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Carina was no stranger to shifters losing their parents when they were young. The world was dangerous for shifters. Rivalries were dangerous. Territorial disputes. So many perils.
    She kept reading, then looked up at Mikhail. “My daughter is in an orphanage for shifters?”
    “When orphaned shifters don't have family members, that is where they are taken,” Miriam’s tone was sad. “That’s where the boys would have been placed if we had not taken them in.”
    “But…” Carina glanced at the paper again. “Four years? She’s been in an orphanage for four years? She’s been there since she was a toddler?”
    “In California.”

Chapter 15
    B ain settled into a plush seat , but he couldn't get comfortable. Not with the punishment his body had taken the night before.
    He and Carina were on Mikhail's private plane piloted by Mikhail's personal pilot. The pilot announced they were less than an hour from the airstrip near their destination.
    Carina's eyes were closed, but he knew she was not sleeping. She had told him nothing about their mission. Neither had Mikhail.
    “Hey,” he whispered. “We are almost there. Don't you think you should tell me what I'm walking into?”
    Carina opened her eyes.
    Her beautiful chocolate brown eyes were surrounded with bloodshot whites. And they were swimming in tears.
    She looked away, her jaw clenched.
    Bain looked away too. Now he felt like an asshole for making her cry. “I'm sorry.”
    The sigh she heaved was ragged, and it tore deeply into his soul, attaching itself with fishhooks and tugging at his heartstrings.
    He was very sorry.
    “My daughter.”
    His gaze snapped away from the window and onto Carina. “Your daughter.” Why didn't he know anything about a daughter?
    She nodded. “It's a long story.” She clenched her hands into fists, then flexed them open, fisted, open, fisted. The last time she opened them she gripped the seat so hard her knuckles turned white and the tendons popped out. “No, it's not a long story. I had a daughter. I was told she died at birth. I recently found out she didn't.” She turned her head toward the window.
    “So now you're going to visit her?” He was trying to figure out where he fit in this picture. Anyone could have accompanied her on a visit. Not that he didn't want to be the one because he wanted that more than anything, but he didn't think anybody else knew that.
    “Not exactly.” Her voice choked on the words, a sob at the ready.
    Okay, this was a bit confusing for him. He wanted to pounce in, get answers, solve problems, and make things better for her. But a part of him, maybe his bear, told him that was not the way to go.
    And so he waited until she was ready to talk.
    And he waited some more.
    At almost the point where he was going to lose his patience, she began to make tiny circles on the arm rest.
    “My daughter was adopted. Her parents were killed four years ago. She's been in an orphanage ever since.”
    Bain's heart broke with that revelation. He could not even begin to imagine the pain she was going through.
    He reached out, put his hand on hers, stilling the nervous patternmaking.
    The chemistry between them sent a shock through his body. He ignored that chemistry. This was not the time, no matter how much he wanted her, no matter how much her scent was making his bear crazy. No matter how much his bear paced in his mind.
    “I take it we’re going to this orphanage?”
    She nodded.
    This should be just a quick visit, a matter of picking her daughter up. So why was he here?
    “You're probably wondering why you're here.”
    “I'm glad to help, but I did wonder.”
    “I did to, that's why I asked Mikhail.”
    Bain hoped it had nothing to do with her not wanting him here. “And what did he say?”
    “He said you had experience with the law.”
    “I don't practice anymore. And that's New York law.”
    “He said state laws wouldn't matter, shifter laws would, and that you could talk a good game.”
    Bain