Shifter Shakedown
By S. Peters-Davis
I stood fifteen
feet away from where the oversized wolf and bear fought, slashing and biting.
The steady wind through the trees hid my scent. With any luck, they would kill
each other. I readied my crossbow for just in case and adjusted my stance for a
shot, until the wolf flew into the air, knocking me flat on my backside. My
vision blurred, and my brain buzzed into dizzy-mode. My eyes closed on
automatic as I concentrated on not losing consciousness.
“Are you all
right, Miss?” asked a deep, rugged voice. Warm fingers grasped my hands in an
electrifying grip. “Let me help you.”
I opened my eyes
to his shocking browns.
He pulled me
into a sitting position and settled on his knees in front of me, dressed in
skin-tight jeans and a black T-shirt. His brows drew together. “What the hells
are you doing in the middle of a forest with a crossbow?”
Speaking of my
weapon, I noted its absence, even while rendered speechless and in a
trance-like condition. What the hell is right? I didn’t know if this dude was
wolf or bear, no matter, his magyck had allowed him to shift entirely clothed.
Only legends tote that kind of power.
“Can you hear
me?” He snapped his fingers in front of my eyes. “Tell me you’re not a
poacher.” His voice went gruff as his fingers gripped and lifted my chin.
“Well?”
I jerked and
freed myself, scanning for my weapon. The wolf lay a short distance away, his
throat gone, and a dead shifter should change into human form. Why didn’t it? I
turned toward the hunk, narrowing my eyes. “Why isn’t it shifting?”
His brow arched
as he assessed me, and then he nodded as if in recognition. “We, dear Katherine
Brady, a.k.a. Kat, have something in common.”
I dove for the
loaded crossbow, kneeled, and targeted his heart. “So, how do you know who I
am?”
He smiled,
leaving me stunned, and my insides cooking from his pheromones. “We are both
hunters and want justice. Are you affiliated with law enforcement or another
established agency or organization?” He stood, his thigh muscles bulging when
he crossed his ankles and relaxed his body against a large oak tree.
And why would I
notice his thigh muscles? I made it a point to know and remember hunters, and
no doubt in my mind, I would’ve remembered him. “I don’t know you.” My weapon
still pointed at his chest, but the bear inside me fought against my urge to
shoot.
“Risk Kodak,” he
leaned forward, suavely fanning an arm in front of himself, then rose to lean
back on the tree, “at your service. In the human world, I’d be considered a
secret agent. In the shifter world, I run clean-up on the changelings involved
in drug-running and human-trafficking, what you’d categorize as cartel
activities.” He nodded toward the dead wolf. “I also capture or, in this case,
destroy serial killers. We have our way of dealing with those hell-bound
monsters. We don’t like it when our kind gets tainted as evil in the human
world. You know,” he air-quotes with his fingers, “because a shifter kills,
runs drugs, or traffics humans.”
I’d heard of him
from my studies, a historical legend. “You’d have to be over
one-hundred-years-old.”
“One
hundred-thirty-one to be exact.” He grinned. His brilliant white teeth gleamed
in contrast to his dark skin.
My insides
quaked with a rush of flutters. I took a deep breath to steady my hands and
lowered the crossbow. “How? You died in Alaska from an avalanche ninety-some
years ago.”
“Yea, but
doesn’t that make the perfect cover for me to keep doing my job?” He stepped
past me to the dead wolf, fished out something from his pocket, and dropped it
on the wolf. Its body instantly turned to ash, and bit-by-bit blew away on the
breeze. “I don’t know about you, but I’m famished.” He walked to me and stopped
inches away, the heat of his body bombarding mine and creating havoc with my
bear. “Would you care to join me for a little respite, something to eat?”
“We’re miles
from any businesses, and it would take us hours to travel.” I unloaded the bolt
from my crossbow. “I have jerky in my backpack.” Risk’s calm demeanor had a
bizarre way of comforting me, even though I realized his bear pheromones might
be responsible for my feeling safe with him.
He expressed
that dazzling grin again and pulled me into his body. His ancient whispered
words gave me pause, and then everything went dark. “You can open your eyes
now.”
I did, sucking
in a deep breath to settle my oozy belly. We walked out of an alleyway to the
front of a place called Mama’s Eatery. Nothing looked familiar, mostly rough
built cabins and dirt roads. A couple of buildings on each side of the
restaurant advertised groceries or supplies. “How the crap did we get here from
where we were?”
He chuckled.
“That’s one of my secret abilities, and I’ll have to kill you if I reveal it to
you.” He smiled, and I widened my eyes as a challenge. “I’m kidding. I’ll
answer your questions inside. Let’s eat.” His gaze traveled over me, eyes
narrowing. “You might want to tuck that crossbow, so it’s a bit more discreet.”
“No. I’ve been
caught with my pants down before. That won’t happen again.” A child had gotten
maimed because of my hidden weapon.
We walked into
the crowded place, and all eyes turned toward us as the bell on the door
jingled. Their casual gazes converted to assessing glares. My inner
sensitivities heightened, and goosebumps scattered across my skin. Only one
empty table for two in the back corner and I didn’t like the odds of no easy
escape route. “I’m not hungry. We should go.”
Prickles turned
into stabbing slivers down my arms as everyone in the restaurant stood. Risk
grabbed my shoulders and shoved me behind him. I couldn’t see around his
muscular body.
Thunderous
cheers attacked my ears, tankards clicking, and whistles filled the air, and
then Risk turned toward me. A wide smile spread crossed his face, leaving my
body electrified and brazenly wanton.
What the hell
just happened?
“Oh, the day
finally comes when our alpha finds his mate.” A rugged-looking man strode to
Risk and slapped his shoulder. “We’re all proud of you.” The guy studied me,
then added, “She’s a dandy.”
Risk’s gaze
captured me in a mind-boggling grip of wills as he pushed the guy away.
I fought against
it, even though the bear inside me insisted that I take his bear for a ride he
would never forget.
Risk lifted me
into his arms and carried me out of the restaurant, running down the dirt road
as if his pants had lit a fire.
Then I blacked
out like before, only to awaken in his arms. I glanced around the inside of a
rustic cabin. “Where are we?” I reached behind for my crossbow but found
nothing. My heart stuttered in a rhythm never thrummed before, and I moaned
beneath his lips as they swept over mine, stimulating certain body parts into
melting pots of desire. My bear urged me to respond, her fur rippling beneath
my skin.
“Don’t fight me,
little one. I’ve waited for you too long to hold back. You’re mine, and I’m
yours.”
Our bodies melded together and made it so…
Excerpt #1 (word count 501)
“He-e-e Ha-a-a.”
Max cackled like a wild man as the boat veered off, rooster-tailing water spray
and slamming turbulent waves into the raft.
Trembles shook
my hands and body. What the hell is wrong with him?
I closed my eyes
and took a few deep breaths to relax. Warm tingles thrummed against my sternum
from the quartz on my necklace, giving me a heads-up that my ghost friends were
near.
“He’s gone,
little missy,” Martin said. “Off to the other side of the lake.”
Gloria’s fingers
clasped the stone through her blouse. “Is your stone vibrating like mine? I
touched it, thought of you, and here we are.” She stared at me.
I climbed the
ladder and sat across from them, stretching my legs in front of me for the warm
sunshine. “I’ll have to try touching my stone and thinking of you. See if I can
call you to me.”
She nodded then
turned to Martin. “When’s the last time we sat by water?” Gloria slid her body
closer to him.
“Now, girl,
don’t you be gettin’ any crazy ideas.” He chuckled and wrapped his arm around
Gloria’s shoulder then turned his attention to me. “We want answers about what
happened. Neither of us remembers it, nothing other than a truck rammed into
the back of the Olds. It scared the heck out of us, so we turned off the main
road and drove down a dirt path into the woods, hoping to hide. Then we saw
lights coming fast behind us.”
“It’s a constant
loop we live over and over, ending with the truck following us and crashing
into the back of the car. The sound is like a grand clap of thunder.” Gloria
sniffled, but there were no tears. Ghosts didn’t cry real tears. Martin rubbed
her back.
“We blackout or
something.” Martin looked across the water but seemed unfocused. “I wake up
outside the car, and a few minutes after, Gloria is beside me. We got stuck
next to the Olds, doing the same thing over and over.”
Apparitions
didn’t usually possess recall of being stuck in a loop. They simply lived it
over and over as if for the first time, every time. What was different for
these two? Maybe our crystal connection brought the change in their loop and
opened their acknowledgment to it?
“I’ve got a
friend coming to stay with me. He’s got mad internet skills. I think he can
help research, figure out a few things. Maybe find out who followed you and
why.”
A boat motor
revved behind me, I folded my legs to my chest, preparing for impact.
“Kyle, wanna
ski?” Max hollered. He zipped past and stopped next to Kyle’s dock.
Kyle stared in
my direction and waved, and I waved back. Max sneered.
How long was
Kyle out there? All he saw was my backside while I chatted with Martin and
Gloria. When I turned around to pick up where we left off, Martin and Gloria
had disappeared.
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1 comment:
Thanks so much for hosting Ghost Guardians and sharing one of my Halloween shorty's:) The colors are really popping in Michigan right now - a sure sign Halloween is fast approaching. Happy Halloween to you and yours - have a spooktacular holiday:) Susan
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