9. Adeline

NINE

With the excitement of the day finally over, Adeline tucked both girls into bed and kissed them goodnight. Within moments, the two of them were sound asleep, their little snores echoing throughout the room they chose to share.

Before Adeline crawled into her own bed, she poked her head back into their room to check on them one last time. Both of them were sleeping peacefully, neither caring that they were in a strange place, in a strange house, with a complete stranger.

She watched them for a moment, feeling an overwhelming sense of love and affection take hold. With a silent prayer on her lips that she was doing the right thing, she closed their door quietly and made her way back to her room.

Once she was under the covers, Adeline lay awake, fretting. She tossed and turned, wondering what bad decision she'd make next and how that would negatively affect her daughters' lives.

So many people weren't meant to be parents. Maybe she was one of them. She would die, simply die, if anything happened to either one of them.

After an hour of self-loathing and being unable to find any sort of reprieve through sleep, she tossed back the covers and got up. As quietly as she could, she left the confines of her bedroom and tiptoed through the house.

Each room was larger than the last. It was impossible to imagine that houses came in this size or that people could afford them. As she came upon the den, she flicked the light on, bathing the room in a warm amber glow.

An electric fireplace took up the entirety of one wall. She almost wished it was snowing outside so she could turn it on. Did the fake flames change color like she had seen some of them do at the stores? God, that would be so pretty to watch.

Above the fireplace was a mantle decorated with picture frames. Adeline studied them, finally picking one up of Griffin, Mari, and a man who looked a lot like both of them. He must be their father.

She carefully set the frame back where it came from and picked up another. This one had Griffin, the same man from the previous photograph, and an even older gentleman. A grandfather, maybe?

Despite his advanced age, she could tell in his youth that the old man was once very handsome, just like Griffin.

"That's my father and grandfather," came a deep voice from just behind her.

Adeline jumped a foot in the air at the intrusion.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I figured you heard me coming," Griffin said.

She put the frame back and turned to him with a weak smile, hoping he wouldn't be angry at her for looking around.

"I couldn't sleep," she said apologetically. "I was wandering around your mansion-of-a-house and stumbled in here. I was just looking."

She wrung her hands together nervously, afraid he would yell at her for touching his things. Ever since his behavior earlier after the purse-snatching incident, she was afraid of him. Not only was he huge, but he was intimidating and capable of snapping her neck with a single hand.

"You don't have to explain yourself, Adeline," he said gently.

Gone was his abrasive and cold demeanor from earlier. Confused, she lifted her eyes to meet his. What she found there was far from angry. Instead, she saw an accommodating and well-intentioned man staring down at her.

"I'm sorry about earlier," he said softly. "I take my job very seriously, and I'm not going to lie, for the first time in my life, I was incredibly worried about your safety and the safety of the girls. I wasn't angry at you, and I'm sorry that I came off like such a …"

"A dick?" she offered with a smile.

"A dick," he confirmed.

"Apology accepted." She turned back to the mantle to continue looking at the pictures, but if truth be told, she was eager to avoid the intensity of his gaze. There was something about him that inflamed her.

Heat rose to her cheeks, coloring them crimson. She could feel the warmth in her face, and she desperately hoped by turning away that he wouldn't see her blush. She had no idea why she reacted to him this strongly, but she certainly didn't like it.

Her heart pounded loudly. She could feel the thundering blow against her ribcage, and she sent up another silent prayer that his shifter hearing couldn't pick up on how nervous he made her.

When his well-muscled arm came near her, she gasped, but all he was doing was picking up the photograph she had just put back. Her skin felt warm where their arms touched.

"We took this picture a couple of years ago right out front." He stared at it for a moment before continuing. "This house was my father's, and before him, it was my grandfather's. It's been in the family for generations. It's the local pack leader's house."

That bit of information caught Adeline by surprise, and she turned to face him, hoping her cheeks weren't nearly as red as they were a moment ago. "Are you the pack leader?"

If he was the alpha, that would make all the sense in the world as to why Gerri would send her to him. He would be an incredibly powerful shifter. He certainly emanated that kind of strength and leadership.

He shook his head. "No. I'm not the alpha. There's a different pack leader now. His name is Carl. He lives over on Champlain Lake in a house much bigger than this."

Adeline looked around the room. "Bigger than this?" She couldn't fathom a house of that size. To her, coming from a tiny home in a tiny town, this was a monstrosity of a residence with too much space. Something bigger, surely, would be a waste.

"Carl's house is more like a … Think of it more like a compound combined with a hotel."

Her brows pinched together as she waited for him to explain further. He chuckled.

"Well, it's big enough to accommodate other wolves. His pack members can live there, too, if they want."

"Oh."

Adeline thought that sounded wonderful. A community run by a fearless leader who cared deeply for his members sounded like heaven. That's the kind of life her girls needed. They needed to be part of a pack like that.

"I think that sounds fantastic," she said. "That he cares enough to let his pack live with him."

Griffin's smile faded immediately, and he set the photograph on the mantle hard enough that Adeline worried the glass might crack.

"Yeah," came his gruff reply.

She noticed the change in his demeanor, but he offered nothing else. Despite her desire to know more, she chose not to pry. Since meeting him earlier, this was the first time he began opening up and talking to her about bits and pieces of his life.

For whatever reason, she felt drawn to him and was eager to know as much about him as possible. Never in her life had she met anyone quite like him. It wasn't that he was a shifter; she had met plenty of those.

Griffin provided an air of mystery and sensuality she had never experienced. Even the way he smelled set her insides on fire. She longed to stand on her tiptoes and bury her face in his neck just to breathe him in.

What a weird thing to want to do. She shook her head before meeting his gaze to find him staring down at her with a knowing smile etched onto his face.

The way he watched her made her feel certain he felt the same way she did. Did she smell as good to him as he did to her? Maybe it was a shifter thing. She couldn't be sure, and she certainly wouldn't be asking him. He'd think she was nuts.

He smiled. "What are you thinking about?"

Her eyes flew to his as she tried to come up with anything but the truth. "Well, just that I'm glad I'm here. I don't know much about pack life, and for my daughters' sakes, I think it's best if we all learn more. It is, after all, where they belong."

It wasn't actually a lie. She truly felt that way.

Griffin moved away from the mantle and took a seat on the worn, brown leather sofa. He gestured with a large hand that she might join him, and after a moment's hesitation, Adeline sat next to him.

"How is it that you ended up adopting Jodi and Deanne?" he wanted to know. "Humans don't usually end up with shifter children."

With her bottom lip between her teeth, she nodded in agreement. "It's a strange story, actually. There was a family that was supposed to adopt them before me, but they postponed the adoption for whatever reason. I never found out why. The girls needed a temporary placement while the family readied themselves. I had met Gerri a few years prior, and she called me. I took them in and cared for them."

She closed her eyes for a moment, reliving those early days. "Jodi was a baby, and Deanne was four at the time. By the time the adoptive family backed out, I'd grown so attached to them that I decided to adopt them myself. I stayed in touch with Gerri because I needed a shifter sponsor in order to be able to adopt them since I'm human."

"Gerri was probably the best sponsor you could ask for," he mused. "She has quite a stellar reputation."

"Yes, exactly. They wouldn"t have taken the word of just any shifter. I needed someone prominent in the community who would back me up. I always knew there would come a time when the girls would need to join a pack somewhere. You know, when they near puberty and begin shifting themselves. This was always in the back of my mind, to join a pack. I guess I thought I had more time."

Griffin shrugged a broad shoulder, but his entire body was turned to face her. "I don't think that story is strange at all. It sounds a lot like fate to me." He leaned forward as if to say more but drew back at the last minute.

Adeline frowned, wondering if she should question his actions. Considering the topic, she decided she had a right. "What were you going to say?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. Just that I think you're doing a great job with them. Especially considering they're shifters and you aren"t. They're wonderful kids."

Adeline smiled widely. "Thank you. They mean the world to me."

"I'm sure they do. And you can tell."

The silence wrapped them in a comfortable embrace after that. They sat quietly for a few minutes beside each other, each enjoying the other's nearness. As Adeline's mind returned to her current dilemma, she felt the need to justify her actions to Griffin.

"I want you to know that I really think I did the right thing by trying to take down Tobias. The only part of it that I regret is the danger it puts my girls in. I can't bear the thought of them getting hurt. It makes me sick."

She took a deep, unsteady breath. "I knew that coming here might mean I'd have to give up my rights to the girls. I might have to leave them here to keep them safe. If I do that, will you take care of them, Griffin? Will you make sure they're safe?"

Griffin leaned over and cupped her tear-stained cheek. "I will take care of them with my dying breath."

She leaned into his hand and gave him a watery smile.

"I'll take care of them," he promised. "But I have no intention of doing that without their mother."

Adeline felt a chill run down her spine at his words. It wasn"t out of fear but intrigue. She knew that Griffin would do everything in his power to keep her and her girls safe and out of harm's way, even if it cost him everything.