Page 323 of As The Shifter World Turns

“Switch to the other side.”

“Oh right.” My eyes closed again after I settled our little girl and as that warm, peaceful feeling approached where I teetered on the edge of sleep, the bed moved. Or I thought it did. Maybe I was dreaming. I opened one eye. Nate was in the shower.

Perhaps I imagined it.

No!

Whatever it was, it had unsettled my bear.

“Nate? Did the earth just move?”

My mate stuck his head out of the bathroom, water sliding over his sculpted chest. “Babe, if you want sex just ask.”

“No. The bed shook.”

He smirked. “Want me to check in case something’s lurking under there?”

My mate wasn’t taking this seriously and I began to think I’d imagined it. But as I blew him a kiss and told him to finish his shower, the bed didn’t shake, the entire building did. Not enough to knock Nate off his feet which would have been terrifying but the swaying reminded me of being on a boat before Ifound my sea legs. And the rattling that accompanied the movement was worse than the actual shuddering.

Clutching the baby to my chest, I leaped up and grabbed a pillow as Nate, still naked, flung himself through the bathroom door and wobbled over to me and Benate. We crawled under the bed, sliding our daughter in front of us and lay huddled under the mattress as glass shattered. With each smash, I cringed and placed an arm around the baby, who was still asleep, until the shaking stopped.

My phone had fallen on the floor and my mate reached out and scrolled through the earthquake alerts. He had insisted we both sign up to get the messages and had done it for me on my phone. At the time, I didn’t see the point because our area wasn’t on a major fault line and I couldn’t remember ever being in an earthquake.

But that was before Benate was born. Hard to believe I’d been so blasé about natural disasters and now, being a father, I was thankful my mate had the foresight to be prepared and informed.

“Wouldn’t it be better to send an alert before the earthquake?” I asked as I brushed hair off the baby’s face.

“There was one,” Nate said as he scrolled through the messages. "But you were dozing and I was in the shower and didn’t hear them.”

The phone beeped again with an all clear, but neither Nate nor I moved. I was terrified we’d crawl out and the phone would ding again. But Martin’s shouting and a clattering of feet down the stairs, told us they were leaving the building. There were yells in the distance which sounded like Micah. It was then I remembered Anthony, who was on the top floor of the manor.

“Take the baby and go outside. I’ll check that everyone’s safe and if there’s any damage to the buildings.” We’d heard windows smashing and we wouldn’t be able to live here until they were replaced. But if the structure was damaged, that was much more serious and a long term issue.

With Nate hugging our little one, and me with a pillow shielding her from any falling debris, we made our way through broken glass. I was so concerned about getting our daughter outside, I barely glanced at the paintings that had toppled from the walls, the smashed plates and the potted plants that had been upended.

Once Nate and Benate had left the building, I turned my attention to my upstairs neighbors. Neil was already outside with Siyala and Charlie, while Martin and Toby were running up and down bringing out bedding and diapers.

“How bad is it?” I asked.

“All the windows are smashed,” Toby yelled over his shoulder.

“Forget the stuff.” I grabbed Martin’s arm and noted the streak of blood on his cheek. “We can always buy more but I don’t want you and Toby injured.”

“Please listen to him, Martin,” Neil pleaded.

The fox shifter agreed and he picked up Charlie who was in his stroller while Neil held the baby.

Archer’s shout had me look up as he and Micah charged along the sidewalk with their kids. From a distance, I could see their windows were broken but the ones in the manor, which stood between the two houses, were untouched.

Anthony appeared holding Dyani by one hand, Ivor had the other. Ryder had a phone to his ear and appeared to be checking on damage to his office. “We were lucky,” Ivor noted as he pointed to Sunshine Manor. “But your houses… not so much.”

“We can’t go back inside until we know they’re safe.” I dialed a building surveyor friend and when I managed to get through the earliest he could do an assessment was the following week, which wasn’t surprising after an earthquake. From what we’d seen online, the damage in town was minor. Buildings weren’t toppled but trees had been uprooted and there was broken glass everywhere.

When I explained we had three houses, and therefore the fee he could charge would be considerable, he agreed to fit us in the next day.

“Everyone, we'll have to spend tonight at the lake house.”

“Sunshine Manor seems to be okay,” Anthony said as he studied the three houses.

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