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My stomach clenches. He’s got a point. Still, even though I called him for help, some part of me instinctively wants to deny actually accepting it.

“I have to work for a couple more hours. I’m here alone and I’m closing the store tonight.”

“That’s fine. Travis can stay and wait in the store while you finish up.”

I pause before responding. Now that the initial adrenaline has faded and I’ve got a competent, very concerned kraken on the phone, I feel more idiotic than ever.

I shouldn’t be bothering him with this. In all likelihood, I saw someone who only looks like Daniel. He’s just your average white dude, and I’m sure there’s a thousand people who look like him in Seattle alone. All of this is probably my own unresolved anxiety manifesting itself and making me someone else’s problem.

Elias’s voice reaches me again, low and gentle through the speaker. “Why did you call me, little siren?”

“Because I…”

WhydidI call him?

On the other end of the line, he silently waits for me to answer, patient as ever.

“Because I knew I could count on you to help me,” I whisper.

Elias lets out a short, harsh breath. “Always, Nora. You can always count on me to help you. Now, I’m going to hang up and call Travis. He should be there in fifteen minutes. In the meantime, I want you to keep your phone on you in case you need to call for help. Do you think you can lock the front door just until Travis gets there?”

“Yes. Yes, I think I can do that.” Having a set of clear, concrete instructions makes my heart rate slow even further.

“I’ll give him your phone number and let him know he needs to stay until you’re finished working. Is that alright with you?”

“Yes,” I say again. “And I’m sorry. I’m sure all of this is nothing. I’m sure I’m just overreacting and—”

“Nora,” he interrupts, still gently, but with enough firm command in his voice for me to stop my stream of babbling apologies.

“Yeah?”

“Everything is going to be alright. Travis will be there soon. Keep your phone in your hand until he gets there, and know that I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

Some part of me still wants to argue. No one has looked out for me or cared for me like this in years—or ever, maybe—and I don’t know how to accept it now that it’s being offered.

“Call me if you need anything else, little siren,” Elias continues. “Alright?”

“Alright,” I whisper, deciding to trust the help he’s offering—deciding to trusthim. “I will.”

11

Elias

The moment my front door closes behind me, I sense my mate is nearby.

Nora is here, in my home, safe and protected, and it’s enough to make my hearts feel like they’re cracked wide open in my chest.

I should have never left the city.

Even though I was wheels-up and taking off from Montreal just an hour after speaking with Nora, it still took me six excruciating hours after that to get back to Seattle.

Fortunately, I didn’t spend my time in the air completely idle. As soon as I got off the phone with Nora, I arranged for Travis to wait with her at work while another one of the security contractors we work with did a sweep of the neighborhood. After that, I’d spoken to Blair. And it only took me twenty seconds of that phone call for an unpleasant truth about Daniel Sorenson to come to light.

The bastard is in Seattle.

Not only in Seattle, but he was at the godsdamned Bureau meeting with Blair just a couple of hours before Nora saw him downtown.

The visit was unannounced, and held under the guise of fact-finding for the brand new congressional Paranormal Oversight Committee. Blair tried to call me right after, but I’d been in meetings with one of Morgan-Blair’s Canadian partners and missed the call.