13. Tate

THIRTEEN

TATE

That… had gone poorly, to say the least. Thoughts raced through my mind as I walked across the street. It was true—she was pregnant. It took a lot for me to stop my dragon from leaping forward and embracing Harley the whole time we were arguing. My dragon had actually gotten irritated with me for making her uncomfortable, which was weird. It was kinda like my right hand getting pissed at my left hand. The fact that she didn't want us in her life had been hurtful but not unexpected. I'd given her no reason to want me in her life.

It took me fifteen minutes to take a quick shower and get redressed. Then I spent a few minutes at my front door, staring at Harley's house. My courage had flagged after leaving, and now I was trying to build it back up.

"Oh, hell, let's do this," I muttered.

A few minutes later, I was back in her kitchen, helping Mariah chop cucumbers and carrots for a salad while the grill heated up outside. Harley was at the kitchen table, talking to Jordyn. I'd gotten to know the youngest King girl pretty well today, and I was trying to get to know Mariah. She was quiet and soft spoken, the polar opposite of Jordyn.

"What grade are you going to be in this year?" I asked.

Mariah glanced at me. "Junior."

"Big year," I said.

She was pretty like her mom. The boys would be falling all over themselves for the chance to date the beautiful girl from the big city. My dragon stirred, its protective instincts rearing its head at the thought. Was this what it would be like to be a father? Constantly wanting to protect and take care of the ones younger and weaker?

It made me edgy and uncomfortable. I'd never wanted something like this. It seemed the dragon had staked its claim on the entire family. This girl wasn't my responsibility, but there would be hell to pay if I tried to tell my dragon that. As far as it was concerned, they were already part of its family, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I couldn't deny that I enjoyed being around them, though.

Harley seemed to be on edge with me here. No surprise after our showdown upstairs less than an hour ago, which definitely had not been part of the plan. I'd seen the girls taking in the groceries and gone to help. When I walked in and saw Harley's belly, the dragon had taken hold, reacting on instinct. As soon as I touched her belly, the dragon knew . I hadn't intended to take her to her room, but I needed to speak to her alone.

When Miles had told me that the baby might be mine, I'd done everything I could to deny it or make excuses. That was all over now. I knew in my gut the baby was mine, as did the dragon. I had some ground to make up, though. I didn't blame her for trying to keep me at a distance and hiding the truth from me. After all, I had been a dick to her. I needed to try and mend that fence. She needed to give me a chance to do that. Something between us had to give.

When the food was done, we sat at the table to eat. It was awkward. Harley sat across from me at the other end of the table, with Jordyn and Mariah on each side. The first few minutes were really quiet, which only made things worse, but then Jordyn piped up and filled the silence with her endless chatter.

"Did I tell you I was starting high school this fall?" she asked me.

I bit back a groan. Jordyn was a very friendly person, and high school was full of assholes and bitches who would take advantage of that. She could end up with fake friends who only wanted to use her, or a shitty boyfriend who would make her life hell. Neither me, nor my dragon, were particularly fond of the idea of her getting hurt. Instead of telling her all that and damping down her excitement, I went with the safe response.

"Nice. Are you excited?" I asked.

"Yeah, it'll be cool. Not sure if it'll be easier or harder to make friends in such a small school. I think the whole school, like all four grades, is as big as my freshman class would have been back in New York."

I shrugged and made a face to show my understanding. "That's to be expected. Colorado is not a hub of humanity like New York."

"What do you do for work, Tate?" Mariah asked.

"I'm part owner of a security firm here in town. Three of my best friends and I started it about fifteen years ago."

Mariah frowned. "So, like, you do network security or something?"

"Eh, one of the guys does stuff like that. I'm actually in charge of personal security. I'm a bodyguard, more or less. I get to be around a lot of cool people."

"Anyone famous?" Jordyn asked, eyes widening in excitement.

I chuckled. "A few. I can tell you who as long as you don't spread it around."

The girls nodded eagerly. Jordyn said, "Spill it."

I laughed and started dropping names. "Jacob Vance, quarterback for the Jets. Patricia Long, the actress in that new vampire movie. Let's see, hmm, Sebastian Justice, the tech billionaire. Just between us, his real name is David Walker, he changed it to sound more mysterious and important before he launched his company, and he's a real douchebag. My last long-term job was going on tour with Brittany Leigh."

Jordyn gasped. "BrittLeigh? Shut up. You were BrittLeigh's bodyguard?"

Too late, I remembered Brittany had been the naked woman Harley had found on her front porch a while back. I glanced across the table. She was stiff, robotically stirring sour cream into her baked potato and doing everything possible not to look at me.

"She is, like, my absolute idol," Jordyn gushed.

I put a hand out to slow her down. "Look, it's totally fine to enjoy her music, but I would find a better person to idolize. Brittany is… well, to be honest, she is a spoiled, entitled brat. Not fun to be around. She also has a hard time hearing the word ‘no.'"

Jordyn's face fell slightly. "Ugh, seriously? That sucks. But if you say it's true, I believe it."

Furrowing my brow, I wondered why she took my word on it so easily. Her trust in me and my judgment was strange since we barely knew each other. For whatever reason, she trusted me, and it warmed my heart. I grinned and shook my head, thinking how strange this all was––in a good way.

The rest of the dinner continued in a similar fashion. The girls and I had great banter and conversation. Harley, stiff and uncomfortable, only contributed a word or sentence here and there. She avoided making eye contact with me the whole time. The girls cleared the table after dinner. Mariah and Jordyn wouldn't let me do anything, since dinner was a thanks for fixing the water heater and the air con.

Everything had been amazing. The steaks were cooked perfectly. The salad had some kind of dressing I'd never had before that was delicious. In my line of work most of what I ate was either quick bites, like protein bars, or a sandwich. I realized how much I'd missed home cooked meals.

"Harley…" I said, "…that was one of the best dinners I've ever had."

I was happy to see her blush and smile a little, even though she still wouldn't meet my eyes..

Pushing away from the table, I said, "Ladies, do you mind if I borrow your mom for a second?"

Harley's gaze darted to mine, fear, and uncertainty written all over her face. I nodded toward the back porch door. Reluctantly, Harley pushed her own chair back and followed me. The girls watched us go––Mariah with a raised eyebrow, Jordyn with a goofy grin. I wasn't sure what they thought about the whole situation, but I'm sure they were starting to piece some things together. They were smart kids. We really needed to sort all this out soon.

I opened the door and let Harley through first. Once the door was closed, I said, "Can we talk?"

Harley walked around the deck in a big circle before taking a deep breath and saying, "Okay, sure."

I sighed. "Good. Look, I'm not trying to wedge my way into your life. If you really want me to back off and not come around as much, I will. That doesn't mean I'm going to ignore the fact that you're possibly carrying my child. The only reason I was here today was because it seemed like the girls wanted me around. I didn't want to let them down or reject them."

Harley's eyes flashed with surprise. "Why would you care about that?"

That felt like a bit of a kick in the balls. Jesus, did she really think I was that big of a piece of shit?

"Harley, I'm not an asshole. I have no reason to be a dick to your kids. Hell, I didn't have a reason to be a dick to you, either. I'm sorry. Anyway, they're good kids. If I had to guess, this whole thing today was more about you than about feeding me. They were worried about you and wanted you to feel better. You've done a really great job raising them. I'm sure you'll do the same for the baby. You should be proud as shit of yourself for what you've done as a mother."

Harley's eyes welled with tears. "It wasn't all by myself. Their dad did a lot to make them who they are, too."

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. She looked 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 the road. 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."

I took the lead, taking Steff's flashlight and pushing through the underbrush. What my light fell on was awful. I pulled up short, my feet sliding in the leaves on the ground. The others stepped in beside me, a muffled chorus of curses and disgusted sighs erupting from them.

Shifters weren't like the werewolves or vampires of mythology. We weren't immortal, everlasting creatures. We were born, we grew old, and we died. We were stronger and faster, and we could withstand a lot more injury wise and heal fast, but a bullet to the head or heart? A knife across the throat? Yeah, that killed us just as dead as a human. This man had died, and it didn't look like it had been quick.

Steff and I circled the body, looking at the wounds. He'd been cut dozens of times with a blade of some sort. There were burn marks around each wound, like the knife had been hot or something.

"Fuck," Miles said. "Can't you smell that?" He was shaking.

I sniffed the air, and picked up the faint metallic scent that wasn't the iron scent of blood. "What is that?"

"Fucking silver, man. His whole body reeks of it. They used silver knives on him, that's why he's burned. Bullets, too."

Being a wolf shifter, Miles was much more sensitive to silver. He avoided it like the plague. Some myths did have a kernel of truth to them. Passing the light over the body again, I spotted several bullets––three in each leg, another in each hand, two in the stomach, and one in his forehead. The kill shot. But the others? The others had been meant to injure. This shifter had been tortured, viciously and without mercy. Bile rose in my throat. I didn't know this man, but in a sense, he was a brother. A shifter like me, hiding among the human population, and he'd been hunted down, tortured, and murdered.

"We need to look into this, but I think our gut was right. Hunters. No way anyone else would do something like this. That means none of us are safe," Steff said.

I looked up at him, an overwhelming sense of fear and uncertainty settling over me. If they found out about Harley and the baby, would they go after her? The baby might be born shifter or human, but there was no way to know. If they found out, they would kill my child just like they had killed this man. Hunters had a reputation. They would bash the baby's head in while it slept in its crib, all because they wanted to eradicate our race.

My dragon's anger flashed, my own raging along with it. Whether I was a family man, or whether Harley would allow me to be a part of her life, I wouldn't allow this. There was no way I would let those sons of bitches anywhere near my child, the woman who carried it, or her daughters. I would die before I allowed that.