Austin sags against the doorjamb and Nyve pushes Varos out of the way to get to his mate. “Do you need to sit down?”

“No. I’m fine. I’m just…please just tell me that my dad isn’t responsible.”

Ronnie shakes his head and the rising tension in the office eases some. “It wasn’t this hate group that was involved with her death but they do have a tenuous alliance with the extremist group who was responsible.”

He leans over Carlo’s and pulls up an article. “During the shifter liberation movement, there was a splinter group that was advocating for mythicas shifters and their rights. Since the mythicals had been just rumor for so long, it took a lot of the more established shifter groups to accept that they would have to share power with shifters they labeled as isolationists. After all, mythicals weren’t exactly coming out of the woodwork in droves at the time.”

“That’s the same thing my grandmother was doing,” Nosko says, pride filling his voice.

Carlo is sitting there, his complexion looking pale. I see panic in his eyes. I put a hand on his shoulder and without looking at me, rests his on top of it. He takes a deep breath to stay focused and present in the group.

“Anyway, I suspect that your father was devastated by her death because, if I’m reading the timeline I pieced together right, he tried to pull out of the organization.”

“That’s what he tells me,” Austin confirms. “But he still harbors a lot of resentment against the mythical shifter community, blaming their relentless drive for more rights as to what got her killed. But he has cut off all contact with them. Or so he says.”

Carlo snaps out of his daze and lunges forward to take control of the laptop. “He did. It was mentioned in an email when I first joined.”

I can’t help the swelling of pride. It looks like another memory has made an appearance and once again he didn’t back up from it, but dives in with energy and focus.

He types in a search and opens a few emails until finding the right one. “Here. This guy, I think, is the head of my section…was the head of my section in the organization. He makes mention of paying a visit to a Jamison Kells. Something about… ‘a shepherd will always seek out the lost to bring them back into the fold.’ That’s him. That’s who they’re referring to. I remember it in a meeting one night.”

Ronnie ducks in to flag the email before letting Carlo get back to reading.

“So I need to make sure to keep pressure on my dad to not get roped back in,” Austin says.

Taran finally speaks, after listening to our discussion. “Is that possible?”

“I’ll make it possible.”

“Ronnie,” Carlo says suddenly. “Do you still have that thumb drive?”

“I haven’t broken the encryption yet. Whoever set that up for you is good. Better than me,” Ronnie looks around the group and grins, “but only by a little bit.”

“Give it here.” Carlo pulls up the chair and starts to search through his emails. “And I need some paper and a pen.”

We all crowd around as Carlo begins to work. None of us can follow what he’s doing except Ronnie who is making happy gurgly noises. “Oh Carlo, you have many hidden talents.”

“I don’t know about that,” he says as he plugs the thumb into the laptop. “But their hacker guy showed me how to protect the data so that some wise ass, second-rate hacker can’t get to the information.”

“Should I be insulted? I get the feeling I should be insulted. And I’m not a wise ass.”

“Yes,” everyone around the room says at once. “You are.”

“Well I’m damn sure not second rate. I can get into anything.”

Varos laughs. “Clearly, because you cracked the thumb drive so easily.”

“It helps to have a key so that I don’t wreck anything which is what I was trying to do—”

“There.” Carlo leans back and we watch as dozens of files begin to open up on the laptop.

“Holy cracker cats,” Ronnie says. He shoos Carlo up so he can sit down. “Hoooly shit.”

“What?” Taran demands, bracing one hand on the back of the chair and one on the desk. “What is all that?”

“This, guys? Is the holy grail of their organization.”

“Not all of it,” Carlo says as he moves to my side. His arms go around my waist and he steps in close. He’s shaking and I look at him with concern.

He shakes his head. “I’m fine. But that’s only the information I was given at my level. I think,” and he glances around the room, looking like he was being crushed beneath the weight of his memories, “I was a mid-level, like…an enforcer or something. I had a crew and we made the rounds of the local officials here in Stell. Ensuring they were still committed to the cause and if any were making noises that they were having second thoughts…to convince them they were doing the right thing.”

“He’s right. This is bank records, credit reports, surveillance, names and addresses. Guys, this is an organizational chart of who is involved with them.”

“Only a part. I didn’t have access to much more than a small territory while I continued to prove my loyalty and resolve to the cause to them. I think I need to sit down.”

Carlo pushes out of the room.

Taran straightens and claps Ronnie on the shoulder. “Good work. Grab all this and save it before it leaves your computer a smoking crater or whatever you hackers do.”

“I didn’t do that much. Carlo was the one who busted this open.”

We file out of the room while Ronnie, Varos and Austin start to work on the information.

Carlo is in the shop, sitting at my station with his head in his hands. I swing by the small fridge and get him a bottle of water before I sit next to him. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah. Headache. I wasn’t expecting that to happen.”

“It makes sense,” Annika says as she sits down on the other side of him. The concern on her face is touching. She would have every right to be pissed at Carlo. He was instrumental in Rayne’s kidnapping. Rayne’s sister is Annika’s assistant and like we are here in the shop, they are very much like family as well. “But I don’t think it’ll kill you. Although there will be times where you wish it will.”

He smiles wanly at her. “Thanks. I think.”

“Next time,” I say with a kiss to his temple. “Take it slower. You’re body is getting used to carrying a baby and it’s all out of whack.”

“You what?” Nosko pulls away from Taran and comes over. He tilts Carlo’s head up and can see how pale he is. “Are you nuts to let him push that hard, Sako?”

Taran slaps me on the back. “Congratulations!”

I was already fully confident the guys had accepted Carlo, regardless of what he’d done before losing his memory. They were all really supportive in helping him get on the path of doing good things.

But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that there was a part of me worried they wouldn’t take the news well.

“I keep thinking we need to set up a party fund or something,” Bronaz says. “If you’re okay with it, Sako, I’ll give Kuras a call later to start working with Carlo and the baby.”

“He was a huge help to me and Austin, that’s for sure.” Nosko ruffles Carlo’s hair. “But you’ll be a great father. Both of you will.”

Rayne stands in the middle of the shop, her hands on her hips. “You guys need some magical help,” she announces. “Especially if you’re going to be swinging babies everywhere in here.”

“Rayne!” Goldie claps her hands over her mouth to stifle a giggle. “That’s so rude.”

“What rude? It’s the truth. This shop is completely unprotected. If what Ronnie says is true, along with the fact that we got nosy people poking around trying to find Carlo, things are gonna get dangerous all up in here.”

She glances over at Taran. “It’s the least I can do to help out.”

“Okay.” Varos comes out of the office. “We have two plans of action. First is to get that information sorted and in a more digestible format that is easy to understand. Second is to send out feelers to the shifter communities and see what bubbles to the top.”

Taran holds his hand out. “We don’t want to tip our hand.”

Varos props a hand on his hip and gives Taran a smug grin. “Lest you have forgotten who you’re talking to? I am the king of subtlety. If anyone can get any information, I can. Sako and I can handle community outreach.”

“I’ll help where I can,” I offer. I haven’t had a whole lot to do other than shield and hide Carlo. While that wasn’t a burden once I got to know him, I’m itching to do something more. Especially since we seem to be building momentum.

Annika slides to land on the floor. She grabs Goldie’s hand and pulls. “Right now, I think you need to get him home. He looks exhausted. And we need to go shut my place down for the night. You know the drill, Taran,” she says as she waves over his shoulder.

We close up the shop in record time and disburse into the night. Carlo climbs on my bike and wraps tightly around me.

I cover his hand with mine. “Are you okay?”

“I just want to go back to your place and go to bed.”

His voice sounds tired and his eyes are glassy.

He just got hit with an emotional shitload of information. That, on top of being pregnant.

He has me worried.