The Lamb Who Cried Wolf (16 page)

He nodded eagerly and hastened to put his clothes on. In his rush, he tripped and fell face-front on the floor. While he picked himself up, Brody finished making arrangements and headed toward him.

“Come on, Carson. Get a move on. We have a meeting in an hour.”

The following thirty minutes or so were a flurry of getting cleaned up, dressed, and making sure they didn’t forget any detail. Carson couldn’t be sure about the identity of the man who’d called them. He
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hadn’t met any Skylar Pierce while at the adoption agency. Why would this guy want to help them?

They got to their destination with fifteen minutes to spare. As it turned out, Skylar Pierce was already waiting for them—or at least, so they were told by the receptionist. Unlike before, she didn’t give them an ugly look. Instead, she almost sounded respectful.

A few moments later, Carson understood why. The office they were led to was huge and adorned with all sorts of expensive items.

This must be where the big bosses of the agency worked. Oddly, a young man sat behind the desk. He got up when Carson and Brody entered the room.

“Hello, gentlemen. I’m Skylar. Thank you for agreeing to meet me.”

He had a nice, kind smile, and Carson found himself smiling back.

“Thank you for calling us.”

They shook hands, and Skylar gestured them to the chairs in front of the desk. As they made themselves comfortable, Skylar sat down as well. “First of all, I’d like to apologize for Elsa’s behavior. I assure you she will be appropriately reprimanded.”

Carson surmised Elsa was the owl. “We appreciate that,” he offered. Truth be told, he felt impatient to get to the subject. He wanted to find out why they’d actually been summoned back.

“She said we could not provide a home for any of the children here,” Brody told Skylar. “What changed?”

Skylar winced at Brody’s reprimanding tone. “Nothing, not really.

But there’s a certain situation and when I stole a peek at your file, I thought you might be interested in it.”

Skylar got up from the desk and gestured for them to follow him.

“Come. I have someone I’d like you to meet.”

Carson nodded and got up as well. He was thankful for Brody’s presence. It gave him strength as they walked outside Skylar’s office.

On occasion, the sound of a weeping child reached his ears. This
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building housed not only the main headquarters for the staff of the agency, but also a temporary crèche and daycare center.

Finally, Skylar stopped in front of a room with a large windowed wall. Inside, Carson could see a small lion and a baby antelope on the floor in shifted form, with two women watching over them. At first, it almost seemed that the lion was being aggressive toward the antelope, but soon, Carson realized they were playing. The lion held back his blows and the antelope looked very comfortable with the presence of the predator cub. Carson watched the sight in awe. He’d heard of such things but had never thought he’d be a witness.

“The antelope’s mother was killed by a lion pride while in shifted form,” Skylar explained. “One of the lionesses ended up adopting the baby and raising it with her own. Unfortunately, the pride didn’t approve, and the lioness died while protecting the two. Their luck was that the children’s aunt respected their mother’s memory and called us.” Skylar sighed. “At first, they just brought the antelope, but the lion cub kept running away and coming here. They refuse to be parted.” He gave Carson and Brody a penetrating look. “Do you think you can handle it?”

Carson gaped. Not one, but two children? Could they do it? He shared a look with his mate.
“What do you think?”
he asked through their bond.

Brody’s mental chuckle sounded in his mind.
“You know as well
as I do these are already our kids.”

Yes, Carson knew that. He didn’t kid himself. The two babies would be demanding and a handful, but who could be better to raise them than him and Brody? They both understood how each other’s lives worked and would understand the children as well.

“Could we meet them?” he asked Skylar.

The young man smiled. “Of course.”

He led them inside the room, and almost instantly, the children stopped playing. The lion shifted into a young blond boy, maybe three
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or four years old. “What do you want?” he growled at them. “I’m not giving Angel up.”

It was both sweet and heartbreaking to see the lion protect his antelope sibling. Skylar smiled at the aggressive child. “That’s fine, Clark. No one’s asking you to. These nice gentlemen just want to meet you.”

Clark gave Brody and Carson a suspicious look. “Why?”

Brody took a few steps forward toward the lion cub. “We’d like to take you home, you and your brother. Angel, is it?”

As Brody spoke, the antelope finally shifted as well and appeared from behind his protector. Wide eyes went from Brody to Carson.

“W–Who are you?”

Brody gave him a helpless look, to which Carson just shook his head and chuckled. He made his way to the children and knelt next to them. “That, my dears, is a very long story. Come, sit by me and I’ll tell you all about it.”

As the two children obeyed, Carson began to speak once more. “It all starts with a lamb and a wolf…”

THE END

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A native Romanian, Scarlet was born in 1986 and grew up an avid fan of Karl May and Jules Verne, reading fantasy stories and adventure. Later, when she was out of fantasy stories to read, she delved into her mother’s collection of books and, of course, stumbled onto romance.

As a writer though, Scarlet Hyacinth was born one sunny summer day, when a dear friend of hers—the same friend who introduced her to GLBT fiction—proposed they start writing a story of their own. As it turns out, the two friends never did finish that particular story, but Scarlet discovered she had a knack for writing and ended up starting to write individually. And so, between working on her dissertation, studying for exams, and reading yaoi manga, she started writing the Kaldor Saga. Along the way, Scarlet met a lot of wonderful people who supported her, and in the end, she found her story a home and, in the process, fulfilled a beautiful dream.

Also by Scarlet Hyacinth

Siren LoveXtreme Forever ManLove: Tides of Love 1:
Saving Connor

Siren LoveXtreme Forever ManLove: Tides of Love 2:
Craving Owen

For all other titles, please visit

www.bookstrand.com/scarlet-hyacinth

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com