“I’ll have a vanilla chai latte, please.” Piper ordered her usual fare at the café in the lobby of her office building. Standing in line, she absentmindedly scrolled through her phone. Her appointment with King Security International was in forty-five minutes and even with the walk ahead of her, she would still be early.

Piper had worked with many Kindred over the years, especially the wolves that were involved in the world of finance. It wasn’t as common to interact with bear shifters, but the detective had told her that if you wanted big burly security, KSI was some of the best in the business. Bears were bigger than average shifters, and most humans. She’d always found them a little intimidating, but you couldn’t have anyone better watching your back. Piper found the courage to call KSI and talked to a very pert woman to schedule her appointment.

Hearing her name called, she went to grab her cup when another hand reached for it and she looked up to see Jerry, a guy she knew from college. He was just a few inches from her, his not-so-nice breath washing over her.

“Fancy running into you here,” he joked. Jerry still looked much like he did in college. Tall and thin with his prominent Adam’s apple bouncing as he laughed unconvincingly. He still had hair that seemed to go the opposite direction from the way he had tried to comb it. She’d gone on a date with him once after he’d asked her out after a class.

“Hey there, Jerry. What brings you downtown?” Not that she wanted to have idle chitchat with Jerry, but she had time to kill and didn’t want to be rude. She felt a little sorry for him.

“Dropping off some paperwork to my boss’s lawyer. I think he’s on his third divorce. That guy just doesn’t know how to pick ‘em!”

“That’s too bad. Well, it was good seeing you. I have an appointment I have to get to,” she said, trying to excuse herself.

“Oh, yeah sure, don’t want to keep you. Maybe we can get together and have coffee sometime,” he said and handed her the cup, his hand shaking a little as he held it.

“You know my office, give my secretary a call and she’ll tell you when I’m available.” Piper really hoped that he wouldn’t call. Normally she avoided Jerry because he gave her the creeps. Mostly because he had no concept of personal space. Also because she still felt a little guilty about not handling their date in college well.

“Great, happy to!”

Piper smiled and waved and started walking. She turned back to look at him and he was still waving at her. Jerry was definitely the goofy guy that just kept popping up where you least expected him. Turning to the doors, she stopped short, her coffee spilling and burning her hand.

“Shit!” Piper looked up to see Colleen from Personal Accounts cutting in front of her.

“Might want to watch where you’re going,” Colleen smirked as she kept walking.

“Or you could,” Piper shot back. She really didn’t like Colleen. They’d been ‘office friendly’ years ago when she’d first started at the company, and then Piper was promoted over her to a Private Banker position and Colleen had moved to being an angry bitch ever since. Colleen clearly couldn’t see that she didn’t have the disposition to handle high net worth individuals and companies. It took finesse, an ability to adapt to all manner of people, and a Master of Finance Degree, all of which Piper had.

Rolling her eyes at Colleen, she licked some of the tepid chai latte off her hand and started walking away, refusing to give Colleen the backward glance she probably wanted. She’d tried to be nice to the other woman but it had become impossible. Some people just weren’t worth the effort.

Shaking it off, she started walking, her heels clicking on the concrete sidewalk. It was October in Seattle and the weather was mild, but Piper had still slung on a gray soft wool jacket that tied around her waist. Ever since receiving the box the previous week she’d had a chill. The police did call her to let her know that their tests had revealed that the organ was, in fact, a pig’s heart. That gave a small sense of relief. Although how one obtained a pig heart was foreign to her. Piper didn’t even know where a butcher was in the downtown area. She had to hope that the heart was purchased and not procured by other means.

Looking around, she tried to be aware of her surroundings while not being the creepy person that made unnecessary eye contact with strangers and broke the unspoken code of walking while downtown. Look forward, keep your eyes focused in the distance, ignore everyone, don’t get run over.

King Security was about six blocks away. In downtown Seattle there were often steep hills when moving to or from the water. Thankfully, these six blocks were all downhill.

Piper had tried to prepare for the meeting but just ended up abandoning everything in the end. She had agonized over what to bring, whether she should bring anything at all, or if she should just show up begging for help. She’d been tempted to tell her family about the situation, but just like every time before she had stopped herself. They couldn’t fix the problem so there was no need to drag them into it. Simple.

Besides, her mother would probably insist that she move home and her father would agree. Her parents had a house on Whidbey Island that overlooked the Sound. It wouldn’t be the worst place to live, not by a long shot, but having to ride a ferry everyday could wear on you after a while.

Frank, her brother, lived in northern California with his wife and their daughter. Rose, her sister lived in eastern Washington and was a Professor of Finance at Washington State University.

They all had jobs and their own stresses. They didn’t need hers. Besides, as she reminded herself, she’d never been physically attacked. Sure, mentally she often felt bruised by the letters, the calls, and packages, but it was nothing serious. Nothing... dangerous.

Pushing all of it to the back of her mind had worked for quite a while. Until now. She was scared now. Having that lump of flesh on her desk was something she couldn’t ignore.

Piper shoved her hand into her purse and felt the outline of the letters she’d finally decided to bring to show the security professionals. They were written like stories of trips and experiences that she and this person had shared. They were clearly the product of a twisted imagination, and they were written like diary entries.

Piper didn’t know how much of her life she would have to share with the security company. Her family and her coworkers already knew what a disaster her love life was, but telling a stranger would just reopen the wounds.

Hopefully they could stay on topic and ignore the fact that she had terrible luck when it came to relationships.

Making it to the building that held the KSI offices she stepped into the lobby. A smiling man sat at the information desk.

“I’m looking for KSI?”

“Do you have an appointment, ma’am?”

“Yes.”

“One moment. They have a private elevator and you have to be confirmed before going up. May I have your name?”

“Piper Armstrong. I’m meeting with King?” It didn’t matter that she was twenty-eight years old, she always felt awkward calling Kindred by their first names. They didn’t have last names, just the Clans they belonged to. So there was no Mr. this or Mrs. that.

Piper gave him a small smile and waited as he picked up the phone. He spoke to someone, giving them her name.

“They’re sending the elevator down,” the man said after hanging up the phone. He gestured towards an elevator close to his desk. “Just wait there, it will be here soon.”

She nodded and went to stand in front of the metal doors he had indicated. When the elevator arrived, she stepped in and noticed that there were only two buttons on the panel. An up arrow, and a down arrow. She pressed the up button and stared at her reflection in the polished doors as they closed.

Luckily, her appearance didn’t show the fact her heart was pounding and her hands had a small tremor. She had put on her armor today. Her fitted gray pinstripe suit had a skirt that fell fashionably to her knees and she had paired it with cream button-up shirt that ended in a mandarin collar. She’d added heels that were just borderline work appropriate but still made her feel powerful.

It was partly her situation, and partly meeting the bears, that made her want to look and feel in control. Bears. It was hard not to think of them that way. You knew the minute you had to tilt your head back to look at them and then saw the silver reflection of their eyes that they weren’t all human.

The elevator rose and she took a steadying breath as the doors slid open. Piper stepped into the lobby and took in the professionally decorated room. There was raised reception desk with a well-dressed woman sitting behind it.

“Hello, I’m Piper Armstrong.”

“I know. King will be with you soon. Can I get you anything? Water or coffee? I know some people are nervous when meeting him,” the woman said with a smile that seemed like she was testing her.

Piper gave the small blonde woman a bit of an eyebrow raise before she checked herself and pulled it back. “I’m fine, thank you.”

She didn’t know what this woman put up with during the day. There may be a reason she was a bit short with her professional courtesies. She took a seat across from the reception desk on a beautiful sofa and set her purse in her lap. There was music playing over hidden speakers that was upbeat and perky. It didn’t really fit the office.

Piper really wanted to stare at the other woman. She had white-blonde hair and seemed an unlikely receptionist for a Kindred staffed office. There was something about her that made Piper’s eyes keep tracking back to her. KSI’s receptionist was definitely interesting.

“Ms. Armstrong?”

Getting caught pondering, Piper looked up to see a large attractive man wearing a pair of black slacks and a dress shirt that stretched across his muscles. His hair was dark with a little silver at the temples. He also had a short beard that looked to be more five o’clock shadow than intentional.

“Hello. King?” she said standing and extending her hand.

He shook it firmly and gestured for her to walk past him. “Yes, please follow me, we can meet in our conference room right here. Anson will be joining us soon, he got caught in some traffic.”

Entering the standard conference room with a long table, she felt at home. It was the kind of space she spent most of her working days in.

She took a seat and untied her coat to slip it off her shoulders. She felt like she was heating up in the presence of the big man. She learned when she was younger not to stare at Kindred just to see their eyes reflect. They totally knew what you were doing and it was embarrassing to get caught.

“We can wait for Anson if you’d like.”

Piper nodded. She really didn’t want to repeat everything, or answer the same questions twice, it was just too much.

“Let me tell you a little about us first. I started KSI over a decade ago. I’m ex-military as are a lot of my staff. For the most part, our business is about private security. Basic bodyguard detail for priority clients. We also can assist in electronic security, personal defense training, and have resources for security dogs if you would like that. All of our work is à la carte. It can be anything from a simple driver security detail to full kidnapping or catastrophic event extraction.”

“I’m sorry, catastrophic event extraction?”

“Huge earthquake, tsunami, dirty bomb. We make sure you get out of the city. We come to you wherever you are and make sure you are relocated to a safe area.”

“What must that run?” she asked intrigued.

“I won’t lie, it’s not cheap. There are some people that feel safer with every possible detail worked out.”

“Good to know. I’ll keep that in mind.” Piper felt a little more at ease with King knowing he could take her shock at the level that some people went to feel safe.

The door to the conference room opened and Piper turned to see a man just as tall as King, over six and a half feet tall, walk through wearing a pair of black tactical pants and a black t-shirt. He was handsome. Strike that—he was panty-dropping hot!

“Ms. Armstrong, this is Anson, he’ll be the lead on your case.”

Piper stood up. “Please, call me Piper.”

The man held out his hand and they shook. She made herself pull back quickly because his touch was warm and strong and she was feeling a little too vulnerable to let herself linger.

He took a seat a few chairs down from her so she was in direct eyeline to him.

“I’m sorry I’m late, Seattle traffic,” he said with a charming grin.

Piper found herself smiling back at him. His face was very friendly; his eyes were a gray that sparkled a bit when he smiled.

“I was just explaining to Piper about our operations. Let’s get started. Why don’t you tell us how you ended up here? You were referred, I believe?”

“Yes, Detective Klein from Seattle Police Department suggested you. She was very nice when she told me there wasn’t much they could do for me. It wasn’t the first time I’ve heard that from the police.”

“I read your file. You’ve had some kind of problem since college?”

“Well, I thought the college stuff was just someone that didn’t like me. Maybe a girl I’d pissed off. I didn’t really get worried until I was sure I was being followed walking to my dorm late at night. It happened enough times that I got scared and contacted campus security. Then I received a letter saying some not very nice things about me. I took that to the police and filed a report.”

“Did the problem continue?”

“No. I mean, it did, it started small so I tried not to make a big deal out of it. An unsigned letter left on my front porch. I lived in an apartment complex so it wasn’t like I could install cameras. I would get flowers with no card on Valentine’s day. The florist told me that it was a call-in order from another state. Then I started dating my fiancé and everything stopped. I thought maybe it was over, then I started getting hang-up calls at home. I blocked the number. I would get them again. I would change my number. A week before my wedding, I found a bag of... well... shit on my front porch. It could have been a kid playing a prank, but it didn’t feel that way.”

“I didn’t see in your file that you were married, is your husband concerned?” Anson asked frowning.

“I didn’t get married. We… broke up.”

“A week before your wedding?”

“No, he actually didn’t show up on our wedding day. In retrospect I’m glad that I didn’t plan a big affair. I didn’t hear from him for a month after he disappeared. Then I got a voicemail saying he was sorry, but he just couldn’t go through with it and then he wished me a happy future.”

Both men were staring at her with similar expressions of anger and shock on their faces. She felt a little vindicated at that because it had honestly taken her years to shake off the feeling it was all her fault.

“After my non-wedding, it was quiet for a while. I moved. I thought maybe it was over with. But it started again. Just like before. Calls, letters, flowers, chocolates. When I told the police they gave me the same lines over and over.”

“I see you filed a report eighteen months ago about the calls to your cell phone and a break-in at your apartment?”

“My fiancé told me I had to report it.”

“You were engaged again?” Anson asked.

“Yes, I thought my life was getting back on track. My fiancé wanted it all to stop. He was trying to talk me into moving out of state to get away from it. The tires on my car had been slashed. Mail was stolen, it was getting worse.”

“And this husband-to-be?”

Piper felt her stomach twist. “This time I was left at a beautiful altar overlooking the sea in Greece. My family was there, they all flew in. His parents own the villa that we were getting married at. And he was a no-show. I’m starting to think I’ve been cursed.”

There were distinct looks of pity in the room now. Piper was used to it. No one that ever heard her tales of woe at being left at the altar not once, but twice, could look at you with anything but sadness.

“I’m very sorry to hear that,” Anson said, his voice low and full of concern.

Piper pushed back the tears that welled up in her eyes. She’d cried enough. She’d also eaten enough nachos and movie theater popcorn to go up a dress size. A healthy-sized Xanax prescription had also helped her get through the rough spots. Now she was back to herself and back to business. She didn’t need anyone’s pity.

Giving a shrug she took a deep breath. “I’m better, or at least I was.”

“I see the police report came back on the heart. It may not be professional to say, but that’s pretty fucked up,” Anson remarked.

“You know, it really was. I got it at work and I really didn’t know how to react. It smelled and I’ve even had nightmares about it. Since I spoke to the detective last week I don’t know if it’s paranoia or if someone is actually following me when I leave work at night. I drive home to the east side every night. My townhouse is in a gated complex, but I still don’t feel safe. I have security cameras on my doors and an alarm system that chirps and drives me nuts. I’ve started keeping a bat by the front door, but it’s not as if I could even do any damage with it.” Her shoulders slumped as the exhaustion hit her. “This has all been going on for so long that I don’t know what it would be like to live without it.”

“Piper, that’s no way to live. We aren’t only going to help you feel more secure, but we can also try to do some investigative work to figure out who this person may be,” King said, pulling her attention from Anson’s face. She couldn’t seem to keep her eyes from tracking back to him, especially since he was staring at her so intently.

“The police have asked me that too. They say it’s someone I know, but I really can’t believe that. I watch enough of those crime shows that it seems more likely it’s someone I ran across once and they think that we have some kind of relationship now.”

“That could be it, for sure. It could also be someone you see every day. A family member, a coworker, even an ex-fiancé using your previous stalker as an example.”

“No, I couldn’t imagine it being Tristan or Darius. They loved me, at least I thought they did. It’s fine if I’m not marriage material, but tell me before I’m waiting in a white dress,” she said with a scornful little laugh. It came off just as pathetic as she was trying to not be.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence in the room and Piper wished she’d kept her mouth closed. She always said just a little too much.

Looking down at her fingers in her lap, she picked at some leftover paint under her nail. She’d been nervous about the meeting and had spent the evening painting into the wee hours in her converted spare bedroom.

“We can help you, Piper. We can keep you safe as long as you let us. If you need full protection right now, or if you just want transportation, we can do that for you,” King said.

They weren’t laughing at her, which was a good thing. Piper really needed someone to not laugh at her right now. It had taken a lot for her to even call them. She’d been dealing with this alone for so long that she didn’t want to appear weak. Not just to strangers, but her family and coworkers. Her tough ‘can do’ attitude had served her well over the years, but it was starting to come apart at the seams.

Last week was the first time she really thought that someone could hurt her.

“I feel safe at work and when I’m inside my home, at least for the most part. I don’t like walking alone to my car at night. When I get home I often have to do things like bring in my trash cans or get my mail from the boxes down the road. Those are the times I feel really scared. Maybe getting a big dog isn’t such a bad idea.”

“How about a few bears?” This came from Anson.

Piper gave him a sad smile. “Yeah, maybe that’s what I need.”

“Let’s figure out who’s going to take you home tonight, shall we?” King stood up and held out his hand to her. Piper shook it and for the first time in a week she felt like someone had her back.