Page 15 of Secret Shifters Next Door

“I needed a change of pace. We’re from New York City, and a friend of mine had a house down here that he rarely ever used. He offered it to us, and we jumped at the chance.”

“Wow. That’s a hell of a culture shock.”

I shrugged. “To say the least.”

“Have you met anyone since you’ve been here? Any tall, dark, and handsome men in this one-horse town?”

That subject was not something I wanted to get into, so I skirted around it.

It went on like that for an hour. Emily seemed really interested in my life, the girls, who my new neighbors were. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed talking to an adult. My work was digital and kind of isolated. The girls were… the girls. And my closest neighbor was a complicated mess. It felt good to spend time with someone who really wanted to know about me. Thankfully, I stopped myself from unloading every tiny detail on her, even though it seemed like Emily wanted nothing more than to hear about it. Before the music started, we made plans to hang out later in the week.

The first massive boom of the fireworks ended our conversation. I settled in with the girls, watching as colors arced across the sky and the echoing explosions bounced around thevalley. The first few minutes were exciting, but I had a nagging sensation that someone was watching me. It was the same sensation I got when Luis was stalking me, and I could feel his eyes on me before I could see him. For a moment, I was terrified that Luis had found us. Was he here?

Glancing away from the show in the sky, I looked around the crowd. I wasn’t sure I would see anyone, and I hoped to hell I wouldn’t see Luis. I glanced about, hoping to see security or police in case I did see Luis. Instead, off in the distance, I saw Tate. He was standing by a T-shirt display, staring right at me. Our eyes locked, and the look on his face was the most intense expression I’d ever seen in my life. It was as if he was trying to look directly into my soul. Involuntarily, I shivered, and tore my gaze away from him. It was pretty obvious he still wasn’t a fan of me being in town. The rest of the show went by in a blur, with me barely watching the fireworks. Instead, I thought about that thousand-yard stare he’d given me.

Later, after saying bye to Emily, the girls and I loaded up our things and headed for the car. As I put the blanket in the trunk, I noticed Tate walking toward me. My stomach lurched at the sight of him. It made no sense why he seemed to be so angry at me. I’d done nothing to cause him to react this way. Our last interactions had been calm, cordial, and almost friendly. What had happened between the meeting at the food stalls and the start of the fireworks?

I called out to the girls. “Get in the car, guys. I’ll be there in a second.”

He made it plain by the way he was moving that he was coming to talk to me, and I didn’t want that to happen near my kids. Stepping away from the car and moving out into the parking lot, I met him. He still looked upset but also confused and more frazzled than I’d ever seen him. Even when he’d found a half-naked pop star in his house at three a.m., he’d had a quietcontrol that had seemed rock steady. Now, he had the air of someone on the verge of a panic attack.

He stepped up to me, and without preamble, he asked, “What are you?”

Frowning, I said, “A woman? A mother? What kind of question is that?”

Tate winced and shook his head. He looked at the pavement, and had some weird kind of solo conversation with himself. Was he crazy? He mumbled something about being human, but I couldn’t make out exactly what he was saying.

He stopped whispering to himself and looked at me. “I don’t trust you.”

The words caught me off guard. They hurt me, and they pissed me off.

“Oh, you’ve made that very clear.” I sneered. “I know you think your dick is some kind of fucking wonder drug, but it wasn’t good enough to make me uproot my whole life and my kids’ lives for the chance to sit on it again. Get that shit out of your head right now, once and for all. Get over yourself. Our move here was for the safety of me and my kids. That’s it. That is, one hundred percent, the only reason. If you dislike me that much, then keep doing what you’ve been doing. Ignoring me and disappearing. You seem to be really good at both.”

My heart hammered in my chest. I couldn’t remember ever being so pissed. My mind played out scenarios where I kicked him in the balls or slapped his face. Anger was making me say things I would never have otherwise. Though, for some reason, along with the anger, there was an undercurrent of heat that I couldn’t suppress. I’ve never been so angry, but somehow I also had feelings for him. Not quite sexual tension, but it was close. It only made me angrier with myself. It was a dangerous game to play.

Something ominous seemed to bubble up within Tate. It wasn’t visible, but it was like an aura or a mood that I could sense. It was intimidating, and I had the weirdest feeling that I wasn’t looking at a man but some beast. Something deep and dark lurked just below the surface.

Calming myself, I reminded him what he’d said before. “Remember when you said your life shouldn’t touch ours? Well, it goes both ways. I don’t want our life touching yours, either.”

I whirled around and practically sprinted to the car. I got in, locked the doors, and pulled out of the parking lot without looking back. I didn’t speak to the girls; I just drove. The girls could obviously tell I was in no mood to chat or even talk because when we got home, they said goodnight and went straight to bed without me asking. That made me feel like shit, too. I’d turned a fun day and evening into a tense, weird night. Great, really fantastic.

An hour later, I lay in bed, unable to sleep. As I absently rubbed my stomach, I realized my pillow was soaked with my tears. I hadn’t even noticed I was crying. I rolled over and buried my face into my bed. I really couldn’t have picked two worse people to be the father of my child.

SEVEN

TATE

The holiday weekend had gone by without any incidents. I hadn’t seen anyone acting shady or strange. Though, that wasn’t true. I had been acting strange. My dragon had taken over my body and had used my voice and mouth. That had never happened before––not to me, and not to any other shifter I knew. After that, I’d probably been pretty shit at looking for hunters. Hard to concentrate when the beast inside you was demanding to mate with a human.

Steff and I were at the office early on Monday since we’d all planned to meet up and debrief over the weekend’s activities. Blayne and Miles were running late, so we started without them.

“Weekend was a wash. No sign of anything other than drunk tourists, screaming kids, and partying college students. I never saw anything remotely close to a hunter. Not that I’d ever seen one before,” Steff said.

“Me neither. Pretty quiet.” I didn’t go into detail about the weirdness that was my weekend.

Steff leaned back in his chair and sipped at his coffee. “Do you think Miles might be wrong? About there being hunters, I mean. If they were here, you’d think they would have acted by now, don’t you think?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Maybe they’re being cautious.”

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