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He opens his mouth and roars. Loudly. I close my eyes and cover my ears. I don’t want to, but it’s an automatic reflex. I drop to the floor behind the cash register and scurry into the corner. Instantly, I’m crying from the pain of his roar, but I don’t run away. If he wants to kill me, running will only tire me out. I can’t beat a shifter.
Not an angry one.
“I want my life back!” He screams again, and I cover my ears, shaking my head. I should look at him, but I can’t handle the noise, the pain, the sadness.
I want mine back, too.
“They took everything from me!” He says. “Everything! Do you know what that’s like? Do you?”
I shake my head, crying as he continues to yell.
“I’m sorry,” I cry loudly. I don’t know what else I’m supposed to say to him, what I’m supposed to do. I don’t beg him to spare my life. I know I don’t deserve that. I just cry as he yells again and again.
He starts yelling and shouting words I don’t understand, phrases that mean nothing to me. He says things I don’t understand and things I’ll never forget, but then I hear his clothes ripping and I know, even without looking, that he’s shifting. He’s shifting into a monster and I am the prey.
“I’m sorry!” I scream.
I didn’t do this to you.
I didn’t really want to die this way.
I didn’t really want to die today.
Then again, is anyone ever ready?
Is anyone ever up for it?
Who wakes up and thinks, “Today is the day. I’m going to die, but that’s fine. I’ve lived a good life.”
Me?
Mine is full of regret and pain and sadness. I was hoping to get some of that out of my system before my end, but it’s just not meant to be.
Then he growls, and I open my eyes to see two bright orange-and-black eyes piercing my own. His paws are thick and heavy against the counter. He opens his jaw and I see nothing but beautiful, shining t
eeth, and I know this is the end.
I close my eyes once more, but the end doesn’t come.
Chapter Two
Lee
I’ve known there wasn’t something right about Reece for awhile now, but everyone ignored my instincts. Now I regret not doing something about the tiger shifter sooner. I pass him as I’m leaving the bakery and as much as I want to be alone with my feelings or, you know, go punch something, there’s no fucking way I’m letting him lay a finger on Nicole. If that bastard so much as makes her cry, he’s going to wish he’d never come here.
Quietly, I circle back around so he doesn’t notice me. Not that Reece would. He’s so caught up in his own pain that he barely notices anyone around him. In fact, he and Nicole have a lot in common. They’re both lost in their own ways. She thinks people don’t notice that she doesn’t really eat anymore, that she doesn’t sleep. Cameron’s mother has been quietly going crazy trying to keep Nicole from losing weight, but the little human is so beyond the point of stress that she can’t deal with anything.
I probably should have stepped in weeks ago and intervened, tried to make her eat, tried to reason with her, but the idea of talking with her about anything at all just brings back so many memories of our time together. Usually, I’m all about avoiding pain from the past, but right now, I’m concerned about pain in the present.
Why is Reece going toward the bakery?
Surely he doesn’t have a craving for chocolate chip cookies.
No, something tells me that right now, he’s out for blood, and he’ll be more than happy to take that from Nicole if he can get it.
As I loop back to the bakery, I keep Reece within eyesight. I don’t want to admit that seeing Nicole surprised me today. Oh, I knew she was here. I’ve known for awhile. I just didn’t know she was in the fucking bakery. Fuck me for having a muffin craving today. Of all the days, why did I have to wander into the shop at a time when she was working?
I close my eyes for a moment, trying to push thoughts of our time together away. She always was fucking gorgeous and sexy as hell. She might be a little thinner now,but the truth is that she hasn’t aged a fucking day. She’s still just as lovely now as she was back then. She’s still just as sweet, just as soft.
