We decide the fastest way to get to my house is for me to shift and have Mara and the twins ride on my back. Mason is delighted by the idea, and I can tell even Molly is a little eager. They've never seen me shift into my wolf before. I'm sure the only person they've seen shift into a wolf before is Max. Shifting isn't a huge deal for Mara and I at all, so it's easy to forget that seeing a werewolf shift is a very rare occurrence for the twins.

"You guys have to hold on tight. Understand?" I say firmly, staring at Mason and Molly with hard eyes. They nod, Mason much more energetically than Molly. "Mara's going to make sure you guys hold on the entire time, okay. If you don't hold on, you're going to get hurt." They nod again.

I shift into my wolf, and I give them a wolfish grin at their wide eyes and smiles. Even Molly has a wide smile spread across her face, teeth and all. I think it's the first time I've seen a full smile from her.

I lay down on my stomach so Mara can help the twins onto my back. They barely weigh anything to me when I'm in my wolf form. With a backpack swung onto her back, Mara swings a leg over my back and hops on behind the twins. "Remember, hold on tight," she says, her voice almost harder than mine.

I feel them grasp onto my fur as I stand up, and when I feel secure with their grips, I take off.

We reach my house an hour later. I ran fast, but not as fast as I could. I was too concerned with Molly and Mason's safety. When I stop in my backyard, I lay down again so Mara can hop off and help the twins off. I shift back, and Mason looks at me with wide eyes. "Brynn, that was so cool! And your house is so big! Can we go inside?"

I laugh and say, "Yeah, come on dude." I wave at them to follow me inside. I've barely opened the back door when Lexi and Violet come barreling into me at the same time.

"Brynn!" Lexi says, and I swear I hear her sniffle again. "I missed you so much."

"Me too," Violet agrees, her voice muffled against my shoulder.

"I missed you guys too," I say, wrapping an arm around each of them and squeezing tight. Violet pulls away and looks down at my belly.

"I can feel your bump now," she smiles, looking back up to meet my eyes. I smile.

"BRYNN!" Carter comes running through the kitchen and launches himself into my arms.

"Woah buddy!" I laugh, hugging him to my chest.

"Hi!" Mason says from behind me. I turn around and see him smiling brightly at everyone. Molly is hiding behind Mara, burying her face in the back of Mara's leg.

"Guys, this is Mason and Molly, Max's younger siblings," I say, setting Carter down on the ground. "Mason, Molly, this is Carter, Violet, and Lexi."

"Do you want to see my toys?" Carter asks Mason. Mason nods, and the two boys run off to the playroom. I approach Molly and bend down so I'm at her level.

"Hey, come here," I say softly, reaching my arms out for her. She stops clinging to Mara only to cling on to me. I pick her up and stand up straight, holding her on my hip. "Do you want to say hi?" I ask quietly. She looks up at me and nods slowly.

"Hey Molly," Violet says quietly, taking a step closer but still keeping her distance.

Molly hesitates before whispering, "Hi."

"Hi Molly. I'm Lexi," Lexi says, her voice just as soft as Violet's.

"Hi Lexi," Molly whispers without hesitation this time.

"Do you want to go swimming now?" I ask her. She nods. "Do you want them to come swim with us?" She nods again. "Okay. We have to go upstairs so we can put our swim suits on."

Mara, Lexi, Violet and I head upstairs. Violet and Lexi split off to change into their swim suits, and I bring Molly into my bedroom. I set her down on my bed, and Mara sets the back pack down beside her. I head into my closet and quickly change into a swim suit. Without any clothes covering my stomach, it's obvious that I'm pregnant. I'm just over a month in, which is roughly three months compared to a human pregnancy. I'm showing, but my bump isn't big yet by any means.

When I go back into my room, Mara heads into the closet to change. I don't have to tell her she can borrow one of mine. She already knows that. Molly is still sitting on my bed, her swim suit laid our beside her. I help her change into it.

"I have another little sister named Ellie. Do you want to meet her?" I ask Molly. She nods, and I pick her up again. We leave my room and I head down the hall to Ellie's room. The door is open, and she's laying on her bed on her stomach with a book cracked open in front of her. She doesn't notice me come in.

"Ellie," I say, and she jumps at the sound of my voice. She looks in my direction, and a huge smile takes over her face. She forgets about her book and jumps off the bed.

"Brynn!" she yells, running over and hugging me. Molly rests her head on my neck as I do my best to hug Ellie back. "Your back!"

"I am back," I laugh, bending down again so Molly and I are at her level. "This is Molly, Max's younger sister."

"Hi Molly. I'm Ellie," she replies, her eyes sparkling to match her smile.

"Hi," Molly says shyly. "Do you want to come swimming with us?" I'm surprised that she asks, but I'm happy that she opened up a little bit. She's always been extremely shy since the day I met her. She's definitely open up to me since that day, and I'm happy to see her opening up members of my family, too.

"Yeah! I just have to put my swim suit on!" Ellie says, rushing over to her dresser and opening one of the drawers.

"We'll meet you outside, okay," I tell her, and she nods as she starts changing. I walk out of her room and meet up with Lexi in the hallway. We head downstairs and out to the backyard.

"Where's dad and Lacey?" I ask Lexi as I set Molly down by the stairs leading into the pool. I sit on the edge and set me feet on the first step, the water only going up to my ankles.

"The pack house," Lexi responds, sitting down on the edge of the water and dipping her feet in. "They told alpha Erik about everything going on in case we have to do an emergency evacuation." I nod, watching as Molly steps down into the pool.

Hey, I'm back. Can you see if Carter and Mason want to swim? I mind link Hayden.

Yeah, be down in a few.

I take a deep breath. "Max said he hasn't broken through anything yet. They aren't planning to attack our pack until next week. We just need them to wait another week until the solar eclipse," I tell Lexi.

"Yeah, dad told me," she responds. "Brynn," she starts, and she seems hesitant to continue.

"Lex, what's wrong?" I ask quietly.

"What if. . . What if we don't pull this off?"

Her question sends a jolt of pain through my chest. I don't want to think about what that means. I don't want to think about what the hybrids attacking before the solar eclipse will do to Max, my family, and my pack means. We have to pull this off, because I refuse to let every person I love die this way.

"We have to," I whisper, staring at the small waves in the water from Molly's movement. "We don't have any other choice."

"But Brynn-"

"No. Lexi, we have to pull this off. Max is smart. He knows what he's doing. If anyone can be go undercover, it'd be him." She purses her lips together at my words, but I don't ask her what she's thinking. I know what she's thinking.

The probability of us pulling this off is slimmer than us not pulling this off. I refuse to let myself think that way, though. Max needs to have complete faith in himself that he can do this, and how is he supposed to have complete faith in himself if I don't have complete faith in him?

I also don't even want to think about losing my mate. Not now, not ever.

The back door slides open, and Ellie, Carter, and Mason run outside with Hayden right behind them. "Hey," Hayden smiles, and I stand up to give him a hug. "How have you been?"

"I've been better," I tease, and it makes me a little happier to know I'm in a good enough mood to joke around. We pull away from each other, and his eyes zero in on my stomach. I laugh when he looks back at my face.

"Brynn!" Mason yells. "Can I jump off the diving board?"

I turn away from Hayden and nod, saying, "Yes, but you have to swim over here where you can touch right away, okay."

"Okay!" he says happily, and him and Carter (thankfully) walk to the opposite side of the pool. Molly's still cautiously wading into the pool on the stairs. She's on the last step now. Ellie has joined her, already talking about the book she was reading.

I watch Mason and Carter jump, just in case anything bad were to happen. They both do a cannonball, and then they swim over here to the rest of us.

"Oh, come on boys. A cannonball?" Hayden teases. "Let me show you how a real boy does it." He goes over to the diving board, climbs, and does a double flip of it, landing perfectly in the water. He swims underwater to the opposite side of the pool, popping up right in front of Mason and Carter.

"That was so cool!" Mason grins from ear-to-eat. "Can you teach me how to do that?"

"Maybe when you're a little older. We can work on one flip for now," Hayden compromises, ruffling his curls.

Levi, Ben, and Xavier come out a few minutes later. I give them each a hug and tell them I missed them. They all jump of the diving board and start goofing around. My dad and Lacey get back soon after, and they come outside to join us.

We don't talk about the looming threat of the hybrids. Instead, we enjoy this family time with each other (even though Ryder isn't here at the moment), and we forget about everything we're going to have to go through in the next two weeks.