Page 247 of Secret Shifters Next Door

“Fuck off,” Felicity spat.

“The boss said not to hurt her, so no worries,” he said and pulled out of the parking lot, tires squealing.

“Felicity? What’s going on?” I asked.

She turned her angry gaze from the driver to me, her face softening as she did. She patted my knee. “Oh, pet. Let’s drop the pretense. You know, and I know that you know, my name isn’t Felicity. My name is Mariana, let’s go with that.”

I was still gasping and confused, but I still had enough wherewithal to know I should try and keep her happy. “Okay. Mariana, what’s going on?”

She smiled at me. “Your fuckhead of a boyfriend stole something from my father. So, we’re stealing something from him to make sure we get back what is ours. Only until we get it back, though, of that you can be sure. If this Miles loves you like you think he does, it should be a very simple exchange.”

I craned around to look at the driver, the bodyguard. Miles said this guy was a shifter. Why would he keep going along with Mariana? “How can you help them do this? I just don’t understand. Their whole goal is to kill your kind.”

The guy’s shoulders stiffened. Mariana laughed. “What are you talking about? My brother isn’t some piece-of-shit monster.”

Brother? I looked from Mariana back to the driver. What? They didn’t even look remotely alike. “He’s your brother?” I asked dumbly.

Mariana rolled her eyes. “Half brother. Dad was banging some lady on the side back in the day. Some whore he found on a business trip, probably.”

Did Mariana really not know? I turned back and locked eyes with the driver in the rearview mirror. I could see it in his eyes. It was a secret he’d held close his entire life. Only a lifetime of hiding could cause the fear I saw in his face.Holy shit. Did his father even know?

I sat in stunned silence, not sure what else there was to say. We drove for what felt like an hour, then we pulled off the road and went down a gravel road that ended up in a clearing ringed by oak and pine trees. The driver parked the car and got out. He opened the back door, grabbed me by the arm, and started pulling me out.

Mariana sat forward. “Jared? What the hell?”

“Stay here and stay out of the way.”

“Daddy said you weren’t my boss,” Mariana whined.

Jared shook his head in frustration. “Just stay here and shut up. God damn,” he shouted as he slammed the door.

He pulled me toward the front of the car. Mariana rolled the window down and leaned her head out. “Celina?”

I turned to look back at her, hoping for some type of apology. “Yes?”

“I really wish things had turned out different, but you’re a beast now. Your fate is sealed. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.” With that, she leaned back in and rolled the window back up. That was not the apology I’d wanted.

I looked at Jared. “What are you?” He ignored me and tugged me along faster. I kept pushing. “I don’t know how you’ve hidden it, but I can feel it. So can the others. We know.”

“You need to shut up,” Jared threatened.

“I can’t. Don’t you know what your father is doing to shifters? He’s killing them. Doesn’t that bother you? The way he treats them, when his own son is a shifter?”

“Mind your own business and close your mouth until this swap is made. That’s all I need you to do. Got it?”

“How does that even work? Are you some special case? Exempt from his damned crusade?”

Jared yanked me close and locked eyes with me. We were so close that I could smell the mint from the toothpaste he’d used that morning when he spoke. “Shut. The. Fuck. Up. That’s the last warning you get.”

I stared at him, my writer’s mind surging through dozens of scenarios, each one more unlikely than the last. What could cause this weird relationship? One thing was certain, Antonio didn’t know Jared was a shifter. I felt sure that as crazy as he was, Antonio wouldn’t hesitate to kill his own son if he knew he was a shifter.

My eyes widened as the final piece of the puzzle slid into place in my mind. It was the only thing that made any logical sense. Humans and shifters couldn’t have kids, unless some type of magic came into play like with Tate and Harley. That meant…

“Antonio isn’t actually your biological father, is he?” I asked.

Jared’s hands snapped out and wrapped around my throat so fast I barely saw them move. The oxygen and blood were immediately cut off from my brain. I gagged and felt pressure inmy eyes, like they were about to pop out of my head. I clawed at his hands, digging troughs into his skin with my nails. Blood trickled from the wounds, but he didn’t release me. He actually lifted me up off the ground by my neck. Stars burst in my vision. I kicked at the ground. I barely even registered the sound of the truck skidding to a stop, the scream from Miles, or the howl of his wolf.

Jared tossed me aside. I fell to the dirt, gasping for air, coughing, and retching. I looked up and saw Miles leaping through the air toward Jared. He spun and shoulder-checked Miles. Miles landed on all fours, barely fazed, and shifted back to human form.

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