Filed To Story: Secret Shifters Next Door Series PDF Free
“Anything?” Miles asked.
Glancing over at Steff, I noticed the realization dawning on his face. He’d figured it out, or at least was on his way to it. It was now or never.
“Yeah, something did happen actually,” I blurted.
Miles and Blayne’s eyes widened, and they leaned forward.
“What the hell was it?” Blayne asked.
“So, my New York chick? The new neighbor?”
They all nodded, looking like children ready to hear a ghost story around a campfire. Rapt attention. Sweat pooled in my armpits.
“Friday night, she and her kids were at that food festival in the park. I was chatting up with one of her daughters, and then Harley came up. This wave of, I don’t know, sickness, swept over me… Dizziness, sweating, racing heart. When they left, I watched her go, and it got worse. It was so bad that I had to
go behind a tent and get on my hands and knees. Like, I was absolutely pouring sweat. My dragon was going crazy inside, too. That’s where it gets weird.”
Miles looked shocked. “Wait, this isn’t even the weird part?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m sitting there trying to pull myself together when my dragon suddenly takes control of my body. It used my mouth to say a word. Not once, but freaking twice.”
A shocked silence descended over the room. Our beasts were always inside, and a significant part of who we were. What I saw in their eyes told me that this was as crazy for wolves, bears, and panthers, as it was for dragons.
“What did it say, man?” Steff asked, sounding desperate.
I looked at each of them in turn. “It said: mate. When I looked at Harley again, it said it a second time.”
The air seemed to get sucked out of the room, and they all looked like I’d slapped them. Steff looked less shocked, as I was pretty sure he’d already had it figured out before I said it. I sighed and relaxed in my chair, relieved to have it out.
“Are you sure that’s what it said? Maybe you misheard it,” Blayne said.
Miles nodded. “Right. You said you weren’t feeling well when it happened, so it may have been something else.”
I shook my head. “Nope. It used my voice, my mouth, my tongue. I didn’t misinterpret that. It was clear as day. It was telling me that Harley is my mate.”
Steff said, “She doesn’t know what you are, right? You didn’t let that slip at some point in New York?”
It was a ludicrous question. Humans did
not know about shifters. It would cause a panic and be incredibly dangerous for us as a race. Hunters were a small but dedicated group, and even then, they caused fear and chaos amongst shifter clans around the world. If everyone knew, the number of hunters would grow
exponentially. We would have to go into even deeper hiding than we were now.
The few humans who did know about us were very high-ranking government officials. Presidents, joint chiefs, people like that. Other than those, a few very select people and very close friends were sometimes let in on the secret. Shifters did sometimes take humans as lovers, but they were not mated to them. Being a fated mate was a much deeper, more intense connection than simple human marriage. If I had to gauge it, maybe a tenth of a percent of a tenth of a percent of the entire human population knew. Probably less than that, honestly.
“No, bro, of course I didn’t tell her. I’m not insane.”
Steff leaned back and raised his hands in a defensive gesture. “Sorry, just had to cover all the bases.”
“This is bananas, guys. What are we even talking about?” Miles said. “Humans and shifters cannot be mated.”
Blayne, who had gone very quiet, spoke up. “I think it can actually happen.”
I pinned him with my gaze, eager to hear what he was going to say.
“My brother loved a human woman. Fell head over heels for her. And she loved him right back. It was super intense. He even revealed to her that he was a shifter, and she didn’t bat an eye. I’m not sure if they were fated mates, but they might have been.”
Blayne’s face became very solemn. His brother had died not long before we found him. Blayne was nearly feral when we did, almost too far over the edge to come back. Losing his last living relative had almost stripped him of everything but the animalistic needs he had. Steff, Miles, and I had brought him back, but just barely. None of us thought for a moment he was lying or exaggerating.
Hearing this made me wonder if a shifter and a human really could be mated. The pull I had toward Harley was real and
undeniable. I even remembered how homesick I had been in Toronto. At the time, I just thought I wanted to go home, but maybe it was Harley. My body and soul had been so desperate to get back to her it made me physically ill. I’d woken up every day feeling more and more like shit. That had never happened before, so maybe it could be true.
We let Blayne’s story settle, then Miles asked, “Did you feel anything when you first saw her?”
My mind drifted back to that night, and I went over every detail as best I could remember. I shook my head. “I know my dragon took notice, but it was nothing like what it’s doing now. It was purely noticing that Harley was a pretty woman and alone. I did the rest. There was no pull, no racing heart, nothing like this, and I definitely didn’t have a desire to claim her as my mate.”
“This isn’t natural,” Blayne mumbled. We all nodded in agreement.