King of Pain - Tasha Black Page 0,36

Axel said.

“You look tired,” Chase said sympathetically. “Were you out late last night?”

Axel knew they were alone, but he glanced around out of instinct before replying.

“I can’t really run with the moon these days,” he said. “I tried last night, but the neighbor yelled something about bears and then Noah woke up…”

“Wait—what?” Chase asked.

“Well, I try to be quiet, but the yard is so small…” Axel began.

“You tried to shift in your yard?” Chase asked, incredulous. “Dude, that’s hilarious!”

“It’s not hilarious,” Axel said, though he was pretty sure Chase was right and he was just too grumpy to see it. “What am I supposed to do? I can’t leave Noah.”

“Why didn’t you call Hannah Harkness?” Chase asked, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “She watches him all the time.”

“Who watches him all the time?” Jenny Wilks-Andrews asked brightly from the stairwell.

Chase’s eyebrows shot up.

Jenny was a shifter too, so her hearing was enhanced. She was also a stay-at-home mom and thick as thieves with the little clique of mostly human moms that ruled the roost at play group.

“Hannah Harkness,” Axel said. “How’s it going, Jenny?”

“Great,” she said firmly. “Daniel is having a pleasant day, right, Daniel?”

“Horse,” Daniel trumpeted and galloped over to the rocking horse Axel had set up by one of the windows.

“He’s getting so big,” Axel said, shaking his head in disbelief.

“He’s only in the eighty-seventh percentile,” Jenny barked out defensively.

Dear Lord. He had done it again.

Axel could never seem to say the right thing with these women.

“I only meant he’s so active and so tall,” he said quickly.

But the damage was done, Jenny brushed her hands together as if she were washing herself clean of him, then took off for the top of the stairwell where her best friend, Megan had appeared with her newborn.

Chase rolled his eyes and Axel smiled. At least Chase understood.

“Anyway,” Axel said. “Hannah’s only in high school. It’s fine for her to watch Noah during the day when I’m at the shop. If anything goes wrong, I’m in shouting distance. But not at night. Besides, summer’s over - she went back to school this week.”

“What are you going to do?” Chase asked, his eyes full of sympathy.

The opening bars of Hungry Like the Wolf rang out suddenly.

“Oh, man, that’s my phone,” Chase said, slipping it out of his pocket and swiping with his thumb. “Dax is here, hang tight.”

“You can stay with Uncle Axel,” Axel told baby Jacob, who was sitting up in his boppy-pillow, wriggling his fingers and chuckling at a fascinated Noah.

Chase jogged down the stairs and returned a moment later carrying one twin, Dax right behind him with the other.

“Soon they’ll be walking up the steps,” Axel said.

“From your lips to God’s ears,” Dax said. But he was smiling.

As far as Axel could tell, Dax tried to be smiling all the time. He had lost his wife the night she gave birth to the twins, but Dax was determined to solider on and give Maddie and Mason the happiest childhood possible.

They were almost a year old now, and it looked like he was smashing his goal. The twins seemed to be made of blond curls and drooly smiles.

“Bane is coming later,” Dax said as he sat down with Maddie.

Chase sat Mason down on Dax’s other knee and seated himself again.

More women came up the stairwell, greeting each other and cooing over the babies.

None came over to the sunny spot the guys had set up.

“Bane’s back, huh?” Axel asked. “How does he seem?”

Dax shrugged. “He just lost his sister, and he wasn’t exactly planning on a life in the ‘burbs with a baby. But he sounded pumped to see us.”

None of the men had planned to be single dads - or part-time caregivers, in Chase’s case. But together they were bringing up some pretty special children, and learning to appreciate the privilege more every day.

“Welcome to Playgroup,” Jessica McAllister’s bright soprano voice chimed crisply. “Your first visit is free. Here’s a form to fill out if you want to come back.”

That wasn’t her usual effusive spiel.

“Thanks,” said a familiar voice.

“Bane,” Chase called, looking over Axel’s shoulder at the top of the steps.

“Please be very careful with those beverages,” Jessica said with a frown. “We rent this space from the College.”

“I guess Jessica’s worried this whole place will be taken over by single dads soon,” Dax whispered to Axel, his eyes twinkling with humor.

Axel turned to see Bane approaching with his nephew Oliver. He had one