A. Arthur: Part of Me

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.

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.