Page 235 of Secret Shifters Next Door

“Hey, you all need to get out of here, or I’m calling the damned cops,” the server yelled. There was a chorus of agreement from everyone else in the restaurant.

I put my arm around Celina and walked her to the door. Once outside, I saw Tate and Steff kneeling in the parking lot with Terry. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Terry leaning against the car, holding a hand to his head. Blood trickled from a cut at his temple, but otherwise, he looked okay. Tate saw me and gave a nod.

I led Celina away toward the surveillance van. Blayne opened the door for us. Once we were inside and safe, Celina started to tremble. I pulled her close, wrapping her arms around her.

“She was so cold. Did you see that?” Celina asked. “The look in her eyes made my skin crawl.”

“You were fantastic. I know it was hard. I’m sorry it didn’t go as planned.”

She sighed. “I felt dirty the whole time I was talking to her. I’ve never experienced something like that. And all her lies? I don’t know why she was still trying to keep the story going.”

“She’s desperate to keep the connection with you. She’s using you. I think she’s also still holding out hope that she can sway you to her side. Bring you into the fold and get you to help them.”

Celina made a disgusted sound. “Yeah. And I don’t believe that guy was there to only walk us back to our cars or something.”

“No,” I said, a cold fist of fear clenching in my stomach. “He was there to help Felicity make her move. Us being there made her plan backfire.” I took Celina’s chin in my hand gently and tilted her face toward mine. “I promise, no matter what it takes, I’m not letting Felicity get her hands on you.”

Celina smiled and nodded, then rested her head against my chest. I looked over at Blayne, and saw the worry on his face. He was thinking what I was thinking. Today had been close. Toofucking close. I’d made a vow to Celina. I had every intention of keeping it, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I prayed I could do what I’d promised.

TWENTY-FIVE

CELINA

Meeting up with Felicity had rattled me. After it was all over, I’d been okay. It was only as the hours went by that I realized how badly things could have gone. I had no idea what Felicity had planned for me. Did she really only want me to meet her hunter friends? To try and get me to join her crazy cult? Or had her motives been more sinister? Maybe she wanted to hold me hostage. Worse yet, I might have been some sacrifice so Miles and his friends would act out of rage and anguish. They’d be mad with anger and make mistakes and probably go off half-cocked. The possibilities piled up in my head, each one more awful than the last.

On top of it all, Felicity hadn’t totally disappeared. Her constant presence in my life was nearly pushing me to the edge of a panic attack. It had been days since the restaurant incident, and she was still texting me. The crazy part was that she was acting like the situation in the restaurant had been something other than an attempted kidnapping. Every text was her asking me what was wrong with Miles, that he had anger issues, that he was crazy, and was bad for me.

I tried to ignore the messages, but they were starting to weigh on me. It hurt because I thought I’d actually made a friend, thatFelicity truly liked me and wanted to be around me. That had all been a show. A bald-faced lie, and the lies hadn’t stopped even when she’d basically been caught red-handed. Knowing I’d tried to open myself up to someone only to find out I’d been used was a slap in the face. As much as I didn’t want to, the whole situation was making me shut down and close in on myself. I’d locked myself away in my apartment.

Miles and his friends were all on the road doing their best to track down the hunter headquarters. They’d been in and around Denver for days. He checked in when he could. It was usually only a text here and there, one call, and one random email. I hadn’t even realized he had my email, but after watching Blayne work, it was pretty obvious how he’d gotten it. He was trying, but he was pulled thin. He was stressed out about what the hunters were doing and with finding their leader. He was also dealing with what the curse was doing to him. Then there was me. A new relationship, and all that came with it. I didn’t want to be the needy girl, but I missed him.

Three days before, almost as though he’d heard my thoughts from afar, my phone rang. I smiled when I saw it was Miles and answered.

“Hey, beautiful. How are you?”

“I’m good. I was just thinking about you, actually.”

“Dirty thoughts, I hope.”

I had smiled and felt the familiar flutters in my stomach. My usual embarrassment had started to fade. It was one of the surprises I’d had with being with Miles. I was starting to become more comfortable in my own skin. Though I still wasn’t comfortable enough to answer his question. Instead, I changed the subject.

“How’s the search going?”

“Not great. We thought we’d for sure found their training complex. Turns out it was just one of those weird clubs whereguys get together to pretend to be military commandos and do training. Good thing we double-checked. Tate and I were ready to nuke the place. Thankfully, Steff and Blayne had the cooler heads. So, we’re pretty much back to square one. How are things there?”

I had chosen not to tell him that I’d been pretty lonely and isolated. Instead, I let him know that things were fine and I was doing all right. I went with the old stand-by.

“Writing a lot. That’s about it.”

“Sounds good. I wanted to check in, that was all. Do you need anything?”

“Nope. All good.”

“Okay. Talk to you soon.”

That conversation had sent me into a little bit of a spiral. I know he’d only wanted to keep the connection between us, and it should have made me happy, but all it did was remind me that I hadn’t seen him in days and that the only other person I’d made contact with had been a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I kept thinking of all the awful things that could happen to Miles. It made me sink in on myself. The next day, I didn’t leave my house. I tried to sleep in, like the clichéd depressed person I was, but sleep eluded me. Too much was spinning around in my mind. I only let myself stew in self-pity for one day, though. The next morning, I decided to re-center myself.

I got up and turned off my phone and my computer. I sank into the couch and lost myself in a book. After several hours of that, I went to another go-to—baking. I was about thirty minutes into a batch of oatmeal-raisin cookies when I heard pounding on the front door. I jumped and yelped, slinging my spatula across the room.

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