Molly was the one to interrupt with peals of laughter. She held up a finger. “You’re going to have to go back farther than that. I was already mated the last time you all got together. I know about the fingerpainting and the candy.”
More giggles from everyone.
“That’s so weird,” Leah exclaimed, holding her stomach. “We hadn’t even met you yet. We didn’t know you could hear us from a distance.”
“There’s no way the Daddies would let us paint. It’s too close to lunchtime.” Suzette tapped her lips, thinking. Suddenly her eyes lit up. “How about if we all hide in the closet so when the Daddies come to get us, they panic when we’re not here.”
Molly nodded, grinning. That seemed harmless. No one would get hurt. Plus, it would be a short-lived prank. Obviously the Daddies would scent all of them and easily find them in the closet. Their disappearing act would only cause a few seconds of nervousness.
Khloe turned toward the closet behind her. Instead of bothering to stand, she crawled quickly that direction and reached up to open the closet door. It wasn’t huge, but they would all fit in under her dresses if they stood really close together.
Under a round of hushed giggles, they all hurried into the closet.
Molly was on one end, pressed against Khloe. When they closed the door and stopped whispering, the immediate drop in noises caused Molly’s mind to calm some. She could still hear dozens of voices and sounds, but she was getting a break.
The interesting thing was she was the only one aware of when the Daddies would specifically find them. She could hear them putting the finishing touches on lunch and discussing thesudden silence coming from the playroom. They chuckled over the idea that the girls were undoubtedly quietly plotting.
Before they had a chance to come investigate, though, Khloe grabbed Molly’s arm tightly. A second later, she dropped to the floor, landing hard on her knees.
Molly gasped, uncertain what was happening.
Olivia was on the other side of Khloe, and she sprang into action, jerking the closet doors open. “Daddy,” she shouted. “Khloe’s having a vision.”
Molly lowered to her knees next to Khloe and wrapped her arms around her new friend so she wouldn’t fall and hit her head. She’d never witnessed one of these visions before, but she sensed the total detachment as if Khloe had checked out entirely and had no control over her body. Her eyes were blank.
Distant chattering that hadn’t been there before filled Molly’s ears just as six frantic men rushed into the room.
The moment Felix tucked his arms under Khloe, Molly got down on her hands and knees and crawled out of the closet, under everyone, and between legs until she reached the hallway.
She jumped to her feet and ran for the front door. Before she could open it, though, all the air left her lungs as her Daddy wrapped his huge arm around her and lifted her into the air.
“Daddy, no. I need to?—”
He cut her off. “I know, Baby girl. I understand. You’ll go with Daddy, though.” He opened the front door and stepped onto the porch.
Molly squirmed in his arms, a sense of urgency consuming her.
The moment he set her down in the clearing, she shifted. She didn’t dare move. Her Daddy would put her in a two-day timeout if she didn’t stay where he could see her. It didn’t matter, though. She didn’t need to wander off. She’d only needed to get outside so she could hear better.
Molly was aware of Daddy standing very close to her, but she closed her eyes and tipped her ear toward the voices. She recognized one of the voices as belonging to the nicer bear shifter. The other voice wasn’t one she’d heard before, but she quickly determined it belonged to another bear shifter.
She breathed a bit easier when she realized the two of them were both friendly.
“You say the wolves are all at Felix’s house?”
“Yes. I overheard Drow telling Firat. Apparently the two of them have been scouting the wolves’ movements. I swear one of these days the wolves are going to stop trusting us if those two idiots don’t stop fucking terrorizing them.”
“We need to put a stop to their idiocy once and for all.”
“Do you think the council would hear our case and take action if we requested an audience?”
“I don’t know, but we have to try. We can’t keep tracking those two assholes and running to warn the wolves. One of these days, Drow and Firat are going to evade us and rain terror down on a peaceful pack of wolves who do not deserve their wrath.”
“I’m not sure putting an end to Drow and Firat will do any good. They have amassed a following. Someone else will just take up their cause.”
“Then the council needs to address that problem, too. They also need to specifically assign someone of our own to keep tabs on those idiots.”
“Should we volunteer?”
