“So you’re a tiger, huh?” Mel blurted out, unable to hold back. She’d been searching for supernatural beings, him by her side all along. The irony.
His eyes widened, and he just stood there, completely stunned.
She took a deep breath, heart pounding, head spinning. “I heard you talking about it with your friend, Harrison. Accidentally recorded you. Actually, a tiger shifter is what it’s called, right?” She held up the recorder. “How many of you are there?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted quietly. “I think just me.”
So it had all been true. A small part of her hated the resignation in his voice, wanted him to tell her that he hadn’t been hiding things from her.
Hadn’t been doing all this to keep an eye on her.
But it looked like he had.
And she’d fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker.
“What about Harrison?” she demanded. “Or Reno? Or the rest of your friends at Dragonclaw?”
Mel would have been happy to have found this out earlier, but instead, they had all lied to her, especially him. It was different when people that were nice and friendly to her were all hiding this, knowing she was trying to discover it.
Were they all laughing behind her back?
Then again, they could transform into animals. Of course they wouldn’t go around shouting it from the rooftops. She wouldn’t either if she were a shifter just enjoying a quiet life out in the wilderness.
But the betrayal still stung.
“So did you think this was really funny?” she asked, confused. “Following me around when you knew the whole time?”
Dallas looked stricken. He opened his mouth, then closed it for a second. It was a minute before he responded.
“At first, it was to protect our secret,” he said. “But then I fell for you. I was going to tell you.”
“Right.” Mel laughed frustratedly at that. “Tell me when? After I went home empty-handed after giving my all to this?” She waved a hand. “For all I knew, your other shifter buddies were the ones who broke into my apartment or cornered us that afternoon just to scare me off.”
He shook his head. “No, we would never do that. But there are bad shifters, and they’re after you.”
“Oh, so other shifters are after me?”
Dallas nodded slowly.
“Great,” she muttered, rubbing an eye, feeling tears of frustration begin to well up.
He took a step closer. “I couldn’t tell you until I was sure.”
“Sure about what?”
“Sure about us.” He sighed. “The biggest rule of shifters is to never reveal ourselves except to our mate, our one and only. There are punishments if this rule is broken.”
Part of her still couldn’t believe all of what she was hearing. Everything she had been looking into, all of it was real. And it had been right under her nose the whole time.
She shook her head in amazement as all of the pieces finally began to fall into place. The whole world around her, everything that had been hidden before, began to make sense. The mysterious disturbances, the shapeshifting people.
Dallas’s colossal strength.
She could understand the shifter rule of never revealing oneself. After all, there were rules in the human world.
Just the whole thing, all of it, felt like too much. It was too crazy to take in right now.
And it made her wonder what, if anything, had really meant something to him. And what had been just to distract her and keep her quiet.
She decided to use all her fury and just focus on this story that everyone was determined to push her away from. She’d been harassed, pushed aside, and lied to at every turn just so he could keep this secret.
A secret that needed to come out.
“I need to go,” she said, moving to leave.
But Dallas stepped in front of her, blocking the way and holding his hands up.
“Please,” he said, his eyes pleading. “Come with me. Leave this behind you.”
Mel shook her head. “I can’t. Can’t you see that? This is way bigger than either of us. And you have no right to tell me what to do when you were just keeping an eye on me for your precious secret.”
“No, not true,” he replied adamantly. “You’re my everything. I meant what I said on the Ferris wheel. I want you. Forever.”
She looked up into his warm amber eyes, seeing pain and desperation there. As much as she wanted to just fall into his arms and leave behind everything for him, she just couldn’t.
This was all too much.
“I-I can’t,” she replied, broken inside. “This isn’t about you or me now. It’s about the whole world. This is going to get out whether you like it or not. The fact that everyone is trying to stop me just means I shouldn’t let them.”
Mel tried to step past him, but he wouldn’t budge.
“I’m trying to protect you,” he said in a low growl. “Protect you from the people trying to stop you.”
“That’s not your decision to make,” she retorted.
He growled. “The hell it is.”
She stood up to her full height. “I’m going to figure this out on my own.”
Dallas slumped to the side slightly, looking torn. “At least let me be with you to make sure nothing happens.”
“What, so you and the others at Dragonclaw can hide more things from me?” She shook her head. “I just can’t do it, Dallas.”
As she looked up into his dejected eyes, she realized that, deep down, she still loved him. She still wanted him, and she could understand why he’d done what he did.
But that didn’t make it right, nor did it make it any easier to reconcile the facts with her feelings.
Heartbroken, she pulled all of her things together and stuffed them into her bag and threw it over her shoulder. Once she was done, she walked over and stared up at Dallas who was still blocking the door.
“I’m going whether you like it or not, and you can’t stop me.”
He took one last, lingering look at her, his eyes begging her
