for sure, and they both knew it.
“Thanks, Riggs.” They took a few more steps, reaching the circle of stones that signified the entrance of the wards. Before he lowered them, Rowan looked at him with a sneaky grin. “Also, Nick is totally not the brains.”
Riggs burst out laughing and hooked his arm around Rowan’s neck. Rowan handled the wards for them, and then they walked up to the rec hall where the rest of the pack had gathered.
Victor shot a speculative gaze his way when he noticed Riggs and Rowan. For a brief moment, something burned in Victor’s eyes—jealousy, perhaps—but it was gone a split second later. Victor returned to his conversation with a couple of other guys Riggs didn’t know.
“Whoa. Cold shoulder, huh?” Rowan said.
And yeah, for anyone else, it would have been. “Don’t worry about it,” Riggs said. “I have a secret weapon. In my pants.”
Rowan snickered and turned twelve shades of red.
Riggs pulled out his phone and held it up. “What’d you think I was talking about?” He showed Rowan a cute picture of a ketchup-covered Gus before closing it again. “He can’t be mad when faced with that much cuteness. It’ll be fine.”
“Right,” Rowan said. “Plus, what’s in your pants.”
Riggs couldn’t deny facts, so he simply smirked and made his way to Nick. He looked down the field where the kids played and searched for a familiar head of red hair. He couldn’t find any sign of Gus, though, and frowned.
“He’ll be out in a few,” Nick said.
“Oh. Yeah. Sure.” He tried not to sound disappointed. Riggs turned his attention back to Nick and earned one of his infamous smug grins in return. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Can’t help it. You’re whipped by a toddler. Giant bear felled by twenty pounds of cute.”
“You’re not wrong.”
“I know I’m not,” Nick added. “Thanks for coming up. I wanted…” He paused, glancing around the small group gathered around him. “Backup.”
Nick made quick introductions to the newcomers, after one of the new guys nudged him. “My brother’s a stickler for manners all of a sudden.”
“Not all of a sudden, Nick. Home training. You need it.”
Nick scoffed his reply.
“Where do you want me?” Riggs asked.
Nick turned back to Riggs, his face set. “Between them and the kids.”
“Done,” Riggs promised.
He glanced once more at Victor before moving off to the side. Once out of the way, he knelt down and loosened the laces on his work boots. He’d have a harder time shifting quickly if he needed to take them off all the way. He got them set to the point where he could still run if he needed but could also toe them off quickly if the situation warranted a quick shift.
Riggs caught sight of a few others, obviously given similar tasks. A wolf shifter, sitting on the ground with two little girls climbing on him. They had his attention, but Riggs could see the awareness in his eyes. A tiger, in shifted form, off to the side, pacing through the trees. Waiting. Watching. Others too. Riggs could see them in the woods.
Nick’s friends might be keeping their distance, but his pack surrounded him. Both Leandra and the coven members stood at his side, along with his brother, Loch, and Andvari. And not a moment too soon.
A rush of magic filled the area, and all the cubs reacted. Several of them began to run toward their alpha, but their caregivers held them back, speaking in low, calming voices and soothing fears.
“Hold on,” Nick called out. “Just gotta meet someone real quick, and then we’ll play again. Okay? I’m thinking freeze tag. My brother will be it.”
His calm tone helped. Some of the younger ones needed to be held, but others—Gus included, Riggs realized—stood waiting and watching. He had his thumb in his mouth and looked to Riggs for support.
“It’s okay, little man. I’m right here.”
Gus leaned against the little boy standing next to him, somehow understanding that Riggs couldn’t hold him right that second. As for Riggs, his bear paced, his mind already having him covered in fur and towering over the others. A glowing portal opened a few dozen feet away. Riggs adjusted his position, keeping himself between whatever was about to walk through and the small group of children at his back.
The portal grew wider, glowing brightly in the afternoon sun. Power swarmed them. Riggs’s hands itched with the need to shift. And then something moved from within the circle. Riggs locked his gaze on the target and