Page 30 of Secret Shifters Next Door

I didn’t press for more information on her husband. I’d already read about him and knew what had happened. She would either tell me in her own time or not—totally up to her.

“I’ll be right across the street whenever you’re ready to discuss what we should do moving forward. About the baby, I mean.”

Harley was going to say something, but the ringing of my phone interrupted us. I silenced it, gesturing for her to go on. “I’ll talk to you once I’ve had time to think. Okay?”

I nodded just as my phone rang again.

“Shit, hang on,” I said. Steff was calling, “Let me take this real quick.”

Harley nodded.

“Steff, I’m in the middle of something right?—”

“I need you right away. Get your ass to Cooperton,” Steff said, his voice wavering with something like panic or fear.

“Hey, hey, hang on. Steffen, what’s wrong?”

“Tate, just get out here. I’ll text you my location.”

“Bro, I’m not driving a damned hour without a legit reason. Why do you sound so…” I looked up to see Harley’s face. Shelooked concerned and confused by my end of the conversation. I altered what I said. “You sound a little out of it.”

“Tate, Blayne found a dead shifter. He said it looks like he was murdered. Miles is already on the way. I’ll meet you there. Go. Now.”

All the blood rushed out of my face, and I was clammy and cold. I still held the phone to my ear even though Steff had ended the call. Harley stepped forward, putting a hand on my shoulder.

“Tate? What’s wrong? What was that call about?”

“Uh.” I thought quickly, a lie that might work springing up into my mind in an instant. “My friend Steff. He, uh, he had a little too much to drink. Got in a wreck out near Cooperton.” I shoved my phone into my pocket and pulled myself together. “He wrapped it around a tree. He’s totally fine, but I need to go get him. Right away. I’m sorry.”

Harley’s face told me I was in the clear. She said, “No, that’s fine. I get it. Go help your friend. I’ll let the girls know you have to help someone.”

“Thanks.” I had to stop myself from leaning forward and kissing her cheek. Jesus, that would have been embarrassing. “Um, I guess I’ll see you later?”

She nodded and walked over to the door. “Bye. Be careful, Tate.”

“I will.”

She had no idea how careful I needed to be if someone was killing shifters. If what Steff had said was true, things were getting out of hand. Missing shifters were one thing—they could have run off with a girl or decided to start their own pack or something. A body? One that indicated murder, no less? That was heavy shit, and a whole new level of terror. It confirmed that there were hunters nearby.

The drive to Cooperton usually took about forty minutes, but I pumped the gas, hoping there wouldn’t be any cops on theroad. I arrived there in just over thirty minutes. All the guys had tracking apps on their phones so we could find each other on the very rare occasions when we all worked a job together. It came in handy at times, just like tonight. I followed it until I came to a small pull-off at the side of the road on the outskirts of the town. Steff’s, Miles’s, and Blayne’s cars were all parked there––they were huddled around the hood of Miles’s car.

“You got here fast,” Miles said as I stepped out of my truck.

“Well, hell, of course. After what Steff told me. Is it true? Blayne, did you actually see a body?”

He nodded. “I came out here to shift and have a run. Catch a deer or something for dinner. As soon as I got out of my car, I smelled it. I tracked it… it’s about three hundred yards down the path, and then another hundred or so yards off the path to the right. As soon as I saw it, and realized what I was seeing, I booked it back here and called Steff.”

I tilted my head to the sky and pulled in a deep breath. I could smell it, too. A body, freshly dead, and definitely a shifter. It smelled sort of like Miles, so probably a wolf. The night took on a surreal quality as we all turned and started the hike into the woods.

We walked in silence, flashlight beams bouncing along in front of us as we went. The closer we got, the stronger the smell became. The body wasn’t rotten and putrid yet—that would have been a different scent. This smelled of blood. Lots of it.

“Oh shit. Do you smell that?” Miles whispered.

“Yeah, man, I smell that. What do you think we’re following?” Steff said.

“Not the blood. Something else. Are we almost there?” he asked.

Blayne nodded, lifting a hand to point. “Right here. Should be right behind that tree and shrub.”

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