or overstepped boundaries. Blue still didn’t know if Switch would last as a permanent addition since he was still in a trial period, but she guessed that decision lay with Shepherd. Switch didn’t seem like a bad guy. Headstrong, yes, but as a wolf, he’d protect Hunter when they were away, as he’d recently proved during their last mission.
Blue stood up. “I need to get some shut-eye. Did you eat breakfast?” she asked Viktor. “I can make you some scrambled eggs before I go to bed. It won’t take but a minute.”
He patted his stomach. “I am saving room. Kira will delight us with a casserole fit for kings. Or perhaps grechka the way my mother used to make.”
Blue tried not to let her disappointment show. She appreciated how Kira took care of the house, but Blue had always been the one who looked out for Viktor. The others didn’t notice or care when he didn’t eat enough or rest.
“Don’t you miss my eggs?” she said, hoping he’d take the bait. “I can make them just the way you like. A dash of salt, a little butter—”
“Nyet. I want you rested. If Raven moves to a second location and you see people going in, you can identify them. I do not want a sleepy bird on duty. Is this clear?”
“You bet.”
“Just don’t shit on anyone,” Shepherd quipped. “Remember that one time we were tailing that Packmaster and your bird blew our cover?”
She folded her arms, annoyed that they always brought that up for a few chuckles. “That was a fluke.”
“Yeah, but it almost got Wyatt killed. It was a good thing that—Hunter!” he boomed.
One second, Shepherd was leaning against the wall. The next, he was sprinting across the room toward the corner ladder. “Get down from there,” he snapped.
Hunter scrambled down the ladder and then hid behind it. He tucked himself into a tiny ball, his arms wrapped around his legs and his head buried from sight.
“Look, I didn’t mean to yell, little man, but you have to be careful. Ladders are dangerous. You can’t climb them unless someone else is holding on. That’s the rule.” Shepherd squatted by the ladder and rested his arm on a rung. “You wanna go outside and climb a tree?”
Blue drifted toward the wall and picked up the cigarette that Shepherd had dropped on the floor. She leaned through one of the open archways and stubbed it out in an ashtray on a booth table.
“Don’t be mad,” Shepherd said, scratching his bristly hair. “Do you wanna hit me?”
“That’s not an advisable suggestion,” Niko chimed in.
“He’s my kid.” Shepherd stared daggers at Niko from over his shoulder.
Niko turned his head. “What lesson will you teach him? That when he’s made to feel small or punished that he should lash out in violence?”
Shepherd rubbed his forehead. His heart was in the right place, but he didn’t have any experience with children that Blue knew of. Raising kids was something you learned along the way.
Blue crossed the room and stood by the ladder. “A little bird told me that there’s a magical room in this house.”
“What are you talking about?” Shepherd stood and gave her a bemused look.
She winked to get him to play along. “It’s so magical that only little boys can open the door.”
“What’s in the room?”
There was a room on the third floor that held musical instruments. Nobody ever went in there since none of them were musically inclined, but it was the sort of thing that a kid Hunter’s age would love.
“Magical instruments. There’s an old piano that sings when you press the keys. Legend has it that when you sit on the bench, you can fly to faraway places.”
Hunter lifted his head and peered at her through his disheveled hair.
She tried to recall what else was in there. “I heard there’s a harp named Mr. Brewster and a flute that dances.”
Shepherd gave her a “What the fuck are you talking about?” look—he obviously hadn’t learned the allure of magic when it came to children. The world wasn’t just about lessons in books.
“Anyhow, I was trying to think if I knew any little boys who might be brave enough to open the magic door,” she continued while rubbing her chin.
Shepherd folded his arms. “I don’t know.”
Hunter stood and looked at them from behind the ladder.
Blue maintained eye contact with Shepherd. “Someone put a spell on the door. It’s a magical spell that only a father and son can break. They have to be