Authors: Shelley Munro
Tags: #contemporary romance, #sci-fi romance, #aliens, #small country town
Janaya (19 page)
Dry.
Her mouth felt like a dusty paddock during the middle of a severe drought. And her tongue—heck, that felt too thick and furry to fit inside her mouth. She moved her arms, or attempted to, but they stuck fast against her sides. Her heart thudded, an erratic beat of fear. Her brother. He’d told her—told her yesterday she had to stop drinking. If she didn’t…
What had he done?
She struggled, hyperventilating in fear. He wouldn’t.
He couldn’t
.
For her own good, he’d said. Yeah, easy for him. He had a wife, a child. They were a family. A unit. She had nothing to live for. Not now.
Camryn forced her eyes open, her heart drumming like the thunder of horses’ hooves during a race. Her gaze lit on a large black shape on the floor. Camryn closed her eyes and moved her head in a cautious shake, wincing at the sharp throb. When she opened her eyes again, the object came into focus. A large black cat lay on the floor near her. It stared at her with its green eyes. Its mouth lay open and sharp white teeth glittered in the bright light. Camryn swallowed. A dream. No, a nightmare. She wasn’t awake.
Maybe Max was right—she’d started drinking too much alcohol.
The cat stood, stretched just like her mother’s used to, extending front legs and sticking its butt in the air. Then it prowled toward her, black tail swishing from side-to-side. A panicked whimper escaped. Camryn wanted to flee but couldn’t move.
Not her arms or legs.
Trapped.
The cat stalked closer until she felt the creature’s hot breath through the denim of her old jeans where her brother’s heavy coat had fallen away. The cat let out a sharp, fierce grunt, raising the hairs on her arms into a distinct prickle. She whimpered, the cry weak and thready. The cat moved nearer still. It opened its huge maw, globules of saliva visible. Oh heck. This was no dream. It intended to eat her. Camryn struggled fiercely, a ripple of pure terror pouring from her parched throat.
The thud of running feet sounded and two people burst into the room. Camryn’s eyes widened and she screamed again. And again. The black leopard bit her on the leg, the sharp pain silencing her scream abruptly.
They stared at each other before weird jabbers commenced, sounding like Chinese mixed with lots of clicks and guttural sounds too rapid for her to even start to understand.
Camryn moaned when they approached and halted by the leopard. Fear, stark and real, pummeled her body, her mind. She cried out as they moved closer in a collective step.
People. A loose term. Real loose.
One appeared female and had bright electric blue hair and…and pointy ears. Her flashing eyes and rigid jaw brought a warrior to mind. The tight-fitting trousers and brown tunic top, plus the huge number of weapons strapped on her slender yet muscular body confirmed the impression. The other was the palest person she’d ever seen. Everything about him seemed white. Totally colorless. Apart from his eyes. They were the palest violet and focused intently on her. While she gaped at the male—at least the bulge at his groin suggested the masculine gender—he changed color. Streaks of black swirled through the white, mixing to a slate gray. The black kept appearing in long ribbons across the part of his chest she could see until his skin and hair gleamed deep ebony. His eyes remained the same eerie violet.
Camryn’s gaze traveled to the black leopard. It sat on its haunches between the warrior and the creepy changing man. Changing Man carried a satchel in his hand. After snapping several clicks at the other beings, he pulled a glass jar from the bag. He opened it and tipped the contents onto the palm of his black hand. He frowned at them, white ribbons of color suddenly swirling across his chest. His head dipped in a satisfied nod, and the things on his hand wriggled like fat scarlet caterpillars.
She whined softly. God, this wasn’t a nightmare. These weren’t the orderlies at the clinic where Max had threatened to send her.
They were aliens.
Aliens
.
Her heart pounded, leaping against her breast. Camryn started to struggle. Not even a warning snarl from the leopard stopped her fear escalating into outright panic. With another grunt and three rapid clicks, the warrior approached her. She grasped Camryn’s head and held her still. Changing Man picked up one bright red caterpillar between gray fingers and shoved it in her ear.
Sharp pain. Intense. Worse than even the most evil hangover. The caterpillar crawled down her ear canal. She heard the crunching sounds when it attached itself somewhere inside. Her head rang, agony slicing across her temples. She keened, her strength sapped and no contest for the warrior’s superior power. The warrior held Camryn’s head, forcing it in the opposite direction, baring her other ear for the same abuse. Anguished tears slipped down her face. She sobbed, but that didn’t stop Changing Man from forcing a caterpillar inside her ear. Camryn felt every slither when it crawled inside. The pain felt just as intense, the crunching sound deafening while the caterpillar ate into her head.
“Gabriel,” she whispered, realizing she’d landed in hell. Gabriel wouldn’t be here. Only she had sinned enough to gain entrance to hell.
“Stop crying,” the warrior woman snapped, her blue hair flying around her head in a halo. “Can you understand us now?”
She could, but nausea tiptoed through her stomach. Camryn’s entire body shuddered with the depths of her misery. She’d heard hell was fiery hot, but ice enclosed her heart, her body. Nothing had changed. She still missed Gabriel.
The woman bent, tipped Camryn’s head back and struck her face with the palm of her hand. Camryn jerked back, stopping her crying mid-sob.
“Stop cryin’ and hold still while I take the seat harness off you.”
“Keep still, child,” Changing Man soothed. “We intend you no harm.”
Something in his calm violet eyes told her he spoke the truth. Maybe they didn’t intend to cut her up for experiments. Camryn cast a quick glance at the leopard and her anxiety ramped up again. The feline looked as if it would devour her in a few bites, gobble her up until nothing remained.
“And him?” she croaked, heart fluttering like the starter’s flag in a stiff breeze.
“Ry, back up and leave the woman alone. Shift.” The changing man didn’t seem frightened of the kitty at all.
Camryn held still while the warrior released the restraints holding her in place. Her attention remained on the black leopard. She didn’t like the way the animal stared at her. The leopard curled its top lip and twitched its whiskers. Then, as she watched, the leopard started to blur. The warrior pulled the harness away. Camryn blinked, her spine slamming against the back of the chair. Tension seeped through her, finding an outlet in clawed hands, gripping the armrests. Under her horrified gaze, the leopard transformed to a man wearing tight black trousers and knee-length black boots. Tall and muscular with a wild mass of black hair falling down to his shoulders. A green gaze pinned her in place, studying her just as intently as she examined him. Her heart did a crazy flip, slowing and suddenly galloping into a frenzied beat. For the first time since she’d met Gabriel, she looked at a man in a sexual way, even if fear tinged the curiosity.
The muscles in his chest rippled when he moved, the skin the color of burnished copper. A tattoo of a cat decorated one biceps, so real Camryn wondered if it might spring to life in the same swift manner the leopard had transformed to a man. The man’s trousers clung to his long, muscular legs and slim hips. The bulge at his groin proclaimed his maleness without a shred of doubt.
“You’ve got clothes on,” she blurted. Mortified color spread to her face when she realized what she’d said. In all the books she’d read about shapeshifters they’d ended up naked after their change. When he’d morphed, his lower half remained covered.
“I could always take them off,” he said in a husky voice.
Shelley Munro is tall and curvaceous with blue eyes and a smile that turns masculine heads everywhere she goes. She’s a university tutor and an explorer/treasure hunter during her vacations. Skilled with weapons and combat, she is currently in talks with a producer about a television series based on her world adventures.
Shelley is also a writer blessed with a VERY vivid imagination and lives with her own hero and a rambunctious puppy in New Zealand. She writes erotic romance in the contemporary, paranormal and historical genres and has several self-published titles. Follow the links below to learn more about Shelley and her books.
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Contemporary
Love and Friendship series
Clare Chronicles
Fancy Free series
Paranormal
Sci-fi/Futuristic
Middlemarch Capture
House of the Cat series
Alien Encounter
Gay Romance
Historical
Alien Encounter: Janaya
Copyright © 2015 Shelley Munro
ISBN: 978-0-473-31896-3
Editor: Mary Moran
Cover Art: Kim Killion of
Killion Group Inc.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.
