A. Arthur: Part of Me

I wasn’t going to let that happen.

Brayden

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.”

She had, just as I’d seen some pretty strategic parts of her, but that had been when we were teenagers and not so much once the puberty bug hit us both and we’d made our first shift. From the time she’d turned sixteen and I was seventeen, and we were in the forest or someplace where we could shift and run freely in cat form, Lidia had found a place where she could change out of her clothes without me watching. What she didn’t count on was my excellent imagination, which had given me countless hours of enjoyment.

“Aw, come on, you don’t want to have any fun anymore.” I continued with the joking atmosphere because I figured that would be easier for her.

Lidia, for all that she could be extremely impulsive and was known for her quick temper and even quicker right hook, could clam up as tight as a shell in areas she didn’t want to tread. She and I, on a personal male/female level, was definitely a no-enter zone. At least for now.

“Whatever, seeing you naked is not fun.”

She’d said it. I’d heard it. But I don’t think either of us was really convinced by her words. I kept my head turned away from her so she wouldn’t see my smile.

“You heard from Aidan or Caleb lately?” she asked after she’d been silent for about a full minute—almost a record for Lidia.

I shook my head. “Aidan’s training with Rome, where he should be finally. Got a text from him a couple of days ago saying things were going fine and that my dad was ecstatic that he was there.”

“I cannot believe Rome let him bring that girl with him. Or rather I can’t believe Aidan has a girl he’s serious enough about to cart hundreds of miles around with him.”

“She’s his mate. How could he have left his mate?”

Lidia didn’t reply.

“Rome and all his Faction Leader duties couldn’t compete with that, no matter how angry it made him,” I told her, but the conversation was over.

Probably the moment I mentioned mates, because that was something Lidia neither wanted to discuss with me or to claim for herself. It just simply wasn’t in the plan she’d made for her life. Unfortunately, her excluding it from the plan wasn’t going to stop what was meant to be.

Just like I had no intention of letting her ridiculous misgivings about our relationship stop me from doing everything in my power to get her in my arms. Another man might have taken the three-month hiatus to find another female. To a certain extent, I did, or rather, Kyra had found me. At any rate, Kyra wasn’t and would never be a substitute for Lidia. There was only one woman for me and I’d given her more than enough time to figure that out.