I jumped, thinking it was a thief. “Stop!” I yelled.
The figure froze, then ran. I twisted my ankle.
“Ouch!”
My yell made him stop. He crouched down and checked my ankle.
I stared down into his face in the darkness. It
was him.
He was so skinny, a sheen of sweat on his
handsome nose. “…Shaw?”
I dug into my memory, saying the name aloud,
hardly believing it. He was the lion shifter I used
to help out at the shifter shelter.
པ+ P|ཅཔ ས་དད་ ད་་༦༥
but ho clung
Г
Shaw was cold to everyone else, but he clung
to me, followed me around. He’d nudge my arm
with his head, begging me to adopt him.
“But I already have a werewolf, named
Chandler…”
His face fell, a six–foot–three guy looking utterly lost. I couldn’t bear it. I hugged him.
“Don’t worry, I’ll find you a great owner.”
I asked all my friends and found a girl who
seemed perfect. She was rich, well–connected,
and really wanted a lion shifter.
When I introduced Shaw to her, she was
thrilled, promising to take good care of him. For
years, I’d check in, wanting to know if he was
okay.
Then the girl moved abroad to a country where
12:48
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I desperately tried to find out where Shaw went,
but no one knew. “He’s proud,” a friend told
- me. “He hasn’t contacted us since he was
dumped.”
I felt so guilty I couldn’t eat for three days. Even Chandler, who usually ignored me, was worried, fearing I might actually starve myself to death,
and made me soup.
I told him what happened with Shaw, and he just said, “I told you not to meddle in other people’s lives. You’re such a drama queen.” His eyes flickered with something I couldn’t quite read. He was talking about Shaw… and himself.
I slowly ate the soup, chewing on my guilt. I
remembered the last time I saw Shaw.
His new owner, thrilled, hooked her arm through
his. He stared back at me, desperate, until the
car pulled away, and I couldn’t see him
anymore.
<
He wanted me to ask him to stay. I shook
myself from the memory and looked at the top
of his head.
After all these years, we’d ended up in the
same city.
His hair was a mess, and he was wearing the
same old clothes from years ago. He had
calluses on his hands. He looked rough.
He was taller, broader, darker. He looked like he
could rip you apart.
