Page 18

Zack hesitated and shot a glance at Victor. What the hell should he say? But then Jax had told him about their men giving birth, so Riley, who could read emotions, must trust Mo. If he was honest with himself, so did Zack, but there was a good chance the mating pull might cloud that, so he was relieved Riley clearly did.

“So, this is going to sound crazy.”

Mo laughed. “Crazier than humans turning into animals or guys having babies?”

Zack scrubbed his jaw. He had a point there. “We can’t let Luke touch you.”

Mo’s eyebrows shot up. “And Luke is?”

“Luke and Oliver are Daniel’s mates, but Luke has certain unusual gifts.” Mo just waited and Zack swore to himself.

“Luke can give you a wolf,” Victor said very bluntly. “And when I saygive, I mean he can turn you into a shifter.”

Mo’s jaw dropped, and his lips parted, but no sound came out. Zack winced. It sounded crazy, and he was surprised Mo wasn’t running for the hills. “We have to be careful,” Zack hurried on, although he wasn’t sure how he could make this any better. “They only teach shifter kids obviously. We didn’t know for a long time, well, until it happened to an FBI agent.”

Mo’s eyes grew even wider, and Victor chuckled. “Zack, I don’t think you’re helping. Martin is a friend and yes, he used to work for the FBI, but he had a bad accident which means in his human form he limps quite badly. In his animal form, however, he can run free of pain, and Martin will be forever grateful to Luke.”

It was a good thing they were near the small wall because Mo suddenly sat down on it as if his legs couldn’t hold him up. “Is there anything else you haven’t told me?” he croaked out.

“I’m sorry,” Zack blurted out, hunkering down in front of Mo. “I didn’t mean to drop all this on you at once.”

“No, I think that about covers it,” Victor said, and Zack shot him a glare. He was enjoying this.

“Zack!”

They all turned to see Riley jogging toward them with the phone. “I just got a call from family services. They’re on their way with an emergency placement.”

Zack shot to his feet, incredulity running through him. “But that’s impossible. We can’t take any kids right now. It isn’t safe.”

“Actually,” Victor said. “This place is locked down better than Fort Knox at the moment. I counted six of my gammas already watching from the trees.”

Zack glanced at Victor. “That’s beside the point. We have no idea what this kid has already gone through. If they’re an emergency placement, it usually means something traumatic, and putting them in this situation would likely make matters worse.”

Victor nodded, acknowledging Zack’s point. Riley sighed. “They’re already on their way. And Helen Reynolds says she has nowhere else to put him.”

“How old is he?” Mo asked, as they all headed for the house.

“Fourteen. Refuses to say what sort of shifter he is. He was in foster care between the ages of seven and twelve, but then his biological father came out of the woodwork. Currently he’s one more shoplifting conviction away from juvenile detention. His father is currently in Mexico for business and there’s no other responsible adults he can be with. We don’t even know if he can shift, so there isn’t anywhere they can put him in case his first shift happens without warning.”

“And I’m betting stress might bring that on,” Mo said. “What age is normal for a first shift?”

Zack met Victor’s admiring gaze as we both recognized Mo had gone from shocked to competent in the blink of an eye.

“Generally adolescence, but that can vary widely based on type of shifter and designation,” Riley answered. “Jax is getting a room ready, and Alex and Tyler are sorting out some toiletries.”

“Well,” Mo said as we got to the house. “There’s never a dull moment around here.”

Wasn’t that the truth.

Chapter Ten

Mowatchedinaweas the family all worked seamlessly together, even down to the kids. Christopher and Jax took the little ones away, but Mo noticed Tyler and Alex hung around, which made sense. Knowing he couldn’t really help—not that they needed him—he glanced at Victor. “Want a coffee?” Sometimes all that stood between him and insanity was a cup of black gold.

Victor peeled himself off the wall and followed him into the kitchen. He’d just filled the coffee machine and turned it on when they heard a car. Mo couldn’t help going to the window and felt Victor move up behind him. “Tell me how this works.” He nodded as a woman got out of the driver’s side and moved up to shake Riley’s hand.

“I’ve never been here when they got a new kid. I don’t actually visit much, only when I’m accompanying my alpha.”

Mo turned and looked openly at him, and Victor let him. His gray eyes had lightened, and they looked almost silver, which was weird, but then he was part wolf, so nothing could really top that. Mo’s second thought was wondering why he wasn’t freaking out. So, okay, he might have done so earlier when he thought he’d been basically kidnapped, but he wasn’t now. Neither of them spoke for a few seconds. “What do you want from me?” Mo whispered.