Kasey chuckled. “No, you’ll be fine. I helped them plan it. Kira has a three-month-old named Addison. Our other friend Carly just had her baby boy, Trey. Toni and her mate are due in a couple months. She’s having a little girl.”

Layla cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. “Mate?”

“All three of them are mated to shifters. Kira is with Luke—he’s the pride leader, or alpha, of the Raging Falls lion pride. Carly is with Bastian, chief, or alpha, to the bear clan. Toni recently mated Garrett, pride leader, or alpha, to the Raging Falls snow leopards. The three alphas along with their two friends Brannon and Caelan control the mountain the packs, prides, and clans live on.”

Layla blinked slowly. “Brannon and Caelan are shifters, too, then I assume?”

“Yeah, Brannon is a pig-headed, stubborn jackass, but he’s also gorgeous. He’s a white wolf. Caelan is, well, he’s Caelan. He’s laid back and an all-around awesome guy. He’s become one of my closest friends. He’s a Bengal tiger shifter.”

“My head is sorta spinning here. I’ve never met a shifter in person, and here you are with a whole group of them surrounding you.” Layla bit her lip in thought for a second before blurting out her next question. “You said you didn’t have many close friends, but it doesn’t sound like that to me at all.”

Kasey shrugged. “I love them all to death, but I have to keep them at a distance. I don’t necessarily lie to them, but I keep a lot of things to myself. It’s for everyone's best interest. You see, my father wouldn’t approve of me associating with them. Three times that I know of, at least, his underlings have tried to seize control of the mountain. Can you imagine my friends’ reactions if they knew who my family was? They wouldn’t believe I wasn’t there without ill intentions.”

“Can I ask how you got involved with them in the first place? I mean wouldn’t it be hard with your surveillance to hang out with them?”

Kasey grunted in agreement. “You have no idea. Originally, I was sent as a receptionist to work for Rakida Construction. That’s the company Kira owns. Anyway, long story short, as soon as I arrived and discovered who they were, I wanted to run and get away as fast as I could. But Kira, Toni, and Carly welcomed me with open arms and just bulldozed their way into my life and heart. Within a week of being there, I’d been shanghaied into a group date and the rest is history.”

Layla’s laughter filled the apartment once again, making Kasey chuckle, too. Her story did sound ludicrous when she thought about it, but it was all true.

“One thing,” Layla said as she wiped the tears of laughter from her face, “how do you hide that from your father and his protective detail?”

“I’ve gotten lucky and I haven’t been put on twenty-four-hour surveillance in a while, but just in case, I told my father I’d gotten a job with a company. He wasn’t happy, but he let it go.”

“You are so much braver than I could ever be. My father would kill me for defying him like you are.”

“But that’s the thing, my father has never said I had to stay away from them. So technically, he can’t get upset about it.”

It was true. He’d never forbid her from working or hanging out with her friends, but he would make sure she knew how unwise it was. Her friends, on the other hand, would not understand or approve if they knew who she really was. She hadn’t meant for this to happen, but she’d found a home with this group of friends. Now it was too late. They wouldn’t understand or trust her for keeping things from them.

“You like him, don’t you?” Layla asked cautiously. “Brannon, I mean. He’s the only one you said anything about looks on.”

Kasey could feel her cheeks flush in embarrassment as she thought back to what she’d said. “Honestly, if I could get away with it, I’d tie him up in my bed and make him my sex slave for eternity. He has the most mouthwatering ass I’ve ever seen on a man. Looking at him makes me vibrate in places I didn’t know possible.”

“He sounds too good to be true, but if what you’re saying is true…why haven’t you tapped that yet?”

“That would make things way too complicated. He confronted me in the garage downstairs the other night. Can you imagine what would have happened if he’d been seen here?”

Layla frowned and held a hand up. “Wait, back up. Why did he confront you? What was that about?”

“Oh, I guess I forgot to explain some things.” Kasey glanced at the clock and calculated how long they had before her father’s men showed up with Layla’s things. She wanted to get this all out before they got here. “My stepmother is an evil woman. I can’t prove it, but deep down inside, I swear she caused my mother’s death so she could take her place by my father’s side.”

Layla gasped. “What?”

“It’s true. She’s been on the peripheral edges of my life since I was a little girl. She’s always given me the creeps and has never attempted to hide her disdain for me. She used to make snide comments about my weight and how disgusting I was. Every time she saw me with food, she’d say snarky things like no wonder I was fat. She was smart, though, and never did it in front of my father. It wasn’t long before my mom started getting sick. Numerous doctors were consulted but none of them could figure out what was happening to her. Eventually, her body couldn’t take anymore, and she passed away as a withered shell of the woman she’d once been.”

“What makes you think it was your stepmom?”

“I have no proof. It’s just some things she’s said over the years. It’s like she’s gloating over getting away with it. Anyway, back to why I was telling you this in the first place. She is evil incarnate. She believes herself to be a witch, I don’t know. Maybe she is. It would explain a lot of things.”

“Like how the doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with your mom?”

“Yeah, but more recently, I overheard her discussing a plan to take ‘the mountain.’ I didn’t hear enough to be able to stop her and prove it. Anyway, when I was with the gang one day, they mentioned some problems they were having with the kids of the packs on the mountain. I know it’s her doing it. I just don’t know why or how.”

“What does this have to do with Brannon?”

“He said he knew I was hiding something and that I knew something about the pack kids. Basically, he was putting me on report that he was going to figure it out.”

“What are you going to do?”

Kasey sighed and shrugged. What could she do? Her options were limited: come clean and lose her friends, or continue lying and hiding and wait to see if Brannon figured it out.

The two women fell into silence as they both considered all that had been said. For Kasey, she almost felt relieved that finally she was able to share her burden with another person. They hadn’t solved anything, but finally she wasn’t alone.

The knock at the front door startled the two women, who jumped and then laughed at the other for their reaction. “It should be your stuff,” Kasey explained as she moved to open the door.

“Father?” Kasey whispered in shock as she opened the door and came face to face with him. “What are you doing here?”

“That’s a wonderful greeting. I came to fill you in on some news and to talk to you. We have things to discuss.”