Read Mine to Claim (Shadow Shifters: Damaged Hearts) for Free Online

That’s cool.”
    Somebody came along, clapping Rafe on the shoulder and giving him a beer that he immediately consumed half of before turning his attention back to me.
    “So what do you like to do, Grace, since you don’t want to dance?”
    I shook my head, feeling like this motion was becoming a habit. “I’m just into going to school and that’s it.” What a lame response. But I wasn’t trying to impress this guy. I mean, as far as guys went, he wasn’t obnoxious like Chris had been, nor was he pushy and arrogant like Chris’s friend. But he was annoying me just the same. I couldn’t quite figure out why but I wanted him to go away, soon.
    He was talking, I could hear the drone of his voice in my left ear, but I wasn’t paying attention, not at all. I took a sip from my bottle, then another. The pink-lemonade taste barely gave way to alcohol so I took another sip, looking anywhere but at Rafe who was still talking about something.
    And then I saw him and nothing else existed. Not the bottle in my hand or the guy on my left. Nothing, but Aidan.

CHAPTER 4
    Aidan
    She was here.
    I knew it the moment I parked and chained my bike just beneath the entrance to the underground garage. It was around the side of my apartment building, but not completely inside the garage so the outside air blew directly over me as I knelt down to insert the cord and combination lock. I lifted my head halfway through the inhale, yanked the lock into place, and immediately stood, looking around. It was a little after ten and the street was relatively clear. I walked slowly up the slight incline until I was once again on the sidewalk, looking left then right, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Rounding the corner the first thing I noticed were all the cars parked along the street signaling that someone in the building was having company.
    And she was a part of that company. I could feel it even though I’d yet to see her.
    My steps were precise and quick and I was at the door to the building in no time, pulling it open and stepping quickly inside. Another deep inhale had my temples throbbing, my chest heaving, my cock hardening. I took the steps as usual because the elevator made too much noise, announcing my arrival and departure, which wasn’t how I operated. Moving with stealth and concentration was how I’d been trained.
    Even though my training had been far from my mind in the last three years, it was bred into me, switching on instinctively, regardless of my personal choice.
    I took the stairs three at a time, wrapping around the corners as if they were simply part of the straight path I could see in my mind to her. I had to walk that path, had to keep right on going until I saw her … again.
    Two weeks ago I had no idea who she was or that anyone of her kind could interrupt my course the way she had. I’d been wrong. I could admit that now. I hated to be wrong.
    She was on the top floor. As I tore through that door my nostrils flared, fists clenching and unclenching at my sides as I moved. I could hear the music in the distance, scent the others that were in there with her, but it was her that I followed, she that was pulling me, against all the warring thoughts in my head toward that door.
    I didn’t knock, didn’t have to since it was obviously a party and people would come and go as the night went on. The guys that lived up here had lots of parties. I heard them all the time and had managed to ignore them until tonight. Once I was through the door it only took one quick scan of the room to single her out, to find exactly where she was and to see that she was not alone.
    Something inside me shifted. It slid along my spine predatorily, opening its mouth wide, licking its tongue over parted lips and purred, low and steady.
    At that exact moment, as if she’d heard the sound, recognized the call personally and longed to obey, she looked up and our gazes locked.
    Her legs were crossed, hands in her lap, one gripping a bottle.