Hoping it wasn’t locked, she turned on the cell. The background picture caught her attention. Mesmerized, she stared at the group of the most beautiful people she’d ever seen. A man who looked like Rafe, but with shorter hair and a harder glint to his eyes, sat on a swing. It had to be Kade, Rafe’s brother.
Next to Kade was a drop-dead gorgeous woman with oddly dyed hair. Patches of red, brown, and gold were intermixed with strands of black. She wore sunglasses and so did the man with shorter hair dyed in the same unusual way standing behind her. The similarities between them made her think the two were twins. Weird that they had the same dyed hair, but it was definitely eye-catching. Beautiful, really. Their stylist must be amazing.
The other two men on the opposite side of Kade weren’t as mesmerizing. They appeared a little rougher, more like bad boys. The similarity to Rafe was still there in their hard features. More of Rafe’s brothers, if she had to guess.
Wow. She shook her head. Rafe’s family was a sight to behold. Her finger hovered over the photo album icon, but she didn’t open it. She was curious about Rafe but wouldn’t stoop so low as to snoop into his personal things. More than she already had, anyway. Besides, she wanted Rafe to tell her about his family. She loved listening to his deep voice.
Knowing her kids would want to talk about their sleepover and keep her on the line forever, she dialed Josh’s number. She still hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to him. The call went to voicemail. She tried his parents and learned he was meeting with the fire chief to go over the findings of the investigation.
Jazz ended the call and blinked back tears. She’d been so caught up in Rafe that she’d forgotten about Josh and the hell he was going through. Life was harsh sometimes. There was no escaping it, but she felt guilty for enjoying herself last night. She’d have to call Josh later, offer him support and a shoulder to lean on. He had his parents but they were suffering too. Josh needed a friend.
With her plan set, she dialed Mr. Wilkins’ number. It picked up on the first ring.
“Hello?”
Seth’s whisper sounded panicked.
Her heart skipped a beat then pounded wildly. “Seth, it’s me. Is everything okay?”
“No, Mom. I’m scared.”
“What’s wrong? Where are Levi and Mr. Wilkins?”
“Levi is here. We’re upstairs. The guest bedroom. The door’s locked. Mr. Wilkins is outside talking to a blond man.”
“It’s okay, kiddo. That’s Kade, he’s there to keep an eye on things because Mommy…” She bit her lip and tried to think of something to say. “Because Mommy stayed with a friend last night. He works with…”
Ugh, what was she supposed to say? That he tracked missing kids? No. That might freak Seth out. She hated lying to her kids. For their sake, it was sometimes necessary, though.
“Mommy’s friend works with the police.” She cringed at the small fib. The police were a part of the government. They were also the ones who handled missing persons’ cases. “He’s protective and wanted to make sure you were safe while you were camping out. Anything could happen. A bear might attack. You never know.”
A bear? She cringed at her reasoning.
“We didn’t camp outside.”
She pressed the heel of her palm to the bridge of her nose. “He didn’t know at the time.”
“Why him?”
“Because it’s his job to guard people. That’s what he does.”
“He’s really big, Mom. My cats are scared of him.”
She frowned. That was a first. Seth’s cats didn’t mind meeting new people. Few of the men in town were quite as impressive as Rafe’s family, though.
“I know he’s big. So is his brother, Rafe.” She nibbled her lip as she picked her words carefully. “Rafe’s a really nice guy. I want you and Levi to meet him. I’ll bring him with me to pick you two up. Okay?”
“No!” Seth yelled. “He’ll hurt us.”
She pushed away from where she’d leaned against the sink and gripped Rafe’s phone tighter. “Seth, what—”
Levi’s voice in the background drowned out her words. A clunk reverberated over the line. She pulled the phone back with a grimace.
Levi got on. “Mom, don’t go near him. He’s dangerous.”
Out of the two, Levi was the one who acted older, who seemed to have a better handle over his cats. His cautious warning struck a note of fear in her heart.
“Why not?”
“Because he’s like us. A shifter.”
She covered her mouth to stifle her gasp.
“If you ever cross paths with a shifter, run with my boys as far and as fast as you can. They’re special. Others will hurt them because of it.”
The warning Seth and Levi’s mother had given repeated in Jazz’s head, so did flashes of a time she wished she could scrub from her mind—the cells, the screams, the woman who’d led Jazz to freedom.
She shook her head to clear it of the horrid thoughts. A few hours, that was all she’d spent inside the warehouse. It was long enough for her to take the warning seriously. Jazz’s heart screamed a denial, though. Rafe had treated her as if she was precious to him. He was sweet. Kind. And not all shifters were bad. They couldn’t be.
“Our males lie. They pretend to be good, but they’re not. They’re animals.”
She couldn’t take the chance. Her boys were everything to her.
“Mom? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, kiddo.” Jazz couldn’t focus. What was she supposed to do? Warn Mr. Wilkins? No. She didn’t want to alert Kade that they were on to him. At least not while he was standing right next to Mr. Wilkins. “Has Kade done anything…bad?”
“No, but the dogs are scared. They’re all hiding under the picnic table.”
She stared at the door, thought about everything she and Rafe had done together and couldn’t associate the man who’d loved her so tenderly with someone who might be a threat to her
