Hunger for You (Shadow Shifters: Damaged Hearts) Read Online Free

I’d like to get home. It’s late.”
    I tried to move around him. That was pointless. He stood between the side of my car and Roy’s car, which was parked right beside mine. And he filled the space completely. He was built like those guys at the gym, the ones that I figure must have lived there with all the intricate cuts and chiseled muscles they readily displayed. Sure, I’d never seen this guy in shorts and a tight tank, but I was positive he was as mouthwatering as the gym buffs.
    “Did he hurt you?”
    His next question startled me and I stopped my attempt to get past him. I looked up at him questioningly. “Nobody hurt me and nobody is going to hurt me ever again.” My lips clamped shut as soon as I’d said those words. It was too much information and I knew it the second the words tumbled free. His head tilted slightly, that thick lock of hair falling close to his left eye. My fingers itched to brush it away, even as my heart began a steady pounding. It wasn’t fear that had tripped my heart rate this time, not that bone-chilling fear that had seeped into mybody when Dex had grabbed me earlier. This was different, it was … anticipation, and that had me gasping.
    “I saw him grab you and yell at you. If he hurt you I can take care of it,” he proclaimed seriously.
    Licking my now-dry lips, swallowing to be sure my voice didn’t crack when I spoke, I shook my head. “I don’t need you to take care of anything. I don’t even know you,” I replied.
    He opened his mouth to speak, then pressed his lips together. He took a deep breath and then exhaled. For those seconds I watched that movement as if being mesmerized. His lips, the rise and fall of his chest, everything about him made me want to … to what?
    I had no idea what this guy was about to do and I didn’t want to wait to figure it out. So I pushed past him to get to my car door. His body was so hard and the heat that emanated from it made me want to lean in farther, to wrap myself in the warmth and possibly feel the safety I’d always longed for. That didn’t make any sense. How could someone I didn’t even know make me feel safe? How could I know how warm being wrapped in his arms would be?
    I didn’t anticipate his next move and it startled me so badly I dropped my Mace and gasped. He turned with my movement and flattened me against the door, his hands going to both sides of the car to trap me there.
    “I’m Caleb and if I see him grab you like that again, I’m going to break his arms.”
    His words were spoken with such vehemence, such absolute rage I knew they were true. He would break Dex’s arms. I don’t know why and I knew that wasn’t what I wanted to happen, still, I didn’t doubt his … Caleb’s words one bit.
    “He’s my boyfriend,” I said defiantly. “He’s allowed to touch me. You,” I said, gathering my strength and lifting my hand to poke him in his chest, “you are not.”
    He frowned down at me, sparks of brightness streaking through his otherwise dark eyes. I thought he was going to hit me then or at the very least shake me until I felt like my eyeballs would roll right out of my head—that would have been all too familiar.
    “You are foolish,” he said through clenched teeth. “He will hurt you if you let him.”
    “You don’t know me and you don’t know Dex. And if you don’t get away from me right now I’m going to—”
    My words were cut off at the sound of a horn and then we were caught in the intense glare of headlights on high beam. The brightness fell over his face and my breath caught. He looked so fierce, so angry and yet he was the most attractive guy I’d ever seen in person—magazine and online pics of man candy did not count. There was a sudden urge to wrap my arms around his neckand hold on for dear life, but I dismissed that as being over-the-top romantic and definitely falling for the bad-boy hero, which I swore I’d never do.
    “Hey, Zoe, you okay?” Hanna called from her