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

her head spin. For a second, she could feel her vision getting fuzzier at the edges and she propped herself up with a hand against the wall, still staring at them, dismayed.
    “W-what are you doing here?” she finally asked, managing to get a few words out that weren’t only broken syllables.
    “Oh, you know. We were in the neighborhood, figured we’d drop by,” Tex said with his trademark wolfish grin, giving her a wink. “Aren’t you glad to see us?” he asked, putting his gun in the holster on his hip and pulling her into a tight bear hug just as suddenly.
    Madeline gasped, her eyes wide as saucers, meeting Thatch’s gaze over Tex’s shoulder as her body was crushed against his. He felt so warm, so safe, and despite the growing uncertainty in her mind, in that moment she felt completely at ease. She felt a sudden and painful sense of loss when Tex let go of her and she smiled awkwardly as Thatch chuckled, shaking his head.
    “We should stop meeting like this, Miss Madeline,” he said, taking her hand and kissing the top of it gently, making butterflies flutter in Madeline’s stomach. “I bet there are other ways to see one another other than explosion-driven coincidences.”
    “So that’s why you’re here, the explosion?” she asked as Thatch let go of her hand.
    She was desperate to keep her head in the game, to clear it from the happy, cooing fluffiness that wanted to invade it because she was in the company of Tex and Thatch.
    “Yeah. We saw you on the news. Figured we weren’t going to be the only ones. You’ve got your stuff packed already? Clever girl,” Tex said with an appreciative nod, taking one of the bags off of Madeline’s shoulders before she could say a thing about it.
    “I can handle that,” she protested softly, hanging onto the baby bag.
    “Where were you going?” Thatch asked, walking past her and toward the living room.
    “I wasn’t sure yet,” she yelped, trying to get ahead of him and stop him before he got within sight of the couch and the sleeping boys, but it was too late.
    Thatch stopped dead in his tracks at the door, waving Tex over. Madeline was standing between them and the couch, not sure what she was supposed to do now, or how she was going to act. She didn’t want them to find out about the boys like that. Well, she’d assumed they would never find out, but definitely not in a situation where there was probable danger lurking behind every corner.
    The pause that hung in the air seemed eternal, like Madeline had time to grow old and die ten times over during it.
    “We need to get them out of here,” Thatch said finally, flicking a searching look at Madeline.
    She could hardly interpret it. Was it happiness? Worry? Annoyance? Madeline bit her lip again and nodded, carefully picking up Raze as Thatch took Rhone. Rhone stirred in Thatch’s arms, yawning for a moment before nuzzling his little face against Thatch’s chest. The big, burly shifter commando looked positively smitten with the baby. Madeline wanted nothing more than to distill the moment into a mental image—the first time a father holds his son.
    Tex was looking at his brother in wonder, a small smile on his lips.
    “Dammit, man, we need to go before we both break down and start cuddling the babies!” he said, but the look in his eyes told Madeline that it was exactly what he would have preferred to be doing.
    Thatch snapped out of it and nodded curtly, reaching a hand out to Madeline as she kept Raze on her hip. She took it and let him lead her out of the house, with Tex checking the door first and slipping out ahead of them, though he kept throwing back glances. They practically ran across the yard toward the big SUV parked in front and Tex helped Madeline get in and buckle down with both babies in her lap and the bags on the floor by her feet. Her world was spinning by the time they’d slammed the doors shut and taken off like a bullet.
    What the hell is going on? she asked herself,