Camden flinched. Griz’s voice had startled her.

A bolt of ice formed on her fingertips and she felt it, ready to launch itself. She aimed her hand for the tunnel’s ceiling, and the frozen arrow flew into the rock and shattered.

“That was close,” Griz said, approaching. “The council can’t be told because they are Tyler and Sean’s half-sisters.”

Camden did a double take. “What?” She chewed on her bottom lip. “What’s the big deal about that? Why keep it a secret?”

“Long story,” Tyler said. “Griz, would you do me the honors?”

Camden looked between the two grizzly shifters. Were they finally going to let her in?

Griz nodded. “I’ll start from the beginning. Sean and Tyler’s mother never told their father she was pregnant with them. She died in childbirth.”

Cam studied Tyler’s face to see if this affected him aversely, but he didn’t bat a lash.

Griz kept talking, “One day, their father learned about them. They touched base, but they were grown by then and they carried their mother’s name. So that was kind of the end of their story.”

“Not really,” Tyler contradicted. “Griz is leaving out the part where he pretty much took responsibility for helping us out.”

“That was nothing,” Griz waved him off. “Let me continue.”

Tyler laughed softly.

Camden enjoyed the camaraderie between the two. The way Griz didn’t want accolades, and that Tyler gave him subtle crap about it.

“Go on,” Tyler said with a smile. “Continue.”

Griz shook his head, looking much like a proud father. “Their father met a new mate. An elemental. He was working in Europe and their mother went to her family to give birth. Her family was a tightknit community of elementals.”

It occurred to Camden that Circe would want to know about the community of elementals in Europe. She’d have to get some facts about this for her big sister, if she could.

Griz was still explaining, “There was a huge rivalry between witches and elemental factions where they were at. I guess that’s just part of being who supernatural beings are.”

Tyler nodded.

“Then one day, the girls and their mother were kidnapped. Their mother perished during the abduction. Their father managed to save the girls, left Europe to escape the elementals. Came to the States where he was killed saving the girls from another abduction attempt.” Griz crossed his arms across his chest, as though saying, story over.

“Wow.” Camden’s head was reeling.

“Yup.” Griz nodded. “Wow is right. So, here’s the bottom line: the twins’ mother was the only child of the leading family of elementals. Now, she’s dead. The leading family wants the twins. The witches want the twins dead. We just want them to live.”

Camden shook her head.

Griz’s face was nothing less than determined. “I swore to protect the girls. Zach and I go way back. It’s a long story.”

“Zach?” Camden asked.

Griz indicated Tyler. “Tyler and Sean’s father. Zach. I can’t let it get out where the girls are or that they are alive, or that Zach even had sons. The boys carry their mother’s name. The girls will bear the name O’Reardon and not their father’s last name--Romanoff.”

“Romanoff?” Could it be the same Romanoff, Camden wondered.

“Zach was Mikhail’s cousin, but fell away from the family long ago.”

“Griz,” she started. “Let me fix this.”

Tyler put his hand on her arm, then turned to Griz. “Give us a moment.”

Griz nodded. “I’ll check on the girls.”

Camden looked up into Tyler’s face. Would he dispute her wanting to make this situation right? Did he not trust her? “Tyl—”

She was interrupted by his lips claiming hers.

He’d lowered his head with the ferocity of a predator, claiming her lips. His kiss was urgent. She kissed him back, spurred on by the passions of their mutual attraction, oblivious to the witness that Avala bore to this kiss. She’d talk to Avala later, right now, she wanted nothing more than to be exactly where she was.

The entire world felt like it had paused and was spinning around them in a holding pattern while his hand twisted in her hair, crushing her lips tighter against his.

She breathed out a sigh that he swallowed with his kiss.

His other hand swooped under her derrière and pulled her closer to him, maneuvering her against his body, signaling the need he felt for her.

A need she matched, body, mind, soul, feline, and elemental.

She moved against him.

He groaned, and she drank his groan away with her own kiss. Suddenly, her need competed with his, both seeking to control, both needing each other.

“We have something else to work on, when the council matter is settled.”

“Yes,” she breathed the word against his lips.

His mouth overtook hers. She savored the taste of his lips while they devoured her own.

She tore away from him. “Trust me?”

It was a question that asked for more than just the trust that came with handling the council.

His gaze bore into her eyes, striking at the core of her soul, pulling her into the same place he was.

“Trust me?” he asked in return.

Such a difficult question. One she’d never been able to yield to. She’d only ever trusted Eden, Circe, and Marco.

Until now.

If she wanted him to trust her with his secret, with the lives of the two little precious ones, she could give him no less than the same trust.

“I do,” she said. “And I’ll be back with word.”