Tyler and Griz trekked through the woods, until they reached a waterfall. The girls had fallen asleep in their arms, so now Tyler finally felt comfortable enough to talk to Griz.

“So, what’s really going on?”

Griz grimaced. “You lost custody. I don’t know if it’s temporary or permanent. And does it matter anyway? First off, it will be heartbreaking for the girls—”

As well as me and Sean.

Griz continued, “And secondly, it’s fucking catastrophic. What if it got out that they were still alive? And where they are?”

Tyler felt like he had a lump the size of a railroad tie in this throat. “We can’t have that happening.”

“No shit,” Griz agreed. “Let’s get inside.”

“Inside?” Tyler looked around the wooded area with the lagoon and the waterfall.

Griz pointed to the cascading water. “Behind there.”

“Behind there, what?”

“You’ll see.”

Sure enough, moments later, they’d scaled a deceptive looking set of boulders that functioned as a stairway but sure as hell didn’t look like one, and they were behind the waterfall, in a cave.

“What the hell is this? You thinking we can hide away in a cave?” Tyler fought the urge to rage at the hopelessness of his situation.

“There’s more to it than this. Follow me.”

This better be good, Tyler thought.

And it was.

The cave led to a tunnel, the tunnel led to another one, and a different one. It was as if there was a maze of tunnels, more like alleyways in the belly of the mountain.

Thank goodness for shifter vision and being able to see in the dark. He did hope the twins slept a while longer, as this would be hard to explain to them.

“So, they decided that Sean and I can’t have custody of them.”

“Right.”

“So, who’s going to watch the girls? Who’s going to take care of them?”

“The council—those bastards—gave custody to Camden Brazos.”

“What the—” Tyler lowered his voice as it was echoing off the walls and the girls stirred.

He waited until they settled back to sleep and then asked the question that had been burning him at the back of his mind. “What is this place?”

Walking next to Tyler, Griz gave him a glance. The tunnel was like a corridor, wide enough for both of them and even a third person to walk shoulder to shoulder.

Tyler appraised the area. It was actually large enough for a vehicle, maybe a four-wheeler.

Griz took a deep breath. “This place was where our kind hid and lived when they were persecuted long ago. It connects to the tunnels created by Grant’s grandfather’s people, long ago.”

Tyler was stunned. All this history. And he had no clue.

Griz continued, “Braden and Dakotah help maintain them. Many of the cabins scattered about the mountains have secret entrances to the tunnel system.”

Tyler thought on the matter for a second, but couldn’t push aside a question that kept returning to his head. “Why Braden and Dakotah? Why not your own blood? Your nephews?”

Griz chuckled. “Know what? I asked—Jeremiah Flight of Eagle Over Waters—”

“Wait, who’s that?”

“Grant Waters’ grandfather. Later, they shortened the name to the Waters surname. I asked Jeremiah the same question, when he turned the tunnels over to me.”

“What did he say?”

“That the tunnels picked me. That his shifter animal—also a grizzly—told him. And that the same thing would happen to me.”

“But Grant is the alpha of Bear Canyon Valley, right? He leads here?”

“He’s the leader, that’s true, but the tunnels are something else. They’re a separate entity. They are different.”

“Grant isn’t pissed his grandfather gave you the tunnels?”

Griz laughed softly. “Jeremiah did not give me the tunnels. He gave me to the tunnels.”

Tyler was puzzled, but they kept walking, Griz leading him deeper and deeper into the belly of the mountains.

Griz took his hand off the sleeping little girl to put it on Tyler’s shoulder. “I know. It’s confusing.”

“To say the least,” Tyler agreed.

“I was once confused, too.”

“So where are Braden and Dakotah, then?”

“Dakotah’s in the lagoon with little Larsen, swimming—or more like splashing, since he’s not quite mastered the swimming thing yet.”

Tyler snapped his head to the left, to the sound of the new voice. “You’re Braden.”

The large shifter who stepped out of the shadows nodded.

“Thanks for being available,” Griz told Braden.

“It’s what we do,” Braden looked at the little girls in their arms.

“I’m guessing things didn’t go well with the council if you’re here.”

Griz shook his head. “Could have gone better.”

“Lagoon?” Tyler asked.

“Let me show you.” Braden stepped in front of them and led them down another fork.

Tyler looked at Griz, studied the scar on this face. “Why did the tunnels pick you?”

Griz pointedly glanced at Braden, then back at Tyler. “The tunnel has its reasons.”

Braden looked back at them. “They seem to pick those who have had their share of shit thrown at them,” he said, his voice low.

“Indeed.” Griz nodded.

Tyler froze in his tracks. Before him was the most unexpected view he could have imagined. A large chamber, a gigantic cavern, and in the center, a lagoon lit by the sun. There was a hole in the cavern’s ceiling that allowed sunshine in. The sun’s rays illuminated a waterfall that cascaded into the indigo-colored lagoon water. A color so lustrous and blue, he’d have sworn it was artificial—but knew better.

At the lagoon’s shore, a woman held a young boy—Larsen, Braden had called him—who was splashing in the water. And each time he struck the water with his palm, a spray would rise and strike the little boy in the face.

The child threw his head back, laughing, while at the same time, tiny crackling of electricity sparked about him, looking much like fireflies.

Tyler looked at Griz. He had two things he wanted explained.

“Larsen. He’s named after you?”

Griz’s smile was that of the proverbial Cheshire cat. “He is.”

“Naturally,” Braden agreed.

Griz’s brow was raised as though he was expecting the next question.

“Elemental?” Because what else would explain the firefly-like sparks.

“Indeed.”

Tyler looked at Braden. “Are you or Dakotah elementals?” He’d begun to wonder if elementals clustered and tried to be near each other or if they were solitary beings.

“Neither.”

Tyler cocked his head. “Then…” he pressed the issue.

“His biological father,” Braden said, his jaw clenched. “Long story.”

“Unnecessary story,” Griz added.

“Agreed,” Tyler said. “I don’t need to know.”

Braden nodded, acknowledging that he appreciated the respect on Tyler’s part in not delving deeper.

Dakotah looked up from playing with Larsen and waved. She practically glowed when her eyes rested on Braden.

A part of Tyler felt a twinge—truth be told—a hell of a big part of him felt a twinge. The look in her eyes closely matched the way he felt when Camden was around.

Camden. He fought the fierceness of the feelings he felt about missing her. He refused to believe she’d have betrayed him and the twins, but the situation was too weird.

He felt too strongly for her and knew there was no way he was not a good judge of character when it came to her. He couldn’t be wrong. That was goodness he read in her. And her elemental didn’t seem evil, though she did kill Cleopatra. He couldn’t say that he wouldn’t have done the same if someone had killed his brother.

It was that moment, and simultaneously, the twins awoke.

Trista and Tessa both raised their heads from his and Griz’s arms. They looked around, wonder in their eyes.

Then they spotted Larsen.

Trista looked at Tessa, then said, “He’s like us.”

Tessa nodded.

The girls went silent for a brief moment, looking into each other’s eyes, then they squirmed to get out of their keepers’ arms and ran toward the shoreline of the lagoon.

Tyler couldn’t have said why he’d done it, or maybe if he thought on it long enough, he could’ve. The elementals were unpredictable. Whether he was going to protect the girls or the baby Larsen, he took off at a sprint, running swiftly behind the twins.

The girls halted in front of Larsen and watched him.

Larsen raised his eyes to the twins, studying them. The look in his eyes was like that of an old soul.

Then out of the blue, he let out a giggle and an excited gurgling sound. He reached for the girls, his chubby little fingers opening and closing.

The twins looked at each other, and delight shone on their faces.

Tyler could tell from the colors of their eyes that their elementals were in control and at the forefront.

Now what, he wondered.