Carolline sat on the couch in the living room with the kids surrounding her. They were watching some kids’ show, oblivious to the world around them. Since the latest incident, they had been loath to leave her side. She was their hero, yet again. She showed them that she would do anything for them, never leave their side regardless of the danger, and that went a long way to binding them together.

Devon didn’t blame them, though. He had a hard time letting her have a moment alone as well. When he heard the message Carolline had left him, his heart stopped. Every fear he’d tried to suppress, since the first attempted kidnapping, resurfaced. What if the kids were never out of danger? What if someone was targeting his family? What if he wasn’t there and something happened and he never saw the kids again? What if Carolline got caught in the middle again and was hurt worse than before, didn’t make it out alive? Because he knew deep in his soul that she would give up her life for the kids. Maybe even him.

He never should have left them that day. Never should have given in or ignored the nagging voice in the back of his mind that said it was a terrible idea. He knew in his gut he should have figured something else out.

The kids were fine, though, at least now. Still a bit shaken from seeing their grandmother attack their grandfather when he endeavored to stop her from taking them out to the car. Also, a bit shaken that someone who was supposed to love them, someone that was their flesh and blood, wanted to hurt them.

He and Carolline didn’t know to what extent Tracey was willing to go to get their grandkids, or for what purpose. They would find out soon, though. Ben had called earlier in the day to let them know he would be over with an update and news. The call set Devon’s nerves into overdrive.

He was the first to hear the sheriff’s car come to a stop. A squeaky door opened, then thudded shut. Heavy footsteps made their way up the driveway and then the walkway.

Devon’s mom emerged from the kitchen before the doorbell even rang. “Let’s go kiddos,” she said while clapping her hands. “It’s time to hit the ice cream shop, then to our place for movie time.”

The kids hesitated for only a moment. The lure of sugary goodness too tempting to little taste buds. Tabitha leaned over and smacked a kiss on Carolline’s cheek before wrapping her skinny little arms around her neck in a hug. She hopped off the couch and made a beeline for him, dolling out the same treatment. Seb clamored up into Carolline’s lap after his sister let go and repeated the process, including the hug and kiss for him. Marcus, who was still having troubles now that he’d shifted, bit his lip hard with little fangs and looked between the door and Carolline. Devon could see the indecision on his son’s face. The shift was stress-induced. Something they would need to work on, after he figured out how to handle his son shifting at such a young age.

Marcus didn’t know whether he should go or stay. He was on such uneven footing at the moment; his world tossed on its head, and Devon was at a loss on what to do.

Carolline, not so much. “It’s okay,” she murmured and reached for Marcus’ hand. “Your dad is here with me, and you’ll be with your Nana and Pop-Pop and your brother and sister. You know they won’t let anything happen to you. It’ll be good for you to relax a little, and don’t worry about your shift.” She ran a delicate hand along the side of his face. Marcus nearly melted at the contact. His legs wobbled a little before he slumped into her.

They sat that way for a few minutes. Silence filling the room while Marcus worked out whatever was going on in his head. Finally, he stood and nodded, then started to turn away. His back wasn’t fully to Carolline when he twisted back toward her and lunged. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his face into the crook of her neck. She looped her arms around him and pressed a kiss into the side of his head. “It’ll all be okay, Marcus,” she whispered. “We’ve got you.”

Once he let go, he murmured “thank you,” with a small smile on his face. He turned and took off to the door where Devon’s dad stood waiting for him, his mother having already taken the other two out to the car.

“Let’s go, buddy. Carolline and your dad need to talk to the Sheriff.” He nodded toward the man hovering in the doorway.

“Okay,” Marcus said before turning to look back at them. “We won’t be gone long.”

“Have fun, honey,” Carolline said and Marcus’s face lit up in a grin.

Ben was polite enough to stand back and let the family have a few moments together. It’s what he would have wanted if he were in their place. Children and tough situations needed to be handled delicately, and what he had to say could wait a little longer. It wasn’t like he was looking forward to the conversation ahead. Tracey, for all intents and purposes, was completely off her rocker. He was reserving judgment on Phillip for now, but he seemed like a decent guy. He just had shitty taste in women.

Ben waited until he heard the grandparents take off with the kids and could no longer be heard before moving into the living room.

“Did you want anything to drink, Ben?” Carolline asked, standing up from the couch.

He shook his head firmly and motioned for her to sit back down. Grabbing drinks and polite conversation would only drag this out further. They probably wanted to move on from this entire episode almost as much as him. Though, he had a feeling he would be dealing with what he’d learned up to this point for a long while. “I’m good. If you don’t mind, I’d like to jump right in. I’m sure you’re anxious to hear what we learned.”

“That sounds good to me,” Devon said. He took a seat next to Carolline on the couch and threaded his fingers with hers. Ben didn’t stop the small smile overtaking his lips at the sight. It was good to see Carolline happy and with someone who looked to really care for her.

Ben cleared his throat. “Right. Let’s start with the thing that kicked off this nightmare. Mrs. Jordan was the one who hired the Rogues to kidnap the kids. Mr. Jordan, from what we’ve gathered at this point, had no part in or knowledge of what she had planned.”

Carolline didn’t seem the least bit surprised. She nodded and sighed. “That’s what I figured when I saw Phillip lying on the floor unconscious, and from what Marcus has been able to tell us. Phillip tried to protect them and, in a fit of uncontrollable rage, Tracey knocked him out.”

Devon didn’t even wait a beat to start bombarding Ben with questions. “Why did she try to take them, though? She’d never even met them. In fact, never wanted to meet them. Never wanted them in her life. Not even when Sasha was alive. I know Sasha was working on getting her parents comfortable with the idea of seeing the kids. She’d even gotten them to agree to meet Sebastian; but even then, they told her to give them a little more time. It doesn’t make sense that suddenly, years after their daughter died, that she would want to kidnap the kids. What would she do with them? They wouldn’t know how to deal with shifters. She hates our kind. Hates everything about us.”

Ben grimaced. What he needed to tell them next would be the hardest part to hear, at least for Devon, Ben thought. Because while he said he was starting at the beginning, he really wasn’t. “The kidnapping of the kids was Plan B.”

“Excuse me?” Devon questioned, clearly confused.

“The beginning of all of this, the real beginning, started with Sasha.” Devon opened his mouth, but Ben held up his hand to hold him off. “Let me explain. Before Sasha died, she had contacted her parents again.”

Devon nodded.

“Tell me about it. How did it come about?”

Devon’s brow furrowed in thought. “I,” he paused, tilted his head to the side, and then shook his head slowly. “I really don’t know. It was like any other time she headed to Cheyenne. She still had friends there and liked to take the occasional shopping trip. I didn’t think much about it. The kids were in school or daycare. I was working. Everything was the same when I got home that night. The kids were home. Dinner was cooking. I stopped in to give her a kiss and, out of the blue, she said she’d seen her parents.”

“I was surprised. She said she ran into them at lunch. They were all at the same restaurant. She was shocked but so happy to see them again. They were mad at her, but were just so happy to see her. She told me they sat there for a couple hours talking before she had to leave to come home and pick up the kids. After that, she started making trips home to see them, regularly twice a month. After a bit of time, she mentioned bringing one of the kids with her on one of her visits. That she wanted her parents to get to know them. But those visits were the only times they talked, from what I understand. That’s why things were slow going with them meeting the kids.”

Devon stopped talking and Ben thought it a good time to butt in.

“That’s what we heard as well, about them seeing each other in person again, but the part about them talking only twice a month,” Ben shook his head no. He noticed Carolline imperceptibly squeezing Devon’s hand. She probably guessed what he knew. “They had been speaking to one another a lot more than that. In fact, Tracey and Sasha had been talking on the phone almost every day after Sebastian’s birth.”

Devon frowned and shook his head. “No, I would have known about it. She would have said something.”

Ben felt a tug of remorse for the guy. He was about to paint the man’s dead wife in a very unfavorable light, and there was no way to avoid it. “I’m sorry but it’s true. After Sebastian was born, Sasha got hold of her mother. According to Tracey, at first, Sasha was trying to convince them to come visit. To come meet their grandchild. After a couple months of Tracey refusing to come, Sasha really started to work on them, trying to convince them to allow her to bring the children to them. Tracey was thrilled at the idea, but she wanted more. She wanted her daughter back, with or without the children. When it became clear that Sasha wouldn’t leave the kids behind, and that she believed you wouldn’t let her take the kids away, Tracey began doing some research.”

“In Tracey’s mind, she thought there would be one way you wouldn’t want your kids. One way to ensure you would let them go without a fight. Tracey found a group of pseudo-doctors that claimed to be able to pull the shifter genes out of someone. A way to humanize them.”

“She had the misguided belief that the tiger prowling below the surface of your skin would reject the children, leaving Sasha free to live without fear of you showing up.”

Devon paled considerably. “Sasha wouldn’t do that to them,” he said in a pained hush. He shook his head slowly. “No, she would never do that to them.”

Ben took a deep breath. “She would,” he said. “The day of the accident, Sasha made the final arrangements with the doctor’s office. She was going to take the kids to him the following week.”

Devon shot up from the couch. “I don’t believe you,” he growled. “You expect me to believe my wife, who would do anything for her kids, would do something so heinous to her children? It’s illegal. Completely unethical. And let’s not even forget how dangerous it would be. They’re babies,” he yelled. “It would kill them.”

Carolline stood. “Devon, please,” she said, dropping her voice into a soothing tone. “Please calm down.” She reached out and placed a hand on his arm.

Devon spun on her, a low rumbling growl rippling from his chest.

Ben was on his feet in an instant. He slotted himself between them. This was what he’d been afraid of and why he’d insisted the kids be out of the house and far away. He knew their father wouldn’t take it well, hearing what he had to say. “Back down, Mr. Andersen.” Ben infused the full force of his authority into his voice. “I know you don’t want to hurt your mate.”

Devon stilled and blinked at him a couple times. Ben watched as the man put his emotions in check. Each one flitting across his face. Anger. Despair. Horror. Guilt. His shoulders dropped and the fangs he’d let loose, disappeared. “I’m sorry.”

Ben moved out of the way but didn’t take a seat. Carolline would come first every time in his book. He was prepared to jump in again if necessary.

Carolline smiled softly at Devon. “It’s okay. This is going to take some time to wrap your head around. Hell, I didn’t know Sasha, but even I have a hard time believing she would do that to her children, but,” she stressed when Devon looked about to speak. “Tracey is manipulative and calculating. I don’t find it difficult to believe that she convinced Sasha it was perfectly safe. That what would be done would put Sasha in a position to have her children free and clear of you. Tracey is poison and, from what we saw, would go to any lengths to get what she wanted.”

Devon’s shoulders slumped in defeat. The man had to realize Carolline was right. Ben, as an outsider, didn’t get a good vibe from Tracey Jordan from the get go. Devon should know, as someone who had dealt with her before and had a less than satisfactory result, that a tiger can’t change its stripes.

Carolline moved into Devon’s space and wrapped her arms around his waist. She nestled her head against his chest. “It’ll be okay, Devon. We’ve got you and we’ll get through this.”

Ben decided that was his cue to leave. Devon had wrapped his arms around Carolline and the moment didn’t need his looking on. Ben slipped out the door, shutting it softly behind him. He would text Carolline later to make sure things were okay. For now, he had human law enforcement to contend with and a whole slew of splintered issues to figure out. But the case of the kidnapping, in regard to Carolline and Devon, was over for now.