Part of Me Read Online Free PDF

shamed by his choice of mate, took off to where nobody knew—both of them leaving me, a ten-year-old, to fend for myself. The entire village would have probably voted to cast me out as well if it had not been for the Sanchezes offering to take me in, carting me along as they traveled the globe as shifter ambassadors.
    How could I repay them by being attracted to their son?
    “Late for class?”
    I heard his voice first, then smelled his cologne, and then I looked up into the ice-blue eyes of Daniel Mulligan, who since our first meeting last semester, always seemed to pop up wherever I was.
    “Almost,” I replied, snapping out of my “what do I do now?” trance. The answer to that question was simple: avoid being alone with Brayden as much as possible, or at least until this thing between us passed, as I was sure it would. Regardless of what he’d said, he had a girlfriend now. I’d seen them together and they definitely looked like they were doing more than just hanging out. To top that off, I, rather impulsively, had lied and told him I had a boyfriend. Knowing we were both off-limits should do the trick. I hoped.
    “Where are you headed?” I asked Daniel, who was now walking beside me, heading toward the technology building on campus. Daniel was a good-looking guy, with his tousled dark brown hair and dimpled chin.
    “Professor Howard has a class in thirty minutes. I’m going over early to open the room and get the PowerPoint set up,” he replied.
    That’s how Daniel and I had met, while I was taking Professor Howard’s psychology course. Daniel was the professor’s assistant and eye candy for the female students, which went a long way to staying awake since Professor Howard’s class consisted of 98 percent lecture time. If I hadn’t needed the credits I would have definitely skipped his class entirely. Now, this morning, however, I was glad I hadn’t.
    “More lectures from Professor Howard,” I said with a smirk.
    Daniel nudged me playfully. “Come on, you know you’re gonna miss it.”
    “Absolutely not,” was my quick and cheerful retort. “This computer course will probably be boring enough.”
    “Yeah, but that’s how you do it, take all your essential courses early and save the mundane stuff for last.”
    I nodded. “You’re right and that’s what I did for the most part. I have a foreign language methodology class this semester, but it’s the most important one I need for my major. The restare things like astrology and computers for dummies. I should coast through the next two semesters until graduation, right?”
    Daniel chuckled. “You sure should. That was smart thinking on your part.”
    Actually, it had been half smart thinking and half preparation. I was supposed to head to the East Coast after graduation to begin my final training and testing to become a shifter guard. That’s what Brayden wanted me to do. But I’d had other ideas and had begun implementing them in the last year. Some of these plans I’d shared with Brayden even though I knew he disagreed. As much as I cared about Brayden and his family, I couldn’t be who they wanted me to be, no matter what my bloodline predicated, or rather in spite of.
    “What are you doing when you receive your master’s next year?” I asked him as we entered the technology building.
    I could question why he was walking this way since the building where Professor Howard’s lecture hall was located required him to take a right and continue down another pathway, but I didn’t. My mind was full enough of questions and answers that didn’t quite seem to fit, and I didn’t need to add to the issue.
    “Not sure yet,” Daniel said after holding the second of the clear glass entrance doors open for me to walk through.
    The act, while very chivalrous of him, seemed a little odd because instead of opening the door then standing to the side while I walked inside, he would open the door, hold his arm high up to keep it open then nod for me