by A. C. Arthur
“I missed you too, you big jerk,” she replied, swiping a hand over my chest. “Why didn’t you visit?”
Her hand had been warm and I wished like hell she’d left it on my chest, but she’d pulled it away knowing what her touch did to me, trying desperately to ignore it. That hadn’t worked. I could tell by the way her fingers continued to move as she placed them in her lap, she wanted to touch me again and again. Damn, but I wanted the same thing. I wanted it almost more than air.
“You said you needed space so I gave it to you,” I said simply.
“And you found Kyra in the meantime,” she finished with a nod.
See, another thing I knew about Lidia was that she was passionate about however she felt about a person. If she hated someone, they’d better watch the hell out. If she loved them, it was till the death. And if she was jealous, damn, it was almost as good as if she’d just admitted she loved me. “Yeah,” I replied with an exaggerated sigh and smile. “I found Kyra.”
“Hooray for the lovebirds,” she quipped, walking away and dropping down onto my couch, the TV remote already in her hand. “I like ham and pineapple on my pizza.”
I tried to hide a grin but it was pointless. I liked the jealous Lidia, almost as much as I loved the Shadow Shifter one. “And extra cheese. I know what you like on your pizza, Lidia,” I told her while pulling my cell from my pocket to speed-dial the pizza place.
I knew everything about Lidia, loved everything about her, wanted all of her, needed her in the absolute worst way. My patience was waning, the cat inside threatening to take over this conquest, ready at a moment’s notice to reach out for its mate and hold on tight.
***
I was asleep for all of fifteen minutes before Lidia began crawling up my body. We’d started out sitting side by side, then about ten minutes into some crying-in-the-rain chick-flick I was dozing off. She’d slapped me in the chest, threatening to break my ankles if I didn’t watch the entire movie. To prove her point, she’d pulled my leg up onto hers. Of course I didn’t complain. I didn’t stay awake either, but I didn’t complain.
That was the last memory I had before I felt something soft and warm brush past what was steadily becoming a very happy erection. Cracking one eye open I could see the top of her head lying on my chest, one hand wearing the plain sterling silver band on her thumb—actually I felt that since a circle of warmth was now pooling there.
As for my erection, it was her knee that was now inching even farther up between my legs. I swallowed first, counting to five in my head before attempting my next move. I could just sit up and wake her, give her a ride back to her dorm, and come back home like the good “big brother” she liked to think I was. Or I could …
I brushed my hand over her hair. It smelled heavenly, like fresh berries and flowers and it always looked so silky as it hung past her shoulders. My hand moved down her back, feeling the steady rise and fall as she breathed. As softly as I could and with as much control as I’d been taught, I cupped the ass I loved staring at. One cheek rested in my palm and my dick pressed painfully against the zipper of my jeans, my teeth clenching. Inhaling deeply, her scent seeped into my nostrils causing my blood to pump fiercely.
She moved, rolling slightly so that now she was actually on top of me, her breasts on my chest, her crotch aligned perfectly with my dick. I couldn’t do anything but palm both my hands on her ass.
“Brayden.” She whispered my name, looking up at me with sleep-hazed eyes, lips slightly parted and damn kissable.
So I did the only thing I could, I lifted slightly until our faces were close and my lips could finally touch hers. The kiss was hot and brutal because that’s how I felt right now. I wanted her more than I wanted my next breath. My dick wanted out of these stupid fuckin’ jeans and inside her hot little pussy, as soon as absolutely possible.
“Stop, Brayden. Dammit, stop!” she said in a louder, much more coherent voice than a half-asleep person should have.
In the next instant she was pushing up off of me and I was left lying there with a hard-on and what was probably a dumb-assed look on my face.
“I have a boyfriend, Brayden,” she said, pulling her shirt down and straightening her hair. “And you have Kyra.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked trying to sift through the haze of arousal and the sudden pang of irritation. “I don’t have Kyra, we were just hanging out.”
That didn’t sound too believable and frustration was eating at me like a disease. Frowning, it was my turn to rub a hand down the back of my head. “I mean, I don’t want Kyra and you damn well know that!”
“You wanted her all summer when you were making a point to stay away from me,” she tossed back, her fists clenching at her sides.
Dammit, now she sounded angry that I hadn’t come to see her or called, or whatever. I thought she’d wanted the space so I’d given it to her. Now, I had no goddamned idea what she wanted.
“Look, this is ridiculous. We belong together, Lidia. We’ve been together for as long as either of us can remember. You with someone else, me with someone else, it just doesn’t fit. It’s not the way it was meant to be.”
“Stop talking to me like I’m part of some grand plan made by some higher entity that has no freakin’ idea what it’s like to be me.” She opened her mouth to say something else, then stopped, swiping both hands down her face while taking a deep breath. “You and I are best friends. That. Is. All.”
“You don’t believe that any more than I do and I’m tired of playing along with your little fantasy.”
“I have a boyfriend, Brayden.”
“You have me,” I said through clenched teeth, my shoulders tingling with the need to shift, to stand on my hind legs and roar with the pain searing through me at her words. “You will always have me.”
She didn’t reply; instead she watched me with eyes that had begun to fill with tears. I ached with the pain so clearly etched on her face, its stench reaching up to strangle me it was so intense. This was what I didn’t want, what I couldn’t handle seeing. She shook her head and backed away, heading towards the door. I wanted to grab her, to hold her close and refuse to let her go, but I didn’t. I couldn’t cause her more pain, I’d never forgive myself if I did, and she was gone before I could second guess my actions. Just like the last time.
CHAPTER 3
Lidia
I’m an idiot.
A horny, brain-damaged, and sleep-deprived idiot and I was going be late for my first day in Computer Concepts for Teachers if I didn’t move a lot faster. I’d overslept, which, before this summer, had been unlike me. This time when the nightmare had awakened me and I’d instinctively reached for my cell phone to call Brayden, I’d immediately recalled kiss #2 that was even hotter than kiss #1, which even though it happened three months ago was still wreaking havoc in my mind. Why did he keep kissing me? And why did those kisses keep getting better?
Because I was cursed. That’s the only viable excuse I could come up with. My uncle had escaped our tribe to become the second in command to one of the most notorious Shadow Shifters gone rogue and just about everyone in our village thought anyone related to him would eventually turn out the same way. The rumors had driven my parents apart, until eventually my mother had hanged herself from the tree near the waterfall where she taught me how to swim. My father, shamed by his choice of mate, took off to where nobody knew—both of them leaving me, a ten-year-old, to fend for myself. The entire village would have probably voted to cast me out as well if it had not been for the Sanchezes offering to take me in, carting me along as they traveled the globe as shifter ambassadors.
How could I repay them by being attracted to their son?
“Late for class?”
I heard his voice first, then smelled his cologne, and then I looked up into the ice-blue eyes of Daniel Mulligan, who since our first meeting last semester, always seemed to pop up wherever I was.
“Almost,” I replied, snapping out of my
“what do I do now?” trance. The answer to that question was simple: avoid being alone with Brayden as much as possible, or at least until this thing between us passed, as I was sure it would. Regardless of what he’d said, he had a girlfriend now. I’d seen them together and they definitely looked like they were doing more than just hanging out. To top that off, I, rather impulsively, had lied and told him I had a boyfriend. Knowing we were both off-limits should do the trick. I hoped.
“Where are you headed?” I asked Daniel, who was now walking beside me, heading toward the technology building on campus. Daniel was a good-looking guy, with his tousled dark brown hair and dimpled chin.
“Professor Howard has a class in thirty minutes. I’m going over early to open the room and get the PowerPoint set up,” he replied.
That’s how Daniel and I had met, while I was taking Professor Howard’s psychology course. Daniel was the professor’s assistant and eye candy for the female students, which went a long way to staying awake since Professor Howard’s class consisted of 98 percent lecture time. If I hadn’t needed the credits I would have definitely skipped his class entirely. Now, this morning, however, I was glad I hadn’t.
“More lectures from Professor Howard,” I said with a smirk.
Daniel nudged me playfully. “Come on, you know you’re gonna miss it.”
“Absolutely not,” was my quick and cheerful retort. “This computer course will probably be boring enough.”
“Yeah, but that’s how you do it, take all your essential courses early and save the mundane stuff for last.”
I nodded. “You’re right and that’s what I did for the most part. I have a foreign language methodology class this semester, but it’s the most important one I need for my major. The rest are things like astrology and computers for dummies. I should coast through the next two semesters until graduation, right?”
Daniel chuckled. “You sure should. That was smart thinking on your part.”
Actually, it had been half smart thinking and half preparation. I was supposed to head to the East Coast after graduation to begin my final training and testing to become a shifter guard. That’s what Brayden wanted me to do. But I’d had other ideas and had begun implementing them in the last year. Some of these plans I’d shared with Brayden even though I knew he disagreed. As much as I cared about Brayden and his family, I couldn’t be who they wanted me to be, no matter what my bloodline predicated, or rather in spite of.
“What are you doing when you receive your master’s next year?” I asked him as we entered the technology building.
I could question why he was walking this way since the building where Professor Howard’s lecture hall was located required him to take a right and continue down another pathway, but I didn’t. My mind was full enough of questions and answers that didn’t quite seem to fit, and I didn’t need to add to the issue.
“Not sure yet,” Daniel said after holding the second of the clear glass entrance doors open for me to walk through.
The act, while very chivalrous of him, seemed a little odd because instead of opening the door then standing to the side while I walked inside, he would open the door, hold his arm high up to keep it open then nod for me to walk under his arm. He wasn’t that much taller than me, so each time I ducked a bit, my right side with my purse brushing against him.
I mumbled thanks just as he was replying, “My dad wants me to come work at his PR firm in L.A. He keeps reminding me that’s always been the plan.”
His words stopped me from walking. “Omigod, really? You have a premade plan too?” I know it probably sounded stupid but I couldn’t believe he had people trying to dictate his life the same way I did.
Daniel nodded, running his fingers through his low-cut, chestnut-colored hair. “Yeah, it’s a real pain in the ass. I mean, I’ve been in school for almost six years now. Hiding out mostly because I’m not even sure what I’ll do with a master’s in psychology.”
“You could get licensed and open your own clinic, treat patients, and live your own life,” I suggested, all hyped up because I already knew what my plan was, the one I’d made up for myself, I mean.
“They can’t make you live their lives, or a life you don’t want for yourself. It’s just ridiculous,” I was saying when his lips curled into a smile. A really nice, really cute smile. “What’s so funny?”
“You,” he said, stepping closer to me.
The hallway was almost empty as most students with nine o’clock classes were already in class since I was certain it was a few minutes past nine now. But I wasn’t paying much attention to our surroundings, just kept looking up at Daniel, almost as if I’d never seen him before.
Daniel lifted a hand, pushed hair behind my ear, and spoke. “You look really good when you get riled up. I mean, you look good all the time,” he said, then stopped to clear his throat. “I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me tonight, Lidia.”
The invite was a surprise only because I hadn’t seen him in months. When we first met I’d thought there might be something, that he might be interested, but then the semester was over and Brayden had kissed me and …
“Yes,” I replied probably too enthusiastically, but whatever. “I’d love to have dinner with you.”
Daniel’s smile spread and I felt, um, I felt, a little something, I think. Not that wild flash of hot I felt with someone else, but still it was a start.
“You’d better get to class. I’ll pick you up at your dorm at six,” he said, letting his fingers slide along the line of my jaw.
I smiled back because the gesture was so achingly sweet I figured it was the right thing to do. “I’ll be waiting.”
When I finally walked into class, it was with a lighter step, a brighter outlook, and only a touch of guilt snaking along my shoulder blades. No, wait, that wasn’t guilt, it was a warning, again. I should pay attention this time, search the room for any threats, focus on the feeling to see where it would lead. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to be a shifter, didn’t want to embrace that world wholeheartedly because it wouldn’t end well. I knew that for a fact.
***
I didn’t wait long. At five minutes to six Cora Andrews, one of my assigned roommates, ran into the room, her flame-colored hair flowing behind her. “You have a date with Daniel Mulligan? He’s so hot and he never dates students! I can’t believe you, of all people, have a date with him,” she finished, dropping down onto her bed with a look of sheer grief on her face.
My bed was a bottom bunk and I’d just stood after lacing my ankle-high boots. “Yes, I have a date with Daniel Mulligan,” I replied tightly. “Even though I’m just a student.”
Cora was overexcited, underachieving, and immature, spending her parents’ money like it was her right, instead of a privilege. She talked too much—way more than I did—and about absolutely nothing. She whined and complained more than she went to class or studied and she gave me a headache just about every day I had to sit in this room with her. So to say I didn’t appreciate her comments may have been an understatement.
“I just never figured you for Daniel’s type. Or any guy’s type for that matter,” Cora continued, her pert little face drawn in a frown.
“There’s nothing feminine about you, from that sloppy ponytail you’re too lazy to change to the jeans and T-shirts that fill your wardrobe. Hell, you’re not even wearing makeup.” She finished with a huff.
I heard her talking, only taking in bits and pieces as I’d already learned to do with Cora. Looking down I noted the jeans she’d referenced and my hair was in a ponytail but this was a date, not the senior prom, so little miss priss could kiss my …
“And you wear too much makeup,” was my eventual retort. Then, with an exasperated sigh, “I assume Daniel is on his way up and that’s how you know I’m going out with him.”
When she didn’t immediately reply, I turned to look at her while lifting my jacket from the coatrack by the door. She looked up at me and roll
ed her eyes.
“Yes, he’s coming. He asked what room you were in and I asked why. I should have lied,” she snapped.
At least she was an honest pain in the ass, I thought before shaking my head and muttering, “Thanks.”
I opened the door before Daniel could knock. He looked shocked. I wasn’t. I’d scented his arrival along with the heavy herb aroma of jealousy pouring from Cora’s direction. Despising the shifter traits and how lately they’d seemed to hit me full force, I pressed my hand against his chest to push him back slightly. “Don’t ask,” I told him, closing the door behind me.
He chuckled. “Okay.”
***
Dinner at the Olive Garden had never been so sweet. As many times as I’d been to the place since it was one of the closest restaurants to the school—outside of the pizza/sub shop, Starbucks, and O’Shea’s Bar & Grille—I’d never had such a wonderful time. Daniel was so easy to talk to, we didn’t argue at all. Except over the last breadstick, which ended with him breaking it in half and putting a piece up to my lips for me to bite.
“Would you like to stop for a drink?” he asked when we’d ridden a little way in silence.
I’d been looking out the window thinking of how different dinner with Daniel was from any time spent with Brayden and chastising myself for doing so. “Ah, sure, that sounds fine,” I answered halfheartedly.
For some reason I’d wanted to get back to the dorm as quickly as possible. I had homework but I didn’t think I was anxious to get it completed. No, there was something else, a feeling simmering just beneath the surface of my skin. It felt weird, like it didn’t actually belong but was taking place anyway. This had been happening much too frequently. I didn’t like it at all but knew there was no way to stop it. Shadow Shifters had heightened senses as part of their normal genetic make-up. They needed them to hunt, to fight, to stay alive in the depths of the rainforest where they’d been born.