“So,” Charlie said, looking up from the stove. “That’s another for supper, is it?”

*   *   *

Addie was amazed how open and relaxed Kendrick was with Seamus. She watched them with a little envy while the Shifters, including the cubs, devoured the entire shank of beef in five minutes, leaving the large portion of roasted potatoes and other veggies for Charlie and Addie.

Kendrick joked and laughed with Seamus, unbending in a way he’d not yet done with Addie.

Then again, Kendrick had known Seamus for years. The man was a trusted friend. Seamus apparently was still a friend, and Kendrick was busy enjoying that fact.

After dinner, Kendrick suggested that Seamus walk out with him to look at the stars. Can’t see the constellations stuck in a city, Kendrick said, and Seamus agreed.

They weren’t going to stargaze, they were going to talk, Addie knew. She was determined to listen but she hated leaving Charlie to clean up the mess. And the cubs could sure make a mess.

Robbie pitched in and helped. Addie carried plates from the dining table in the big room to the sink but she had her eyes on the back door where the two Shifters had departed into the darkness.

After she dropped a dish, watching it shatter on the slate floor, Charlie growled to her, “Go on. You know you want to.”

Addie apologized profusely, wiped her hands, and charged outside.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

She found the two men in the dark at the top of the hill. She almost missed them—they blended so well into the night. Kendrick’s ability to do so was uncanny. He could suddenly become unnoticeable, standing in perfect stillness while shadows seemed to swallow him.

Both of them were doing that now. They were also standing very close together; in fact, they were embracing. Not just a manly clasp with a few back pats, but a long, bodies-pressed-together hug.

Addie stopped, her mouth going dry. Seamus lifted his head from Kendrick’s shoulder, nuzzled the bigger man’s neck, then leaned into him again.

Addie couldn’t look away. She’d never thought about it before, but watching two very hot men hold each other was . . . hot.

The two men must know she stood there. She hadn’t tried to approach softly, and she understood by now that they’d catch her scent.

Even so, they took their time unwinding from the hug, giving each other one last nuzzle.

“I know you didn’t come to eavesdrop,” Kendrick said easily, turning to her. “Join us, Addison. We have much to discuss.”

*   *   *

Addison looked surprised to be included, but Kendrick figured it would save time. Addison would need to know what was going on, and this way he could have one conversation instead of two similar ones.

That’s why I’m leader, he told himself dryly. I’m so damned efficient.

“I told you I’d brought my Shifters to Texas and set up in a bunker off that way.” Kendrick pointed an arm to the northwest. “We fixed it up until it was a nice place to live.”

“For a bunker,” Seamus put in. “No windows.”

“Then, as I mentioned, it was destroyed,” Kendrick went on. “The Austin Shifters thought we’d abducted a young woman, when all she’d done was move into our compound with her boyfriend. And, as you know, I’ve been working with Dylan since then, while looking for a new place for my Shifters.”

Seamus frowned at him, clearly uncomfortable with all Kendrick was revealing. But Kendrick wanted Addison to know, to understand.

Kendrick continued. “As I said, I was helping him round up feral Shifters who’d followed a leader he took down in Mexico. But lately, there’s been other strange shit happening in the Shiftertowns around here. Shifters are disappearing for days, not saying where they’re going or where they’ve been. They haven’t exactly challenged their hierarchy, but they don’t obey when they should. Dylan asked me to help him find out what these Shifters were doing, and to catch and interrogate them when we can.”