Page 41 of Gavin

“I’ll take a shift in a vehicle,” Gavin said.

“Are you sure you don’t want to be with your mate?” Romeo asked.

“I want to be part of whatever safety measures we’re putting in place.”

“Of course. Let’s head over to the garage. I’ll start North and you can start South.”

Gavin checked in with Sadie, who was helping Maya and a few of the females make dinner for everyone in the house.

“This is the third time today I’ve had to say goodbye,” she said with a chuckle. “You be careful, I need you to come back in one piece.”

“I promise.”

Romeo met him on the porch. “When our mates aren’t safe, nothing feels right in our world, you know?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly how I feel.”

“One way or another, we’ll find this poacher and put a stop to his plans to harm Sadie.”

Gavin appreciated Romeo’s words and the sentiment behind them. Gavin wouldn’t feel at peace until Sadie was safe and the threat to her was gone. For good.

Chapter

Sixteen

Sadie never really had any kind of stir-crazy feelings before, but after several more days in Midas and Maya’s home without being able to step foot outside, she was definitely climbing the walls a little bit. Gavin was so sweet to her and so were the other pride members, who came to hang out and plan different activities.

Lila and her son were always up for watching animated children’s movies which Sadie enjoyed. Maya loved to cook and bake and included Sadie in helping to make the meals for everyone staying at their house. Gavin’s mom loved puzzles and brought them over and spent hours with Sadie, talking about their family and pride.

As Sadie sat at the table after dinner, when it was just her and Gavin and the others were helping clean the dishes or had gone to watch TV in the family room, Gavin put his arm around her and drew her close.

“You’re going nuts, huh?”

“A little.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

“It’s not your fault someone is after me, but it’s just weird because I feel like we’re sitting around waiting for somethingto happen. Our people haven’t seen hide nor hair of Victor or Brent and his HAS goons in a couple of days, and neither have the wolves or any of the other shifter groups that are looking for evidence of them.”

Midas had reached out to all the groups in the area, from the vampires to the witches to the dragons, to make sure they knew that Brent had a new ally and he was hunting unique shifters, starting with Sadie.

“I kind of wish I could go back to a time when I didn’t know about Humans Against Shifters or that there were shifter poachers with clients who sometimes wanted the shifters dead so they could have them stuffed.” She shivered as she wondered how many shifters had died at Victor Hawthorne’s hands. She couldn’t imagine someone being so callous with life as to think nothing of killing a shifter for money.

He chuckled softly. “Me too.” He pushed back in the chair and rose to his feet. “I have an idea.”

“Oh? A sexy one? I like those kinds of ideas.”

“I do too,” he said, waggling his brows, “but no, actually, I was thinking we could go for a little drive.”

“I thought you didn’t want me leaving the house?”

“I don’t, really, but I think you need to get out and stretch your legs, so to speak. But how would you like to hang out with Nora?”

“I’d love to!”

“I called and she said we could come over for dessert. She has a book she wants to show you, and I know you wanted to spend a little time in her library.”

“When?”

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