Page 85 of Shelter (The Wanderers 4)

Storm chuckled sardonically behind Haley.

Eldin winced. “Well, I mean, of course… It’s not always possible.”

Haley understood why Eldin was flustered. Storm wouldn’t have been a good replacement. People would have noticed if the baby had been Storm’s. That just left Riggs and Braylon.

Riggs cleared his throat. “In our case, it has nothing to do with Storm’s skin color. Nor does it have anything to do with Bray’s fertility. No one ever had sex with Haley until after she was pregnant.”

All four sets of brows lifted. “Oh.” That one word was collective too.

Bray sighed. “If we’d known another man would be kidnapped and brought to the house to be held as a sperm donor… But apparently, the four of you know more about the rules of our society than we did.”

Haley reached back to set a palm on top of Bray’s. Her heart hurt for him. Hopefully, it would give him some peace to know his mother had been acting under the rules of the aristocracy—or more specifically the girls’ home. Everything made slightly more sense.

Storm and Riggs stepped closer to also set a hand each on Haley. They weren’t simply supporting her. They were supporting Bray and his emotional upheaval given this new information.

Bray took a deep breath behind her. “If there’s anything else I can do to help you find Harmony and rescue Marian, please let me know.”

Mykel nodded. “If we have any questions, we’ll find you. In the meantime, we’ll get ears on this particular upcoming wedding in Virginia and find a way to make sure it never occurs.”

“Thank you,” Haley murmured, choked up.

Mykel, York, Blane, and Eldin excused themselves and left Haley and her family in the library.

She lifted her gaze to her hovering men. “That’s so kind of them to help out. It’s going to be dangerous.”

“It’s what they do,” Rush responded.

“Are they a family?”

“Yes. They had a woman too. She died several years ago before they found The Wanderers and joined us. They don’t talk about it much, and they’ve never accepted another woman into their lives. They dedicate themselves to helping others get to safety though.”

Haley nodded slowly, feeling grateful and sad. If those men could find Harmony and rescue her from an arranged marriage…

“Let’s get out of here,” Rush said, standing. “It’s time for dinner.”

Haley was exhausted. She’d met so many people today. She was so grateful to be free. There was no other way to describe it. Freedom. It tasted amazing.

Many of The Wanderers stopped to greet them in the dining area while they had dinner, and though she enjoyed meeting everyone and couldn’t wait to form friendships, she was glad when her men made excuses for them and ushered her back to their apartment.

She giggled as soon as the door closed and the four of them crowded her. “Time for sleeping?” she teased.

“Uh-huh.” Braylon.

“Yep.” Riggs.

“Sure.” Storm.

“You bet.” Rush.

She giggled some more. Sleeping wouldn’t be occurring just yet, but she didn’t mind.

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