Page 53 of Shifters in the Night

“Maybe I can’t shift, but if you can’t shift either, we can be together,” he insisted.

“That doesn’t make any sense, Jeff.”

“You were supposed to be mine!” Jeff yelled suddenly, the veins popping out in his neck.

“You keep saying that!” she yelled back. “Who told you that?”

“My uncle! He said you were my reward for all my hard work for the company,” Jeff said.

Everything inside her went cold. Victor had been manipulating Jeff all this time. And she’d felt sorry for Jeff. Poor Jeff put in the uncomfortable position of spying for his uncle. Poor Jeff that she’d always worked so hard to assure of her friendship.

“I don’t care if I can’t shift for the rest of my natural life. I’m not going to let you threaten me into a relationship,” Lia answered.

“I thought you might need some more convincing,” he said grinning, trying to tap her on the nose in a gesture that might have been cute if she wasn’t trying to snap her teeth on his finger. He pulled his hand back, his tone amused. “You’re so stubborn, but it’s one of the things I love about you.”

He yanked her by the arm, ducking as she slapped at him. She fought to get loose, but he was bigger than she was and it was no effort at all for him to drag her around the corner of her house to where a familiar truck was parked. She stumbled as she tried to find the mental power to process what she was seeing. What was Jon’s truck doing here? Was he here? Was he hurt?

“No, no, no!”

Jeff shoved her forward until she was practically leaning into the truck bed. Jon was slumped on his side, blood trickling from his head onto the ancient blue metal.

“Jon!” she cried, but he didn’t stir.

“Even shifters aren’t so tough when you have surprise on your side. Oh, don’t look so upset with me—I didn’t want to do this,” Jeff insisted, pulling a hunting knife from his back pocket. He gestured carelessly towards Jon in a way that made her heart stutter. He was so close to nicking Jon with the huge blade and he couldn’t be bothered to care. “You pushed me to this. But if you don’t meet me halfway, I’m going to arrange for Jon to have a little ‘accident.’ You don’t want me to do anything drastic because you upset me, do you?”

“You think I’m going to just let you hurt Jon?”

“Well, do you really want to take the risk?” he asked, smirking at her. “You don’t really know whether I’m going to do it, do you? You’re without those precious powers of yours, when it comes to me. You’re without any power at all.”

And to emphasize his point, he shoved her to the ground, making her cry out as her injured knees hit the ground. This was bullshit. Jeff’s obsession and all of the pain he’d caused people she cared about? It was bullshit. This magic was bullshit. She wasn’t about to let him trap her with his expectations and his problems. She needed to be more right now. She needed to become more. She had to protect herself and Jon.

She sucked in air, letting the pain bleed out of her. What was magic? It was a negotiation with the laws of the universe, the checks and balances that kept worlds turning. And she was skilled at negotiations.

All she had to do was refuse to accept these terms. She hadn’t entered into the agreement willingly, so it was null and void. She was more than magic. She was her father’s daughter. She was an immovable force. She was more.

Her grin was almost feral as she pushed up from the ground. “I’m never without power.”

Concentrating all of her will inside her belly like a lead ball, she imagined her legs and feet covered in fur. Her heart thrilled when the golden brown hairs surfaced along her limbs. She leapt at him, imagining her hands as hooves when they inevitably struck his head.

She roared, or as close as a deer could come to roaring, as her hands transformed and slammed into Jeff’s chest. She clenched her blunt teeth around the wrist of his knife hand, and while they were the teeth of an herbivore, she was a pissed off herbivore and could still do some damage.

Jeff yowled and dropped the knife as she shook her head back and forth. She threw her weight against him and he bounced off of the truck, whacking his head against the metal panel. Jeff groaned and slumped to the ground, and yes, maybe she took a little more joy than was strictly necessary in stepping on his crotch as she threw her weight down on him. She was human again when she punched him in the face. She wasn’t sure if it was the pain in his head or the pain in his crotch that made him pass out. She was just relieved that he wouldn’t be able to talk anymore.

She yanked open Jon’s truck door and rifled under the seat until she found the bungee cables there. She wrapped them around Jeff’s ankles and pulled his hands behind his back to bind them. When she was sure that he wasn’t getting back up, she climbed into the truck bed and lightly tapped Jon’s cheeks. He was bleeding so much. What was she going to do if he didn’t wake up?

“Jon? Please wake up,” she whimpered, shaking him.

He groaned and rolled onto his back, clutching his head. He smiled at her, his eyes not quite focused. “Hey, sweetheart. Were you in the truck that ran me over?”

“No, I think we need to get you to Will. Did he really hit you with a truck?” Lia asked.

“Nah, he hit me in the back of the head with something heavy. I don’t like getting attacked on dry land. I was off my game,” he groaned, flopping half-over the side of the truck, boneless. “Try that shit on me in the water, asshole.”

“I knocked him out. I don’t think he can hear you,” Lia said.

“Good for you,” he said, smiling at her. “Kick him once for me.”

“Let’s just get you to your brother,” she said, kissing his cheek.

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