Page 67 of Shadows of the Soul

Hudson grabbed my arm and swung me around, halting the pair of us at the bottom of the porch steps.

“I’ll wait inside,” Dave said. “Don’t be long. There’s a crisis.”

“There’s always a crisis,” I said with a sigh as the door banged closed.

“Do you not understand anything that I’ve said over the last few months?” Hudson snapped.

I tugged my wrist free and crossed my arms. “It all got wiped away the instant you tossed me aside.”

He shook his head. “Give me six months. Let me get my house in order.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You said the pack wouldn’t be a problem.”

“The pack alone won’t be. It’s my reactions, my jealous possessive reactions.”

“Not uncommon for shifters, I’m told. The pack wouldn’t think less of you.”

“No, but others might.”

I threw my hands in the air. I hated that he was getting me to defend my position as a worthy mate. “We are going around in circles. Mates are above everything, right?”

He nodded and narrowed his gaze. “Yes.”

“Then if you considered me your mate, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation because you would have put me above all else. The pack, the politics, the faction approval.”

Rebecca threw open the door. “Figure your shit out quick. We need you in the basement.”

I took two steps forward. “We aren’t finished,” Hudson stated.

I paused and looked over my shoulder. “Yes,weare, Principal.”

He hissed at my use of his title. Professional boundaries needed to be restored—it would sting us both, but it was self-preservation. I entered the house and followed Rebecca down the stairs. I expected her to swing into my office, instead she headed to the makeshift training room. Dave stood outside the door with his arms crossed and his legs slightly apart.

“What’s going on?” Hudson asked from behind me.

Dave’s intense stare didn’t leave mine. “Don’t panic,” he advised, as he reached the handle and swung the door open. My stomach flipped—shit was bad if Dangerous Dave was telling me not to panic.

I pushed past him and entered the room.

Aunt Liz snarled at me, her eyes flickering to obsidian as her neck twisted at an odd angle. She crawled along the floor and hit the edge of a hastily drawn protection circle. She flopped onto her back, then used her hands to imitate a human crab.

My hand slapped over my mouth as the foul stench of decaying meat slammed into me. “What the fuck?”

Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty Four

Possession is nine-tenths of the law.

“Calm down,” Hudson said as he leaned against my desk while I paced back and forth in front of him.

“Never tell a woman to calm down,” I snapped as I rubbed my forehead. “My aunt is freaking possessed. If there was ever an occasion to freak out, now would be the time. This is serious, Hudson, her life is on the line.”

“I don’t understand how this could have even happened,” Dave said from his position in one of my visitors’ chairs. “She was fine when she left. What the hell transpired during those negotiations?”

I grimaced. Ugh, we hadn’t told him yet. This would be fun. “There were no negotiations—she lied. She went to New Orleans.”

His foot fell from his opposite knee onto the floor with a thump, and he leaned forward. Malice rolled off him like a tidal wave. “What did she do in New Orleans?”

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