Page 6 of 3 Shifters to Break a Curse

“Hey, Luke,” she said with a big smile. “Feeling restless again?”

I nodded. “Yep.”

She plastered on a fake pout. Her dark blue eyes settled on mine. “What’s eating you this time?”

I snorted. “Seriously?”

“You know what I mean,” she said as she made her way to the register.

“Just same shit, different day,” I said.

She nodded as she took a seat on the stool. “That sucks. Wanna talk about it?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Has talking about it helped any other time?” she asked, eyebrows raised and a bright, warm smile stretching her lips.

I chuckled. “Yeah.”

“Okay then. Spill…” she said.

I shook my head wondering where to start. Hell, I didn’t even know why I had these moods come over me. She had a knack for figuring things out too. Just, with this, I wasn’t so sure. I was beginning to think it was just something I would have to deal with until I settled on the decision to make the shift a permanent one.

That’s when I realized the perfect place to start.

“It’s getting harder and harder not to keep the shift,” I said. “Something is holding me back. Something I can’t quite put my finger on.”

She nodded. “I get that feeling. Like a huge waiting game for something to happen so that you know you’ve waited for the right reasons.”

“Something like that,” I said and sat the coffee on the counter. “How much do I owe you?”

She glared at me. “You know the answer to that.”

“Never know if the circumstances have changed. Don’t want to take advantage,” I said.

Cadence always insisted on me having my coffee for free. I never understood why except that she wanted to be nice. It was a part of her personality. Though I was older, she took care of me a lot more than I ever took care of her.

“Please. We are family. Adoption or not. That will never change. And no brother of mine needs to pay a measly buck for second-rate coffee while I’m working,” she said.

I chuckled. “Thank you.”

Cadence was the last of the family I had left. From time to time, she would check in on me at the cabin and bring me home-cooked food to make sure I’m eating properly. I cared for her deeply and couldn’t see my life without her, much less have a clue of what I would do if she wasn’t around anymore. It was a shame she wasn’t a shifter. She would have made a damn good one.

“And no more talking about making the shift permanent,” she said pointing a finger at me.

I lifted my hands in surrender. “Okay, okay.”

“I mean it, Luke,” she said. “I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I lost you too.”

I nodded. “Same.”

“How are the other two doing?” she asked with a nod toward the general direction of the cabin.

I shrugged. “About the same.”

She nodded. “I’m planning on stopping by in the next couple of days. I’m not sure when. But I will bring you all some of Mom’s enchiladas.”

“You’re making me hungry again,” I said. “Now the fish I ate doesn’t seem so good.”

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