Part of Me by A.C. Arthur

something was likely on both our minds.
    “Everything’s going to be okay, Aidan has a place for us to stay. We’ll head there and get some rest, then figure all this out in the morning.”
    She nodded. “Sure, we’ll break into the FL’s house and stay there while we’re thinking of how to get out of the exposure we just caused. You’re absolutely right, everything is going to be okay.”
    Her frown highlighted the sarcastic last words but I didn’t bother to argue, just pulled out onto the road and drove.

CHAPTER 9

Lidia
    Jace Maybon’s beach house was beautiful. I didn’t really expect anything less since I knew that he was the flashiest and most outgoing of the Faction Leaders. That may or may not be directly related to his job in the human world as a talent agent.
    Anyway, I couldn’t stop gawking at his house. It was like a white fortress jutting upward from lush green grass on one side and sinking down to smooth sandy beach on the other. The sound of the ocean and its distinct salty aroma drifted through the open window of the truck as Brayden drove up the driveway. The truck hadn’t been stopped for more than five seconds before I was unsnapping the seat belt and getting out.
    Standing with the warm morning’s sun beaming down on my face, I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. I loved California and wanted definitely to stay here and teach. If that were evenstill a possibility, because after last night I had no idea what the Assembly was going to do with us. In reality, we weren’t a part of a dictatorship or any type of cult that physically punished anyone for defecting or breaking the laws—my family especially would be grateful for that.
    Still, we’d exposed ourselves to humans, actually killed two of them—even if Kyra’s death was indirect. Who knew what the other two were saying to the cops who were probably trying to figure out how to issue a manhunt for two half-humans, half-jaguars.
    “Hey, you okay?”
    Brayden’s hand on my shoulder was what snapped me out of my thoughts, not necessarily his question. That was because of this infernal heat that seemed to only radiate throughout my body when he was either very near or touching me, exacerbated by the touch so that I could almost think of nothing else.
    “Fine,” I said, moving as fast as I could away from him. “Where’s the key?”
    “Because the workers are here and Jace isn’t, there was a skeleton key made. Aidan says it’s likely in Jace’s office someplace but that the back entrance should be open.”
    I shook my head, preoccupying myself with keeping my feet on each flat stone of the path going through the grass up to the house. “Jace Maybon is a high-profile celebrity agent, not tomention the leader of the entire Pacific Zone of Shadow Shifters, so why in the world is he leaving his doors unlocked?”
    “I asked Aidan the same thing when we were texting during the ride. He said Jace is rarely ever here and the deed is actually in his married sister’s name so it can’t be traced back to him.”
    “Why?”
    “Something about him not trusting his brother-in-law to honor his sister so he wants to make sure she and her newborn daughter are well taken care of.”
    “Overprotective much?” I mumbled as we stepped up to the front door.
    “It’s not a crime for a man to look out for those he loves,” Brayden said, stepping up beside me.
    He looked at me like he wanted those words to mean something else, so I looked away, because they actually did. Only, I couldn’t afford to let the implications break down my defenses. I couldn’t afford to think along the lines of Brayden protecting me as only a mate should. I
would
not
think about that.
    “See if it’s open,” I said to him since he was blocking me from doing it myself.
    “When we get inside we should talk,” he said sternly.
    “You said that yesterday and when I showed up I did all the talking. I don’t really see the point now.”
    “The point is that a