Still, she couldn’t help but feel that things were finally looking up.
That feeling instantly dissipated when she thought she caught sight of a shadow out of the corner of her eyes. It was resting along the edge of the trees, and it appeared to be watching them leave. The silhouette was too large to be a wolf, and too small to be a bear. And its shape was eerily human-like.
Hailey shivered from more than just the cold. She had a bad feeling that she had just barely escaped danger that night.
Chapter Four
Chase
“Hey…” Chase trailed off cautiously as he tried to gain Hailey’s attention. “We’re here.”
His mate didn’t reply. Her face was still ghostly pale, it hadn’t regained any of its previous color on the drive over. He touched his hand to her shoulder, drawing back quickly when she jumped.
“W-what?”
“Sorry for scaring you,” he said, pitching his voice low and soothing in an attempt to reassure her. “I thought you’d fallen asleep.”
His reindeer stomped its annoyance at the untruth—at some stage he was going to have to get around to teaching it what tact was. Something had obviously spooked Hailey on their walk to the car. She’d been pale and unmoving since she’d first gotten into the vehicle.
At first, he’d thought she might have seen a wolf or a bear. But that wouldn’t make sense. Not for it to have left her rattled for this long. And he badly wanted to know what had her so rattled, so he could remove the threat—imagined or otherwise—to his mate. And he didn’t think it was the local wildlife.
No. Something specific must have happened. Before he’d moved into undercover work, Chase had worked the beat for long enough to see that look more times than he ever wanted. It was the face many victims wore after experiencing a traumatic incident.
It was all he could do not to come right out and ask her what had happened, but he knew better. She was on edge enough, and prying too much into her personal life was bound to send her running. He’d just have to wait until she was ready to talk to him.
And when she did, Chase would make sure whatever slimy rat did this to her would pay.
“O-oh.” She tried to laugh it off. “Yeah…sorry, I must have nodded off.”
Chase gave her a pleasant smile, smothering his own anger. “Don’t worry about it, I just wanted to let you know that we’re here.”
Hailey looked around at her surroundings, blinking rapidly, then stared at the clock on the dash. “Is that really the time?”
Chase cast a glance down at the clock, though he already knew it was accurate.
“Yeah, why?”
“Nothing, I just thought it was a lot later than that for some reason.”
He shot her a sympathetic smile. “Tired?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Not anymore.”
“Good,” he said, unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the car door. Light instantly flooded the vehicle. He heard a tiny hitch of breath coming from the backseat and winced. He was pretty sure he’d just woken up Riley. Still, so long as they were all up... “If everyone’s awake, then I can make dinner.”
“You don’t have to do that.” Hailey shook her head as she got out of the car. She walked to the back of the car, unbuckling her son out of his car seat. Chase went around back, pulling out his mate’s luggage and carrying it inside.
“Are you kidding me? I’m starving, I haven’t eaten a thing all day. And it’s no trouble to make extra.”
Chase unlocked the front door, holding it open so mother and son could step inside. He was glad he cleaned fairly regularly. Chase didn’t want his mate’s first impression of him to be thinking he was a slob.
“It’s…cozy?” Hailey tried to hide it, but her voice betrayed her confusion.
He understood what she was seeing. The house was fully decorated, but it was pretty obvious Chase wasn’t the one who decorated it. Filled with antique furniture, throw pillows, and dusty picture frames, she was probably thinking the décor was better suited for an elderly couple, not an adult bachelor.
And she’d be right.
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I took the place on from my parents when they moved to the East Coast half a year ago. I haven’t had the chance to re-decorate yet.”
