Hunter's Choice (6 page)

Jessamine

Today was promising to be a bad day. A really bad day. I
stood in front of the open aviary door with some mice scrabbling around in the
bottom of a five gallon bucket hanging limply from my right hand. Hunter was
gone. I don’t even know how he got out!

“Fff-ffuck!” It was so worth forcing the word out. Hunter
was gone. I pulled out my cell phone and called Charlie, yes called. This
wasn’t the time for a text.

“Jess what’s wrong?” He demanded as a way of greeting when
he picked up.

“Hunnn-nn-nnter is gonn-nn-e, did yyy-ou or Aaro-nnn go
inn-nn the aviary af-f-ff-fter I wenn-nnn- Gah!” I dropped the bucket and
punched the timber making up the aviary doorway. Why!? Why couldn’t I get the
words out just once!?

“Calm down kid. I get you. No, neither one of us went to his
pen after you went to bed. We finished up in the kitchen and both went straight
for our trucks.” I could hear Charlie moving around.

“He wasn-nn-n’t ready!” I wailed. There was a long silence
on the other end of the line.

“I know Jess, I don’t know how he got out but that big
bastard was pretty tough and he’s out there somewhere nearby. Put out one of
the kiddie pools with some of the meeces pieces in it. ” I was onto him. We may
not be able to catch him, but we could make it easy on him to hunt.

“Kay.” I assented.

“I’m on my way. You go to work, I’ll see you when you get
home.” He hung up without saying goodbye which was good with me. I stuffed my
phone in my pocket and went to work on his suggestion.

I pulled the empty blue wading pool out of the aviary and
out into the open and gently dumped the feeder mice from the bucket into it.

“Who let you out?” I moaned with very little trouble. No one
here to hear me, no one to judge or scream or tell me I was stupid… I sniffed
back some tears and turned sharply to look in the direction of a rustle that
came from the trees.

Wishful thinking… nothing was there.

I sighed and set about feeding the rest of my charges.

Today was going to be a bad day and not just because of
Hunter. I could feel it, like the promise of rain, the air was thick with it…

I sighed and wiped at the frustrated tears and set about
doing what needed to be done so I wasn’t late to work.

As I fed and gave morning meds to the owls, I thought about
Hunter and his enclosure. I stopped by the south aviary one last time on my way
to my truck and double checked… Yep, the enclosure’s latch was working just
fine. I was beginning to question
how
he’d gotten out. I know it had
been secure when I’d come out the night before and if it hadn’t been Charlie or
Aaron…

I sighed. I guess in the long run it didn’t really matter.
He was out. I went to my truck and got in. I had to go to work.

The day progressed much the same way, when it rains it pours
and I wasn’t talking about the weather.

Midway through the day Charlie called, said that he’d come
down with something awful, that he’d fed the birds, medicated the birds and had
gotten sick several times doing it, but that he’d gotten it done and was
heading home. That’d he’d see me when he’d gotten over whatever it was that was
twisting up his insides.

It was busy in the hospital. We had several regular patients
and a man come in with a half dead cat that some boys had been shooting with a
pellet gun. The poor kitty had to be euthanized. By the end of my day I was
emotionally exhausted, physically exhausted and my stomach still churned with
worry for Hunter.

I just wanted to go home.

The drive home, at least, was peaceful, uneventful.  I
pulled into my driveway and immediately went in to check on Winter. He was
doing okay. I put out some fresh water for him and some mice in a pan they
couldn’t get out of. I wanted to see if he’d go after live prey. He was in an
enclosure big enough to let him, so why not try?

I should have gone through the house, but I didn’t. I went
around and headed for the barn and let myself in.

I didn’t even see it coming but something hard connected
with the back of my head, and across my shoulders and I sprawled forward onto
the cement floor. The heels of my hands burned where I’d put out my hands to
break my fall, scraping them painfully on the unfinished concrete. My knees
cracked painfully with the cement and I cried out.

“What have we here?” a male voice asked from behind me. My
vision was blurry, eyes watering fiercely from the pain in my hands and knees,
my shoulders and back gave a dull aching throb.

“Oh wow, she’s kind of hot.” The other one swung down from
the converted hayloft, his sneakers thudding just in front of my face.

I rolled over and looked up at the one behind me, the one
who’d hit me. He was a skinny man, early to mid-twenties. His clothes were
dirty, hair overlong, lank and greasy and his face was pockmarked with sores.
He grinned and his teeth were an awful grayish blue. I winced.

“Hey sweet heart, lets you me and Jimmy here have some fun.”
The one behind me grabbed me by the back of my hair. I reached my hands up and
clawed at the fist in my pony tail. I kicked out at the one that advanced on
me, my booted foot connecting with his hip I sent him back a few paces. He
looked angry and my memories flashed on another angry man’s face.

I opened my mouth and screamed and caught the back of the
nameless man’s hand. I tasted blood and moaned.

“Bend her over the table Jimmy.” The one who hit me ordered,
he spat on the floor and I fought. I fought and struggled and kicked and
screamed and I knew without a doubt that there was no one to hear me.

I was shoved face down over a stainless steel table, the
metal cold against the heated skin of my face. I stomped down on the sneaker
clad foot of the man who held me down and was rewarded by a shout and a curse.
He lifted my head by my hair and slammed it into the table, my sinuses filled
with blood and I continued to fight. The owls were screeching, the cacophony of
sound catching my attackers off guard.

I struggled and tried to get up off the table but nothing
was coming of my efforts. Fingers slid into the waistband of my scrubs and
began jerking them down. I screamed, long loud and wordless and I kept
screaming, having nothing left to do…

Hunter

The pack was heavy on my shoulders, an unaccustomed burden.
It had taken me an hour or so to fly back to my cache of belongings more suited
to my form as a man. It had taken that much time and longer just to hike to the
nearest logging road once my belongings had been retrieved.

I’d spent the majority of my day after that retracing the
tangle of terra firma and worn highways and streets back to Jessamine’s road. My
leg ached fiercely and several times I had paused to rest it before pushing on.

I was just heading down her long drive when I heard her
wail. I didn’t bother running in this form. Too slow. I abandoned my pack to
the mud, my aching leg forgotten and shifted out of my clothes winging my way
towards her cries and the barn.

I came in low and fast through the open door. Two men had a
hold of her, one of them had her bent, pinning her upper body against a metal
table. The other was pulling her pants down her legs, his pants already half
undone in the front. His intentions were clear but mine, mine were much more
dangerous.

Anger flowed through my veins, burning me up from the inside
out. I screeched my fury, adding to the wild calls of fear and warning from my
brethren and talons outstretched, dove for the one holding her down. He cursed
as they found purchase in his scalp and I rent flesh. He let her go to cover
his head, attempting to staunch the flow of blood. I smiled on the inside and
wheeled, diving for his cohort.

He fell back out of reach of my talons, one hand on his
pants, hauling them up. I flew down and shifted, fist flying forward in an
awkward punch from where my wing had been positioned a moment before, but I
landed my mark, my knuckles crashing into the side of the oaf’s head, a solid
box to his ear.

I kicked him square in the gonads for even thinking of
touching her and fist firmly entrenched in the front of his shirt, proceeded to
knock his nasty teeth down his throat, repeatedly.

His friend, bloody but not down for the count hit me square
across my shoulders, a searing line of pain that fueled my caustic rage. I
turned, his unconscious friend falling limp and forgotten to the concrete
floor. My hand snapped out and I caught the man by the throat. I bared my teeth
as my fingers dug into the soft flesh below his jaw. I pulled him forward with
a seething growl and bashed my forehead into his nose. I felt it give with an
all too satisfying crunch. The younger man dropped his weapon, a broom handle
by the looks of it, and covered his face with both his hands.

I buried my free fist in his solar plexus. He wheezed and
would have gone to his knees had I not had the grip I did on his throat. He
made a strangled, gurgling noise and I threw him to the ground. I kicked him in
the face and he stilled. I turned back to the other one, who also posed no
threat. I stood amidst the human wreckage, chest heaving, eyes casting this way
and that in search of Jessamine…

Jessamine

I wailed and continued my futile struggle, wrenching my body
violently in their hold. One of them punched me in the back of my head and I
saw stars, white flickers and flares of light at the edge of my vision. One of
them cursed, then screamed and the crushing weight at my back lessened then
disappeared.

I flipped over and slid to the floor looking up in time to
see brown and cream streaked feathers disengage from the cretin that had been
holding me down. The man pressed his hands to his bleeding scalp and my eyes
widened in shock at what I was seeing.

Hunter, I was sure it was him, I’d never seen another Barred
Owl that big, was diving for the other man. He missed, talons gripping empty
air. He wheeled but before making another attempt, his image blurred and suddenly,
where bird had been a man stood, arm careening forward, fist clapping the man
who wasn’t Jimmy in the side of the head against his ear.

Blood leaked from the orifice and I scooted back, under the
table. I stuffed my hand into my mouth to keep from crying out when Jimmy,
swung a broom, striking the man who had been an owl a moment before across his
broad shoulders. The handle cracked, snapping audibly.

The large, bronze skinned man that had been Hunter the owl
stilled for a moment, before whirling, quicker than light, quicker than sound,
grasping the one called Jimmy by the throat. I huddled back beneath the table
as he laid a fist deep in the man’s gut. I started as he hit the cement like a
sack of rotten potatoes. I cringed as he looked helplessly in my direction,
before a bare foot careened into his face. His head snapped back, blood arching
across the floor, and the man went still.

My breath sawed in and out of my chest, blood and tears
mingling on my face in a warm wet mess. I shook, my pants and panties still
‘round my legs. I heaved in panicked breaths, watching the bare feet of the man
turn as he looked for me. I bit my lips between my teeth to keep from making a
sound as the muscular calves bunched and flexed beneath the man’s tanned skin.
He stepped forward and a knee came into view and then two, he leaned down and
looked beneath the table.

His chest and shoulders tapered down into equally refined
abdominal muscles. My eyes went lower, invited by his hip flexors and I
immediately looked elsewhere, panicked. My eyes flicked to his face and my
breath caught.

He had high cheekbones, the hollows beneath them tapering
down to a full mouth which was bracketed with deep lines of concern.  His large
hand extended, palm up, fingers loose waiting for me to make a move. My eyes
went from the waiting hand to his eyes and I blinked. His eyes were dark and
intense, so deep a brown as to be almost black, wall to wall color, just like
they’d be if he were an owl. I stared as the color spiraled down, revealing
whites, the irises lightening in color until a rich, lighter and much warmer
brown took their place.

I blinked. He smiled softly at me. I reached out
tentatively, my hand shaking. His hand was warm. It curled around mine, his
grip gentle despite the bloody, swelling knuckles that were proof of the
violence he’d just visited upon my attackers. I swallowed and bit back a sob as
I stood from under the table, looking down at the two bloody, broken men.

The man who’d been an owl pushed long light brown hair
streaked with white behind his ear before he bent. He grasped the waistband
around my calves and I cried out and tried to push away, but he stood hands up,
palms out and took a step back.

“I don’t mean anything by it Jessamine. I’m just trying to
help you.” His voice was rich and melodic, accented lightly, something almost
British. I stood, shaking badly and he slowly bent, I let him this time and he
pulled my underwear and pants resolutely back in place. I choked on a sob and
he stood.

“It’s okay love. I’m going to fly, I left my clothes and
pack up on your drive. I’m going to get them and come back down here. You need
to call the police. Can you do that?” he asked.

I nodded, a little too emphatically, the white sparkles
returning, flitting throughout the edges of my vision. I swallowed hard and dug
through my pockets. His image blurred, like it had before and he was out the
door and winging away.

I dropped where I stood onto my ass dumb founded and looked
down at my phone clutched loosely in my hand. I blinked and did what he’d told
me. I dialed 9-1-1.

“9-1-1 what is your emergency?” I took several deep breaths.

“H-hh-hh-elp me. Mm-mm-mmm-oon chh-ch-child owl hhh-hh-aven.
P-p-please…”

“Ma’am, ma’am I can’t understand you, can you tell me where
you are?”

I tried, I really tried, but my words stuck in my throat,
wouldn’t find their way free of my battered mouth no matter how hard I tried to
make them. My stutter was horrible on a good day, on a bad day the words were
so mangled that barely anyone could understand me. Tears of frustration leaked
out and I wanted to scream.

I needed to do this, just once in my life I needed to be
able to get across that I needed
help
, where I was located and to please
hurry
. I sobbed into the line brokenly and prayed that just once I could
open my mouth and speak like a normal human being.

Strong blunt fingers plucked the phone from my hand, I
screamed and flinched.

“It’s okay love, just me. Yes hello? Hello? Yes, my name is
Hunter Grayson, I’m at Moonchild Owl Haven, there’s a woman here, and she’s
been attacked. I dispatched the two attackers when I heard her screaming. Send
ambulances and police. Yes, yes I’ll hold.” He was watching me and I was
watching him.

I didn’t know what to do, I shook uncontrollably.

“H-h-h-h-unter.” I said through swelling lips.

“Yes?”

“W-w-w-hat are y-y-you?” I asked.

He opened his mouth but a voice came across the line.

“Yes, yes I’m here.” He said, eyes locked with mine.

“Okay, okay, thank you. I was passing on the road, I heard
her screaming, please hurry; she’s bleeding. I think she’s going into shock.”
He hung up the phone.

I blinked, nodding.

“S-s-s-safe.” I said and he nodded solemnly.

“You’re safe with me.” He said.

“N-n-no.” I stammered, body shaking to match my voice, “You.
S-s-s-afe with m-m-me.” He nodded. Sirens were approaching, wailing in the
distance.

“Okay, I think I get it. My secret is safe with you.” He
murmured. I nodded emphatically, the stars returning to my vision and fresh hot
tears of relief coursed down my cheeks. Thank God at least someone understood
me.

He held out his hand and helped me to my feet. I staggered
against his hard body, now clad in worn blue jeans and a black tank top with a
flannel shirt in greens and blues open over it. The sleeves of the flannel
shirt were rolled back over his muscular forearms, I focused on the play of
muscle under his bronze kissed skin, on the fine light brown hairs scattered
there. He was solid against me and I was grateful he was there to hold me up.

His sturdy hiking boots crunched over the gravel outside the
barn. A sheriff’s car came down the drive first, followed by an ambulance. A
low moan and cough sounded from the open doorway behind us.

I startled, Hunter’s arms went around me, steadying me.
Fresh tears tracked through the drying blood on my face. I sniffed. I couldn’t
stop
crying
.

“Easy love.” He helped me sink down onto my picnic table, a
medic was jogging towards us.

“In the barn, the both of them,” Hunter called to the
Sheriff’s deputy. Ron Caruthers, the Clallam County Sheriff Deputy who’d been
in my barn, was striding towards us, John Baker from the Department of Fish and
Wildlife was running towards us from the back of the long line of cars.

“Jessie! Jess!” he called. I turned my face into Hunter and
shook. The medic was trying to look me over.

“Who the Hell are you?” John demanded, stopping in front of
us.

“Hunter Grayson at your service Sir.” Hunter stuck out his
hand and John gave one hard look at his battered knuckles.

The medic was asking me questions, I looked at him
helplessly.

“Honey I’m gonna need you to answer me.” The medic said not
unkindly.

“She can’t, unless you keep it to yes and no.” John said.

“Do you understand me?” the medic asked.

I nodded… Hunter rose and walked a short distance away from
me at the Sheriff’s urging, John followed.