Reborn (Shadow Beast Shifter, #3)(22)

I expected tonight would be too soon for her to mentally prepare herself, but I couldn’t wait any longer. Then she surprised me. “I’ll meet you here around nine,” she said.

I blinked before nodding overly enthusiastically. “Yes! Perfect! We’re going to get to the bottom of this if it’s the last thing we do.”

Despite my ominous words, Sam’s confident smile never faltered. “We will figure it out. Now do you need a ride somewhere?”

I shook my head. “Nah. I think I’ll just take a walk to clear my head. I want to be in the right mental space for tonight.”

“We’ve got this,” she said, leaning in to pat me on the shoulder. With a final smile, she walked to her car, got in, and drove off slow and sedately, which made me laugh.

I loved women built in shades of grey with contrasts at every corner. There was a mystery to solve in Sam, and maybe, while solving my own life, I might learn a thing or two about my new friend.





12





Torin came for me that night. I wasn’t surprised, especially after the way I’d humiliated him in front of the pack. He’d been pretty restrained not knocking me down then and there to reestablish his dominance, but I’d known his restraint wouldn’t last for long.

When the rickety door to my apartment slammed open, Torin marched in like he owned the place. I was already waiting in the living room, threadbare couch at my back. My wolf drifted in my chest, closer to the surface than she’d been for a long time, thanks to the impending full moon.

“Mera!” Torin growled, and he was so pissed, his nostrils flared, hands already half shifted into claws. “Where the fuck have you been? Why aren’t you answering your phone? I’ve checked this place five times today.”

I shrugged, not even bothering to reply. It was none of his business.

He took a step closer. “This has to stop.”

Now it was my turn to bare my teeth at him. “I reject this—”

Before I could get the words out to finally sever our bond, he dove for me, and I had to shut my mouth to get out of his way. Torin had no right to come at me like he owned me, which meant I had to best him here tonight. It was my dominance that would win.

He was faster than I’d expected, which was stupid of me because the alpha gathered power from those in his pack. I should have gathered it as well, but because I refused to truly seal the bond—i.e., have some really bad sex—I was cut out of the share of power.

“Why do you hate me so much?” Torin shouted, clawing at his hair and face in frustration, cutting lines across his skin that healed instantly. “Sure, I didn’t treat you that well after your father’s sin, but I was never the worst. Jaxson and I stopped you from being raped. We stopped the members of the pack we could control from stepping over the line. You would have died a million times over if it wasn’t for us!”

He was shouting in my face now, his cheeks red, his eyes burning into me with intensity. “And yeah, I rejected you, but I reclaimed you as soon as I came to my senses. You have to understand, I never expected you were anyone other than Jax’s. When I was the chosen one, I panicked and acted like a stupid fucking moron. I’ve regretted it ever since.”

He was saying all the right words, but that was seriously all they felt like to me. Words. Empty, meaningless, say whatever to get his own way words.

“Being with you feels wrong,” I said, needing him to understand.

That statement hurt him, his eyes shiny as he stared at me. “We’re true mates,” he whispered, like those two fucking words solved all the problems in the world.

“We’re not.”

He blinked about a million blinks. “What the fuck, Mera? Are you insane? We have a fucking true mate bond, and that means you belong to me. Your heart. Your soul. And your goddamn body.”

I had been starting to feel sorry for him, but as always, his stellar personality took care of that. “You know I’m right,” I said shortly. “There’s no true bond between us any longer. You should make it official with Sisily and save yourself the rejection.”

Torin shook his head, coughing out laughter through his growls. “You never were one to mince words. Throw your every thought out there and deal with the consequences later.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, that’s what happens when you stop expecting to live past your next birthday. There was never any point in curbing my words. It made no difference to how the pack treated me.”

“Your father is to blame for that,” Torin shot at me. “Not me. I refuse to be punished for actions that weren’t my own.”

Oh, the irony.

“I heard a story about why my dad attacked yours.”

Torin stilled. “What did you hear?”

Oh, yeah, that wide-eyed look of panic told me he had a very good idea what I was going to say. “I heard that Lockhart considered me a demon child. He wanted Victor to use his alpha power to confirm it.”

“There was no evidence,” Torin said in a rush. “My father would have killed you if there was.”

And yet I distinctly remembered Victor calling me a demon… The night I’d first shifted, maybe?

Pain stabbed me, sharp and intense, and it took my breath away as I clutched my head. Torin, the sneaky bastard, saw his damn opportunity and this time when he leapt across the room, I was too slow to get out of the way.