Page 33 of 3 Shifters to Break a Curse

“While you two were out playing hide and go seek and grabbing her bags,” Ezra said. “I was going to tell you sooner, but there wasn’t an opportunity to until now.”

I nodded. “Fine. So long as you understand once this is all over, she can’t stay.”

“I do, man,” Ezra said. “I’m not a fucking idiot.”

“Are you sure about that?” Rin asked. He was leaning against a counter in the kitchen with his arms crossed, listening in to the entire conversation. He was probably moping because he didn’t get his chance to rip into Toni’s hide the way he wanted to with me and Ezra around, and then when Cadence showed up to whisk her away to the bathroom.

“Oh not you too,” Ezra said.

Rin shrugged. “You’re the one that broke a house rule.”

“For the love of…” Ezra said.

Sometimes, seeing him disgruntled over not having his way made me chuckle. But tonight, there was a grotesque lack of humor. Between Ezra’s actions, Rin’s attitude, and everything else that has come our way since Toni arrived, I didn’t have it in me.

Ezra and Rin started arguing. I ignored both of them while I processed through what Ezra had shared with me. The more information I found out, the more things didn’t add up, and that wasn’t sitting well with me.

If she was leaving town, how did her ex manage to follow her? There weren’t any signs of another car. And the scent from whatever creature made it covered her car and the land around it. There was no way someone could run that far. Not even a shifter.

While Ezra and Rin exchanged not-so-pleasant words, Toni exited the bathroom, moving like a bat out of hell toward the front door.

Rin asked her where she was going. She ignored him. Instead of a response, she picked up the pace toward the door. Despite all of our efforts, it didn’t seem to matter what we said or did, she was hellbent on leaving. But I wasn’t about to let her leave without an explanation why. Especially after all the effort she had put into getting us to let her stay with us for a few days.

So, I stood in the doorway as she managed to dodge Rin and Ezra. I crossed my arms over my chest. “You’re not leaving until you give us an answer why.”

She whispered she had to go again.

But I noticed something about her that I hadn’t before this. She was shivering. I thought maybe she had just climbed out of the tub and didn’t bother with drying off all the way until she refused to meet my gaze and I understood there was more to whatever was urging her to leave like this.

“Okay,” I said, much gentler. “Tell me why you have to leave, and I’ll take you to wherever you need to go.”

She pressed her lips into a thin line and continued to refuse to give a reasonable explanation. Especially after spending all night long convincing all of us to let her stay.

I held up my hands at shoulder level to show her I was safe and didn’t mean her any harm. Then I spoke to her as though I was trying to talk a suicidal person off the edge of a bridge. “Let us help you. I promise it will only take a few minutes. We only want to understand why you’re leaving so soon.”

“I can’t stay,” she said softly. “It will only bring you harm and break my promise.”

“Where was this epiphany last night?” Rin asked, voice gruff.

She shrank away, making herself smaller.

I held up my hand to stop him. “She can stay as long as she needs to.”

Rin snorted. “Ask her about the overwhelming odor that seems to be following her around. See what she has to say about that. I’m willing to bet none of us are going to like her answer.”

I glared at him. He really needed to learn when to keep his comments to himself. Of course, I understood that he was the one who didn’t want her here in the first place, but we all came to an agreement. This sudden change in her didn’t make sense. I needed to get to the bottom of this and without Rin’s not-so-helpfulness.

I placed my focus back on Toni. Tears started to spill from her eyes. I was suddenly overcome with the urge to pull her into my arms and ease her worries away. She was so beautiful and had a scent about her that reminded me of home, and I wanted to spend more time getting to know her.

But as I told Ezra, she wouldn’t be able to stay. And it seemed she had other things in her life that she had to take care of other than her ex.

“Please,” she said a little louder than a whisper. “I have to go.”

“And as I told you, you are free to leave. But I need to understand why first,” I said.

“I just told you,” she said, avoiding my gaze.

Bullshit, I thought. I leveled my gaze at her. “Come on now. You were already told you can stay with us for as long as you need to. Let us help you. That’s why you came here in the first place, right?”

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