Nightshifters Read Free

month.
Let me share the burden.” Her hand touched his cheek. He knew the coarse
stubble felt rough, yet she didn’t flinch. Instead, she slowly trailed her
thumb along his jaw line. “Let me help you.”
    Let her help me . God, he wanted to. He wanted to have
someone to share the burden with. Someone who understood. But he knew he
couldn’t do that to her. She deserved so much more. “I can’t, Kate. I can’t ask
this of you.” His voice sounded strangled even to his own ears.
    “You didn’t ask, I offered. We made a promise to each other,
Colten. For better or for worse.” Though the words were no more than a whisper,
there was no mistaking the firmness in her tone. His Kate. His beloved Kate
would stand by his side through thick and thin. Through sickness and health. He
could see it in the tenderness of her gaze. She didn’t see him as a monster.
She saw him only as the man she loved. And she always would. No matter how many
times his body morphed into darkness. His Kate would be there at the end with
the blessed light.
    Hope flared in his heart. If Kate could see him at his
absolute worst and still love him, then he knew he could somehow bear the
curse, after all. He would find a way to endure the horrors that came with each
full moon. With Kate by his side, he knew that he could bear anything.
    Kate reached across the bed for the
revolver, flicked open the chamber and emptied the cylinder. Then she smiled
and stuffed both bullets into her pocket. “You don’t have to do this alone any
more. You have me now. Will you let me help you?”
    “How? I’ve only been fooling myself. This – us – it will
never work.”
    “Of course it will. Love can conquer anything. I truly
believe that.”
    He swept a hand across his face. “No, Kate. It can’t. I’ll
live forever, unless I choose not to. You won’t.”
    Kate’s lips turned up at the corners. “Then turn me.”
    “Turn you? My God, Kate, you don’t know what you are
asking.”
    “Yes, I do, my love.” She touched his cheek. Her fingers
felt warm and soft on his skin. “I know exactly what I’m asking. I want to
spend the rest of my life with you. Even if that life is forever.” Her words
wrapped around him like a warm blanket melting the last smidgeon of pain from
his heart.
    “I won’t turn you, Kate. I wouldn’t wish this torment on my
worst enemy, much less you.”
    “But—”
    Colten silenced her with a finger on her lips. The warmth of
her breath tingled his fingertip. “I’ll wait for you.”
    “Wait for me?”
    “When your life on this earth ends whether it be five years
or fifty from now, I promise I’ll find you again.”
    “Find me?” Kate drew her brows together.
    Colten closed his eyes for a moment. The hard part would be
to ask them for help. He wasn’t even sure if he could do it, but in
order to hold on to Kate’s love, he knew he would have to.
    His grey gaze hooded, he watched her reaction. “The cult my
ancestors joined are still in the bowels of the bayou.” Then with an edge to
his voice he added, “And they are just as powerful. There is a voodoo ritual of
reincarnation that will guarantee your return to me time and time again.”
    Kate shivered. “I don’t understand. I thought you despised
the cult.”
    “I do, but I love you more. If you still want to marry me
I’ll take you to the High Priest. He can perform a ritual that will keep your
body from aging and will ensure that you will come back when you die.”
    “Reincarnation?” Kate gulped.
    Colten nodded as guilt squeezed his heart. Maybe he was
asking too much of her. Maybe simply ending his own life would be best. He shot
a quick look at the revolver.
    “But I would have to grow up all over again. Would I even
remember you? What if you can’t find me?”
    Colten pulled his gaze from the gun and brushed a stray curl
from her eyes. Primal urges raced through his veins. He immediately dropped his
hand. It was getting too dangerous. He needed to