Page 15 of 3 Shifters to Break a Curse

“Our home isn’t equipped with a revolving door,” I said, pointing to the ground. “She’s made her bed, now she should sleep in it. Without involving everyone else.”

“Maybe you should get some air,” Luke suggested. “Clearly you’re too emotional to think about anything rationally.”

Luke’s comment set my blood on fire. I was the one that was too emotional? Oh, sure. Yeah. I wanted to shift and rip him to shreds. And as much as that would have been fun, even I didn’t want any further harm coming to Toni, and she was sitting too close to him for safety.

I took a couple of breaths to calm myself down.

Once I had calmed down a little, I said, “Fine. I’ll get air. Sure. But I’ll tell you this… if she stays, I’m leaving. I want nothing to do with whatever she’s involved in.”

“No, don’t,” Toni said, standing up and facing me. Her beautiful eyes pleaded with me. “I’ll figure something else out. I don’t want to be a bother.”

“Don’t allow him to affect you in any way,” Ezra said. “He’s being rude and disrespectful.”

“No, he’s got a point,” she said, settling her gaze on my roommate. “I don’t want to force anyone out of their home. Maybe one of you could take me to a hotel. I should be fine there. Or at the very least back to my car.”

“You should really stay put,” Luke said. “In fact, I think we all could use a little air.”

I stared at Luke, wondering what in the hell he was thinking. He stood up from the couch and stared at Ezra for a few minutes, when he didn’t move, he said, “Ezra, you too. Let’s step outside for a moment.”

“What? Why?” he asked.

“Really?” I asked. “A pow-wow in our front lawn with some asshole lurking about, waiting to sink his claws into the witch that sits in our home?”

Luke glared at me. “Yes. Really. Got a problem with that?”

“Yes. I do. The last thing we need is to leave her alone in our home,” I said. “How do we even know she’s being telling the truth about this whole thing?”

Ezra stood up and faced me, hands formed into fists at his side. “Have you known anyone to harm themselves to this extent and be this terrified as part of an act?”

“Would it really be that hard?” I asked with a shrug.

“You’re an insensitive prick, you know that?” Ezra snapped.

“And you’re blind and thinking only with your dick!” I snapped. “At least I have the consequences of doing this on my mind.”

“That’s enough,” Luke shouted. “Outside, both of you. Now.”

I stormed outside as Ezra stood from the couch. His bleeding heart was going to get us all killed. And I had no issues telling him that. As far as Luke was concerned… I had no idea what was going on in his head. I couldn’t believe he was siding with Ezra on this. I was shocked he was seriously entertaining the idea of the woman staying with us.

This whole situation was a disaster waiting to happen and I didn’t want to stick around long enough to watch everything we built become destroyed by some girl with boy issues. The whole night was shot to shit.

I paced the grass in front of our house as Ezra and Luke filed out of the door. Once we were all standing outside, I turned and faced him. “Let’s get this over with, shall we? If I need to leave I’d rather do it sooner than later.”

“You’re being overly cruel,” he said. “This woman had no idea we even existed until tonight and you’re making it sound like she has a hidden agenda and a target on our backs.”

“Yet you were the one who initially thought a witch was on their way here, to begin with,” I pointed out. “You mentioned witch and trouble. So, what gives?”

“I was right about the witch part,” he said. “Just not the reasons. She’s in trouble, I had that wrong. So what?”

“Oh… look at that!” I said. My voice grew louder. “The great and powerful Kodiak finally admitted he was wrong about something. Tell me, does it hurt to admit you were wrong about something?”

“Rin, knock off the attitude,” he said. “This has nothing to do with me. You’re baiting me for no damn good reason. We came out here to discuss what was best for Toni, and that’s what I intend to do.”

“I’ve already said my piece,” I snapped. “I have nothing else to say on the matter.”

“Do you have to be a stubborn jackass about everything?” Ezra asked. “Jesus Christ, man. What is your problem with the girl outside of the fact that she’s a stranger and has shown up at our door? What gives you the right to assume she has ill intentions?”

“Says the man who is blinded by the sensations in his dick,” I snapped. “You’re one to talk.”

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