MATED TO SERIES COLLECTION

50. SILAS: HEART TO HEART

"Can we talk?"

I raised my head and frowned at Ethan. "If this is about Lara—"

He raised his hand and shook his head. "It's not about Lara. It's about what was said at Alark's place."

I hesitated and then gave him a nod. Ethan stepped into the study and firmly closed the door behind him. He walked over to the window and stared out of it. "How's Lara?"

"Sleeping."

"That's good."

I pushed the notebook aside and leaned back in the chair. My eyes trailed over Ethan as I waited for him to start speaking. He was dressed in his usual pair of sweats and a t-shirt. I was surprised that he was wearing so much clothing.

"You said that it's your fault that I'm not able to shift," I said when he continued to stay silent.

I heard him swallow loudly before he turned. Ethan walked over to the chair on the other side of the desk and sat down. He leaned back and looked me right in the eyes. I tried to make out the emotion that I saw there, but failed.

"Mom asked me to watch you but I didn't want to. My friends and I were planning on going up to the lake. I was mad that I had to cancel because we'd been planning it for weeks. In the end I was forced to stay and watch you but I waited for them to leave and then snuck out." He glanced away from me. "I figured that I'd go and have some fun and then get back home before they get back."

"What does this have to do with me?"

His eyes darted back to mine. "Everything." Ethan licked his lips. "They don't want me to tell you this but you need to know."

"Why don't they want me to know?" I questioned. "Isn't it my right to know why I'm not like you? Why I don't have the genres which you have?"

"You have them," he paused, "or you had them before. I snuck out and you followed me. I caught you and I got mad. I said some mean things to you and you ran off."

"What things?"

"Worse than what I had said to you the night I caught you and Avery." His eyes dropped to the table. "When you didn't return after, I got worried. I went searching for you. You were eating pink berries."

I frowned at him. "Pink berries?"

Ethan nodded. "It's a plant that looks like edible berries. It's very poisonous to shifters. My friends and I rushed you to the hospital but it was already too late. The poison was already in your bloodstream. They managed to stop it from. . .destroying your vital organs and other stuff but it had already killed your shifter genres."

I stared at him for a few more seconds before I threw my head back and laughed. "Bullshit," I said when I calmed down. "Why are you making up some shit story? There's no way that a poisonous berry will kill my shifter genres. I was born unable to shift."

"You weren't," he quickly denied. "You could shift but after you ate the berries, you couldn't anymore."

"Why are you lying, Ethan?"

"Why do you think I'm lying? I'm telling the truth!"

I leaned forward and linked my fingers together on the desktop. "At Alark's place you told me that they forced you to take me with you and your friends."

Ethan paled. He jumped up and started pacing. Low growls fell from his lips as he ran a shaky hand through his hair. My confusion intensified as I tried to make sense of what was happening. He was lying to me, but why?

I stood and walked around the table to the front and leaned back against it with my arms crossed over my chest. "Why are you making up lies?"

He stopped and turned to face me. "Because I need for you to hate me."