Read Online A Shift in the Air by Patricia D. Eddy - Free Book Online Page B

and Mara sighed. Her
eyelids fluttered closed, andCade settled back against the cushions
next to her.
    Liam groaned. “No.” The slurred
protest shook her resolve, but her throat still throbbed from the
memory of Fergus’s hands.
    “ I’m sorry.” The words
paled against the offense of the charm, but he’d be happier without
her. Safer. And that alone was worth hurting the only man she
thought she might have truly loved.
    ***
    The charm wouldn’t last long. Ten,
fifteen minutes at the most. Her element vibrated, the hum of a
tuning fork sending waves of influence outward, over Liam, Cade,
and Mara. She ran down the tree-lined street and gave thanks that
the rain had stopped before she’d left home. Two bus lines
crisscrossed the city, intersecting only two blocks from her
apartment. She prayed the sixty-six hadn’t ceased for the
night.
    Relief steadied her hands when the bus
rolled to a stop half a mile from the pack’s house. Low, resonating
tones of her element and the charm she’d cast faded, replaced by
another, strident chord that raised the hairs on the back of her
neck and drilled a headache into her temples.
    The foreign song strengthened, pulling
her, urging her somewhere—not here. The burnt crater deep within
her rumbled and cracked open. Pain drove her hands over her ears,
but the terrible cacophony rose to a fevered pitch, deafening,
until suddenly, silence.
    No warning had ever been so clear.
Fergus would find her. Hurt her. And whoever dared help
her.
     

 
    Chapter Seven
     
    Liam groaned and shook his head,
trying to clear the cotton that clouded his thoughts. Across from
him, Cade pulled Mara close. “If I ever see that bitch again, she
better kill me, or I’m going to—“
    “ I feel…better.” Mara took
a deep breath, a smile curving her lips. “I’ve never felt normal
this quickly after an attack before.”
    Cade cupped her cheeks, staring into
her eyes, searching. “How?”
    “ I don’t know. Maybe
Caitlin. She set the protection stones around the house, drew the
runes. Every time the fire’s threatened to suffocate me in the past
few months, I think she knew. She’s not a bad person—not really.
She’s confused. My sister’s charm messed her up.”
    “ Goddammit, Mara. Bella
could have killed all three of us, and we wouldn’t have been able
to stop her. I don’t trust her, even if she did somehow help
you.”
    “ She’s not Bella. She’s
Caitlin,” Liam said, running his hands through his thick locks. His
bruises, scrapes, and cuts ached. If he shifted into his wolf, he’d
heal, but right now, he welcomed the pain. He’d failed her. All
those years ago and again now. She’d come to him for help, and he’d
let her down. The few minutes sitting next to her, holding her
hand, brought back all of his long ago hopes and
desires.
    “ I don’t care.” Cade rose,
stalked into the kitchen, and poured a generous splash of whiskey.
“Stay away from her, Liam. Consider that an order.”
    Liam flinched, and his wolf railed.
The rumble started deep in his chest, exploding in a feral,
desperate sound.
    “ Back off. You want to be
my beta, that’s the price. That bitch helped kidnap Mara.
She hurt Mara. The
pack comes first. Always.”
    “ Ya didn’t say that when ya
mated with Mara.”
    Cade threw the glass of whiskey across
the room and surged towards Liam. His fist cracked against Liam’s
jaw, sending black spots swirling, obscuring Mara’s horrified
expression over Cade’s shoulder.
    Liam took the punishment. If he fought
back, let his wolf escape, he’d lose his friend, his alpha, and his
family. All for a woman who barely remembered him.
    Cade threw him into the love seat
where he rolled over the back and landed with a bone jarring crash
on his shoulder.
    “ Not in the house!” Mara’s
sharp words stilled them both. “I get that the moon is messing with
both of you, but take it outside.” With a huff, she grabbed a broom
and headed for the whiskey-soaked