Shadow Shifters: Damaged Hearts, The Complete Series: Mine to Claim, Part of Me, and Hunger for You

by A. C. Arthur

  “Because, see, I knew something was off about his ass,” Hanna continued. “That’s why when Dex came into the bar looking for you after I could have sworn the two of you left together, I got worried. Then when I went out into the parking lot and your car was still there, I was like ‘oh no.’”

  Her eyes widened and she’d even made an O with her mouth. How’s that for dramatic?

  “I told Dex that bastard probably had you. I told him how he’d been on your back for a couple of weeks now.”

  “You did what?” I asked, no longer entertained by her skillful or tacky—couldn’t figure out which—acting skills.

  “I told Dex you were with that Caleb person.”

  “No,” I whispered, too many scenarios going through my head and none of them quite making any sense. “You did not tell him that.”

  She nodded. “Oh, yes I did. I told him about that time I saw him all up on you at the grocery store too. And he was plenty pissed. Said he knew where that half-breed lived and he was going to make him and his kind pay. I didn’t know he was biracial or anything. I just thought he was Latino. But Dex and his boys tore out of that place so fast I figured he’d have you home before sunrise.”

  I scooted away from her as she spoke. “Caleb was born in Brazil,” I said slowly. “He’s not a … how did Dex know where he lived?”

  “Girl, stop with all this, we need to call the police and—”

  Her words were interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone. Both of us paused then, staring down at her hand as the phone rang and vibrated again.

  “I don’t know this number,” Hanna said.

  I leaned in a little. “I do.”

  I snatched it out of her hand before she could do whatever her silly mind was thinking and I answered it.

  “Hello? Caleb?”

  “Zoe.”

  I sighed at the sound of my name in his voice. If I were alone I might have closed my eyes and given thanks, but under Hanna’s scrutiny, I thought I better not. Clearing my throat I asked, “Are you alright?”

  “I am. Are you?”

  “Yes, um, I think so. I don’t really know what happened.”

  “Tell me where you are. I’m coming to you.”

  His words sounded so urgent, so do-or-die, sort of how I felt when I’d texted him. In the next instant I rattled off Hanna’s address and Caleb hung up, repeating again, “I’m coming to you.”

  Hanna was not happy. She’d snatched her phone back, mumbling about me and my poor choice of men and about being ready for his ass when he got here because if he tried something—she’d gone into the bedroom with the rest of her rant and I was glad. Her constant chatter was getting on my nerves, or was it what she was actually saying that was getting on my nerves? No, that was making me think. Something about what Hanna had said and what I’d heard Dex and Caleb say before had my thoughts churning.

  I was certain I hadn’t seen what I thought I’d seen tonight. There were not two animals fighting in Caleb’s apartment. Instead it was Dex and Caleb fighting. The darkness must have distorted their bodies, seeing as both of them were extremely muscular and had this dark exotic look about them. Now I wished I’d stayed, I wished I’d tried to break the fight up instead of freaking out and running away. I wished I could rewind time a bit, just to be sure, just to know …

  ***

  There were three of them, each one fine as hell and built like fighters. Each one standing on Hanna’s zebra-print rug looking more menacing, more alluring than any jungle animal I’d ever seen.

  “I’m Aidan and these are my brothers, Brayden and Caleb, whom you’ve already met,” the first one said.

  And I had to be dreaming, I thought as I continued to stare from one to the other.

  “I’m Hanna and he’s a stalking rapist. Shall I call the police now?”

  All eyes flew to the doorway where Hanna stood. She’d changed into black silky leggings that shimmered a bit when she moved and a red top that left a couple inches of her midriff and her arms bare. She’d lifted her braids into a high ponytail and wore big hoop gold earrings. Normally, it wasn’t an outfit I would criticize, except that it was barely five o’clock in the morning and she looked as if she were ready for a night of partying.

  “No police,” the guy in the middle, Brayden, I think, said. He had the more serious look, his brow knotted like he was ready to kick some ass at a moment’s notice.

  “I’m just here for Zoe,” Caleb said in a softer tone as he moved toward the chair where I’d sat after opening the door for them. “Are you alright?” he asked again, this time reaching a hand out to touch my chin.

  The moment the connection was made heat soared through my body and Caleb pulled back as if I’d burned him with it.

  “I’m okay,” I replied stiffly. “What happened?”

  “We should leave,” Brayden insisted. He seemed impatient and a little edgy.

  “All of us,” he continued and Caleb shot him a searing look.

  “Was Dex there?” I continued as if I didn’t hear anyone but Caleb. The way the other two were standing there I felt like they were bodyguards of some type, that or possibly undercover cops. They were staring so seriously, looking ready to pounce should there be a need. My heart thumped in my chest, but I refused to show any of that to them. I wanted the truth from Caleb. I needed to know if he’d in fact left me behind while someone broke in, or stayed and fought or whatever the hell had happened in his house. I had a very bad feeling about what was going on.

  “What did you see?” Aidan asked me.

  At least that’s the one I thought was speaking. His voice seemed deeper, his accent softer than the other guy. Neither of them was as pronounced as Caleb’s, which I remembered explicitly from when we were in bed together.

  “Caleb?” I said his name and it was all I could do to keep my gaze on him.

  He’d looked down at his hands, then lifted one to set on top of where mine lay on my thigh. Time seemed to stand still in those moments and I didn’t know whether to scream with impatience or cry with the emotion welling in my chest.

  When his head lifted slowly, I had no idea what he was going to tell me or how his reply would make me feel. I just didn’t know how all that had happened in the past twenty-four hours fit into my life, into the life I’d thought I’d made for myself.

  “You would never understand,” he began.

  His voice was so low I barely heard him and then there was a loud noise behind me followed immediately by Hanna clapping and saying, “There they are, boys, handle your business!”

  Everything from that moment on was a blur as the two guys I’d always seen with Dex kicked in Hanna’s door and immediately lunged for the two guys that had been standing on the other side of the coffee table. Caleb had hesitated a moment only to turn to me and say, “I’m sorry.”

  The next thing I knew furniture was breaking, fists were flying, and memories came crashing into my mind like a movie on rewind. My chest tightened with the familiar anxiety, my fingers clenching and unclenching with the need to do something but not knowing what. Eventually my arm was grabbed by Hanna and I yanked away from her.

  “What did you do?” I asked her as we stood near the now-broken door. “What the hell did you do to him?”

  She shook her head, those big earrings slapping against her rouged cheeks. “So naïve, Zoe. You’ve always been so naïve. That guy was lying to you from the start. He’s all mixed up in this gang crap and Dex and his buddies are undercovers. They’re the good guys.”

  No sooner had she said that than one of Dex’s friends reached out, grabbing her by the neck and pulling her away from me. I screamed her name and was about to run toward her when I was lifted from the floor. I saw Hanna’s large expressive eyes highlighted by that silver-and-black shadow she loved so much, grow bigger, her mouth opening but no sound coming out.

  And then I didn’t see anything else.

  CHAPTER 15

  Caleb

  One
month later

  “Maybe it’s for the best,” Gil Sanchez said from behind me.

  I’d been standing on the back porch of the Sanchez family home in Key West, Florida, staring out to the Atlantic, watching as the sun lowered to kiss the cap of waves.

  “She wasn’t from our world,” he continued.

  I listened because that’s what a respectful son did—even if the blood running through my veins was different from his. Still, none of his words mattered, none of what he said would change the way things were, the way I knew all along they would turn out to be.

  I’d left D.C. the evening after the fight with Dex’s rogue friends. There were no dead bodies this time as we hadn’t shifted and the two rogues, well, they knew when they’d been beaten enough. Especially after the one had choked Hanna until she was unconscious. We’d lost them even though X and a few other shifter guards had arrived. Dex’s body had already been in the back of X’s truck, ready to be destroyed.

  And Zoe, I’d carried her down to my truck myself, her body so still in my arms it appeared lifeless. Aidan drove and I continued to hold her, all the way to the hospital.

  “She hates hospitals,” I remember saying to no one in particular before we pulled into the parking lot with the huge EMERGENCY sign in bright red letters.

  X had appeared at the passenger-side door just as I’d been about to get out. “I’ll take her in.”

  “No,” I’d replied instantly. “I’ll do it.”

  “No,” he came back, his voice deep, stern, authoritative. “You and your brothers will head back to Havenway, now. I’ll handle things here.”

  “Bullshit!” I’d yelled back. “She’s my … my … fuck that, I’ll handle it!”

  X’s hand came down on my shoulder just as I’d stepped out of the truck. “This is not a choice, kid. It’s an order, from the FL. I’m going to take care of this whole situation here and you’re going to get your ass back to the base.” Then the frown marring the big guy’s forehead had lessened only slightly, the muscle twitching in his jaw slowing a bit. “Look, I know what you’re feeling. I get it. But this is how it has to be, I think you know that.”

  My teeth had clenched so hard I thought I’d break my jaw. My fingers tightened on Zoe and I dropped my head, looking down at her face, at the way her eyelashes fanned against her clear skin. She was a human, an innocent human that had seen more trauma and heartbreak than anyone should and I’d only brought her more. She was unconscious in my arms now because of the life I’d walked her into, because of my interference. I inhaled deeply, let her scent permeate every crevice of my body. Then I loosened my hold and let X take her out of my arms.

  I climbed back into my truck immediately, telling Aidan to drive without even watching to see X take her into the building. I hadn’t looked back, hadn’t contacted her, had tried like hell not to even think about her since that night. But it was all a waste of time, my thoughts could grasp and hold onto nothing but her.

  “Sometimes we have to go through trials and tribulations to get to the point of happiness we deserve. It’s the only way we truly learn to appreciate what we have.” Gil continued to talk.

  I continued to half-listen, my gaze still focused on the beach, my eyes blinking with the slow measured rhythm of my breathing. Since arriving in Florida three weeks ago, all the time that hadn’t been spent at Marta’s bedside I spent right here in this spot, as if I expected something to happen here, something that would change my thoughts, my emotions, my …

  It was a mirage, no, a figment of my imagination, come to life. No, I didn’t believe in any of that crap. But I did blink again, wondering if maybe I did need a little bit of rest or maybe something to eat.

  “Life’s all about appreciating what has been given, not harping on what’s been taken away. You should always be focused on forward movement, on being made a better person by past experiences.” Gil was still talking.

  At this point I was no longer listening. Instead, I was walking toward the end of the deck, toward the part of the beach where I saw as plain as the sand and the water, Zoe walking toward the house. Her hair was loose, long curly strands blowing in the breeze as she moved. She wore a short dress with straps that circled her neck, the top hugging her breasts tightly as the bottom flowed freely around her thighs. She held shoes in one hand, and the other was raised, pushing back hair that had blown into her face. Her head lifted then, her gaze linking with mine and she stopped moving.

  I think I stopped breathing.

  Then I was moving, my hands going to the railing of the deck to hold my weight while I vaulted over. I landed on my feet, of course, standing still for a fraction of a second before running toward her.

  She opened her mouth to speak the moment I was close to her, but I silenced the words with my lips, cupping her face in my hands and thrusting my tongue into her mouth.

  In that instant Gil’s words floated in the back of mind, like a narrator or some cosmic shit like that. My life, the good and the bad parts of it replayed behind my closed eyes, emotions swirling from the pit of my stomach rising upward to my chest. I sank deeper into the kiss, into the feel of Zoe’s palms as they flattened on my chest. Turning my head I took the kiss deeper, felt myself free-falling faster and faster as she matched my hunger with ease, our erratic breathing synced like our movements.

  Around us the breeze kicked up, sprays of water prickling our skin as we stood so close to the crashing waves. I pulled away slightly, long enough for her to take one quick inhale and exhale, then my hands were beneath that sexy skirt, grasping her ass and hoisting her up. She had another second to gasp before she was wrapping her legs around my waist, her arms around my neck, and my lips were on hers once more.

  A more fanciful guy would say this kiss was dreamy and delicious. Me, I went straight for the candid and the obvious, it was hot as hell and it reached so deep into my chest my next breath was clogged, my heart clenching then warming, my arms tightening around her, my mind knowing I would never walk away from her again, I would never leave her again. I would never leave my mate.

  CHAPTER 16

  Zoe

  Fear had been the first thought as I’d opened my eyes that morning in the hospital, hearing the machines beeping around me, the soft muddle of nursing shoes against shining tiled floors as they moved around the bed. My fingers had clenched in the stark white sheets, my eyes closing and staying that way as I struggled to remember how I came to be here.

  Then I remembered.

  I remembered it all.

  The day I’d met Dex Tavares I’d been awestruck by his good looks and easy conversation. He’d made me laugh a time or two and I figured, why not? After a few dates that question had been answered for me but I’d been either too blind, or too desperate to grasp my own little bit of happiness to realize it. The signs had all been there—the quick temper, the jealousy, the constant need to control me and everything else around him, including those goofs he called friends. I should have known he wasn’t good for me.

  And then Caleb had come along and I hadn’t known what to think about him either. I’d wanted to keep my distance but had known that wasn’t going to be possible as something continuously pulled us together.

  Two guys that were very different from others I’d met. And yet, I’d always felt like there was something about them that was also the same. A look that each of them had gotten at separate times, of course, but then again that night in the alley, they’d looked at each other like they knew something I didn’t. Like they were anticipating something that I couldn’t understand.

  Now, I did.

  A week after I left the hospital alone there was a knock on my door. I’d been packing, planning to take the money I’d been saving for college tuition and move. I wanted, no, I needed a fresh start and I’d decided not to think too long and hard about it, but to just do it. So I opened the door, not expecting anyone, since Hanna and I hadn’t really talked much since that morning at her apartment. She blamed me for
getting her involved in my “drama-filled love triangle” and I blamed her for running her mouth to Dex about Caleb and then for calling Dex’s boys to— in her words again—“take care of Caleb.” Another friendship or connection cut. It was beginning to be the story of my life so I wasn’t overly surprised or emotional about it.

  When I opened the door I was at first a little stunned by the gorgeous female standing in my doorway, then as she lifted a hand to push her hair behind her ears I was captured by the bracelet on her right arm. It looked just like the one I’d seen on Caleb’s dresser. I’d squared my shoulders and prepared myself for the altercation. Caleb obviously had a girlfriend—which would explain why I hadn’t seen or heard from him in days—and she was now here to tell me to stay away from her man.

  Same drama, different day I thought, when I asked her what she wanted.

  She introduced herself as Lidia Morales and asked to come in. I shrugged and moved away from the door, just wanting to get this over with.

  “First, let me say, you’re exactly what Caleb needs,” Lidia had said and I’d stopped throwing stuff into the duffle bag and turned to stare at her.

  “What did you say?”

  The rest of the afternoon had been filled with Lidia telling me about her brother, Caleb, and the tragic demise of his biological parents. So that explained his bitterness and his aloofness, and the gentleness of the man tortured by his past. I certainly knew that tune.

  “He could have told me that himself. He could have just been honest with me. I told him about my past,” I’d said to her.

  She’d only shaken her head. “There’s so much more to him, to his story than that. They weren’t sure you should know, figured maybe we should just let all this die down, but I knew. I knew once Brayden told me what had happened, who you were to him and how important it was for you to know and to understand.”