Page 103 of The Grizzly Situation

“Are we doing the right thing?” I asked Brent as I held Luke to my chest. “She loves him.”

“I know, but yes, we are. She’s not old enough or responsible enough to be a mother at this stage. A child should not be forced into having children.”

And I knew he was right, but still worried that she would be haunted by this decision for years to come.

“Don’t worry,” Brent said, swiping a finger over Luke’s head. “We’ve got her set up with a psychologist to talk things out. We would never let a member of the sleuth flounder.”

I glanced down at Luke, who peered up at me with big eyes filled with wonder.

And I fell in love with our new son.

Chapter Twenty-Six

ULY

When they steppedinto the mansion, Wyatt came over to me. I loved this kid so much. He’d had a rough life growing up. Born with moderate hearing loss, he wore devices to allow him to hear sounds and voices, which helped him to learn to speak. Whenever he felt down, Jamie and Deb, as well as my family, were his biggest supporters. We’d all taken classes on sign language if we ever needed them, but he was powering through it.

“Hey, Uncle Uly,” he said, giving me a bro hug, his bright blue hearing aids easily seen.

I hugged him back. “What’s up, kid? How’ve you been?”

He gave a one shoulder shrug. “Fine, I guess.”

His expression was anything butfine. I peered up at Deb who shook her head. I turned back to Wyatt, giving him a smile. “You know you can talk to me, right?”

He sighed. “Nah, it’s okay. All good.”

Another untruth. I might not be able to smell them the way Brent could, but I knew my nephew and those furrowed browsspoke louder than anything he might say. I would grill him on it after we had our conversation.

“So, listen. We kinda wanna have a talk with you. It’s important, and there are a few things you need to promise us before we get to it. Okay?”

He tilted his head slightly. “Yeah, sure.”

“You know that me and your Uncle Brent love you, right? And part of that is knowing we can trust you to keep a secret. Now, it’s nothing bad. Your mom and dad already know it, but I wanted to be the one to tell you. Okay?”

His lips curled down. “You’re not getting a divorce, are you? Angie’s parents got divorced and she wouldn’t stop crying.”

“No, we are absolutely not getting a divorce. I love my family, and I would never walk away from them. No, it’s more about… other things. Have you ever seen your mom’s books?”

He frowned. “You mean those weird ones that have a wolf and another man on the cover? Yeah, she kind of leaves them laying around. Why?”

“So you know what a shifter is?”

He nodded and his cheeks pinked. “I might peek at the books once in a while.”

“Good. Please keep that in mind. Brent? Can you come in here?”

He stepped into the room, his gaze locked on me. “Hey, kid.”

A big smile graced Wyatt’s face. He’d always been an uncle’s boy, mostly because Brent and our kids took him out into the forest and let him run and scream until he fell down, exhausted. Then they slung him over one of their shoulders and walked him, giggling the whole way, back to the car.

“Hey, Uncle Brent,” he said, giving Brent a hug.

Brent scratched at his neck. Though he trusted our family, he was still nervous about this. “So, listen. I talked with your mom and dad, and they said it was cool. We want to take a ride out tothe woods today. Just you, Uly, the boys, and me. You down with that?”

He nodded eagerly. “Yes!”

“Cool. How about we take the helicopter?”