Camden and Eden had been staying with Tyler and the twins for the last five days. The days had been lighthearted, no conversation of elementals. No conversations of shifters.

Luckily for Eden, there’d been no reappearances of bears.

Mornings involved getting up late, pancakes with the girls, a walk about the woods, a visit to the stream. Afternoons were lunchtime and naps.

Camden was glad she had brought along a couple of paperback novels to keep busy while the girls napped because Tyler was scarce during that time. He’d locked himself into a room on the back end of the house, calling it his makeshift office until things were settled.

Settled, Camden wondered. What kind of settled did he think they were going to reach? She and Eden weren’t nannies, nor did they plan to be. They were biding their time and trying to get the girls to be at ease while Tyler wasn’t around. So far, they hadn’t been alone with either of the girls. Tyler was always around when the girls were awake.

And the girls were almost always under his feet.

Why didn’t they trust anyone but him? Why did they follow him when he left the room, if only to get more butter or syrup for their pancakes?

What hold did he have on them?

She got that he could have a hold on women. He was just that type. The kind of guy you let your guard down with, and fell in love with, quickly. Not that she would. Ever.

No, Camden had learned how to be around men at the heels of Circe. She didn’t need a man, just like Circe hadn’t.

The midafternoon sunshine was making her lazy—scratch that, it was making her sleepy.

Camden stretched, and put the book down, glancing at Eden. In the matching wing chair in Camden’s room, Eden’s eyes were closed, clearly napping.

Maybe some caffeine would help. She set the book down slowly and rose with stealth from her chair. Slipping out of the room and down the stairs, she made her way to the kitchen.

And damned near had a heart attack.

“Tyler!” she hissed his name out, her hands outstretched against his chest.

She’d practically ran into that wall of man chest—correction, sexy, hard, muscled man chest.

Cam let a breath out. There was no denying her panther was attracted to his bear. But by damn, did she have to be attracted, too?

Down, girl, she cautioned her panther.

In return, her panther snarled her disagreement.

“Sorry. I didn’t expect anyone else to be roaming around. Figured you two were napping.”

“I almost did, decided to come get a caffeine fix,” she smiled sheepishly, almost feeling guilty for poking around his house, though she wasn’t even really poking. Not that she wasn’t curious.

She was overwhelmingly curious about his life, his home, his habits, his work, any women that might be lurking.

Safe to say, Camden was curious about anything and everything that pertained to Tyler O’Reardon, and it wasn’t all strictly professional.

“I was going to make one for myself, but figured I wouldn’t be able to finish half a pot, and making a cup at a time—” He shrugged, his dark eyes twinkling. “Well, that just seems wrong. Come on.” He inclined his head and stepped aside to let her precede him in the kitchen.

With the aroma of fresh coffee brewing in the air, Camden leaned against the counter, suddenly feeling like a middle schooler at her first school dance, waiting—no, more like hoping—that the cute guy she had a crush on would talk to her.

No sooner had that thought crossed Camden’s mind, she became instantly angry with herself for being such a typical girl. What was worse? Being typical or being a grown-ass woman behaving like a girl.

She fought to keep the scowl at her own behavior from showing.

She and Tyler had not been alone together, not once, since she’d agreed to stay. Hell, they’d never been in the same room without the girls being with them.

He cleared his throat.

“I wanted to thank you.”

She nodded, waited.

“For staying and helping with the girls.”

“It’s what we do.” She wondered if she should push on, then decided: what the hell, why not? “But you see—” She picked up her empty mug, dropped a teaspoon of sugar, then another, and added a healthy pour of milk. Yeah, she was stalling. She added a little more milk, eyeballed the amount, wondered if it would be enough when coffee was added. “—there’s so much more to what we do.”

Tyler frowned. “Like?”

“Like we need to talk to their elementals. Find out why they’re having their…” she paused, searching for the right word, then opted for the one he seemed to like, “tantrums.”

He nodded. “So, how do you talk to their elementals? What’s that all about? I’ve got zero experience in this.” He pulled the coffee carafe off the brewer and poured until her cup was full, then poured one for himself.

She studied his profile while he returned the carafe to the burner. He was incredibly handsome. But beyond that, there was something in the set of his jaw, the way he carried himself. It was as if honor was ingrained in him, as if pride was a part of his very soul.

She pulled herself away from her thoughts about him and returned to the topic at hand. “It’s not ever the same, exactly, but for the most part, it involves the girls letting their elementals out enough to talk,” she exclaimed.

He shook his head. “Yeah, I don’t even understand what you mean. Do their spirits come out? Are they even spirits? Will the girls be in danger?” His brows drew down into a concerned frown.

“Elementals are more or less like spirits.” She absently stirred her coffee, the tiny tinkling sound of the spoon against the ceramic was like a comforting wind chime. “They’re housed in us, but are their own beings. They have their own voices, they don’t even sound like us, and they usually can’t just make a random appearance without our allowing it.”

“Usually.” He scratched at his jaw, his gaze focused on the mountains in the near distance.

“Yes. There are no definites when it comes to elementals. And it’s not like it’s an exact science.” She shrugged. “I wish I could give you more assurances…”

“No, I get it. I do. But I must protect Tessa and Trista, yanno?”

“I know.” She blew on her coffee, the steam pushing away from her face. “We aren’t here to hurt the girls. Please understand that. We’re here to help. But sometimes, in the process of helping, things can go…” She sighed. “…things can go off.”