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

speed, she took out the stroller and rolled it in front of the house, and then went for the babies, letting Fiona help her. Fiona carried Raze into the house and Madeline could practically hear the worried thoughts running through her friend’s head as Madeline attacked the door with her keys, twisting them into the lock.
    “I’m not sure I should leave you like this, hon. Will you be okay?” Fiona asked.
    “I’ll be fine, honest. I need a cup of tea and to put the boys in their cribs and maybe a long, relaxing bath,” Madeline lied, smiling over her shoulder.
    They walked in and put the sleeping twins on the couch on their backs and Madeline showed Fiona out, stiffly hugging her at the door.
    “I promise I’ll be okay, Fiona. Don’t worry about me. The explosion was so… unexpected, you know? Nothing to worry about now, though. We’re home and safe and everything’s fine!”
    The smile felt so damn fake on her lips, but Fiona seemed to take some solace in it.
    “Call me, okay? Let’s get some wine and forget all about the crazies of the world!”
    “It’s a date!” Madeline said, already closing the door.
    As soon as she heard Fiona’s footsteps retreat, she burst into action. Her heart was still beating out of her chest, adrenaline coursing through her veins. She and Fiona had been maybe fifty yards from the explosion site, a little store on the path they chose to stroll with the kids. The horrific boom had brought everything back in spades. The fear, the worry, the panic Madeline had felt on that train. But this time, it had all been amplified by the cold, gripping dread of thinking that something could happen to her boys.
    When she’d recovered from the initial shock, another realization hit as soon as she saw the TV cameras already clamoring on the scene and the dozens of cell phones taking videos of the smoking wreckage of the store. She’d been told in no few details by The Firm that whatever she did, she had to remain out of sight and out of mind, for her own good. And then she had gotten stuck on the local news coverage because she couldn’t get through the crowds with two strollers for two sets of twins!
    I knew I shouldn’t have gone into town! she chided herself, running into her room and grabbing a bag from the closet.
    She started piling essentials into it, along with her few prized possessions and her new identity information. From there, she moved into the nursery and packed the baby bag and threw anything that didn’t fit into her own shoulder bag. Madeline worked methodically, but quickly, the two traits ingrained in her by years of academia. By the time she made it back into the living room, her heart rate had gone down a little bit and she was thinking more clearly.
    I need to get a cab. We’ll go to the airport and fly… anywhere. Anywhere but here, she thought, securing the bags over her shoulders so she could call a cab.
    As she was dialing the number, she heard a heavy, frantic knock on the door. Madeline stopped, her hand hovering over the numbers. Another knock. Panic gripped her throat, threatening to suffocate her.
    Oh no, she thought, her stomach dropping.
    Then, she saw the door handle being pushed down and she realized she hadn’t locked the door. Madeline sprinted toward the front door, trying to push it closed and lock it before whoever it was on the other side could get through, but she was too late. She skidded to a halt right in front of Tex, who stepped in with a handgun drawn, his intense green and golden eyes gleaming with tension.
    “Are you alone?” he asked quickly, waving Thatch in.
    Thatch closed the door behind himself smoothly, almost soundlessly, and put away his gun.
    “She’s alone, Tex. Put that away,” he said calmly.
    Madeline couldn’t believe her eyes. Here they were, both of them, her twin lovers that she’d never expected to see again. The fathers of her children. The only men who had ever made her heart beat a million miles a minute and