by A. C. Arthur
I was being swallowed up in a vortex of pain and no amount of training or animalistic strength was going to get me out. There was no running to escape this horrific feeling, no hiding or stubborn pride that could protect me. If I were truly a different type of savior I would have flown into the sky and reversed time like Superman had, I would keep the love of my life, the mate I hadn’t known I’d been searching for, alive and safe no matter what.
But I wasn’t Superman. I was only a Shadow Shifter—only a male in love with this strong, independent, and intelligent human female.
“Aidan.”
I heard my name but couldn’t respond, couldn’t see past the darkness I’d slipped into.
“Aidan.”
That was my name, but it meant nothing to me anymore, did nothing to ease the cocoon of hurt I was wrapped in.
“Aidan!”
The booming voice, the clenching pain in my shoulder as a hand grabbed me there and shook roughly, snatched me back into reality and I opened my eyes.
Rome was staring at me. He’d knelt down in front of me and was looking at me as if he might just rip my head off if I didn’t open my mouth and speak in the next three seconds.
“What?” I answered, lacking the respectful tone I should probably give the Faction Leader.
“She’s awake and you’re smothering her,” he said with a nod down to Grace.
“What?” I said more to myself. “Grace? Grace?” I pulled her away from my chest, my hand instantly going to her cheek. “Grace?”
“Aidan.” She said my name but hadn’t opened her eyes. “Aidan.”
“Say it again,” I whispered, something thick clogging my throat. I wanted to hear her say my name again and again and forever.
“You’re not in jail,” she whispered.
“No. I’m right here.”
Then she moved, her hands going to my arm, up and down, searching one then the other as she opened her eyes and struggled to sit upright.
“They have your bracelet,” she said. “I saw it on you that first night you saved me and the night of the party. But you didn’t have it at the motel.”
“I know, baby. I know. Don’t worry about that now.”
But Grace kept shaking her head. Her eyes were wild as she looked at me. “No. No. Something is not right. They’re not right. Rafe and Chris and Brett, they all have the same bracelet and they’re not…” Her words trailed off as she lifted a hand to my cheek then upward to my eyes. “They’re like you, but different, I think. You’re all different,” she said in a slow whisper.
“We should go,” Rome said gruffly before standing. “Now.”
I had barely turned my attention away from Grace when I realized what Rome was really saying. I picked up the scent and before I knew what else was happening I’d stood up, pushed Grace in Rome’s direction, and charged deeper into the alley.
CHAPTER 13
Aidan the Shadow Shifter
Rafe stood at the end of the alley lifting silver cans and dropping them into the green Dumpster in front of him. He’d just dropped the last one inside when he suddenly stopped and turned.
“You stupid Shadows don’t know when to let go, do you? Don’t you know when your time is up?” Rafe asked, rubbing his hands together as he approached me.
“And you rogues have no idea what we have in store for you.” I returned his taunt, feeling the adrenaline pumping through my veins.
In the next seconds, Rafe was no longer the football player with a cursed mean streak. He was a full-grown male jaguar, golden in color and pure evil in nature. I didn’t hesitate but let the beast in me rip free, lunging forward as the shift took hold, meeting my counterpart in midair in a loud thunk of animal bodies and roars.
Our front paws swinging, we clawed at each other, mouths open crying out in battle. I pulled away first, willing to give my opponent a second to catch his breath. I circled him, moving slowly, maintaining eye contact, just as I’d been taught. Funny how all the things I’d wanted to forget or at least to push aside, came swarming back like a breath of fresh air.
Rafe moved in the same motion, had most likely had some of the same training. But his breathing was unregulated, he wasn’t used to the hand-to-hand or beast-to-beast contact, meaning he’d been trained but had no field experience. I had the advantage there, having been in the rainforests of South America, Africa, and India, meeting with different tribes and coming nose to nose with opponents of all kinds. They had been good lessons that I now appreciated much more than I had before.
I lunged the moment I saw Rafe’s flanks heave in exhaustion, going instantly for the top of his head. My teeth clamped into his skull, holding him still with the strength of my jaws, and all the rage that had built in me since seeing Grace lying so still on that sidewalk. There was nothing more important at this very moment, nothing more vital to me than ending this life, this vicious strand of cruelty that had been bred and introduced into this world.
And when it was done, I backed away, my flanks heaving with the exertion, mouth dripping with my enemy’s blood.
“Aidan.”
It was a familiar whisper, a soft and sweet sound that almost shattered my heart.
* * *
The Real Grace Kincaid
I pulled away from the tall, handsome guy who looked like he could easily toss me over his shoulder or at the very least restrain me a little better than he had. I’d run into that alley after Aidan knowing instinctively that what lay in wait for him there was dangerous, maybe even deadly.
I absolutely had no clue.
But standing there watching two huge cats fighting until the death did something to me. It should have grossed me out or shocked me so much that I fainted or some other dramatic act like that. Instead there was a surge of something inside me, energy or power or I don’t know. All I knew was that I could not look away, I could not run away. I stood there staring, witnessing what I knew should not be true, but what I believed anyway.
I’d known from the start that Aidan was different, but never would have imagined to this extent. He was a gorgeous guy with his dark South American looks, the lilt of his voice as he spoke in his native language, the build of his body as I’d seen it through his clothes and just a few moments ago his bare chest.
Now, as this big black cat, he was phenomenal. That’s all I could think as I stepped toward it.
“Aidan,” I whispered again.
The cat turned to me, lifting its large head in my direction. His eyes were yellow with tiny black centers. I fell to my knees, reaching out a hand and calling to him once more. He moved slowly as if he wasn’t sure I really wanted him to come closer. But I did, I needed to touch him, to feel this living, breathing creature that was also the guy I thought I’d fallen in love with.
He laid his head in my palm and I giggled nervously. There was so much power in that slight movement I couldn’t contain myself. My heart beat so loud and hard in my chest I felt like I’d swallowed it. Aidan came even closer and I used my other hand to touch his flanks, rubbing along the dark fur that was peppered with lighter round patches.
“You’re beautiful,” I said softly into the cat’s ear. “Absolutely beautiful. Meu companheiro.”
He shifted then, the human and very naked Aidan kneeling in front of me, cupping my face in his hands.
“Grace.” He said my name in a rushed voice as he lowered his forehead to mine.
I grasped his wrists, looking up at him. “Aidan.”
“Mina,” he said over and over again. “Mina.”
I giggled again, not sure where that was coming from but really unable to control it right now. Hell, I was kneeling in an alley with a really hot, very naked guy who could also shift into a beautiful jaguar. Yeah, I think a little nervous giggling was called for. That or … “I don’t know what that word means,” I admitted to him. “Haven’t had a chance to look it up yet.”
Now it was Aidan’s turn to chuckle. His smile was so breathtaking I did almost f
aint that time.
“It means mine. You are mine,” he finished with a touch of our lips.
I opened to him immediately, his tongue moving seductively over mine. My arms went around him, holding him close, noting that now it was both our hearts that beat with frantic urgency.
Panting from adrenaline and arousal I broke the kiss, keeping Aidan in my arms as I looked into his now human eyes and stated, “Mina.”
* * *
Aidan
“You will both stay at Havenway until we figure out how to handle this,” Rome stated as we sat in the back of the SUV.
“She’s not one of us,” I countered.
“Now you think about that,” he replied with more than a little bit of agitation. “You exposed us all in that alley, not just yourself. Luckily my driver is also a very close friend who has been with my family for as long as I can remember. He knows how to take care of dead shifters and disposed of Rafe’s body while you were taking Grace to get her things. The other two, however, escaped that fire, so they’re still on the loose.”
Rome paused and just when I thought his outburst was over, he continued. “You didn’t think for one minute how any of this would affect us as a whole, you just acted. And now I have to figure out how to deal with that.”
I swallowed because I knew what he said was true. But I didn’t give a damn. “You told me not too long ago that my path was my own, that neither Havenway nor the shifters dictated who and what I became. That means none of you can dictate who I love, who my mate will be.”
I knew Rome was the Faction Leader and I had nothing but respect for him, but if I was going to live in this world and do the things that I was born to do, I was damn sure going to do them my way.
“Grace belongs with me. She is going to stay with me,” I finished. She was my mate and nobody, not even a governing shifter, could change that fact.
Beside me Grace moved slightly. She’d been lying against my shoulder dozing off as we rode along the highway heading back to the shifter headquarters.
“I won’t tell anybody, if that’s what you’re worried about, sir. I won’t say a word. But Aidan is right, we belong together. I traveled all the way across the country and endured I don’t know how many disappointments to get to this point. My parents have disowned me and I moved out of my dorm room. I thought everything in my life was spiraling out of control but it seems everything was simply getting out of my way, preparing me for this, for Aidan and all that he is. This is where I was meant to be.”
Rome looked as if he were ready to toss both of us out the window. “That rogue you just killed knew who and what you were from the start. Instead of killing you they wanted you captured. Now, I don’t know why that is yet, but I intend to find out. In the meantime, I do not need the Elders breathing down my neck about someone breaching the Ètica. You will go to Havenway and complete the finals as scheduled,” he said, pinning me with his angry gaze. “And you,” he said, looking at Grace with what I immediately noticed was a much softer look and an easier tone, “you will remain at his side, but out of sight. You don’t need to tell me that you two belong together. I picked up the companheiro calor the moment I saw him at the police station. And believe me, I know what it’s like to be overtaken with an unplanned and unprecedented love.”
He sighed, letting his head loll back on the seat. “Unfortunately, I’m the one that has to deal with the aftermath of this grand love affair.”
There would be no aftermath if I had anything to do with it. I didn’t tell Rome that, didn’t feel the need to. This was my life and from this moment on I would claim my destiny wholeheartedly, just as I had claimed my sweet Grace, meu companheiro.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
“Mine to Claim” copyright © 2014 by A.C. Arthur.
All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
eISBN 9781466857087
First eBook Edition: April 2014
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PART OF ME
A.C. ARTHUR
St. Martin’s Press
CHAPTER 1
Lidia
Three months ago
He kissed me.
Brayden Sanchez kissed me, Lidia Morales.
No, to be fair, it wasn’t just a kiss, it was like he was making love to my mouth. If that’s at all possible. I’m almost positive it is, because that’s exactly how I felt when it was happening.
We’d been studying for finals at the end of the spring semester of our junior year. Brayden was smart and the best fighter I knew, but he didn’t like sitting in class and hated the idea of written tests to gauge what someone did or didn’t know. Brayden was definitely more of a physical type of guy. I was getting the full meaning of those words.
“Life’s about applying what you know in everyday scenarios. Calculus is not going to help me in the war against the rogues,” he’d complained when I’d first mentioned I wanted to go to college. I understood because I knew how much he’d detested the tutors we had. The only saving grace was that we were traveling the world, having all types of adventurous escapades in between the schoolwork.
In the end, he’d enrolled in Faust University with me. I think the idea of spending four years in lovely Pacifica, California was what finally won him over.
A part of me knew it was a mistake when the decision was made. Brayden and I should have parted ways amicably when we had the chance. I should have continued on to school to pursue the goal of teaching as I’d always planned, the one dream in life I felt like I could actually reach. The one goal in this messy, split life I’d been forced to live that kept me going. And Brayden should have been allowed to do the same thing. He should have headed straight to Havenway to train with the East Coast Faction Leader, to become the Shadow Shifter warrior he’d always wanted to be. Then none of this would have ever happened.
Unfortunately, with all the added traits shadows possessed, re-writing the past wasn’t one of them.
So, we’d been studying for hours and Brayden had just convinced me to have a glass of wine to relax a little. He could tell I was tense because math was not my favorite subject and maybe because I’d just tossed the textbook to the other end of the couch.
“Calm down, you’ll ace this test just like you’ve done all the others in the previous semesters. You’re brilliant,” he’d said, taking a seat beside me, extending the glass my way.
I’d paused with the complaint I was about to rattle off because there was something different about the way he was looking at me. The slow way his arm extended toward me, holding onto the glass a moment longer than necessary when I already had my fingers on the stem. We’d touched before, hell, when we were fifteen and in the rainforests of Sierra Leone and the only shower was a waterfall at the base of a mountain, we’d stripped and bathed there on more than one occasion. Of course, I’d been flat-chested with acne and dirty hair and his two brothers were also with us, so that couldn’t possibly have counted as being intimate.
Still, Brayden and I had known each other for what seemed like all our lives—or at least all of my life since I didn’t really start living until I met the Sanchez family. That means Brayden was like my older brother—him, Aidan, and Caleb. They all acted like they owned me, yet were extremely irritated by me at the same time. And they had sworn to kill any guy that even looked cross-eyed at me. Those are all threats brothers make.
Except Brayden wasn’t looking at me like a brother.
I knew this look. I’d seen it before on guys I went out with, namely Frankie Morrison, the jerk I gave my virginity to after chugging down one too many Blue
Moons and popcorn.
Brayden’s dark-eyed gaze—the one I’d always thought was a little on the foreboding side, rather than sexy—had latched onto mine and held me in a vise grip. I couldn’t move, couldn’t think past his eyes and couldn’t get that glass up to my lips to take the sip I desperately needed.
“Brilliant and beautiful,” he’d said, his voice lowering to a deep whisper.
“I need a drink,” I said, gulping my own spit to assuage my dry throat and giving a little tug to the wineglass he was still holding onto.
He released the glass and I chugged that wine like it was grape juice, dipping my head back to be sure I broke that godforsaken eye hold he had on me. When I was finished Brayden had moved closer, so close I smacked him right across the nose with my glass as I brought it down from my mouth.
He frowned slightly and I laughed to sort of break the “oh-my-god” moment that was hanging around. It didn’t work.
“I’ve gotta do this,” he said, his face steadily inching closer to mine. “I’m gonna die right now if I don’t taste you.”
Whoa, what the hell? Really, Brayden? Are you really sitting on this couch acting like we’re long-lost lovers, or maybe new lovers on that date that leads directly to the bedroom? No, not with me, not with your best friend in the whole freakin’ world, you are not going to play me with your sexy-charming-heavily-accented-voice. Not today.
But yeah, he did and when I say Brayden can kiss any female right out of her panties, I mean every word.
His lips rained down on mine like a sultry summer storm. A soft swipe at first to let me know he was there and to let my body know this was definitely going down with or without its permission. The next contact was with a little more force, his tongue coming out to play a little taste testing. Then he grabbed the back of my head, tilting my head one way and his the other and went in for the kill.
I swear I felt like I was drowning, in his scent, his touch, his taste. Damn, it was all I could do to open my mouth and at least try to act like I wasn’t a gigantic idiot when it came to being kissed. Although, it was quickly apparent that I’d never, ever, been kissed like this. I mean, the whole licking at my lips before delving inside to tangle with my tongue was breathtaking. So much so I hurriedly wrapped my arms around his neck—dropping that damned glass onto the couch—and opened my mouth wider so I could have more.