Page 223 of Secret Shifters Next Door

“Exactly. You were always my fated mate. The one person who was perfect for me. Without the curse? I might have gone my whole life without ever meeting you. And once I did? I knew from the first second I was meant to be with you. Any other time, I might have just thought you were my cute new neighbor. That’s what the curse does. It was supposed to make us weak and vulnerable. Instead, it’s helping us find our mates. It’s making our pack even stronger. Does that all make sense? It was a blessing in disguise.”

“Okay.” I worried my bottom lip with my teeth. “I only wanted to be sure. I’ve never been wanted. Once I heard about this witch thing, my mind jumped to the most logical conclusion.”

He brushed a strand of hair out of my face. “That’s not logical to me. Anyone would be blessed to have you in their life. I need you to understand that. I don’t want you thinking awful things about yourself anymore. Not when you are so amazing.”

I smiled—possibly the most heartfelt smile of my life. It was the one thing I’d wanted to hear. The thing I’d craved since I was a child. Acceptance. “Okay. Good. Me too. Like you, I mean. I like you. That’s what I’m trying to say, shit?—”

He put a finger to my lips, shushing me. “I get it.” He grinned. “The other questions? Yes, Tate is a dragon. Steff is a bear, and Blayne is a panther. Witches are indeed real. Also, just like people, not all shifters and witches are good. But, for the most part, paranormal creatures are like any other human. They’re good at heart and only want to live their lives.”

It made sense when he said it like that. I’d met his friends and their mates. They did seem like anyone else. I’d never have known they were different. Another important question sprang to my lips. “How did you guys find out about Felicity…er Mariana?”

Miles sat up and scooted his back up against my headboard. I sat up and joined him. He looked at me and lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “As soon as I met her, I thought something was off about her. I ran into her out jogging first. I’m pretty sure it was before she ever bumped into you. I never told you about that because it was so random. I’d thought it was in passing, but looking back, I think she was trying to find me that morning and make contact. I’m the next target for the hunters. The next time I saw her, the feeling in my gut got stronger. Then it kept building. The last time I saw her, it took everything in me not to attack her right then and there. The wolf inside me was raging and dying to rip her apart.

“There was an attack on my old pack, and they managed to detain one of the hunters. When they interrogated her,she told them about one of the leaders and how she called the head honcho ‘daddy’. We knew the guy probably had his daughter involved, and once we looked into Felicity, we found out her father was this rich guy. He’d lost his wife to a dragon shifter. Some star-crossed lover thing. Pretty unheard of, honestly. Shifters rarely, if ever, have long-term relationships with humans. This Antonio guy lost it and founded a hunter organization. He’s been and killing shifters ever since.”

I tried to take in everything he’d said. It was hard to believe all this was going on. All this subterfuge right under the surface of the human world––killing, hunting, magic, all of it.

A memory of something Felicity said sprang to mind. “Felicity told me once that she’d had a boyfriend. Someone who got in trouble after becoming obsessed with another woman. She…she said he died.”

“I’m a little surprised she’d tell you that, honestly. From the description, it sounds like a hunter named Ryland. He had the hots for April. Really creepy dude. I’m not even going to tell you all the things he did to get her. Kidnapping was the least of it.”

“But you guys really killed him?” I asked, my voice quavering.

Miles’s lips were set in a hard line. “We did. It was him or us. He gave us no choice. I wasn’t there for it. It was Steff, Tate, and Blayne, but I trust them, and I trust that they did what they had to do. It was good versus evil. Easy as that.”

“No, I get it. It’s just crazy. What you guys are going through,” I said. Then I chuckled and gave him a sly look. “Maybe once it’s all over, I can write a book about it. Fiction, of course.”

Miles laughed and got out of bed. “Sure. Just change the names and locations. You want a hamburger? It’s almost dinner time.”

“Hell yeah. Do you have bacon?” I asked, suddenly feeling ravenous.

“What wolf doesn’t keep bacon on hand at all times?”

He went into the kitchen to start working on the food. I remained on the bed for a few seconds, pinching my arm just one more time. Still real. I shook my head and followed him to the kitchen.

He threw two potatoes into the oven to bake and started making some ground beef into hamburger patties.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, this curse. What does it do to you? There’s no way it just brings me into your life and leaves you to figure it out.”

He sighed and made another patty before answering. “There is more to it. If I don’t claim my mate after a time…things get bad.”

“Uh…first, what’s it mean to claim someone? And second, define bad.”

“Claiming is what shifters do to…I don’t really know how to describe it. I guess it’s our version of getting married, but it’s a bodily connection. The male bites the female. The saliva is injected and it binds us. We become closer than any human connection could possibly be.”

My eyes must have looked like saucers, they were so wide. “Holy shit.”

He nodded and kept working. “Yeah, it’s pretty serious. If a mating bond isn’t performed in time, I’ll go feral. That’s what the curse does.”

“Feral? Like a cat?”

“Sort of. All the legends you’ve heard about bloodthirsty werewolves, dragons, shifters in general? Those are shifters who went feral. We lose our human side almost completely. Hunger, rage, and madness takes over. Along with that, there’s physical pain if I try to reject the mate or if she rejects me. Agonizing pain if I’m honest.”

“So, if you don’t claim me soon, that’s what will happen to you?”

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