the weight of their expectations pressing at her.
“That’s because they want you to be happy.” Misty moved to the counter, poured a cup of steaming tea, and brought it to Peigi. “If you’re happy, they can stop worrying about you. Problem solved—for them.”
Peigi took the warm cup, inhaling the tea’s rose-scented fragrance. “Cassidy and Diego rescued me. Eric mate-claimed me temporarily so the male Shifters wouldn’t pounce on me as fair game. Nell has made me an honorary member of her clan so she can protect me further. I owe them everything.”
“Do not accept a mate claim because you feel obligated to Eric and his family,” Misty said sternly. “Or Nell and hers. It’s not fair to you, and it’s not fair to Stuart.”
“Stuart.” Peigi repeated his name with longing. “Is it fair to him for me to accept?”
Misty gave her a sage look. “You mean keeping him with you when he’s being asked to help his people, don’t you?”
“Yes.” Peigi sipped the tea but decided she was too restless to handle dainty bits of porcelain and set the cup on the counter. “How can I keep him with me when dokk alfar might die by the hundreds if he doesn’t go? At the same time, I know if Stuart fights, there’s a good chance he’ll be killed himself. I mean, high Fae with poisoned arrows? Against Stuart and a few people Cian puts together?” Peigi realized Misty might not know the whole story and what she was talking about, but her fears poured out of her. “It will be slaughter. Stuart can do tricks with iron, but even with that, he can’t take on the entire Fae army by himself. And there are Shifters working for the Fae, who aren’t bothered by iron touching them, or bothered by killing dokk alfar.”
Peigi ended up in the middle of the room, arms jammed over her chest, tears on her cheeks.
Misty went to her. The smaller woman reached up and wrapped her arms around Peigi, pulling her close. Misty smelled a bit like rose petals herself, and her softness was comforting.
“I know,” she said. “Trust me, Graham gets himself into horrible situations, and I can only wait and worry. You, on the other hand, are a kick-ass bear. You can make sure Stuart survives.”
“And if we’re both killed?” Peigi asked. “What happens to the cubs?”
Misty pulled away but rested comforting hands on Peigi’s arms. “In this Shiftertown? If Nell and Cormac, or Iona and Eric, or Cassidy and Diego don’t take them in, I know Graham would. He’s all growly, but he adores cubs. The more the better.”
At that moment, Graham’s voice rattled the windows. “Matt! I said no! Put that down!”
The two women looked at each other and burst out laughing. Hamish banged the tray, gurgling baby squeals, happy in his mother’s presence, with his father’s voice ringing down from on high.
The roof of Graham’s two-story house was mostly flat, as was typical in this older desert neighborhood. A large AC unit and various exhaust fans and pipes poked out of the roof at intervals like stunted metal trees.
The two wolf cubs had built a series of ramps out of plywood and crates, plus a wide plastic board that had once been a slide on a play set, and PVC pipe of various lengths. Dougal, the wiry young wolf who was Graham’s second, and Graham himself, had given up trying to dismantle the obstacle course and settled for making certain it was sound. Matt pounding at anything and everything with a hammer wasn’t helping with the noise.
“Uncle Stuart!” The little boys shouted in unison when Reid abruptly teleported onto the roof.
“Hi, Uncle Stuart!” Kyle ran at him while Matt continued to smash his hammer against PVC pipe until the pipe broke. “We didn’t rescue you this time,” Kyle yelled. “Uncle Ben did.”
“He did indeed,” Reid said. The view from the roof was good, the house taller than those around them. From this vantage point, Graham could observe all Shiftertown. “By the way, have you seen Ben?” Reid asked Graham.
“No,” Graham growled.
Matt raised his head. “I have. He was just here.”
“What?” Graham demanded. “When was this?”
“You were busy arguing with Dougal. He explained how to make that.” Matt pointed with his hammer to a complicated setup of four low ramps bolted to a wide crate.
“Yeah?” Graham asked. “How did he get up and down without me seeing?”
Matt and Kyle glanced around, brows furrowing in perplexity. They went to the lip of the