Page 43 of Feels Like Home

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Ian’s eyes slowly opened. He was lying in bed, his arm curled around Jace. The room was bathed in darkness, his mate stretched half on top of him.

Something was wrong. His panther was snarling a low warning as Ian glanced around the room. The danger wasn’t immediate, but he could sense it was close.

As quietly and gently as he could, he extracted himself from Jace and tucked the sheets around him.

He sat there, unsure if he was on edge because of Nolan’s earlier visit or if something really was wrong. His panther could just be in overprotective mode right now, thinking any little noise outside was a potential threat.

But his gut told him he hadn’t woken for nothing. He still had that uneasy feeling, like something was definitely wrong.

There was only one way to put his mind at ease. Ian moved quietly across the bedroom and opened the panel leading into his closet. Once he was dressed in a pair of jogging pants and a T-shirt, he stepped back into the bedroom.

It wouldn’t hurt to do a perimeter check. Luckily, Ian didn’t have to leave the house to perform one. There was another secret panel in his room, one that didn’t lead to the hallway or his closet.

This panel was located to the left of the bathroom. Ian glanced at his bed to find Jace still asleep. The bed was huge, Jace barely taking up any room. Something inside Ian’s chest grew soft at the sight of his mate lying naked with nothing but a sheet covering him.

From the moment they’d met, Jace had Ian tied into a million knots. It wasn’t just his mate’s shy disposition or how he stumbled over his words and sometimes froze in thought.

It was the way his hazel eyes seemed to hold a universe of wonder as they gazed at Ian through those mirrors at the gym. It was also the sheer aura of innocence radiating from him, like a rare and wondrous gem.

It was the way his scent had transported Ian back to the snowy slopes, crisp, clean air filling his lungs and waking his senses.

But most of all, it was how his mate had selflessly offered to share his family when he’d found out that Ian was an orphan. How the Galanos had welcomed him and made him feel like he belonged.

Ian tore his gaze away from Jace and pressed his hand on the panel to enter his private office. The room lacked windows, but it was generous in size. A large oak desk sat to his left, with only a laptop resting on its surface. Mounted on the right wall were multiple screens displaying images from various locations inside and around his house.

The top two rows of screens—three monitors in each row—showed him the inside of his home. Nothing seemed out of place. The bottom two rows were of the exterior surroundings.

Ian scrutinized them closely, looking for anything that might have given him that uneasy feeling. As he scanned them, his eyes narrowed in concentration. He was looking for anything unusual or out of place, but everything seemed normal. The trees swayed gently in the wind, and the grass rippled like a green ocean under the moonlight.

But something was still off. Ian could feel it in his bones. He had always trusted his instincts, and they had never led him astray.

A flicker of movement caught his attention. He went to his desk and opened his laptop. Once he pulled up the security program, all twelve screens turned into one large one. Ian zoomed in on the backyard and scanned the area, searching for another sign that someone was out there.

When he couldn’t find what he was looking for, he rewound the footage back a few minutes then hit Play.

As he watched, his unease grew. The figure in the shadows was definitely not an animal. It was a person, dressed in all black and moving with a stealthy grace that suggested either they’d had training or the trespasser was preternatural.

There were only two people he thought would invade his sanctuary.

Nolan or Owen.

Ian quickly dismissed the thought of Owen being the one out there. There wasn’t anything stealthy or graceful about the way the human walked. Having observed Owen enough times at the gym, Ian knew the guy moved more like a trudging rhino than the nimble-footed interloper on his screen.

Which meant Nolan was out there, unless some random stranger had decided to trespass in the dead of night. That was possible, but Ian was willing to bet it was the coyote shifter.

Why, though? Either Nolan was going to give him answers or Ian was going to bury the bastard’s body deep in the forest.

Beyond livid, Ian left his office and retrieved his cell phone. He pulled up the security program app before he walked out of his bedroom, making sure the panel was firmly closed.

Whatever Nolan’s motive, Ian would make damn sure the shifter wouldn’t get anywhere near Jace. He tapped a few buttons and heard the lock engage. The entire bedroom was on lockdown now.

Jaw clenched tight, Ian stripped naked then tossed his clothes onto the couch. Nolan had made a mistake sneaking onto the property, especially since Jace was there. Ian’s mate. His future.

Soon enough the coyote would learn the error he’d made. Ian walked out the front door and closed it behind him. Using the app, he locked the front door and then hid his phone under the cushion of the couch on his deck.

When he shifted into his panther, sounds became sharper and the darkness grew clearer. His cat was focused, silent, and assessing the situation before it stalked off the deck and went on the hunt.

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