by Olivia Myers
Emily watched as he shifted into his little fox. How much could he possibly do to hold off the scientists? she wondered.
Emily didn’t want to leave them, but Josh pulled her to run.
One of the scientists screamed behind them, “Get him off of me. Alex, stop biting!”
Emily smiled. The fox was strong and determined—maybe he could make a difference after all.
Another scientist screamed as Addie’s vicious growling started. Then as if by some secret call, two more dogs came running past them. Emily jerked to the side, trying to stay out of their way. The dogs barreled past her and Josh, and soon there were two more screams from the other scientists.
They were going to make it out alive. The wall was close, really close. Emily could almost reach out and touch it when a large man in a lab coat stepped in front of them.
“I know you didn’t think you were going to leave the city,” he said, smiling. “It’s too dangerous for you anywhere else. Besides, we’re your friends here.”
“If we’re such good friends, maybe you should put that away.” Emily pointed to the large electric rod that he held easily at his side.
He laughed, advancing toward them. Emily backed up against Josh, who pushed her protectively behind him. Josh shifted fast and growled loudly. The man also shifted into a dog, slightly bigger than Josh, and growled back.
Emily wasn’t sure what to do. As a cat, she couldn’t hurt such a huge dog. She could scratch it, but what good would that do? She looked around for something to hit it with. So close to the wall, there weren’t any yards or stores nearby. All that was near was crab grass and a sidewalk to nowhere.
The two dogs lunged at each other and all Emily could do was watch. It was scary being so close to a dog fight. Vicious teeth and loud growls. Josh yelped and Emily’s heart leaped into her throat. She had to do something.
When she was turning in circles, trying to find a weapon of some sort, another man hobbled up behind her. She heard him before she saw him, but he’d already shocked both dogs and they lay panting on the ground.
The larger one turned back into the man and started to yell. “Nicolas, you stupid idiot, why would you shock me?”
“Maybe because I didn’t know you were a freaking dog, Cyrus. Isn’t that something you tell your colleagues? Like, ‘Hey, by the way, I’m a shifter too, just like the ones we’re trying to control.’”
The guy on the ground got up and pushed at Nicolas, the one who’d shocked him.
Emily ran to Josh to make sure he was okay. He changed back and just watched the two men push each other.
The two nurses from the school walked up and one of them hit Nicolas in the back of the head.
“What are you idiots doing?” the woman with red hair asked. Emily realized these were different people from the ones who had earlier been chasing them. There were more than four. That was enough to get her to start inching towards the wall and pulling Josh with her.
“Did you know Cyrus was a freaking dog?” Nicolas asked.
“No,” the redhead screeched. “Why are you a dog?”
“I knew, actually,” the other nurse said, and they all turned to look at her.
“What is going on?” Nicolas asked.
“You two aren’t going anywhere,” the redhead said pointing at Emily and Josh. “You see you can’t leave the town, we have to keep you. Don’t think of it as a prison, think of it as more of an assisted living facility.” She smirked and walked over to stand next to Nicolas. Emily heard the sound of dogs barking in the distance and she looked at Josh. The dogs were far away, but Nicolas heard them, too, with his better than human hearing.
“The dogs are coming back,” he said, almost bored.
“Let them come, we’ll shock them into next week,” one of the school nurses said.
They stood in a circle, the red-headed nurse holding out her electric stick so neither Emily or Josh moved.
“Darla, honey,” Cyrus said.
“What?” the woman said, annoyed.
“Run.” He took off, not even waiting for her, as the three scientists turned to see what he’d ran from.
“They brought the bear,” the redhead screamed.
The scientists scrambled, leaving Josh and Emily on their own. A giant bear, followed by dogs, crashed into the clearing near the wall. They chased after the screaming scientists. Emily saw the bear level Nicolas before he chased the screaming redhead into the woods.
Josh looked back one more time and saluted the dogs for helping them get to safety. He then held the crack in the wall open. Emily climbed through, waving and hoping the rest of their new shifter brethren would follow shortly.
Emily and Josh took stock of their new surroundings. They were in the next town, on a sidewalk right next to a busy street. Emily felt completely naked without pants. The town here wasn’t abandoned. There were people eating at tables near the streets, lines for store checkouts, and tons of traffic.
“Do they even know, Josh?” Emily asked, holding onto his arm.
“I don’t know, Em, but we did it!” He picked her up and spun her around, kissing her before putting her down. “We made it.”
They had made it and they walked down the street hand in hand on a search for food, pants, and answers. It would be hard without any money or a place to stay. After walking up and down the sidewalk and ignoring the curious stares of strangers, Emily and Josh gave up and sat next to where they’d come through the wall.
When Alex and Addie finally crawled through, they were accompanied by two guys and a girl. Emily assumed they were the other dogs and the bear who had helped them.
“Shall we eat?” Alex asked, looking around at everyone.
“We don’t have any money Alex.” Emily said this while looking at her feet.
“No worries, we got some from the scientists. We had the bear stand over them while we tied them up and took their evil money. We’ll get you some pants, and then we’ll eat like kings tonight, and then we’ll find a place to stay.”
“Sounds good,” Emily said and followed them to the closest shopping center. Whatever happened, they had each other, and they knew they could use their new abilities to overcome their challenges. It could be hell in the future for a bunch of orphaned shifters, but at that moment they’d escaped the immediate threat and that had to be good enough. They’d deal with the rest when it came.
THE END
Mated by the Stallion
"Jane, you take care of yourself, you hear me?" Her mother hugged her tight. Faith McGill loved her daughter, but didn't have the resources to care for a grown daughter who could have a husband and be off on her own. In the mid-eighteen hundreds, women didn't have a lot of choices to survive without a husband. Not if you didn't want to live in abject poverty with no hope of climbing out of it. Faith's husband had died a couple of years ago in a carriage accident and the bills had piled up. Faith had no idea how to manage money, and had continued to live as if an income were coming in until they were penniless and destitute.
"Okay, Momma, I'm sure this is going to work out. The man's in oil and gold and has so much money I don't even know why he picked me, but he did," Jane said, smiling gently. The man had sent enough money for her family to survive for the next year or two if they were careful. He described himself as being ruggedly handsome, a cowboy type who wanted a curvy lady who was comfortable in her own skin. Samuel Kane. Such a simple name, yet the man didn't seem simple at all. Jane felt he had secrets, but didn't know what they were and it intrigued her. She wanted to dig until she'd uncovered everything about the man. She knew being nosy wasn't considered a good trait, but she'd never liked being left in the dark.
"You write to me when you get there, promise?" Faith told her as the train whistle blew, letting them know it was almost time to go.
"Yes, Momma. Take care of Betsy and Lulu. I'm going to miss them." Jane thought of her two younger sisters who wouldn't be marriageable age for another few years. At nineteen,
she was the oldest. Betsy was next at fourteen and then Lulu at twelve.
"Bye," Faith said and kept waving to her daughter as Jane got on and found her seat.
After handing over the ticket, she looked at her mother through the window and waved. She had a first class ticket to Colorado from the east coast, thanks to her new husband-to-be . It would be a long journey, but he made sure she was traveling in style and comfort. The train took off on its journey across the country. She watched her mother disappear in the distance and hoped she would have the life she envisioned in her head. Swallowing her fear, she tried to sit back and smile as the train left the city. Soon, all the buildings were gone and it was nothing but trees and wide open fields.
She'd never been on a train before and she was impressed at how fast it traveled. The clickety-clack of the train whooshing down the tracks had her making up songs in her head to the rhythm of the wheels.
A few hours later, the novelty wore off and she was bored. She got her travel bag out and looked for a book to read. Instead, she found the letters from Samuel and opened them up to read again.
Eventually, they offered dinner and invited all the first class passengers to the dining car. Putting her letters away in her travel bag, she got up to go eat dinner. She felt a little guilty about being so spoiled. She was used to working for everything she'd had over the last few years, and having someone else wait on her and clean up after her left her feeling awkward. It was natural to her to clear the table and start cleaning. She had to force her hands to stay in her lap to resist offering to help the man who wiped off her table and set the next plate down in front of her.
She thanked him and he looked startled that she noticed and appreciated what he did. Taking a bite of the food on her plate, she realized that it was the small things that often went unnoticed and unappreciated in this day and age, and people need to remember that without the small people to keep the wheels turning, nothing would get done.
She made a vow to herself, that no matter what kind of money she was marrying into, she'd never forget her roots, or let any future children she had forget where their mother had come from. Respect for the hardworking man and woman was an important value.
She finished her meal in peace, and eagerly went to the sleeping cars, ready to fall asleep the minute her head hit the pillow.
***
Jane was getting close to Colorado City. From there, she'd take a coach to the man's ranch house. While he had businesses in more than one state and territory, his home base was here in Colorado. He'd told her he hadn't had to travel much for work anymore, which was why he was settling down and looking for a bride. Ready to be a family man.
Looking out the window at the open fields as far as the eye could see, she watched wild horses running free. She'd heard of wild packs of horses but she'd never seen them before. Fascinated, she noticed when a large stallion broke off from the rest of the group to run alongside the train. He was a red chestnut color with a single white streak down his face. He had an imposing presence, the kind that you wouldn't easily forget, a fine specimen.
He slowed down and seemed to disappear as the train sped forward. Moments later, alarm bells went off and men were shouting. The train was coming to a halt and Jane wondered if the horses were blocking the track up ahead. Confused, she got up to ask someone when a guard burst through the door with a rifle and told everyone to stay seated, that the train was being robbed.
Jane sank back in her seat until the guard had passed her. Curious, she wanted to get a peek at what a train robber looked like. She knew it was foolish, but she couldn't help herself.
Sneaking forward, she went through the doors until she heard a commotion. Three men, with masks over their faces, held the conductor hostage and ordered the stored gold into bags. The tallest of the three men made eye contact with her through the window in the door. Gasping, she swung back against the wall and prayed he hadn't seen her, that it had just been her imagination.
Moments later, the door opened and the tall man grabbed her arm. He had the richest honey colored eyes she'd ever seen and barely thought to struggle against his grip as he pulled her into the room with the conductor.
"What do we have here?" he asked with a muffled voice, blocked by the mask on his face.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude," she whispered, worried they'd harm her.
"A lovely woman like yourself?" the man said, and before she knew what he was doing, he dipped his head and pulled his mask off his face just enough so he could kiss her. She didn't mean to kiss him back, it was entirely wrong. When his lips pressed against hers, warm and soft, she couldn't think of why she shouldn't. It was instinct. She felt chemistry zap between them like they were the only two people in the room and it left her breathless.
She forced herself to step back and put her hand to her lips. She'd never had a man take such liberties with her before, and she was supposed to be a married woman soon. She would forever compare this stolen kiss to that of her husband's now. Blushing, she turned to leave and the men didn't stop her. She could feel the man's eyes on her back as she ran away from them. The other two men started to laugh, but he didn't.
Scurrying back to her seat, she slid low and waited. It didn't take long before the robbers took off and the train started up again. They didn't harm anyone, but they stole most of the valuables on board, along with the secret shipment of gold.
Jane didn't know what was going to happen next, but she knew this was the kind of adventure and story that most people didn't survive without some scrapes and bruises. They'd been lucky. Most train robbers were violent and often blew up the rail road tracks to stop the trains, or shot people.
The train staff attempted to reassure all the passengers everything was alright and they would make it to their desJanetion safely, albeit slightly behind schedule.
Jane wondered if she should tell her husband about being held up in a robbery, or the kiss. Shaking her head, she decided she couldn't tell her husband-to-be about the amber-eyed stranger who had stolen a kiss on the train. He probably wouldn't believe her if she told him it had been uninvited and unwanted.
She wasn't sure she hadn't liked it. Her head was spinning with thoughts and fantasies, and she realized that by allowing him to kiss her, she had already violated the trust of her future husband.
Sighing as she slunk deeper in her seat, the guilt gnawed at her. Looking out her window as the train slowly picked up speed, the elegant horse was running alongside the train again. Staring at him until he was no longer in sight, she wished she could run and be as carefree as that horse. Life would be so much simpler.
Feeling a little homesick, she didn't know what to do. She had no way of asking her mother for advice when she was thousands of miles away and she was a mere few hours from meeting her new husband.
***
Samuel Kane had made his escape in his horse form, and had run alongside the train until it had too much speed for him and he veered off to meet up with his partners. They were all part of the same herd. Travis was the one who always carried the gold away on Brandon's back, while Samuel would follow the train until it was out of the way to make sure no one tried to follow them.
This time, however, his thoughts were filled with a plump, curvy brunette with eyes like the blue sky and lips that begged to be kissed. He particularly liked a curvaceous woman you could sink your body into. He had a bride on that train and for a few moments, he wondered if it was her. If it wasn't, he was going to be very disappointed that he'd kissed the wrong woman. She'd fit his bride-to-be's description to a T.
She hadn't been scared of the robbers on the train. Instead, she'd seemed interested in them. He smiled as he thought of the shock on her face when he'd kissed her. The way she'd blushed and touched her lips and then ran away like a scared school girl. It was clear she was an innocent, yet her response to him was entirely natural and instinctual.
Pulling his mind away from the beautiful woman, Samuel thought about how h
e’d become a robber. Markus, his arch enemy, was working his miners to death. Samuel stole Markus’s gold and secretly gave his workers donations for their families. He couldn't hire every man, but he paid living wages in his mine and took care of his own. He'd felt guilty about how many children were without fathers because Markus Stark refused to have better working conditions or livable wages.
The fact that he and Markus had grown up in different herds, with completely different moral and ethical beliefs, probably played a huge part in their rivalry. But he wasn't going to let that stallion ruin the lives of humans simply because he was greedy and always wanted more grass than he needed.
Samuel knew robbing was wrong, but he could justify stealing from Markus for all the good it did for the people who worked for him. Samuel’s donations made sure families had medicine and food, and the miners could afford to put a roof over their heads. He hoped his wife-to-be would understand and support what he was doing, if she found out. Until Markus changed his ways, Samuel wouldn't stop.
He sent a man to wait at the platform for Jane McGill a few hours later with his carriage, and had Travis distribute the money. Normally, Sammy liked to do it himself, but he wanted to meet his bride as soon as she arrived at his home. He knew he was taking a risk with a mail order bride, especially one from a background of poverty who was probably desperate to marry well.
Back home, he changed out of his dusty clothes, and was ready the moment the carriage he’d sent pulled up to his house. A woman got out and he smiled. It was the woman from the train, the fearless one who'd kissed him like a virgin and left him hot and eager to meet her again. He was glad he guessed correctly that she was his bride.
He wondered if she'd recognized him and how much trouble he'd be in for if she panicked about his secret identity as a train robber. Since he did it to pester his enemy and help the poor, he felt like he was doing the right thing, but not everyone would understand. He hoped this woman was different in case he confided the truth to her. He would have to at some point if he were going to marry her. It's not the kind of thing you'd be able to keep secret, not to mention his ability to shift into a horse. But he needed the right moment for both of his secrets. Rubbing his hand on his chin, he contemplated whether there was ever a right time to spew secrets to an almost total stranger. Even a stranger you intended to marry and spend your life with.
