by Elle Thorne
Could their elementals communicate silently like shifters could when they were in their shifter animal? When shifters morphed, they could communicate with other shifters in their animal form through a linking of the minds, syncing, and conversing in a silent human language.
The girls had never told him they could do that. Could they? Had they been holding out on him? He had questions.
Before he could phrase one, Trista made a hissing sound.
Tessa seemed to hiss back in agreement.
At the same moment, the foursome, now out of the truck, were walking toward them, the twin women walking behind, looking first at each other, then at the twin girls, then back at each other. Their lips moved, and though, Tyler had shifter hearing—which was damned near to super-hearing, he couldn’t make out the words.
Tessa glared at a spot in the ground a few yards in front of the women.
No, he thought. Damn it. Not again.
Yes, it seemed, again, because Tessa’s eyes narrowed even more, and a rumbling sound came first. Then a split in the ground, creating a schism that was several yards long and too wide for a human to leap over.
Tyler put his hand on Tessa’s shoulder. “You shouldn’t have,” he said, his voice low.
Griz stopped in his tracks. He said something to the women.
One of the women said something in return. Griz stepped back, the women stepped forward, their eyes locked on the twins.
Then one of the women looked at the huge gap in the earth, Tessa’s warning that they would go no farther.
A whistling sound came as a spear of ice, as large as a tree bisected the crevice. The woman stared at the ice, and it slowly transformed, becoming a bridge that crossed Tessa’s ditch.
The woman’s lip quivered, as though she were ready to smile, but didn’t.
Trista looked at Tessa. They both grunted in frustration.
Mesmerized by the display, Ty didn’t move a muscle—just watched the scene unfold in fascination.
He’d never seen a display quite like Tessa’s and Trista’s. So when he first caught sight of what their elementals could do, he’d been impressed—maybe a bit apprehensive, too.
But now, to see this—the woman who countered Tessa’s power. This was a sight.
“Do it,” Tessa encouraged her sister.
Trista nodded and then seemed to zone out, staring, but not staring at anything in particular.
Tyler glanced at the two women on the driveway, wondering what they would do next.
He hoped Trista would behave. She was being quiet, at least.
Too much to hope for, it seemed.
The wind picked up far more quickly than he’d ever seen before. With a loud howling whistle, a gust of wind blew through the trees.
A crack, louder than if lightning had struck nearby, made him flinch.
The creaking sound that came next was swift and heralded by the tree that crashed across the driveway in front of the quartet that had gotten out of the truck.
“Trista,” Tyler hissed. “You’ve gone too far. What if you’d hit them?”
Luckily, Trista’s trick hadn’t hurt anyone, but the evergreen was still too large for an individual to climb over easily.
“No more nannies,” Tessa folded her arms over her chest, tiny cupid lips pouted, eyes glaring, an amber hue flashing in their depths, her elemental clearly. The amber color was joined by a golden flash. That was her bear.
Really? He was up against not only the twins but also their elementals and their bears?
“You two are in trouble.” His voice was a growl, his own bear hardly able to contain his anger at the antics of the little ones. “Go to your room.” He scowled at them.
A scent hit his senses.
His bear roared a warning.
Tyler looked up from the girls.
Before him, the tree was engulfed in flames. Behind the tree, one of the women, had planted her fists on her hips and was regarding the fire with cool dispassion.
What the hell was she thinking?
What if the cabin caught on fire?
“Stay put.” He gave the twins a warning glance and bypassing the stairs of the porch, he leapt over the railing and sprinted toward Griz, Mac, and the identical women.
He vaulted over the tree, ignoring the flames that licked toward him and stopped before the foursome. “What the hell are you doing? You could have burned my home down. Killed the kids, even.”
The two identical women regarded him with a slight look of curiosity in their expressions. The one—that one—which he’d first noticed, had a shimmer in her dark eyes. Indigo and emerald sparks seemed to rival with the deep dark espresso color of her eyes.
Tyler couldn’t have explained it if he were asked to, but he couldn’t tear his gaze from those eyes. He could get lost in them.
She was a shifter. And from that ice sculpture bridge she’d created, she had an elemental housed within. But what kind of shifter? And where was she from?
There was something about her, he couldn’t turn away.
His bear snarled deep within him, and that snarl was one of pure agreement.
Yeah, well, this wouldn’t work. He had no business being attracted to a woman who was clearly an enemy to Tessa and Trista. Or as Sean had affectionately nicknamed them, the dynamite twins.
T ‘n T.
Too much dynamite if you asked Tyler. Too much drama.
But then again, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Not that he could have it any other way. He wouldn’t trade them for the world.
Griz, clearing his throat, pulled Tyler away from his thoughts and the mesmerizing gaze of that spitfire before him.
He felt like he’d been in a world where just the two of them existed for an eon, but he realized he was only there seconds.
“Camden and Eden Brazos, this is Tyler O’Reardon,” Griz said.
Tyler glanced at the scarred large shifter he’d come to regard as a second father, gave him a nod, then looked at Mac. “You look good.” He smiled at her, and gave her a hug, mindful of the baby she was carrying.
Then he turned his attention to the two newcomers he’d never seen before.
Curvy.
Beautiful.
Intense.
And that one—that one—captivating.
He gave them a nonchalant nod, and urged his bear to control his pulse and not give away his reaction to her.
“That fire…”
“Is gone,” she said. “My sister is in full control.”
Her voice was husky, the kind of voice you’d want to wake up to. The kind of voice you’d want to take to bed.
Well, damn.
So much for controlling his reaction to her. He couldn’t even control his mind.
He glanced at the tree that had been on fire. The flames had subsided, all that remained was charred wood.
Well, damn.
Chapter Five
Camden fought the urge to take a step back from the huge man that stood before them, staring at her and alternately glaring at Eden.
It wasn’t that he was scary. No, not much could scare a woman who could call on her elemental or her shifter. It was that there was something about him that sunk into her with the fierceness of a grappling hook.
He turned that obsidian stare of his back to her.
“Your antics could have killed the girls.”
“Hardly.”
“What if you couldn’t have controlled yourselves—your elementals?”
She took a step forward, then instantly regretted it. Her intent had been to stare into his eyes, a faceoff of some sort.
Instead, her gaze was now forced to focus on a chest that rippled with hard muscles.
Not that looking at a hot guy’s chest would be bad, under normal circumstances. But not this guy. Not right now.
Not ever, a part of her countered.
A hand on her forearm pulled her attention and ire away from the man Griz had called Tyler.
>
“Let me handle this.” Griz applied a light amount of pressure.
Camden inclined her head in agreement and stepped back, giving Eden a glance.
Eden had a look in her eye and raised a brow, which in their own special twin-talk, Camden knew was equal to a shrug.
Tyler turned to peek at the little girls on the porch.
Adorable, that they were. Camden agreed. But they were completely yielding power to their elementals—or…
She tipped her head to the side, and before she could control her filter, her mouth had already begun its trajectory forward.
“Do the girls control their elementals or do the elementals control them? And what about their bears? How do they seem to get on?”
Tyler rubbed a chin that had stubble on it, creating a scratchy sound that filled the quiet of the small clearing the driveway was in. He seemed to let go of his outrage over the elemental displays of power. Then, he shook his head. “I’m not really sure. This whole elemental thing is new to me.”
“Have they been aggressive toward you or your brother?” Eden asked.
“Not once.”
Curious.
And even more curious, why the hell were the twins placed with these two brothers?
Granted, they had those factors in common, both sets were twins. Both sets were shifters.
But the brothers were clearly single. The twins were female so how could their male guardians possibly relate to them? And they weren’t even elementals!
Camden wasn’t going to let this go. She wanted answers.
Movement on the porch drew her attention to the girls. They were dismounting their wooden horses and scooting inside.
Griz cleared his throat again, pulling her attention away.
“Why don’t we go visit about this,” Mac suggested.
“You’re the new nannies?” a tiny voice asked.
Evidently, the little ones had not gone and stayed inside. They’d somehow slipped out a different door and gone around the building. Now they were walking toward them from out of the woods.
“Nannies?” Eden glanced between Griz and Mac.
“What’s that about?” Camden asked.
“We need a new nanny,” Tyler clarified.
Camden burst into laughter. She couldn’t help it. Nannies? Really? Nannies? “Is that what you told them?” She glanced at Griz for answers.
Tyler looked at the girls. “Wait inside, please.”
The girls pouted—cutely—but complied.
“So, nannies…” Eden prompted Griz.
Griz grimaced, almost sheepishly, though with that wicked scar on his face, it looked more like he was putting on a threatening expression. “I didn’t really expand on it.”
“So, you’re not nannies.” Tyler frowned. “Then what are you?”
“Why would you tell him we’re nannies?” Camden pushed Griz.
“I didn’t say that,” Griz protested. “Not exactly.”
“Well, when I called you and said the nanny quit, and that we needed help…” Tyler leaned closer to Griz, looking him in the eye.
Griz looked down and began making patterns in the dirt with the toe of his boot.
Cam didn’t really know Griz all that well, but he sure had the look of a boy with his hand caught in the cookie jar.
“Griz.” Tyler’s tone was firm.
“You need help,” Griz said as he looked up. “I called Mae and Mac and we came up with this.”
“Well, what the hell is this?” Tyler asked. “A damned war between elementals? I can just see them burning down my home, Trista’s tornadoes, Tessa’s earthquakes, and then that damned ice…” He turned a fiery gaze toward Camden.
She stared at him right back. Daring him. She had no idea what she was daring him to do, but by damn, he was issuing a challenge in those eyes—sexy, bedroom eyes.
I am not going to think that.
What the heavens was wrong with her? She was never the type to be man crazy. Circe had set a great example, never letting a man rule her mind, heart, or emotions, so why was this damned large—yes, even sexy—shifter able to get to her like this?
Eden was looking at Camden as though she’d lost her mind.
Though Camden was certain no one else could tell the turmoil she was dealing with inside, she knew Eden had some notion. And it definitely had roused Eden’s curiosity.
Eden turned from Camden and focused her attention on Tyler. “There won’t be an elemental war.”
“It sure looked like one around here a couple of minutes ago,” he countered.
“The little ones are too accustomed to having their own way. It’s obvious they are used to terrorizing and controlling their environment and the adults in it.”
Tyler frowned at her. “They’re just little girls. And if every woman who came out here didn’t have her eyes on getting a husband or getting into bed with my brother, then maybe—”
“Why don’t you let the girls go to someone who can take care of them so you and your brother can spend your time pursuing all the pus—” Camden couldn’t believe she was going off on him like this. But this wasn’t the time to stop. “You and your brother can pursue all the women you want and let someone else who can dedicate their time to the children do so. I know someone who can handle them and would love to have them.”
Chapter Six
What the hell was she talking about? Tyler couldn’t have said which of Camden’s statements elicited such a strong reaction from him, but by damn one—or all—of them did.
And not just from him. His bear was going ballistic in Ty’s mind. The roaring was blocking every other sound.
And then, before Tyler could get full control, his bear pushed passed his boundaries and began a shift.
The painful stretching of his bones, the excruciating burn of his sinew and tendons reforming into a bear’s musculature was swift.
But oh, the agony of it.
And suddenly, he was in full bear form, on his hind legs, his head thrown back in a roar.
From the trees came a set of tiny roars, and the little ones, in their own bear bodies came barreling from the wooded area and joined him, cowering between his legs, as if they knew—or had heard—that their status in his and Sean’s home was threatened.
A scream split the serenity of the clearing.
Eden’s face had gone ashen, so pale, that it was alarming. She screamed and screamed while Camden tried to hold her and tell her it was okay.
Only nothing was okay.
Suddenly a large roaring ring of fire erupted, surrounding Tyler and the girls.
Jesus, not this.
Then immediately, the twins morphed back into their human forms, and there, beneath his huge grizzly’s body they collapsed into wails.
Had that been all they did, maybe it would have been easier to fix. But it wasn’t. Trista’s elemental started a windstorm, fiercely blowing at the flames.
The flames, rather than dissipating or lessening grew, fanned by her elemental’s winds.
Tyler pushed the bear to let him return, but the bear was unyielding.
And Eden’s screams grew louder until finally, she collapsed, unconscious, on the ground.
Finally, his bear allowed Tyler to return to his human form.
He knelt next to the girls, holding them in his arms.
Trista sniffled, tears rolling down her face.
“It’s okay,” Tyler tried to mollify her. “It’s okay. I got you. You’re safe.”
Then he saw the burn.
“What the f—” He bit his tongue so he wouldn’t use that kind of language in front of the little ones. “Aw, sweetie.” He took Trista’s hand in his and stretched it out a little to better assess the situation.
She whimpered.
Tessa hugged her closely. “It’s okay. Tyler says so. It’s okay.” She looked into Tyler’s eyes. “Do something. Please. It hurts.”
There was a burn on top of her forearm. It may not have been huge,
and it may not have been a third-degree burn, but it looked painful as hell.
And Tyler was pissed beyond belief.
“Look at this.” He glared at Camden, because he couldn’t very well speak to her unconscious sister. “Look at what your sister did.”
Mac stepped forward, leaned down, opened her arms. “Let me see it. Let me see if I can help you.”
Trista moved from Tyler’s arms to Mac’s, still sniffling.
“You know what you need to do, don’t you?” Mac asked Trista.
Trista shook her head, bottom lip sticking out, tears tracking down her face, leaving a trail where there’d been a dirty smudge.
“You need to hibernate. You need to get into your bear and hibernate.”
Trista shook her head stubbornly. “I won’t leave Tessa. They’ll hurt her. Others always want to hurt us.”
“No.” Mac tipped Trista’s face so she would look in her eyes. “I’ve never, ever, ever, ever, ever hurt you, have I?”
More headshakes from Trista.
“How about this,” Mac made a concession. “You and Tessa both hibernate, together, cuddling, and when you wake up, I’ll make sure Griz gets his homemade ice cream maker from his truck and we’ll have some fresh ice cream.”
Trista’s face lit up, though tears still flowed.
“Deal?” Mac asked.
“Deal,” Tessa announced for both of them, taking Trista’s hand.
Trista nodded. “Mmmkay.”
Mac reached for Griz’s hand to help her stand, and once up, she reached out for Tessa and Trista’s hands. “Let’s go inside and I’ll watch over you two while you hibernate to heal.”
She looked back at Tyler, then Griz, then Camden. “You grownups figure out what you’re doing here.” Then she gave Griz a pointed look. “But first, set up the ice cream maker.”
Mac’s smile was grim.
Chapter Seven
Camden wiped Eden’s brow with a paper towel she’d immersed in water and wrung out.
