Furever After by Arielle Lewenhart Read Free Book Online

“Don’t worry about it! But…if the alpha is the most desired position, why don’t you try to take on James?”
     
    James shot Ethan a look, and I was afraid I’d asked the wrong question. Ethan looked at James, raised an eyebrow, and chuckled. “Why don’t I take you on, James?”
     
    James answered with a sigh. It felt like he was used to dealing with Ethan’s antics, and knew how to handle him. “Ethan could defeat me if he tried. He’s actually the stronger of us. Lucky for me, he has no desire to be leader. And it’s a good thing for everyone, too — he has no patience.”
     
    Ethan was drumming his fingers on the side of the table. “He’s right. I can’t stand all the politics involved in the role. I want absolutely nothing to do with it.”
     
    “I have just one last question. How can you tell if someone is a shifter?”
     
    They were both silent for a moment, and answered in unison: “The eyes.”
     
    “A shifter has different eyes from a normal human, and the eyes are always the first to change. Watch.”
     
    As I stared at the two men, their eyes grew slightly more slanted and took on a golden color, gleaming in the restaurant lighting. James’ eyes were yellow and sharp, like those of a lion on the prowl. Ethan’s bore similar qualities, but his right eye was more orange, with green tints to it that James didn’t have. I thought it was strange, but I didn’t ask.
     
    After that demonstration, their eyes turned back to normal. I sat in silence for a for a moment, reeling at the information, and also at the fact that I accepted it without hesitation. Nothing about these two men smelled of deceit, and given what I’d seen, I’d either wake up in the morning and realize this was all a dream…or I’d carry a new perspective about the world. And that made me realize another question. “Wait a minute. Why did you tell me this? What happens if I tell anyone?”
     
    James smirked. “What happens if you tell someone you saw a group of men fighting and a few of them turned into half-man, half-cat hybrids? They’ll think you’re crazy, most likely.”
     
    I realized he was right. “That must be convenient for keeping things secret…”
     
    “It really is,” was all James had to say. I shook my head, having come to a decision, and grabbed them by the arm.
     
    “Come on, back to your room. This can be cleaned up in the morning. We need to treat those injuries.”
     
    “That really isn’t necessary, Liz.”
     
    “Now!” I barked, more harshly than I meant to. I heard Ethan laughing behind us.
     
    “Better listen to the lady, James. She might be able to take both of us out.”
     
    I led the two men to their bedroom and instructed them to sit on the bed while I went to fetch the first aid kit, flipping the “Open” sign to “Closed” along the way. I just needed a moment to myself, to gather my thoughts and figure out how to approach the situation. So there was an entire world of people out there who possessed abilities that seemed impossible, but there they were. And two of them were in my restaurant. I had asked for excitement, and it had certainly been delivered. What was the Chinese curse? “May you live in interesting times?”
     
    I found the first aid kit in the kitchen and carried it back upstairs. “Okay you two, let’s see those injuries. James, take your shirt off.” I blushed a little bit while saying that, but he had a cut along his neck that ran below his shirt, and I needed to have better access to treat it. James shot a glare over my shoulder, so I guessed Ethan had done something to taunt him. While he seemed reluctant, he pulled the shirt up and over his head, revealing a body criss-crossed with scars, but chiseled out of solid stone. His chest was the most built I’d ever seen, with pectorals bulging outwards, defined in well-cut lines that tapered to eight huge, perfectly-outlined abs. He had the body of a Greek god, and it was amazing to look