Filed To Story: Secret Shifters Next Door Series PDF Free
‘Oh, Jesus,” I said, breathing out in relief.
“Uh, Doc got the silver bullets out. Blayne and Steff held his arms, I held his legs. It was… it was bad.”
“I heard,” I murmured.
“He gave him a drug that will stop the silver from spreading through his body, but he’ll be in pretty excruciating pain until what’s already in him works its way out.”
Tate stepped down and looked at the stains in the grout. He really was like a zombie. I wasn’t sure how to interact with him. Would he fly off the handle and start screaming? Break down in tears? I didn’t know. Cautiously, I stepped forward and took his hand. He wrapped his fingers around mine absently, then followed as I led him toward the guest bathroom.
He let me undress him and help him into the shower. I cleaned his hands and arms, washed the blood from his face, and then helped him get out and dried off. The whole time he didn’t say anything. He was in shock. Once he was dry, I wrapped my arms around him and held him, not sure what else to do. After a few seconds, he hugged me back, squeezing me tight.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“For what?” I asked.
“Men bleeding out on your floor, magic curses, shifter babies? I know this isn’t what you signed up for. I’ve turned your entire life upside down. I should have just paid for your drink that night in New York and let you be. You’d be better off without me. I’ll have to buy a new mattress, by the way.”
I kissed his chest and looked into his eyes. “Tate, none of that matters. Even now, after everything, I’d choose you.”
He looked at me for a long moment. The look on his face slowly faded from surprise to something softer. “I love you so much, Harley. I promise you, I’m going to put an end to this.”
Not long after Tate got redressed, Miles called out for him from upstairs. Doc came down while Tate was in and spoke with Blayne and Steff before leaving. The man was as much of a
mystery as he’d been when he arrived. I wondered who he was and whether he was also a shifter.
Tate came down twenty minutes later and sat with me, across from Blayne and Steff to finally relay what had happened.
“Miles was on watch duty today. He said he was doing a patrol around Harley’s place. Totally normal as far as he could tell. He was in his wolf form to cover more ground faster. He was about a hundred yards from the back porch, out in the woods, when he got shot. The hunters saw him and jumped him. He never knew they were there.”
Blayne sat forward, frowning. “But he would have smelled them. If they were within a half mile, he would have smelled them.”
Tate nodded. “Yeah, that’s what he thought. Miles said that even when they were right there on top of him, he couldn’t catch their scent. They’ve figured out some way to mask it. The way deer hunters stand over campfire smoke to cover their scent. I have no idea how they did it. He’d be dead if he hadn’t already been shifted. There were three of them, and they pumped two more bullets into him before he ripped off one of their arms with his teeth.”
Ripped his arm off? I felt my gorge rise and swallowed hard. The thought of it was horrible. The other horrible thing was that the hunters had been so close to my houseright out there in the backyard.
“We need a plan of attack. We have to go after these fucks right now. As soon as possible,” Tate said.
He sounded off kilter. Probably from the shock of seeing Miles almost die. I didn’t want him to go off halfcocked and end up with a silver bullet between his eyes. Blayne and Steff looked like they were thinking the same thing I was.
I put a hand on Tate’s arm. “Tate, you haven’t been yourself lately. I don’t want you guys running off and getting killed because you weren’t being careful.”
He glared at me. “I know what I’m doing. Don’t tell me my business,” he snapped.
I jabbed my finger into his chest. “Right there. You just made my point for me. You’ve been on edge for days.”
Steff stood. “Bro, she’s right. What the hell’s going on with you? I don’t even live with you, and I can see you’re wound so tight you’re about to pop.”
Blayne nodded. “Yeah, man. You’ve always been the most chill out of all of us. This?” He gestured toward Tate. “This isn’t you.”
Tate huffed a breath out his nose, like a bull. At first, he looked like he was going to argue, but his face fell after a few seconds. His shoulders slumped, and he tilted his head back to look at the ceiling.
After a moment, he looked back at us. “It’s you, Harley. I’m starting to go feral. I need to claim you, and I’m holding back. It’s starting to break me.”
Steff and Blayne both looked uncomfortable with the admission. I was surprised. I hadn’t realized he’d been struggling so much with it. Then my mind went back to the hickeys he’d left on my body over the last few weeks. The bite on my shoulder the last time we’d had sex. It started to make sense. He’d been forcing himself not to claim me all this time, and it was damn near driving him mad.
“I don’t want to hurt you. I’m not sure what might happen if I do it. Something could happen to the baby or you. I don’t know anyone who’s ever claimed someone while they were pregnant.” He sighed. “We haven’t even talked about the fact that Emily’s curse is going to change you into a shifter when I claim you,
and what the hell might happen with that. It’s too much to even consider doing it. Not until the baby is born at the very least.”
With everything that had happened over the last week or so, I hadn’t even had much time to think about that part of it. Being turned into a magical creature? It was kind of appealing in an idealistic-teenage-fantasy sort of way. But it was also terrifying. Like standing on a cliff and staring out into the void.
“Tate,” I said, “I don’t think you have until December. Look at yourself.”
He sliced his hand through the air like a knife. “No. This is non-negotiable.”
Heat rose in my cheeks. He was making decisions that included me, but wasn’t taking my thoughts into account. Nothing pissed me off more than that.
“Listen, this isn’t just about what you want. I get to have a say in my life, too,” I said. “Plus, I don’t want to see you in pain. I don’t want you putting yourself or anyone else in danger because you’re going feral and can’t think straight. It’s for the best, and I’m ready. You need to claim me.”