Tiger's Triumph (Veteran Shifters Book 4) by Zoe Chant (2)

Carlos

Why did Carlos have to have a mate who was so damn smart, quick, and brave?

He pondered that question as he pulled the kids inside. Troy was dragging a duffle bag behind him that proved to have diapers, snacks, juice, and bedtime stories in it. The kids were already in their pajamas.

“Looks like your brother made sure you have everything you need,” he said cheerfully, swinging Val up into his arms, hoping he wouldn’t set off a tantrum. But she just kept up the sort of half-sniffle, half-whine that she’d been doing since Pauline left.

“He always leaves us stuff,” Troy said sullenly. “And then he puts us with strangers.” He glared at Carlos.

“Well,” Carlos said slowly, thinking carefully about what he was going to say, “this is Pauline’s house. You know Pauline, don’t you?”

Troy nodded reluctantly. “She gives us cookies and stuff.”

“Cookie?” Val perked up.

“I’ve got...animal crackers,” Carlos reported, digging through the bag. “Want one of those?”

Val stretched out a hand, practically diving headfirst into the bag as she reached for a cookie. Carlos handed it to her, and she attacked it immediately.

“You want one?” he asked Troy.

“No.”

“You don’t accept bribes, huh,” Carlos said easily, which surprised the kid into an almost-smile. “I can respect that. Listen, you don’t know me, and I get that that’s no fun. But I’m just staying with you until Pauline gets back.”

“She went after Drew,” Troy pointed out. “What if something happens?”

“That’s what Pauline’s there for,” Carlos said. “She’ll make sure nothing happens. She’s a real tough lady, she won’t let anything go wrong for your brother. Promise.”

Troy thought this over. It was clear that he respected Pauline’s essential toughness. “Okay,” he said finally.

“Meanwhile, how about I put on a movie and we can all snooze on the couch for a bit until she gets back?”

“Snooze,” Troy said, with a little giggle.

“What,” Carlos said, raising his eyebrows, “you don’t like a good snooze now and then?”

“No!” Troy insisted. “I like playing.”

“Do you like...” Carlos found Pauline’s remote, and found that she did have Netflix on her TV, to his relief. He searched for kids’ stuff. “...any of this?”

“Voltron!” Troy shouted. Val shrieked an accompaniment.

“All right,” Carlos said. “How about we all sit and watch some Voltron for a bit. I think I remember this from when I was a kid, but you’re going to have to refresh my memory a little bit.”

Troy leapt on the opportunity to educate Carlos about big space robots, and Carlos led them all gently to the couch, settled in with Troy next to him and Val on his lap, and started the first episode.

Troy had an impressive, almost encyclopedic, knowledge of the show; Carlos suspected that the old couple who watched them used it to keep him occupied. He listened and agreed and asked questions, and meanwhile, in the back of his mind, worried about Pauline.

His tiger, especially, was extremely worried. Our mate is in danger, it growled in his chest. Help our mate!

We are helping her, Carlos pointed out. We’re caring for the cubs.

That mollified it a little bit. His tiger did appreciate the small weight of Val on his chest, getting heavier as she dropped into sleep.

Carlos sympathized with his tiger, though. He wished to God he could be out there with Pauline, but there was absolutely no way to guarantee stealth for a full-grown male tiger when surrounded by other shifters with functioning noses. Carlos was sure he’d have no problem staying invisible to human eyes in the forest, but if any of them were shifted? The game would be up, and Drew would be in much more danger.

So this was best. But it chafed.

Slowly, Troy was winding down. He yawned a few times. When the episode finished, Carlos asked, “Ready for that snooze?”

He sat bolt upright. “No!”

Carlos had to chuckle. “How about we get a blanket, just so we can be comfy, huh?”

Troy allowed that, so Carlos found one of Pauline’s beautiful afghans—locally made? he wondered—and tucked it around the kid. Val was totally out for the count, so Carlos took the time to extract the half-eaten animal cracker from her fist and get rid of it before it became one with the couch.

By the time he got back to the couch, Troy was asleep. Carlos smiled and left him to it.

He laid Val out on Pauline’s bed, on top of the covers with another afghan over her, and took a deep breath.

Help our mate! his tiger insisted.

We can’t leave the cubs alone, Carlos argued.

No wonder everyone said parenting was tough.

***

Pauline

Pauline flew.

Fortunately for her, Drew was crawling along, not too eager to get to his destination, maybe. He slowed down even more after he turned into the forest and the roads got less paved and less predictable.

Pauline kept pace. She was glad it was nighttime, so she could see everything easily, and it was less likely that anyone would notice her.

Drew’s car trundled along, getting far into the woods, before he pulled it off onto a dirt track, got out, and shifted.

His wolf paced swiftly through the woods, even faster than the car had been going, but Pauline kept pace easily. And soon enough, her keen owl eyes spotted another wolf, a huge gray, keeping watch.

When that wolf saw Drew, he trotted up, growled, and turned to lead the way. Pauline hung back to avoid giving herself away.

She followed the flashes of movement until she saw the leader. Ryan stood in his human form, tall and arrogant, waiting for Drew to come to him. Pauline settled on a branch, high enough up and far enough away that no one would notice her—but her owl ears could hear mice dashing through the underbrush below. She’d be able to hear whatever they said to each other.

Drew came up to the clearing where Ryan was standing, stopped at the far end, and shifted back. Too far away for Ryan to get at him before he could run, Pauline noted approvingly—but then the guard dropped to his haunches right at Drew’s side, still in his enormous wolf form.

“You made it,” said Ryan. “We had a bet on whether you were gonna pussy out.”

“What would’ve happened if I did?” Drew asked. His voice was steady, and his head was high, looking right at the man’s face.

“We would’ve come to find you,” Ryan said mildly. “And I don’t know what woulda happened, but those kids wouldn’t have wanted to see it. Or be in the way.”

Drew twitched. Pauline bit back her own fear and tried to think logically. Could the man be serious? Would he really risk his pack by attacking a minor? Surely that would get them into more legal trouble than they could handle.

Unless they were sure they could get away with it. After all, Pauline and Carlos were the only ones who knew that Drew had had any contact with the pack at all. And if they were shifted...well, the law enforcement in this town knew that a “wild animal attack” often wasn’t what it seemed, but proving that in court would be impossible.

And, Pauline remembered, they hadn’t hesitated to break into Stella’s home just a few weeks ago. Who knew what they would’ve done, if Nate and Carlos hadn’t been there to fight them off? She didn’t even want to think about it.

But it looked like she was going to have to. Drew, after all, was clearly thinking about it.

“I get the message,” Drew was saying. “Where is it?”

Ryan came forward and handed Drew a big plastic package. There was dirt clinging to it, as though it had been buried out here. Drew held it gingerly, staring at it.

Pauline desperately, furiously wanted to swoop down out of the trees and land, claws-first, on Ryan’s face.

But that wouldn’t help anything.

Prey, her owl thought, staring at Ryan.

Prey, Pauline agreed. Watch and wait.

Watch and wait, her owl trilled hungrily.

“What do I do?” Drew asked. He still had that defiant edge to his voice, but Pauline could hear the fear underneath.

“You’re going to drive north until you’re right at the border, and you’re going to meet your contact there,” said Ryan. “He’ll be driving a red pickup, and he’ll tell you he’s here for hunting season. He’ll give you the money, you give him the package—in that order—and you bring the money back to me. If you skip town with it, your little kid brother and sister will be the ones who suffer, get it?”

Drew nodded. “Got it.” His voice was quieter now.

“And you wait until you’re sure the sheriff and her deputies are nowhere around, you got it? The only reason you’re doing this is they’re on my ass twenty-four-seven. If they get a whiff of you, you’re no use to me anymore, and you don’t want to find out what happens then.”

Drew nodded again. “No sheriff.”

“We’re gonna teach her how things get run around here soon enough,” Ryan observed. “Back in my town, the law knows what’s what. She’s new. She’ll learn.”

Pauline’s talons clenched on the branch where she was perched.

“Is that it?” Drew asked.

“Yeah, kid, that’s it,” said Ryan. “Do your job, and I’ll see you back here with the money tomorrow night. Go on.”

Drew turned around and started back to his car. In human form, this time, and Pauline suddenly realized why this drop-off was difficult. The package couldn’t be carried along when someone shifted—usually, only clothes could come with a shifter, and even small items would be left behind. There was no chance of bringing that big packet along.

Pauline’s mind went to the possibility of creating a harness of some kind, to allow a wolf to carry it on its back—and then she shook herself out of it. This wasn’t a problem to solve. And clearly Ryan’s solution was just to find an innocent kid to do his dirty work for him, since he was having a hard time evading the sheriff in human form.

Drew trudged back toward his car. The guard wolf paced him for a while, but before he got back to the road, turned around and trotted back. Pauline circled around to make sure: yes, both men were now shifted, and headed away in a different direction.

She flew back to Drew, and kept pace with him until he reached the car. Then she spiraled down, lit on the ground, and shifted.

Drew started, arms flailing. The package slipped from his fingers and dropped on the ground, and he snatched it back up again. “Pauline,” he hissed. “What are you doing here?” He looked back over his shoulder.

“They’re gone,” Pauline said quietly. “I made sure before I landed. I promise. No one’s here.”

Drew bit his lip. “Did you hear all that?”

Pauline nodded slowly.

“Damn it.” Drew ran a hand through his hair. “Are you going to call the sheriff on me?”

“No!” Pauline came forward, reaching out carefully. Drew didn’t flinch away, so she put a hand on his shoulder. “Drew, I want to help you. I want to get you out of this mess, all right? I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

Drew’s shoulders slumped. “Too late. I’m in trouble no matter what I do. I knew this was dumb the second I went to the wolves, but I didn’t realize how dumb until they threatened the kids. And now I’ve got this.” He held up the package. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s got to be illegal. I could go to the sheriff with it, and she could arrest Ryan, but now I’m incriminated, too.”

“She probably couldn’t even arrest him,” Pauline said, resigned. “She doesn’t have enough evidence, I bet, or she already would have. Unless his fingerprints are on that.” She nodded at the package.

Drew shook his head. “He had work gloves on. I’m the only one who’s touched it bare-handed, probably. But that’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean?”

Drew pulled his phone—Marsha’s phone—out of his pocket. The screen lit up, and as Pauline watched, he hit a STOP button.

“I recorded it,” he said.

Pauline stared at him. “Drew. You—you need to come home with me right now.”

He hesitated.

“I promise you, I absolutely swear to you, I will help you,” Pauline said. “I will make sure you don’t get in trouble, I will take care of the kids, and I will ensure that all of this turns out fine. Okay?”

“I don’t think it’s going to turn out fine, Pauline!” Drew said. His voice was strained.

“Will you come with me and see if we can find out?” Pauline asked. She felt like her compassion, her sadness, her need for Drew to come with her were throbbing in her voice.

He was quiet for a long moment.

Then he nodded.

***

When they got back to the house, it was quiet. Before Pauline could get out her keys, Carlos had opened the door. Silently, he pulled her into a tight embrace. “You’re okay,” he murmured into her ear.

She nodded. “I was never in danger,” she assured him. “It all went according to plan.”

Carlos squeezed her tighter for a second, and Pauline felt so safe, so secure, that she wondered how she’d ever lived without the possibility of those arms around her.

Finally, he let her go, and stepped back to let her and Drew come inside. “What happened?” he asked.

Drew hesitated, and looked at Pauline. So she explained. Carlos looked more and more thoughtful as it went on.

“...and he recorded everything, even the threats!” Pauline finished. She looked over at Drew, who was standing tensely with his hands in his pockets. Pauline couldn’t help herself; she went over and hugged him. “It was so smart of him.”

Drew’s shoulders were stiff for a second, and then he relaxed into the hug all at once. Pauline wondered how long it had been since he’d been hugged by someone older than six. She held him tighter.

“Not that smart,” he mumbled. “If I was really smart, I wouldn’t have gotten into this whole situation in the first place.”

“You didn’t have many choices,” Pauline said, letting him go. She kept a hand on his shoulder. “We’re going to try to give you some more.”

“And first things first,” Carlos said slowly, “I’m going to call up a couple of people who might know what to do better than we can.”

“Please,” said Pauline.

Carlos took out his phone and dialed, and spoke quickly to whoever was on the other end. Drew, meanwhile, was looking at the package in his hands, a sick expression on his face.

“Here, give it to me,” Pauline said impulsively.

Drew hesitated, but handed it over. He looked relieved to not be touching it anymore.

Now Pauline was holding it. What did you do with a package full of something very illegal? She didn’t want to open it, but beyond that, she had no idea. For now, she set it on the table.

Drew, meanwhile, went over to his brother. He tugged the blanket a bit further up over Troy’s shoulders, then leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. Carlos, who had hung up with whoever he was talking to and was dialing someone else, paused to tell him, “Val’s in the bedroom. Through there.”

Drew nodded and went over to check on her. Pauline watched as he repeated the little goodnight ritual with her, smoothing her tangled hair back from her face. She murmured softly, then settled back down.

When he came back out, he looked a little more settled, and Carlos was just hanging up again. “Cal and Colonel Hanes are coming over,” he told Pauline.

Colonel Hanes was Carlos’ old commanding officer, and Cal had served alongside them—and Nate and Ken. “Why them in particular?” Pauline asked.

“Cal’s lived here for years, and the Colonel wouldn’t settle in a place without getting to know the local law enforcement,” Carlos said. “I’ve met the sheriff, briefly, last time I was here, but I don’t know her stance on delinquent minors. They’ll have advice for us.”

Pauline blinked a few times, then bit her lip.

“What?” Carlos asked softly.

She glanced over at Drew, who was sitting on the couch with Troy. Softly, she said, “I’m not used to having a...network like this, that’s all. For a long time, it’s been only me. The shifters around here tend to break up into family groups, packs, according to what animal they are. I’m the only owl here, and I don’t have any siblings. It’s nice to think...that might change.”

Carlos reached out and cupped her cheek. “You’re not alone anymore,” he told her.

Pauline could feel the truth of that in her chest. She took a breath, keeping her composure for Drew’s sake, but she could tell that it would be a long time before she could really think about it without wanting to cry a little.

Then Carlos grinned. “If I depended on other tigers only, I’d have a big problem, because we’re a standoffish bunch. And few and far between.”

Pauline frowned. “You’re not standoffish.”

“Learned behavior,” he told her. “You should’ve seen me as a kid. I hated everyone. It took the Marines to teach me the value of trusting the people beside you, working together as a team.”

“And it’s still bearing fruit decades later,” Pauline marveled. “I’m glad.”

He nodded. “Me, too. Best thing that ever happened to me, until now.”

That was a pleasurable shock that took a little while to wear off.

Sooner than Pauline would’ve thought possible, there was a solid knock at the door. Carlos opened it to reveal a big man with short, iron-gray hair—and a beautiful African-American woman behind him. Colonel Hanes and his mate Mavis. Pauline had seen them in Oliver’s often, but had never had a chance to talk to them.

“Carlos,” the Colonel said, coming forward to shake Carlos’ hand warmly. “Good to see you again. I’m looking forward to collecting all of my old men in one place again, which, from the rate it’s been happening, shouldn’t take more than another week or two.”

Carlos laughed. “Here’s hoping. I’ll call up Ty and see if he wants to move to Montana.”

“You’re unlikely to pry him away from Los Angeles, I think,” the Colonel said dryly. “What can I help you with?”

“What can we help you with?” Mavis put in. She came over to Pauline, reaching out to take her hand. “Pauline, I hope you don’t mind that I invited myself along. I want to help too, if I can.”

“Of course,” Pauline said, a little overwhelmed. Mavis had moved here about six months back, from a big city where she’d worked as a financial advisor. She was busy beefing up the economy around Glacier Park, helping all the small businesses thrive in ways they’d never done before. She was soft-spoken and graceful, with no outward indication of what a powerful woman she really was. Pauline had been a little intimidated by her from the moment she’d arrived in town and people had started talking.

She and Colonel Hanes were both snow leopard shifters, and the snow leopards were the fastest-growing pack the area had ever seen. They were quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with, and a close-knit community. Pauline had tried not to be wistful at the sight of all of them coming to Oliver’s in bigger and bigger groups. Or wildly jealous.

But maybe she didn’t need to be. Carlos, after all, wasn’t a snow leopard. In fact, he and Ken and Nate were all different types of shifters—Ken was a lion and Nate was a panther, and they were both mated to lynxes.

Maybe there was room for a bird of prey in there, too.

“Cal’s on his way,” Carlos told them. “In fact—” He turned toward the door, and a second later, there was a knock.

Cal came in alone, though when his eyes lit on Mavis, he said, “Lillian’s home with the baby. She’ll be sorry she missed a group get-together, though. Pauline, hello.”

She shook his hand. “Thank you for coming.”

“What’s this about, then?” Cal asked, businesslike.

Pauline looked over at Drew, who’d shrunk back a little at the sudden influx of adults. He looked especially wary of Cal and the Colonel; Pauline was reminded that he’d never had anything in the way of a good male role model. Marsha’s boyfriends had never stuck around for very long.

“That wolf pack we tangled with last month is causing trouble for Drew and his kid brother and sister,” Carlos said bluntly.

“That’s not true,” Drew spoke up, causing Carlos to look back in surprise. “I got into trouble my own self. I went to them.”

“Well, they could’ve done something other than take advantage of a kid with no parents and other kids to take care of.” Pauline hadn’t intended to speak up, but she couldn’t stand hearing him put himself down. “Did you wake up and think, I want to be a gang member when I grow up?”

“No!” Drew stood up. “We didn’t have any money. My job wasn’t enough to provide for the kids. I had to do something.”

You could’ve come to me. Pauline bit her lip. She was going to sit down with Drew, just the two of them, as soon as she could, and see if she could understand what had driven him to the dangerous choice, rather than the safe one of accepting her help.

“What sort of trouble are you in, son?” Colonel Hanes asked. His voice was friendly, nonthreatening.

Drew looked at Pauline, then back at Troy’s sleeping form, and then he took a breath and explained.

“My mom always...liked being a wolf more.” He bit his lip. “She’d shift and stay shifted for a long time. Days, sometimes. She’d sleep like that, she did that for years. But it started getting worse. And then one day, earlier this summer, she left us a note. She said she couldn’t handle this anymore. It was too much. She said she was leaving me the car and the house and all of her things and going into the woods forever, and she left us a little money. But not enough.”

He blinked quickly and went on. “I have a job at Safeway. I make enough to get us food and clothes at Goodwill and stuff like that. But I can’t—Mom used to stay home with the kids. And I’ll never get a better job and make more money to take better care of them if I can’t go back to school. So I thought...I needed enough money to pay someone to look after them until I graduated, and then...I’d figure something out. It was just going to be for a little while.”

Colonel Hanes sighed, a big, gusty sound. “That’s a shame, son. That’s all just a shame. You were in a tight spot. Are you eighteen yet?”

He shook his head. “This fall.”

The colonel’s lips tightened. “Even tougher.”

“It was still wrong.” Drew lifted his chin. “I know that. I went to them and I asked what I could do—I’m a wolf like they are, so I thought they’d give me something. And they did. But I—I realized, after, that they aren’t going to just let me...work for them for a few months and stop. Ryan’s already threatening the kids, and that’s gonna work forever, no matter what I do. Unless I pick up and move to Miami or something, but I’d need a lot of money for that, and what do I do when I get there?”

His shoulders slumped. “It was dumb. I knew it was dumb when I did it, but I didn’t realize how dumb until now.”

“We’re going to fix it,” Pauline said fiercely.

His eyes were dull when he looked at her. “You can’t just fix it. I need to take responsibility. I knew this was going to be something illegal, and I did it anyway.”

Carlos looked at Cal. “That’s where you come in,” he said seriously. “You’ve lived here long enough, you must have a sense of the sheriff’s probable take on this.” He looked over at the colonel. “And I imagine you do, too, sir.”

Both men nodded. “There’s a new sheriff, this last year,” Cal said.

“You met her, last time you were in town,” the colonel put in. “She’s new blood. Eager to whip the place into shape. Not amused by shifter politics at all.”

“Is she a shifter?” Carlos asked.

“Oh, yes. But she’s firmly against packs standing together,” Cal said. “Especially packs standing together against each other.”

“But she’s not vindictive,” the colonel said thoughtfully. “And she has her eye on the ball. She’s not likely to shoot the messenger, not if the messenger can get her to someone more important.”

“I’ll talk to her,” Drew said abruptly.

Everyone looked at him. He shrugged. “I don’t want to get further in with Ryan. I don’t want you guys to start a war with his guys.”

“We’re halfway there already, it seems,” the Colonel said.

“Any more of a war, then! I don’t want anyone to get hurt at all.”

Carlos stepped forward and put a hand on Drew’s shoulder. “You’re going to be all right, kid.”

Drew stayed still, but Pauline thought she could see the hint of a lean in him, the desire to take advantage of that solid presence.

She hoped so.

***

Carlos

Carlos stepped outside as Cal and the Colonel said their goodbyes, because the Colonel had that look in his eye that said, How about we have a talk, without any need for verbalizing it.

Mavis lingered to say something to Pauline, while the men came out to the cars. In the drive, Colonel Hanes looked at him. “I heard you were coming here on vacation. This doesn’t look like much of a vacation.”

“No,” Carlos admitted.

He hadn’t been looking forward to talking about his feelings with the two stoic men standing beside him, but somehow it all came spilling out of his mouth anyway.

“We’re mates,” he confessed. “Pauline and I. I thought—I saw her when I was here to help out Nate and Stella, thought she was beautiful, interesting. But I didn’t realize what was behind it. And now...” He shook his head.

“Realizing you want to settle down?” Cal said wryly. “When you never thought you would?”

“Guess you know the feeling.”

“Sure do,” he said. “I thought I was fine. Didn’t want anything more than what I had. And then Lillian came into my office, needing my help, and...” He opened a hand. “That was it.”

“That was it,” Carlos repeated. “Yep. I was gone the second I laid eyes on her. I just didn’t realize it until now. I don’t know if I even would’ve come back here if I hadn’t been wanting to see her again, in the back of my mind.”

“Well, good,” the Colonel said briskly. “We could use some new blood, here. There’s so much transition with the tourists in and out, the locals don’t have as much sense of community as they could use. And I have to say, Sheriff Dale’s right—there’s too much of people sticking with their own packs, staying away from anyone they wouldn’t call one of their own. My stepdaughter struggled for years and years, looking for a place to belong, until she found other snow leopards like her. I have to say, it’s hidebound and it’s not helping anyone much.” He looked disapproving.

“Not how the Marines do things,” Carlos observed quietly.

“Certainly not.” The Colonel was frowning. “You men were as much of a pack as any group of littermates, and not one of you was the same type of shifter as another.”

“Well, maybe that’ll convince the sheriff we’re on her side,” Carlos said thoughtfully.

“She’s passionate, but she knows what’s right.” Cal’s voice was quiet but confident. “She’s not going to put a seventeen-year-old first offender in jail, and if he’s right about how solidly he can point the finger at Ryan...”

“He’s a smart kid,” Carlos said. “It’ll be all right.”

He was half-trying to convince himself, he knew. Because he’d caught some of Pauline’s concern, and also some of his own was starting to well up. The way the kid was too thin, the way his shoulders set when he talked about taking responsibility for what he’d done...it made Carlos’ chest hurt. He was going to make damn sure that kid was okay, and no sheriff had better try to stand in his way.

***

Pauline

“Now,” Mavis said once the men were out the door, “what can I help you with?”

“I’m sorry?” Pauline asked.

“It looks like you have a lot on your plate,” Mavis said quietly. “Surely you need a hand or two over the next few days.”

“Well, I suppose someone will have to watch the younger children tomorrow, when we go into the station,” Pauline reflected.

Drew looked startled. “You’re coming to the station, too? What for?”

“To be with you,” Pauline said, exasperated. “We’re not going to let you go in alone.”

“They probably won’t let you stay with me,” Drew pointed out. “You’re not my mom. I bet they’ll need to get a social worker or something.” Suddenly, fear invaded his face. “What’s going to happen to the kids? They’re going to be separated if I tell them my mom’s gone. I could pretend she’s out of town for a little while—”

“Drew,” Pauline said softly, “I’m not going to let them separate you.”

“How are you going to stop them?” His voice rose, and then he looked sharply over at Troy, still sleeping on the couch, and fell silent.

“You don’t have any uncles or aunts, do you?” Pauline asked. “Your dad, or Troy and Val’s dad, neither of them stuck around at all, paid any child support?”

“No way,” Drew said. “Mom said they were all worthless. So they’re just going to break us up and put Val and Troy in foster care—”

“Drew,” Pauline interrupted. “Drew, I’m your closest adult relative. Or if not the closest, the only one who’s stayed local and showed any interest in taking care of you. I’ll do anything it takes to get custody. I promise. I’ll sleep at the entrance to the courthouse until they let me. I’ll take a million silly parenting classes. I will do whatever I have to.”

Drew stared at her, his eyes huge and shocked.

“I better get going,” Mavis murmured quietly. “I’ll see about watching the children tomorrow. If I can’t cancel my meetings, Stella and Nate can likely do it. It won’t be a problem.”

She withdrew quietly and gracefully, leaving Pauline and Drew looking at each other.

“She always said...” Drew’s voice broke. “She always said you thought we were trashy. Low-class. Because she wasn’t married and stuff.”

“No,” Pauline said immediately. “No. Drew, my parents were snobs. They probably thought that. But I never did. I always wished she’d let me spend more time with you. I remember when you were a baby, I was always asking her to let me baby-sit, and she always said she could handle it...she was so proud, she never wanted my help, because my family had looked down on her family. And I understood, but it made me so sad. I wished I could’ve been there when you were growing up.”

“I didn’t know that,” Drew said blankly. “I always felt bad taking your food, at Oliver’s, because I thought...I mean, you were always so nice. But I thought you were just pretending because you felt bad.”

“No,” Pauline said. “Drew. No.”

He blinked a few times. Pauline took an involuntary step forward, and then, when he didn’t back away, another one, until she was close enough to reach out and pull him into a hug.

This time, he didn’t hesitate to lean in. Pauline wrapped her arms around his thin shoulders and held him close, trying to telepathically project as much love and care and support as she could.

He didn’t cry or anything, but he stayed in the hug until the door opened. Then he started and jerked back. Pauline let him go.

Hopefully—God, she had to hope—there would be many, many more opportunities to give Drew big, loving hugs as they went forward.

Carlos’ eyes were warm as they took in the scene, but he didn’t comment on it. “So,” he said. “Anyone hungry?”

***

Carlos, it turned out, was a surprisingly skillful cook.

“My one hobby,” he confessed to Pauline and Drew as he cracked eggs and sautéed vegetables. “Whenever I had time, I’d cook myself dinner. Ordering out got old after a while, even in New York.”

Pauline, who had ordered pizza from the one delivery spot in town maybe three times in the last ten years, nodded. “Are you sure I can’t help?” she said for the fifth time.

“Or me?” Drew added.

Carlos’ smile was warm and happy, with the slightest tinge of exasperation. “You,” he said, enunciating very carefully, “can both sit there at the table and let someone else serve you food for once.”

It felt a little unnatural. Pauline couldn’t remember the last time anyone had waited on her.

All the more reason to enjoy it, she told herself, and sat back and forced herself to just sit with Drew and watch. It was a good example for Drew, too, who must be so used to being a parent to his younger siblings. Who knew how long it had been since someone had cooked him dinner.

And as it turned out, once she settled in, watching Carlos cook was a real pleasure. He moved with confidence, somehow not too big for her tiny kitchen, even though he seemed to fill it to bursting with his size and his presence.

He cleaned as he went, too, scrubbing out plates and bowls as he waited for pans to heat. Pauline had been automatically cataloging how many dishes there would be, and the number just kept vanishing down to nothing.

All in all, it was a show she was realizing she could watch over and over again. Carlos flashed her a smile occasionally—at one point, he flipped a pancake just by flicking his wrist while holding the pan, and then he grinned over his shoulder with such obvious self-satisfaction that she had to laugh.

Drew, too, was slowly starting to relax. “None of my mom’s boyfriends ever cooked,” he observed to Pauline.

“My ex-husband never did, either,” she confided back. “And he never did the dishes.”

Drew snorted. “No one in our house ever did dishes.” He sobered a little. “I try to, but I don’t always have time. I don’t want the kids growing up in a dirty house, though.”

Pauline closed her eyes for a second. “Drew,” she said quietly, “no matter what happens tomorrow—no matter what—I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen. Okay? You don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

He was quiet, thinking about it. Then he said, “I don’t think I’m going to stop worrying about it. But it’s...nice. That you’re there.”

Pauline breathed through the rush of feelings, and said in as steady a voice as she could, “It’s nice that you’re here for me, too.”

He startled, looking over at her. “Me?”

“You,” Pauline confirmed. “All I’ve ever wanted is a family. I never had any siblings, my ex-husband didn’t want kids, I couldn’t adopt after we divorced, even though I tried. And you—Drew, you care about family more than anyone I’ve ever seen. You’ve worked your butt off for your family, you were willing to do anything it took to make sure they were okay. I would be...honored, to have someone like you in my own family.”

Drew looked almost scared. Pauline...understood. She remembered how frightening it had been to realize that she had a mate.

Sometimes the things you wanted the most were the scariest of all.

“You don’t have to say anything,” she said. “I just wanted you to know that.”

He nodded slowly, then looked away.

“All right,” Carlos announced—Pauline felt certain that he’d been waiting for the right moment to intrude. “Breakfast for dinner!”

They all sat down at Pauline’s tiny dining table—she wondered, with a rush of feeling, whether Carlos was going to move in here with her, or if they would get a new place together. With room for three more...?

Don’t put the cart before the horse, she told herself. Don’t count your children before they’re hatched...

She dug into the food to distract herself. And was immediately, intensely distracted, because it was delicious. Chocolate-chip pancakes smothered in maple syrup and butter, and an omelet full of practically everything she’d had in her fridge: ham and cheese and onions and green peppers and God knew what else.

“Oh,” she sighed. “This is so good.”

Pauline didn’t cook much for herself, because being on her feet all day at the diner didn’t give her a lot of energy to stand in the kitchen after she got home—plus, she could usually grab a sandwich or something at the diner, so she wouldn’t even need to eat once she got home. She was frankly surprised that Carlos had been able to create anything that tasted this good with the contents of her kitchen.

Drew made a noise of agreement. He’d inhaled his plate already. Carlos grabbed it and hightailed back to the kitchen.

“I don’t need any more—” Drew started to protest.

“Then you can stare at it and appreciate the perfection of my cooking skills,” Carlos called over his shoulder. “If you want to eat it, though, that’s fine, too.”

A hungry teenaged boy wasn’t going to leave food untouched for long. Drew made another halfhearted protest, but once the plate was in front of him, he didn’t spend too long just looking at it.

They all ate until they were stuffed, and then Carlos insisted on doing the remaining dishes. God. Pauline was going to have to fall on her knees and thank her lucky stars later, but for now she appreciated it because it let her transition smoothly into making up the bed in the rarely-used spare room and installing Drew in it, without any room for protests or possible suggestions that the kids might go home for the night instead of staying here where it was safe.

“Do you mind sharing with Val?” she asked. “She’s in my room right now, but—”

Drew shook his head immediately. “She shouldn’t wake up and not know where she is at all,” he said. “She crawls in with me a lot, anyway.”

So Pauline slipped into her room and scooped up the sleeping toddler. Val was a warm, heavy weight in her arms, and Pauline was tempted to just sit down for a second and revel in the feeling of a little child breathing softly against her shoulder.

But Drew was waiting, so she brought his sister out to him, and together they got her settled in the spare room’s bed.

“Let me get you a toothbrush,” Pauline told him, and despite his protests that he didn’t need anything, really, she bustled around getting him a toothbrush and some extra towels if he wanted to shower in the morning, and a few other things.

It was so gratifying. Having kids to take care of. She had to try not to let herself get too used to it, in case it was taken right away again.

Though maybe...

Stop it.

Finally, everyone was settled. Carlos came out of the kitchen, drying his hands on a towel. “Kids all settled?”

“All settled,” Pauline confirmed.

He enveloped her in his arms, big and warm and comforting. “Good. Now I can do this.” He kissed her deeply.

Pauline sighed and relaxed into the kiss. It felt so good to let go. “Thank you for dinner,” she said when they broke apart.

“My pleasure. It felt good to cook for you. And Drew. Like we’re starting to make a home together.”

Pauline blinked, her eyes stinging with tears.

“Hey,” Carlos said tenderly, one hand coming up to brush her cheek. “What is it?”

“I just—I just want this so much,” Pauline whispered. “All of this. You, and Drew, and Troy and Val, all together, eating dinner and putting the kids to bed—all of it—”

“You’re going to get it.” Carlos’ voice was confident. His eyes had a determined fire in them. “I’m going to make sure you have this, Pauline.”

“It’s not just about me—”

“Not just for you.” He took her hands, kissed the knuckles of each. “For me, because I never knew I wanted a family this much, but seeing that kid struggle so hard—I want to help him. I want to be there for him, to show that he can be a good man and a good provider without all this hardship and pain. To help the little kids grow up into a good man and a good woman. And because I think that you and me—we’re the best thing for them.”

“I think so, too,” Pauline said fiercely. Faced with Carlos’ warm confidence, her anxiety seeped away, replaced by determination. “And we’re going to do everything we can to make it happen.”

He kissed her again. “We are.”

***

The next morning, Pauline had a message from Mavis telling her to drop the kids off with Stella and Nate whenever they needed to. She told Drew over breakfast, while she was giving a sleepy Val milk and Cheerios. The milk was in a big-girl cup, so there was a lot of supervision required.

“Want to go hang out with Eva today?” Drew asked Troy, who had woken up cranky and upset to be in a strange house, and was scowling into his cereal.

The little boy brightened immediately. “Can I play her Nintendo DS?”

“I bet you can,” Drew said.

Pauline quickly texted Stella to make sure her daughter would also be home today, and received an affirmative.

She’s worried about Drew, Stella added. They’re good friends. Do you know if he’s okay?

That’s what we’re trying to make sure of today, Pauline texted back. Which wasn’t the most reassuring, she knew, but it was what she had.

Getting all the kids out the door was an adventure. Val had a tantrum because she wanted to stay and toddle all around the strange house exploring, and being told she was going to another, bigger house that she could explore even more didn’t help.

Pauline buckled her into her car seat as she screamed and thought to herself, Even this. Even tantrums. She wanted it all.

She didn’t fool herself that she’d be welcoming the tantrums with open arms, but the thought that she might be a person that Val reached for, as instinctively as she was reaching for Drew right now, hoping for rescue from the cruel prison of the car seat...

Well. She wanted to be that refuge.

***

Carlos

Carlos watched Pauline chivvy all the kids out to the cars with a warm sense of pride.

Even Drew responded to her like a parent-figure, despite the fact that the kid had been acting as a parent himself for the last however long. Drew didn’t seem like the type of boy who was desperate for independence, who didn’t want anyone to tell him what to do—this responsibility had been thrust on his shoulders, and he seemed tentatively relieved to have a motherly type to rely on.

From what he’d heard, it didn’t sound like the kids’ real mom had been too reliable even when she’d been around, so it had probably been a long, long time since Drew had really felt like he could give over the decision-making to anyone else.

But Pauline...Pauline exuded competence. Carlos felt almost superfluous, because she had no problem whatsoever hoisting a screaming Val onto one hip while she took Troy’s hand on her other side and reassured Drew that everything was going to be fine. Carlos got ahead of her and opened the car doors, but he felt pretty sure that even if he hadn’t been there, she would’ve managed just fine.

It was a pleasure to watch. And Carlos could appreciate it even more, because he’d seen her vulnerable side, and he knew that underneath the confident mom-voice was a depth of feeling that he thought even Pauline would have a hard time putting into words. It was humbling.

And even more so, because he was starting to discover the same thing in himself. Watching his mate with these children...the thought that if the custody situation went the right way, that these could be their children...

He’d never known what he wanted, it seemed like. How could he have never known what he wanted?

He’d only known what he didn’t want. He didn’t want a scrabbling, desperate lifestyle like the one he’d grown up with. He didn’t want pain, and tears, and loneliness, and long, empty hours working shift after shift to almost put enough food on the table.

He hadn’t thought about the other side of it. The joy. The fulfillment.

And now he didn’t even have to choose. As long as everything went their way.

They all drove to the Davidson sisters’ house together, and brought the kids in. Stella and Nate were waiting inside, along with Stella’s daughter Eva, and Lynn.

Eva immediately went up to Drew and started talking seriously with him, while Troy tugged at her shirt and asked about her Nintendo in increasingly insistent tones.

“Looks like you’ve got your hands full,” Lynn observed quietly to Carlos.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” he assured her honestly.

“Huh.” She smiled. “Wasn’t ever what I wanted, but I’m glad to see you’re happy with it. And if you need any help—anything at all—you can call on us. Not just Stella and Nate; Ken and I want to help, too.”

“Thanks,” Carlos said, oddly touched. He hadn’t spoken much with Ken’s dependable-looking, gruff-sounding mate, but he could tell that she meant what she said.

She shrugged. “You guys were a pack, back in the Marines, from what Ken says. Stella and Eva and I are as much of a pack as we got. It seems like we might as well all be a pack together. Ken wants to. I think your Colonel wants to.”

A pack.

Not just a mate—not even just a family. A pack. With the Colonel at its head, surely. Carlos remembered how much he’d trusted Colonel Hanes, back when he’d just been Major Hanes. He’d put his life in that man’s hands without a second’s hesitation, because he knew that the Major would make the best decision possible.

He’d been going it alone for so long. In the cutthroat business world, you had to watch over your shoulder all the time—everyone was out for themselves, and you never knew who might turn on you. He’d gotten used to it, but he’d never liked it.

To be able to just...let that go. Leave it behind. Trust in his people, and know that they would trust in him.

It was a day for realizing he wanted things he’d never known he wanted, apparently.

“Thank you,” he said to Lynn, hearing the heartfelt tone in his voice, and not wanting or needing to conceal it. “Thanks. We’ll do that.”

She nodded once. “Good.”

Troy’s voice rose in a furious crescendo, and Carlos turned to catch him up in a toss towards the ceiling. The yell turned into a laugh, and Carlos said, “Hey, what are you upset about, huh?”

“I want to play the Nintendo DS!” Troy told him.

“You gotta wait patiently for something as cool as that,” Carlos explained. “Eva’s talking to Drew right now, because they have some important stuff to say before Drew goes away for the day.” Possibly for longer. That thought put a chill in Carlos’ bones.

Troy accepted that the Nintendo DS was extra-cool, and also accepted being swung through the air a few more times as a substitute for getting to play video games. He was completely trusting of Carlos’ strength, laughing delightedly, with no indication of any fear that Carlos might drop him or accidentally whack him into something. It was humbling.

Finally, everyone had said all they could say, Eva had given Drew a hug and a speaking look and taken Troy’s hand, and it was time to go.

***

Pauline

“You eighteen yet?” Betty at the sheriff’s office front desk frowned at Drew.

He glanced at Pauline. “No.”

“Your mom’s gotta be here, then. Where’s Marsha?”

Pauline stepped forward. Her heart was in her throat. “Marsha’s been missing for a little while,” she said to Betty. “Left a note for the kids and disappeared.” Upon reflection, she added, “I suppose we’re filing a missing persons report about that, as well. But I’m the next closest relative the kids have. Marsha’s cousin.”

Betty assessed her. “You want custody if the parent can’t be located? Because that’s what you’re setting yourself up for, here.”

Pauline nodded firmly. “Yes.” The word felt golden in her mouth.

Betty nodded slowly. “Okay. We got some paperwork, and I’ll get the sheriff out for you.”

Pauline sighed out a long breath, looking over at Drew. He looked a little shellshocked. “Are you really sure?” he asked her.

“Really and truly,” Pauline said. Carlos, who’d been a solid presence behind her, stepped up and laid a hand on Drew’s shoulder.

“Both of us, kid,” he said.

Drew stared back at him. “You barely know me.”

“I know the quality I’ve seen in you the last couple of days,” Carlos said quietly. “And I know Pauline better than I’ve ever known anyone in my life. That’s what being mates is. I want us to be a family.”

“Here’s your paperwork.” Betty gave them a long look over her glasses; Pauline got the sense that it meant Take your squishy feelings elsewhere and bring back my forms when you’re done.

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s go sit down and fill these out.”

***

“I want to make a statement first,” Pauline said to Sheriff Misty Dale, before Drew could speak up at all.

“Okay,” said the sheriff slowly. “About what?”

“About this.” Pauline held up the Mysterious Package.

“Wait a second,” Drew protested.

“Nope,” Pauline said. “Me first.”

Misty looked back and forth between Pauline, Drew, the package, and finally the warm, hulking presence of Carlos standing behind them. “Well, I can see that this is going to take some unraveling,” she said. She pointed at Pauline. “Since you volunteered, you first.”

Pauline gave Drew a reassuring smile and followed Misty back into a room.

She was reassured when it was just a room with a couple of chairs and a table, no two-way mirror like in the movies.

“Okay, Pauline, what’s up?” Misty asked her.

Misty was in her mid-forties, about Pauline’s age—they’d been in school together, although they hadn’t been friends. Misty had been heavily involved in sports and had had a very strict father, while Pauline had had a much more relaxed high school crowd. Mostly centered around Gary, of course. She had a brief recollection of high-school-age Misty turning up her nose at the idea of shaping your life around whatever some boy wanted.

They hadn’t gotten to know each other as adults at all, and Pauline had never run into Misty in her professional capacity, but she hoped that long-ago acquaintance would help a little.

“This kid needs help,” Pauline said.

Slowly, she explained the situation. Misty leaned forward at the first mention of the wolves, paying careful attention, and taking notes even though she’d set up a recording when they sat down.

“Well,” she said finally, once Pauline was done. “If what you’re saying is accurate, this could be a hell of a break for me.”

“I just need to know that Drew’s going to be okay,” Pauline said urgently. “If you could—”

Misty held up a hand. “Look,” she said. “I can’t make any promises, because I only have your perspective on the situation so far. But...what I can say,” she said carefully, “is that if the situation is like you’ve told me, I will make sure that kid gets out of this clean.”

Pauline relaxed a little. “He’s got a recording,” she reminded Misty.

“So you said. And I’ll get him in here to tell me everything himself.”

“Can I be in here with him during the interview?” Pauline asked, but wasn’t surprised when Misty shook her head.

“He’s a minor, and you aren’t his legal guardian.”

“But I’m—” Pauline started, and Misty held up her hand.

“I know. I get it, Pauline, okay? I’m not trying to isolate the kid to try and interrogate him, I promise. One reason I interviewed you first is that I’m waiting for Child Services to get here so we can do this all on the record. Legally, so that whoever deserves legal consequences will get them, okay?”

She met Pauline’s eyes. Hers were a piercing blue; they seemed to look right through anyone they focused on.

Pauline sighed. “Okay.”

“Let’s get back out there, then.”

When they stepped out, they found Drew and Carlos sitting next to each other. They didn’t look like they’d been talking, but Carlos had a hand on Drew’s shoulder, a sight that reassured Pauline a bit. Drew knew that they were there for him.

Misty was taking a call, and as Carlos and Drew stood, she hung up and said, “Brenda from CPS is on her way. This is going to take a lot longer than Pauline’s statement, though; we’re going to have to go over everything several times, and Brenda’s going to have to do her own interview, probably.”

“We can stay here and wait until you’re done,” Pauline said firmly.

“Pauline, no, come on,” Drew spoke up. “You guys shouldn’t just sit here in these crappy chairs for five hours or whatever it’s going to take.”

“You won’t be able to see him or anything,” Misty said quietly.

“Will he be able to come home to us afterward?” Pauline asked.

Misty pinched her nose, and then sighed and looked Pauline in the eye. “I can’t release him into your custody,” she said. “You’re not his legal guardian, not yet, and that paperwork won’t go through today. But I can leave him to wait in the lobby for a bit while I fill out some paperwork later. Is that clear enough?”

Pauline absorbed that. She looked at Drew, who gave her a reassuring smile. “I’ll be fine,” he said.

Heels sounded in the hall, and Misty turned, her face lightening. “Brenda. Great. Let’s get started.”

Pauline scrubbed at her face as the two women turned toward the room she and Misty had just left.

Carlos took her arm. “Hey,” he said. “I thought of something we can do.”

Pauline let him tug her away, with one long backwards glance towards the closing door.

***

Carlos

The sheriff was only doing her job.

Carlos reminded himself of that. She had to separate them from Drew, not just for legal reasons so she could take down Ryan for good, but also because it was good precedent not to let semi-random adults into an interview with a minor. Law enforcement shouldn’t do that.

His tiger was still growling in his chest, though. He wanted to go back in and insist they let him stay. He wanted to show Drew that they were already becoming a family, no matter what the legalities said, and that he’d protect him from anyone who thought they might hurt him.

Yes, his tiger hissed. If he’d been shifted, his tail would’ve been lashing. No one hurts our cubs.

We’re making sure of that, Carlos thought. As they stepped out into the sunlight, he took out his phone. Grabbing Pauline’s hand, he squeezed it as he dialed.

“Carlos!” came Ty’s startled voice on the other hand. “What’s up, man?”

“I had a professional question for you,” Carlos said.

“Professional? What do you need to know about troubled kids?” Ty sounded skeptical.

Carlos grinned. “A thing or two. I have a situation...”

As briefly as possible, he explained. The result was a minute or so of stunned silence.

“What is in the water up there at Glacier Park?” Ty finally said. “You know, I was there for the wedding, too, am I going to zombie my way up north next week?”

“I don’t know,” Carlos said, “are you looking to settle down? Because this seems to be the place to do it.”

“No way,” Ty said. “So let’s focus on your problem instead.”

“Let’s,” Carlos said. “I want this to go as fast as possible. I am happy to throw money at anything that’ll expedite the process. The sheriff wouldn’t respond well to that, but if there’s anyone at CPS...”

Ty made a noise in his throat. “Bribes are probably not the way to go unless you know the lay of the land better than this. But I know a guy who transferred up north when he was over and done with all the big-city stuff. He’ll have a better idea of what the regional scene is like, and I’ll do my level best to get some help for you from that. Can I get back to you?”

“Please,” Carlos said. “And tell me if you buy any plane tickets up here yourself.”

“Yeah, right,” Ty said, and hung up.

Carlos shook his head, pocketed his phone, and turned back to Pauline. “He’s going to make some calls.”

“I heard,” Pauline said, and of course she would have, with her owl’s ears. “Do you really think he can help?”

“I really do,” Carlos said. “Ty is one of the most dependable, reliable, loyal men I have ever met. If he says he’ll do his best to help us, then we can expect some help.”

“Okay.” Pauline bit her lip. “I hope so.”

Carlos took her other hand. He liked holding both of her hands in his, he was finding—they were small but strong, and it meant that they created a little pocket of space between them, where their eyes met and their voices were low, and it was like he could feel her presence pressed up against his.

“We have to wait, now,” he told her. “Maybe for a while. Ty’s got to do whatever calling around he needs, the sheriff has her whole process to go through. Will you come back home with me?”

Home, he realized with a shiver, was what he’d automatically called Pauline’s house. Without a thought; it had just come out of his mouth.

Good, he thought fiercely.

Pauline nodded, squeezing his hands with hers. “Home,” she said.

She would need some distraction, he thought as they got in the car. Hell, he needed some distraction, so that he didn’t sit there with his tiger’s tail lashing for all of the hours that it would take for the sheriff to be done.

Well. He had an idea or two.

***

Pauline

Pauline was looking forward at a long, bleak afternoon.

Should they go back over to Stella and Nate’s, she wondered? Take Troy and Val back, spend time with them? But Troy at least would want to know what was going on, and she didn’t have any good answers for him.

Maybe it was better to let them play, carefree, for the rest of the day. She would be happier if she had them around to distract her, but she wasn’t going to disrupt their day just to be selfish.

But then, as the door to her house closed behind them, Carlos enfolded her from behind, his mouth hot on the back of her neck.

“Oh!” she said, startled, and shivered despite herself. But...”We can’t.”

“Why not?” he murmured.

“Well, not now—what sort of disrespectful kind of almost-parents would we be?”

Carlos pulled back a little, but didn’t let go entirely. Now he was speaking right into her ear. “We can’t do anything to help anyone right now,” he said quietly. “We have to wait. And we won’t help Drew by working ourselves up into an angry, anxious state. I could sit here on tenterhooks for the whole afternoon, waiting to pounce the second I hear something—and then the second I hear something, I’ll pounce. That’s not what Drew needs. He needs thinking, feeling adults, with their heads on straight, who’ll act calmly and do the right thing for him.”

Pauline could feel her body start to soften just at his words. It was true—without anything else to do, she knew she’d spend the afternoon getting tenser and tenser, more and more anxious. Hadn’t she just been thinking of getting the younger kids as a distraction?

This was a distraction that wouldn’t hurt anyone.

“Cell phone ringers turned up high,” she said.

“Absolutely,” Carlos agreed, letting go of her to pull out his phone. “We won’t miss any news. I promise.”

Pauline dialed up her phone’s volume to its highest setting, and then put it carefully on a side table—and then Carlos was on her, his mouth hungry, his hands searching. She gasped, and suddenly it was like all the energy that had been fueling fear was transformed—she was on fire.

She clutched at him, devouring his mouth, wanting to lose herself in his body. He caught her close, pressing her against his body. She could feel his cock half-hard already, as his hands slid down her back to cup her behind.

The only warning she got was a sudden tensing of his shoulder muscles, and then he lifted, bringing her smoothly up with his hands under her butt. Pauline let out a giggling shriek that she hadn’t known could even come out of her own mouth, and wrapped herself around him, arms and legs both.

He spun them around and pressed Pauline up against the wall. She’d never been in this position in her own home before, and suddenly the idea struck her as ridiculous—why was she so staid? Why had she thought that this would be disrespectful, that connecting with her mate like this, with love and joy, could be anything but good for them, and for the people around them?

Then she lost her train of thought because Carlos was kissing his way down her chest.

His mouth was hot and insistent, dipping down into her cleavage. Pauline let go of his shoulders, trusting him to hold her up, and unbuttoned the shirt, wiggling out of it and tossing it aside. Carlos was like a rock under her, not a hint of a waver.

But the second she put her hands back on his shoulders, he was kissing her breasts, his tongue tracing a hot line down between them. Shivers ran down her body at his touch, and she squirmed against him. His belt buckle was right—right—

“God, you’re gorgeous,” he said against her skin, which wasn’t a word Pauline had ever associated with herself.

“You’re the gorgeous one,” she murmured, and he shook his head slowly, the hint of stubble rasping against her skin, his dark hair brushing her chin. There was so much of him, holding her up, drinking her in. And he was all hers.

He relaxed his hold slowly, letting her slide down the wall in a long aching move that rubbed all of her against all of him. Then he repeated it from his side, going slowly down to his knees, catching the button of her jeans as he went, tugging them down with him.

Pauline gasped as he pressed his mouth to her mound, over her panties, his hot breath filtering through the fabric to caress her without a touch. Then he reached up and tugged them down, spread her lips with his big hands and licked her.

Pauline shuddered, her hands pressed against the wall, trying to hold herself up as her knees went liquid and pleasure burst through her, centered right on her clit where Carlos’ tongue was exploring.

He was slow but confident, seeming to remember everything she liked from last time, sucking in all the right places, following every noise, every twitch of pleasure, to its peak, until Pauline was a quivering mess against the wall. She was damp with sweat, making high-pitched noises with every breath, and still his tongue was relentless.

Carlos brought her off like that, against the wall with her jeans and panties tangled around her ankles. She shrieked in pleasure as her entire body contracted, all of her nerves seeming to coalesce at the point on the tip of her clit where his tongue was, her vision darkening with the power of her orgasm.

Carlos didn’t hesitate. While she was still shivering with the aftershocks, he stood up and caught her up again, bridal-style this time—her jeans still holding her feet hostage. “What—” she half-laughed, pleasure still rippling through her.

“Bedroom,” he growled, and snagged her phone with one hand before taking them off to her room. Their room.

He laid her gently on the bed, then set her phone just as gently on the nightstand. Even in the middle of sex, he’d remembered what the most important thing was.

Heart swelling, Pauline reached out for him. “Come here,” she demanded, breathless.

“Here.” He was, too, right up close to her, dropping a kiss on her mouth. “What do you want?”

“To take my turn,” she said. She finally got rid of her jeans and panties, unhooked her bra, and pushed herself up to kneel, naked, on the bed. “I haven’t seen nearly enough of you yet.”

He smiled a little, and started stripping. Pauline watched it like it was her own personal show, delighting in each new reveal of warm brown skin, tracing the places where his curly dark hair grew, sitting forward hungrily as he unbuttoned his jeans.

When he was naked, she hardly knew where to start. He lay back on the bed, putting his hands behind his head, watching her with that same small, happy smile. Pauline felt like she could bask in that warm look as if it was sunlight.

She leaned forward and put her hands on his chest, tracing over his massive pectorals, brushing her thumbs over his nipples and listening to his sharp inhale. Down to his abs, then, marveling at the definition. Shifters were all strong, all fit, but it still took work to look like this. “Spend a lot of time in the gym?” she asked.

“My outlet,” he confessed. “I could hardly ever get away to shift and run, but my building had a gym, so I put in some time every day. It kept my tiger from going absolutely crazy.”

Pauline would have to remember to thank his tiger.

Struck by an earthy impulse, she bent down to taste the muscled expanse. He tasted warm with a hint of salt-sweat, and she could smell his arousal. He made a low noise, and the muscles low in her own abdomen clenched in response.

Slowly, she moved south. He was fully hard now, and just as big as the rest of him would suggest. He smelled earthy, musky, and her mouth watered.

Pauline had never felt much of an urge to do this. She knew that other women actively liked it, but she’d never been one. She’d done it occasionally as a favor to Gary, but this was the first time she’d wanted to so badly.

She tasted him, and it was like the taste had a hardwired connection to her clit. The salt-musk of it thrilled her, and she found herself just exploring, enjoying the taste and feel of him in her mouth. Above her, Carlos made a low, desperate noise, and she found she liked that, too—the proof that he was so affected by her.

Soon enough, though, she had some sympathy for him and got down to business, taking as much of him into her mouth as she could, wrapping her hand around the base of his cock, and licking and sucking with purpose. It wasn’t anything like the mechanical act she’d performed before, though—it was like his sex was her entire world, all she could feel and smell and taste. Everything else retreated into insignificance. Her senses were overwhelmed by him, her mouth was full, his groans echoed in her ears and sent vibrations through both of them, and everything was slick and hot and sexy.

“Enough,” he finally ground out, reaching down and catching her by the shoulder.

Pauline pulled back reluctantly. “Weren’t you enjoying it?” she said. It was a tease—she knew he’d been enjoying himself, and had the hint of salty pre-come still in her mouth to prove it. She’d never seen the point of teasing before.

But now, he mock-growled and pulled her down, and she tumbled onto the bed next to him, laughing. “You know I was,” he said into her ear. “So much that I didn’t want to end things too soon.”

“What did you want instead?” she asked, her eyes wide. Playing the ingenue.

Another mock-growl—goodness, that sent a thrilling ripple through her lower abdomen—and he rolled them so he was on top of her, looking down at her, settling between her legs. His eyes softened as she met his gaze, though, and he leaned down and kissed her tenderly.

Then not so tenderly. They tasted like each other, Pauline thought, and she tilted her hips up, asking without words.

He reached down to feel her, and his fingers slipped in her wetness. She scrabbled at his shoulders. “Come on,” she moaned.

He slid his cock inside her in a long, slow glide that stroked pleasure right into her, made her arch her back and gasp in a long, long breath. “Oh, God,” she murmured.

He made a low noise of agreement and started to move. The world fell away—it was just the two of them, just the feeling of him moving in and out of her, the clench of her inner muscles around his thick cock, the way he stroked the hair off her face and leaned down to kiss her some more.

Pauline had never felt this close to another person. She’d never known sex could be like this—something beautiful and close, as well as hot and physical. Something...almost sacred.

Carlos caressed her side with one hand, slipping it down between them to brush over her belly and slide between her legs. He caught her clit between two fingers, and Pauline moaned in startled pleasure. It was like he’d caught the building pleasure and sharpened it into something imminent. She got a hand behind his head, fingers in his hair, and pulled him down for a fierce kiss as he thrust in and pressed down simultaneously—and she came.

It felt like it went on forever. He kept moving inside her as she spasmed, prolonging the waves of pleasure until she wasn’t sure if it would ever end. She moaned and panted and clenched her fingers on his shoulders, and it just kept on going.

Finally, finally, the tight spasms started to lessen, fade away. She was left with a warm golden sense of well-being, like her whole body was suffused with sunlight. She gentled the kiss, tasting her mate, and sighed into his mouth.

Carlos seemed to relax, too. Had he been waiting for her to be done? He must have been, because the moment his grip eased, he was groaning deep in his chest as he gave himself up to his own climax. Pauline held him close as he shook through it, wondering if anyone had ever even discovered this kind of pleasure before.

Afterwards, they lay together. Pauline took the opportunity to run her hands over him, marveling that this was her mate. These shoulders, they were hers. This collarbone—hers. The curve of his hip, the long line of his thigh. All hers.

“What are you thinking?” he murmured as she touched him.

She blushed. “It’s—possessive. Not very flattering.”

“Say it,” he said into her ear.

“You’re mine.” There was a fierceness to her voice that she wasn’t used to hearing in herself.

“Yes,” he agreed. “All yours. Forever.”

The words settled into her heart, and she pulled him close and shut her eyes.

***

No one called before they got up.

Pauline deliberately took her time, lingering with Carlos in bed, taking a long shower while Carlos stayed with the phone, and then switching out and waiting for him to clean up. Still nothing.

Finally, it got late enough that it was time to go get the younger kids. Carlos pulled her into a close hug and said, “We’re going to be there for him no matter what happens.”

That was somehow better than an, It’ll be fine, because...maybe it wouldn’t be fine. It was hard for Pauline to believe an empty assurance like that. But—she knew that they would be there for Drew. No matter what happened.

She nodded gratefully. “No matter what,” she said.

“And remember—we have a lot of resources right now. Really, no matter what, as long as he’s on board with accepting our help, we can make sure he comes out okay, lands on his feet.”

“We,” Pauline repeated, marveling a little.

Carlos nodded. “Not just me. Us.” He hesitated a little. “We could even make it legal.”

It took her a second to realize what had just happened. She took a step back. “Carlos Gonzales, did you just propose to me?”

He looked a little shamefaced. “I did. I should’ve waited until I had a ring and an occasion—”

Pauline shook her head. “No. I want it, too. And what occasion could be better than talking about how we’re going to make the future as bright as it could be?”

She didn’t mention that Gary had done up a fancy proposal, out in a park at sunset with a ring he’d saved up for. At the time, she’d been overwhelmed with joy, but in retrospect, she could see that he’d put more effort into the proposal than he had into their relationship.

“Let’s get married,” she told him.

Carlos leaned in and kissed her, long and lingering. “Okay,” he whispered against her mouth as he pulled back. Then he grinned. “I promise I’ll get you a ring.”

“Nothing ostentatious,” Pauline said firmly.

Carlos nodded, solemn. “I swear.”

Pauline looked at the time. “Come on, we have to go get the kids.”

They went. And it struck her that she couldn’t ask for a better promise of commitment, than right now, when they were teetering on the brink of possibly the greatest commitment a person could make: children.

***

“Any news?” Stella asked quietly as they handed the kids over. “Eva hasn’t heard anything, and she’s going nuts.”

Pauline shook her head regretfully. “I promise we’ll let you know as soon as we learn anything.”

“Do you want to stay here? We could all make a slumber party out of it.”

Pauline hesitated. The idea had such an appeal. It seemed so...pack-like, all of them camping together on a living room floor. Finally, though, she shook her head. “I want to be where Drew can find me if anything happens.”

The idea was a little silly, maybe—what was going to happen? Anything that would happen would involve Drew being taken somewhere else, not finding his way home. But she could shake the idea that she needed to be there, just in case.

And Stella just nodded. “I understand.”

She hugged Pauline, then, and Pauline found her breath catching, tears prickling in her eyes, as she hugged back. When had she last had a close female friend? It felt like most of her friends had fallen away after the divorce—couples, all of them—and the rest had disappeared while Pauline was buried in the exhausting, depressing minutiae of caring for her dying parents.

Now, though...maybe now she could have something like this again. Friends. More than friends—a pack.

Stella let her go with a stern instruction not to leave them out of the loop, and Pauline promised faithfully to keep everyone apprised of what was happening. They took a chattering Troy and a sleepy Val back to her house.

And when they arrived, Drew was sitting on her doorstep.

Pauline was out of the car before it completely stopped moving. “Drew!” She ran forward and bent down to hug him. “Is everything...”

“Everything’s okay,” he said immediately, standing up. “The interview went...really okay. The sheriff said there wouldn’t be any charges at all, and then she did what she said. Left me in the lobby and went to fill out some paperwork.”

Carlos got out of the car with Val in his arms, while Troy barreled across the yard to give Drew a big, sticky hug. “Eva has a Nintendo DS,” he informed Drew.

“I know,” Drew said. “It’s pretty cool, isn’t it?”

Troy nodded vigorously. “She let me play for two whole hours.”

“Wow, that’s a long time, dude!” Drew said. “She’s way nicer than I am.”

Troy considered that. “Yup.”

Drew snorted a laugh, and scooped Troy up in his arms. “I’m glad to see you, kid.”

“Can we have dinner?” Troy asked, squirming to get down. “Pizza?”

“You ate with Stella and Nate and Eva,” Carlos said. “They told me.”

Troy opened his eyes wide. “There’s always room for pizza.”

Pauline started to laugh. “No pizza,” she told him. “But you can have a snack. Come on, let’s all go inside.” She went forward to unlock the door, and added, “And you can tell us everything that happened.”

Drew nodded.

They all went inside, and Pauline found some crackers and applesauce and milk for Troy, who loudly informed her that pizza would’ve been superior.

“That’s what there is, kid, so that’s what you’re getting,” Drew told him, and Troy settled in with only a little bit of a pout.

Val got a few crackers, too, which occupied her immediately, and Pauline and Carlos sat with Drew on the couch, where they could see the kids but were mostly out of earshot. “What happened?” Carlos asked him.

“Sheriff Dale made me tell the whole story, like, five times,” Drew said. “And she took all these notes, and she wouldn’t tell me anything about what she was going to do. And then she asked me a ton of questions about Mom and where she was, and about you guys and what you’d been doing, and all that.”

“I hope you told her the truth,” Pauline said.

Drew gave her a look. “Of course I did. I wasn’t going to lie after we went to all this trouble.”

After seeing him so subdued earlier, Pauline reveled in this hint of teenage attitude. “Of course,” she murmured. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

“And then she said I could go. I asked if we—the kids—could stay with you permanently, and she said she didn’t see why CPS wouldn’t approve you."

Fear gripped Pauline’s heart. “They wouldn’t approve me as a foster mom before,” she said.

Carlos took her hand. “Two things are going to override that now,” he said with confidence. “First, you’re the kids’ closest living relative. Second, your financial situation is about to be very different.”

“And my married status,” Pauline realized, smiling at him. “Oh, yes.”

“You guys are getting married?” Drew asked, looking back and forth between them.

“As soon as possible,” Pauline told him. “I can’t remember how long it takes to get a license in Montana.”

“We can get the ball rolling tomorrow,” Carlos said, leaning in to give her a quick kiss.

“Ew,” said Troy, who had finished his snack and was coming over to see if anything interesting was happening. “Can we play a game or something?”

“Sure,” Carlos told him. “What game do you want to play?”

“Hide and seek!” Troy said immediately.

“Sounds like fun,” Carlos said. “Who’s It first?”

“You are!” Troy shouted, and ran off giggling. “Better start counting!” he called over his shoulder.

Carlos looked at Pauline and Drew. “Maybe I should’ve asked if you had more to say before I agreed to this.”

“Nope,” Pauline said, with a quick glance at Drew to confirm he was grinning. “Too late. You’re It, you can’t take it back.” She got up and looked at him. “Close your eyes and count!”

Carlos smiled. “Okay then.” He covered his eyes and said loudly, “One...two...”

Drew was on his way over to Val. “Val, want to hide with me?”

“Hide seek!” Val said, squirming down from her chair.

Pauline smiled to herself and went to find a hiding place.

***

Carlos

Carlos couldn’t remember the last time he’d played hide and seek. Especially if you didn’t count Marine stealth training exercises, which had sometimes been enjoyable, but weren’t quite the same thing.

It was fun.

“Ready or not, here I come!” he called to the empty room.

Troy was immediately obvious, crouching in the space between the fridge and the back wall of the kitchen, but Carlos pretended not to see him. “Where are they?” he wondered out loud.

A little high-pitched giggle sounded from Pauline’s room. Their room, Carlos corrected himself. He prowled inside, scenting the air. There was a toddler in here, all right.

“Hmmm,” he said to himself. “Where are Val and Drew? Here?” He peeked in the closet. “No...here?” He looked in a dresser drawer. “No...”

Another little giggle.

“Here?” He looked behind the window curtain. “No....what about...here!” He dropped down to the floor, looking under the bed.

Val burst into shrieks of laughter, scrambled out from under the bed, and made a break for the door. Carlos chased her out into the living room and caught her up, tossing her into the air. She giggled and screamed for joy.

Drew followed more slowly, smiling. “Want me to take her?”

“No way,” Carlos said. “Val and I are both It now. Let’s see. Where’s Troy?” He pretended to look in the hall closet, behind the couch, in the bathtub, and out the window, holding Val out to look first in each location. Finally, he came into the kitchen. “Man, he’s hiding really good. Let’s see. Could he be...here?” He jumped forward to the fridge.

“You caught me!” Troy yelled. “Let’s play again!”

“Wait, we haven’t found Pauline yet,” Carlos told him. “She’s really good at hiding.” He suspected he knew where she was, though. One of the windows was open.

“Where is Pauline?” Drew asked, looking around.

“Pauline!” Troy called, looking around. “She is good at hiding.”

“I think I know where we might find her,” Carlos said. “Come on, let’s all go at once.” He led the kids over to the open window, in the bedroom—one of the several windows in the house without a screen. He hoisted Troy up in his free arm, and said, “One...two...three!”

He leaned them all out the window at once, and stared up to where an owl was perched on the eaves.

Pauline fluttered down, and Carlos took a step back from the window as she swooped inside and shifted back to human. “You caught me,” she said ruefully.

“Shifting is cheating,” Troy told her.

“Oh, I didn’t know!” She held a hand to her mouth. “No one told me the rules.”

“That’s okay. You can be It this time, then.”

Pauline smiled. “My pleasure.”

***

Pauline

Eventually, the younger children were put to bed, and Pauline, Carlos, and Drew sat down in the living room together.

“Sheriff Dale really did seem like...like she cared a lot more about catching Ryan than about me,” Drew said finally.

“Of course she does,” Carlos said. “Think about it from her perspective. Why should she arrest you? What would she get out of it? Especially when you’ve given valuable evidence against a truly dangerous man, one who could convince a lot more teenagers to break the law in his lifetime if he doesn’t get put away.”

“I guess,” Drew said. He was looking a bit surprised and a bit thoughtful; Pauline wondered if the essential self-centeredness of youth had taken a more responsible turn in him. It seemed like it was hard for him to grasp the idea that his own transgressions weren’t more dire than they seemed.

“We’ll talk to the sheriff ourselves tomorrow,” Carlos was saying. “And we’ll be putting ourselves forward as guardians for all of you.”

“To which end we will be getting married as soon as possible,” Pauline put in.

Carlos kissed her hand. “My fiancée is such a romantic.”

Pauline blushed. “I didn’t mean—I mean, it’s to more ends than just that! We want to be married, it’s just—”

Carlos was laughing, and even Drew had the ghost of a smile. “I was kidding,” Carlos told her, and then leaned in and murmured in her ear, almost silently, “I know that you really are a romantic.”

She blushed harder. Because—oh, it was true. She’d tried so hard to be practical, all her life, and she’d succeeded pretty well, but all of this had proven that underneath, she’d contained such a deep well of longing, of the potential for love, of vulnerability...

She’d always thought all of that was a weakness, because it had only given her pain. But now she was learning differently.

A sudden, heavy pounding on the door interrupted her thoughts. Drew startled out of his chair as a deep male voice sounded outside.

“I know you’re in there, kid!”

It was Ryan. Here. At her house.

Carlos was immediately on his feet. He tossed his phone to Drew. “Get in the bedroom with the kids and call the sheriff,” he growled. “You stay with them, you hear me? Make sure they’re safe and that they stay in the room and stay quiet.”

Drew nodded, gone pale as milk, and scooted away, dialing the phone.

Next Carlos looked at Pauline. “Call Nate.”

Pauline nodded and dialed with shaking fingers. They had plenty of people to help them, she told herself.

But what if they didn’t get here in time?

***

Carlos

Carlos hadn’t been in a fight since—well, since the last time he’d been here, in Glacier Park.

And come to think of it, that had been with these exact same guys.

What a nice, nostalgic moment this was going to be, then.

Carlos stepped up to the door. “What the hell are you doing at my mate’s home?” he barked, in as deep and intimidating a voice as he could summon.

There was a momentary pause. “We got no quarrel with you,” the voice said. “We just want the kid.”

“Well,” Carlos said, “the kid’s under my protection. And if you are who I think you are, you got a taste of what my protection means a month or so ago, you and your whiny friend Todd. So you might want to just move along.”

Another pause, and Carlos had a moment of hoping it might just be over, without any blood having to be shed.

But then the voice came back, stronger. “That was you and three of your friends. I don’t hear any other men here tonight, and I got a few of my friends along with me. I don’t think you’re gonna have much success against us all.”

“Want to bet on that?” Carlos asked mildly.

A nasty laugh. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I do.”

Carlos looked back at Pauline. Part of him was grateful that she wasn’t a more combat-ready shifter, like Lynn and Stella’s lynx forms, because there was nothing to stop him from telling her, “Stay inside. Keep back. If they get in, get back into the bedroom with the kids and get them out the window.”

There was always the possibility that the wolf pack had the place surrounded, of course, but Carlos planned on being enough of a problem for them that any rearguards would be called forward to deal with him.

She nodded, pale but steady. “Nate, Stella, Lynn, and Ken are on their way.”

“Good.” He just had to hold the wolves back until they got here, then.

He took a deep breath. There were a few strategies available. He could make use of the defensive structure that was the house—there were four walls and a locked door currently between him and the enemy.

But that would direct the wolves at the windows. And there’d be a greater chance of them choosing the back windows to try and sneak up behind him. Which was where the kids were.

On the other hand, if he opened the door, they’d have one big, recognizable target to deal with, and he had confidence in his ability to keep them occupied.

With that in mind, Carlos made his move.

In one smooth motion, he unlocked the front door, threw it open, and leapt forward, shifting as his feet left the ground.

Ryan had quick enough reflexes to get himself out of the way. The wolf behind him, already shifted, didn’t. Six hundred pounds of adult male tiger landed on him, knocking him to the ground with an ominous crunch.

Carlos left him motionless on the ground and whirled, meeting Ryan just as he shifted and lunged. They clashed, and pain ripped through him as Ryan’s teeth closed on his shoulder. Carlos growled and broke free, swiping at the wolf’s face and catching his ear with a wickedly sharp claw.

Ryan retreated for a moment, and Carlos leapt to take up a position in the open doorway. The narrow opening meant that no one could attack him from behind, but he would still be enough of a threat that the full force of the pack should focus on him, rather than aiming to enter the house from behind.

He hoped.

But sure enough, the other wolves were coming forward, slinking around the corners of the house where they’d been lurking in the shadows. Only four of them in total, counting the one Carlos had taken down first, who still hadn’t moved. This might be a winnable fight, then, even if reinforcements didn’t arrive soon.

Then Ryan growled, and they all attacked at once.

Carlos found himself in a blur of claws, fangs, and fur. One of the wolves was skinny and ragged-looking, so Carlos got in a hard bite on his throat—not enough to kill him, but enough for him to fall back, gasping for breath.

However, that targeted movement left his flank open for another attack, and he felt claws rip through his fur at the same time as Ryan leapt for him. Carlos reared back to meet the charge, and they clashed with a shock of impact and pain. The world tilted, and they were rolling.

He had to stay in the doorway. He couldn’t leave the doorway open, leave the house vulnerable for the other wolves to get inside.

With a mighty heave, Carlos wrenched them over so that the two of them—Ryan’s teeth fixed in Carlos’ side, Carlos’ claws digging into Ryan’s front legs—blocked the doorway. The other two wolves wouldn’t be able to get into the house without going through them.

And being caught in a tight grapple like this, although he could feel the deep pain of Ryan’s teeth and knew that he wasn’t coming out of it without a serious injury, meant that the other two wolves couldn’t attack. They were moving too fast, and there was too much of a chance of hitting their leader.

Especially since none of these wolves were formally combat-trained. It was clear in their sloppy movements, the way they held back and let their leader do most of the real attacking, and weren’t at all effective as a unit.

Carlos tore his way free from Ryan’s teeth, feeling blood run down his side, and roared. He had the satisfaction of seeing the raggedy wolf flinch away.

Ryan didn’t, of course. He circled around Carlos, watching him with cold, calculating eyes.

Carlos caught his breath, watching not Ryan’s eyes, but his chest muscles, looking for the tightening that would precede another strike.

He saw it a split-second before the attack happened, and he was ready. But Ryan’s second was attacking at the same moment, and as Carlos met Ryan with a vicious snap of his teeth, the second wolf lunged for his throat.

This must have emboldened the smallest one, because Carlos felt a third set of teeth close on his already-injured flank.

Come on, Sheriff, he thought grimly. Come on...pack.

He’d go down protecting Pauline and the kids if he had to. But he didn’t want to have to. He wanted the life he’d seen stretching out before him, and he was damned if these pathetic excuses for men were going to take it from him.

Then he heard a window break inside the house.

***

Pauline

Nate had assured Pauline that he, Ken, Lynn, and even Stella—who Pauline hadn’t thought was much of a fighter—were on their way, driving as quickly as was safe through the back forest roads to get to Pauline’s house.

So Pauline was left with nothing to do but wait. While Carlos fought for her and the kids.

She’d never wished so hard for a different shifted form. A lioness, or even a lynx like Lynn and Stella. Something with substance, with powerful jaws to protect her kids with.

But no, she was stuck inside, with nothing for her owl form to do. While Carlos roared and growled, and she caught glimpses of his orange fur mingled with gray wolves as they clashed and rolled and bit.

Then she heard Drew make a startled noise, inside the kids’ room. Pauline darted in just in time to see Drew stumbling back from the window—and the wolf on the other side.

“What’s happening?” Troy’s tiny voice piped up.

“Nothing, honey,” Pauline said, determined. The wolf had seen them, and its mouth was open in a terrifying approximation of a grin.

He backed up, aiming for the window. Pauline’s eyes narrowed.

“Pauline, you should take the kids and stay back,” Drew said, nervousness filling his voice. “I’ll—I can—”

“No, Drew.” Pauline made her voice absolutely firm, allowing no wavering. “Put the kids in the closet, stand in front of it, and shift. Okay?”

Drew was already hauling Troy and Val out of bed. “What is it?” Troy’s voice spiraled up, “Drew, what—”

Drew shoved them both in the closet, hissed, “Stay quiet and keep still,” and then shifted.

The wolf was running for the window, picking up speed. Pauline shifted.

The wolf hit the window with a crash. Broken glass went everywhere.

But now, of course, there was a problem. The wolf had to get through the window, which wasn’t huge, without tearing himself to pieces on the shards of glass still hanging onto the window frame.

As he backed up to consider the situation, Pauline fluttered up and out the window, her smaller form making it through without a problem.

The second she was out in the night air, she beat her wings as hard as she could. Gaining height, gaining, gaining—

She could see that below her, the wolf had tilted his head up to see what she was doing. Good. Very, very good.

She went as high as she could in as short a time as she could manage.

Then she lifted her wings and dove.

The wind whistled through her feathers as she fell like a rock. The wolf pulled back, startled at the sight of her—but didn’t turn tail and run, like he should have.

Because she landed, claws out, right on his face.

He howled in pain, striking out on instinct—but Pauline had already pulled away, flapping back inside the window. When she looked out again, the wolf’s face was a bloody mask, and he was retreating back into the trees.

Drew, meanwhile, was in his young, rangy wolf form, crouched in front of the closet, ready to fight any larger, stronger adult wolves who might’ve come in to attack his siblings.

Pauline’s heart went out to him. She shifted back and came forward to touch his fur. “It’s okay,” she told him. “He’s gone.”

Drew hesitated—and then they heard the most beautiful sound Pauline had ever heard in her life.

Sirens.

***

Carlos

Carlos was caught.

He couldn’t get inside to help Pauline and the kids without bringing the other wolves with him. And it was taking every ounce of strength he possessed to hold off three opponents by himself—if he tried to take on another...

He had to trust that Pauline and Drew would be able to take care of it themselves. Even though he should be there.

The desperation he felt fueled a burst of ferocity, a roar building in his chest. His tiger exploded out of the three-way hold he was in. He was bleeding freely now, but he couldn’t feel it; adrenaline had forced any awareness of pain from his mind.

He crouched, facing three furious wolves, eyes darting from one to the other. He could see them bracing, wondering which of them it would be—

Carlos pounced. The weakest wolf went down underneath him, at least one leg out of commission from trying to brace against Carlos’ weight. The other two were on him immediately, of course, but he was ready to tear away and spin around to do it again—he didn’t know how many times he could do this before his injuries caught up with him, but—

A wailing sound split the night.

It took Carlos a long moment to process it for what it was: police sirens. At first it had sounded to him like the cry of yet another animal.

But no, that was definitely a siren.

And it was coming closer.

Thank God.

And then—even sweeter—Pauline appeared in the doorway, whole and uninjured and clearly worrying about him. She took in the scene, and Carlos met her eyes, trying to telepathically communicate stay back, stay safe.

Ryan reared back, eyes darting around to take in his two fallen pack members. Carlos saw him make the decision to abandon them and run. Those yellow eyes fixed on the dark woods behind the house, and Ryan swung around—

Carlos pounced again.

This time, he wasn’t aiming to hurt, maim, or even disable. He just wanted to keep Ryan right here. At the scene of his crime.

That was the tableau the flashing lights illuminated, as the sheriff’s Jeep pulled up to the scene, followed by the deputy’s car.

“Freeze!” came her echoing voice. “Everyone shift back to human, now.”

Carlos obeyed, backing away from Ryan’s wolf body—and stumbling as one of his legs threatened to give way underneath him. Pauline was at his side instantly.

“You’re hurt,” she said frantically. “Carlos—are you—”

“Fine,” he assured her, mostly sure that that was true. “Shifter healing. I’ll be all right. Nothing vital was hit.”

He was doing a quick self-assessment as he spoke, and he was reasonably sure that he was telling the truth.

“NOBODY MOVE,” the sheriff barked. “That includes you, Pauline. Everyone stay still, stay human, and keep your hands where I can see them.”

Slowly, Ryan shivered, and shifted. His two conscious friends did the same. The first wolf that Carlos had taken out was motionless on the ground. The sheriff motioned her deputy over to him.

The man crouched next to the fallen wolf and reported, “He’s alive. Not in great shape, but alive.”

“Good,” said the sheriff. “All right. All of you are coming in with me to explain what happened tonight.”

“The kids are inside,” Pauline said.

The sheriff’s mouth went grim. “Well, that’s going to affect how kindly I take to the aggressive parties,” she said. “All right. Everyone to the station. Now.”

Another car turned into the drive, and she spun around to face it, then relaxed. It pulled to a stop with a spray of dirt, and out jumped Ken, Nate, Lynn, and Stella.

“Is everyone okay?” Stella ran forward.

“Everyone’s alive, and everyone who needs medical attention is going to get it,” Sheriff Dale told her. “I might want to deputize one or two of you to help me with this.”

Ken and Nate stepped forward immediately, but the sheriff pointed at Lynn. “You, come on.”

“We can help,” Ken insisted.

“I haven’t known you since you were five years old,” Sheriff Dale said, “so forgive me for choosing the person I’m most confident in. Let’s go.”

Lynn knocked her shoulder against Ken’s as she passed by; Carlos interpreted it as partly, Sorry you don’t get to help, and partly gloating.

“Come on, all of you,” the sheriff said. “We’ll sort it out in town.”

But Carlos could see the expression on her face as she looked at the wolves—and how that expression changed when Drew appeared in the doorway with Val in his arms, holding Troy’s hand.

“Hi, guys,” Dale said, her voice suddenly much gentler. “Everyone okay? Anybody hurt at all?”

Drew shook his head. “We’re okay,” he said. His eyes flickered over the people gathered out front. “One of the wolves came to the back window. But Pauline fought him off.”

Carlos turned to Pauline, full of a sudden, intense mixture of pride and concern. “You—”

“I’m fine,” she said. “He didn’t touch me.”

Carlos pulled her into a hug. “Brave.”

The sheriff had come up to greet Drew at the door. She crouched down to say hello to Troy. “We’re going to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again,” she said. “I promise you. Okay?”

Troy hid his face in Drew’s leg, and the sheriff stood up. “I have to apologize to you,” she said quietly. “I let you go thinking that you’d be safe. I mistook the amount of danger you were in. I should’ve taken you and your siblings into custody and kept you there until the danger was gone.”

“I didn’t think, either,” Drew said faintly. “I didn’t realize they’d look for me here. I thought we’d be safe.”

Carlos’ heart broke. He squeezed Pauline’s hand and came forward. “Well, we can all go to the police station together, huh?” he said to Drew. “And then we’ll definitely be safe.”

Drew’s eyes went wide as he looked at Carlos, who was, he realized, alarmingly bloody. “Are you okay?”

“I’m completely fine,” Carlos said firmly, which was a bit of a lie, but one he felt no guilt over whatsoever. “You ready to go?”

Drew looked at the sheriff, then down at Troy, and then at Carlos and Pauline. “Yes,” he said. “Let’s all go together.”

“Great, glad we agree,” said Sheriff Dale dryly.

***

Pauline

The rest of the night was long, cold, and brightly lit. But Pauline couldn’t be sorry about any of it, because the sheriff let one of them stay with the kids the entire time. She gave her own story alone while Carlos cradled a sleeping Val in one arm and a grumpy Troy in the other, and then they switched places.

“Shouldn’t you have gone to a hospital?” she said in the one private moment they had during the handoff.

He shook his head. “I told you, shifter healing. It’s all superficial.”

She had to doubt it, but he didn’t look like he was about to pass out, and shifters rarely got infections, so she let it go. If he wasn’t on his way to healing by tomorrow, they could have words about it.

So she sat in the room Misty had given them with the kids, holding them tight and soaking in their warmth. Troy had, fortunately, not processed a great deal of what had happened back at the house—he knew that bad guys had shown up and he’d had to hide with his sister, but he seemed to have the impression that Pauline, Drew, and Carlos had all fought them off by punching them in the nose a few times, and Pauline was very happy to let him continue with that impression.

Drew was off being questioned separately. Pauline desperately wanted him here with them, so she could wrap an arm around his thin shoulders and reassure him that everything was going to be okay from now on.

Because it...was. She thought. She thought it was.

They’d have to see.

After a long, long time, Misty appeared in the door to their little room, followed by Drew, and then by Carlos, who had to duck to come through the small doorframe.

Pauline wanted to leap to her feet, but Troy had fallen asleep, and she wasn’t about to disturb him.

But it turned out that she didn’t have to. Drew came over of his own accord, sat next to her, and said, “Sheriff Dale says it’s going to work out.”

Carlos came up and sat on his other side, reaching out a long arm to pull them all into a hug. Pauline looked up at Misty, daring to hope.

Misty nodded. “I’ve interviewed everyone who was there tonight, and the conclusion seems very clear to me. Ryan and his friends attacked the place with the intention of doing harm to minors, and you and Mr. Gonzalez, here, risked your lives to protect the children. I’ll be recommending to CPS that you, Pauline, be the first choice for a permanent placement—I understand that you and Mr. Gonzalez will be getting married?”

“As soon as possible,” Pauline said firmly.

“CPS is welcome to look into my financial status,” Carlos said comfortably. “I think they’ll find that our combined household will be more than capable of supporting three children.”

Pauline felt Drew jerk in surprise. “You—you have money?” he asked, as though he were trying to hold back the words but couldn’t quite manage it.

“I just retired from a pretty successful business career, kid,” Carlos told him. “I have more money than I know what to do with.”

“Around here? I could give you a few suggestions,” Misty said, deadpan.

Carlos looked suddenly thoughtful.

“Anyway, you all talk amongst yourselves. CPS will be here soon, I’m warning you,” Misty said. “But for now, just know that you’ll have nothing to worry about from Ryan anytime soon.”

She left, closing the door behind her. “What are you thinking?” Pauline asked Carlos.

“Just—it doesn’t seem right that there aren’t any resources around here for a kid like Drew,” Carlos said, his arm tightening around them all. “That’s probably how half those wolves ended up where they are now, anyway. No resources, no one to help them get an education and a good job.”

“If you don’t work in Park tourism, there’s not a lot to do around here,” Pauline agreed. “A lot of teenagers end up doing illegal stuff.”

“So maybe we need—a community center, or something. A place kids can go and take classes, do programs, things like that. All types of kids, shifters or not, whatever.”

Pauline felt a smile starting on her face. “Maybe a daycare, for single working moms?”

“Yes.” Carlos snapped his fingers, pointing at her. “What do you think, Drew, does that sound like a good idea?”

“Yeah,” Drew said softly. “Yeah, it does. Maybe if Mom had had someplace like that...”

“Mental health resources,” Pauline said softly. “Counseling. Can you really fund something like that?”

“I really can,” Carlos said with confidence. “And it sounds like exactly the sort of project I’ve been looking for. Something I can really throw myself into.” His voice took on a tinge of humor. “Maybe I can even convince Ty to come up here, give us some expert help, and really have the whole gang back together again.”

Pauline held the kids closer, and leaned back into Carlos’ arm. The whole gang. Could she ever have imagined, just a month or two ago, that she’d be looking into a future where she had a family—a mate and children—and a real pack? All together?

It was hard to believe, but here it was, warm weights in her lap, leaning against her side, wrapped around her shoulders. All together.