Unsafe Haven Read Free

discover how limited access was to Staamat, she didn’t think to ask him what he’d just called her.
    Instead, Kendall replied firmly, “More than ever.”

Chapter 2
    Denn Nulo hung up the phone and groaned under his breath. The kid would be the death of him, for sure. He raked both hands through his dense black hair and tugged at it.
    “Jo, I have to leave.” He reached for his holster as he pushed away from the desk. “I’ve got errands. And Luna, damn it.” He snapped the holster over his belt as his dispatcher stuck her head around the door.
    She pointed at his gun with an amused smirk. “Gonna shoot her this time?”
    “Don’t tempt me.” Denn patted his pockets for his keys. “Damn it, where the hell are they?”
    Jo slipped into the room, curiously graceful despite an enormously pregnant abdomen, and handed him his keys. “You left them on my desk. Again.” His bad-tempered grumble earned him one of Jo’s infamous snorts.
    He sent her a glare. “Shut up.”
    “I didn’t say a thing, Nulo.” She leaned against the doorjamb. “So, what about Luna?”
    “She cut class. Again. Most of this afternoon, in fact. She was spotted at Fake’s a few minutes ago, chowing on a banana split. She knows better.” Frustration overrode worry. “I’ll have to sit up with her all night and test her blood at least twice. I swear, Jo, I’m truly at my wit’s end.” He pointed at the mound that tented her blouse. “And I don’t know how you do it.”
    Jo had five boys, two of them adopted, and all under the age of fifteen. The newest arrival, twin boys no less, would bring the head count to seven. Her due date loomed on the horizon, and their shift schedule needed an overhaul to cover maternity leave. He shook his head in bemusement as she flashed a dimpled grin at him and rubbed both hands over her belly.
    “I line ‘em up every morning and slap them silly before anyone leaves the house. When they come home, they know they’ll get it twice as bad if I receive any phone calls during the day,” she informed him smugly.
    “Oh, you do not.”
    “Ask any of them, and they’ll tell you true.” She straightened and followed him to the outer office, maneuvered behind her desk, and settled into her well-cushioned chair with a sigh. “Denn, about Luna . . . she does know better. But it’s not easy having to stay away from sugar when all of your pals can eat it anytime they like.”
    “I know, I know. But one of us has to be sensible about her health. Sugar’s like poison to her, Jo. Every time she overdoes it, she throws up.”
    “Then you can be the big, bad parent, okay? But don’t yell too loudly.” She grabbed the bottle of diet orange soda always present on her desk and chugged some down, grimacing at the warm beverage. “Ugh. Tastes like cough syrup.” Denn obligingly fetched a cup of ice from the mini fridge in the corner. “Thanks. So, you gonna pick her up before or after you head out to meet Thom?”
    “Definitely before. Why should I subject Eloise to more than a few minutes with my bratty baby sister?”
    “She’s not really bratty, you know. She’s just angling for attention. They all do at that age,” Jo reminded him.
    “Yeah, well, she keeps angling like this, believe me when I say I’ll be giving her some attention.” He pulled his cap from the coat track and slipped it on his head. “I’ll be back as soon as I take our new resident over to Four Hills.” For a few seconds he eyed his dispatcher, concerned, as she shifted in her chair, obviously uncomfortable. In his opinion, Jo worked too hard for being this close to her delivery.
    He gestured at her chair. “Stay down, and make sure you actually leave the premises when Ginny takes over for you at three, you hear? Go home and put your feet up. Last thing we need is a matched set of preemies, right here in the station.”
    She waved away his worry. “Relax, Nulo. I’m going to get a lot bigger. You’ll have to rent a