Tyler took long frustrated strides away from Grant’s home to the cabin where Eden was watching the twins. His heart was heavy with sorrow while at the same time, his mind was rife with fury.

How the hell did this happen? He and Sean were supposed to have Trista and Tessa, to raise them, to take care of them.

Damned elementals.

He loved those two little girls, but he was having a hard time liking their elementals.

This is bullshit.

He’d served the shifter nation, done right by them, signed up for duty in the military. And now this? He was home, minding his own business, and he was trying to provide a home for two little girls.

He inwardly cursed at their elementals again. If it weren’t for them, he’d never have been dealing with this shit in the first place.

And I’d never have met Camden Brazos.

Maybe that wouldn’t have been such a bad thing after all, if he’d never met Camden…

His bear growled at him in disagreement.

And Tyler knew the bear was right. He didn’t feel that way, anyhow. Since meeting Camden, the sun seemed brighter and warmer. The leaves seemed greener. His entire life—hell, his very being—seemed to come alive in technicolor.

He knocked on the door softly. Inside Tessa and Trista were silent. As was Eden. He opened the door.

The twins were asleep, Eden was reading a book. She glanced up at him, greeted him with a smile.

Tyler looked at Eden and wondered how she and Camden could look so alike and yet seem to be so different. And why was he so devastatingly attracted to Camden?

“How are they?” He kept his voice low.

“Worried. Confused.”

Yeah, I can sure as hell relate to that.

“What did you tell them?”

Eden heaved out a sigh. “It’s not easy. They aren’t your average little girls.”

He nodded. He knew that damned well.

She continued. “Being shifters is one thing. But being a host to another being, one that is millennia old…” Another sigh. “You can tell a child whatever you want, and hope they buy it, but when they have an elemental within who can see past the sugarcoating…” She shook her head. “The elementals will naturally communicate with their host, some to a greater degree than others.”

“So, you’re telling me they know what’s happening?”

“I’m telling you they know something’s up. I didn’t tell them about the…” Eden glanced at the sleeping duo. “I didn’t tell them about the visitors we have.”

Visitors, my ass. The Shifter Council isn’t here by invitation.

But he wasn’t about to say that out loud. He wasn’t sure if the elementals were awake and listening. Dammit, he wished he understood this elemental shit better.

“I—uh…” He tried to think of how to phrase it, took a seat in the worn leather loveseat across from the sofa that the twins and Eden were in.

The twins were holding each other, their heads in Eden’s lap, their faces angelic—virtual cherubs to a stranger that might be watching them. But Tyler knew better. These two little angelic beings could rain hell down on their surroundings.

And yet—God help him—Tyler loved them as much as if they were his own. And to be brought in to a meeting with the Shifter Council and told that he—and Sean—might lose custody, might lose them—forever. That stung.

Hell, it more than stung. It was potentially devastating. He glanced at Eden, then back at the twins. It was potentially devastating to them and to him and Sean.

He forged on, doing his best to phrase his concerns. “I don’t understand elementals. I feel like I need a class on understanding them. Heck, I’d say what I need is an entire college degree on the subject.”

Eden’s lips curved into a gentle, patient smile. “Elementals are a mystery. And just as humans and shifters are individuals, so are elementals. Some elementals communicate in depth with their hosts, some don’t. There are power struggles between humans and elementals. Then you add in the complexity of being a shifter, and—” She shook her head. “It’s so very complicated.”

Tyler’s head was reeling. “So, each of the twins has a different relationship with their elemental?”

Eden shrugged. “Not sure. That’s why we’re here. To help with figuring out relationships between the twins and their elementals, their shifters and their elementals, and if possible, between their elementals.”

“I never really thought of all that—” Tyler rubbed the stubble on his chin, the sound of the scrubbing of his newly forming beard was the only sound in the cabin located in the middle of the woods.

“I didn’t think you were aware of the intricacies. As I understood it, Griz called the Order.”

“Yeah,” Tyler grinned sheepishly. “I thought he was calling a nanny service.”

“That didn’t go over too well with Camden.” Eden smiled.

“She’s feisty,” Tyler added, then bit down on the laugh that had been bubbling up when he remembered that this whole mess was because of Camden.

Eden studied his face, and must have noted his expression. “You have something… I mean… you… Camden…”

Tyler frowned. He wasn’t one to discuss his feelings, not with anyone, except maybe Sean. And even then, he kept his own counsel more often than not. Tyler wasn’t the feeling-sharing type, and that wasn’t about to change, not even with the twin sister of the woman in question.

Not to mention, I don’t even know how I feel exactly.

His bear protested this falsehood with a snarl.

Okay, maybe Tyler did have an idea about how he felt, but he wasn’t going to talk about it. Period.

Not when it looked like said woman—regardless if she was hot, curvy, smart, and everything he wanted in a woman—

—Knock it off, he cautioned his bear against pushing those thoughts in his mind—

Especially when it looked like said woman was the reason for this whole damned Shifter Council thing.

He held up his hand for Eden to halt the course of her conversation. “The only thing on my mind at this moment is the welfare of these two little girls.” He glanced at the twins, who were beginning to stir. “And nothing else takes priority over that.”

All right, maybe he wasn’t flat out denying what Eden was talking about, but he wasn’t going to think about that right now.

“Ty-ty?” Trista raised her head, her eyes heavy-lidded with sleep.

Tessa nuzzled against Trista, then lifted her own eyes to Tyler’s face, her gaze slightly unfocused.

He smiled at them. “Hey, sleepyheads.”

Tessa paused, and it was clear she was thinking hard on something as her brows drew down into a serious vee.

A slight shaking of the lightbulb in the kitchen, and a hushed rumbling sound coming from the ground outside let Tyler know that Tessa’s thoughts were not exactly pleasant.

He held his arms out. “C’mere, you.” Before you create an earthquake and maybe validate some of the Shifter Council’s concerns.

Trista’s bottom lip started to emerge.

Tyler knew exactly why. “You c’mere, too. I was talking to both of you.”

Her pout inverted into a smile as she tried to climb over Tessa in her eagerness to get into Tyler’s embrace.

“What is going on?” Trista asked, vying for more room on his lap, while at the same time digging sharp elbows into Tyler’s ribs.

“What do you mean?” Tyler was on a fishing expedition to find out what the twins knew, just as he knew Trista was doing the same—information gathering.

She narrowed her eyes, studying his face. “You sent us here to be with Eden while you do grownup stuff.”

Tyler nodded.

Trista cleared her throat, and there was something about the sound that told Tyler it wasn’t Trista. That was her elemental.

“We are not naïve children.” That was definitely not Trista’s voice, though the words came from Trista’s mouth.

He glanced up and noticed that Eden was watching them intently.

“What’s your name?” Tyler asked Trista’s elemental.

“Aella.”

“I’m not trying to treat you like a naïve child, either of you.” He glanced at Tessa and wondered if her elemental was paying attention. “But you elementals are inside two little girls. I can’t help but strive to protect them.”

“Do you think keeping the truth from them is protecting them?” Aella again.

“I think that giving the girls something to worry about prematurely is not wise.”

Trista—or was it Aella—cocked her head. “I know who is here. I know what is going on.”

Tyler clenched his jaw. “That’s all fine, but do you mind not ruining Trista’s and Tessa’s day by bringing it up?”

Trista stared at him. That’s when he noticed her eyes, normally flashing tiny bits of gold—her shifter—and light blue—her elemental—were actually more light-blue than the clearest sky he’d ever seen.

Trista’s elemental nodded.

“And if you don’t mind, I’d like if you’d not take control during this event. This isn’t a good time to upset the applecart.” Because, damn, things were hard enough as they were.

Another nod from Trista’s elemental, then her eyes changed color, the blue becoming less prevalent and equal in tiny flashes to the gold of her shifter.

Tyler heaved a large sigh of relief, pressed his lips to Trista’s temple in a gentle kiss, then turned his attention to Tessa, and appraised her eyes. Luckily, the gold color of her cub was not secondary to the amber color of her earth elemental.

“Tessa, darlin’,” he tweaked her nose. “Do you know the name of your elemental?”

Tessa nodded. “Kassia.”

“Thank you,” he said softly.

“She won’t come out. She’s gone away. She won’t talk to me, and only comes when she thinks someone’s going to hurt me.”

“No problem.” He patted her on the shoulder and heaved a deep breath, then lifted his gaze to Eden, pinning her. She may not be the enemy, but right about now, she didn’t feel like an ally to him. “I won’t lose this. I flat out won’t.”

Eden nodded. “I understand.”

Tyler half shook his head. “I don’t think you do, but I have a feeling before it’s all said and done, they all will.”

He’d be damned if he’d see more upheaval and hell thrown at these two little girls. They’d seen enough.

Trista and Tessa raised their eyes to his.

He fought hard to keep the resoluteness of his emotions from showing on his face.

“How about a snack?”

They nodded, but in the depths of their eyes, a seriousness lingered.