Luckily for my twin brothers, they seemed to have won her heart. I had no idea how she could stand Ranger for more than five minutes, though. She was a strong woman, and I loved her… as a sister.
She was also mated to Rafferty, the foster kid who came into town with her. Now my twin brothers were packmates with a vampire and a red wolf shifter… and I knew that meant Galen’s loyalties would lie with them now, and not Mekhi and me.
Galen was a huge help. When you have a vampire who could help a loved one forget something to make them happy, wouldn’t you do it? That's what we did. We did it so Clare would be happy. She didn’t want to leave us, and I knew she wouldn’t have either if we didn’t get Galen to compel her to forget about us.
Her parents had told us from the start that they didn’t like us, that we couldn’t ruin her dream of college. We had to let her go. We loved her that much that all we wanted for her was happiness. Especially since we knew in our hearts she would return to us one day. Was today the day?
“Did Galen tell you that?” Mekhi stepped in front of me, trying to protect me from Ranger, but I wasn’t having it. I moved around him.
Ranger shoved me, but Mav held him back so I wouldn’t lash out at him.
“No, Ada worked it out. She guessed you got Galen to compel her, to forget you. That’s why she was so happy to leave. Not because she got over you both so fast, but because you used Galen against her. But the joke’s on you,” Ranger taunted as he bounced on his feet, ready to run, or shift.
I rolled my eyes. He wouldn’t understand. We knew she was leaving for college. She had talked about it so much in the beginning of our relationship. When she found out about us being shifters and how we couldn’t leave from here, she didn’t want to go anymore. But we couldn’t have her here and missing out on her dream. She could have both, college then returning home, where we would be waiting for her.
“They say if you love something, set it free. If it returns—” I didn’t even get a chance to finish as Ranger butted in with an unsettling smirk on his face.
“—with a panther shifter for a boyfriend, then you lost her forever, assholes,” he finished for me. Not the same words I was going to use.
The room was silent, apart from the sound of our hearts beating. I didn’t know what to say. He was fucking with us… right? She didn’t have a boyfriend and she sure as hell wouldn’t be dating a panther shifter. I shook my head. That was the most outrageous thing Ranger could say to shock us. He was fucking with us because he was mad.
I turned to Mekhi. I was worried more about him now than ever. He shook his head over and over.Oh fuck. The emotions Mekhi would normally keep for me were rolling off him in waves and it was breaking my heart. I reached out and grabbed his arm.
“No, it’s not true. I’ll talk to the witch,” I told him. I turned back to Ranger, pinning him with a glare. “Why would you say that? Mekhi is like a brother to you. Don’t mess with his heart man.”
It was Mav that spoke up next, shaking his head and rubbing his hand through his hair.
“Nah, it’s true. Lexi said she could tell he was a shifter. Clare introduced him as her boyfriend, said his name was Frankie and they were in town for the week.”
My wolf was right under my skin. I could feel the fur trying to break through. I shook my head. This wasn't true, there was no way. My chest felt like it was caving in on me as I felt the sorrow and pain rolling off Mekhi. I felt dizzy, and I needed to sit down… no, stand… no, go to Clare.
“No.” My voice cracked. This wasn’t happening.
But it was. We were told about a panther shifter visiting us… Had been warned that he had permission, and if we were to run into him that his name was Frankie Nameer and to make him feel welcome here.
Fuck.
I turned to Mekhi. He had sagged down to the floor, his hands over his face as he let out strangled sobs. Instead of comforting him, I grew angry. My nostrils flared as I snatched my phone off the bed.
“The witch has been lying to us,” I gritted out before dialing her number. She was going to answer some questions for us.
First one being, how long has she been lying to us?
Chapter18
Clare
Monday mornings just got better, well, after Mom woke me up to tell me that they both would be out working late, but that we were to abide by the rules of the house. Even though I was a legal adult, there were to be no boys in my room when they weren’t home. It was a little absurd. I didn’t know why Mom thought “mischief” could only happen in bedrooms. I knew for a fact it could happen anywhere. Vicki had told me all about her adventures outdoors. But I assured Mom that Frankie and I were going out to Port Angeles for the day and wouldn’t be home till late.
It didn’t take long to hear her car leaving and the house grow silent again. I rolled around in my old bed; I missed this mattress. It wasn’t too soft or too hard. It was just right, like goldilocks. I giggled to myself at the thought. I could sleep here all day and wake up feeling rested every time.
Maybe it wasn’t the mattress though, maybe it was more the fact I was waking up here and I had left all my troubles behind in Colorado. My parents hadn’t spoken to me about my grades or college. I had a feeling they didn’t think they needed to even check them, thinking I was doing well. Or they didn’t have time to check. Time wasn’t something they had much of, unless it was for work, I didn’t see them often growing up. Weekends mostly. And even then, they would go out to lunch or dinner with clients or to the country club, which I refused to ever go to.
I had even turned my phone off for the first time in years. I didn’t want to see emails or anything to do with college. It would be nice to call Ada after seeing her yesterday. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed her, even though we weren’t that close. But it just reminded me of how different my life used to be. How simple it was.
I kept thinking it was bizarre when Jett Lovell’s brother hugged me. I didn’t know what to do. I think Frankie found it just as awkward. He’d asked me if I knew him. I didn’t. I wasn’t sure he believed me at first, but he nodded and said it was odd for him to just act like we were old friends.
It was the truth. I didn’t know him. I wasn’t sure which one he was. He was a twin and I didn’t really know the difference between them. Was it Maverick or Ranger? Either way, it was the strangest encounter I had being back here.
