from Angus to nod indulgently at my sort of rhetorical question.
I knew Angus was; that had just been my way of bringing it up.
"So, if he shifts, maybe I can understand what's wrong?"
That time, all four of them looked to me.
Jazz was the first to recover—besides Faust, who had needed no time to recover and had smiled from the first moment the suggestion left my mouth. He looked to Knox and then Angus, red-faced and shiny with tears. "He shifts if I shift," he thought out loud. "It could work? Or at the least, it wouldn't hurt him, and we find out nothing?"
Hallie shrugged. Knox was the last to respond. I would've cowered at his scowl if I didn't know that was just how his face looked most times. "I can't think of a reason not to."
That was a good enough endorsement for Jazz, who looked like he was stuck in one of those dreams where you showed up to school, then suddenly realized you were naked and that you didn't even go to that school. And you were a seal.
Maybe everyone didn't have that exact dream, but it was universal enough to apply to Jazz's frazzled expression. He handed Angus, coughing around his cries, to Knox and stood back before melting into the form of a wolf.
With wings.
I'd known he had wings. Jazz had told me proudly, Knox had told me proudly, and the others had just told me, but that did nothing to prepare me for the shock of seeing a large tawny wolf with huge, white wings tucked neatly against either side of his back. Then I looked to Knox, who now held a whining calico wolf puppy with wings that weren't quite as slim and majestic as his father's but no less adorable.
"What's he saying?" Hallie whispered.
I squinted, though it didn't help me hear any better. Angus's whines weren't directed to me, but that didn't lessen my ability. "He isn't speaking in words, exactly, I think because he's too young. It's more like…tones? Feelings? Does that make sense?"
As much as any of this does. Unlike Angus, Jazz's voice was clear and strong. Jazz padded over to Angus and jumped so his front paws rested against the table. He sniffed Angus before licking his face all over.
The tone of Angus's cries changed, lessening in intensity and growing in something best described as resigned acceptance. My lips curled into a grin.
"What? What did he say?" I didn't expect that level of rapt fascination to come from Knox, but he was the one asking the question.
My lips felt light. I couldn't keep them from curling. "Nothing exactly. I think he both loves and hates his dad licking his face." Faust's body heat warmed my back as he wrapped his arms around me, clasping his hands together over my stomach.
The tone of Angus's whines turned wistful. Something about the physical contact? I stepped closer, bringing Faust with me, and again I sensed a jolt of something close to remorse. What did a baby have to be sad over?
The air in the room changed, drawing my gaze to the doorway, where Diesel lurked just outside. Angus yipped with relief when Diesel stepped inside, but the relief was short-lived as that same sad feeling colored his following whimpers.
"I think he likes it when you're all together and gets sad when you are apart." The twins had been gone for most of my time at the hotel. I could only assume that hadn't always been the case.
Jazz shifted, transforming Angus into his human infant form at the same time. "You miss Huntley and Jagger? That's what this is?"
Knox still held Angus, while Jazz hugged around them both, rubbing the side of his face against Angus's cheek.
"I heard the baby crying, wanted to make sure nothing was going on," Diesel grunted.
"Well, you better just sit right down," Jazz cried out, leaving Knox long enough to yank Diesel further inside the operations room.
Fear wasn't what prompted my backward step, but I couldn't ignore all that I'd learned about Diesel. He hurt, and that hurt translated into anger. If me keeping my distance helped that, then that would be what I did. I didn't have to avoid him completely.
Jazz didn't avoid him at all as he tugged the colossal man down on a chair, plucking Angus from Knox's arms to settle him in Diesel's. "My baby misses you."
That was all the explanation Jazz provided.
I worried this would be too much for Diesel. He'd lost his mate,