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one of them? I can t believe you re doing this, Lori. He s an animal. It disgusts me. He s not
human! She ended her tirade shouting.
Finding that the ability to move had returned, Lori walked to the bed, sat down, and slid into the
jeans she had discarded the night before. Not until she had also pulled a T-shirt over her head did
she speak. I don t expect you to understand, Cam, but I love him, and he loves me.
Love? Cam s word was a shriek.
Lori whirled to face her friend. Yes, love. I love him with all my heart. We know we can t get
married or have kids. She ran a hand through her hair and reflected on the earlier scare when the
condom broke, not being able to get checked out by a doctor. But since then she d had her period.
Things would be okay as long as they continued to be responsible.
You re damn right you can t have kids! Cam shouted. You can t be involved at all.
That s our decision, not yours! I m sorry you don t agree, that you think he s an animal, but we re
together. Lori crossed the floor to reach out to Cam, but her friend backed up. Lori gasped. If you
care about me, you ll accept things as they are, that I m with Chase. There s not going to be anyone
else for either of us. He s made me his mate.
Cam cringed. It s not me who has decided you two shouldn t be together. Society has and. more
importantly, the government.
The bathroom door opened, and Chase stood in the doorway with wet, tousled hair and a towel
around his waist. This time when Cam looked at him, she didn t appear to miss how sexy he was.
Even amid being found out and her friend s reaction, Lori found her body responding to the sight
of her lover. She didn t want to stand here arguing. She wanted to be in Chase s arms.
Cam turned away from him, her expression of revulsion settled back into place. If you weren t so
busy these last few weeks, you would have known the progress that has been made on the new bill.
In fact, you d know that several new laws have been passed, one of them being that no shifter and
human can be sexually involved, or both will be charged for it and sent to prison. The maximum
sentence for that is ten years.
What? Lori s voice came out hoarse.
Chase paled, and he rushed over to Lori s laptop and powered it up. Lori and Cam waited in silence
while he scoured the Internet. After scanning the page he brought up, he sank into her chair and
dropped his face into his hands. Damn it!
Cam s cruelty hadn t come to an end. I thought the law was silly because no person in their right
mind would sleep with a shifter. As if shifters were not people. She smirked. And you know who
was the ringleader of that rush to get such a law passed, don t you? Your father. So you see, Lori,
this thing you two have is over.
Tears welled in Lori s eyes. She stared at the floor hugging herself.
I want to know one thing, Chase said. You re supposedly Lori s friend. She told me you two have
been since you were both young children. Do you plan on turning us in?
Lori and Cam both gasped. Lori looked up at her friend and waited for an answer, her stomach
doing somersaults.
I m not going to tell, if you end it now. She moved closer to Lori and then hugged her. Sweetie,
you have been lonely, although you tried to pretend you weren t. I realize that. Let him go. It s not
right. She leaned back to look into Lori s eyes. Eventually, if you don t, you ll be found out. And I
think that your father would never allow you to be put in jail, but what about him? He d be sure the
shifter is killed for touching you.
Lori shook off Cam s arms. You re under the impression that my father gives a shit about me. He
doesn t. The same way he drove my mother into an early grave, he d let me rot in jail. He hates the
shifters more than any human. Lori strolled over to the door and stood beside it with her hand on
the knob. Since you ve said you won t tell on us, I d like you to leave so I can discuss this with
Chase.
Cam blinked. You re choosing him over me, aren t you? We ve been like sisters. . . . There s just a
matter of time before they figure out a way to track the shifter s mating habits, Lori, just like any
other animal! Remember that! Cam stormed by her and ran down the hall and down the stairs. A
few beats after, the front door opened and slammed shut.
Lori shuffled back to the bed and would have sunk onto it, but Chase stopped her. Baby, come
here. She looked up to see he had his arms stretched out to her. She hesitated and then went to
him. He pulled her down on his lap, and Lori wrapped her arms around his neck. She cried for a
long time, her mouth pressed into his neck.
Chase, what are we going to do? she sobbed. I think I might be . . . I think I might be lost
without you, although you probably think I m being dramatic.
No, I don t think that. He stroked her back and rocked her. She was surprised to hear a tremor in
his voice as well. I think I agree. It s not physically possible for me to give you up. As my mate, you
would always draw me to wherever you are. At mating season, I would lose it and kill anyone who
came between us if I couldn t get to you. It would be more dangerous for us to split at this point. I
should have . . . considered that before I pursued you. Damn it!
Lori lifted her head. Oh no. You re not exaggerating. Would you actually lose control? Wouldn t it
be like before? You d be very horny, but able to manage enough to continue working, right?
He shook his head. Afraid not. Something else inside me kicks in when I select a mate. It s the
same with most of us. We might decide to walk away from each other to be safe, but I would never
be able to stay apart from you long. I would hunt for you. If there were another male interested in
you, I would challenge him and eventually kill him. In a way, your friend is right. I m an animal.
Rational thought tells me I cannot do that and should respect your wishes should you choose to
leave me, but my kind mates for life. Remember? We discussed it.
She nodded. Yes, and I was open to being your mate. I still am. I love you. But this is too much. I
don t want you killed or put in jail. Cam s also right that my father wouldn t let me be put in prison
if he could help it, but only to save his own damn face. What are we going to do? This new law can
be dangerous if there are others who end up mating across the species like us. I ll bet Congress did
not take this into consideration.
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