Chapter 6

A phone rang. The sound was muffled and barely audible. Magnus rolled away from the delectable figure he’d curled around and fumbled for his pants. He touched the screen as he strode from the room so he wouldn’t wake Juniper.

“Magnus.”

“Hey. Are you in the basement? Pull up the camera in the pool area. Is that our guy?” Phoenix asked.

“I’m away from my computer. I’ll go look. Thanks for the heads up. Let me know if he goes anywhere,” Magnus said, stepping into a new pair of tight boxer briefs.

“Will do. Thanks.”

As Magnus moved to disconnect the call, Phoenix’s voice stopped him. “He’s on the move to the path leading to the outdoor restaurant.”

Grabbing jeans, he jumped into them and then pulled on a T-shirt. Stopping in the kitchen for a paper towel, he ripped off a square and found a marker to leave Juniper a message.

Stay inside. Use your thumb against the blank screen on the elevator to come down to the basement. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up, Juni.

He dashed back for shoes and laid the message on the floor by the doorway into the playroom. Crossing his fingers that she would find it quickly, he ran for the elevator and took it down to the basement as Phoenix tracked the man, alerting him where to look.

When he finally sat in his chair, Magnus pulled up the footage. He looked at the man, and something made him stop and take a second look. Pulling up the release photo of Edmund Rivers on the day he’d left prison and a screenshot of the man Phoenix had spotted, Magnus noted several differences. The eyes were a slightly different color and narrower than Edmund’s. His face wasn’t as lined and drawn. Not trusting just his judgment, he ran a facial recognition on the two faces.

It came back at fifty percent on a possible match. Grabbing his mouse, he searched Edmund’s background and discovered that he had a brother. Magnus bet everything he owned that the brother was scouting out the place for Edmund, and Magnus searched through social media to find Eric Rivers, the younger brother of Edmund.

There was no way this could be a coincidence. Quickly, he reported his findings to Phoenix before sharing with the rest of the team.

They wouldn’t kick him out of the hotel. If Juniper could hide and avoid him during his stay, he would eventually leave and report back that she wasn’t there.

“Is that him?” Juniper’s scared voice asked from behind him.

“This is Eric Rivers, the brother. Looks like he’s acting as an advance scout,” Magnus reported as he stood to wrap his arms around her. He rubbed his hands over her spine when she shivered against him.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up from our nap,” he said quietly.

“It looks like you were dealing with important things.”

“I was. I take it the elevator worked for you?”

“Yes. It brought me right here.”

The elevator dinged, and she whirled around to face it. Phoenix and Hawking appeared and stalked toward them.

Hawking stepped forward and held out a hand. “Nice to finally meet you, Juniper. I’m Hawking.”

“You’re Celeste’s boyfriend…or, uh, Daddy.”

He smiled and nodded. “That’s me.” Then he turned toward Magnus. “Want me to escort Rivers off the property?”

“No. It’s better that he discover for himself that Juniper isn’t here. He’ll move on in a couple of days,” Magnus predicted. “I’m sorry, Little girl. This means you’ll have to stay in our safe areas until we know he’s moved on.”

“That’s okay. I’ll get unpacked upstairs and explore down here. Sammi and I used to have fun in the basement when we were kids,” Juniper shared.

“We haven’t touched most of the space. There’s a lab through that door for Celeste and Zara and this main space here.” Phoenix gestured toward the open space. “There’s some storage.”

His movement drew his gaze to his watch. “Right now, I better go see about dinner. Everyone will be arriving soon to eat.”

“I’ll ride upstairs with you. I left the security truck in the drive. We don’t want to spook anyone,” Hawking added before walking over to study the two faces displayed on the screen. “Good catch. I don’t know that I would have picked up on the differences.”

Celeste and Zara emerged from the lab. This time, they weren’t wearing their lab coats. They were probably done for the day.

“Did you get settled in on the fifth floor?” Zara asked Juniper.

She shook her head and glanced at Magnus. Her cheeks were pink, and he knew why when she responded, “I ended up taking a nap instead. I was just going to unpack my stuff.”

“Want us to help?” Celeste asked.

“Sure. That would be fun and much less lonely.”

“I’ll text Sadie and tell her to meet us there,” Zara said, pulling out her phone.

Magnus was extremely relieved that the other three Littles seemed eager to accept Juniper into the family. He was equally glad Juniper seemed comfortable with them. He’d dumped a lot on her plate in a short amount of time, and she was handling things well.

It made him nervous that she still thought she might leave here as soon as the threat was eliminated. He’d meant what he’d said about her being his after they’d had sex. She’d eagerly agreed, but he was concerned she’d only done so in the heat of the moment. He would need to spend some quality time alone with her tonight and make sure she understood that he never wanted her to leave his side again. Not for the rest of their lives.

He had a lot of work to do to ensure every possible safety measure was in place to protect her. As much as he hated the idea of her going anywhere without him, even to the fifth floor, he couldn’t very well ask her to sit next to him all day, every day, while he worked. She’d get bored.

Magnus pulled her into his arms, kissed her gently on the lips, and then released her. “Go on with the other Littles, Juni, but don’t leave the fifth floor for any reason except to come back down here.” He looked at the others. “That goes for you both, also. Unless one of your Daddies is with you, stay where I can easily monitor you.”

“Okay,” Celeste said. “We promise.”

“Zara…” he said, giving her a steady look. After the stunt she’d pulled, nearly giving her Daddy a heart attack when she’d snuck out to get a tablecloth when she was supposed to be barricaded on the fifth floor, he needed her to look him in the eyes and confirm she understood the level of danger.

“We won’t leave the fifth floor, not even for a tablecloth,” she assured him.

“Good girl. Be good. All of you.” He gave them what he hoped was the fear-of-God look before they all scampered to the elevator.