Page 154 of Secret Shifters Next Door

“Gotcha, kid. Not a problem. I was probably due for an ass chewing. Call me if you need me.”

“Thanks. Bye, Larry.”

Part of my anger stemmed from the scene at Kris’s house when he’d found out what happened to Aiden. Kellan and I had gone over to update them on what had gone down the previous night. Kris had been pissed. He’d asked if we knew who did it,and we told him. I thought he’d go straight to the high school to try to find Ryland. Instead, he paced around his house, fuming.

He’d looked at Chelsea. “You see? This is part of why I’m glad we decided not to have kids. This is the world we’d be trying to raise them in. It’s not worth it.”

Chelsea had looked devastated and heartbroken. I was pissed at Kris and opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, but Chelsea stopped me with a shake of her head. I shut my mouth, but I wasn’t happy about it.

As for Aiden, he seemed to have totally moved past the episode. He still didn’t remember who took him or how he got to the park, but he was unfazed by it. He basically shrugged it off. It was amazing how kids could bounce back from stuff. If I’d gone through that, I’d have been in therapy for years. He was out in the yard practicing his swing the next day, though with Kellan keeping a much closer eye on him.

As a precaution, Steff was working at my house. It was more or less to keep an eye on me. I had to admit it was nice having him there. It made things a little less scary. He seemed more stressed and on edge than any of us, though. He’d walked the house, compulsively looking out the windows and testing the locks on the doors. He truly looked like an angry bear pacing his cave, looking for danger. He also hadn’t eaten or slept much since Aiden was taken. He’d lost some weight, and dark circles ringed his eyes.

That night in bed, I decided to tell him how I felt. Steff was next to me, but instead of reading like he sometimes would, he had his phone out. It would have been a normal act, except for what I saw on the screen. It wasn’t a news site, nor was it a game. God, I would actually have been a little relieved if it had been porn. But no, he was flipping through the different camera feeds from outside. Still unable to calm down and obsessed with keeping us safe.

“Steff, I’m worried about you.”

He looked at me in surprise. “You’re worried aboutme? You’re the one in danger.”

“That’s not true and you know it. At least not totally. Yes, I’m in danger, but you’re the shifter. You and your friends. You’re the ones the hunters want to kill. The way you’ve been walking around here like some robotic sentinel? Not eating, barely sleeping? You are freaking me the fuck out.”

Steff’s face softened, and he dropped his phone in his lap and pulled me into a hug. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it had gotten that bad. I don’t want to stress you out any more than you already are. I’ll do better, I promise.”

I rubbed his back as we held each other. “It’s okay.”

“I feel guilty. No matter what I tell myself, I keep coming back to the thought that all this is my fault.”

I’d figured that was part of the problem. “You can’t think that. The hunters were already here. Neither Kellan nor I blame you for any of this. Ryland is a sick, twisted monster, and you didn’t make him that way.”

“Right, but that’s the thing. If I wasn’t what I was, then he wouldn’t be messing with you.”

“Steff, if anything, I’m to blame. It looks like Ryland was obsessed with me before all this went down. I went out with him and gave him some kind of false hope.”

Steff shrugged a shoulder and raised his eyebrows. “I guess we’re a hell of a pair. I never thought I’d date a woman and have a guy be obsessed with both of us. Sounds like the plot of a bad porno.”

“Gross, cut it out.” I kissed him lightly. “Let go of all that guilt. All we should focus on is stopping Ryland and getting back to normal.”

“Right. You’re always right. I need to remember that.” He furrowed his brow and stuck his chin out like a gorilla. “Me, bigdumb man. You, smart strong woman,” he said, grunting like a caveman.

I rolled my eyes. “Since we’re talking about getting back to normal, I forgot to tell you Larry called earlier.”

“What did the ever-delightful Larry need this time?”

“He fucked up, first off. He started trying to chew me out about not having made a decision about going back to LA. I put him in his place pretty quickly, but it kind of feels like it might be better to go back to LA. If nothing else, it may lead some of the danger away from you guys.”

Steff growled. “If you go back, I’m going with you. There’s no way I’m leaving you unprotected. Besides, you’re safer here. You have me, Tate, and the rest of the guys. This is where you need to be.”

I snuggled into him and ran a hand across his chest. “That’s what I thought. I’m sticking around. Your guys need you here. Plus, my parents are flying in. They freaked when Aiden got kidnapped. They want to be here for a couple of weeks. They’d be pissed if I disappeared back to LA before they got here.”

Steff’s body stiffened beneath me. “Your parents are coming? When?”

I laughed at the trepidation in his voice. “Oh, you’ve got plenty of time to get ready. They should be here some time tomorrow. They’ll be staying here.”

“What the hell?” Steff’s face went ghostly pale. “Oh, shit. Your dad’s gonna give me hell.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s gonna be bad.” I laughed.

“Ugh. It’s gonna be awesome,” Steff said, sounding less than enthused.

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