Caught Between Three Billionaire Tycoons - Willa Hart Page 0,39
he would become was looking through the eyes of the child he still was.
“I am in awe of you, my son.”
The little boy’s eyes teared up, and he threw his arms around his fathers’ big shoulders. Aleksy held him tight, almost crushing the air out of him. Egan let out a little sob.
“I love you, dad.”
Little Adara was caught between them, right in the middle of the hug. She had stopped crying, but she was sucking on her fingers.
I glanced at Whitney quickly, checking to see if she was still out. Satisfied that she would be out for a few moments more, I hurried to the TV room and grabbed the stuffed bear that Adara carried everywhere.
“Here you go, sweetheart.” I held it out to her. A little arm shot out of the group hug and took the bear, pulling it back into the family huddle. I went and knelt by the couch again, looking up at Zavier.
“Anything changed?” I asked.
He shook his head.
I heard Whitney gasp as she woke, and I didn’t know if I should stay near to comfort her or give her some space. I didn’t have time to decide before her beautiful, warm eyes opened up and she looked at me.
Her eyes went big and round. She saw Zavier standing by me and her eyes jumped around. She sat up, clasping her hands together. She looked over at Aleksy and she looked genuinely relieved to see the children, but she still had a great deal of fear.
But she didn’t seem frightened by us.
“How did I get here?” She asked in a little voice. “Have I been asleep? I saw something—”
I literally saw the moment her thoughts clashed against common sense. She knew she saw something, but it was too insane to work out what was real.
I touched her hand gently.
“We’re shifters, Whitney. All of us. Bear shifters. You aren’t insane. You didn’t hallucinate. It all happened.”
She gulped hard, obviously having trouble taking this in. Zavier hurried toward the kitchen to get her something to drink and I gripped her hand gently, squeezing it and not letting go.
“Did it… Did it happen because the kids were in danger?”
“Well. Sort of. We can control it. It’s not like its triggered by danger. We could shift right now if we wanted to.”
That did not seem to comfort her at all, and her eyes darted around again, coming to rest on the children.
“Yes, Whitney.” Aleksy said softly. “They are bears, too.”
She looked like she might be about to have a nervous breakdown and I wasn’t sure how that news would have gone down if Zavier hadn’t returned with a strong, sweet cup of tea.
“It’s good for the shock.” Zavier explained as he handed her the cup. She took a sip, wrapping her arms around its warmth.
She still looked at all of us with a wary gaze, and I couldn’t think of a single thing to comfort her.
“We aren’t monsters, Whitney. We’re just shifters. It’s an old talent, one that runs through most mountain families. It’s rare to find new ones, and Aleksy’s kids were a genetic lottery, if you get what I mean.”
She nodded slowly, taking a sip of tea. She still looked frightened, but the color was coming back into her cheeks.
“Are there… Females?” She looked between us, obviously trying to frame her question delicately.
“My wife wasn’t a shifter.” Aleksy said. “But little Adara here is a girl shifter, for sure.” He smiled at his kids, still so clearly relieved to have his babies alive and well that he was having trouble focusing on anything else.
I could feel a dark mood coming upon me. This line of questioning was opening up old wounds. After the hellish adrenaline of the fight and the quick healing that came from changing forms, I knew I wasn’t in my right mind. If I stayed, I was only going to yell.
Recognizing that I yelled and got angry to cover my grief and sadness didn’t make it any easier to control the behavior.
I stood up suddenly and strode from the room. Whitney looked up in surprise, but there wasn’t time for anyone to protest as I quickly left the room.
I headed straight for the woodshed. It was nowhere near winter, yet here I was, relentlessly chopping wood. We’d be able to run the fire all year round the rate I was going.
The thing is, chopping wood was so soothing. It required a lot of physical energy, especially if the wood was hard and cold. It