Because You Exist(62)

“Not exactly like this. No. But you are not the first of your kind.”

I cleared my throat. I didn’t want this man to be the only family I had, but I had to know the truth. “Are we really related? What happened to my mother? My father?”

“They died in a car accident like I said,” he replied.

“You. And the men like you. You’ve been watching us. Right? From the day we were born. The dark shifters, people like Jo, you made sure their life was hell. You want them to help end it all. You want them to convince us to end it too?”

My uncle smiled and began to tap his fingers against his desk. It was a move I’d seen before. He was calculating. Figuring out the best way to deliver his words. My uncle cracked his knuckles and inhaled slightly. “Yes, we’ve been watching. But not all of you. We have orchestrated some things. Like taking Ms. Lambert and her brother from that crazed woman. But in the case of Ms. Lambert, we did nothing else. We gave that girl to her father. What the world did with her afterwards was out of our hands.”

“You gave her to a lunatic!” I snapped.

“Your devotion to that girl is what I expected it to be. And someday, you’ll see why we matched you.”

“Just go on,” I demanded.

“Fine. I’ll tell you, but you won’t like it, Logan. We are not allowed to watch the light shifters. We may not interfere with their lives outside of their creation.”

I felt something drop inside of me.

“What are you saying?” I asked quietly.

“You’re the dark shifter, Logan. You’re the one we want to end it. You’re our boy,” my uncle said, rolling his chair out from behind his desk, moving it so he was sitting next to me.

“That can’t be true. I’m not...I’m not dark. I couldn’t be dark. I’ve had a good life...”

My uncle slapped me on the arm. “Of course you’ve had my boy. You’ve crawled your way to the top. But you understand the importance of listening to others. And when we show you everything, the way these people live, how much better we’ll be when they’re gone, you’ll agree with us that ending it would be best.”

I shoved my uncle away from me and pushed myself out of the chair, knocking it over in the process. I pointed a trembling finger in his direction. “You’re wrong. You have to be wrong. You have to be lying.”

His eyes darkened. “I cannot lie, Logan. They made it that way. It was the deal we made with the Light when all this began. They would stay out of it, but we could never lie. These things, this species, you want to fight for? You’ll learn they’re not worth it. Look at with they did to your Jo. Hmm? Now that you know who I am, we can work together.”

I ran my hand through my hair. My skin felt hot. “You’re crazy. This species? You talk like we’re not human too.”

My uncle put a finger against his lips and smiled. “That’s because you aren’t. Not at least all the way through.”

I stumbled to the door. I couldn’t hear anymore.

This isn’t my life.

They can’t control me.

They won’t define me.

“One more thing, Logan.”

I slowly turned to face my uncle, afraid if I moved too fast I’d pass out. My uncle tossed me a bottle, and me being me, caught it without much effort. “Pills?” I asked.

“The good thing about being a dark shifter is you’ll always have a choice. You start taking those and you won’t shift.”

I clutched the bottle inside my hand. “I thought you needed me to end it?” I asked bitterly.

My uncle chuckled. “There are other ways.”

“So, I just take things and it’s over?”

“You take those and you don’t shift.”

“Why would you give these to me?” I asked, glaring at him. I knew there was a catch. There always was.

“Because the future is in your hands, Logan. You can either help shape it or let others shape it for you.”

I looked up at him.

Did I have a choice?

He took a step towards me. “Before you decide, Logan, there’s something you need to see.”





Chapter 29





I wiped the remaining blood from underneath my nose and looked around. I wasn’t in Shepherd High of Past or Future. I was in a house.

And I was alone.

We had been right. The Dark Men had been controlling when and where we shifted. Jo and I assumed the school was our point of entrance, a place common to both of us, but apparently they could make me shift to wherever they wanted. I could also be forced to shift without Jo.

Not that we had much of a partnership left.

I still had to tell her so many things.