Twin Wolf Trouble (Shifter Squad Six 2) by Anya Nowlan

for certain—he was one happy wolf, all things considered. Even with countless threats hanging over his head, he could still appreciate the fact that he was now a father. And his beautiful mate was sitting down for breakfast with him.
    “Sorry, Madeline. It’s been… a challenging few days,” he admitted, stacking some pancakes and eggs and bacon on his plate, the table heaving under the mass of food Mary had put out for them.
    “Really? I didn’t even notice,” Madeline scoffed, sipping at her coffee. “I mean, sorry too. I don’t mean to be snippy,” she said with a sigh.
    “Hey, you can have as much attitude as you want around me and Tex. You know that, right? I don’t think you could do a thing wrong in our eyes at this point,” he said earnestly.
    Madeline paused, her fork in the air with a bite of pancake on it. She frowned slightly and Thatch had to catch her gaze again as she looked down, suddenly seeming rather taken aback.
    “Did I say something wrong?”
    “No. Not really. It’s just… well. I kind of hid Raze and Rhone from you two. I don’t think that’s something that can be excused so easily,” she said, gnawing on her lower lip.
    Thatch straightened up in his seat, dropping the utensils. He reached out his hand and tipped her chin upward so she was looking him in the eyes, her big gray eyes gleaming with what could turn out to be tears if he didn’t say the right thing or tell her exactly how he felt.
    “There’s nothing to forgive. You had no way of finding us. You didn’t even know our last names and it’s not like we’re on SassyDate,” he said, ignoring the screaming desire to lean in and kiss that worried pout off her lips.
    “But I didn’t try,” she said with a small voice, twisting the knife in his heart a bit further.
    “It’s okay, Madeline. We’re getting to know them now. As soon as things settle down, as soon as we figure things out with your safety, we’ll all sit down and talk this out. But I need you to know right now that you did nothing wrong. We should have known that this could happen too. With the right woman… well, let’s say I’m not surprised that you got pregnant.
    And the fact that you had twins was pretty much a given as well. What I’m saying is, we could have played things differently, from both sides. But it’s not black and white. We’ll make this work. I promise.”
    Now there were tears in her eyes in earnest. Thatch’s body had an almost violent reaction to it. He practically flung himself out of the seat, gathering her up in his arms and pulling her to his chest. Spirits above, if seeing tears shimmer in her eyes could do this to him, what would happen if she was actually hurt, or away from him again? He couldn’t even fathom something like that happening again, now that the bond between him, Tex, and Madeline was made that much stronger with the inclusion of the twins.
    “Don’t cry, baby. We’ll make this okay,” he whispered, stroking her hair as she clung to him, her heartbeat matching his.
    They stayed like that for a long while and Thatch was very much aware that it was him who was reluctant to let go, even though she calmed down. Finally, he let her pull back a bit, but he still kept his hands around her waist, soft and inviting. Her gray eyes sucked him in fast and hard and he took a deep breath, watching her rosy lips part slightly.
    “Thank you,” she whispered. “For everything. For being so understanding. For—”
    But she never got to finish that sentence, because Thatch’s lips were on hers now, kissing her hungrily and drawing her onto his knee as he knelt in front of her chair. Her hands wrapped around his neck and she moaned into his mouth, the sweetest sound he’d ever heard. It was nearly impossible controlling his urge to throw her down on the kitchen counter and fuck all the pain out of her, to show her how much he had missed her and how his body yearned for her.
    His tongue snaked into her mouth and