Page 77 of Mysteries, Menace, and Mates

I was worrying about nothing.

They like the idea.

Even better, she’d brought up the possibility of having kids, and they hadn’t balked. That plan might have to go on the back burner until she felt the time was right, but she had no doubt they’d make great dads.

This is so strange.

And yet it was a good strange. All her life, she’d been searching for a place where she belonged. At first it was with her family, though they’d seen her as nothing more than a housewife. The Gerans saw her first and foremost as a female, but once she’d established herself, they came to view her as a warrior.

Except they weren’t prepared to give her the advancement she so deserved.

Hashtag and Roadkill saw all of her, and they didn’t want her to be anything other than whoshewanted to be.

Heaven help her, she loved the feeling.

Almost as much as she loved her mates.

Yet despite her growing contentment with her changing situation, she couldn’t help but wait for the other shoe to drop. It felt too easy. Things like this just didn’t happen.

So what was waiting around the corner for her?

For all of them?

Chapter Twenty

ROADKILL TURNEDoff the car engine and frowned. “Can you hear screaming?”

What Eve loved was the way he tensed his muscles, ready to take action if needed.

Ready to protect us.

Eve laughed. “It’s not screaming—it’s kids. Richard regularly invites children from the local orphanage to spend time at Leighton Hall. They look after the farm animals, they learn about nature, and they get to be in beautiful surroundings.” Then her face tightened. “Exceptthesekids are different. Poor things.” Richard had told her about the activities planned for that afternoon, but it had slipped her mind.

“Why poor?”

“They were liberated from that camp in Texas.” She peered at them. “Weren’tyoupart of that mission?”

Hashtag nodded. “That was the second camp we raided. The first was in Montana.” He shuddered. “Only Texas was worse.”

“Why?”

“The fucking Gerans and their fucked-up breeding program, that’s why.” The bitterness in Roadkill’s voice surprised her. He was usually so easygoing. “We found so many kids there, kept apart from their mothers. God knows what the Gerans were doing to the poor little mites.”

She took hold of Roadkill’s hand and squeezed it. “But you saved them. That’s got to be worth something. And then Aelryn took them out of there.”

“How do you know all this?” he asked.

“Richard told me when we talked this morning. He said some of the kids stayed in the US and some came to the UK, to give them a new life over here. That’s when he became involved with them. He’s helping to find families for them all.”

“Their parents didn’t want them?” Roadkill seemed horrified. “It’s not the kids’ fault. They didn’t ask to be born. So they were abandoned? How many kids are we talking about?”

“I think he said about twenty in this part of the UK.” She tilted her head to one side. “Want to see them? I told Richard we’d help out. You know, playing games with them….”

Hashtag smiled. “We can do that.” Then he grinned. “We should get Horvan out here. He could shift and give them rides on his back. I bet they’d love to ride on Mama Bear.”

“Or a lion. Or a tiger.” Roadkill’s eyes widened. “And that might be something Dellan could do too. I know it wouldn’t take his mind off things, but it would give him something to focus on.”

“Excuse me? Can we go back to… Mama Bear?” Eve bit back a laugh. “Horvan? I can’t think of anyone less like a mama bear.”

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