The house groaned, a long, drawn-out crackling creak that seemed to go on forever. There was definitely something moving out there. Lainie was halfway across the room before she realized that the thing that was moving was the room.
She swore and jumped backwards, but it was too late. With a roar, the far wall peeled off the house. Lainie watched in horror as the floor seemed to sink away with it. Rain flooded in, as heavy as the tides.
Lainie jumped backwards as the boards beneath her feet began to move. Her feet skidded on the wet dust, and she fell onto her hands and knees, swearing. Behind her, the house groaned again. She turned around just in time to see half of the room disappear.
What—where the hell did it go? We’re not that close to the cliff!
“The hell with this.” She gritted her teeth, pushing herself up. Her left wrist buckled, and Lainie whimpered as pain shot up her arm. No time to think about that. Her phone light was still on, at least. She held her injured arm against her chest and pushed forward, heading for the door.
Under her feet, rotten floorboards creaked. Lainie froze.
Oh, no. No, no, no.
Lainie slid one feet forward slowly, and the floorboards sank even more. Every time I move, I’m damaging them more.
She risked a quick glance back over her shoulder. Rain lashed her face. She couldn’t tell how far a drop to the ground would be—or even where the ground was. What if the edge of the cliff had crumbled from under the house, and that was why the room had fallen away?
She was stuck. If she moved, the floorboards might crumble underneath her. But if she stayed where she was…
The same thing will happen, only more slowly. She gritted her teeth. I can’t just cower here and wait for that to happen.
CHAPTER TEN
HARRISON
Harrison stared at his hands.
When he’d first come to Hideaway Cove, he had thought it was paradise. A whole town of shifters? He’d never even dreamed such a place could exist.
He’d been so content here, he’d never wondered why everyone in Hideaway was a shifter.
Well, that was clear now. The Sweets and their cronies must have driven off any humans who wanted to move in. Regardless of whether they were related to shifters, or not.
Not any more, he thought grimly. He couldn’t go back in time and prevent Lainie from ever being hurt, but he could keep her safe now.
If she ever wanted to speak to him again.
There was a knock on the door, barely audible over the sound of the storm outside.
“What?” Harrison growled. He reined in his frustration as Arlo poked his head around the door. “What do you want?”
“It’s about Lainie.”
Harrison dropped his tools. “Did she call?” He could hear someone in the corridor behind Arlo. Was she here? “I have to talk to her.” He started for the door, but Arlo put up a hand, holding him back.
If it had been anyone but Arlo, Harrison would have pushed past him. But he knew Arlo.
He took a deep breath. Be patient. Rushing into things is what went wrong in the first place.
“What is it?” he asked, trying to get a sense of whoever it was behind Arlo. It was a woman, but now that he was closer, he could tell it wasn’t Lainie. He would have recognized her scent at once.
Arlo sighed, and beckoned to the woman lurking behind him. “Tell him what you told me.”
To Harrison’s surprise, the person who stepped forward was Tessa Sweets, the current manager of the ice cream parlor.
Tessa was in her early twenties, a plump brunette with runaway curls and chocolate-brown eyes. Like her grandmother, she was a gator shifter.
Her grandmother, who was trying to run Lainie out of town.