Just as she did, she caught the glimpse of someone running for the spare bedroom opposite hers, long golden hair flying behind him as Liam gave chase. A split second later, she heard a loud crash as the intruder leapt through the window, disappearing into the dark night as Liam stopped at the window, looking out.
Kate rushed to his side, not wanting to be more than a few feet from him right then. As she did, she too looked outside but saw nothing. Just quiet neighborhood shrouded in blackness.
“Damn, he got away,” Liam cursed.
“Was that…?”
“Yes, it was the same guy. At least I think so. It’s hard to say. There was something different about him, something wrong. I never thought he was the type to do something like this. Sneaking around in the darkness,” Liam said, eyes focused outside.
“Why would he want to come into my home like that?” she asked, shaken, pulling her robe tighter around her.
Liam just shook his head. “I don’t know.” He was still looking in the direction of the window, deep in thought.
Kate tried to loosen her grip on his arm but couldn’t. She’d always been independent, but if he hadn’t been here… She let out a little shudder, not even wanting to think about it.
At once, Liam turned and held her closely, enveloping her in his arms so the safety and warm encompassed her, chasing away the adrenaline and fear.
She wasn’t alone.
Liam picked Kate up in his arms and carried her back to the master bedroom, closing the spare bedroom door behind him as he did.
“Now will you take the day off tomorrow?” he asked. “Please?”
“Yes,” she said. “But what are we going to do about that guy? I can’t stay home forever.”
“I know. But stay home tomorrow, and we’ll figure out the rest.” He pushed her hair back, twining a strand around his fingers. “I need to just be with you. Know you’re safe.”
“I suppose so,” she said. “At least, I’ll call in and try.”
“That’s all I ask,” he said.
He put her down on the bed and pulled the sheets over her, then came onto the mattress, thankfully leaving the lights on.
“What about Tank? Is he okay?” she asked, pulling the sheets up almost to her chin.
“I’ll go check on him,” Liam said. “And I’ll do something about the window. Something temporary, but it’ll keep anything out.”
“Okay,” she said, turning over in bed and trying to relax.
“I’ll be right back.”
And then he was out, creeping down the stairs quietly as if he were hoping not to wake her.
She sighed. If he was working so hard for her, it was asking really little of her to just take a day off.
Kate reached over and grabbed her smartphone with a resigned sigh. She opened a new email, typed in a quick message to her boss, and pressed send.
When Liam came back in, he walked straight to the bed and got in. “Tank seems fine. I’m glad you crate him at night.”
“It’s safest,” she said. “Do you want the lights off?”
He looked over. “How about you?”
“I can sleep like this. If I can sleep at all.”
“Okay,” he said. “Then I’m fine with it, too.”
“I emailed my boss to say I wasn’t coming in tomorrow,” she said hesitantly.
A smile lit his face, and he moved closer so they were side by side. “Thank you.”
“Do you think he’ll come back?” Kate asked, trying to suppress a shiver of fear. That thing had been in her house.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “But I can’t say for sure. Nothing’s as it used to be. But I can promise I’ll always be here to protect you, no matter what.”
“Because I’m your mate?” she said, knowing where he was going with this.
Liam just chuckled once. “Yes, because you’re my mate.”
Kate just nestled into him a little more, and he obliged. And even though it was many long, quiet minutes listening for every squeak and creak that sounded and fearing it was the intruder, Liam was there with her, awake and alert, watchful so she didn’t have to be.
And it was with that realization that Kate slowly began to fall asleep. For the first time in her life, someone else was here to keep an eye on things for her. She didn’t have to take care of everything by herself.
It was a very odd notion indeed.
Liam was happily watering the lawn and keeping watch on the area around the house when his ears perked at the sound of angry talking.
He turned to the porch where Kate had been sitting and watching him, enjoying the sunlight, and saw she was on the phone, holding it in front of her on speaker, talking with a concerned expression to someone on the other end.
Her face was annoyed, her brows furrowed, and when she hung up the call, she looked up at him with apologetic eyes.
Inwardly, he suspected he knew what was coming and groaned.
Just once, he’d thought she would listen to him, that it would be easy to make her take a break and stay where he could protect her.
She walked toward him, slipping the phone back in her pocket. “That was my work. I know I said I wouldn’t go in today, but I don’t really have a choice.”
Liam dropped the hose in exasperation. “You promised. And you always have a choice. It’s just a job.”
Her hands clenched into fists. “I’m trying to work around you, Liam, but you’re making it hard. And you brought this… thing into my life, and it’s messing up everything.”
He waved his hands in disbelief. “I’m messing up everything? Me? The one that fixed your yard and just wants you to be healthy and happy while you’re trying to work yourself into the ground?”
She folded her arms and looked at the ground repentantly. “I know. That wasn’t fair. I’m sorry. But I have to go. I know I promised, but that was my boss telling me I’m going to lose my job if I don’t come in today.”
“You could lose more than that if you don’t start listening to me,” Liam said. “You’re working yourself into the ground. Even if there wasn’t a rogue dragon around, I would want you to take a break. Just the fact that you would risk your own safety to go back into work says you have an unhealthy relationship with your job.”
“What would you know?” she said. “This job kept me alive. Gave me purpose and something to focus on when I had nothing else.”
He took her hands in his, rubbing lightly, loving their warm softness. “You don’t have nothing anymore. You have me and Tank. And heck, not all your neighbors are bad, if you want to get to know them.”
“I don’t,” she said. “Right now, I just want to get to work and save my job. Look, Liam, if you really want to mate me, you’ll try to understand that I need this.”
“To work yourself into the ground?”
“It’s the end of the quarter. My team needs me,” she said. She folded her arms and looked around her. “Liam, I would love to live in this fantasy world with you. I really would, but I’m not ready. And I can’t quit my job for you until I am.”
He sighed. “So nothing I can say will change your mind?”
“No,” she said.
“You’d be safer here.”