Page 40 of 3 Shifters to Break a Curse

“You can’t be serious,” Luke said, facing me and taking a step forward.

I held up a hand to stop him and took the next step down. “I am. It’s fine.”

“We can’t let you go with him,” Rin said, pulling my attention to him.

“You have no choice but to let me go,” I said and moved between the men. Though it was nice to see Rin warm up a little to me. His change in attitude didn’t make a difference in my decision. I wouldn’t allow him or the other two to be hurt because of me. “You don’t want to see him become violent.”

I made a promise, and I needed to keep it.

“Please…” Luke said, keeping his voice low, joining my side. “Don’t.”

My heart shattered. The pleading in his voice tugged at my heart and made me want to stay all the more. I knew they were trying to protect me, but I was trying to do the same thing for them. I wish they would realize I was doing the only thing I felt was right. I didn’t want to see them get hurt because of me.

“I can’t stay,” I said and continued to Jared. “I have to go now.”

I turned around faced Jared as he grabbed my hand in his firm grip. My eyes met each of the three men’s gazes for a brief moment. They stared after me, unmoving. Watching Jared drag me into the trees. I wanted to apologize to them for causing them the trouble I had. But I was too late. Jared yanked me forward. I forced myself to turn around and watch where I was stepping. Knowing Jared, if I had fallen, he would have beaten me a little more before helping me up and continuing to drag me through the woods.

Jared’s fingers tightened around my hand painfully as he continued forward, refusing to even so much as look at me or even say a word.

My lip quivered as I realized I might have walked into my own death trap. But it would be okay. Because I would be free of him soon enough and I could rest easy knowing I did the right thing.

And on the off chance that Jared decided to hold off until he got me back to wherever we were headed, I would use the time to figure out another way to escape him.

The important thing was the men were safe. And that was all that mattered to me.

18

RIN

I racked my brain trying to figure out exactly where this night went wrong. Of course, I realized I probably needed to start farther back than just tonight, because ever since Toni showed up, my life had been flipped upside down. I failed to come up with anything specific. There was far too much that had happened recently that made it hard to pinpoint exactly when.

Sure, I was angry with Toni—and for various, extremely valid reasons—but that didn’t mean I wasn’t trying to protect her or wanted to see her put in danger either. So, getting to the bottom of whatever was going on, filling in the blanks, was absolutely imperative to making sure she stayed safe.

But the way she had stared up at me when I mentioned the odor being unnatural had me questioning everything I thought I knew. I started to believe she was telling the truth when it came to everything she had shared so far. I started to believe she wasn’t purposefully hiding anything from us. She had absolutely no idea what I was referring to.

Thankfully Cadence showed up when she did. I was too angry and needed the time to cool off and recollect myself. But when she came out of the shower, her almond-shaped, hazel eyes focused on the door, and my heart skipped a beat. I was terrified in that moment. Terrified I was never going to see her again.

Her clothing had kept hidden all the best parts of her curves, and I still thought she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Even with the water dripping from her hair.

My mind went to devious places as I imagined what her body would look like without clothes, and me inside her.

But that opportunity was taken from me the second Ezra had a minute alone with her. I smelled it on him too. The sex he had with her. The idea of it boiled my blood.

So when he suggested I left the house, it took everything inside me to keep from tearing his head from his shoulders.

Ezra’s half-baked decisions pissed me off sometimes, especially with insisting I leave him alone with her. And then fact that he got to have her first only chapped my ass and added to my growing frustrations with him. He knew the house rules, and he knew damn well he could have stopped himself. I had meant what I said when I told him he was thinking with his dick. It was hard for me not to do the same. Luke seemed to have some similar feelings for her, judging by his reprimands toward Ezra’s actions.

Toni wasn’t without fault in this, however. Though I didn’t know what had possessed her to sleep with Ezra, she still held secrets, and I simply wanted the truth with the whole situation she had faced. I wanted to protect her and my home. I might not have gone about it in the right way, but I never wanted her to walk back into the grasp of a man who was much more than what he seemed.

He wasn’t human. That much was for certain. No human I had ever encountered had a scent quite like his. And I hoped to God, that I would never breathe it in again. As futile as that hope was, I knew I would see him again.

This wasn’t over.

I had never felt so angry and confused all at the same time. I replayed through my mind, watching her go. My feet were glued to the ground and unable to move. I still wasn’t fully accepting her leaving. And seeing the pain in her eyes. I wanted nothing more than to rip that so-called man to shreds.

No matter what I did, or how many times I tried to find a reason behind her going with him after everything that had happened, I was left still confused. Still angry.

Nothing made sense.

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