Page 34 of Secret Shifters Next Door

Tate sighed. “Harley, are you pregnant with my child or not?”

The room went quiet. Steff suddenly seemed to find something very interesting on my blank living room wall. Miles’s eyes widened, and he dropped his head to stare at his shoes. Blayne, who stood next to Tate, looked like a deer caught in headlights.

When I said nothing, Tate continued. “Do you want to sleep easy knowing your home is safe and secure? That no one has pried a door or window open and is creeping down the hall to your bedroom? I know that’s maybe an exaggeration, but isn’t that what you want? To be totally safe? I can give you that, so let me.”

I couldn’t argue against that. I nodded and gave him a weak smile. The grin he shot me was dazzling, then he and Blayne went back to what they were doing.

Miles cleared his throat. “I’ll be looking into the vandalism of your car. I’m sure the sheriff’s department was already called and they have been out there and completed a report. I’ve had dealings with them, so I can get whatever info they may have.”

The front doorbell rang, and I almost jumped off the couch. Steffen held up a hand. “It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s our installation crew. We called them as soon as Tate let us know what was happening..”

My jaw dropped. “Already? This only happened thirty minutes ago.”

Steffen shrugged nonchalantly. “Helps when you own the company. When the bosses call, other stuff gets dropped. Tate figured it would be best to install it ASAP.”

A half dozen men filed into the small living room and started unboxing items, unrolling cables and wire, and pulling out drills and tool belts. It was overwhelming, and I was suddenly dizzy.

Miles took my hand. “Harley, you’re gonna be fine.” He gestured at Tate. “I’ve known this guy longer than almost anyone in my life. He won’t let anything happen to you or your family.”

His words seemed to break the inner dam I’d built up, and tears of gratitude slipped down my cheeks. I tried to utter the wordsthank you, but all that came out was a blubbering sigh.

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 showspsychological 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 beencrying 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?”

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