Page 2 of Her Forbidden Shifters
Noah nodded. The sensation in his gut increased.
“And no matter what you do, you can’t seem to shake it?” she added.
Noah nodded.
“That’s what I mean. And each day the sensation becomes…” she snapped her attention to her right before raking her gaze around her as though a sound had pulled her attention. Noah didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary. But she clearly had. She resettled her eyes on the screen and finished her thought, “stronger.”
Noah leaned forward. “Want me to come and stay with you for the night?”
She laughed. “What? Noah Tempest slumming it for a night with the baby sister?”
He shrugged. “For you, I would do anything.”
She shook her head and chuckled. “No. That isn’t necessary. But thank you. I’m sure the power will be back on in a couple of hours.”
“If you change your mind, I’ll be there,” he said.
“I appreciate that,” she added. “So, what’s new? Anything exciting happen?”
“Why don’t you tell me what’s new and exciting with you?” he asked, knowing she only used those words when she was excited about some news and wanted to tell him about it. She was funny like that.
She smirked at the screen. “You broke up. Repeat that.”
“Why don’t you tell me what is dying to come out of you,” he said.
She sat back and leveled her eyes on his. “What do you mean?”
Noah laughed. “You only use that phrase when you want to tell me something. So, tell me.”
“Seriously?” she asked, squinting at the screen.
He nodded, keeping his eyes on hers. His voice came out deep and serious, “Yes, Avery.”
“Well, I went to this new club downtown. It’s like three solid floors of nothing but music and booze,” she started.
“Sounds like my kind of place,” Noah said.
She shook her head, holding up her hand. “I don’t think so. Not really your scene. Let me finish.”
Noah smiled at his sister as she regaled him with her night out with friends. He loved the way she was so excited. Her eyes were wide and animated as she spoke. The video call was working to ease the ache of melancholy in his gut.
He truly missed her. She was the only family he had left in this world. And if anything were to happen to her, he would be lost.
Then his attention was caught by something shifting in the background directly behind his sister. It was a brief rush of shadows that moved. It was almost imperceptible, but he had been staring at the way everything appeared over the screen as Avery spoke, he caught the movement. And there wasn’t a window in front of her, so that wasn’t it.
He searched the area around his sister, hoping that the shadow was just some fluke of his imagination. His innate sense of paranoia when it came to his sister. A few seconds later, shadows moved again. This time, he was sure of it.
“Avery,” he said, voice stern. His heart started to race.
She continued talking as though he was somehow muted. His words weren’t making it through.
“Avery, stop,” he said.
She didn’t. Instead, she kept talking, still acting as though she was oblivious to the shadows moving around her and the sheer panic filling Noah’s features. “I think you got frozen, but I’ll continue…”
“Avery, can you hear me?” he asked, trying to keep his voice even.
But this time, a sound came through on Noah’s end. Something heavy had fallen from somewhere in Avery’s place. It landed with a deep thump against her already damaged hardwood floors. More importantly, Avery noticed it, too, stopping mid-sentence.
