Page 322 of Secret Shifters Next Door

I tucked the picture under my arm and brought it along with the rest of the things I needed. It was time to stop hiding from my past. It would be nice to see their faces every day. It would hurt, but it would also remind me what I was fighting for.

Ava was asleep in my bed in the guesthouse when I got there. At first I was surprised, but then I stood there, watching her sleep by the light of the moon through the window. A smile spread across my lips, and I tiptoed to the bathroom. After taking a quick shower, I slid under the sheets beside her.

As I pulled her toward me, Ava turned and wrapped her arms around me immediately. A peace unlike anything I’d ever felt washed over my body. My panther was the most content it had ever been. It was like he was finally at ease. I’d never noticed how anxious and lonely he was until Ava had barged into my life. I chuckled to myself, and Ava stirred.

“You okay?” she mumbled sleepily.

I winced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I’m sorry.”

“What was so funny?”

Kissing her head, I said, “I guess fate knew what it was doing all along. Even with the broken bond, I think this was meant to happen. You and me, I mean.”

Ava smiled up at me. “Good. Even if Fate said otherwise, I wouldn’t want to let you go.”

I kissed her lips and rolled over, letting her lay her head on my chest. I ran a hand up and down her back until her breathing became steady and deep with sleep. As I listened to her breathing, my heart started to race. Emotions I’d never had before surged through my body. I was scared, excited, and nervous all at the same time. My panther was equally anxious and ecstatic.

Fuck.

I was falling in love with Ava.

TWENTY-SIX

AVA

Blayne was gone when I woke. Off to train with the other shifters again, I was sure. I didn’t know how he was doing it. They’d been going like that for days on end. He was getting less than five hours of sleep a night most of the time. I hoped it was all worth it. If they were working themselves to death, it had better make them good enough to beat Antonio’s guys.

A glance at the clock showed I had an hour before Dad had to be at the clinic. This was the first day of his last chemo treatments. Once we saw how the tumor had reacted, the doctor would either go ahead and prescribe surgery to remove it, or if it hadn’t shrunk enough, we would go to radiation as the next step. The nurses were hopeful thar the chemo would be the only treatment needed. I prayed they were right, though that was a pretty rare occurrence. We had nothing to do but wait and see.

I dressed and headed into the main house to get Dad. The house was bustling with energy even that early in the morning. It had been like this since Dad had aligned himself with Blayne and the others. Our family hadn’t truly had many enemies in all the years I’d known about my father’s business. Mostly it was because we were in the middle of the country. Most of the bigger crime families were concentrated in the big cities—New York,Chicago, Philadelphia, LA. All Dad and my uncles had to worry about were some of the drug cartels. Antonio’s threat seemed to have injected life into everyone in the organization.

Dad’s bedroom door was ajar. I leaned in and didn’t see him.

“Dad?” There was no answer from his closet or the bathroom. “Are you in here?” I walked in and visually checked both. Nothing.

My father had been an early riser most of my life, but the treatments had done a number on him, and for the most part, he’d been sleeping in most days. Some days he didn’t get out of bed until almost ten. This wasn’t typical.

I hurried out of his room and went down the hall to his office. Also empty. The guest bathroom, living room, and back porch were vacant. I found Uncle Luis in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in his hand.

“Where the fuck is my father?”

He flinched at my tone and set his cup down. “Um, he had some business to tend to.”

“Business?” I hissed. “What kind of business? And how fucking important could it be? More important than his fucking chemotherapy?” My vision was literally going red. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this angry. I’d also never spoken to one of my uncles like this.

Luis looked flustered and confused. “Shit, Ava, I didn’t know this was a treatment day. Honestly, I didn’t. Hang on, let me try and get him on the phone.”

“You do that,” I snapped.

He glanced at me and gave an apologetic shrug. “I have to warn you, he may not have service where he is.”

“I don’t give a fuck. If you can’t get him on the phone, you get your happy ass in the car,driveto him, and tell him to get his ass home. Now.”

Luis hustled out of the room punching numbers into his phone. “Jesus Christ, okay, okay.”

I pulled my own phone out and called the hospital. There was no way we were going to make it on time. I waited almost ten minutes to speak with someone about changing his appointment to later in the week. The whole time, my anger kept building. He’d promised me he was going to go through with all the treatments. He told me to my face that he would make them a priority. Now he’d gone off on somebusinessthat was somehow more important than his own life.

Luis leaned back into the kitchen. “Ava?”

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