Manix (Shadow Bred, #1)

by Grace McGinty

I put Luisa in a high chair but kept it in front of the TV. Sometimes I needed to breathe, and if a talking pig could give me that for ten minutes a day, I’d take it. When I turned around though, Seven was sitting on the couch, his elbows on his knees, watching the infants show just as intently. “Are they shifters?” he asked me, and I snorted. When he frowned, I schooled my features. “Uh, no. They just talk.” “And wear pants.” I nodded. “And live in social groups.” I nodded again. Okay, I could see what he was getting at. “Okay, yes. They’re shifters. Do you feel better now?” He nodded, his grin smug, and I shook my head. Looking back at Raiden, I saw the warmth in his eyes as he looked at the engrossed Beta.

Miranda took a sip of tea, and I was fairly sure she was hiding a grin. “Indeed. Is your very special guest the reason the wards need to be renewed? They are abysmal, by the way. A kitten with an Uzi could have stepped over those wards like they didn’t exist.” A what now?

My Packmates had, on occasion, accused me of being pessimistic. I wasn’t a glass half empty, half full kind of guy. No, I believed that the glass was completely full. Full of piss. Life just didn’t hand you happiness. You had to work for it every fucking day.

Seven had a really shitty opinion about the Universe and Fate. The ones you say with Capital letters like they were living entities. Sometimes I thought they must really be goddesses, because they could be cruel bitches when they wanted to be.