated it because it reminded him of what he couldn’t have.

They were both alphas. Alphas didn’t get together with each other; they gravitated toward smaller partners, people they needed to protect. Telos didn’t need anyone’s protection. Hedidn’t like submitting, and he didn’t like other alphas. Until Mav.

For some reason, Mav had gotten under his skin. Mav parried his insults with insults, and he was a bit of an asshole, just like Telos.

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