Page 9 of Her Shifter Babe

Maybe I don’t need to hear it, after all.

I took a step away from them both, feeling shame and pain rain down upon me in unfathomable measures. My whole life up until this point had been a lie. Every plan my brother and I had ever made together was now obsolete. It was a farce. I’d wasted my youth on a dream! “Congratulations,” I managed to say as I staggered back to the door I’d come through.

Poor Stacey looked distraught, though I wasn’t quite sure why.

All I knew was that I couldn’t bear to look at her. It hurt too much. And it wasn’t her fault that my stupid brother had broken our ability to be a perfect pair-bonded family like we were always destined to be.

And I knew my brother well enough to know he’d be committed to Stacey and their baby, irrespective of whether or not they ended up together ultimately. But with her being so young and beautiful, not to mention the natural mother of his first child... why wouldn’t he choose to be with her forever? And that left me resoundingly alone, my part in a Fated ménage finally dashed like waves upon jagged rocks.

“David, wait! Come back, please. I haven’t explained yet. Please.”

I shook my head. I just couldn’t. “No, brother.” I was choking now, and I needed to get away. As far away as possible. “You have your path, it seems. And it’s one you obviously need to walk alone.”

“David, I’m sorry!” Stacey called out, her brow furrowed in confusion at my reaction. “I didn’t mean to upset you with my news.”

I offered a grim smile to the young woman who’d just turned my world upside down and inside out. “Welcome to the family, Stacey.” Then I fell through the door and managed to slam it shut behind me. I didn’t go and see Nancy or my cousins. I couldn’t think, couldn’t function. I couldn’t be at a family event making small talk while trying to be happy for my cousins when I wasn’t feeling anything other than a crushing sense of despair.

I jogged through the front door, unable to look back, slid into my car and took off home—the home I shared with Tommy.

Maybe I should move out? Let them have the house?

Tommy could buy me out, and I could get my own place. I’d never lived alone, but it was probably high time I started. After all, I’d have to find my own mate now, because my brother had clearly chosen his woman. That was for sure.

I soon arrived home, I could scarcely breathe. My chest felt too tight, and my wolf shifter was howling uncontrollably within me. I needed to shift and run, to mourn the future I’d worked so hard for—and now lost. Instead of getting out of the car, I turned the engine back on and reversed, driving back toward my parents’ place. They lived on the edge of the forest and owned ten beautiful acres of untouched land.

More than enough room to be able to run while also staying safe. As soon as I pulled up, I jumped out of the car and noticed the lights on. I didn’t bother to check out who might have stopped by, I just ran around the house, letting myself into their yard before stripping off my jeans and shirt.

My wolf tore through me in record time, my skin transforming into fur as my shifter forced me to all fours, and a howl ripped from my throat. In my animal form, the pain was somehow less, more bearable, and the downward spiral of depressive emotions and thoughts I’d been drowning in ground to an unexpected halt.

In fact, in my wolf form, I could feel a blink of hope in the darkness of my human despair, of enjoying my brother’s baby as a family. But I squashed the thought and impulse, upset at my wolf’s baseless assumptions.

How can he think I would just become the third wheel in my brother’s relationship?

I had a lot more pride than that. I deserved a woman who loved me too. One who chose me as well as Tommy. Or that had been the original plan, anyway.

I shook off the morose thoughts and let go of my humanity, my brain shifting fully into my baser wolf as I ran into the forest. My parents didn’t even have a back fence built, their yard just extended back forever. So, I ran and ran, dodging the larger trees and jumping over low lying shrubs that threatened to ensnare me.

Adrenaline began to pound through my veins, and I pushed myself harder and faster, my heart hammering against my ribcage like a drum. Maybe I’d just continue running and never stop.

After all, what is there to go back for now?

My wolf howled, his voice echoing into the night and rising to greet the cold and distant moon.

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