Authors: A.C. Arthur
Tags: #New Adult, #Paranormal, #Shape Shifters, #Contemporary
I was not jealous. This is what I repeated to myself the entire time walking over to approach them. I was not jealous that Brayden had a girlfriend, or a friend, or a slut, take your pick. He was certainly free to date whomever he pleased, as was I. But when we’d spent the last three months apart, each of those nights of which I suffered through completely alone, and I’d been texting him like crazy this past week to find out when I would actually see him again, no, he needed to be running to see me, not hugged up with this, this … person!
“Hey,” I managed when I was finally in front of Brayden and the untitled female. “What’s up?”
He’d been sitting with his back pressed against the wall behind him, his legs spread, arms full of the prettily smiling brunette. His head had been down low, like he’d either been
listening intently to something the brunette was saying—most likely not—or staring down at all the cleavage she had so boldly on display—more likely. At the sound of my voice or maybe it was the incessantly loud beating of my heart, Brayden lifted his head slowly, those dark, mesmerizing eyes taking me in with a careful gaze.
“Hey, Lidia,” was all he said, the jerk.
He’d shaved the beard and mustache so his face looked even younger than he normally did, but everything else was the same, those hypnotic deep brown eyes, that strong jaw, and dammit, those thick eyebrows and long lashes that I’d always hated him for.
“You comfortable?” I asked trying not to look at the female. My entire body vibrated with this weird energy, like I wanted to do something, needed to break free and…no! I almost screamed the word out loud as I realized exactly what I was feeling. It was a warning, a sense of danger that another part of me was responding to, only I wouldn’t let it.
The Bubbly Brunette chose that moment to speak. “He is and so am I.”
Our gazes connected, mine and hers, and held. Jealousy or warning, I couldn’t tell the difference, the scent of rage filling my nostrils as I attempted to breathe myself calm. I thought about counting sheep or no, maybe daggers, in my mind.
Brayden always said I was impulsive and a little on the violent side, so I opted not to add credence to his critique, and chanced a small smile.
“That’s great. I’m Lidia, by the way. I didn’t catch your name,” I spoke in the most cordial voice I was able to conjure.
“I’m Kyra and he’s just too sexy to resist,” she added with a giggle and another snuggle, this time burying her face in the crook of Brayden’s neck.
And that was it for him. Without so much as another word or warning, Brayden was untwining her arms from around his neck and pushing her as gently as he could off his lap so he could stand. It was about time!
“Lidia’s an old friend,” he was saying as Kyra’s big brown eyes stared up at him in question. “And Kyra’s a new friend,” he told me with a half smile.
The half smile that I’d missed more than I was willing to admit.
“Hello, new friend Kyra,” I replied, only to receive a barely tolerant up and down glance from the girl that was a few inches shorter than my five-foot-five stance.
Kyra waved her fingers in my general direction and gave a half-assed “Hey,” before going up on tiptoe to kiss Brayden’s unpuckered lips.
The only reason I didn’t roll my eyes at the entire display was because I refused to stoop to her level or to give Brayden something to gloat about. I was so angry with him at this moment I wanted to punch something. And he knew it, the smug, infuriating jerk knew that I was ready to peel that chick off of him the moment I saw them. Blame it on the temper I’d never been able to tame. Just another part of me that mirrored my uncle the traitor.
Or was there something else? An unknown in this cafeteria putting me on full alert?
“Are you counting backward from one hundred or counting daggers instead?” he asked with a chuckle, nudging me on the shoulder like he used to do when we were younger.
I punched him in his shoulder with much more force. “Neither, for your information.”
He laughed then pulled me to him for one of his terrifically warm and comforting hugs. Even though I was still mad at him, I embraced him because it was what I was used to, what I’d missed all summer.
“You doing okay?” he asked.
“Fine. Why do you ask?”
“Because you’re holding me so tight I can barely breathe,” he said with a chuckle.
“Oh,” I said, thoroughly embarrassed now, and pulling away from him quickly. “I’m fine. Just haven’t seen you in a while.”
Brayden nodded. “Your choice, remember?”
I so did not want to go back over what had happened that day in his apartment or what we’d said to each other. I just wanted to put all that behind us.
“You let me go,” was my immediate retort. I’d thought about it all summer. He hadn’t tried to stop me from walking out and hadn’t come to get me. I wasn’t sure what the politically correct way to feel about that was but I knew for a fact I didn’t like it.
“Never,” was his deep-toned reply. His entire body tensed then, his face going somber, his eyes darkening.
Heat rose instantly from the pit of my stomach, circling up to my breasts, causing my mouth to water. I took a deep breath, counting as slowly as I could as I released it.
“Anyway, I applied for that internship I told you about,” I told him, knowing that changing the subject was my only saving grace. “Hopefully, I’ll get it.”
“You’re really serious about teaching?” he asked, a frown marring an otherwise pretty good-looking face.
“I am.”
He nodded, even though he didn’t agree. Brayden Sanchez was the son of dedicated and loyal
Topètenia
Shadow Shifters. His
parents, Gil and Marta Sanchez, were ambassadors for the tribe and traveled the world in an effort to keep all the Shadow Shifter tribes united. The differences between shape shifters and humans should have been enough to bond the five tribes together forever, but as with every race, there had been dissension. Hell, there’d been dissension within my own family so I could sing that tune all night long.
Instead, I preferred to be thankful for what I had and to look excitedly toward the future—the one I would make on my own. So I loved Gil and Marta Sanchez for taking me in when everyone, including my own family was turning me away, and for teaching me what it meant to be a Shadow Shifter and for not judging me like the rest of the tribe had when my uncle had defected. I was also thankful to them for allowing me to grow up with their three sons, the brothers I never had and three of the closest people in this world to me. Unfortunately, with all that love and encouragement surrounding me, I was still going to end up disappointing them.
“We’ve been over this before, Brayden,” I said trying to reason with him. “I’m not like you and your family.”
“You’re exactly like us,” he said adamantly. “Exactly like you were trained to be.”
I shook my head, not wanting to go down this road with him again, especially after the time we’d been apart. I missed my
friend, the only person I could really talk to and laugh with. The other females, the humans that had been with me at the conference were either shallow and not very smart, or extremely smart and rigid. I’d enjoyed the experience and the knowledge I obtained from the seminars, but I’d missed Brayden and our easy friendship like crazy.
“Let’s grab a pizza and get out of here,” I suggested. “I’m dying to see your new place.”
“Why? There’s no extra bedroom for you,” he teased, reaching out and taking the books I’d just purchased from the campus bookstore from my arms.
“Oh please, I have no problem sleeping on the couch,” I said, falling into step beside him as we made our way through the crowd and out of the café. “Or putting you on the couch instead.”
“Hey, you’re the one who likes this college life so much. You wanted to stay in the dorm and blend in with the rest of the students,” Brayden continued, his deep voice filling the night air once we were outside.
“And I’m not complaining. But when I need to get away, it’s good to know I have someplace to go,” I told him.
Brayden stopped walking and turned so that he was now standing in front of me. He lifted a hand, tracing a finger
along the line of my jaw. “I am always here for you, Lidia. Always.”
“I know,” I replied, my voice sounding really small after the intensity of his words. I did know that he was there for me, had always been. After this summer I realized just how much I depended on that knowledge. “That’s what big brothers are for,” I finished and pushed past him, heading to where I figured his truck was parked in the student lot.
He’d been standing too close, looking at me too tenderly and I’d felt like I did when we were back in his old apartment that day, right after he’d kissed me. I never wanted to feel like that again. Ever, because that was the one thing that could destroy all that I’d worked for, all that I wanted to be.
I wasn’t going to let that happen.
Lidia looked like she was ready to rip Kyra’s eyes out. I never figured that would be such an arousing sight, but damn, I was hard just remembering the scene.
Her eyes had been fierce, deep hazel-brown with the little flecks of green and gold that only appeared when she was becoming agitated and more so when she was full-blown angry. I knew the moment she’d entered the café because the hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up, the cat inside stretched languidly, waiting as patiently as it could for its mate. I saw her before she saw me and almost smiled the second she turned and saw the quick and impulsive cuddle I’d given the ever-so-cooperative Kyra.
Maybe I was being cruel and just a little unfair, but there was nothing fair about this world, about the hand we’d been
dealt and there was no sense pretending it was. We, Lidia and I, were two of a kind, jaguar shifters from the
Topètenia
tribe. We were both born in the Gungi rainforest, which was nestled deep in the Amazon rainforest. Our native language was Portuguese, our personalities were volatile to say the least, our job, to live amongst the humans protecting them from the more dangerous of our kind. And while on the outside we may look like any other Hispanic citizens of the United States, we were not like them and never would be. It was the one point in which Lidia and I had chosen to disagree.
Another point was that I was in love with her and ready to claim her as my mate, while she was determined to run as fast as she could in the opposite direction. Waiting her out was proving to be a test of my patience and of my sanity as she’d hugged me so tightly and so close to her body I could think of nothing but sinking deep inside her and staying there until I exploded.
Giving her those three months alone had been one of the hardest things I’d ever done. Far worse than the most strenuous of training, but it had been necessary. For both of us. I believed with every fiber of my being that Lidia and I not only belonged together, but would eventually be together. But she didn’t, and I needed her to feel that sense of loss, to wonder how she would feel if the three months were permanent. Even if I never intended for them to be.
“That’s what big brothers are for,” she’d said while we were walking in the parking lot, just before pushing past me.
I was grateful for the fresh air because being close to her never failed to cause instant heat. But the word “brother” and the way only Lidia could say it was like a bucket of cold water being tossed in my face. I followed behind her as she walked through the parking lot, no doubt looking for my truck. My eyes were glued to the sway of her perfectly rounded ass and I wasn’t about to apologize for it. Lidia had what some might call an athletic body, toned in all the right places, enticingly tight in others. I thought it was perfect because her breasts were just the right size to fit in the palm of my hand—although I’d yet to indulge in that pleasure. Her ass was round enough to fill out her jeans in a mouthwatering fashion and everything else was fit and trim because of all the running she did, in human and occasionally in cat form. She was also a vegetarian, but I tried to forgive her for that misstep.
“I’m parked over here,” I said when she was about to turn left.
I didn’t look at her as I spoke, but towards another line of parked cars to my left. There were five of them, all dark colored, two older models, one convertible, one with visible damage from some type of collision. There were no humans over
there, no noises coming from that direction, and still I stared, unable to look away.
“Are you sure?” she asked coming to stand beside me, her nose crinkling as it always did when she frowned.
“It’s my truck, I should know where I parked it. Come on,” I said, grabbing her by the hand and pulling her along beside me. Whatever had drawn me to look at those cars, lost in the much more appealing sight of Lidia Morales.
Even though I was a lot taller than her she’d never failed to keep up her stride when we walked. When she was younger this had been funny, seeing her out of the corner of my eye, stretching her legs until she almost tripped to keep up with me, that familiar ponytail of hers bobbing back and forth with her motions.
After we were seat-belted and heading out of the student parking lot, she asked, “So why’d you decide to ditch the roommates this time?”
I shrugged, making the right turn onto the winding road that led down the hill and away from Faust University. “I need my personal space for when I decide to walk around naked.”
Lidia laughed immediately, a simple yet alluring sound that I hadn’t realized until this second, I’d missed over the past few months. “You do not walk around naked!” she said, still chuckling and looking out the window.
“I do now that I live alone. We can confirm that when we get there,” I told her, 100 percent serious about getting naked when we both arrived at my apartment.
Part of the reason I rented the place was so that when—not if, because I refused to believe that it would not happen—Lidia and I finally made love, I didn’t want anyone overhearing us, or restraining us. Optimistic should have been my middle name.
“You will keep all your clothes on while I’m there,” she replied jokingly. “I’ve seen your ass more times than I need to.”