by Keri Hudson
Quinton’s eyes burst open, lungs pulling in a gasp. But he looked around to see the quiet dark of Jessica’s hotel room, his new love asleep on his chest.
Only a dream, he told himself, calming himself to look at Jessica sleeping like an angel on his chest, undisturbed. A chill passed through him to realize that perhaps it was not a dream, but a premonition.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Quinton lay awake, drinking in the sight of the amazing Jessica Hume. She was his, and in more than body but in heart and soul. She’d not only given herself to Quinton, she’d taken him as well. No coupling of the sort could have been casual. She was as changed by the night as he had been, Quinton could see it in the way she slept, the soothing calm in her face as she snuggled on his chest, touched by the moonlight streaming in through the window.
He couldn’t help but imagine their lives together, children playing in that mountain cabin, both kids shifters, son and daughter.
A chill passed through Quinton’s body as his conscience hummed with sudden worry. Jessica didn’t yet know his secret, and there was little doubt about how she was likely to react. Most normalo women never learned the secret. Some had died tragically when engaged in shifter battles. Only the ones who stayed and became shifter spouses and mothers knew the complete truth.
And to make it worse, he’d made love to her without her knowing his true nature. She could feel betrayed, lied to, taken advantage of—taken.
But he had to tell her, there was no doubt about it. But what he’d never had to do once in his thirty-five years, was to figure out how. If I just tell her, or try to explain it, she’ll think I’m crazy. If I just show her, she’ll run for the hills!
In any case, he had to do it. The longer he went without doing so, the worse he was making it and the more danger he was putting their relationship in.
Our relationship, he had to think. Even if she isn’t terrified or repulsed, even if she is and swears to keep my secret, breeding with such a creature, siring several of them, was more than many of them could take. It was why there were as few shifters as there were in the world, and why the world was in such encroaching danger.
Quinton could already feel that loneliness coming back, hollow in the corner of his heart. He sighed and took another look at Jessica, hoping against hope that he was worrying for nothing, that she’d prove to be the miracle he’d been waiting for his whole life and not another sad loss.
She finally woke up around sunrise, eyes fluttering, a little smile wriggling between her smooth, freckled checks. “G’morning.”
The smile was easy to return. Quinton said, “Morning. Sleep well?”
She nodded before taking a yawn and a stretch, pale arms reaching out and up, head rolling on her neck. She dropped her arms to her sides and looked around the room. “I’m hungry. Breakfast?”
Quinton was too nervous to eat. “Um, Jessica, there’s… there’s something I have to tell you.”
The look of instant worry took her face, and she quickly pulled the bedsheet higher up over her breasts. “What? You’ve got a girlfriend, I knew it! You’re not… married?”
“No, Jessica, no, nothing like that.”
“But… you’re dumping me.”
“Dumping you?”
“I guess I was just a… a conquest, is that it?”
“Jessica, it’s not that. I… I’d never turn my back on you, never.”
Jessica shook her head. “What, then? You’re not… you’re not sick?”
“No, not sick, not sick exactly. Um…”
She put her hand on Quinton’s arm. “Quinton, tell me!”
“Okay, well… it’s kind of complicated.”
The phone on the little end table rang, grabbing both their attention. Jessica looked from Quinton to the phone, clearly deciding which was more important. But she seemed to know she had to answer the phone, and then she’d deal with Quinton.
“Jessica Hume?” Quinton sat on the bed, wondering who would have called her on the hotel phone and not her smartphone. “Um, yes he is, matter of fact.” That surprised Quinton even more. Jessica nodded, looking at Quinton with an all new pall of confused worry. “Um, okay, sure, right away.”
She hung up the phone and turned to Quinton. “It was the girl at the desk, Daria.”
“Deliah. She wanted to talk to me?” Quinton didn’t have to wonder what that might be about.
So he was surprised to hear her say, “She says someone from the Sheriff’s Department is here, that sheriff we met last night. He wants to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“He didn’t say, just that we should come down.”
Quinton could read the fear in her eyes as she clearly considered where she was and with whom, what they’d done, and what a dreadful and deadly mistake she might have made. She thinks I’m a criminal, and that’s what I was trying to tell her.
Quinton said, “Don’t worry, Jessica, I haven’t done anything wrong, I promise you.” Quinton knew she wanted to believe it, but that she wasn’t quite convinced and wouldn’t be until the matter was cleared up. Quinton was glad she was so cautious, but it didn’t give him much promise about how she’d take the news when she finally did hear it. “Let’s get dressed, I want to get to the bottom of this. Then we’ll have a chat, and everything’ll be all right.”
Jessica nodded as she climbed out of bed to go to the bathroom and brush her teeth.
Fifteen minutes later, they were walking down the stairs toward the Gold Dust lobby. Deliah was giving them both a worried glance, then she returned to the registration desk as Quinton and Jessica approached and shook the sheriff’s hand.
After a pleasant greeting, Quinton asked, “You wanted to see me?”
“Yes, I… I took a wild guess you might be here.”
Jessica asked him, “Sheriff, what’s wrong?”
“It’s… professional business, I’m afraid.” They stepped to a quiet part of the lobby and the sheriff spoke very softly. “Six hunters, just outside the park.” He glanced at Jessica. “All killed.”
“Six?”
Quinton asked, “When?”
“Yesterday. We collected all the clues we could from the scene before nightfall.”
Quinton repeated, “Six men, armed hunters.”
The sheriff nodded and sighed. “And they weren’t just killed, but… torn apart. Tracks were still fresh, bigger than any polar bear. No wolf tracks either.”
Jessica’s green eyes shifted between the two men. The sheriff went on, “Only thing I could think of was the thing that killed your parents.”
Jessica said, “Quinton?”
“That creature’s dead, Sheriff. It drowned under ice, never came up.”
The sheriff nodded. “Yeah, I know, and I don’t mean to dredge up old memories, but… you’re sure the thing didn’t break the surface?”
Quinton nodded, eyes finding the floor despite the sad visions in his memory. “Anyway,” he went on to the sheriff, “I think it was just a bear, just a big bear.”
“Well, no bear is going to rip through six armed men and not take a single shot. And these paws, I mean, I’m not an expert, but…”
“Neither am I.”
The sheriff nodded. “All right, well, I thought you might want in.” Seeming to read the turn of Quinton’s head, the sheriff explained, “I’m putting together a team of local hunters and cops. We’re gonna track the thing down and kill it. And… you are the best in the county, maybe the best in all Alaska.”
Jessica set her hand on Quinton’s arm. “Quinton?”
Quinton asked, “Was there a trail?”
“Lost it, but we know what direction it was headed.”
“It could be anywhere by now.”
“We’re using helicopters to track down its location.” After a moment, the sheriff said, “I thought you might like a chance to even the score. Even if it’s not the same bear… or whatever it is, it’s gotta be related, offspring maybe. But I’m glad
you don’t hold a grudge. You’re a better man than I. If it were me, I’d be champing at the bit to get at that thing.” He looked at Jessica and added, “But I guess you have more… pleasant ways to spend your time.”
“I’ll do it,” Quinton said.
“Quinton? It killed six armed men?”
“It’s okay, Jessica, I know what I’m doing.”
“Very good,” the sheriff said. “I’ll let you know when we’ve found it and we’ll head out from here, fly hunters in.”
Jessica asked, “And do what, airdrop them in?”
Sheriff Spalter answered, “We’ll try to shoot it from above, if we can.” He asked Quinton, “You’ll be… here?”
“The manager has my smartphone number,” Jessica said.
The sheriff nodded as he seemed to give that some thought. It didn’t take much. He offered them each a smile and turned to step out of the hotel.
“Quinton?” She sounded fearful and she had good reason to be. She couldn’t know it, but there was an ursine shifter in the area, like the one which had killed his father. And it could have one reason for arriving in Quinton’s territory: to kill him and perhaps take his mate.
But there were other considerations, things he couldn’t share with her yet. But he’d have to, and he’d have to do it immediately. He took Jessica’s hand and led her back up the stairs.
“C’mon,” he said, “we have to have a talk.”
But before they could, Deliah said, “Quinton… what’s going on?”
“Deliah,” Jessica said, “we were just—”
“Stay out of it, hon, it’s town business.” She turned to Quinton. “What did the sheriff want?”
“Trouble in town.”
“What trouble?”
Jessica said, “Maybe if the sheriff wanted you to know that, he’d have told you.”
Deliah cocked her hip with a gangsta lean. “You better step off, girl.”
“I’m nobody’s girl!”
“All right, ladies, please, there’s no time for this.” He turned to Deliah. “It really was a police matter, I’d think.”
“Since when are either of you members of the Sheriff’s Department?”
“He came to us,” Quinton said, “that’s all we know. In the meantime, we don’t want to spread a lot of rumors, right?”
Deliah looked at him with confusion and spoke with new urgency. “But… rumors about what?”
“Just let us handle it,” Jessica said.
Deliah looked like she wanted to tear Jessica’s head off. But with a glance at Quinton’s unblinking expression, she seemed to bite back her anger, lips pulled tight over her teeth. Instead, she cast Jessica a bitter smile. “Okay, honey,” Deliah said, “you handle it. Good luck to you both.” Deliah turned to cross the lobby away from them, adding, “And God help us all.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Quinton and Jessica walked quickly to her room and she unlocked and opened the door. They entered and closed the door behind them, then sat down on the side of the bed.
“Quinton, what is it, for heaven’s sake?”
“All right, look, just listen to what I’m going to tell you now. It’s going to… you might be upset, or frightened, but you have nothing to fear from me, I swear.” He paused, taking a steadying breath. “I believe I know what killed those hunters.”
“What? Not a bear? Not more than one?”
Quinton shook his head. “More than a bear, much more. It’s called an ursine, Latin for bearlike.”
“Bearlike.”
“It’s not a widely known species—rare, and… extremely dangerous.”
Jessica seemed to give it some thought. “Well, I mean, it’s not a chupacabra or a shifter or anything.”
Quinton felt his brows rise on his forehead. “Excuse me?”
“I know, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be flip, it’s a serious thing.”
But Quinton was still trying to understand what he was hearing. “No, I mean… a shifter?”
“Yeah, it’s… it’s silly, I know. And I’m not saying I’m one of those conspiracy theorists, but there are documentaries about it, and I’ve interesting footage. Most people take it all for a bunch of BS, and I guess it is. Chupacabra too, but… I dunno, I guess I’ve wanted to believe in amazing thing, things beyond our understanding. It makes the world seem… richer, somehow.”
Quinton took a deep breath, a vague sense of relief already cast over him. “Right, well, an ursine is a shifter, Jessica.”
Her eyes went wide, leaning closer to him. “What? What are you saying? Those things are real?”
“Very real, I’m afraid.”
“But… how is it possible? A man can turn into big, monster bear?”
Quinton shrugged. “I don’t really understand the biology of it.”
Jessica nodded, turning to look off, fear in her cramped forehead. “Wow, I… I can’t believe it! Shifters are real!”
Quinton nodded. “And now we’ve got one here.”
But Jessica’s voice rose, faster, more urgent. “And you’re going to go out and hunt this thing? It killed six men, how many more? And why does it have to be you?”
“Well, as you heard the sheriff say, I have skills that can be helpful. And one did kill my parents.”
A somber silence passed before Jessica sat her hands over Quinton’s, giving them a loving little squeeze. “I’m so sorry, Quinton.”
“No, it’s… it’s all right, Jessica, it’s not about that. I can’t let that thing go on marauding my territory.”
“Your—? But you’re just a hunter. They should be sending military snipers after it.”
“They’ll never get it, nobody in the hunting party even has a chance of spotting it. Because it’s not out there in its ursine form; it’ll be in its human form. And that’s not what anybody is hunting for.”
“So it’s true that they can change… at will?” Quinton nodded and Jessica shrugged and shook her head. “Then why go?”
“I’m not,” Quinton said. “I made that promise knowing the sheriff would never find him, never call me. I’m going to have to launch an investigation of my own.”
“We are.”
Quinton was glad to hear it, though he knew she had no place in what was going to happen, especially not by his side.
“No, you’re getting on the next plane to Seattle.”
She twitched a bit. “Excuse me?”
“It’s far too dangerous.”
“Then it’s too dangerous for you to face alone. And what’s going to happen when you find the thing? If it killed six men, what’re you going to be able to—?” But the terrible truth seemed to strike her, head tilting just a bit. “Wait… you’re not…?”
“Not an ursine, no.”
“What?”
He held out his flattened palms to calm her. “Lupine, wolflike.”
“Wolf… you’re a werewolf?”
“Lupine shifter.”
Jessica sat there, eyes drifting off as her face went even more pale. “I’m no danger to you, Jessica, I swear it.”
Jessica’s head tilted as she seemed to be thinking out loud. “Well, I… I guess that explains some things, but… a lupine shifter…”
“Lupes, we’re sometimes called.”
“And… the documentaries are true, you’re scattered all over the world?”
“And usually more social, with families.”
Jessica nodded, sympathy taking her expression. “That’s why one of those others killed your parents?”
“There’s a war coming, the ursines and lupines will come to blows over it. But we have a natural hatred for one another; always have, always will.”
“But… why?”
“They want to destroy the normalos, take over the planet.”
“Norwhat?”
“Normalo, y’know, a non-shifting human. It’s a bit of a derogatory term. Sorry.”
But Jessica was clearly well past being offended. She was learni
ng things most human beings never knew, and she had to take it in all at once. Yet she showed amazing grace under the pressure of it, and that only reassured him that she was the woman of quality he’d always sought, that she and only she was the match made for him.
And that only made it more painful to have to say goodbye to her forever.
“Can I see?”
There was no reason not to show her. He’d told her the truth, he’d already trusted her with secrets that could lead to the destruction of the human race.
So Quinton stood up from the bed and began to take off his clothes. Jessica looked around and said, “Quinton… you wanna make love again now?”
Quinton didn’t even bother to answer with anything more than a little shake of his head. Once naked before her, Quinton shifted. It happened fast, white fur to match the color of his hair, blue eyes the last trace of his human form. His body grew and twisted, legs stretching, snout pushing out of his human face.
In seconds, it was over and Quinton stood before Jessica as she backed up in instinctual fear.
He was nearly five feet tall at the shoulder, over ten from flanks to snout. He lowered his head to her, a universal sign of submission. Jessica slowly reached forward, hand cautious. She gently touched the top of his head, his low growl seeming to encourage instead of repel her. Her little hand, even smaller then by comparison, stroked the top of his head.
“So beautiful,” she said. “I… I can’t believe it.”
Quinton shifted back, his human form replacing the lupine just as quickly. He was kneeling before her, her hand on his head. He looked up, quiet, reading her expression. She was amazed but not terrified. She seemed intrigued, impressed. She’d called him beautiful.
“You still love me?”
“Yes,” Jessica said, though she’d never said it before. Both knew it, and hearing the word on her lips made Quinton push himself up and into her arms, wrapping around him as they shared a long, languid kiss. She knew all and she still loved him. Their soul match was complete.
And was about to be destroyed. Quinton thought fast, frantic to find some other way, anything than to sacrifice the love of his life, his only chance at happiness.
