The Quiet One

45

Harper sighed with relief when she walked into their home. The entire trip she worried Joseph King and his goons would show up again. Regal dropped her off and went to speak with his enforcers for a report on what happened while they were gone. Harper took that moment to call Richard.

"Hi Harper," Richard replied, Harper heard the hustle and bustle of shoppers in the background.

"Is this an awful time? Are you at the shop?"

"No I can talk, what's up?" he asked, she heard the noise in the background dim, she assumed he went into the office to talk to her.

"I wanted to check in. How did everything go while Julie and I were gone?" she asked, pulling open the fridge to figure out what to make for dinner.

"We had a sizeable group of people come through. Several people left their names for you to call. They have specific books they want you to search for. I left the notes on your desk."

"Thank you, Richard. I'll be in tomorrow with Julie. We need to expand our graphic novel section. I'd like your input on how we should reorganize the shop," she replied, Regal had been right about trusting Richard to run the shop while she and Julie were off at the book convention.

"Thank you, Harper. See you in the morning." She hung up and went about making a quick and easy dinner. Harper paused when she went to reach for a knife to cut the chicken she'd pulled out. A knife was missing, she didn't remember it being missing before they'd left. Dread settled over her body and she went into the basement. Her worst fear came true. They had picked the basement over. All her books were still on the walls, but they had moved certain ones. Before they'd left Regal suggested they hide Poems of the Forest in their safe. He didn't want to leave it out in the open while they weren't in the house.

"Harper!" Regal called.

"Downstairs," she shouted back, touching the spine of a Shakespeare book mixed in with her romances.

"What are you doing down here?" he asked, wrapping her up in a comforting hug.

"Someone entered the house," she stated, he frowned and looked around.

"How can you tell?"

"We are missing a knife upstairs, it made me suspicious. I came down here, and they have moved books around. Look, Much Ado About Nothing is sitting in the middle of my romance novels," she explained, pointing to the ornate book tucked in with the books with naked men on the covers.

"Have they have moved any others?" he asked, coming over to look at the shelves.

"Your Stephen King book is in the wrong spot." she pointed out. Regal growled and walked around the room.

"Pull all the books that were moved. I want to see if any of them have anything in common," he ordered, Harper grabbed the books. In total, fifteen books had been moved around. All of them had a black spine with gold leaf writing.

"They all look like the Poems of the Forest book," she commented, pointing to the covers. Regal nodded his agreement.

"Whoever they sent knew the book has a black cover with gold writing. I don't think it was the person in charge. They wouldn't have put things back unless something spooked them. My enforcers told me during a shift change they heard a noise in the basement. They found nothing, but kept their shift changes tighter to not allow anyone to slip through their defenses again."

"Let's check the safe and make sure it hadn't been found and tampered with," she suggested, Regal nodded and they went to their bedroom. Regal opened his dresser and pulled out the top drawer. Hidden in the back of the drawer was a hidden compartment. He opened it to show her the book remained inside.

"It is still safe." Regal put the drawer back and wrapped his arms around her.

"What about the knife?" she asked, and he hummed.

"Probably the person came upstairs and grabbed a knife to protect themselves before escaping."

"Do you think it was someone who knows us? They knew where the cabin resided and where the books were kept," she mentioned pacing around the room. She needed to work out some of her nervous energy.

"I think it is another shifter. They could have followed our scent back here. I have a hunch Joseph King and John Hart are working together. King monitored us at the convention and Hart can watch us here without drawing suspicion." She nodded her agreement with Regal's assessment.

"What about your friends, did they find anything?"

"Anders is watching King, he has the information I hacked from his computer. I plan on checking everything tonight after dinner too," Regal explained.

"Okay. I'll finish dinner and you can get started on looking through your information," she replied walking downstairs leaving Regal behind. The fact someone broke into their home made her uneasy. She wanted the book out of the house as soon as possible.

"I heard from the museum. We go in tomorrow with the book," Regal announced, following her into the kitchen. He stood by her side cutting vegetables while she prepped the chicken.

"Good. The sooner that book is out of our house, the better. I hope George didn't know this book would put us in danger," she remarked, putting the cut chicken into the pan to sizzle.

"I think he knew it would cause some stir, but not to the extent we are experiencing," Regal agreed, kissing her cheek and starting a pan to saute the vegetables.

"I hope so," she replied, focusing on dinner. Harper did her best not to let everything get to her and enjoy a night at home with her fiance.

"Please don't fret," Regal told her over their dinner. She gave him a faint smile, still not comfortable going to bed.

"I'll have Anders and Hunter stay here tonight. Will that help? Maybe you can invite Hainsley over and we make tonight a big night," he suggested, and she smiled.

"I would love to see Hainsley and Hunter together. Where is Brandon?" she asked remembering his third friend.

"On an assignment with your sister of all people," he replied, making her laugh.

"I hope she doesn't kill him."

"Brandon can handle drama and stubbornness. He has three sisters of his own," Regal answered, making her laugh louder.

"I cannot wait to hear about it. Okay, call the guys and I'll text Heather and Hainsley. Let's do a late-night party." She picked up her phone and shot a text to her sisters. Within minutes both Heather and Hainsley replying they'd be over in twenty minutes.

"My sisters will be here in twenty minutes. I'll grab some snacks."

"Hunter is coming and Anders said he'd be late but will come." She clapped her hands with glee and hurried to put out snacks and drinks. She then dove into her game closet to pull out several games for them to play.

"How often do you do a game night with your family?" Regal asked her. She chuckled at his surprised expression.

"Weekly, just like yours. We take turns hosting. Tonight is the first night they are coming to me. I want it to be perfect," she replied, putting everything out in an orderly fashion. Regal helped until they heard the doorbell. He opened the door, letting in Hainsley and Hunter. 

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