Filed To Story: Secret Shifters Next Door Series PDF Free
“Like I said at the restaurant, we have nothing to talk about. Why are you here? I was getting ready for bed.”
“You don’t understand, but you’re playing a dangerous game,” he said, ignoring me.
“What the hell are you talking about? What? Ignoring you? Is the big bad baseball player gonna get pissed? Please don’t give me the whole
you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry spiel.”
He winced and shook his head. “It’s not that, no. It’s the guy you were with. He’s dangerous, April. You should stay away from him. You have no idea what he’s capable of.”
“What could he possibly be capable of other than knowing the square root of sixty-four? He’s a fucking math teacher, Steff, not Jack the Ripper. He doesn’t look like he’d hurt a fly.” I crossed my arms and tilted my head. “Or is this some jealousy thing? You don’t want me, but no one else is allowed to be with me? Because that is some really fucked-up shit.”
He put his palms to his eyes and hissed out a frustrated breath before looking at me again. “This isn’t working. I’m not explaining things right. If you want to date, that’s fine. I totally understand. We haven’t been together for fifteen years, and you are free to do as you like. Just not with that guy, I’m begging you.”
I was secretly upset that it wasn’t jealousy. It would have been nice to know he felt at least a little of what I had when he was with that other girl. From the look on his face, he really didn’t care that I’d been on a date. My anger reared its ugly head again.
“Begging? Begging me? You know, Steff, I seem to remember that begging was a really big part of our relationship before. I remember a heartbroken seventeen-year-old girl
begging the boy she loved to tell her why he didn’t love her back anymore.” Steff’s face went pale, and his eyes widened. “She begged and begged, sobbing her goddamn guts out. And what did that boy do? What did he do, Steff?”
“I… this isn’t?—“
“Isn’t what? Whatever it is, I can handle it!” My voice was rising in anger with each word I spoke.
Steff’s body seemed to almost be shrinking and withering in the storm of my words. I took a little pleasure from that. At
least there was some kind of emotion. If I could get nothing else, maybe I could get fear.
Steff mumbled, “Trust me, April. If you don’t trust another word out of my mouth, trust me about this guy.”
My eyes flared, and I poked him in the chest. “I could never trust you again. Ever.”
He took a stumbling step backward and grasped his chest. Not where I’d poked him, but right above his heart. He looked like he was in pain, agonizing pain. My anger swept away in an instant, replaced with concern.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Ugh.” He grimaced. “Uh… I’m fine.”
I pulled my head back in surprise. His voice sounded weird. Super deep, almost like a growl. The look of pain was still there, but he was trying to recover. Instead of standing upright, he started to tremble all over, like some combination of shivering and a mild seizure. I stepped forward and gently touched his arm. No matter how angry he’d made me, I wasn’t a heartless bitch. When someone was in trouble and needed help, I would do whatever I could for them.
“Steff, are you sure? You look like you need a hospital. Why don’t you sit down? I’ll call 911.”
He wouldn’t meet my eyes. “No. I’m fine. I need to go.” His voice was barely audible as he turned and started back toward his house.
“Steff.” He didn’t respond, just kept walking. I stood where I was, watching until he was inside.
I stood on my porch for a full minute, staring at his house. I’d never seen anyone look like that. He’d acted like he was on the verge of death. Had it been a show to get me to stop yelling at him? No, that had been no act. You couldn’t pretend to shake like that. Something was seriously wrong.
I couldn’t get my mind off it even as I went back inside. He was a grown man, and I was certain if he really did need medical help, he’d have said. Damn, that had been weird. I decided to brew a cup of chamomile tea to help me wind back down and get to sleep.
While I stood at the sink filling my tea pot, I glanced out my kitchen window. The pot fell from my hand and clattered into the sink. I gasped, stifling my scream. Outside, behind Steff’s house, was the biggest damn grizzly bear I’d ever seen or heard of in my life. I put a hand to my mouth and watched it. The thing looked pissed. It rose up on its hind legs and slammed its paws onto the ground, then swiped its claws through the dirt, slinging soil thirty yards across Steff’s backyard, leaving deep furrows where its claws had passed. It finally turned and galloped into the woods.
“Holy shit.”
TEN
STEFF
Rage warred within me. In my bear form, I slammed my paws into the ground, but it didn’t quell the storm inside me. Slinging dirt across my yard, I turned and ran into the woods. Small branches and saplings slapped at my face as I ran. The stinging pain felt good and helped me focus.
When April had shoved her finger into my chest and said she didn’t trust me, it was like my heart was being torn in half. The bear had been almost irate with anger and shame. Those emotions were focused toward me, not April. It was angry at me for what I was doing, for how I was fucking everything up. My heart was still throbbing, like someone had squeezed it and nearly popped it in their fingers. Was this what her rejection was like? Was this how the curse made me feel?
The bear whined and forced me to slam my shoulder into a tree. The bark scratched through my fur, sending twinges of pain down my spine. This self-inflicted pain wasn’t doing anything for the pain in my soul, but for some reason, the bear wanted it. Like some sort of self-flagellation or atonement.
I hadn’t felt this kind of pain in a long time. Breaking up with April the first time had been bad, but not like this. At least then
I’d made myself believe it was the best for her. No, the last time I’d felt this much pain was when I’d been kicked out of my pack.
In shifter families, the Alpha’s oldest son wasn’t always guaranteed to be the next Alpha. It was determined by how they grew. Like a wolf pack or lion pride, the biggest, strongest and fastest tended to inherit the mantle. That’s what had happened with me and my older brother. He was two years older, but from the time I was born, my parents knew I’d be the next Alpha. I’d been born bigger, cried less, ate more, and learned to crawl and walk faster than he had. It had been obvious. Growing up, it had been a sore spot for him.