But her murderous ex was also in here, and there was no way to tell how long he’d stay knocked out, and the same was true of his guard. She twisted round to find Chase patting Michael down. He pulled a cell from his pocket, and then flipped him over onto his front.
“Hailey, can you find me something to bind his hands?”
She looked around helplessly, and then spotted the belt in her waistband. She tugged it loose and held it out to Chase. “Will this do?”
“Perfect.”
It took him seconds to bind Michael’s hands behind his back—he’d done that before, she noted—and then he flipped open the phone and punched in a number.
“Yeah, boss, I’m sending you my location now. I have the kids, and two suspects in custody. Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. Thanks.”
He tapped a few more buttons, then set the phone down and dragged the guard next to Michael, leaving the pair of them slumped next to each other.
…Which was when she realized he was very, very naked.
“Okay, it’s safe,” he said. “You can bring the children in now.”
“Um, don’t you think…”
She gestured him up and down, and he looked down at himself as if he’d forgotten he was totally naked.
“Oh, right. Um...”
“I didn’t see your pants outside.”
He grimaced. “Shredded. When I shifted.”
Right. Because shifting was a thing. She decided this still wasn’t the time to think about it. Not until she and Riley were far away from this place, and Michael was somewhere he could never hurt them again.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Best get the children into the kitchen before they get too cold, yeah?”
Hailey, whose priorities had been momentarily distracted by the very naked, very handsome, and very hung shifter who’d just saved her life, quickly turned back to the window and climbed through, scooping Riley up.
“You need a hand there?”
She let out a startled yelp, then recognized the ruddy-faced man standing guard over the kids. Chase’s friend. The one who’d fixed her car. Kemp.
She gestured to the window.
“Chase is in there.”
“I know.” He flashed her a grin and held up a pair of pants. “Thought he might be needing these.”
Too overwhelmed to be even remotely surprised by this stage, Hailey quickly rounded up all of the children and picked up her sleeping son, and brought them all in through the front door and into the kitchen.
A moment later, Chase appeared in the doorway, now clothed from the waist down.Shame…Hailey chastised herself for the errant thought, and hoped the blush hadn’t made it to her face. Another, far less pleasant, thought occurred to her.
“Shouldn’t you be watching Michael?” she asked. If he woke up and got loose… Chase’s face fell, but he quickly covered it up, leaving just a trace of hurt in his eyes.
“Kemp is watching them. But if you want me to go, after everything you’ve seen tonight, I understand.”
He started to turn away, and she reached out and caught his arm.
“No, Chase, I…”
Hope blossomed in his eyes, and she felt its echo in her chest.
“I’m glad you were here. You saved us all. Thank you.”
