Mine to Claim (Shadow Shifters: Damaged Hearts) (12 page)

“Now, you just wait one minute,” Griffin started, pointing a finger at Rome, who only shook his head.

“I’ll give you five minutes, Sheriff Griffin, to release my client. You don’t have fingerprints or reliable witnesses, or any proof that an actual crime has been committed. You took the word of two students who could also be considered suspects, and arrested my client. If I were to bring in a team of private investigators I’m sure I would find some foul play where Mr. Newman and his nephew are involved. I might even find that this trail of foul play leads around this town and its fine constituents in a maze of bribery, embezzlement, and a series of unsolved assaults. And that maze will end right at your doorstep.”

Sheriff Griffin sat back in his chair, the wood creaking with the abrupt movement. His face had reddened like a tomato, his dull gray eyes bulging until he almost looked like a cartoon character. “How dare you?” he huffed. “You can’t come into my town and make these types of accusations. We made a clean arrest.”

Rome stood and was placing his notepad back into his briefcase. His pen made a clicking sound as he closed it, slipping it too, back into the briefcase before closing and locking the caramel-brown carrier. He looked to the sheriff, then finally to me and said, “Let’s go.”

Fifteen minutes later I was slipping into the front seat of a black Escalade, windows tinted, rims sparkling, with the East Coast Faction Leader. The click of both our seat belts echoed in the space and I immediately said, “Thank you for coming to get me.”

Rome sat back, staring straight ahead. “You know who’s here, don’t you?” he asked calmly.

I nodded, squeezing the bridge of my nose as I looked out the window. “Rogues.”

“That’s why we need you and your brothers at Havenway. We need your talents to help us stop them, to keep them as contained as we possibly can until we find a more permanent way to deal with them,” Rome told me as the driver of the SUV pulled away from the curb and began heading out of town.

All my life I’d heard stories of the great Shadow Shifter Boden Estevez who had terrorized the tribes of the Gungi for years before being brutally killed. One of his protégés, Sabar Tavares, had taken over, vowing to build his own shifter army to rule over humans and shifters alike. Rome and his enforcers had the first confirmed incident with Sabar and his minions just a few months ago, right about the time I’d decided moving forward with the trials and becoming a sworn
Topètenia
soldier was not for me.

“I know what my duty is,” I told him.

“But you want to fulfill your duty on your own terms,” Rome finished for me. “Been there, done that.”

I looked over to him, to this leader of our kind and scented only the truth coming from him. My fingers flexed and clenched at my side. “Just because I was born to be a leader doesn’t mean that I want to be.”

Rome nodded. “I know that feeling,” he said, looking directly at me. “I also know that you’ll never know your true destiny until you stop running and let it find you. Coming back to Havenway and completing the trials doesn’t chain you to a vehicle and fill your days with rogue hunting. It opens the door to everything you were meant to be and also that you aspire to be. The community of shifters around you is there for support, not to dictate your every move. You will be part of a team that is bigger than the chains you’ve imagined you’re bound by.”

I wanted to believe him, needed to on some level. I hadn’t disliked the training I’d received as my brothers and I traveled the world with my parents. The different shifter tribes had much to teach us so that we would become the new generation of protectors and that the knowledge we possessed would be used for the greater good. What I’d hated was the feeling that I was trapped, that there were no other alternatives for me. Rome was saying that there were. He was telling me that walking the path that was before me wouldn’t necessarily carry me in a circle back to the Gungi, but would take me to wherever I wanted to be. If I had the guts to actually walk that path, which so far, I hadn’t. I’d been running and hiding and doing exactly what I’d accused Grace of doing when she didn’t want to talk about what had happened to her.

Grace had courage, she had strength, and she had resilience. Not only had she endured personal shame, but also the public ridicule that had all come from someone else’s actions. She’d taken everything her parents and so-called friends had dished out to her and she’d stood strong against them, she’d come to Victory and she’d moved on with her life, on her terms. I admired her strength and wondered if I had the same within me.

I thought about my future and about how I could use what I’d learned in college combined with all that I’d learned about being a shifter to further the tribe’s journey. I’d had significant time with humans across the world, seen so many different cultures and absorbed a lot of their ways, surely that could be beneficial. Surely, I could go to Havenway and become …

My chest tightened, searing pain like a thousand knives ripped at my skin. I couldn’t breathe as I jerked back in the seat, my eyes glued to the window, watching as the streets I’d become familiar with disappeared behind the SUV. I blinked and my pupils felt thick, my vision clearer than it had ever been before. My fingertips ached with the pressure, biceps vibrated with the intense demand to shift.

Rome grabbed my arm then, he was saying something, his voice sounded different, like he was in some type of funnel and I was steadily moving away. Inside my cat roared so loud my entire body vibrated.

“Aidan? Aidan!” Rome yelled from beside me.

When I turned to him this time, looking at him with what I knew were my cat’s eyes, the one word to slip from my lips was, “Grace.”

CHAPTER 12

Aidan

Raging flames licked at the brick and wood of the coffee shop, sending funnels of black clouds drifting upward into the air. Muted screams echoed in the background as the SUV pulled up across the street from the building, sirens coming from somewhere in the distance.

I was out of the vehicle before it stopped, running across the street, heading directly into the fire, directly to where I knew Grace would be. Through the smoke and the burning stench that peppered the air I scented her, my cat sought her out like a moth to a flame. Through the black smoke I could see her lying on the ground in front of the coffee shop, not moving, barely breathing. I yelled her name, knowing she wouldn’t reply and lifted her into my arms, knowing her arms would not wrap around me in response. Then I took off, for where I had no clue, all I knew was that I had to protect her, to get her to safety. So I ran and ended up two blocks down at the mouth of an alley that fed into two different streets. I collapsed against a wall, sliding until I was sitting on the ground, holding Grace in my lap. With my free hand I ripped off my shirt, using it to wipe the soot from her face.

“Talk to me, Grace. Please open your mouth and talk to me.
Meu
companheiro,
” I whispered over and over as I cleaned her face and down her neck.

She didn’t speak, her body lying lifelessly in my arms. The constriction in my chest continued as tears stung my eyes.

“Grace.
Meu companheiro,
” I continued. “
Minha vida.
My life. Please, oh please.”

I rocked back and forth holding her close, feeling her warmth against my own. My fingers filtered through her hair, trailing down her face over her closed lids, touching each one of the freckles that bridged her nose, feeling the softness of her lips.

“
Minha vida.
I cannot do this without you, Grace. I cannot walk my path if you’re not there. Grace, Grace.” The last was nothing more than a whimper as I felt like the entire world as I knew it had crashed down around me.

I was being swallowed up in a vortex of pain and no amount of training or animalistic strength was going to get me out. There was no running to escape this horrific feeling, no hiding or stubborn pride that could protect me. If I were truly a different type of savior I would have flown into the sky and reversed time like Superman had, I would keep the love of my life, the mate I hadn’t known I’d been searching for, alive and safe no matter what.

But I wasn’t Superman. I was only a Shadow Shifter—only a male in love with this strong, independent, and intelligent human female.

“Aidan.”

I heard my name but couldn’t respond, couldn’t see past the darkness I’d slipped into.

“Aidan.”

That was my name, but it meant nothing to me anymore, did nothing to ease the cocoon of hurt I was wrapped in.

“Aidan!”

The booming voice, the clenching pain in my shoulder as a hand grabbed me there and shook roughly, snatched me back into reality and I opened my eyes.

Rome was staring at me. He’d knelt down in front of me and was looking at me as if he might just rip my head off if I didn’t open my mouth and speak in the next three seconds.

“What?” I answered, lacking the respectful tone I should probably give the Faction Leader.

“She’s awake and you’re smothering her,” he said with a nod down to Grace.

“What?” I said more to myself. “Grace? Grace?” I pulled her away from my chest, my hand instantly going to her cheek. “Grace?”

“Aidan.” She said my name but hadn’t opened her eyes. “Aidan.”

“Say it again,” I whispered, something thick clogging my throat. I wanted to hear her say my name again and again and forever.

“You’re not in jail,” she whispered.

“No. I’m right here.”

Then she moved, her hands going to my arm, up and down, searching one then the other as she opened her eyes and struggled to sit upright.

“They have your bracelet,” she said. “I saw it on you that first night you saved me and the night of the party. But you didn’t have it at the motel.”

“I know, baby. I know. Don’t worry about that now.”

But Grace kept shaking her head. Her eyes were wild as she looked at me. “No. No. Something is not right. They’re not right. Rafe and Chris and Brett, they all have the same bracelet and they’re not…” Her words trailed off as she lifted a hand to my cheek then upward to my eyes. “They’re like you, but different, I think. You’re all different,” she said in a slow whisper.

“We should go,” Rome said gruffly before standing. “Now.”

I had barely turned my attention away from Grace when I realized what Rome was really saying. I picked up the scent and before I knew what else was happening I’d stood up, pushed Grace in Rome’s direction, and charged deeper into the alley.

CHAPTER 13

Aidan the Shadow Shifter

Rafe stood at the end of the alley lifting silver cans and dropping them into the green Dumpster in front of him. He’d just dropped the last one inside when he suddenly stopped and turned.

“You stupid Shadows don’t know when to let go, do you? Don’t you know when your time is up?” Rafe asked, rubbing his hands together as he approached me.

“And you rogues have no idea what we have in store for you.” I returned his taunt, feeling the adrenaline pumping through my veins.

In the next seconds, Rafe was no longer the football player with a cursed mean streak. He was a full-grown male jaguar, golden in color and pure evil in nature. I didn’t hesitate but let the beast in me rip free, lunging forward as the shift took hold, meeting my counterpart in midair in a loud thunk of animal bodies and roars.

Our front paws swinging, we clawed at each other, mouths open crying out in battle. I pulled away first, willing to give my opponent a second to catch his breath. I circled him, moving slowly, maintaining eye contact, just as I’d been taught. Funny how all the things I’d wanted to forget or at least to push aside, came swarming back like a breath of fresh air.

Rafe moved in the same motion, had most likely had some of the same training. But his breathing was unregulated, he wasn’t used to the hand-to-hand or beast-to-beast contact, meaning he’d been trained but had no field experience. I had the advantage there, having been in the rainforests of South America, Africa, and India, meeting with different tribes and coming nose to nose with opponents of all kinds. They had been good lessons that I now appreciated much more than I had before.

I lunged the moment I saw Rafe’s flanks heave in exhaustion, going instantly for the top of his head. My teeth clamped into his skull, holding him still with the strength of my jaws, and all the rage that had built in me since seeing Grace lying so still on that sidewalk. There was nothing more important at this very moment, nothing more vital to me than ending this life, this vicious strand of cruelty that had been bred and introduced into this world.

And when it was done, I backed away, my flanks heaving with the exertion, mouth dripping with my enemy’s blood.

“Aidan.”

It was a familiar whisper, a soft and sweet sound that almost shattered my heart.

*   *   *

The Real Grace Kincaid

I pulled away from the tall, handsome guy who looked like he could easily toss me over his shoulder or at the very least restrain me a little better than he had. I’d run into that alley after Aidan knowing instinctively that what lay in wait for him there was dangerous, maybe even deadly.

I absolutely had no clue.

But standing there watching two huge cats fighting until the death did something to me. It should have grossed me out or shocked me so much that I fainted or some other dramatic act like that. Instead there was a surge of something inside me, energy or power or I don’t know. All I knew was that I could not look away, I could not run away. I stood there staring, witnessing what I knew should not be true, but what I believed anyway.

I’d known from the start that Aidan was different, but never would have imagined to this extent. He was a gorgeous guy with his dark South American looks, the lilt of his voice as he spoke in his native language, the build of his body as I’d seen it through his clothes and just a few moments ago his bare chest.

Now, as this big black cat, he was phenomenal. That’s all I could think as I stepped toward it.

“Aidan,” I whispered again.