Page 87 of Fated to the Lone Shifter
Later, when we’re back at the house, I pull Marcus aside behind the shed.
“You touch the water lines?”
He flinches. “What? No.”
“You sure?” I press. “Because we were flying blind out there.”
His jaw twitches. “I didn’t do anything. Maybe someone else—"
“Don’t lie to me,” I growl.
His eyes flash—gold. His wolf close to the surface. Too close.
Then he shoves me.
I don’t wait. I slam him back into the wall. “You put my crew in danger,” I snarl. “You put her in danger.”
“You’re not thinking straight!” he yells. “Ever since she got here—”
I don’t hear the rest. Not really.
Because that’s when Sera walks around the corner.
And the look in her eyes makes me wish the fire had taken me too.
Sera storms toward us, eyes blazing, jaw tight. “What the hell is going on?”
Marcus straightens, but doesn’t speak. He looks at me, his expression full of something between betrayal and shame. I turn toward her, chest still heaving.
“He messed with the truck,” I say, trying to sound calm.
Her eyebrows shoot up. “Marcus? You sure about that?” She scans his face like the clues are written there.
“He was in the back this morning,” I growl. “And the pressure line was screwed up. We almost lost the hose team.”
Marcus throws up his hands. “I didn’t sabotage it! I was... I don’t know what I was doing. I was trying to help!”
“By getting us killed?” I snap.
“I didn’t mean to!” he shouts.
Sera steps between us. “Enough!”
Marcus mutters, “I didn’t ask for this,” and storms off, disappearing into the side yard.
Sera’s eyes bore into mine now. She confronts me. "And what about you, Noah?What did you mean to do when you turned him into a werewolf?"
The question punches me harder than Marcus ever could. “I had to,” I say, quieter now. “He knew too much. He saw too much.”
“You were born like this. There was nothing you could do about that. But youmadehim like you?” Her voice is a whisper now, like she can’t believe the words coming out of her own mouth. “You changed his entire life—his body, his soul—why? Because you didn’t want your secret getting out?”
“It was more than that,” I say, trying to hold her gaze. “It was survival. I needed help, someone I could trust. Someone we could trust. This way our secrets are his secrets.”
Sera steps back like I slapped her. “You did it for you. Not for him. And definitely not for me.” A breath of air escapes her like wind out of a balloon. “Now I have to wonder how close you are to your uncle and his crew.”
The hurt in her voice cuts deeper than her words.
I open my mouth, but I don’t know what to say.
