A. Arthur - Shifter's Claim

“Killing is a part of our genetic makeup and most oftentimes is warranted, living in the forest among other wildlife. But as a half human living in a human world, it’s also a choice.” Bas took a deep breath when she did not respond right away. “Kazmere betrayed my trust. He worked with me only to feed information to my enemy. But I would not have killed him for that alone. Aiming at you, hurting you is what sealed his fate.”

He’d released his arms, using his hands to grab hold of the edge of her bed, gripping the metal so tightly his knuckles whitened.

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

Bas nodded in reply.

“Can you come closer?”

Bas froze. He had been very still in the first place but now he didn’t even blink. Her lids were partially closed but she looked at him expectantly. The words replayed in his mind and he felt a gentle stirring from his cat, a nudge that was intended to move him forward, to do what she’d asked of him. But Bas refused to make the same mistake twice. He could never live with himself if he did.

“I’ll come back later to check on you,” he told her before turning away.

“Bas,” she called to him as he reached for the door handle. “This wasn’t how I meant for this trip to turn out, you weren’t who I thought you would be. This entire time I’ve been working toward getting this story and saving my brother. I wanted to be their hero, yet again. I guess that sort of made me feel important, like I had a purpose in this life. You don’t have to worry, however, I’ll never write that story about your people, your family. I’ve been researching Rome and the people around him for weeks, uncovering nothing but his loyalty and dedication to those closest to him. Coming here, I had the chance to see up close how committed you and the other shadows are to each other and to your cause.”

She paused then, coughing a little, causing Bas to hold his breath in the hopes that she wasn’t suffering any side effects from the surgery that removed the bullet from her upper shoulder.

“You can walk away now,” she continued. “You can turn away from me and run back to your private suite where you can retreat even further into yourself for the rest of your life. I’ll be okay. I’ll go home and I’ll live my life.” She hesitated a second that seemed like a millennia. “I’ll live my life without you.”

There was something to be said for a woman who could take a bullet only six hours ago then lie in a hospital bed and speak words that made him feel as small and inconsequential as a piece of lint. And that something was phenomenal. Bas knew that without any doubt, just as he knew she’d been absolutely right, she would be okay without him. He knew she would go home and continue on with her life without a moment’s hesitation. He’d never thought differently.

In a perfect world he would turn around, walk over to her, and tell her … tell her … that he was all wrong for her, that her life would never be the same with him in it. Then he’d tell her what he realized the sweet scent that only permeated the air when they were together meant and the constriction he’d identified in his chest signified. He loved her.

Straight from one of those sappy romance novels he’d seen Jewel reading, Bas felt like a botched-up hero. He hadn’t protected Priya, but he sure had avenged her, and he hadn’t given her enough candlelight and roses, but he had made love to her with an abandon that he’d never felt with another female. He’d told her what he truly was, but he hadn’t told her he loved her or what had kept him from loving all these years. And he wouldn’t, he thought as he pulled the door open and quietly stepped through to the other side.

He wouldn’t doom her to a life full of secrecy and danger; love, for all its frilly and exciting tendrils, was not that perfect.

He hadn’t come back, Priya thought two days later when she was still confined to the hospital bed. Jewel had brought her bag, purse, and laptop from Bas’s suite, a sign that he was truly finished with her. A sign that she’d swallowed without so much as a sigh. This was what she did, what she’d had to do all her life—she took the good with the bad and was blessed to live another day regardless.

She’d spoken to Lolo, who wanted to board a plane and head out west to see that she was all right. Smiling into the phone as he’d spoken with such compassion and concern for her safety and welfare, Priya had wondered why she couldn’t fall in love with this guy. Why was she so adamant about choosing the wrong one? Her e-mail box had been almost full with messages from Agent Wilson and Maury, who somewhere within those many messages had fired and then rehired her.

After about forty minutes dedicated to sipping on the bland apple juice the nurse had brought to her and cleaning out her e-mail box, there was a knock at the door. She didn’t have to give permission to come inside, the two guards Bas had stationed in the hallway would do that for her. The only reason she knew they were out there was because Paolo had come inside to talk to her, to apologize for not protecting her the morning of the press conference. She liked Paolo, thought he was an honest guy, except for his Shadow Shifter secret. Syfon was a little more reserved, but he too had come inside to check on her periodically. It seemed strange, but Priya knew she was going to miss these guys when she went back to D.C. Especially Jacques, who only came when he thought she was asleep, talking quietly to the doctors, giving orders to the nurses, and otherwise making sure she had everything she needed.

The only male shifter she hadn’t seen was Bas.

“Hi, honey,” a soft voice whispered and Priya had to blink twice to make sure she was seeing who she thought she was seeing.

“Mama?” Priya whispered as she watched Karen Drake enter her hospital room. “What are you doing here?”

That question died without an answer as following behind Karen came Malik. He was five foot eleven, his slim frame garbed in jeans and an oversized plaid shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

“Hey, peanut,” he said in his raspy voice.

Priya sat up in the bed, closing her laptop and pushing it down beside her. “Malik,” she whispered about two seconds before her older brother had crossed the floor, grabbing her in a hug that caused pain to shoot through her shoulder and down to her fingers. She didn’t care, she wasn’t letting him go and dared him to release her.

“I’m so happy to see you, so happy you’re okay,” she was saying into his ear.

“I’m glad you sent someone to get me. You’re always looking out for me,” he said when she finally released her hold on him and he drew back to look into her eyes.

Priya stared up at him, feeling all kinds of uncomfortable to see the sheen of tears glistening in his eyes.

“I’d be dead by now if it wasn’t for you,” he told her. “All those rehabs and bail outs from jail and now this.” Malik shook his head. “I’m gonna do better, peanut. I promise you I’m gonna do better this time.”

Priya cupped his cheek where his beard had begun to grow in. The hair made him look older, more mature. The slight slump in his shoulders and the way he reached up a hand to tweak the end of her nose, made her believe his words like she never had before.

“Thank you, baby,” her mother said, leaning in to hug Priya when Malik had moved out of the way. “You promised to bring him home and you did.”

Priya hugged her mother but didn’t really know what to say. She had promised her that she would bring Malik home safely, but she hadn’t really believed herself then. In fact, it wouldn’t be possible now if it weren’t for …

“How did you get here? How did you know where I was?” she asked them.