Shadowing the Teacher (Perfect Pairs Book 3)

by Tamsin Baker

  “Because Reid’s always been one for throwing himself wholly into everything he does. When he loves, he loves big, and he invested himself in Amanda. If you prove to us that you are indeed our mate, which to me you already have, then that means we married the wrong woman. To him it’ll be like our whole marriage was a lie.”

  She nodded and swallowed the pain there. “I’ll never be able to compete with her.”

  Kane chuckled softly. “You already are. Why do you think he’s freaking out so much? If you weren’t our mate he would have kissed you and moved on. He wouldn’t be feeling any of the turmoil he is right now.”

  She was starting to piece it together, although the “mate” word was a little strange. “So, he’s just afraid of moving on, and the fact that he wants me so much scares him?”

  Kane nodded and rolled them so that he was on top of her with his heavy weight held up by his strong arms. “Yes, but I am not. I look forward to my future with my eyes wide open, and I can’t wait for our future. We’ll live wherever you need to be, because I’m never leaving your side, Sam, not now that I’ve found you.” Kane began rocking against her pelvis, his cock hardening between them and beginning to poke her.

  “Really? You’ll stay with me no matter what?”

  “Even if my stupid brother never comes around, you’re mine, and I’m going to love you with everything I am.”

  Sam drew his face down to hers and kissed him with everything inside of her. Her heart was soaring at the possibilities, at the future they could have, surrounded by love and happiness.

  But without Reid it wouldn’t be complete. She could see that in the bond the brothers had, and in the strange tug at her mind when Reid wasn’t with them.

  She let her body surge with need as Kane played her like a skilled musician. They’d find a way to heal Reid, surely? She let the worry float away, and she focused on Kane and let him distract her from the fact that half of her Perfect Pair had just walked away.

  Chapter Eleven

  Reid didn’t go very far after he’d stormed off from Kane and Sam. His brother had the car keys, and where was he going to go anyway? He went for a walk and hovered by the car, mulling over everything that had just happened.

  What incredible sex they’d just had!

  It made him feel so guilty every time he thought about how good it was. How amazing Sam had been. So giving, so passionate, honest in her need for them. Her pussy had tightened around his cock, and in that moment he’d known what it felt like to be home.

  How was that possible after already marrying the woman he’d thought was his mate?

  The front door to the house opened, and Kane bounced out, his arms moving in a jogging rhythm as he practically danced down the path.

  Hot anger rolled in his belly like a storm. Reid knew that look. “Had another round with her, I see.”

  Reid glanced away and wanted to bite his tongue off. He was the one who’d stormed off. He had no right to be jealous of Kane for having more time with Sam. He’d had the chance. He hadn’t taken it.

  “I want to shift and go for a run, Reid.”

  Kane’s declaration made Reid’s heart plummet. He wanted no such thing. He’d accepted that they may have been wrong about Amanda, but that didn’t change the fact that he’d loved her. He hadn’t quite figured out how he was going to fix that one yet, but he would.

  But shifting? That would truly mean the end to their mourning, and he wasn’t ready to let go of Amanda quite yet.

  “Why? We haven’t shifted in a year. Why bother now?”

  Something inside him moved and purred, restless at the suggestion. Whoa. He hadn’t been mistaken yesterday when he’d felt the urge to shift.

  He swallowed the soft rumble that rose and coughed loudly. He didn’t want his mountain lion alive. That would mean that Sam really was their mate and Amanda had been a mistake.

  His heart ached to shift and run, to be the free, strong animal he’d once been.

  Fuck, I’m so confused.

  He looked down at his hands as he held them out in front of himself. His hands were tan, his forearms bulging with tight, corded muscle. He groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. His soft, thick, healthy hair. “What the hell has happened to us, Kane?”

  Kane cocked his head at him and lifted his chin in question. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean…” Reid held out his arms, feeling the strength ripple and twang within his muscles. He felt just as strong as when he was pumping iron seven days a week and consuming a cow’s worth of protein. How was that possible?

  “I’m strong, healthy again. How can that be after all this time?”

  Kane grinned. The bloody bastard grinned! “It’s amazing isn’t it? Finding Sam has fixed everything.”

  Reid growled and glared at his brother. “Don’t give her all the credit.”

  Kane laughed, the sound deep and mockingly charged. “You’re kidding me, right? What else has changed for us except finding her?”

  Reid shook his head, knowing that his brother had a point, yet not willing to believe it. “We’ve been eating better again.”

  Kane lifted an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

  Reid gave in. “Fine, I’ll run with you, brother. Now. Let’s go.”

  Anything to stop thinking and talking about that woman who had stepped into a wedding party and turned their lives, and their health, upside down.

  Kane stared at him for a moment, then sighed. “I’ll let you get away with that for now. I really need to do this.”

  Kane pulled out his cell and called their cousin, putting the phone on speaker so Reid could hear. Two rings and Brandon’s deep voice spoke through the phone.

  “Hey, Kane.”

  “Hey, Brandon. Kane and I wanna shift and run, but don’t know your area.”

  “When was the last time you shifted?”

  Reid coughed and scuffed his foot in the dirt. “A while.”

  He didn’t want to admit that they’d both tried to shift on the day of Amanda’s funeral, but in their grief, not even their lions had enough strength to rise to the front.

  Neither of them had tried it since.

  “Ok, come to our place, and we’ll shift with you. There’s a few poachers around this time of year, and you’ve gotta keep your wits about you.”

  “Will do. Thanks. See you in ten.”

  Kane hung up and they got into the car together.

  “Let’s go see if we even remember how to do this.”

  Reid grunted but didn’t say anything. He’d like to be cynical, but after seeing how well his body had responded to making love to Sam, he wouldn’t be surprised if he was made a liar of twice in one day.

  Kane took off, and they made their way to the base of the nearby Rockies, where many of their family lived.

  “I cannot wait for this.” Kane’s voice bubbled with excitement, and Reid winced as he looked out the window.

  “What if it doesn’t work?”

  Just like it hadn’t the last time they’d shifted. The pain and disappointment after that had been shocking. Worse than any other type of impotence, the inability to shift into their animal had destroyed what little strength they’d had left.

  “Reid, I feel fucking amazing. There’s no way our animals will fail us now.”

  His stomach in cramped knots, Reid nodded and hummed as though in agreement. He had no idea what his lion was going to do, but if it was anything like his cock, he’d take off without a thought.

  Hot tears stung his eyes and nose. He blinked rapidly and coughed to clear his throat.

  How fucking embarrassing.

  His life was officially nowhere near where he was yesterday. It had taken a sharp U-turn and turned back time. He felt as good as he had in his twenties.

  They pulled up outside Brandon and Tyler’s beautiful house and got out.

  Kane grinned at him and tilted his head. “You know we could look at buying down here. I wouldn’t mind moving closer
to this side of the family.”

  Reid shrugged, not wanting to even contemplate a future like that existing yet.

  “I’m not even sure I’m going to be alive next week. The last thing I’m thinking about is real estate.”

  Kane laughed, solidly and with a jovial sound Reid hadn’t heard in years. “Yeah right, big brother. I feel like I could take down an elephant. Let’s go.”

  A real growl rumbled in his chest as he watched his smaller, happier brother bounce up the steps and knock on their cousins’ front door.

  The carved wooden entrance swung open, and Brandon stepped through, embracing Kane.

  Reid swallowed the lump that had accumulated in his throat and locked his wobbly knees, hard. It was hard to see his cousins looking so well. He knew he shouldn’t be jealous of Brandon’s size and strength, but it was hard not to mourn what he’d lost.

  Brandon walked over to him and reached out his hand. Reid pushed himself up off the car he’d been leaning on and embraced his cousin, Brandon’s beefy arms coming around him. They stood there for a split second, Brandon patting him on the back with a meaty fist, then drawing away.

  That was when Reid saw the breadth of Brandon’s chest, and looked down and saw that his was a similar size. He held his arm up next to Brandon’s, and their forearms were identical.

  “Whatcha looking at?” Brandon asked, glancing down at his hand as though it offended him somehow.

  Tyler stepped forward with a knowing smile. “Forgotten what it was like to be the big twin, Reid?”

  Reid shook his head, falling back against the car once again when his knees weakened. “I lost all my weight this year.”

  Brandon burst out in laughter. “Lost weight? What are you? Two hundred pounds?”

  Impossible.

  Reid looked down at himself and couldn’t believe it was true. “I know I’m feeling better, but no way am I back to where I was before our wedding.” He hadn’t been over one-ninety since before the wedding, and he’d weighed himself a few months ago and been bordering on one-sixty.

  Brandon grinned at him and puffed out his chest “Let’s go check then. Tyler and Kane can go get set up and we’ll meet them ‘round the back.”

  Brandon planted his palm in the center of Reid’s back and herded him up into the house.

  The walls flew by, and Reid found himself in Brandon’s bathroom, sun streaming in the clear glass window and bouncing off the modern white tiles.

  “Go on, get on. I betcha you’re close to two hundred. I’m only two-oh-five, and you’re almost bigger than me.”

  Reid stared at the modern scales, a glass plate and a small screen the only thing between him and knowing if his strength really had returned. That would mean that Sam wasn’t just his mate. It would mean she’d saved him. He wasn’t dying. Amanda hadn’t been his mate…

  He needed to know for sure. His heart pounding against his ribs, he took a shallow breath and stepped onto the glass.

  Sweat beaded his forehead as he waited for the number. He’d dropped to almost one hundred and fifty-five pounds a few months ago. For him, that had been a sure sign he was close to death. As the larger and stronger half of their Perfect Pair, he’d known he was in trouble when he was smaller than his twin had been at his peak.

  “Fuck me…” He stared at the screen and blinked several times.

  “Ha! Told ya so!” Jack clapped him on the back and moved away towards the door. “You coming?”

  Hot tears stung Reid’s nose as he stared at the number. 206. He was back to his biggest. Somehow, Sam had healed him. Made his body grow and strengthen back to being the twin he was meant to be.

  He wiped away the moisture and nodded, swinging around and following Brandon through the house and outside. One meeting, sex, and an earth shattering orgasm couldn’t possibly undo a year of pain and starvation.

  How had she done it? Even as he asked himself the question, he knew the truth. She was their mate, their real one. After all they’d suffered, they had another chance.

  His heart ached and thumped at him through his ribs, calling him a traitor. Amanda…

  “You ready, Reid?” Brandon called out as he dropped his jeans in the pile of clothes that had accumulated on the outside furniture.

  Three naked men greeted him from the back yard, and Reid pulled at his clothes with slow awkward movements, his head was still spinning from the scales.

  “You ok, bro?” Kane called to him, and Reid nodded, unable to formulate any other words.

  If he was back to full health, then he should be able to shift.

  A soft growl rumbled through his chest as though in answer, and he had to swallow down the tears threatening him again.

  Bloody hell. Pull it together.

  “Ok, Tyler will shift first and you guys just follow. Relax and I’m sure it’ll happen. We can run to the lake and back, just stay close. There’s poachers around at the moment.”

  Reid nodded again and stumbled towards his brother and cousins.

  Tyler began to shift, fur sprouting out on his face and arms. Then he was gone, and a cinnamon colored mountain lion stood in his place.

  Reid glanced at his brother, and Kane smiled at him as his eyes began to change color, then his skin. He shifted slowly, but he managed it, his brother’s animal finally standing before him, purring madly.

  Brandon looked at him, a grin plastered across his face. “Your turn. Let’s go.”

  His stomach flipped with fear as his throat began to constrict. He didn’t want to fail.

  Brandon’s solid hand grabbed his shoulder.

  “Just focus on your animal. The feel of the four legs, the awesome sight and smells of running through the forest. Whatever works for you.”

  Reid nodded his head with jerky motions and pushed the air in and out his nose, the noise anxious even to his ears.

  He couldn’t wait anymore. Reid closed his eyes and focused on his animal, the lion he’d given up on over a year ago. The growl erupted, a heat deep in his belly. He let his human side go, his body falling to the floor, shrinking and contorting into the powerful mountain lion of his family line.

  He blinked his eyes open and was buffeted by the beauty of the sun streaming through the forest, the smell of the grass and the flowers nearby almost overwhelming him.

  His heart sang, and something inside his soul settled with happiness. It had been far too long.

  Reid took some steps, his cat body feeling foreign and new. It was awkward and downright embarrassing to feel like this again. He was sure he looked like a newborn giraffe, staggering and learning to walk for the first time.

  His cousins purred around him, rubbing their heads against his back, Reid turned to see Kane stumble into a tree, obviously feeling the same as Reid himself.

  Reid steadied himself and took some deep breaths. He'd been shifting for over twenty years now. There was no reason to be scared. He began to pace out his steps, enjoying the dirt beneath his paws, the strength in his lean muscles.

  He pushed himself forward, his legs moving faster and more in sync now as he ran into the woods, the smell of the trees prickling his nose.

  His heart leapt harder in his chest, pushing him to run faster. He could hear his cousins and his brother behind him, so he kept moving, brushing past trees, large bushes and leaping over rocks.

  The air had a tangy sweetness to it, and he headed in the direction his instincts took him. A growl up ahead intrigued him. How had his family gotten ahead?

  He leapt over a hedge and came face to face with an unknown mountain lion, growling and in fighting stance.

  Reid paced up and down the clearing, making friendly noises, while keeping an eye on the cat. He didn’t smell like a shifter. There was something too feral about him.

  Which meant he was a real mountain lion.

  Fear prickled his skin, and Reid began to back away.

  The mountain lion advanced on him, his head turned slightly so that his right eye could focus mor
e on Reid. The left eye was heavily scarred. The other cat fell into a pouncing position, and Reid bolted to the left, narrowly dodging the other cat’s claws as they were swiped at his head.

  He ran towards the trees, feeling the slice of pain rip though him as the mountain lion tore down his flank. He cried out, the inhuman sound echoing in the clearing as he turned to face the other animal. He had no hope of surviving if he shifted. His human body would be no match for the speed of this wild cat.

  He snarled and growled, facing the other animal, desperately trying to ignore the pain in his back as he limped around in a circle. His stomach was turning around in his body, and his heart was racing in his chest. A week ago he would have closed his eyes and welcomed the fate the big cat would bring him. Instead, as he dug his feet into the dirt and planned his attack, it became very apparent to him that he didn’t want to die.

  A flurry of snarling cats flew into the clearing, and Kane, in his shifter form attacked the real mountain lion, swiping at his face with vicious strikes.

  The wild animal, seeing all four of them, turned tail and fled, leaving the clearing now empty of everything except his family.

  Reid collapsed onto the soft grass, breathing heavily. His heart was still hammering in his chest, and he couldn’t seem to slow it down. He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to die. Even after everything he’d said about not believing Sam was there true mate, he’d had the chance to yield to death and he’d fought.

  Sam was their mate, and he wanted the chance to see what it would feel like to fulfill the prophecy he’d heard about for so long. To feel complete, be whole.

  If he was honest, it’d never been that way with Amanda. He’d been happy, but it had never been what he’d been told a true Perfect Pair mating would be like. And it was only now, with his body bleeding and his mind was clear, that he could finally admit that to himself.

  His brother came to lie by his side, purring and butting his head against Reid’s.

  Tyler shifted to human and crouched down next to him.

  “Reid, are you all right? Do you need me to carry you? We’ll go straight to the clinic and get Laura to heal you if you don’t have the strength.”