Page 14 of Sheltered By Love

Chapter Three

Zane

I’m struggling to sleep when I’m aware of a beep sounding beside me.

With a groan, I clutch at my phone, sure it’s just a message from Garrett.

When my brain catches up with what my eyes are looking at, I jerk upright and scramble to check my gun is loaded.

The sensor has gone off next door. Felicity may have accidentally tripped it, but if there’s any chance she hasn’t, I need to get there, fast.

I don’t switch any lights on, or put a shirt on, I just snatch the house keys and ease out of the back door, locking it behind me.

I lose a few seconds navigating the slippery grass and trying to watch the house and sneak through the gate.

If it’s a false alarm, Felicity is not going to be happy about me busting in on her.

I scan the backyard, moving quickly, keeping to the shadows as rain falls steadily making my hands slick.

With a muttered curse at the weather, I slip around the side of the house, doing a boundary check as I go.

When I see nothing out of the ordinary, no cars out front, no vans, or any other vehicles I don’t recognize, I check the alarm and find another sensor triggered.

All upstairs.

I pick up my pace and reach the back door just as a crack of lightning flashes directly overhead.

I slide the key into the lock, thump the back door so it unsticks, and quickly ease inside, locking it behind me just in case.

Water is dripping down my face as I listen for any signs of an intruder. When I can’t hear anything but the weather, I move forward checking every room and corner, every shadow, until I reach the front door where the alarm panel is flashing.

I switch it off and start to cautiously make my way up the stairs, evenly distributing my weight so I lessen the creaks the old stairs always made.

I dodge the fourth from the top, the one that always gave me away if I’d snuck in late, and press my back into the wall as I listen for any voices or movement.

Again, I hear nothing over the weather outside, but when I spy the sensor flashing up here I’m not willing to leave anything to chance.

I check my phone again and head straight for the source of the movement coming from Felicity’s office.

I keep my back along the wall, timing my movements with the crashes of thunder just in case.

When I find no one lurking in her office, my heart is beating so fast, that I almost miss a slight movement right outside Felicity’s open bedroom door.

I think two seconds too late, acting purely on instinct and nudging the door open when I see a small white object dart across the bedroom floor.

It’s just a cat. I broke in because of a cat.

I let out a breath, lower my gun, and manage to take a step backward at precisely the moment Felicity stirs.

She sits up in bed, lets out a scream, and throws a book at me. “Get out of my house!” she yells.

I hold up my hands, hide the gun, and flick the light on, so she doesn’t launch any more projectiles.

“It’s me! It’s me. The alarm went off.”

She throws herself out of bed, sleep-dazed and looking wild as she stares at me, and I try not to stare at her.

Almost impossible when she’s wearing nothing but shorty pajamas.

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