First things first.
We needed an emergency Clan meeting.
Chapter 2
Riggs
“Shh, Alanna,” I said softly. “It’s okay.”
I rested a steadying hand on the carrier and rocked it gently against my leg. We were in the kitchen at two in the morning, both of us seriously sleep-deprived, but Alanna was more so since she didn’t have a shifter’s constitution. She seemed angry about it, too.
Mathan sat at the kitchen table, looking like a zombie. He was nursing a mug of honey lavender tea, by the smell of it, and frowning at the squalling baby waving her fists in anger next to me.
I pulled up the online directions that explained how to make a bottle, mixed the formula into the water, stirred it, sniffed it out of curiosity, then pulled back with a grimace and popped the mug into the microwave. When I turned, I folded my arms over my chest and fixed my Second with a look.
“You know, you could, oh I don’t know, pick her up if she’s distressing you and causing you to miss your beauty sleep,” I said dryly.
“No, I’m good.”
I clenched my jaw. Although I was generally a good alpha, I needed help, and Mathan only seemed to want to keep hisdistance. I didn’t know what he was afraid of, but he’d avoided being around Alanna even when Piper was here. Now that she was gone, he was still avoiding her. He was only here now because he probably felt sorry for me and had come down to the kitchen so I didn’t feel alone. I didn’t know how Mathan could be both thoughtful and grumpy, but he somehow managed.
I wasn’t going to let him get away with the whole distance thing he was doing, though. Babies weren’t scary. They just cried a lot. I was quickly becoming an expert. “Don’t hurt her when you pick her up. She’s fragile.”
Mathan set his cup down and frowned at me before rising to get Alanna. I bit back a yawn and scrubbed a hand over my face. “What was that look for?”
“I wouldneverhurt a cub.”
I nodded, chastened. “Sorry. I only meant be careful of your bear strength, because she’s not a shifter.”
He snorted and, squatting down, carefully undid the buckle across her chest and picked the still squalling baby up. Bringing her close, he wrapped the blanket from the carrier around her until she was snug against him.
She went quiet at once, looking up at him with big blue eyes. And everything in me—from my muscles to my racing thoughts—settled. Ah, blessed silence.
I glanced at Mathan. He’d had a rough childhood. And by rough, I meant violent. He’d come to the Moonhaven Bear Clan with Alistair, my secretary from Scotland. Mathan had quickly risen through the ranks and proved to be a good, dedicated bear, so when I’d become alpha, I’d called him as my Second, Matteo as my First, and Alistair as my secretary.
Because of Mathan’s childhood, he’d sworn never to be mated—even if he found her—and never to have children. That wasn’t an issue if he stuck to it, since we could only have children with our mates. But speaking from recent experience, if he everdidfind her, I didn’t think his resistance would last long. Mathan had proven me wrong before, but I was doubtful anyone could hold out indefinitely against their own mate.
The microwave dinged, and I turned to pull the warm coffee mug out.
“You put the formula in a coffee cup?”
I frowned at the steam wafting off the top of the cup and stuck a clean finger in to test how hot it was. Sighing, because I’d put it in too long, I fished an ice cube from the freezer and dropped it in the cup, then stirred it with a spoon. “Yes. You can’t put the bottle in. It’s plastic and will melt.”
“What about those bottle warmer things?” he said, shaking a crinkly toy at Alanna until she batted it away. “You put water in the bottle warmer, and it warms the water, then you stick the bottle in. It’s like a bottle bath.”
I blinked at my Second in astonishment. His ears turned pink, and he avoided making eye contact as he tucked the blanket around Alanna’s arm again. “I read magazines sometimes,” he muttered.
“Parentingmagazines?”
Alanna started fussing again, so he started pacing with her across the kitchen and back. He managed to continue avoiding my gaze as he gently patted her back and jostled her up and down on his hip while she stared up at him in fascination.
Mathan’s curly red-brown hair stuck up in every direction, and his tee shirt was inside out and backward. Clearly, Alanna’s crying and my inept attempts to soothe her had pulled him out of a sound sleep. He’d stomped in five minutes ago like an angry, hibernating bear, grunted at me, and quietly made himself some tea. But I was used to Mathan being grumpy. I wouldn’t know what to do if he was ever pleasant. Probably send him to the Clan doctor to get a checkup, or make sure he hadn’t been body snatched by aliens.
The grumpiness, though, was why I marveled at the way he was handling Alanna. Out of everyone in my Clan, I’d expected Matteo and Emrie to be good with kids.MaybeTaco. Mathan was one of thelastbears I’d thought would be good at this.
I turned back to the counter and checked the temperature of the formula again. It was just right, so I poured the formula into Alanna’s bottle and turned back, only to catch Mathan gazing down at Alanna with a gentle expression on his face.
“Wanna feed her?” I asked quietly, hesitating to break the tender moment between them.
