Filed To Story: Secret Shifters Next Door Series PDF Free
Luis put a finger under my chin and lifted my head. “You gotta stay tough. Make him stick to it. If you tell him you want him to do it, he won’t back down and chicken out. Gio has always been strong for his family. If you stay the course, so will he.”
By the time I got to my house, I was more emotionally exhausted than I’d ever been. There’d been too much going on, too many things pulling me in multiple directions. I had no energy to do anything other than crash on the couch and fall into a fitful sleep. My dreams were crazy amalgamations of black panthers, hospital rooms, graveyards, and funerals.
I woke less than an hour later and saw it was only five o’clock. I still had a couple of hours until Blayne got here. The thought of having to deal with him again sent a wave of anxiety and weariness over me.
Well, if I had to face him again, I didn’t want to do it on an empty stomach. All I’d had the entire day was the coffee when I met up with Blayne. Peering into my fridge, I settled on making a quick salad. After I ate, I spent the rest of the early evening trying not to stare at the clock.
When the knock finally came, I jumped like a terrified child. Chastising myself, I opened the door.
Blayne stood on my porch. “Hey,” I said.
“Hey. Follow me. We’ll do this next door.”
He turned and headed back toward his place. It took a second before I started moving. His abrupt command threw me off—and annoyed me. Why did he think he had the right to order me around? Especially when it had to do with my life?
We crossed the street and walked around to the back of his house. Like a lot of the homes in Lilly Valley, his property backed up to the forest that surrounded and spread through the city limits. Growing up, I’d always thought it was lame and redneck to basically live in the middle of the woods. It was only once I was older that I realized how amazing it was. Being that close to nature all the time was soothing and grounding. And I was in desperate need of being soothed and grounded right now. I was nervous beyond belief, crossing my arms to keep my hands from shaking.
“Why are we back here?” I asked, glancing at the nearly complete darkness of his backyard.
“It’ll hurt when you break the bond. I plan on shifting immediately to try and dull some of that pain. I don’t know how much it will help, but it’s all I can think of.”
I thought about the agony he was about to go through, and my heart ached. I hated for anything or anyone to hurt, which was why I’d spent three years a vegan. The only reason I started eating meat again was because I suffered major digestive issues. It still made my heart ache when those sad commercials about abused animals came on television. Now I was about to abuse a human/animal hybrid. That thought didn’t help my nerves.
Blayne took a few steps away before he turned to face me. When he glanced up, my heart skipped a beat. In the low light of the moon, he looked exactly like Liam. Not similar, but
exactly
like him. An almost audible gasp left me. Even before now, I’d had a hard time looking at him and not seeing the shadow of his brother on his face.
There were differences, though. Blayne always had a hardness to him that Liam had never had. My dad had wanted Blayne to work for him because of it. Everyone in town knew the Walker brothers, but Liam had been against involving Blayne in the life. He’d argued that the only reason he was working for my father was to get Blayne through college and set him up for life. Liam had always tried to protect his brother.
“I don’t know that Liam would have approved of this, Blayne. Torturing yourself, I mean. Maybe there’s another way?”
Even in the darkness, I could see the anger flashing through his eyes. “Don’t say his name,” he snapped. “I don’t need you messing with my emotions right now, Ava. Let’s just get it over with. Do you accept me as your mate?”
I winced inwardly at his words and the venom with which he spoke. Blayne was right. We needed to put an end to this. But I couldn’t look at him without thinking of the pain I was about to put him through.
I took a breath, and my voice shook when I said, “No. I don’t accept you.”
FIVE
BLAYNE
I squeezed my eyes shut, flinching in anticipation of the pain.
Nothing happened.
I opened one eye, then the other, glancing around furtively. There was nothing—no burning sensation or cramps. I felt exactly the same as I had a moment before.
Had Emily lied to screw with us? Wasn’t there supposed to be agony when the bond was broken?
I shook my head, thinking. Even without the curse, breaking a mating bond was always torturous. Something else must have gone wrong. The guys had been miserable the entire time they waited to claim their mates. I should have been feeling something similar after losing mine.
“Did it work?” Ava asked.
“Uh…hang on. Not sure.”
“Not sure? I thought you said it would be painful?”
Jesus, this woman. “Something must have gone wrong.”
I couldn’t be completely sure about that, though. I still felt nothing but disdain for Ava, and when I looked at her, there were no romantic inclinations on my part. I didn’t even like her. But my panther? That was different. He was still pining for her, still infatuated beyond belief.
A growl of anger and frustration rumbled in my chest. “Maybe you didn’t do it right,” I said.
Ava sent me a blank look. “How else would I have done it? I said, ‘I do not accept you.’ Isn’t that what you said I should do?”
“Well, it obviously didn’t work. It didn’t break the bond. My panther is still drawn to you.” I cocked an eyebrow. “You have to really mean it. You did mean it, didn’t you?”