Filed To Story: Secret Shifters Next Door Series PDF Free
Seemingly uncomfortable now that he was faced with a sobbing woman, Miles said, “Um, maybe you should lie down or something? A nap would be the best thing for you, I think.”
I nodded and stood to go up to my room. Fearful and angry thoughts roamed freely in my mind. Luis had found us so quickly. We’d barely been able to get settled in, and he was already making our lives hell again. Only, this time it was worse.
Back in New York, it had been subtle, vague. Terrifying but in a quiet, controlled way. This was more overt and aggressive.
As crazy as it was, I appreciated Tate’s help, and I understood why he was doing it. It was only natural for him to want his unborn child to be safe. Was that all, though? I had a feeling that there was more to it than that, but my brain was too fried to entertain such thoughts. My bed looked like the most amazing thing I’d seen in my life. Not even bothering to take off my shoes, I collapsed onto it. The sounds of men working and talking downstairs drifted into the background, lulling me into sleep.
FIFTEEN
TATE
Steff and Blayne had their heads bent together over a laptop. Steff’s systems were of the highest quality and nearly completely impenetrable. In all our time owning this firm, I’d never known anyone to break through what he cooked up. I’d requested our top-of-the-line system to be installed in Harley’s place. We only installed two or three of them a year, and the last one we’d installed had in Vail at the Speaker of the House’s vacation home. It was as safe as I could make Harley’s house without stationing an armed guard at each entrance.
Leaving Blayne and Steff to work and direct the team, I went over to Miles. He was working his way through more background information on Luis and his known associates. He wanted to be sure we had every scrap of information we could on him.
I slumped down on the couch beside him. “How bad?”
Miles stopped typing and looked at me. “Well, let’s look at it. Broad scope. Ninety percent sure he knows Harley is pregnant. He’s traveled across the country.” He held up a finger. “Mind you, he traveled that far without so much as warning Harley. That already tells me he has bad intentions. Then he vandalizes her car. It was almost manic in its thoroughness. That shows
psychological instability. This makes him dangerous, and makes it very difficult to predict his next move. He still has a sense of self-preservation, otherwise he would have attacked her right on the street. As awful as that would have been, he probably would have been stopped by bystanders or police and been arrested. Harley may have been injured, but we’d know he was safely locked up.”
“That being said, the most dangerous thing I’ve found is the possible ties to the mob. It would be less worrisome if I could find something overt—an arrest record, court summons, things like that. I can’t find anything. He has known associates that go back to his time in freaking middle school. Almost all of them are deeply entwined with the mafia. Two and two always makes four, but from everything I’m seeing, I can’t guarantee it. But if he does have mob ties, he’s dangerous. More dangerous than the typical jilted boyfriend. Shit, man, he could be a killer. I don’t like it.”
Miles’s description of the situation was not reassuring. This Luis guy was trouble, and not the typical type of trouble. He was dangerous and unpredictable.
First hunters, and now this? I sighed and rubbed my temples to ease the headache forming behind my eyes.
“All right,” I said. “Looks like you guys have all this handled. I’m going to check on Harley.”
Miles had already turned back to his laptop screen. “Sounds good.”
It was quiet upstairs. I could hear the girls’ murmuring voices coming from the room at the end of the hall. Harley’s room was dark, and when I peeked my head into the room, it looked like she was sleeping. Not wanting to be creepy, but still wanting to check in on her, I stepped over to the side of the bed.
She was curled into a ball, hugging the pillow tight. Mascara tracks ran down her cheeks and onto her pillowcase. She’d been
crying in her sleep. I clenched my jaw as my dragon snarled and gnashed inside my head. It was as pissed as I was at seeing her so vulnerable and sad.
Without thinking, I eased myself onto the bed and pulled her into my arms. Half of me hoped she would accept the comfort; the other half readied itself for her to lash out and slap me for assuming she would. To my relief and surprise, she not only accepted it, but cuddled closer to me. Her body molded to mine as she burrowed deeper into my arms and chest. My heart began to race, and I hoped it wouldn’t wake her.
But then she spoke, and I did my best to listen and take it all in. “I’m so afraid, Tate. I don’t know what to do. I really thought moving out here was the best thing for us. But now? I’m scared. Luis is dangerous.”
“Why did you ever get involved with this guy?”
She sighed into my chest. “He put on a good act. When we first met, he seemed so nice. He took care of me, he was nice to the girls, and he offered to help in any way he could. He even pulled some strings and helped me get the girls into a private school. Everything was great for the first few months. I’d been hesitant to take things from casual to more serious. It was just so difficult. Sam had been gone for almost three years when I met him, so it was tough. Things started changing when we were officially a couple. He treated me more like a possession. Controlling and manipulative. Then I started suspecting that he was cheating on me. It was a week or two before I met you, but he tried to make me think I was crazy.”
“I’m sorry.” It was all I could think to say.
“Yeah. Me, too. It was a toxic situation. I’d finally gotten proof of his cheating, and I broke things off over the phone. He actually tried to tell me I’d brought it on myself. And then the stalking and the harassment started. When I was getting the restraining order, Maddox—Sam’s old partner on the force—told
me he, Luis, might have targeted me years ago. Sam had been investigating the mob, and… well, I might have caught his eye back then. I never knew anything about that part of Luis’s life, but after all that has happened, it makes sense.”
“Holy shit,” I murmured.
She nodded against my chest. Then, surprisingly, she chuckled. “My life is pretty fucked up.” She lifted her head and looked at me. “I wanted to get away from Luis, but then I found out I was pregnant. I felt terrible. I didn’t even know who the father was.”
I grimaced. “I’m also to blame. I didn’t think to use a condom.”
I couldn’t tell her that I never wore condoms because I had no need for them. Shifters couldn’t catch or transmit STDs. Also, until not that long ago, I didn’t believe a shifter could impregnate a human woman. In all my life, I’d only known shifter men and shifter women to have kids. It was so damned crazy, but there was nothing I could do about it now.
“I’m sorry I put you in this position. I should have done more for you,” I said.
Harley raised herself on her elbow and looked at me. Her face was a mask of confused surprise. It sliced my heart that she was surprised by my apology. Had I really been such a dick that it was too unbelievable to think I would apologize? Shit, what kind of asshole had I been?
I cupped her face with my hand, the skin of her cheek warm and smooth against my palm. “Harley, I promise you aren’t alone. Not in whatever is happening with Luis, and especially not with the baby. I’ll do whatever is in my power to keep you safe. You, the girls, and the baby. No matter what it takes.”
Harley smiled and snuggled into me again. After a while, her breathing deepened and evened out. I lay there holding her, my head a mess of thoughts and feelings. My need to protect Harley
and her family was growing stronger with each passing second. Fed by the dragon inside me, it was almost primal in its strength.