Page 61 of Secret Shifters Next Door

TWENTY-FIVE

TATE

Steff was looking at me expectantly as I came through the door. Blayne and Miles were hunched over a computer and didn’t notice me until I closed the door. The envelope in my hand was like a lead weight pulling at my arm, even though it only weighed a few ounces.

Steff nodded to the package. “Whatcha got there?”

Holding it up so they could see it, I said, “Ortiz decided to leave Harley a little gift. On her fucking front porch.”

“Shit,” Blayne hissed, “Did you see him on the cameras?”

I shook my head in disgust. “I checked them while Harley was on her way over. No sign of him. All the mail was delivered by the Post Office. Totally normal. Whatever this is,” I shook the envelope, “he sent in the regular mail.”

“Okay,” Miles said. “What are we thinking? Like, how crazy is this guy?” He pointed at the padded envelope. “Vial of his own blood crazy or dead mother’s engagement ring crazy?”

“Only one way to find out.” I tore the top off the envelope and glanced inside.

Inside the package was another envelope. Beside it It was a familiar light greenish-blue draw-string jewelry bag. I’d never bought anything there, but I knew the place well. I’d walked pastthe storefront near Rockefeller when I was working in New York. Lastly there were two embroidered baby booties. Sky blue for a boy.

As I lifted the booties, my dragon’s irritation sparked. Then I read the embroidery. One bootie read:Baby Boy. The other read:Luis Jr.Breath hissed from my nose, and I crushed the booties in my fist, grinding the cotton together until my knuckles cracked. Filled with rage, I pulled the smaller envelope out. My hands shook as I opened it and read:

Hey,babe. I’ll be in touch soon so we can talk about my son. -Luis

My vision went red;my dragon was absolutely raging inside. It knew that the baby was ours as much as I did. We could feel the magic growing inside Harley. The connection to her was undeniable, and there was only one explanation. My son growing in her. Ours. The fact that he was trying to claim him made me more furious than I could have ever thought possible.

I was on the verge of slamming my closed fists onto the conference room table when Miles put a hand on my shoulder. Had I been anywhere else, I would have swung at him, thinking he was Luis. Thankfully, I remembered I was in a safe place with friends before my fists flew out at him.

“Bro? Are you good?” Miles asked.

Looking up, Steff and Blayne were staring at me, a combination of fear and concern on their faces. I took a breath to calm myself before throwing the note and booties into a waste bin under the table.

“I’m fine. That guy’s just an asshole. What was in the bag?” I asked, looking at Steff.

Steff tipped the little bag out into his palm. Two earrings tumbled out. They were both teardrops, with a blue gem in the middle surrounded by diamonds. They were gorgeous and looked expensive.

Steff pulled out his phone. “Okay, I’ve got to see how much these bad boys are worth. Hang on a second.”

While Steff tapped and swiped at his phone, I stewed on how angry Luis had made me. I was synced with the baby inside her. The magic the child gave off was so similar to mine that I could almost taste it. Surely he felt the opposite. Could he feel any connection to the baby inside Harley’s belly? Did he even try? Or was he too concerned with taking what he thought was his?

“Holy fuck.” Steff gasped. He looked at us and laughed humorlessly. “These freaking things are fifteen-thousand goddamned dollars. Who the hell is this guy?”

I was already on edge with everything Harley had told me about Emily. Not only did we have Luis skulking around town, making life miserable, but we had a witch to deal with as well. A witch whose intentions weren’t entirely clear, but were more than likely nefarious. It was enough to drive me crazy.

Trying to get my mind off Luis, I asked, “What have you guys dug up on this Emily Heath chick?”

Miles and Blayne shrugged almost in unison. Miles said, “It’s like she doesn’t exist. We couldn’t find anything on her. Could be a totally fake name, but she’s a witch. With her magic, she could stay fully dark to the web. If she doesn’t have any need for credit cards or I.D. or anything else we could track, then there’s no reason to think she isn’t living on the fringes. Biding her time.”

“Biding her time until what? What is her end game?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Is she torturing and killing shifters to get some kind of information? Is there some spell she’s trying to complete that needs shifters? Is she just a fucking bigot and hates us? Yourguess is as good as mine. Basically, we have no idea.” Dejected, Miles flopped into his chair.

The unknown was scary. The dragon didn’t like it; neither did I. It meant we needed to up the security for Harley and the girls. There were two direct threats now. One was known, understandable, trackable, easily dealt with once caught. The other was unknown, confusing, untraceable, and of unknown strength. Luis and a witch. It seemed life was getting much more difficult with every minute that passed. We needed to find Emily, whatever it took.

“We gotta call the cops, right? At least about Luis. I doubt they’ll believe a rogue witch is on the loose,” Blayne said.

We all exchanged a look. The cops in Lilly Valley were not huge fans of us, and we all knew it. Part of the problem was that we didn’t have a lot of respect for them. We were more thorough in our investigations. Even their best detectives weren’t as good as Miles, and their forensics teams couldn’t hold a candle to Steff and Blayne. It caused tension. So much so that we rarely even took jobs anywhere within the tri-county area. Instead, we focused on bigger clients in larger cities. Blayne was probably right, though. If nothing else, they needed to know Luis was in town and stalking Harley, especially since the order of protection was still active.

Steff sighed and stood. “Okay, I’ll head over to the station. Out of all of us, I’m the least grumpy and most friendly. They won’t give me too much hell. I’ll need those little gifts out of the trashcan, Tate. Tell them about that restraining order and whatnot. I’ll give them everything we have about him. I may even mention we’ve spotted him with a woman. Give them Emily’s description. Cops won’t be able to do much against a witch, but it could flush her out if they’re looking for her.”

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