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I’ll get excited once the first one is built.

Fair.

Logan’s voice was in Roark’s head too, but it was getting easier to follow two threads of conversation without losing track of who said what.

I might have found a connection between several of the disappearances in the Adirondacks and what the jackals attempted here, Logan said. Hopefully we’ll have confirmation of that in a day or two and I can proceed from there.

Holy shit, you didn’t waste any time, did you?

Brooks didn’t bring me here because I had a history of being slow or second-guessing when it came to other shifters’ lives. I just hope the theory pans out. I have a gut feeling it will. What lies on the other end could be the breakthrough we’ve been looking for.

You came across another system of caverns, didn’t you?

Yes, near as I can tell, pieces of them connect several different shifter territories.

There are legends about snake men who lived in cities beneath the earth. One was rumored to have existed beneath our lands, but none have ever found proof that the legends were true.

Oh, hell no. Never thought I’d be happy to have a desk job, but praise be to the leather beneath my ass because you would not find me poking around in tunnels knowing that there might be snake shifters around. I’ve only met one, and he was hands down the scariest motherfucker I have ever had a conversation with. Logan admitted.

Hard pass, thank you.

Right.

Ready to head back to the pups?

Hell yeah, I need fluffy snuggles, Logan declared, and then they were off again, chasing one another across the snow. Food, family, bedtime stories, and a bit of fishing, all a part of tonight’s impending lineup.

Roark had never been a fan of reruns, but the night ahead was one he wouldn’t mind being a part of his future every day for the rest of his life.

Chapter Thirteen

(Logan)

“Papa!” Wren cried out the moment they spotted him in the doorway to the classroom, but they didn’t leave their seat and rush over.

Instead, they waited for Kale to wave Logan and two other adults into the room once the pups had cleared their tables and tucked their things in the bins beneath their chairs.

“Are you going to have lunch with me?” Wren asked when Logan reached their side.

“I sure am,” Logan declared. “You talked up the school lunches so much I had to pop down and sample one.”

“You peeked at the menu, didn’t you?” Kale asked, winking at him as he passed lunches to the pups who’d brought them from home along with any beverages they had as well.

None of Wren’s previous classrooms had refrigerators in them, but Kale had explained that all the rooms at the school did, because they kept snacks and beverages on hand to distribute throughout the day.

“Maybe,” he admitted, grinning as Wren excitedly began telling him all about what they’d learned that morning.

“Did you know that there are colors that com…compl…say nice things about one another?” Wren asked.

Logan had no idea how to respond to that because he wasn’t sure he knew what Wren was talking about. Judging from the look on Kale’s face and the way his lips kept twitching, he did.

“Let’s try that word together, shall we?” Kale offered. “Com-ple-ment.”

“Oh, that’s what I wanted to say,” Wren replied, lighting up even more. “They complement one another.”

Now he got it. “I’ve heard that, but I don’t know what the colors are.”

“We got to make a color wheel so we won’t forget them,” Wren explained. “When I bring mine home, could you hang it over my art desk, please?”