Page 24 of 3 Shifters to Break a Curse

“So, when did things go bad?” I asked. “When did he decide to reveal his true colors?”

“As I had mentioned before…” she started, “I’m not quite sure when things turned for the worst. I want to say it was within a couple of weeks. But that doesn’t seem right either.”

“Wow, he progressed rather quickly,” I muttered.

“More like deteriorated,” she said, voice distant.

“How long were you two together?” I asked. I was starting to piece everything together, but there was still a huge, gaping hole that was left to be filled in.

“A little over three months. I barely got away,” she said, voice soft. Her gaze fell to the ground and her lips curved down at the corners.

I realized, by the increase of shadows filling her eyes, that she was reliving something painful. The tears that had filled them started to spill over onto her cheeks. She sniffed a few times. I sat back, wanting to hold her, but I held off to give her the time and space she needed to work through the rest of her story.

“Anyway, I was only able to get away tonight because I was determined to go to Washington to visit my sister coven. They have some answers to a local problem in the city we’ve been trying to get rectified. My high priestess charged me with the task, and she isn’t someone I could say no to.”

“Let me guess, he didn’t like the idea of you leaving. Assumed you were going to leave forever, and he was trying to do anything and everything in his power to keep you under his thumb?”

“You got it,” she said. “And I had tried so hard to smooth things over with him, first. Plus, I was actually leaving him for good. I saw the trip as an opportunity too good to pass up. Plus, I figured it might have been my one and last shot to break things off before he killed me. Though I wasn’t about to tell him as much… Still… he somehow knew.”

I nodded. My hands clenched into fists. “Men should never lay hands on women.”

“I agree,” she said.

I shook my head. “I’m so sorry you went through hell. You should have been cherished and doted on, not anything remotely close to what that asshole had put you through.”

“I don’t blame you or hold you responsible for his actions,” she said through a deep sigh. “However, I understand the gest and I appreciate you, and all that you have done for me so far, nonetheless.”

“You’re welcome,” I said.

“And as far as he goes… well…”

I stopped listening through the rest of her story. I was growing too angry, and I had heard all I needed to. At least for the moment. I wanted her to feel safe. My anger wasn’t going to help with that. So, I sat quietly, nodding at various points. It took everything in me not to hunt that man down and give him a taste of his own medicine. But then, somewhere along the way, I realized she was starting to cry.

A shuddering sigh had filtered through her lips, drawing my attention to her. Tears poured over the edges of her eyelids. I suddenly found myself paying more attention to what she was saying.

“I can’t figure out how he did so, but he followed me somehow.” She wiped the tears that had fallen on her cheeks. “And I’m scared of what he might do if he finds me here.”

My eyebrows drew close together as a pinch settled in the center of my forehead. “Is he a shifter?”

“No,” she said and sniffed. “That is another thing I can’t make connect. He’s just human, and he had somehow followed me.”

I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her close. “Shush, now. Remember my promise? I intend to uphold that promise with everything I have inside me. So long as I’m around, no harm will come to you. By anyone.”

My heart broke a little for her. I wanted to protect her and keep her safe. Though I didn’t quite understand why. She had something about her that made my bear stir. And though I would never admit as much out loud, I didn’t want to see her go.

I continued to hold her as she cried in my arms. When her cries softened and she started to pull away, I brushed her hair from her tear-streaked face and stared deeply into her eyes. She was so beautiful. So spectacular in every way. I couldn’t understand how someone would hurt her in the way her ex had done.

I leaned in closer, pulled in by the weight of her eyes. They drew me in, holding me captive.

My lips brushed against hers. She stiffened, and I worried I had overstepped. Not to say I was fully aware of what I was doing at the moment. Because I wasn’t. My body seemed to have gone into autopilot and was acting of its own accord.

She leaned in closer, allowing me to kiss her once more.

I wished she could have met me first. Long before she had to experience a life with Jared. Then she would have never been torn apart and diminished in the way she had been. She would have seen what a real man was like and knew what it meant to be loved and cherished in the way a woman should have been.

11

TONI

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