The Shifter's Kiss, Book 1 (4 page)

There were six bodies, shoulder to shoulder. The glowing one was in the center. He was bare-chested and his ribcage heaved with the sound of the hum. His hands gripped the front of his pants, and his hips thrust forward in time with the rising and fall of the sound they were making.

Maren’s mouth fell open slightly. The glow rippled across his muscular chest like water, shining up to his jaw. The glow seeped to the forms next to him, but the last figures were still unseeable to her weak eyes.

On his left, a broad male figure shook its head and uttered a growl. It threw its head back and the growl rose to a scream, then back to a growl. Maren stuffed her knuckles on her mouth as the creature brought its head back, craning its neck as its jaw jutted outward into another shape. A new shape. She saw the skin darken, and the eyes start to glow.

On the other side of the glowing man, a similar transformation was taking place. A man as big as a door was bent forward at the waist.
Huh-uh-uh-uh
he moaned with the others. He shook his head, as big as a boulder. He grew. He was immense.

Huh-uh-uh-uh
, the chant continued to rise.

Maren shielded her eyes. The glow was dim, but it blinded her to the sound of the struggle beside her. She turned her shoulders. There were two bodies wrestling beside her kennel. One was fast, impossibly flexible. She squinted and tried to absorb the detail, but could barely make out the forms. The other… it seemed bigger, broader. She heard a growl and a moan come from that body, distinctly dog-like. It raised its arms, holding the smaller body wriggling above it, then slammed it against the side of the cage.

Maren jumped back. The bodies grappled with each other, turning and twisting in fast motion. The bigger creature ended up on top most times, but then the smaller one would wriggle like a snake and flip over again.

“HaaAAARRR!” the big creature howled, as the small one seemed to bury its head in the big creature’s shoulder.

Huh-uh-uh-uh!

The two grappled and struggled, grunting and growling. The bigger one flipped the smaller one to the ground, pinning his shoulders under his huge hands and catching his knees under his shins.

Huh-uh-uh-uh!

“SSSSSSSEelin, NO!” the hissing voice bawled. “Nooo!”

Huh-uh-uh-uh!

“Now, yes!” the big one growled. “Now!” He climbed the smaller body, running his face along the writhing form.

“SSSeelin!”

Huh-uh-uh-uh!

The big one growled, low and persistent. “Quiet, Pintz!”

Maren heard fabric tearing, and Pintz started to keen.

Huh-uh-uh-uh!

Maren leaned as far away as she could. The glowing man’s head was thrown back and he was jerking his pelvis roughly, too roughly. The two shifters at his side were bent at the waist, hands in fists, moaning rhythmically.

Pintz keened and keened, his wail twisting through the ring and falling of the hum.

Huh-uh-uh-uh!

The fabric fell away, and Seelin roared. Maren tried to look away but the sounds were clear. She heard the smaller creature whimper, and could see only the outline of Seelin’s hunched back, pumping up and down. His skin glowed with the golden light, reflected in a sheen of sweat.

Huh-uh-uh-uh!

“AAAAHHHHHhhh!!!” Pintz cried. Maren stuffed her hand in her mouth.

“AAAAHHHHHhhh!!!” Seelin roared, rearing his head, arching his back. In the dim light, Maren could just make out Pintz’s small form, face down. Seelin had him around the waist with his massive hands, pounding him repeatedly onto his hips. The slapping sound… Maren turned away.

HUH-UH-UH-UHHHH!

Then, suddenly, silence. Seelin fell forward over Pintz’s body, panting. The spectators fell silent. Maren could hear their breath, ragged and filled with guttural sounds.

Monsters
, she thought, then corrected herself.
There is no such thing as monsters.

Seelin’s growl turned to a moan. She saw his back heaving as he slumped, spent and exhausted.

They’re just creatures. I have to understand…

The glow began to fade. Maren kept her eyes wide in the darkness as everything dissolved into blindness, listening to her heart still pounding in her ears.

The night dragged on like torture, and Maren spent it huddled and pressed against the back wall of her cage. She tried to keep her breath silent in her chest, but it proved impossible. She jumped at every sound, eyes wide in the darkness, alert for any new change.

But the rest of the night was calm. Seelin and Pintz snored in unison next to the kennel, pressed against it. The other creatures receded in the dark in silence, and eventually she heard more sounds of sleep.

But sleep would not come to her. Every time it tried, she shook it off forcefully. Afterimages and ghosts played tricks on her eyes as she stared into the black. When she felt her head nod, she twisted her fingers painfully in the bars of the cage and willed herself awake.

The car swayed and creaked.

The next thing she knew, the door was rolling open, and a block of sunlight slammed into her face like a fist.

Her mouth tasted like it was burnt. The car was empty.

Maren shielded her eyes and sat up in the cage.

She heard footsteps in the gravel along the tracks, advancing slowly. Dowd trudged slowly into view.

Maren swallowed painfully.

Taking hold of one side of the door, Dowd leapt straight up to the car floor. Maren willed her eyes to adjust to the light.

How could she be afraid of him? Her pulse pounded in her throat.

“How was your night?” he drawled. She could hear the sneer in his voice.

“Let me out,” she said. The quake in her voice surprised her. It almost sounded like a question.

“I would love to,” he said, walking back and forth. The light in the car sizzled. His footsteps echoed against the back of the car.

“Where are we going?”

Dowd scraped a boot slowly along the filthy floor.

“We are going to Tran’s. I already told you that.”

“Let. Me. Out.”

Dowd chuckled. “I wish I could, Maren. I really do.”

Who was he? Maren shook her head. Could he really be that different? Had his enhancements… changed him? Was there anything of the man she knew still in there?

He came closer, squatted down next to her. “You have to admit. You were probably safer in the cage than out of it, eh? Don’t you think?”

He had a point.

Dowd stood again. “I actually had to fight to get you that cage. Tran thought you should take the trip just like your girls. I didn’t think you’d make it all the way there. They usually didn’t, you know.”

Maren pressed her lips together. She hadn’t had a choice, she reminded herself. And they weren’t human.

“But I thought you should live through this,” he said. He walked back and forth with his hands on his hips. He seemed immeasurably older.

“Dowd, you know this isn’t what I ever wanted. I thought we would be together. I thought we were working for a compromise… for unity…”

He laughed derisively and spit into the dirt. “Yeah, right. That’s why you ran.”

“
You
were supposed to run! You were supposed to be there!”

“No, Maren!” Dowd shouted. He slammed the wall of the car with his fist, leaving a smart dent in the rusted metal. “You gave up! Just when we were close! You destroyed the lab… the files… And then you were gone! I thought you were dead!”

He spun toward her. Maren cowered in the cage.

“You left me with
nothing
, Maren! No way forward!”

“Dowd, I--” she stammered. She tried to think. Could that be true? When the city started to burn, she ran, yes. But what else was there to do? That was the protocol. Everyone was running. She thought he would find her, like he always said.

“Dowd, please try to understand, I never meant to--”

“Oh, save it, Maren!” he interrupted. “I do not need to hear how you had a plan, you had a reason. The fact is: you left. I had to stay and clean up your mess.” He spread out his hands. “And this is where we are now!”

Here: the middle of nowhere. Everywhere was now the middle of nowhere.

Maren closed her eyes. She felt so tired. He could be telling her the truth. Perhaps every reason she’d given herself to carry on had been a lie. Maybe she had been lying to everyone.

She felt five years of fear and indecision land on her at once. It was a terrific weight.

Dowd came closer.

“It’s another half a day,” he said, not unkindly. “But you will be riding in here.”

She opened her eyes. squinted up at them. She didn’t know if she had room for all the sorrow in her heart. Or all the exhaustion. Could she ever explain it to him? How she had tried?

“Well can I… pee? Can I?” she said finally.

He chuckled. “Oh sure. Do you want to leave your pheromones all over the side of the car?”

“Well I don’t want to leave them in here.”

Dowd sighed. He chewed his lower lip.

“Yes. Come on then.” He snapped open the padlock and flung open the metal cage door.

Maren crawled out of the cage. Her muscles quaked. She hadn’t eaten in… oh, two days. Reaching up, she tried to pull herself to standing, but her legs cramped painfully and she doubled back over.

Dowd was at her side. “Come on,” he said. He circled his arm around her waist and lifted her like she was made of straw. Maren gasped. His arms felt huge - like stone.

Dowd carried her into the light and jumped from the rail car. He gestured to a clump of weeds. She shrugged. Modesty had eroded significantly in the last five years.

Maren picked her way through the gravel and the weeds. She squatted behind them, a few yards from the train, releasing a hot, thick stream of urine into the undergrowth. She sighed and shuddered. Her pelvis ached from tension and relief.

Standing up, she scanned the land in front of them. The colors had changed - maybe it wasn’t desert at all. The scrub was greener. It looked like Nebraska, or Iowa. Certainly somewhere more midwest than southwest.

Then she caught her breath. About 100 yards away, a group of six to eight figures milled about the grass. Six were certainly… upright. Two leapt through the taller grasses on all fours. They were covered in thick fur, twice the size of any dog she had ever seen.

The upright figures ranged in color from shiny black to pale gold. One was huge - at least 50% over normal male size, Maren estimated. One was slight. Eel-like. He skipped with a light-hearted agility through the grass.

The dogs… no. They were wolves, she was sure. She could see the thickening of fur over the shoulders. One had a shiny purple-black streak down its back. The other was nearly silver.

They chased each other in circles, then dashed toward the other group, who were waving their arms. Shouts carried to her ears. Screams. Maren’s hand fluttered to her mouth. The large animals ran at breakneck speeds, leaping through grasses.

At the last moment they leapt high overhead, right over the heads of the standing figures. The figures turned and waved their arms again. The sound of laughter wafted over the grass. It was a game.

“They also make excellent watchdogs,” Dowd said from the other side of the weeds. Maren jumped, startled, and stumbled backwards. Dowd was standing with his hands on his hips, watching the game.

She was stunned. “Werewolves?” she said meekly.

He shrugged. “Not all of them, of course. There are rules.”

Rules?

“There’s no such things as monsters,” she whispered to herself.

“Of course not,” Dowd said aloud. He stared at the group in the distance, a smile playing around the corners of his mouth. “There are only things we don’t understand yet.” He paused. “Of course… sometimes when you get to understand something, it turns out to be complete horror.”

He looked away. Lost in thought.

Finally he sighed. “Right, then. The train will be leaving shortly. I’ll get you back to your… quarters.”

Maren nodded and held out her hand. Dowd took it and led her back to the car. She didn’t object. It was a long journey yet, and she was definitely safer in the cage.

###

From “
Camille, Halfway Home Book 1
”

Susan’s hem had ridden up slightly when Camille pushed her onto the settee, and now Camille had an excellent view of her strong thighs. She was lean and slightly tanned, and her legs were so smooth they must have been waxed. She trailed her fingers lightly over the skin near her hem, placing light kisses along the ridge of her kneecap.

Every time Susan moaned, Camille felt further encouraged. Kiss the knee - moan. Kiss over the knee - feel the legs open outwards. She used her tongue and teeth lightly, and pushed both her hands just under the hem of her skirt, moving farther each time a sigh or a moan told her she should.