She was still curled up on the sofa, attempting to fall into the deep sleep of a hibernating bear shifter, when Derry and Jess arrived at her apartment around midnight.

I’m going to have a baby.

The truth of it rang through her thoughts like a song, keeping her awake. At some level she had known for days, maybe weeks, but Zach’s absence had blinded her.

I’m going to have a baby.

Alone.

The happy family unit she’d seen in Montana—Gavin, Lilah, Cordelia, and Tobias—would not be hers. It would be just her and this life growing inside her, the only part of Zach she could keep.

Because she had thoughts like these, her face was splotchy from crying when she opened the door and succumbed to Derry’s embrace. The bear hug of a bear shifter. She wrapped her arms around her brother, inhaling his familiar scent, and pressed her snotty nose into his chest.

“I’ll make tea,” Jess said, stroking her arm.

Sophia sniffed. “Hot chocolate?”

Derry stroked her hair. “With extra chocolate.”

Smiling through her tears, Sophia pushed away and looked up at him. “Good call. Jess has taught you well.”

She heard Jess picking up the empty cartons of ice cream and putting them in the trash. A little embarrassed, Sophia went over to help clean up, but Jess waved her away.

“Go on,” Jess said. “Rest on the sofa. We’ll take care of everything else.”

Sophia stopped herself from saying they couldn’t take care of what she really needed. If fate wasn’t strong enough for that problem, well-meaning relatives didn’t have a chance.

“So, I hope you’ve figured it out by now,” Derry said, ushering her to the sofa.

She sat. “Don’t patronize me.”

Derry grinned. “There, there, little sister sweetums. Those little baby-making hormones are making you feel a teeny bit crabby-wabby, are they?”

Not a court in the land would blame her for kicking him the balls, but she settled for a punch to the stomach. “Try me,” she said through her teeth.

He grunted and doubled over. Then, laughing through his tears, he collapsed on the cushions next to her. “Gavin and Lilah send their love.”

“And the babies are doing great,” Jess called from the kitchen. “Ariana has made herself the unofficial nanny. She’s a natural with them. Sweet girl.”

Once again Sophia fought down jealousy. Gavin and Lilah had everything; she had nothing. She would have to do this all by herself. She was a reject, a pitiful loser.

“Fuck me,” Sophia muttered. She couldn’t think like that.

“Sexual intercourse led to your current predicament, dear sister,” Derry said. “Perhaps you should take a hiatus.”

This time she did aim for his balls, but he was sitting down and so was able to pull up his knees in defense quickly enough.

“Get out,” she said. Derry laughed.

Jess appeared with the hot chocolate. On a tray, with a chocolate brownie on the side.

“She can stay,” Sophia muttered, reaching for it. “But you’re out of here, McDermott.”

He only laughed and reached for her brownie. Jess, now Sophia’s favorite relative, reached down and dragged him away.

“I’m just trying to cheer her up,” he protested.

“Behave yourself or you will have to go back to our place and sleep alone tonight,” Jess said.

To Sophia’s amusement, Derry recoiled with more horror than he had when Sophia had almost kicked his precious genitals. Then he turned to Sophia, put his hand on his heart, and bowed. “Anything I can do for you, my dear?”

“Sit down and shut up,” Sophia said. She took a bite of brownie, waited a moment for the chocolate to hit her bloodstream, and sighed. “Thank you for coming.”

“We’ll help you any way we can,” Jess said.

Sophia looked at her and felt a surge of love. It was going to be fine. She had family, she had massive financial resources, she had her own personal strength of will, character, and body.

She could do this.

“There’s only one thing I ask,” Sophia said finally.

Derry had his phone out. “I’ve already instructed my broker to corner the chocolate brownie market,” he said, typing on his screen. “Should I tell her to go for ice cream too? You had a few empty cartons in your kitchen—”

Jess swatted his shoulder. “What is it, Sophia?”

“Don’t mention him. You know who I mean. Just— I don’t want to hear his name. I need you to pretend he doesn’t exist.” Sophia shoved the last bite of brownie in her mouth. “Got it?” she asked, spitting crumbs. “He doesn’t exist.”

“No problem,” Jess said. “Whatever you need.” She looked at Derry, who was still looking at his phone. Now he was frowning.

“Swear it, Derry,” Sophia said.

He looked up. Then looked back down at his phone without a word.

Jess poked him. “Derry…”

“I’ll do my best, but it’s going to be difficult.” He held up his phone. “According to Manny, Mr. Unmentionable is on his way upstairs right now.”

* * *

Until he was halfway up the stairs to what he assumed was Sophia’s apartment, he hadn’t realized he was carrying something in his hand.

Looking down, Zach frowned. Deeply.

When had he purchased two pints of Double Chocolate Penetration ice cream?

And why was he suddenly prone to making purchases subconsciously? Between the baby items he’d ordered online and now this ice cream, he was starting to think Asher Stanton was right.

He was nothing but an experiment, one whose results could not yet be confirmed.

Derry Stanton’s voice filled his ears, though he was only at the base of the stairs to Sophia’s apartment building. A flutter of voices, like butterfly wings on a breeze, began to chatter in the background of his mind as he walked quickly past a burly man in a suit. The guy didn’t make eye contact, but Zach knew.

Bodyguard.

His trip to see Sophia was never going to be easy, but now he realized it was about to get more complicated.

Deeply complicated.

Steeling himself for confrontation, he avoided the elevator and went up the stairs, the added movement good for pumping up his confidence. As blood coursed through him, warming quickly and in contrast to the frozen treats he carried, he no longer braced himself for the face-off with Derry.

He welcomed it.

Sophia’s front door swung open before he could get to it and knock, the wide, muscular form of Derry coming out into the hallway, closing the door behind him with a polite finality Zach was about to reverse.

“Zach! How are you?” Derry asked smoothly, one arm around his shoulders, turning him away from Sophia’s door. “How can I help you?”

“You can get out of my way.”

Derry’s thick, dark eyebrows rose in amusement. “We both know I can’t do that.”

“You can do anything you want, Derry. Whether you will get out of my way is another story.”

“What’s in the bag?” Derry asked, deflecting.

Zach hated having to look up to meet Derry’s eyes, a fireball of anger suddenly rotating into a tornado of heat that pumped through him.

“Kryptonite.”

Thick palms rose up, facing Zach, the gesture strangely submissive. Zach had seen—and used—that gesture many times before, but as his shifter mind took over more and more, he viewed it differently. Submission in the animal world was part of pack behavior.

If Derry was being conciliatory to his human side, that was one thing.

Having him defer to Zach on a pack level was quite another.

“You know I can’t let you go in there, Zach. Sophia doesn’t want to see you.”

“I’ll believe it when I hear her say that to me directly.” Zach shook his bag. “And this is melting, so let me in. Why let perfectly good ice cream go to waste?” He forced his voice to a lighthearted tone.

“Ice cream isn’t going to magically solve all the problems between you,” Derry said in a low voice.

“Problems? The only problem Sophia and I have is her meddlesome brothers interfering with us.”

Derry snorted, the sound half human, half bear. “That’s what you think.”

Zach moved around the man, which was no small feat, given he was the size of a small mountain. Derry was big but swifter than Zach realized, blocking the door handily.

“I mean it, Derry. Move or I’ll move you.”

Derry gave him the kind of grin Zach had rarely seen, a combination of sheer physical grit with a wry humor. “While I would love the challenge and am happy to oblige in a fair fight at the Novo Club, under protection, I’ll have to decline for now.”

Before Zach could reply, the door opened slowly, Jess Murphy’s eyeball making an appearance in the one-inch crack.

“Zach!” she said in the worst feign of surprise ever. “What a surprise!”

Even Derry rolled his eyes.

As Zach started to form words to respond, a series of images blew through his mind, the flurry of activity almost painful.

Babies.

Nothing but babies.

Babies with blond hair, dark hair, topaz eyes and—

Glancing at Derry, who had turned to murmur furiously with Jess, Zach saw Sophia in her brother’s profile. Clenching his fists, he shut his eyes as if that would stop the barrage of baby images. His nose twitched, nostrils flaring, and he smelled baby.

Just… baby. The scent of a freshly bathed baby wrapped in a blanket, resting in his arms. The way a baby’s scalp smelled like love multiplied by infinity. How love had a scent. The brush of Sophia’s fingers against his as she huddled with him, cooing over their child.

What the hell was happening to him?

The sudden gong of the Beat hit him, hard, then quieted, like a Doppler effect.

And he knew.

Pushing past Derry, who put up no resistance, he knew before he entered the apartment that she was gone. Her living room was beautifully decorated, the high ceilings lined with stamped tin, meticulously restored. The apartment was light and airy, decorated like a beach house, full of shades of ocean and sand.

“SOPHIA!” Zach shouted, rushing past a guilty-looking Jess, running down a small hallway, knowing without seeing that Sophia had escaped out a back entrance and was gone.

The squeal of tires outside made him look through a window. The black SUV pulled off into the distance. The suited bodyguard was gone from the entrance.

Derry had done his job.

Too well.

“It’s better this way, old chap,” Derry said in a hearty voice.

“Better for whom? Your puppet master, Asher?” Zach was three seconds away from punching the guy, his shift simmering under the surface, anger fueling it. All he wanted was to talk to Sophia. To see her. To spend time breathing the same air in the same room.

And her twin brother was helping her to escape?

Escape from Zach, as if he were some crazy stalker.

Jess seemed to waver slightly. “She needs more time, Zach,” Jess said softly. “Sophia isn’t ready to see you.”

“When she tells me that herself, I’ll believe it.” His breath came quickly, in short, ugly fits, the anger harder to control. Damn it! They were treating him like he was the unreasonable one. “You’re all in some crazy, enmeshed loop of people doing Asher’s bidding. For God’s sake, I’m not a danger to Sophia!”

“Whoever said you were?” Jess asked, concerned.

“Asher!”

“Well, he’s an asshole,” Jess said calmly, her eye contact strong, mouth neutral. “Don’t listen to him.”

A long, resigned sigh poured out of Derry. “Asher has a point.”

Jess looked like he had slapped her.

“What?”

“Asher is worried that Tomas is having Zach followed.” Derry’s brow lowered, eyes going dark as he said the words to Jess. “In fact, if Tomas knows you’re here and Zach is here…”

“I won’t let you do this. I’m not the reason anyone is in danger!” Zach shot back. “Tomas Nagy is!”

“And he wants you.” Derry’s voice was deep and serious, smart blue eyes narrowing as he stretched out the pause, conveying meaning Zach could only barely discern. “He wants what he considers to be his.”

“Me? How am I ‘his’?”

“Tomas played a major role in the development of the serum. He’s also a megalomaniacal man who will stop at nothing to gain power, and if he already thinks he is entitled to you—because the serum made you into a shifter—then he’ll come for what is his. Just like you are doing.”

“Just like I’m doing what?”

“Claiming. Tomas wants to claim you—and that puts anyone around you at risk.”

Zach heard the words, felt the gravity of Asher Stanton’s orders, could even palpably feel Derry’s insistence that Sophia didn’t want to see him, compounded with the Tomas issue.

And yet it didn’t fly.

Not one bit.

“You’re lying,” he said, confident and sure. Without breaking eye contact with Derry, he pointed to Jess. “She is a horrible liar, but you’re nearly as bad.”

Derry’s eyelids flickered wider, then came back to baseline. “Nothing I am saying is a lie. Sophia left because she does not want to see you now. Tomas is following you. You are putting people in danger. None of that is a lie.”

“It’s not what you’re saying that is a lie.” Zach inhaled sharply, the scent of baby consuming him, making him do a quick headshake. He swallowed, an audible click coming from his dry throat, his skin prickling with sweat as his arms swelled, shoulders tight with tension. “It’s what you’re omitting.” He realized he was still holding the ice cream and walked into the open kitchen, shoving the bag into the freezer.

“Omitting?” Jess squeaked, Derry taking one possessive step closer to her.

“You’re hiding something. You’re not telling the truth.” Closing his eyes, he tightened his body, feeling a bit foolish. He controlled his breath, taking a long inhale until white dots floated in and out of his vision behind his eyelids, wondering if, if, if—

“No,” he said finally, letting out his breath in a long ribbon of frustration.

“No, what?” Derry asked.

“My shifter powers don’t include mind reading,” he said matter-of-factly.

Derry began to laugh, a booming sound of joviality tinged with cynicism. “All this,” he said, gesturing up and down Zach’s body, “and mind reading would be a grossly unfair distribution of resources.”

“Says the billionaire.”

“Look, Zach. Let Sophia come to you.” Derry’s face turned just enough again to make Zach ache inside, her twin channeling Sophia’s features.

“She doesn’t have a choice,” Zach said.

“When she’s ready, she will. If she ever is. You know,” the big man said quietly, “you really don’t have a claim on her.”

“Excuse me?”

“Sophia told me you don’t hear the Beat. While it’s certainly not a requirement and is quite rare, it’s one way to be certain you’re fated to mate with someone for life. It’s how you know someone is your One.”

“Wait a minute,” Jess interjected. “It’s not the only way.”

Derry glared at her and whispered, “You’re not helping.”

“I know about this Beat thing,” Zach said intensely, itching to leave, to run after Sophia, to find her, to hold her. “But even without it, there’s no reason Sophia and I can’t be together.”

“No, that is true,” Derry said cautiously. “But if you did feel the Beat, it would be definitive. Unstoppable. Concrete.”

“Love can’t be real without this Beat?” Zach gave Derry a withering look. “I call bullshit.”

“Call it what you will, Zach, but it’s simple: if you feel the Beat, she’s your One. Period. You’ll never, ever be with another woman again.”

“It’s like baby fever!” Jess piped up. “You don’t have a choice!”

Derry looked aghast, paling, eyes wide and only on Jess. “Shhhhhhhh!”

Her face reddened as she looked at Zach. He could feel her emotions boiling over like fudge on a hot stove that sugars by accident. “Er, um…”

A blur of muscle and black hair swept past Zach, and in seconds, Jess was in Derry’s arms.

“Are you telling me something, my love?” he murmured against her cheek. “Is it time to make babies? I’m a bit out of practice, but—”

She whacked his chest. “We just had sex this morning!”

“Like I said, it’s been a while. Too long. Let’s go practice.” Without another word, he turned and carried Jess into the bedroom, kicking the door closed.

Leaving Zach furious.

And knowing they were hiding a secret.