Page 102 of Secret Shifters Next Door

Without another word, Kellan nodded and walked toward April’s house. I stood, watching my old friend walk away. I waited there for a minute, staring at her house, and suppressed a laugh. It was fucking crazy that April was my neighbor. My mind drifted to Tate and Harley. The curse had forced them together by making them neighbors. Now here I was, in the same situation. Had Emily added some addendum that said we all had to live next door to our mates?

There was nothing I could do about the current living situation. One thing I could do was talk to April. It would have to happen eventually. If I ignored or denied the mating bond, I was in for a world of hurt. I’d seen how it had affected Tate. So, the sooner the better. At the back of my mind, I’d already resigned myself to how this would go down. The sooner I spoke to April, the sooner she could reject me, and then the bondwould be broken. What would happen then? According to Emily, we would die. Not just die, but die a slow and agonizing death. Perhaps that’s what I deserved.

Would she even believe anything I said, though? No one would wholeheartedly believe a person when they told them something as crazy as what I would be telling April. What would I even say?Hey, April, I know I told you I didn’t want to be with you, but now a magic spell says we have to be mated. Also, I’m a magical shape-shifting bear, and you will be too if we get together.Yeah, that didn’t seem to be a likely scenario.

After I took Bently inside, I kept myself busy with chores. Eventually, I saw Kellan and Aiden get into their car and leave. I’d planned on staying in for the rest of the night, but a few hours later, Bently was losing his mind wanting to go for a walk. Ignoring him wasn’t an option, so I finally broke down and grabbed his leash.

Outside, I fought my first instinct and decided to walk past April’s house, rather than the other way. As we strolled along, I glanced up to her porch. To my surprise, she was outside, lounging in a patio chair, a glass of wine in one hand. She was staring off into space, caught up in her own thoughts. She was so beautiful it made the ache in my chest multiply.

I let Bently sniff at her mailbox as I watched her. She was totally out of it. Whatever she was thinking about must have been pretty important. I’d been standing there for a few minutes and she hadn’t even noticed me. I’d made a plan, and I needed to follow through with it.

I decided to snap her out of her daze. “It’s not safe to zone out.”

April jumped in surprise, almost spilling her wine. “Oh, shit, Steff. You scared the hell out of me. Don’t be a jerk.”

Maybe, if I could make April hate me enough, the bond would break. If I could turn her far enough away from wantingto be with me, if I could turn my bear away from her, it would be enough to break the spell. That was the only way to keep her safe. If it worked, maybe I’d survive. There would be pain, naturally, but at least I wouldn’t drag April into this. I winced inwardly and my bear growled, angry at what I wanted to do. All it wanted was for us to be with April. That couldn’t happen, though. I knew it, and soon the bear would know it as well.

Steeling myself, I said, “From what your brother said, you came here to get away from something. All he told me was to keep an eye out for you and make sure you were safe. Sitting on your porch without being aware of your surroundings isn’t the best way to stay safe.”

Fire built in her eyes as she glared at me. “You know what, Steff? How about you forget anything Kellan told you? If I need someone to look out for me, I’ll get someone who actually gives a shit about me.”

“Oh, I care, I just don’t want to have a second job watching out for someone who doesn’t seem to want to watch out for themselves.”

“God, I don’t know what happened to you, but I don’t remember you being such a dick. Do me a favor and leave me alone.”

“I made a promise, so you need to get used to me being around. I told Kellan I’d make sure you were taken care of.”

“Steff, I don’t know if you remember, but you were the one who walked away. You moved across the country and forgot I ever existed. That being said, how about you keep that same mentality? Forget I exist for a few months until I leave.”

April stood and went inside, slamming the door behind her. The action made my bear whine and chuff. It was angry and heartbroken about what I was doing. I felt pretty shitty, too. As much as it hurt to do it, I couldn’t think of another way to save both of us. I’d hurt April so much that I couldn’t see a happyending coming, no matter what. This was the plan, even though I wasn’t very fond of it.

SEVEN

APRIL

Jesus Christ, the barking. Every… fucking… morning. My eyes had snapped open at the ass crack of dawn every day for the last week. When I’d found out I would be Steff’s next-door neighbor, the last thing I’d been worried about was the incessant barking of a dog. Bently was cute, and for the most part he seemed well-behaved—other than the fact that he apparently identified as a damn rooster.

It had been mildly annoying at first, but today it was enough to piss me off. I’d barely slept the entire night. There’d been too much to deal with. Luca had posted on his social media that he had more news about Fiona Steele that everyone would want to hear. When that news had broken at 9:00 p.m., I’d stayed glued to my phone the entire night.

Larry had assured me that he wouldn’t be able to speak another word to the press, and that he had it handled. The problem was, I’d dated Luca. We’d talked about things. He knew my real name, knew where I grew up. If he even suspected that I’d gone running back home, he might mention that. Then what would happen? Dozens of paparazzi would descend on Lilly Valley, along with all the tabloids, magazines, and bloggers.

For hours, I kept scrolling, waiting. I spent over an hour looking through Luca’s profiles on his various pages. I’d found no useful information there. It had basically been pics and videos of him trying to look hot. I’d finally quit in disgust after seeing a video he posted of him shaving his chest. If he really was going to release more information, he would draw it out. All to get more exposure.

That was what really pissed me off. It seemed like hewasgetting more exposure. He’d finally gotten signed to an actual marketing deal, and he’d already capitalized on that. I turned my TV off last night when his smug face appeared in a commercial for a new cologne. After everything that had happened in society the last few years, I would have thought a guy selling dirt on a woman would have made him a pariah. It looked like, even after fifteen years, I was still naive about the industry.

With all that to think about and stew over, the last thing I needed was a dog barking at six in the morning. It was just one thing too many. I’d held my tongue for days, hoping it would fix itself. But I was done.

I grabbed my robe, put on my slippers, and headed for the front door. I’d hoped my anger would cool as I made my way outside, but if anything, it got stronger. I yanked the front door open and stomped out into my yard, then promptly forgot why I’d come out.

Steff was in his driveway, running. Some kind of early morning fitness routine—suicide sprints or something. He ran down his driveway, then twenty-five yards back to a tree. Over and over again. He was… really fast. I couldn’t take my eyes off his body. His muscles, flexed and taut, rippled as he pumped his arms. Sweat glistened off his—damn it—perfect body. I didn’t think I’d known any male models who had a body as perfect as Steff’s. He was also bigger than he had been fifteen years ago,and he had a hell of a lot more muscle. It was like he walked right out of a wet dream.

I grimaced and clamped my eyes shut, mentally berating myself for even going there. For the love of God, I was out there to chew his ass a new one, not to ogle him and slide my hand down my pants. After a few seconds, I got myself under control and opened my eyes. He still hadn’t noticed me.

I walked over to his yard, and the dog, blessedly, finally stopped barking. At the sudden silence, Steff stopped his cardio routine and glanced up, panting for breath. When he saw me, he didn’t exactly frown, but the expression on his face was hard to read. It wasn’t welcoming or happy, but also not angry or nervous.

Ignoring his look, I pointed at Bently. “Can you please do something about him barking this early? He’s woken me up, like, every single morning.”

Steff walked toward me and shrugged. “I’m not sure what you want me to do. He’s a dog. That’s his routine. He wakes up; he goes out.”

---