Page 44 of Shift of Heart (Shifter Lords #1)

Chapter

Thirty-Eight

T he Chimera had found me. After all these years, I’d finally found a home and people who loved me, and I relaxed, thinking I was finally safe.

The Lord, who was not a Lord, sliced through my vines with a razor tipped claw and came to his feet, his features melting to a face I would never forget. It was his face that attracted me first, dark hair and brilliant blue eyes, lips that could charm a nun, and a smile that made my knees weak.

I was devastated and grieving the end of my marriage, and I’d come to Scotland for some relaxation, a way to get out of my head.

We met at a crowded bar on the third night, and I was a moth attracted to his flame.

Within hours, we were dancing, our hands everywhere, our mouths entangled.

I’d fallen in love that night, or at least what passed for love when you were so entangled in grief all you could do was stop moving and wait to drown.

But then he asked me to meet him for a moonlight walk, and stupidly, I did.

And it had changed me forever.

“You cannot deny what you are, Evangeline.”

My lips pulled away from my teeth. “Don’t call me that,” I hissed. “You have no right. I am not yours. I was never yours.”

“You were mine the moment I tasted your skin. The moment you melted so sweetly against me.”

“No. I was lonely and desperate, and you were a distraction, Finn.” Not Halvar. Never Halvar.

“I didn’t know what you were until you stepped into the moonlight, and your scent overwhelmed me.” He inhaled, magic flaring in his eyes. “And then I had to have you.”

“You almost killed me!”

He inclined his head. “A regrettable loss of control.”

A hysterical laugh bubbled from my lips. Finn had stopped paying attention to the bonfire, but I hadn’t. I’d banked the fire just enough to keep it from blowing immediately.

“A being of great power showed up, and I had to abandon you. When I came back you were gone.”

Finn didn’t know Cliona was my mother.

“I’ve been trying to find you for years. There is much you need to know about your power.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “You can’t believe I’d ever work with you. Are you fucking insane?”

That heart-stopping grin formed on his lips. “I am one of the last living Chimeras. If not me, who?”

“No one!” I screeched.

His eyes sparkled as he lifted his palm, a crimson ball of magic spooling in his palm. “I am your Maker, Evie. You cannot deny me.”

“I don’t give a shit if you’re Jesus, you arrogant asshat!”

He tossed that magic at me, and I couldn’t avoid it because I’d trapped us in a cage of flora. Finn’s power hit me square in the middle of my chest and spread, not painful, but staggering in its intensity.

“A gift,” he said.

I dropped to my knees, my mouth opening and closing like a fish as magic burned through my veins.

“If you would have stayed and waited, you would have received it all those years ago. You walked away incomplete.” His face sobered. “Now you will be exactly what you are meant to be.”

“I’d rather die than be anything you want me to be,” I croaked as I struggled to breathe.

Pain flickered over his face, there and gone in a heartbeat. “You won’t have a choice, Evie.”

I slowly worked an opening through the cage I’d built on the side of the bonfire, silent and methodical.

“I always have a choice.” Tears rose in my eyes. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“I know you are a Chimera. Forever changed.” His eyes glittered. “Forever mine.”

I lurched to my feet. “I BELONG TO NO ONE!”

A vine snatched Finn off his feet as I loosened the grip on my power, dragging him into the fire. His pained screams shattered the night as the cage of flora exploded outward.

In a burst of light, Finn’s body disappeared, too fast for the fire to have consumed him.

Fear flooded my veins, but I couldn’t move to follow wherever he might have gone. His power burned through my body, flaying me alive from the inside.

I swayed, barely keeping my eyes open, and I reached for the flames, pulling water from the ground to extinguish the fire, all the magic inside expended. When there wasn’t even a flicker left and I saw no sign of Finn, I staggered forward, only to fall to my knees.

“Evie!” Moira called.

A low moan came from somewhere inside me. Wetness soaked the side of my hip as Marnie’s healing spell activated.

My friend’s face swam into view. I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile before I thumped forward, face first into the grass, darkness finally claiming me.