Page 14 of Finding my Shifter Soulmate

"It must be!" I insist, reaching back to scrape a knot of roots out of the stone wall, trying desperately to anchor myself in place. "Shapeshifters are not real! They can't be."

I refuse to admit to the possibility that I slept with a werecat or whatever they're called. Those sort of things just aren't real. Even though I’m seeing the proof right in front of me, as scary as it is, it just seems too absurd. And my rational brain is trying desperately to process everything and find logic.

"This is just a bad dream," I repeat, staring at his massive form and hating that it's starting to calm me, not frighten me. Gede, who couldn't possibly be some kind of man-beast, looks worried for me, watching me cling to the wall with my back pressed hard against it. "There's no way this could possibly be true. People can't change into animals."

He reaches for me, concern written all over his face. "Let me—"

"No!" My legs and my mouth won't cooperate, but I force my tongue to form words. "What the hell are you?"

The way his face goes from concerned to sorrowful makes my heart shatter like a baseball hitting a window. His lips part, then close again, and his brown eyes glitter in the half-light, pained and nervous as he hesitates. The silence stretches.

"Who are you? What are you?" I demand.

"I'll tell you everything," he promises in a slow, soft voice. "I just need you to promise you won't run. It's not safe for you out there right now."

I swallow, trying not to yell. "I don't think I can, even if I wanted to," I say softly.

His footsteps fall heavy on the soft dirt floor of the cave as he comes toward me. I let myself slide to the ground, still watching him with wary eyes. In this strange place, filled withforeign animals and unknown threats, there's nowhere to hide and nothing to do. All I can do is depend on him, and that thought terrifies me. I don't even know what he is.

Gede crouches in front of me, and with gentle hands, reaches for me. At first, my whole body jerks, ready to flinch, but I force myself to be still. I stare up into his beautiful face, barely even blinking as I try to find the answers written there.

His eyes scan me, concern etched into the lines of his face. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No, I don't think so." It doesn't mean much, because I'm starting to go numb all over again.

He exhales, long and slow, and finally says, "Remember the stories I told you earlier? About the Barong."

"Yes." I can't get much else out of my throat, so the one-word answer will have to suffice.

His jaw ticks, and he looks so tortured by whatever is going on inside his mind that I hesitate to demand anything from him. "That was more than just a legend."

Without letting my fear paralyze me, I meet his eyes. "Say it."

After a deep breath, he finally gives in. "I am the Barong. I lead the rest of the shifters in Bali." He pauses to gauge my reaction, but the only thing I can think to do is nod for him to keep going. "My kind, we're divided into good and evil. As I told you, Barong symbolizes the good. He's a protector, and so I am. My father served as the Barong before me, and when he passed, it became my place to continue his job."

Everything inside me is telling me to deny this, to fight back against his claims and scream, “This is bullshit!” Because shapeshifters do not exist. But I already saw it happen. I can't ignore the obvious. I can do is shake my head and say, "Then that means the tiger who attacked me..."

"He's my enemy. An evil being. His name is Rama, and he believes the jungle belongs to him. He's trying to use you to force me off the island." Gede rests his hand over my knee. "Believe it or not, most shifters are harmless. We're just a part of the world."

I shake my head, unable to believe him. "So... why me?"

His mouth turns down and he doesn't quite meet my eyes as he admits, "Rama knows that you mean something to me. He must have been watching yesterday when we... had our tryst."

"Oh, God..." An embarrassed flush races across my skin. As trivial as it seems right now, given all that has happened, the fact that this jungle animal saw me do something so personal feels horribly, painfully violating. "And what does he plan to do with me? Does he want me dead?"

"My guess, knowing Rama, is that he wants to mark you as his mate just to spite me."

"Mark me? What does that mean?"

His gaze hardens. "Marking is a rite between mates to claim ownership. Basically, he will bite you in his tiger form, and mark his scent on you, and anyone who goes near you will know that you've been claimed."

My stomach twists and clenches into knots, and I pull away from his touch, trying not to vomit right there on the dirt. Tearscloud my eyes and I have to get a grip on myself before the panic can break me. "That can't happen. It has to be stopped."

"That's what I plan to do. I won't let him get to you." His shoulders slump a little and he sits down with his back against the far wall. "I'm so sorry, Sabrina. I never meant for you to get involved in this. I never meant to drag you into the middle of everything, or to endanger your life. I swear to you."

He's apologized more times than I can count already, and I know he's sorry. Maybe that's why it's so hard to fault him for what's happened. I can see how much pain it’s causing him.

"The truth is out now, and there's no denying it. You have to believe me. If I don't protect you, Rama will come back, and he'll find a way to take you. Or worse, he'll—" he cuts himself off, voice breaking as his eyebrows knit together. "I can't let that happen."

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