Free Bear My Baby (Shifter Squad Six 1) by Anya Nowlan Page B

worried she was. How frantic, even.
    “I think we need to play twenty questions again, Cassie,” he said calmly, tickling the baby and making him giggle and wriggle in his hands.
    He couldn’t take his eyes off of him. While Monroe had his eyes, he’d definitely gotten his mother’s hair and a slightly darker complexion. The fullness of his lips was also certainly from Cassie’s side. As far as Connor was concerned, the boy had gotten the best possible mix, looking like the perfect outcome of both himself and Cassie.
    “I didn’t want you to find out this way,” she said, sinking onto the couch across from him.
    “This way or at all?” he asked, not able to really keep the sharpness out of his tone completely.
    She recoiled at that and he immediately kicked himself for it. Cassie stood up, her lips pressed in a tight, thin line, with anguish burning in her hazel eyes. The pit of his stomach iced over. Shit, that wasn’t how he wanted to start things off.
    “I think you need to go now,” she said, coldly.
    “Hey, I’m sorry, okay. You can understand I’m a little bit on edge right now, right? Sit down, Cassie. Let’s talk about this.”
    She seemed to think about that for a moment but reluctantly agreed, sitting back down and resting her elbows on her knees. They dug into the soft, checkered fabric and he immediately wished she was in his lap too right now. The distance of a few feet between them felt like they were on the opposite sides of the Grand Canyon, yelling things across that the other one would never understand.
    “What’s his name?” he asked, studying the lines of his face and the slightly protruding, proud arch of his Cupid’s bow.
    Connor wanted to learn everything he could about the boy. Something inside of him told him that he didn’t have a second to lose. If losing Cassie had taught him anything, then it was that he always had to go for what he wanted. Even if it ripped his heart out every single time.
    “Monroe,” Cassie said, and Monroe immediately echoed it, rolling the r and smiling bright.
    “That’s right, little man. That’s you,” Connor said, his voice immensely soft every time he talked to him. “I can safely assume he’s mine, yeah? One of my other brothers hasn’t stalked you down and asked you to marry him between Chicago and now, right?” he asked, chuckling slightly.
    He had no doubt Monroe was his. And even if he would have then the bear knew exactly. This was his flesh and blood sitting in his lap. His firstborn son. The crowning moment of any Alpha shifter’s life and he’d missed it. Guilt pooled in his stomach and once again he had to wonder how the hell his instincts had been so right and he’d ignored them so completely. He had known that he needed to find Cassie. That she would need him. That he would have to be at her side.
    And he had failed. It tore a chunk out of him like no grenade or land mine ever could.
    “He’s yours,” Cassie admitted, a tremor in her voice.
    Connor looked up, seeing tears sparkling in her eyes. She was shaking a little, and when she noticed him looking at her, she quickly wiped those tears away with the back of her hand. That broke whatever last piece of his heart that had been intact before, crumbling it right into dust.
    “I should have been here,” he said, guilt dripping off of every syllable.
    Monroe put his hands around Connor’s neck quickly and gave him that happy, little kid hug that is supposed to fix everything. Connor couldn’t help but grin. Then, Monroe sat down on his wide lap and easily slid off, practically clinging from his knee as he scooted to the ground and then waddled off quickly in search of a toy. The kid had some strength on him! Though that wasn’t any surprise, of course, he caught himself thinking with pride. It was his kid after all.
    “You didn’t know. You couldn’t have known,” Cassie objected, though her voice was weak.
    Connor heaved himself up and sat down next to Cassie,