Page 220 of Secret Shifters Next Door

Ignoring the question, Miles took me by the hand and led me back down the stairs. “Let’s go to the office.”

I pulled my hand from his. “Now, Miles. I need to know now,” I said, surprised at the demand in my voice.

Miles growled low in his chest like a dog would. It was a strange way to react. “Celina, please, trust me a little while longer. Can you do that? Until we find out what’s in the box.”

The tortured and anxious look in his eyes was enough to get me to acquiesce. “Okay, fine. Let’s go.”

“Where was the box?” Blayne asked.

“Um…in the parcel box. Below my mailbox.”

Downstairs, Blayne walked over to the mail boxes and leaned over, looking at mine. He checked the front and cursed. He stood back up and looked at Miles. “Lock’s been jimmied. The postoffice has keys to open these. Specialty keys so your shit can’t get stolen. This one was broken into and the box left.”

Another cold spike of fear sliced through me. That sounded like a lot of work. Someone would have had to think really far ahead to do that. The more I found out about the circumstances surrounding this box, the scarier it seemed. Why was this happening to me? Some deranged fan? But no one but Tiffany knew I was in Lilly Valley. I got into the back seat of the SUV and stayed quiet all the way to the office. Miles sat in the backseat with me, an arm wrapped around my shoulders.

Once we were at the office, Tate led us to a back room where Steff was booting up some type of machine. It reminded me of something; then when the screen came to life, I realized what it was.

“Is that a baggage scanner? Like they have at airports?” I asked incredulously.

Steff looked up and made a face. “Yeah, actually.”

I glanced at Miles. “Why do you guys have one of these?”

The four men shared a look. Finally, Tate nodded toward the box in Blayne’s hands. “We’ve…uh…had some issues with mysterious packages. Thought it might be a good investment if something similar happened.”

Without another word, Blayne set the box on the small conveyor belt and let it slowly slide in. Steff stood by the display and watched as the machine shot the box full of X-rays or whatever it was. He looked at us and gave a thumbs up.

“Does that mean it’s clear?” Miles asked.

“We’re good. No explosives, no booby traps, can’t see anything that looks dangerous. We can probably open it,” Steff said.

Blayne closed the doors of the room and locked them. Tate grabbed the box and looked at me. “You want to see what’s in here?”

I nodded. After all this cloak and dagger, there was no way I wasn’t going to see what had been sent to me. Tate nodded and handed it to Miles, who put it on a small workspace on the opposite side of the room. He pulled a knife from his pocket and flicked it open with a flip of his wrist, and slid the blade across the tape. I stood back as Miles pulled the flaps aside and glanced inside carefully. His face went from taught worry to irritation and anger.

“Shit, that bitch is sneaky,” he murmured and looked at the guys. “Look at this damned thing.”

They all walked forward and rifled through the box. The other three men all had the same look of incredulous irritation on their faces. Finally, I decided to speak up. “What is it? Can I see?”

Miles nodded and waved me forward. I stepped forward and looked at the contents of the box and was immediately confused. There was no severed head, or grenade, or bag of meth. No, it was a stuffed wolf. A plush toy a kid would buy at a gift shop near the park. Beside it was a note, face-up that read:

I thoughtyou’d enjoy this since you like to lie with dogs. Don’t catch any fleas.

I pickedup the wolf and saw a photo below it. It showed a real wolf that looked magnificent. I could tell from the picture that it was near the waterfall where Miles had taken me.

“Who sent this?” I asked.

Miles didn’t hesitate in his answer. “I think it was Felicity.”

“What?” I looked at the things in the box again. The letter had a menacing tone, not playful at all. It didn’t sound like something she’d write. “A plushy wolf? A photo of a wolf? Why? It doesn’t make sense.”

I reached into the box and pulled the photo out. I flipped it over and saw Miles’s name was written on the back, along with a date from about nine months ago. I turned it around and showed him, becoming more confused by the second. “Why is your name on this picture? Did you take this photo or something?”

Miles looked more worried than I’d ever seen him. His friends had moved to the opposite side of the room and were watching us with equally worried expressions. Miles put his face in his hands and took a few deep breaths before he looked at me again. My heart shuddered. He looked terrified, which I hadn’t known him to be since before he got to the apartment earlier.

I stepped forward and raised my hands to cup his face, locking my eyes on his. “Miles, just tell me what’s going on. Whatever it is, I can handle it.”

He was nearly on the verge of tears when he pulled one of my hands away and kissed my knuckles. “I sure as hell hope so.”

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