by Connor Crowe
It couldn’t happen. It wouldn’t happen.
I didn’t care what the fates or the universe thought about it.
That...monster....was not my mate!
I did the only thing I knew. I ran.
Shifted into my fox form and ran, fast as I could. But no matter how far or how fast, the connection had been made. I’d never get away from him now. Not really.
Not unless I literally lobotomized myself, and I rather liked having a whole brain.
Days passed. The sun rose and set.
My heart was still racing, my mind still reeling, when I heard voices. Footsteps. The creak of wagon wheels.
What on Earth...?
I huddled behind a spray of bushes, peering through the foliage to get a good look. There shouldn’t have been anyone out here. Especially not this close to the coast. This was wild land for shifters and humans alike.
And I liked it that way.
My ears twitched as I picked up a familiar sounding name.
Lionel.
I didn’t need to think twice to remember where I’d heard that before. I knew, all too well.
And then he came into view.
There he was. The man who’d chased me through the forest. The man who’d mated me in the meadow. Who’d knotted inside me and locked his seed within to breed me.
The man who’d betrayed me.
My lips drew back in a snarl as I watched them pass. Little by little, the fog of rage lessened. I watched them pass and took note of each member of their adventuring party.
It wasn’t what I’d thought at all.
Lionel was there, yes. But he was surrounded by a group of shifters I’d only heard about in stories. I could smell the wolf on them from all the way over here, but the origin...
It couldn’t be...
The men paused in front of a rocky outcropping, looking at some sort of map and pointing. Try as I might, I couldn’t discern every word.
I could, however, see something they couldn’t.
Far above their heads, swaying in the slight breeze, was a scraggly old tree, clinging to the rocks with all its might. The roots went deep and curled through the tough soil, but it wasn’t enough.
It was failing.
A crack rent through the air and the tree sagged, the roots still digging into the soil in a desperate last attempt for life.
I flicked my gaze to the party below, still chattering amongst themselves and blissfully unaware of their impending doom.
How could they be so unaware? I wondered. The tree creaked and crackled once more, dust and pebbles scattering down the slope around it.
I should have let it fall. I should have let them all die.
Should have.
But at the last moment, pulled by some instinct outside of myself, I leapt out of the bushes. I bounded toward them. Toward Lionel. And just as the roots finally gave way and the rocks and branches began to fall, I tackled him. We tumbled and skidded across the gravelly path, the rest of the team yelping and fanning out around us.
I heard their growls. Their shifts. Their calls to attack.
Then all other noise was blocked out. The tree fell and smashed into the ground, right where Lionel had been standing. Dust flew up in all directions. I coughed. Sputtered. Couldn’t hear. Couldn’t see.
“...Kit?” The stunned voice came from below me.
And before I had a chance to say anything or to explain myself, rough hands wrapped themselves around my neck. They pulled me away, struggling and flailing still in fox form. I squealed and yelped to no avail. Pain rippled through my fur and spots danced before my eyes. They were going to kill me.
I saved his life, maybe all of their lives.
And they were going to kill me.
As the realization settled into my stomach, my body began to change. My claws retracted. My fur smoothed away.
And there I was again, naked and helpless, in human form surrounded by a pack of wolves.
“What are you doing out here, fox? Who sent you?” The tall one growled, his golden eyes boring into mine. “You trying to get us killed?”
I coughed and wheezed, still trying to catch my breath. The tall man nodded to his partner. Said something I couldn’t understand.
I landed, unceremoniously, on the dirt.
“I said, are you trying to get us killed, fox? How did you find us?” His tone was no less menacing and I curled into myself. Self preservation told me to run, but something else told me to stay.
And that something else was probably gonna get me killed.
Damn this mating business.
“Excuse me, but I was trying to save you.” I spat at last. “And if you can’t see that...”
“Save us, he says!” The alpha huffed. Built like a tree himself, I knew he could snap me in half like a twig if he wanted. There was no doubt about their identity now. This was the infamous Nox Bay.
What on Earth was Lionel doing with them?
I searched for him again in the mess of people and rubble. He was there, all right. Still looking a bit stunned, but unharmed. Thank goodness for that.
“Excuse me.” My interrogator crossed huge arms and stared down his nose at me. “You attacked one of our party members. What are we supposed to make of that?”
I couldn’t believe this guy! “I told you. I was trying to protect you! Did you not see that tree was going to fall right where you stood?”
He still looked unimpressed, but then a flicker of movement caught my eye. Lionel stood, eyes wide, waving the guard off.
“Wait!”
My heart nearly froze for a moment.
“What?” The wolf turned his withering gaze away from me long enough to redirect it onto my mate. And no, my fox didn’t like that one bit. I ground my teeth, feeling that same urge to leap forward and help. But I couldn’t. Not right now. Not while so much was at stake.
“I...” Lionel’s voice faltered. “I know him.”
Silence.
I winced. No good. If the wolves were convinced I was a spy...
“Are you trying to tell me you’re part of this trap, human? Cause that’s what it sounds like.”
He waved his hands furiously. “No! Nothing like that. It’s...” He rubbed the back of his neck. Looked away. I could almost see a small blush bloom over his cheeks.
The wolf stopped for a moment. His eyes widened in recognition. His nose wrinkled. Smelling me, no doubt. Smelling us.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” the wolf groaned. “This is your mate?”
Lionel gave him a weak smile. I saw right through it, of course. Saw the pain in his eyes.
He didn’t want me.
And that was just fine.
“Something like that,” Lionel muttered, kicking at a stray rock on the ground. “Though why he keeps showing up like this is beyond me.” His eyes narrowed. His nostrils flared.
The wolf conferred with a few of his men in hushed murmurs. I strained my ears as much as I could, but there wasn’t a whole lot I could hear over the whooshing blood in my ears.
“This changes things,” the wolf alpha said at last, facing Lionel. “Normally, we’d kill him and be done with it. But since he’s your mate, we’ll let you decide. What will it be?”
I held my breath. Pain and pressure radiated through my chest, feeling like I’d been punched straight to the heart. Great. Now the human held my life in his hands. Just like...
I squeezed my eyes shut, willing the memories to fade. They didn’t.
Screaming.
Scrambling.
And the face of the man who had taken everything from me. The man who turned me against humankind forever.
“He’s coming with us.”
The words bounced off my brain and scattered to the dusty wind. Hands grabbed my shoulders and wrists once more. Pulled me upright.
And just like that, my fate was sealed.
One way or another, he and I were stuck together.
And boy was I gonna ha
ve my hands full.
3
Lionel
How dare he?
Despite my best efforts to keep a cool head, embers burned in my chest every time I looked at him.
Kit, my so called mate.
Kit, who’d ran off without a word mid mating.
Kit, who’d rejected me and then came back just in time to save my ass.
Who did he think he was?
I should have let Arric take him. I was mad enough to. But in the end, reason won out. I couldn’t allow emotional responses to cloud my judgment here, not when I was so close to the greatest discovery of my life.
So I let him live. If only to keep an eye on him a little longer.
We walked in silence, the both of us giving the other a wide berth. Fine by me. Just because I saved his life didn’t mean we had to be all buddy-buddy.
I was simply repaying the favor. He saved my life. I saved his. Easy. Equal.
The whole mate thing was irrelevant.
Or at least, that’s what I kept telling myself.
We walked for another hour before the air grew cooler and the scent of salt carried on the breeze. I’d never been this close to the coast before, but the smell was unmistakeable.
“She should be around here somewhere,” A young omega said, looking at a map and then up to the horizon. “Lorsa helped me escape the Isles all those years ago. Do you see anything?”
Arric put a hand on his mate’s shoulder and looked up and down the shoreline. Nothing but sand, weeds, and discarded driftwood.
No boats or friendly matron in sight.
“Are you sure this is the right place, Elliot?” Arric shook his head. “Looks deserted to me.”
Elliot frowned and crumpled the map in his hands. “I know this is the place. I know it.”
“Things might have changed since you were last here. That was years ago, remember?”
“Yeah,” he said at last. “Just always thought she was gonna be here. She was so old, Arric. Basically a force of nature herself. She seemed like part of the land, almost.”
Arric squeezed his mate’s hand. I tried to pick up what clues I could. He’d told me we were going to a set of islands off the coast, but I’d always assumed we would go by boat. What other way was there, anyway?
“Looks like we’ll have to fly,” another of the men piped up, rolling his shoulders. “You think you’re up for it, El?”
“Tristan.” Elliot sighed. “I’m still pretty new to the whole shifting thing...” He shuffled his feet. “I’m not sure I could carry anyone. Well, besides Arric of course.” He squeezed his mate’s hand in return.
“Well lucky us,” Tristan said with a grin. “Looks like our newfound couple is gonna have some quality time together.”
“Wait, what?” I managed to mutter, but my words were drowned out by a riot of feathers and fur. He shifted right in front of me, and when it was over, he wasn’t a wolf at all.
A proud, pointed beak. Huge, feathered wings. And four legs that reminded me of a chicken. Or maybe a horse.
Now I knew I was really going crazy.
“You’re a...” I muttered, my mouth dry. Here it was, final and definitive proof that shifters existed. There was a man standing before me only minutes ago, and I’d seen him change. Seen him shift, right in front of me. Not even into a ‘normal’ animal like a wolf or fox, even. A freaking griffin!
“Isn’t he something?” Arric beamed.
Something. Yeah. That was a word for it.
And if Tristan was a griffin, then what was the other flying shifter...?
A roar cut through the air and a burst of heat hit my back. I flinched and whirled around, heart in my throat, adrenaline rushing like fire through my veins.
No. Way.
A dragon.
“Told you there’s a lot you don’t know about us,” Arric shrugged, hoisting himself onto his mate’s back. He stroked the shining scales lovingly, cooing something that I couldn’t hear.
“I am not getting on that thing.” A defiant, terrified voice came from behind me.
Kit pressed his back against the nearest sand dune, eyes still wild with fear. And here I thought I was taking it badly.
I stepped over to him, between the shifters and us.
“You okay?” I asked, my voice low.
“No one told me there would be flying,” Kit whispered, the sass all but gone from his voice now. His face was pale, white as the foamy crests of the waves. “Boats...okay. But no way am I getting on a flying animal over that wide stretch of sea...no freaking way.”
What could I do? Despite our rocky start, I wanted to help him. Wanted to make this better. Somehow. But the fact remained, we didn’t have a choice. We were going.
“Just close your eyes. I won’t let you fall.” The words came without thinking. That same part deep within that had called out to him in the first place. Despite how he’d hurt me, despite the betrayal I felt, he was my mate. And I would not let anything happen to him, no matter what.
“Come on, come on, we don’t have all day!” Arric called from atop his dragon mount. The same dragon that, only minutes ago, had been a small, baby-faced omega man.
“We can do this,” I muttered to Kit under my breath, and took his hand. Sparks traveled across our skin and up my spine, sending prickles of gooseflesh outward. “I’ve got you.”
Instinctively, his hand tightened, and we walked over to the griffin.
Tristan kneeled before us, his wide back and wings low to the ground. I clambered up first, hoping I didn’t pull any feathers too hard. Tristan didn’t seem to mind. All the while, I tried to catalog everything I could about the creature. The texture of his skin, the lustre of the feathers, the steely black eyes that watched me, unblinking.
I wasn’t just studying shifters anymore. I was actually about to ride one! Palpable excitement rippled over me. Never in all my wildest dreams did I think I’d end up here.
Take that, academia!
As soon as I was settled comfortably, I reached a hand down to Kit, still watching the griffin with wide, fearful eyes.
“Come on,” I said softly. “Take my hand.”
His throat bobbed. “You sure you won’t drop me?” His voice shook, and I wasn’t sure if he was asking me or Tristan. Probably both.
Tristan bowed his head and closed his eyes. I noticed it for what it was—a rare show of respect.
“I won’t drop you.” Kit’s small, soft hand fell into mine. “I promise.”
I hoisted him upward, his steps only faltering a few times. His hand shot to my shoulder for balance more than once, and as he got settled behind me, I noticed he still gave himself plenty of personal space.
If he was going to keep up this charade for the whole ride over the sea? This was gonna get awkward.
“You okay back there?” I asked, craning my neck. He looked like he was about to be sick, to be honest, and we hadn’t even taken off yet.
“Remember what I told you,” I said, trying to soothe him. “Just close your eyes if you have to. And you can hang on to me. If you want.” I added that last part out of my own insecurity. He didn’t want me. He’d left me. Yet here we were, thrown together all over again. If I was going to be in forced proximity with my so called mate with nothing but a griffin and the sea stretching out around us...
Yeah. Now was the time to try to smooth things over.
I thought he wasn’t going to take me up on my offer. His stubborn pride wouldn’t let him, more like. But when Tristan stood up on his four legs and reached his full height, Kit scooted forward and clung to me like a cat avoiding a bath.
Cute, really.
Too cute for his own good.
4
Kit
By the time I dared to open my eyes, we had left land far behind.
Bad idea, I thought at once.
My brain rebelled; my heart quailed. There was nothing beneath us but air.
And an endless, black stretch of water.
/> Despite myself, I clung closer to the alpha in front of me. He didn’t seem to mind. In fact, I could have sworn his own muscles softened when I hugged him. Some of the tension flooded out and away, and as he stilled next to me, so did I. His warmth was soothing, grounding. Especially up here, so far from the safety and stability of land.
My stomach twisted when I caught a glint of sunlight off the water below. Bile burned the back of my throat but I sucked in a deep, cool breath. Let it out. Swallowed. And things were still once more.
“You doing okay back there?” Lionel asked. I shouldn’t have been able to hear anything over the noise of the wind and sea rushing around us, but I heard him. Plain as day.
Almost as if he were speaking to me from inside my mind.
I froze in recognition. That was exactly what had happened, hadn’t it?
I’d heard of such things, such mating connections that allowed shifters to communicate over long distances. But for that to happen to me? Well, that was still new territory indeed.
And to think...all this with a human.
I cringed away at the thoughts forcing themselves in. No matter how far I ran, no matter what I tried, the memory of that terrible night would never leave me. How could I be with someone whose kind had ruined my life forever?
“You’re hurting.” Lionel’s voice echoed in my mind. I squeezed my eyes shut. Damn this whole situation! If we weren’t thousands of feet in the air, I would have already thrown myself off, ran away. It was what I had always done—how I’d kept myself safe. But now there was nowhere to run, and this alpha was doing things to me that no man ever had.
A small piece of me wanted to believe him. Wanted to feel that safety and security for once in my life. But I’d let my guard down before and gotten burned. How could I be sure he was any different?
“I’m fine,” I muttered, more to myself than to him. “Can’t change things, anyway.”
“We’re going to be up here for a while, you know. Don’t think I’m overjoyed about this either, but if we’re going to be stuck together like this, we might as well get to know one another.”
I sighed. Grumbled. He had a point. Not much I could do about it now.
