A. Arthur - Part of Me

I mumbled thanks just as he was replying, “My dad wants me to come work at his PR firm in L.A. He keeps reminding me that’s always been the plan.”

His words stopped me from walking. “Omigod, really? You have a premade plan too?” I know it probably sounded stupid but I couldn’t believe he had people trying to dictate his life the same way I did.

Daniel nodded, running his fingers through his low-cut, chestnut-colored hair. “Yeah, it’s a real pain in the ass. I mean, I’ve been in school for almost six years now. Hiding out mostly because I’m not even sure what I’ll do with a master’s in psychology.”

“You could get licensed and open your own clinic, treat patients, and live your own life,” I suggested, all hyped up because I already knew what my plan was, the one I’d made up for myself, I mean.

“They can’t make you live their lives, or a life you don’t want for yourself. It’s just ridiculous,” I was saying when his lips curled into a smile. A really nice, really cute smile. “What’s so funny?”

“You,” he said, stepping closer to me.

The hallway was almost empty as most students with nine o’clock classes were already in class since I was certain it was a few minutes past nine now. But I wasn’t paying much attention to our surroundings, just kept looking up at Daniel, almost as if I’d never seen him before.

Daniel lifted a hand, pushed hair behind my ear, and spoke. “You look really good when you get riled up. I mean, you look good all the time,” he said, then stopped to clear his throat. “I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me tonight, Lidia.”

The invite was a surprise only because I hadn’t seen him in months. When we first met I’d thought there might be something, that he might be interested, but then the semester was over and Brayden had kissed me and …

“Yes,” I replied probably too enthusiastically, but whatever. “I’d love to have dinner with you.”

Daniel’s smile spread and I felt, um, I felt, a little something, I think. Not that wild flash of hot I felt with someone else, but still it was a start.

“You’d better get to class. I’ll pick you up at your dorm at six,” he said, letting his fingers slide along the line of my jaw.

I smiled back because the gesture was so achingly sweet I figured it was the right thing to do. “I’ll be waiting.”

When I finally walked into class, it was with a lighter step, a brighter outlook, and only a touch of guilt snaking along my shoulder blades. No, wait, that wasn’t guilt, it was a warning, again. I should pay attention this time, search the room for any threats, focus on the feeling to see where it would lead. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to be a shifter, didn’t want to embrace that world wholeheartedly because it wouldn’t end well. I knew that for a fact.

I didn’t wait long. At five minutes to six Cora Andrews, one of my assigned roommates, ran into the room, her flame-colored hair flowing behind her. “You have a date with Daniel Mulligan? He’s so hot and he never dates students! I can’t believe you, of all people, have a date with him,” she finished, dropping down onto her bed with a look of sheer grief on her face.

My bed was a bottom bunk and I’d just stood after lacing my ankle-high boots. “Yes, I have a date with Daniel Mulligan,” I replied tightly. “Even though I’m just a student.”

Cora was overexcited, underachieving, and immature, spending her parents’ money like it was her right, instead of a privilege. She talked too much—way more than I did—and about absolutely nothing. She whined and complained more than she went to class or studied and she gave me a headache just about every day I had to sit in this room with her. So to say I didn’t appreciate her comments may have been an understatement.

“I just never figured you for Daniel’s type. Or any guy’s type for that matter,” Cora continued, her pert little face drawn in a frown.

“There’s nothing feminine about you, from that sloppy ponytail you’re too lazy to change to the jeans and T-shirts that fill your wardrobe. Hell, you’re not even wearing makeup.” She finished with a huff.

I heard her talking, only taking in bits and pieces as I’d already learned to do with Cora. Looking down I noted the jeans she’d referenced and my hair was in a ponytail but this was a date, not the senior prom, so little miss priss could kiss my …

“And you wear too much makeup,” was my eventual retort. Then, with an exasperated sigh, “I assume Daniel is on his way up and that’s how you know I’m going out with him.”

When she didn’t immediately reply, I turned to look at her while lifting my jacket from the coatrack by the door. She looked up at me and rolled her eyes.

“Yes, he’s coming. He asked what room you were in and I asked why. I should have lied,” she snapped.

At least she was an honest pain in the ass, I thought before shaking my head and muttering, “Thanks.”

I opened the door before Daniel could knock. He looked shocked. I wasn’t. I’d scented his arrival along with the heavy herb aroma of jealousy pouring from Cora’s direction. Despising the shifter traits and how lately they’d seemed to hit me full force, I pressed my hand against his chest to push him back slightly. “Don’t ask,” I told him, closing the door behind me.

He chuckled. “Okay.”

Dinner at the Olive Garden had never been so sweet. As many times as I’d been to the place since it was one of the closest restaurants to the school—outside of the pizza/sub shop, Starbucks, and O’Shea’s Bar & Grille—I’d never had such a wonderful time. Daniel was so easy to talk to, we didn’t argue at all. Except over the last breadstick, which ended with him breaking it in half and putting a piece up to my lips for me to bite.

“Would you like to stop for a drink?” he asked when we’d ridden a little way in silence.

I’d been looking out the window thinking of how different dinner with Daniel was from any time spent with Brayden and chastising myself for doing so. “Ah, sure, that sounds fine,” I answered halfheartedly.

For some reason I’d wanted to get back to the dorm as quickly as possible. I had homework but I didn’t think I was anxious to get it completed. No, there was something else, a feeling simmering just beneath the surface of my skin. It felt weird, like it didn’t actually belong but was taking place anyway. This had been happening much too frequently. I didn’t like it at all but knew there was no way to stop it. Shadow Shifters had heightened senses as part of their normal genetic make-up. They needed them to hunt, to fight, to stay alive in the depths of the rainforest where they’d been born.

I talk about them as if I do not belong to their culture, because I don’t. I won’t, not ever again.

I’d barely noticed the car had been parked before Daniel was pulling the door open for me. Unclasping the seat belt, I stepped out into the crisp night air and sucked in a quick breath. If I didn’t want to be a shifter, the only other choice I had was to be a human. A human on a first date with a really nice guy.

“Are you alright?” Daniel asked, quickly coming to me and grasping me by the elbow.

I yanked my arm away instantly as his touch had been painful, or almost, kind of. It just hadn’t felt right and so I reacted. Daniel frowned.

“I’m sorry. Yes, I’m okay, just a little jumpy for some reason.” Praying that would be enough to stop him from looking at me like I’d just grown another head, I stepped closer, touching a hand lightly to his. “Let’s have that drink.”

He seemed to soften, his quizzical look changing slowly as he closed the door, then took my hand, walking us into O’Shea’s.