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

silky soft against his touch and Tex caught himself being extra careful, so afraid that he might do something to harm the little tyke. But he should have known that wolf shifters, even as young as Rhone and Raze, were tough little kids. He hoped he’d have plenty of time to find all that out.
    “Amazing that we all start out so small,” he murmured, admiring Rhone’s little hand. “Can’t believe that he’ll be bouncing around as a little wolfling soon.”
    “You can’t believe it? What about me! I don’t think I’d even met a shifter before you and Thatch,” Madeline laughed. “I’ve seen a few babies shift now when they’re around their parents, but it still seems almost absurd, you know? And I don’t even know what they’ll look like when they do,” she said, sounding a bit thoughtful.
    “Golden eyes. Bright white fur with dark gray and black markings. Maybe a bit of rusty brown in the tail. We sometimes get that. Weird genes,” Tex said, shrugging his shoulders.
    Madeline burst out in laughter and Tex looked up from Rhone, quirking a brow as he smirked. “Hey, I know I’m a funny guy, but what now?”
    “’Weird genes!’ The way you said that,” she giggled, relaxing. “Like someone describing an oddly shaped birthmark.”
    “Hey, you’re lucky! We don’t have any messed-up bites or anything in the bloodlines. You know how hard it is fixing the teeth of a shifter kid? Braces don’t shift well, I can tell you that,” Tex said with a chuckle, conversing through the stuffed fox that was being pressed against his face by Rhone.
    “Guess there’s a lot I don’t know yet about shifter kids,” Madeline admitted with a sigh.
    There was a touch of uncertainty to her voice and Tex tensed, picking up on it like a distress beacon in the distance. He gently lowered the fox from his face and reached a hand over to Madeline, putting it on her knee. It was oddly intimate, being so close to her in a situation like that, even though they’d spent a night together and he knew every inch of her body by memory. But this was different. Something new.
    Touching her was like a shot of alcohol to the veins. It flashed through him, claiming his attention for a solid second before he could get back to the words he was trying to speak. Damn, she could mess with his head really easily without even knowing.
    “I promise we’ll help you learn everything you need to, don’t you worry. These two will grow up to be tougher wolves and better humans because we’re all here for them, you know?”
    She looked at him in wide-eyed wonder and it made him a bit uneasy. Had he said something to upset her? Was he saying the wrong things? He wriggled around a bit, trying to get a more comfortable seating position for himself and to hide the moment of confusion. But it didn’t feel right to him so he forced the words out anyway.
    “Did I say something wrong?” he asked, honestly worried that he had.
    “No, absolutely not,” Madeline replied with a smile. “We had a similar talk with Thatch earlier today. About how you wanted to be involved in Raze’s and Rhone’s life. I guess it’s… surprising? I know it shouldn’t be surprising. I know family means so much to shifters. But I figured that after everything that happened, this would never take place. They’d never get to meet you, I’d never really get to tell them who their fathers are… it feels sort of amazing that something so happy is taking place while I should be scared to death.”
    Madeline sighed and Tex squeezed her knee, chuckling.
    “Fate works in weird ways,” he admitted. For once, he actually believed that fully.
    He’d never been a big believer in fate, to put it bluntly. He’d never felt that call to find a mate or settle down. All his life, he’d been happy to stalk around, train, fight, improve. Screwing hot women came with that and it became a sport for him and Thatch at one point. But it took one night with Madeline to make a believer