by Elle Thorne
“I’m fine. Really.” Eden’s voice was soft.
“You don’t exactly sound fine,” Griz frowned. “What happened out there?”
Eden looked at Camden as though unsure.
“Bears,” Camden whispered, not wanting to be the one that said anything.
She kept her eyes glued on Tyler. She couldn’t have said why what he thought of them mattered, but it did. And it seemed it mattered to her panther, who snarled in agreement.
“Bears,” Griz repeated. “What about them?”
“Eden doesn’t do well with bears,” Camden admitted.
“Does not do well with bears?” Griz sat back. His gaze traveled from Camden to Eden, then back to Camden.
Tyler remained silent.
“You do realize you two are in bear country?” He thumbed his jawline. “Hell, doesn’t Colorado have bears, anyway?”
Camden dropped the paper towel on the side table next to her, and with a glance at Eden, rose to her feet. “It’s not like we wander about the woods and deal with bears. How were we to expect what happened earlier? A bear attacking us?”
Tyler made a muffled noise.
She glanced at him.
He almost seemed to be laughing. “Attacking you?”
“What’s so funny,” she scowled at him.
“You’re both shifters. Surely, you’ve dealt with shifting, with shifters, with others in their shifter form.”
“No,” Camden countered. “We hardly deal with anything of that sort. Our specialty is dealing with elementals. Our sister handles the issues with shifters and hybrids.”
“Then why are you here?” Tyler ground the words out.
“We were told there were twins that were hybrid.”
“Exactly.” Tyler’s eyes were hard.
“No one said there was an issue between their shifter animals and their elementals.”
“There isn’t.” Tyler looked at Griz.
Griz looked at his hands, studying them.
“Griz?” Tyler said.
“Mhm.”
Camden took charge. “What’s the reason you called the Order?”
Tyler looked from Camden to Griz. “The Order? What Order?” He frowned. “What are you talking about?” He paused, the wheels obviously turning. “Why do I have a feeling that this Order you’re talking about has nothing to do with nannies?”
“Nannies?” Camden’s hand flew over her mouth. She hadn’t meant to raise her voice.
Eden had a panicked look on her face.
Mac stuck her head in the door. “Everything okay in here? Loud voices can disturb the girls, you know.”
Camden cringed. “Sorry,” she said to Mac.
Mac nodded, then slipped away.
Camden whirled on Griz. “Nannies? Why does he keep saying we’re nannies?”
“Because what we need is a nanny who doesn’t piss her pants every damned time the girls throw a little tantrum.”
Camden tilted her head and stared at him. “Tantrum.” Oh, jeez, she was becoming a parrot. “Tornadoes, windstorms, earthquakes…” She took a deep breath. “Those. Are. Not. Damned. Tantrums.”
She flounced into a different wing chair, and eyed her still-pale sister. “Those are far more than tantrums. Tantrums are when kids lie on the floor. These little girls could kill someone with their tantrums.” Camden heaved a heavy breath. “You should have told us what to expect.”
“And what would that have accomplished?” Griz finally asked.
“This isn’t like you,” Tyler said to Griz.
“There’s too much at stake,” Griz explained. “And I can’t have just everyone knowing…”
Camden waited for him to finish until she couldn’t anymore. “Knowing what?”
“Their history.” Griz clipped the words out. “I have to protect the girls. I owe it.”
“Owe? Owe what? To whom?” Camden asked, noting that Tyler no longer seemed to have any questions.
Why was that? Did he get the answers he wanted? Did he know the rest of the answers?
From the other room came the sound of a series of beeps.
The timer.
“The ice cream’s ready to go in the freezer.” Griz rose from his seat and made for the door, glancing back one last time.
“All that remains, is for you to decide if you will help the girls.” He gave Camden a look.
Why’s he looking at me? I’m not the only one here making a decision.
She glanced at Eden, who was watching her as though she had all the answers.
Okay. Maybe I am.
Chapter Eight
Tyler handed a bowl to Trista, who turned it over to Tessa. He handed her a second bowl and she licked the top of the near-perfectly round scoop of creamy goodness.
“Yum.” Trista gave her approval.
“Use your spoon,” Tyler reminded her. “Can’t have you licking your dessert from a bowl in public.”
She gave him a look as if to say, we’re not in public, but she nodded anyway. “Mkay. Ty-ty.” Her nickname for him.
He smiled. Hard to believe the cherubs before him could wreak such havoc. Could even kill.
Camden and Eden were watching the girls with undisguised interest.
He flipped on the TV and popped a DVD in.
The girls cheered and planted themselves in front of their favorite movie.
Tyler turned back to Camden and Eden. “Are hybrids rare? Twin hybrids?”
Camden nodded while Eden eyed him warily, as though worried he’d shift into a bear again.
He wanted to reassure her that she was safe from him, but this didn’t seem the time.
“Have you ever met—dealt with—helped ones before?”
Camden shook her head. “No. They usually had conflicts… or issues… and don’t get help in time.”
Tyler’s eyes narrowed. “In time for what?”
“To live,” Eden stated bluntly.
Camden gave her sister a look, glanced at Trista and Tessa, then spoke. “Hybrids have a hard enough time of it, the elemental and the shifter’s animal don’t typically make peace. And the elemental…” she lowered her voice and mouthed kills, “… the shifter, then does the same to the human.”
Tyler shook his head. “How?” He couldn’t fathom how anything within him could kill his bear.
“Elementals live elsewhere, in a place where they are corporeal. Where they have a body.”
He nodded slowly, but couldn’t wrap his head around the concept. Hearing the words was one thing, knowing what it meant, how it applied to Tessa and Trista, or even the grown twins before him, that he couldn’t get.
“Clear as mud?” Camden gave him a slight smile.
“That sums it up.” He pondered the points for moment. “But wait a moment.” He glanced down at the girls, who were quite absorbed in the DVD and their ice cream. “Why are they not going through that? Turmoil, fighting between their elemental and their shifter animal? Would I see it if they were?”
“You’d know,” Camden affirmed.
“You would definitely know,” Eden reinforced.
“So why did you call us?” Camden turned to Griz.
He opened his mouth.
“Straight talk, please.” Camden got to the point.
Tyler found himself liking her more and more. And damned if he still didn’t feel this crazy-strong draw toward her.
“Okay. Straight talk,” Griz agreed. “The guys have a reputation.” He glanced at Tyler almost as though apologizing for calling him out.
“Hey. It’s not like we’re married. We’re two single guys. We had a life.” But still, Tyler found himself bothered by the look in Camden’s eye. And found himself wishing he’d had a different past.
“Anyway…” Camden pushed Griz on with a wave of her hand.
“Some of the ones who took the position of watching over the girls had ulterior motives. Probably because they were garnered from the bevy of females that Tyler and Sean had known.”
“Not all of them.”
“True,” Griz agreed. “But even the strangers that were brought in didn’t last long because the twins didn’t want nannies.”
“The twins? Or their elementals?” Camden asked.
Good question. Tyler studied Camden.
Those dark eyes housed an elemental and a shifter deep within and it showed with their flashing hues.
And it was a question Tyler couldn’t answer. “How would I know?” he asked Camden. “How can I even tell whether it’s them or their elementals?”
“You’d have to talk to their elementals. Have you ever?”
“How would I know that?”
“You’d know. They are ancient beings. They have different voices. Different accents even.”
The fuck? “Seriously?”
Camden nodded. “I’m guessing that you haven’t.”
“Would they talk to me?”
She shrugged.
“Would they talk to you?” Tyler asked her.
Chapter Nine
Camden looked from Tyler’s face to the back of the twin’s heads. Would they talk to her? Would either of their elementals talk to her or to her elemental? Or to Eden, or hers?
Griz cleared his throat. She glanced at him, wondering what was next.
“I shouldn’t have omitted a few things,” Griz admitted.
“You shouldn’t have omitted anything,” Camden corrected, taking a spoonful of the creamy concoction.
He blew out a breath with a whoosh. “You’re right. And there are things I still can’t tell you.”
She slammed her spoon down.
Trista and Tessa flinched and jumped to their feet, embracing each other, fear etched in their faces.
“I’m sorry,” Camden said. “I dropped my spoon. Don’t be afraid.”
The little ones studied her face.
“I’d never hurt you,” Camden said. “Maybe later we can visit and introduce ourselves properly. And the ones that give us fire, ice, wind, and move the earth.”
The girls said nothing, but they looked at each other for a measured moment, then turned back to Camden. One nodded. It was Tessa.
She’d noticed both girls’ eyes had the golden flashes of their bears, but Tessa’s had an amber that joined the gold, whereas Trista’s other secondary color was a light blue.
Yes, that was Tessa, for sure.
Camden nodded back and smiled. In return, a smile tipped the corners of the little girls’ mouths, then they resumed their seats on the carpet and went back to their movie.
She looked at Eden sitting at the table, fiddling with the ice cream, almost in a daze still. She’d never seen Eden this way. That bear—they’d need to talk. Camden and Eden had no secrets from each other… So what was that about? It was more than simple fear; it had to be.
Camden turned her attention to the conversation at hand. She couldn’t help but note that something seemed different about Tyler.
She used her panther’s senses to survey the difference. It wasn’t his scent so much as it was his pulse. It had lowered, as though relaxed.
She looked in his eyes, finding herself getting sucked in while the world fell away, and all the noise that surrounded them became distant.
His gaze pierced her, to the very core. His bear flashed a dark gold color, making her panther react with an intensity that caught Camden off guard. Her panther roared and paced, over and over.
Camden had to look away, but she couldn’t tear herself from the force of his stare.
“Thank you,” Tyler said.
That snapped her out of it. “For what?” She managed to get the words out, nearly stumbling over her own tongue.
Since when am I tongue-tied?
“For that. What you just did for Tessa and Trista—putting them at ease.”
“You’re welcome, but really, it was nothing.”
“No.” Tyler shook his head. “You don’t understand what it’s been like, how they don’t accept anyone. It’s—”
He didn’t need to finish his sentence. She could see it in his expression. It was hell. It had been a hellish ordeal.
“We’ll help.”
Eden looked up from the bowl of ice cream. Her face carried no expression, no indication of how she felt.
Camden looked at her quizzically. Was it okay? Did she do something wrong? Did Eden not want to do this? If they didn’t, who else could?
* * *
Camden drummed her fingernails across the wooden nightstand in the room she would occupy while she and Eden were helping the twin little girls. Eden’s room was just across the hallway, but at the moment, Eden was sitting in one of the plush reading chairs by the window in Camden’s.
“This reception up here sucks,” Camden griped.
Eden raised a brow. “Because we’re in BFE.”
“I’m on hold,” Camden explained. “She said that Circe’s out. Didn’t say where, then she said she had to get the other line.”
Eden nodded.
This was nothing new, the Order of Elementals were kept hopping with one issue or another.
Finally, Marie returned with a breathless apology.
“Everything okay?” Camden asked her.
“Just fine,” Marie laughed. “You know how it is. So, what’s going on? Is everything okay—” There was a spell of silence.
“Damned reception.” Camden grimaced, looking at Eden.
Eden shrugged.
Marie’s voice came back. “—for you two?”
“It’s fine.” Camden pulled on her bottom lip.
“What gives,” Marie asked.
She clearly knew Camden too well.
“Nothing.” Camden paused, then, “Well, it’s just a weird situation.”
“Weird how?”
“The two little girls are here and their guardians are two guys.” Camden didn’t mention the guy she’d met was hot as hell; that had nothing to do with the conversation.
“Just guys? No mates? No wives? No—”
More of the dead zone.
This is ridiculous, Camden thought, then answered Marie. “No. And I guess I don’t rank high enough to find out why they are here. They had nannies, but it seems that doesn’t work out very well.” Understatement of the year.
“So why don’t they get placed elsewhere?”
“There’s this guy, Griz, I guess he’s pretty powerful or something. He calls the shots, I think. Anyway, he says the two guys are uniquely qualified to take care of the girls.”
“But your tone begs to differ.”
Camden paused. She couldn’t put her finger on it. “I’m not sure, Marie.”
Eden nodded, then mouthed, Put her on speaker phone.
“Hold on, I’m putting you on speaker.” Camden wondered if that was wise, with a shifter in the house. What if Tyler overheard?
She glanced out the window and saw him walking with the twins, each holding on to his hands, looking up at him with adoration. Seemed they’d have some measure of privacy as long as he was out of earshot, even shifter-earshot.
She pressed the button and Eden sat next to her on the bed. Camden put the phone between them and they leaned in.
“Hey, Marie.”
“Hi, Eden. So, what do you think? Seems Cam doesn’t think they are uniquely qualified—”
“Whoa, I didn’t say that,” Camden countered.
“No, but your tone said something like that.”
“It’s a weird situation,” Eden agreed. “And we only met one of the guardians. The other one is gone for work.”
“Doesn’t that seem odd, having men as guardians to little girls?”
Camden raised a brow at Marie’s tone. Now, she was really uncomfortable and almost taking umbrage herself at Marie’s tone. “I don’t think they’re bad guys, Marie.”
“Then what is your concern?”
Camden filled her lungs, pausing to think then let out the air. “The guardians are twins. So they have that in c
ommon with the girls. I get that might be something Griz is considering. But they don’t have elementals in them…”
“Interesting. What is it that this Griz thinks they can bring to the table?”
Good question, Camden thought. But she wasn’t going to encourage this line of what almost seemed like an attack on Tyler’s motives.
She liked him. And there was something innately good about him.
She glanced out the window again.
And the little girls wouldn’t trust him this way if there was cause for concern, would they? Their elementals wouldn’t let that slide. She needed to talk to their elementals; maybe they could shed light on the situation.
“I’ll get back to you, Marie.”
More dead zone time.
Then, “Bye.”
“Bye. Give Circe a hug. Marco, too, if he’s there.”
But Camden suspected Marie was already gone—disconnected or in a reception dead zone again.
She sighed and punched to end the call.
“So, ready for this?”
Eden nodded.
“Even with that whole bear thing?”
Eden’s nod was a bit smaller. “It’s an assignment. And I need to deal with it.”
“What about Piria?”
“We’ll deal.”
Cam hoped they could, but she didn’t want to voice her concerns about Piria to Eden. Not when they had to stay focused on the twin girls.
Chapter Ten
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.
