“I mean, itiskind of weird.” He shrugged. “But we can’t go through this constantly worrying about how we’ll be perceived, right?”
I looked over at Angel. She stretched a hand out at me, wiggling her little fingers. My expression lightened with joy as I returned the gesture, touching my fingertip to hers. Angel burst out into laughter and a huge smile spread across both of our faces.
I turned to Ryu and said firmly, “Call them.”
Ryu picked up his phone right away. “Hey, Gabe? We have a little emergency…”
* * *
It wasearly afternoon when Ryu’s friends showed up. Part of me wanted to slink away and hide, but I knew I needed to stick around and hear their advice. Sitting on the tatami mat with Angel’s carrier next to me, I anxiously waited for a room full of people to arrive, but only two omegas did, without their alphas or children in tow. I figured the alphas must have stayed home to look after the kids.
“Hey!” Ryu cried as the two men stood at the door. I recognized one of them as Gabriel, another wolf shifter from my old pack, but I didn’t know the darker-skinned one—a young man with black hair and golden eyes.
Gold eyes, just like Angel,I thought.
The two omegas entered and sat around the table on the floor. Gabriel sat cross-legged, and the other omega leaned his legs to one side in a pose that reminded me of a cat. I noticed Gabriel looked a bit more haggard since the last time I saw him.
“The second baby wearing you out, huh?” Ryu asked him with a grin.
Gabriel sighed, but he smiled. “Yeah. Noelle’s quite a handful, even at this young age.”
“Scar, you know Gabriel,” Ryu said, gesturing to each of us.
Gabriel was staring at Angel, a smile on his face. He nodded at me and said, “Hey, Scar. Long time no see.”
I gave him a curt nod. Despite our common heritage, I wasn’t sure of how to feel about him assuming a connection between us. “Hi.”
“And this is Raja. He’s a panther shifter from outside Cinderhollow,” Ryu explained.
“Heya,” Raja said, giving me a wave. He was obviously more interested in Angel than he was in me. Not that I could blame him—shewasthe most beautiful and alluring person in the room.
“Hello.” I noted his eyes again, sharp and bright gold. “So you’re a panther shifter? Do all cats have gold eyes like you?”
Ryu glanced at Angel, realizing why I’d asked.
“No,” Raja said. “It’s common, but not all of us have them. But I don’t think cats are the only shifters with gold eyes.”
“I see,” I said.
“I guess we should talk about why I’ve asked you both here,” Ryu said. “As you can see, we have a new addition—”
“We?” Gabriel asked with his brows raised. “As in, you two…?”
Ryu and I shared a panicked glance.
“Ah, no, not quite like that, we’re not together,” Ryu said quickly. “It’s just that we both found her, and we thought she needed both an alpha and omega to raise her..”
That wasn’t quite true. I was the one who found Angel, without Ryu. But I did need his help. I supposed it was easier for him to condense the story that way, even if it did imply a closer connection.
“Wait, youfoundher?” Raja asked. “What does that mean?”
“Literally. We found her,” I said. “Someone left her on my bar’s doorstep.”
Both the omegas gasped in horror. Gabriel’s face went pale, and Raja looked indignant.
“You can’t be serious,” Raja growled.
I stared him dead in the eye. “I am.”
