19. Tate

NINETEEN

TATE

Once Harley was calmed down, Steff and I helped the construction crew finish up with the door. Their boss had been a client a few years back. Miles had tracked down his runaway daughter in some weird religious cult, and I'd extracted her and safely returned her to her home. He owed us one. We wouldn't have gotten the door fixed that fast if not for that. Even with that advantage, Jordyn and Mariah still got home before we finished.

Their friends had dropped them off in the driveway just as the crew was loading up their van. The girls gawked at the van, which was understandable. It was nine o'clock at night, and there was a construction crew at their house. They'd have been crazy not to think something was amiss. I cursed under my breath as they walked up the path to the porch.

Mariah walked in and saw Harley on the couch. "Mom? What the hell?"

"Hey, language," Harley said.

Jordyn shook her head. "No, Mom, this is definitely a what-the-hell moment."

Harley sighed and patted the sofa, indicating the girls should sit down. They did, but not before glancing at me for some sort of hint. All I did was nod toward their mom.

"Someone tried to break into the house and broke the glass in the back door. The alarm went off like it was supposed to, and scared them off. Tate and his friends showed up, then they called some people to fix the door." Harley was calm as she recounted the events of the night.

"Holy crap, Mom, are you serious?" Mariah asked.

Jordyn looked beyond worried, which seemed more terrible since she was always so boisterous and happy. To me, she looked on the verge of a breakdown. I wanted to comfort her, but knew Harley needed to handle this.

"Also…" Harley said, looking nervous for the first time since the girls had walked in, "…until things are totally safe and settled, Tate will be staying with us. Just to make sure nothing else happens."

In unison, Mariah and Jordyn sighed in relief. They didn't even flinch at hearing that I would be staying. I had the feeling that Harley thought they'd freak out, but I was sure they would be fine with it. In fact, Jordyn perked up almost immediately after hearing I'd be staying over. I did a poor job of hiding my smile.

"Okay, girls, go get ready for bed. It's getting late," Harley said.

"I'm going to head home quickly to pack a bag. Steff, can you hang out till I get back?" I asked.

Steff nodded. "No problem. I've got to reset the control panel for the security system anyway."

I looked at Harley. "I'll be right back, okay?"

She nodded and collapsed back onto the couch, looking exhausted. The houses weren't very far apart, and I could go back over anytime to get stuff. The problem was, I didn't feel comfortable leaving Harley. Even now, walking out the door and heading to my house made my chest ache. The whole time I'd been away today had been the same. The longer I was away, the sharper the pain got. My dragon was also more on edge and anxious when I was away from her. The pain was the worst. It wasn't something I'd ever heard of happening with a mating bond. Very strange. In fact, the whole damned situation was strange. All I wanted was answers, but I didn't have any idea where to even start.

Once I'd tossed some clothes in a bag, I grabbed my toiletries, and headed back to Harley's. She stood in the living room with the girls. Harley held a blanket and looked at the living room furniture with pursed lips.

She glanced at me when I walked inside. "Tate, how tall are you? Which one looks big enough to sleep on?"

Before I could answer, Jordyn said, "Mom, he'll catch a cold down here on the couch. That's what you always tell us when we fall asleep on the couch."

"That's not the same thing, I'm?—"

Mariah cut her off. "Jordyn's right. Plus, we'd wake him up if one of us got up to use the bathroom or something."

Steff glanced at me, the corner of his mouth quirked up in a grin before heading out the front door. I covered my face with my hand to hide my own smile. I'd been right, the girls had figured out there was a thing between me and Harley. Now, they were basically arguing for me to sleep in her room. It was their version of giving me their blessing. Harley looked ready to spit, until it dawned on her. That gorgeous shade of red bloomed on her cheeks. All I did was grin at her and walk up the stairs to put my clothes in her room.

Once the girls were in bed, I walked the house, double-checking every door and window. I didn't want to leave anything to chance. After checking those, I turned the floodlights on for the backyard and scanned for any movement. Leaving the lights on, I went to the front door and unlocked it, then walked out. The neighborhood was quiet and deserted, at least at first glance. Down the street, I spotted a black car in a driveway. I'd lived here long enough to know which cars belonged and which ones didn't.

It sat there with its lights out, but I saw a shadow moving behind the tinted glass. My dragon eyes were better than most shifters, but even I couldn't see completely through dark tinted glass from this distance. The only thing I knew for sure was that someone was sitting in that car, with the engine and lights off, at a house they didn't live in. All of which were bad signs.

Walking to the edge of the porch, I made sure I was visible to anyone watching. Then I turned and stared at the car, trying to bore through the windshield with my eyes. After a few seconds, whoever was in the car realized they'd been spotted. The headlights kicked on, then the car slowly pulled out of the driveway. It crept down the road, slower than I would have anticipated. There was no way to know for sure who was in that car, but I had a very likely suspect.

Most people considered me a big, intimidating guy. Normally, I didn't play that fact up. Most of the time, especially in my work, it was better if people didn't realize how imposing you were. As the car cruised past, though, I played up the fact. I stood tall and glared menacingly at the windshield, hoping I was making eye contact with the asshole. I wanted to make it clear that I was here to stay, and that he better not get within fifty feet of this house. Once the car was out of sight, I waited a couple more minutes to be sure it was gone before I went inside.

Once everything was locked and the system set, I headed upstairs. Harley was pacing the floor and looked freaked out.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She was on the verge of tears. "I don't know why, but while you were checking the house, I started looking back at a bunch of old text messages Luis sent me. To delete them and get them totally out of my life and off my phone. They went pretty far back. Even before we broke up, some of the things he said seemed… out of place."

"What do you mean?"

She sighed. "There was this long chain of messages in which he talked about how he'd always thought I was beautiful and was glad to finally get to be with me. This text was only a few days after we'd met, but he made it sound like he'd been watching me for a while. I didn't think anything of it until I reread it just now."

"It made me think about a fight we'd had not long before I broke up with him. He'd said something like he'd done a lot to get me, some very bad things to get me, and he wasn't going to give me up that easily. Tate…" She took a deep breath, and a single tear slipped down her cheek. "I think Luis killed my husband." The tears came in a flood then. "Did he murder my Sam just to try and have me?"

I was at her side in two strides, taking her in my arms and pressing her to my chest. There was no way I could tell her that Mariah had heard rumors at their old school alluding to the exact same thing. That was not something I'd felt comfortable divulging before, and I would definitely not tell her after everything she'd gone through tonight.

"I can't stand the thought that I dated… that I fucked the man that killed my husband. The man that killed my daughters' daddy," Harley whispered against my chest. "It really makes me want to lose my mind. I'm such a shitty person. How could I have not seen it?"

I pushed her away slightly, placing my hands on her shoulders and looking into her red eyes. "Harley, he's a sociopath and a narcissist. No one is better at hiding who they are than someone like that. You can't blame yourself for not seeing him for who he truly is. It's not on you, it's on him. We blame him for all this, never you."

I put my hand on her stomach. "This baby is mine, you are mine." I nodded toward the stairs. "Those girls are mine. I will protect you all with every fiber of my being."

Harley was looking at me with a combination of awe, confusion, and shock. "How can you feel that way so fast?"

Once shifters found their mate, they didn't look back. There was no time limit on loyalty or love, no set amount of days it took to feel these things. Once the mate was found, it was one-hundred percent. My instincts were screaming at me to protect these women, and by God, I was going to. Plus, baby or no baby, Harley was my mate, and I would die to protect her and her kids.

I didn't say all that, though. "I'm a firm believer in following my gut. And my gut is telling me this is where I belong. I'll keep earning your trust, but I've fully made up my mind about what I want. I want you, and by you, I mean all of you."

Harley was crying again, but it seemed to be happy tears. She grabbed my face and kissed me. It was not passionate or sexy, but it was still intense. Intense and full of what I hoped was something deeper.