Filed To Story: Secret Shifters Next Door Series PDF Free
“Most of them aren’t.”
Steff sighed and began his story. He told me everything—how the Alpha thing worked in shifter clans; about his brother and his jealousy of Steff; being bullied by his brother and friends. Then the accident where the boy was killed and the way his brother framed him for it. By the time he was done, I was ready to bite through steel. A red haze blurred my vision more than the tears that were forming in my eyes.
“How could your parents do that to you? Send you away like they didn’t love you or care?”
Steff threw a rock into the stream. “I don’t know. I haven’t heard from them since. They cut me off—no birthday cards, no calls on Christmas… just nothing. Christ, I would have liked it if they’d even called me every now and then to tell me I was a worthless piece of shit. At least then I’d know they cared enough to chew me out.” He shook his head, shrugging a shoulder. “I’ve accepted it.”
A person shouldn’t have to
accept that. I thought of my own parents and how devastated I would have been at Steff’s age if they’d given me away and stopped loving me. It would have broken me beyond belief. I honestly would have considered suicide. Steff was even stronger than I knew.
Steff glanced over at me. “I’ve got you now. That’s all I need.”
I wiped the tears from my eyes and grabbed him by the shirt. Steff yelped as I yanked him to me and kissed him aggressively. I was desperate to show him, in that one kiss, that he was worthy of love, that he deserved to have a family who cared about him. His surprise faded, and he wrapped his arms around me. A deep growl rumbled through his chest. A week ago, that sound would have terrified me, but now, it only excited me.
I pulled away and laughed. Steff blushed. “What can I say, you bring out the beast in me.”
He kissed me again, then we reluctantly pulled apart. I helped him gather up our things and take them back to the truck. As we loaded up and got back in the car, I glanced around at the meadow and creek. It had been a near-perfect day, and much-needed—especially with everything that lay ahead of us.
TWENTY-TWO
STEFF
I’d managed to spend every waking minute with April, and I still couldn’t get enough of her. I didn’t know if it was the mating bond or if it was simply the fact that I’d missed her for so long and was desperate to be around her again. Probably both. I was certain the spell played some part in pulling us closer together, but it was really only enhancing all the feelings I’d always had for her.
We were sitting on my back deck when April got a call from Harley. She wanted April to come over for a ladies’ night. Some wine, maybe a movie, a relaxing night in. After she got off the phone, she turned to look at me. “What do you think?”
“About you going over there tonight?”
She nodded. “I’d really like to unwind a little.”
April would be just as safe at Tate’s house as she was here. Tate was on high alert. The hunters were, of course, hunting both him and Harley. Still, my protective nature was screaming at me not to let her out of my sight. I had to suppress those urges, though. I didn’t want to end up being some overprotective douchebag who didn’t let his lady do anything. That wasn’t the type of person I was.
“When did Harley need an answer?”
April shrugged. “I told her I’d talk to you and get back to her.”
“All right, let me talk to Tate and make sure everything is good to go.”
I called Tate, who must have been waiting for my call. He answered after the first ring. “What’s up?”
“Hey, did you talk to Harley about April coming over?” I tried not to sound too uptight.
“I did. I told her it should be fine.”
“I’m sure it will be. It’s only…”
“You’re scared as shit to have her out of your sight?”
I chuckled and glanced over at April. “Basically, yeah.”
“I get it. I was the same way with Harley, remember? You even had to go grocery shopping with her. It’s tough, I understand that. But you have to remember that you can’t always be there. You’ve got to let her live her life. Plus, I’ll be around. April will be as safe as the rest of my family. You can count on it.”
“I know, I know. Okay, I’ll tell her.” I nodded to April. “Ladies’ night is a go.”
April squealed and clapped her hands together. “Yay!”
I drove April over to Tate’s. Since the women were going to be drinking, I didn’t want her to get behind the wheel. With everything else that was going on, it was the dumbest way to get in trouble.
“We’ll probably be done late. Is that okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I’m a night owl. Give me a call whenever you guys finish up. No problem.”
I dropped her off at Tate’s a few minutes later and drove around town. The surface part of my mind said I was doing it to relax and kill some time. The more instinctual, deeper portion of my mind was looking for anything out of the ordinary. I cruised through downtown, eyeballing every single person to try to figure out if they were hunters.
At one point, I even opened my window and leaned out enough for my face to be visible. If any hunter were out and about, they might react if they recognized me, but after an hour with no success, I decided to go do something else uncomfortable.
I pulled into the parking lot at Kris and Kellan’s bar. It was Friday night and the lot was full. Kellan and I had buried the hatchet and were quickly on the road to becoming friends again. It helped that I’d trusted him with an earth-shattering and dangerous secret. Coaching Aiden had helped us get close enough to reconnect. Kris… well, that was more difficult. He was more open to me being around and wasn’t giving me venomous glares anymore, but I wanted to try to make up with him. He’d also been my best friend, and only reconciling with Kellan wasn’t enough. I had to reconcile with Kris.