your feelings than his own.” Sylvie crossed her arms over her body.
“What exactly do you need, Elise?” Hannah asked.
Elise let out a long breath. “I need...” She glanced at Caleb and Aiden. “We need you to help Caleb and Aiden to dream walk.”
Hannah’s eyes widened and she swayed back and forth before she regained her composure. “Dream walking.”
“Yes. They need to remember something that happened to them when they were younger,” Elise explained, ignoring Sylvie who tutted loudly.
“What kind of something?” Hannah moved around the room until she stood before Caleb, her eyes narrow as she studied him.
“When we were children...” Caleb’s mouth became suddenly dry. He coughed and cleared his throat. “When we were children, our parents were killed, and we were put in foster care.”
“Until Valerie adopted you,” Sylvie said. “And that’s when you came to Wishing Moon Bay.”
“You’ve been busy,” Elise commented. “Did you pay someone to investigate them?” Her cheeks flushed pink, and her eyes glittered like diamonds as she stared at Sylvie.
“Yes.” Sylvie jutted her chin out. “I wanted to know if there was anything we could use as leverage to get Aiden to break off his relationship with Flora.”
“You did what?” Flora asked.
“I did what any self-respecting, caring family member would do for her grandchild. He was destined to be your husband.” Sylvie was unrepentant as she stared at Flora.
“That doesn’t matter.” Aiden reached for Flora’s hand and rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand to comfort her. “Will you please help us?”
“What do you need to remember?” Hannah asked. “And why?”
“Before we were adopted by Valerie, we were in foster care. But someone stole us from our foster parents. We were found by the police inside an apartment, but they never found who took us.” Caleb held his hands out to Hannah. “It’s important that we remember.”
“Why do you need to remember something that happened so long ago?” Hannah stepped sideways and stared at Aiden as if he were a specimen in a jar. Then her eyes widened. “Someone is in danger.”
“Our sister. Someone is stalking her, and we think it might be connected to what happened to us. Our father was responsible for putting a bad man behind bars. This man, we believe, murdered our parents. Then we were taken from the foster home.”
“Why? When your parents were already dead, why were you taken?” Hannah asked.
“Because we’re shifters. There was a trafficking ring back then and we believe we would have been sold,” Caleb admitted.
Elise stepped closer to him and reached for his hand. He entwined his fingers with hers and looked down at her face, drawing comfort from her.
“No!” Sylvie put her hands over her mouth. “Not you, too.”
“You make it sound as if I caught a disease or something.” Elise shook her head. “I love you. Both of you, but you must respect my decisions and my decision to be with Caleb is one of the best ones I have ever made. One that makes me happy. Isn’t that what you should be interested in?” She aimed her comment at Sylvie.
“I suppose if you have chosen a shifter then there’s little we can do about it. Does Karros support this decision?” Sylvie asked. “I doubt it since he isn’t here. And he gave up his life here for you. So that he could help you with your career. I suppose you’re going to give that up and spawn a brood of shifters.”
Elise glanced at Caleb. He shook his head slightly. This wasn’t the time to argue with her grandmother or to break the news that Karros had also found a mate and would be breeding his own shifter children.
She inclined her head and inhaled deeply. “Karros is supportive of my decision and no, I’m not giving up my dream of becoming a chef and one day running my own restaurant. Caleb’s brother is the reason I went to Wishing Moon Bay. He’s one of the best chefs.”
“And who is going to raise your babies?” Sylvie asked.
“I have a very supportive family,” Caleb replied. He was tired of Sylvie being so hard on Elise and shifters in general. “They will help us. Isn’t that what families are supposed to do?”
“It is.” Hannah averted her gaze and ignored Sylvie’s hard stare.
“And that’s why we’re here.” She moved toward Grandma Hannah and reached out for her hand. “Caleb and Aiden need to unlock their memories so they can help their sister.”
“You always did have an open heart and an open mind.”