Filed To Story: Secret Shifters Next Door Series PDF Free
Did Mariana really not know? I turned back and locked eyes with the driver in the rearview mirror. I could see it in his eyes. It was a secret he’d held close his entire life. Only a lifetime of hiding could cause the fear I saw in his face.
Holy shit. Did his father even know?
I sat in stunned silence, not sure what else there was to say. We drove for what felt like an hour, then we pulled off the road and went down a gravel road that ended up in a clearing ringed by oak and pine trees. The driver parked the car and got out. He opened the back door, grabbed me by the arm, and started pulling me out.
Mariana sat forward. “Jared? What the hell?”
“Stay here and stay out of the way.”
“Daddy said you weren’t my boss,” Mariana whined.
Jared shook his head in frustration. “Just stay here and shut up. God damn,” he shouted as he slammed the door.
He pulled me toward the front of the car. Mariana rolled the window down and leaned her head out. “Celina?”
I turned to look back at her, hoping for some type of apology. “Yes?”
“I really wish things had turned out different, but you’re a beast now. Your fate is sealed. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.” With that, she leaned back in and rolled the window back up. That was not the apology I’d wanted.
I looked at Jared. “What are you?” He ignored me and tugged me along faster. I kept pushing. “I don’t know how you’ve hidden it, but I can feel it. So can the others. We know.”
“You need to shut up,” Jared threatened.
“I can’t. Don’t you know what your father is doing to shifters? He’s killing them. Doesn’t that bother you? The way he treats them, when his own son is a shifter?”
“Mind your own business and close your mouth until this swap is made. That’s all I need you to do. Got it?”
“How does that even work? Are you some special case? Exempt from his damned crusade?”
Jared yanked me close and locked eyes with me. We were so close that I could smell the mint from the toothpaste he’d used that morning when he spoke. “Shut. The. Fuck. Up. That’s the last warning you get.”
I stared at him, my writer’s mind surging through dozens of scenarios, each one more unlikely than the last. What could cause this weird relationship? One thing was certain, Antonio didn’t know Jared was a shifter. I felt sure that as crazy as he was, Antonio wouldn’t hesitate to kill his own son if he knew he was a shifter.
My eyes widened as the final piece of the puzzle slid into place in my mind. It was the only thing that made any logical sense. Humans and shifters couldn’t have kids, unless some type of magic came into play like with Tate and Harley. That meant…
“Antonio isn’t actually your biological father, is he?” I asked.
Jared’s hands snapped out and wrapped around my throat so fast I barely saw them move. The oxygen and blood were immediately cut off from my brain. I gagged and felt pressure in
my eyes, like they were about to pop out of my head. I clawed at his hands, digging troughs into his skin with my nails. Blood trickled from the wounds, but he didn’t release me. He actually lifted me up off the ground by my neck. Stars burst in my vision. I kicked at the ground. I barely even registered the sound of the truck skidding to a stop, the scream from Miles, or the howl of his wolf.
Jared tossed me aside. I fell to the dirt, gasping for air, coughing, and retching. I looked up and saw Miles leaping through the air toward Jared. He spun and shoulder-checked Miles. Miles landed on all fours, barely fazed, and shifted back to human form.
He pointed at Jared. “You. I want you,” Miles hissed, and my blood went cold at the soulless anger in his voice.
Mariana had leaped from the car and was running toward us. “God damn it, Jared! You’re not supposed to hurt her. What the hell is wrong with you?”
Jared never took his eyes off Miles. “Sorry, sis, my temper got the best of me.” He nodded at Miles. “We can get this all over with quickly if you brought what you were supposed to.”
The sound of shoes on gravel broke the standoff. Jared’s eyes flicked past Miles’s shoulder toward Tate, who was walking toward us. As big as Miles, Steff, and Blayne were, Tate was still imposing compared to the others. If he’d been standing there looking at me the way he was looking at Jared, I’d have probably cried and pissed my pants at the same time. All Jared did was raise an eyebrow and clench his hands into fists.
Tate went deathly still, and he sniffed, then tilted his head. He looked at Jared with a combination of surprise and understanding. “Miles,” Tate said. “I know why we couldn’t figure out what this guy was. His beast is being suppressed somehow. Something is preventing him from shifting.” Tate
took a step toward Jared. “Are you one of Antonio’s experiments?”
Jared stiffened, his neck blazing red.
Mariana looked back and forth between Tate, Miles, and her supposed brother. “Jared? What the fuck is he talking about?”
“I can smell it on you, though,” Tate said. “The dragon.”
“Shut up,” Jared screamed. “You shut the fuck up.”
“Why would you side with hunters?” Tate asked. “They only want to see you, and us, and our kind dead. Dragon clans are dwindling like crazy. Christ, I may be the last alpha in North America, and here you are, one of my clan, fighting to eradicate us. It’s like a Jew trying to help the Nazis. There aren’t many of us left. If Antonio has his way, we’ll all be gone soon.”
Jared stared at the ground. I pushed onto my knees. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. It was like he was fighting something—a deep rage or pain. His face twitched, and his lips were moving like he was having a silent argument with himself. Mariana stood to the side, staring at Jared in disgusted horror.
“Let us help you,” Tate said, “You don’t have to do this alone. You don’t need the hunters. You need a pack. We can help. We can end what Antonio is doing with shifters. The torture? The experiments? All of it.”