Inevitable: Shifters Forever Worlds (Only After Dark Book 5) by Elle Thorne Page B

him Greek cookies and told him he was to never, ever let anyone see him do anything that normal little boys couldn't do.
    A preteen now, he found it easier to control his urges, easier to control his lion, and easier to control his lion shifter skills. Sure he could run faster, jump higher, longer, and out wrestle other boys his age, but now he knew how to control these things.
    So to all eyes on the island of Syros, he was just an average little boy, son of a widow woman.
    His mother told him his father was a god, he was born of a god and that he wasn’t allowed to tell anyone. If he were ever asked, he was simply to respond that his father had been a fisherman who’d been lost at sea.
    He jumped to the final boulder at the end of the jetty and studied the blueness of the ocean.
    One day I’ll go further than this island. One day I’ll see more of the world.
    And one day he’d take care of his mother. She toiled in the homes of the wealthy on the island, working hard to provide for herself and her son. She had no social life, no pleasures, no love.
    All she had was Theo. Everything she did centered around Theo and his needs.
    Yes, for sure, one day this boy would take care of the woman who’d dedicated her life to him.
    He looked out over the sea. Why else would he have the skills he had? Was his father Poseidon? What about Zeus?
    A part of him mocked his own ideas. How could his father be a Greek god? Another part of Theo wondered how he could take the form of a lion if his father wasn’t a god.
    The crisp blueness of the ocean burned bright. The fishing boats dotted the horizon. Theo dug deep into his pocket, pulling out the bread and feta his mother had stuffed into plastic wrap. He took fishing line and a hook out. Sure his mother meant for him to eat the feta and bread, but part of it would be bait for the fish near the rocks. Taking a pinch of bread and feta, he rolled it into a tiny ball, then pierced it with the hook.
    His mother would be happy to see some fresh fish this afternoon. She’d make their favorite fish soup with fresh lemons.
    He dropped the hook into the water.
    Hours later, it was almost sundown and Theo had a handful of fish on a line to take home.
    He shoved his line and hook in his pocket, wiped his hands on this pants, then dropped to one knee to take the fish from the water where they were strung on a line.
    Rising and turning swiftly, he almost ran into a mountain of a man.
    He looked up at the man, surrounded by a halo of the setting sun.
    Dark haired and tan, the man’s black eyes gleamed. A smile crept to his face then spread to his lips, revealing even white teeth.
    A slight shiver ran down Theo’s spine as he recognized the look of a predator in the man’s smile and his eyes.
    “Theodoros.” The man’s smile grew larger.
    Theo paused. No one called him that. Everyone called him Theo. Even his mother. She only called him Theodoros when he was in trouble. And those times were rare.
    He gazed at the man warily, not answering his question. Theo’s mother had warned him not to talk to strangers. He wasn’t going to break her rules.
    “Theodoros Ioannis Ricoletti.” The man’s smile grew more broad.
    Young Theo couldn’t control his temper and broke his mother’s rule. “That’s not my name. My name is Theodoros Ioannis Adamantides.”
    “Adamantides is your mother’s last name,” the man stated.
    “So?”
    “Your father is Marco Ricoletti.”
    “I’ve never heard that name,” Theo scoffed.
    “Because your mother took you from your father’s home before you were even born. She tried to keep you a secret.”
    Lies.
    But then again, was it? His mother never said anything about Theo’s father, other than he was a god. Theo knew deep down, that wasn’t true. He also knew his mother was holding something back.
    “No,” he denied the man’s statement, though he had no clue if it were true or not.
    “No?” The man’s grin was predatory, white teeth glistening in the