“Sorry,” Tyr said helplessly, rubbing his tingling arm.
“This is awful.” Cela buried her face in her hands for a moment. “Is there nothing that can be done? Do you know anything?”
“No. It’s griffin magic. I don’t know anyone around here who knows anything about that.” The one possibility he could think of was the one least likely to work, but he mentioned it anyway. “Maybe we could send word back to the island?—”
“No,” Cela snapped, her flare of temper showing the hidden depths of strength and rage inside her.
Most of the time she seemed calm, almost meek. But Tyr could see how she had stood up to her not-mate and the entire population of her covert for the sake of her babies.
Our mate is fierce,his griffin cheered, and then added unhelpfully,Pet her, stroke her, soothe her.
I only wish I could!
Calming a bit, Cela said, “They won’t help. They wouldn’t have done this in the first place if they were going to want to undo it immediately. And if they find out we’re trying to unravel the magic, who knows what worse thing they’ll come up with?”
“Okay. No griffins, at least for now. I’ll ask the other shifters I know in town and see if anyone has any ideas.” Unable to comfort her with touch, he joined her in stroking the incredibly soft fur and feathers of the sleeping twins. “Let’s see how my kids interact with your babies. If you’re uncomfortable about it at all, I can go to the store with Austin and Lissy, and take a shopping list from you. Okay?”
She gave him a tremulous smile. “I’m sorry that so many things make me afraid. I feel like a coward.”
“You’re not that at all,” Tyr said, surprised. If anything, he was impressed by her bravery. He would have taken her into his arms right then, if he could.
Hold her, pet her, mate her?—
Not helpful!
“You’re hardly afraid of anything, considering what you’re up against,” he went on. “It’s no surprise you don’twant to leave your babies alone with people you haven’t even met yet. Let’s just see how you feel once they’re here, and we’ll work around any concerns you have.”
Tires crunching in the gravel driveway announced the arrival of Paula’s car. Tyr jumped to his feet and tore himself away from the increasingly desperate temptation of Cela’s soft-looking skin and even softer-looking hair to go out and meet them.
Lissy hopped out of the backseat and exclaimed eagerly, “Where are the babies?”
“Sleeping,” Tyr said, laughing. He gave her a quick one-armed hug and nodded to Austin, who had gotten out of the front of the car, followed a moment later by his mom.
“Is this about the woman you needed clothes for yesterday?” Paula asked.
“Yeah. Sorry for the short notice.”
She smiled, and Tyr was startled to find that he no longer found that smile as compelling as he once had. There was still an echo of old affection, but his attraction to her had been washed away in the tidal wave of Cela’s shy smiles and downcast glances.
“Like I told you last night, it’s no problem,” Paula said. “I already had some old things bagged up to take to Goodwill. I included what little I still had of Lissy’s old things, but really, there’s almost no baby stuff around the place anymore.”
As the kids went off to the house, she stepped close to Tyr and said quietly, “She got out of a bad situation, didn’t she?”
“Yeah,” Tyr said. That hardly seemed to cover it. “She’s got nothing at all with her except the clothes she was wearing. I’m going to take her shopping for the things she needs.”
Paula’s smile was lopsided but sweet. Once again there was that tug of old love, faded now to a kind of worn friendship. “You’re a good guy, Terry.”
“It’s not really charity.” He broke off before explaining therest. Paula did know about mates, at least theoretically. She’d found hers. But she was still human, and he wasn’t sure how much she really understood of what things were like for shifters. “It’s more like a duty,” he tried, and she frowned a little. Okay, that wasn’t quite right, either.
“Is it all right if I meet her?” Paula asked. “She might need a female friend here.”
The bottom dropped out of his stomach, remembering Cela’s dark look when Paula’s name had come up earlier. “I’m not sure,” he said. “That is, that’s up to her. She’s been through a lot.”
“Yes, of course. I won’t push.”
She followed him onto the porch. When Tyr opened the door, he found himself a spectator on a scene of whirling, chaotic activity. The babies were not merely awake, but stirred up into wild activity by the arrival of the other two kids. Lissy was down on her back on the floor with a lion cub licking her face, while Ayra fluttered around wildly in a game of tag that Austin seemed to be enjoying as much as the owlet.
“Well, I thought they were going to sleep for a while,” Cela exclaimed, half-laughing. She hurried over to greet them at the door. “Come in quickly, don’t let anyone get out. Is this Paula?”
