Page 78 of Crashing Tides

Fated mates are real, at least as far as wolf shifters are concerned. If I was his, he would’ve told me.

And since I’m not, that means he’s going to leave me when he finds them.

I take another swig of tequila.

When my phone rings, I answer it without looking, relieved. We’ll talk this out. Everything will be fine. (I hope.)

“Hello?”

Nothing. Just heavy breathing.

I pull the phone from my face, check the caller ID. RESTRICTED NUMBER.

Not Duncan.

I should hang up. This is probably a crank call. But it’s two a.m., and I’m drunk and lonely, so I mumble, “Who’re you?”

More heavy breathing. A scratching sound. Then a voice, low and unfamiliar. “I know what you are.”

My heart leaps into my throat. “What?”

“Shifter.”

The phone nearly drops from my fingers. “You have the wrong number.”

“Mer,” says the voice.

“Sorry, what?”

“Merman,” the voice wheezes. It’s like something out of a horror movie. A voice dragged out of something beastly and inhuman. Something that shouldn’t be able to speak at all.

“You have the wrong number,” I say again, and hang up.

Chapter

Twenty-Two

The calls don’t stop.

Two days pass. I can’t figure out how to block the number, so I turn my phone off.

I feel sick.

I should tell Jane. Should tell Duncan. But the words stick in my throat. Whatever’s going on, I can’t involve them. For fuck’s sake, Duncan is a shifter, too.

“You smell sick,” he tells me on the second day. We’re standing outside the library, trying to decide if we want to go to dinner or back to his room, and suddenly, I snap.

Instead of explaining the mysterious calls, I say, “How come you didn’t tell me about fated mates?”

This stops him in his tracks. “Oh.” When he looks at me, I’ve already started shaking. I hate confrontation. But if he’s almost certainly going to leave me for someone else, I deserve to know.

He’s gone pale. I feel a sick sort of satisfaction.

“What do you mean?” His voice is strangled.

“Why didn’t you tell me it’s guaranteed you’re gonna leave me for someone else?” I demand, crossing my arms over my chest. Like that will stop me from rattling to pieces right here in front of the library.

Duncan shakes his head, wide-eyed. He looks like he wants to reach out and reassure me, but he doesn’t. Instead, he stands rooted to the spot, breathing heavily. “That’s not guaranteed. Lots of people don’t leave their partners even if they do find their true mate.”