Page 150 of Secret Shifters Next Door

“It’s okay. It’s okay. I know you didn’t.”

“I held off. I want you to know. I want you to ask for it. I’m not going to do it without your blessing.”

“I’m getting close, babe. It won’t be long. I’ll be ready soon.”

Steff rolled off and collapsed beside me. “You know,” he said with a smile, “we may not be ready for kids yet, but it sure is fun as hell practicing.”

I burst out laughing, and like a contagion, Steff laughed along with me. We laughed until we cried, until our stomachs ached.As our laughter finally subsided, we cleaned up and pulled the covers up, wrapping ourselves around each other. I rested my head on his chest, and the last thing I thought before drifting to sleep was,am I ready yet?

TWENTY-SIX

STEFF

The baseball camp had finished a few days before, but there’d been a little picnic banquet to end it off. We were on the way home from that, and I could tell Aiden was a little down about it being over. I was beyond thrilled that the time and help I’d donated had given him so much joy. But, like all things, it had to end sometime, and he was having a tough time with it.

I glanced in the rearview and saw his head hanging. I nudged April, who followed my glance. She grinned and shook her head. “Hey, buddy? Why so low? You look like someone just stole your bike.”

Aiden shrugged. “The camp’s over.”

“Well, yeah. It is,” I said. “But the city league games don’t stop until the fall. You’ve still got like fifteen or twenty games, and at least that many practices left. You’ve got so much baseball coming up you won’t know what to do with yourself.”

April laughed as she watched the realization dawn on Aiden. His whole face lit up. “Holy cow. I totally forgot about that. Nice. I guess it won’t be that bad, then.”

“Agreed.” April nodded and shot me a smile.

We pulled up at Kellan’s house, and Aiden unbuckled. He leaned over the seat and threw an arm around my neck in an awkward, but sweet, hug. “Thanks for the ride, Coach.”

April said, “I think I’m going to stay and hang out for a bit. You cool with that?”

“That actually works. I need to stop by the office for a bit and check in with the guys.”

Aiden climbed out of the truck and ran over to the porch of his house. April opened her door, but leaned over to kiss me before she got out. “See you in a little while.”

“Call when you’re ready for me to drop by and get you.”

I waved to her as I pulled out of the neighborhood. The drive to the office was uneventful, but I’d formed a habit of glancing around and looking for anyone who didn’t belong. What I thought would be a one- or two-day task had turned into an ingrained practice. It might have seemed a little paranoid, but better safe than sorry.

The guys were in Miles’s office, as per usual. “Any word on the hunters?” I asked as I pulled up a seat next to Blayne.

Miles nodded. “We were just about to get into that. I got ahold of some of my contacts up there. They don’t have a lot of dealings with Oregon, but they’ve heard some whispers about disappearances, vanishings—the same stuff we’ve seen.

“I called your old pack’s Alpha, too. Talked to him for maybe an hour. We went through the history of every person who’s missing. None of the ones missing seem the type to up and check out without saying anything. It sounds to me like it’s the exact same thing as here. Which begs a new question.”

Tate thumped his feet up on Miles’s desk, eliciting a wince from Miles. “Are they working in concert or are they two separate groups?” Tate asked, willfully ignoring Miles’s discomfort.

Miles nodded at Tate and looked like he was doing his best not to shove Tate’s boots off his desk. “If these guys in Oregon are working with Ryland’s crew here in Lilly Valley? That’s fucking terrifying. It means that whoever this big boss is that Ryland has talked about, he has more power than any hunter ever. If he has two groups working that far apart, he may have even more. They might be all over the country. They’re way stronger than we, or any shifter clan, have realized.”

Blayne whistled and leaned his elbows on his knees. “Are they government sponsored? Could that be it? Someone high up found out about us?”

“Who knows?” Tate said. “I doubt it. If the government wanted us, they’d send the real troops in. I don’t think they’d be sending high-school math teachers after us. Ryland and his crew are obviously well trained, but they don’t have the feel of military. I work with guys like that all the time. It doesn’t fit.”

I stayed silent as the three of them talked through all the theories. I didn’t like what was being said. The idea that the hunters, who had targeted the woman I loved, were stronger than we’d thought didn’t fill me with confidence. Hunters had always been small splinter groups. People who, when push came to shove, typically vanished when faced with the full strength of a shifter clan. They were good at working in the shadows, but wilted in the sunlight. If someone had managed to build them up even stronger? Connect them across the country? A concerted effort? Anxiety surged through my bloodstream.

“Guys, April is thinking about possibly retiring. Moving back home full-time.” It was the first time I’d told them about her plans, and they all looked surprised. “But there’s still a chance that she might move back to California to keep working. I want you all to know that if she decides on that, I’ll be going with her. At least for a few weeks initially to get her settled and make sure the places she’ll be staying are secure. Stuff like that. I don’t wantto leave the kids I coach without me, but I don’t want her out there by herself.”

Blayne gave me a crooked grin. “Why don’t you convince her to stay? If she’s already thinking about retiring, that means the seed has already been planted. Water that sucker, let it take root in her brain.”

“Man, I don’t want to force her into doing something she’s not ready to do. If it isn’t 100 percent her idea, she may come to regret it later on.”

---