Filed To Story: Secret Shifters Next Door Series PDF Free
hand as he kept his other arm wrapped around me. I knew he really would do anything for me.
I would do the same for him.
TWENTY-SIX
MILES
Blayne sat at his computer, bleary-eyed and typing away. Since we’d come back to town, most of my time had been spent with Blayne and Steff researching other locations that could be the property we were looking for. Tate spent most of his time on the phone with realtors and property owners in and around Denver, seeing if he could find any threads that added up to anything.
Blayne was focusing on properties owned by Antonio, which had either sat empty for longer than seemed normal or places that allegedly had businesses with very vague titles. None of it had added up to anything yet. It had been several days, and it was getting increasingly obvious that we’d need to go back into Denver to do the real search. There was only so much that could be done remotely.
Before we made the trek back out, I wanted to make sure we had as many things narrowed down as possible. I leaned forward and pointed at Blayne’s screen. “Pull up this window. The list we compiled of the places that seem like the most likely locations.”
He pulled it up. “Here you go. What are we doing?”
“Send that file to me in an email. I’ve got a buddy in Denver. A PI like me. I’m going to hire him to check on these for us. I can’t tell him exactly what we’re looking for obviously, but I’ll
come up with something. Get him on the case. He’s local and will have more contacts, plus, he’s not a shifter. He won’t be on the hunters’ radar and might be able to get closer than we can. At least, that’s what I hope.”
Blayne sighed and pulled his glasses off, pinching the bridge of his nose between his eyes. “We’re going back to Denver, aren’t we?”
“Almost assuredly,” I said, nodding sadly.
“Fuck, man. You know how uncomfortable it was sleeping in that white van of ours? And you guys all started to fucking stink after a few days.”
“Well, you didn’t smell like chocolate and roses yourself. We can probably splurge on a hotel room this time.”
“Thank God.”
I stood, my back and knees aching from sitting for so long. “I’m going to go to my office for a bit. You good?”
Blayne put his glasses back on. “Burning the old midnight oil. Christ, this is boring. There’s a reason I didn’t become an accountant. All I’ve done for days is stare at leases, rental contracts and spreadsheets. No rest for the wicked, I guess.”
I left him and walked down the hall to my office, clenching and unclenching my hands subconsciously. There was a nagging pain going up both my femurs, making my thighs sting. I was on edge, more easily irritated and angered than ever in my life. It was weird, but I knew it was because the curse was starting to bear down on me.
I had a standing desk and raised the platform when I got to my desk. The thought of sitting again made me want to rip the whole building apart. I wanted to check in on Felicity’s movements while I had a few minutes. Blayne and Steff had gotten me a shortcut program with backdoor access to her social media. Blayne had also written a program that let me check the nearest street camera to the house she was renting. Both of those
things would have gotten us about twenty years in federal prison if anyone found out. I trusted Blayne to keep our moves hidden, though. So far, we’d been lucky. Before I had either program pulled up, Tate walked in.
“How you doing?” he asked.
“Fine. Why? Aren’t you supposed to be doing something?” I snapped.
Tate grinned and leaned against the wall. The look on his face made me want to throw a paperweight at him. “What the fuck is so funny?” I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks. Why was I so angry?
“So, things are getting tough, huh?”
I gritted my teeth. “I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. What the hell are you talking about?”
He pointed at me. “That.” He pushed away from the wall and walked over to my desk. “That pissy little attitude. Have you been having trouble sleeping? Any weird aches and pains?”
I frowned. I kept forgetting that he’d already gone through what I was going through. He and Steff both. I sighed and slumped into my chair. “Tate, I’m sorry. There’s no reason for me to talk to you like that.”
He held his hands up. “No need to apologize. I’ve been there. Have you talked to Celina about the claiming? I think I remember us talking about it a few weeks ago, right?”
I grimaced. “I know. It’s just…well, we got all caught up in searching for Antonio’s base of operations. That took a lot of time. Now, Celina isn’t really dealing with things very well. I don’t want to put something else on her plate.”
“Right. It’s tough, but don’t you think she’ll be a little pissed when she finds out you’ve been hiding all the pain and general irritation? It’s only going to get worse. I’ve met Celina, and you’ve talked a lot about her. I kinda get the feeling that she’s the kind of person who might feel responsible for your agony.”
That was a low blow. An accurate statement, but a low blow nonetheless. He was right—she would blame herself. I wanted to retort and tell him to mind his own business, but before I let the curse cause me to say some asshole statement to my best friend, my phone rang. I snatched it up and felt myself go cold.
I looked at Tate. “It’s my old alpha.”
Tate’s eyes went wide. “Answer it!”
I did. “This is Miles.”
“Miles, Donovan again. How are things?”