Twin Wolf Trouble (Shifter Squad Six 2) by Anya Nowlan

Madeline said, crouching down to be closer to eye-level with Rhone. “Bedtime, honey?”
    “No,” he said resolutely, the word a bit garbled but his intentions clear.
    He gave her a quick look, already full of determination and knowing his own mind. Madeline sighed, reaching out her hands for him.
    “Come on. Bedtime. You know the drill. You go to bed now and we get to go on a walk tomorrow!”
    Rhone seemed to contemplate this for a second, but Madeline didn’t wait for a reply. The only real word in his vocabulary currently was “no,” much to her chagrin, and she wasn’t expecting a long conversation on the topic of the positives of sleep. A pointed pout curved his little lips as she put him in the crib next to his brother’s, and she could have sworn she got a tiny little scowl from him. But when she kissed his forehead, Rhone smiled brightly, looking every bit the mischievous angel that she knew him to be.
    “That’s it, honey. You be good now and go to sleep,” Madeline cooed, grinning as she tucked him in.
    She snuck out of the nursery, leaving the night-light on, and closed the door behind her while holding her breath. It was a rare occurrence that sleepytime came this easily, and she didn’t want anything to jinx it. Madeline practically crept down the corridor, making it to the front door of her tiny house in time to hear a soft, careful knock on it. Peeking out through the glass, she saw Fiona standing there, her hair a wild mess as usual and a toothy grin on her lips.
    “Are the hellions down?” she asked, holding up a bottle of Merlot as Madeline opened the door.
    “They are,” Madeline chuckled, taking the bottle and ushering her friend inside. “Let’s go to the kitchen, the baby monitor is there right now.”
    They snuck through the corridor, both of them tossing glances at the nursery door, and Fiona was the one to quietly close the kitchen door. Producing two glasses and a bottle opener, Madeline popped the bottle down on the kitchen table and rummaged through her freezer for some snacks. Not surprisingly, she didn’t have much other than baby food and leftovers. Still, she found some Brie, probably from Fiona’s last visit, and some carrots. That would have to do.
    “How are you doing, Adley?” Fiona asked, opening the bottle and practically emptying the contents of it into two oversized glasses, one of which ended smoothly in Madeline’s hands.
    She took a long gulp before choosing to reply to that question, and then locked eyes with Fiona, a slight smirk on her lips. Her new name, Adley, still made her cringe a little because of its newness, but she’d gotten used to it. It didn’t sound too far from Maddy, Madeline figured, so it would have to do.
    “What do you think?” she asked, falling into the blue canvas-covered wooden-backed chair at the kitchen table.
    She had a small kitchen, but it was clean and neat. Madeline had never been very organized before, but having two kids changed a lot for a woman. Well, that, a near-death experience, and starting her life all over again had a way of jiggling around some preconceived notions, it seemed.
    “I think the bags under your eyes don’t look so bad anymore and I haven’t gotten a panicky call in a week, so that’s good, yes?” Fiona noted, peering over the glass.
    “Can’t argue with that. How are your boys?”
    Madeline had met Fiona in a delivery prep class specifically geared toward first-time mothers carrying shifter babies. While Madeline had been going through it alone, Fiona had had her husband, Cornell, with her for most of it. They struck up an easy friendship that had lasted through their pregnancies, deliveries, and now the general madness that was raising shifter twins.
    “Oh, you know. Clay is arguing with me using hand signs that I assume mean I’m being unreasonable and totally motherly, and Cory is mostly sleeping. They’re so different! But then you put them together to play and it’s like they’re two