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Inside, I found a nursery. Some paint swatches on the walls suggested someone was planning on remodeling it but hadn’t gotten around to it yet. The only furniture inside was a changing table and crib. The Ikea boxes they’d come from were still stacked in the corner.
Whatever was going on here, it was a rush job and hadn’t been planned well. All this time, we’d been assuming the boys’ kidnapping had been premeditated, so why did their nursery look like an afterthought?
When I sniffed the air, I found that familiar scent: baby powder and milk, something similar to fresh bread. A little of Felicity, a little of me.
I made a beeline for the crib. Inside it was Rylan. His face was scrunched up, red and furious as he wailed. His tiny fists thrashed on either side of his face. He kicked his legs like a frog swimming through a pond.
The drumming of my own heart filled my ears, drowning out every other sound. With every beat, warmth spread through my chest as a laugh escaped my throat.
It was the exact face Rylan made when he was trying to poop.
“Hey there, kiddo.” I scooped him up into my arms and held him flush to my chest, rubbing his back and thanking my lucky stars. Every other thought was gone from my mind, save for how right it felt to hold him again, and how elated Felicity would be to do the same. “Oh God, Rylan—”
“His name is not Rylan!” Sarah screeched.
She threw herself at me, face twisted with pure hate. Denny caught her arms and dragged her back toward the doorway. She kicked and thrashed so hard against his hold, he had to wrap his arms around her chest just to keep her from hurting herself as she struggled to get away.
“You put him down! Fucking sperm donor! I’ll kill you, I swear to God—”
“Hey. Enough of that,” Denny barked at her. “Nobody’s killing anyone. Why don’t you calm down and—”
“I won’t let you take him,” she snarled at me. “You don’t deserve to even touch him after what you did! If you hurt him, so help me—”
“What I did?” My eyes narrowed. “What the fuck are you on about?”
She broke into a wordless sob. Her body rocked forward as tears streamed down her face.
My eyes met Denny’s. He looked about as confused as I felt.
We didn’t have time for this shit.
“Where’s Ryder?” I snapped at her, shifting Rylan a little deeper into the crook of my arm.
“Ryder?” Sarah’s lower lip trembled. Her face was red, upper lip glossy with snot.
“The other baby,” I growled. “Whatever the fuck you’ve been calling him. Where is he? Where’s my other son?”
“I’ve only been watching Grayson.” Her chest rose and fell in quick, panicked heaves under Denny’s arms. “There’s no one else here.”
Chapter12
Felicity
As Beauty and I stood back behind the tree line, hidden from view, we heard no whistle of warning. There was no reason to hide. I chewed my fingernails and bounced on my heels, desperate to follow Xander. Desperate to know how this would pan out.
Barely five minutes after Xander, Denny, and Rabbit left to check out the house, we received our first update. It arrived in the form of a stark white wolf, smaller and scrawnier than Xander’s but still huge compared to my small human frame, galloping down the drive at top speed toward Beauty and me.
Rabbit. He was in his wolf form.
He skidded to a stop before us, shifting back into his human form so quickly he ended up naked on his hands and knees—a compromising position for anyone, but an especially vulnerable-looking one for someone as wiry as him.
“Miss Felicity! We need you. Now. C’mon.” His stutter had vanished in the urgency of his voice. Only after a breath did he remember that he didn’t have a lick of clothes on in his human form. In an instant, his cheeks turned redder than a tomato, and the stutter returned. “Ah, shit. A-p-p-pologies, ma’am.”
He shifted back into his wolf form quickly, turned back toward the house, and looked expectantly over his shoulder at me.
I glanced at Beauty, who hadn’t said a word to me since the others left to confront Melony. “Does he mean for me to…ride him?”
Beauty nodded. When I hesitated, Beauty placed a hand on my back and shoved me in Rabbit’s direction.
