Shifter Planet: The Return

by Reynolds, D. B.

  Fionn blinked in surprise. No one except Aidan’s fellow clansmen—the ones who’d taken down the first ship and who’d been at Clanhome when he’d arrived—had known about his capture.

  “Fair enough,” Fionn said. “Dispatch your cousins to Rhodry. I’ll tell my father.”

  “Fionn,” Aidan said, when the other shifter would have turned away. “You know who got me out of that cage?”

  Fionn shook his head. “I’m assuming it was Rhodry and—”

  “It was Rachel. She risked her life, walked away from everything she knew, to save the life of a cat. She didn’t even know shifters existed.”

  Fionn’s eyes lit with understanding. “With your permission,” he said, tipping his head to emphasize the request, “I’ll make sure the Ardrigh knows the full story.”

  “Of course. And I’ll go find Rachel before something eats her.”

  …

  Rachel sat back against the trunk of a big tree—possibly the biggest she’d seen in her many travels—and watched Aidan wind through the trees toward her. She scowled, knowing that if he’d wanted to he could have shifted into his cat form and crawled down the tree right on top of her head. She was incredibly jealous of that. How great would it be to be able to shift into something as beautiful and deadly as a giant hunting cat? Or anything else, for that matter. Maybe not that rat-like creature that they called a rabbit here on Harp. It wouldn’t be good at all to turn into something that people ate for dinner, and Santino had cooked a few of those the night they’d fought off the banshee pack. No, it would have to be something big. A predator for sure.

  “Are you just going to ignore me?”

  His voice interrupted her musings on the best shifter animal to be. She glanced up, moving only her eyes. He was standing right in front of her. “Is there a problem with Cristobal?” she asked, mostly to piss him off. But he’d pissed her off first. Or rather, he’d bruised her heart, but she’d never admit that. “Or does one of the others need something?” she asked, adding some frosting on the cake of his anger. His eyes narrowed predictably.

  “Come back to camp, Rachel. It’s not safe for you to be alone out here.”

  “You all keep telling me that. And yet here I am, still alive and well. What’s the plan? Are we staying here for the night or moving on?” She could see his jaw clenching. It was almost entertaining.

  “We’re staying. We’ll get an early start in the morning.”

  Rachel stood, ignoring the hand he held out to help her. She didn’t need Aidan Devlin’s help to stand up, for fuck’s sake. “Good,” she said briskly. “I’m going to wash up. If there’s anything I can do to help set up camp, I’m willing to work. Just let me know.” She turned her back on him and started for the river she’d been hearing for the last couple of hours. They’d been following its path, but the banks were so dense with growth that she hadn’t yet seen the water.

  “Goddamn it, Rachel.”

  She raised her eyebrows at Aidan’s outburst but kept walking. He’d made his position clear. He didn’t trust her with whatever big secret everyone else knew. Something to do with Amanda. Was she dead? Was that it? Had she contracted some awful Harp disease that her Earth-born immune system couldn’t fight? Whatever it was, Aidan didn’t trust her with it. So what the hell did he expect from her? Did he think she was going to continue fucking a man who so patently distrusted her? And maybe she would have if he’d been someone else. If they’d been somewhere else. But they weren’t. She’d earned his trust. She’d saved his life. She’d betrayed her fellow Earthers to help him, and it didn’t matter that they’d been scum-sucking lowlifes. She’d left behind everything she knew to help Harp—human, animal, and everything in between—and he didn’t trust her? Well, fuck him. And not in the literal sense, either.

  He grabbed her from behind, spinning her around and trapping her against his chest when she tried to fight back. She hadn’t even heard him coming.

  “Let go of me.”

  “Not until you listen.”

  “Let go of me, Aidan,” she said again, wishing she’d had the foresight to load a syringe with something nasty, something she could shove into his thigh. The same thigh that was sliding its way between her legs.

  Oh hell no.

  “Listen to me,” he insisted. Like she had a choice. “Shifters have good reasons not to trust people.”

  “Bullshit,” she snapped. “You guys run the fucking planet. You think I haven’t figured that out?”

  “You have us all figured out, then? Based on what? A few days in the Green? We were all born on Harp, shifters and norms both. We’ve lived and died here for more than five hundred years. Raised families, fought to keep them safe.”

  That caught Rachel’s attention. “What aren’t you telling me? What are you afraid of?” She leaned back to see his face and saw his expression shut down yet again. What little warmth had been left in her heart cooled to ice. “Nice chat,” she snarled. “But you know what? Never mind.” She flexed her arms and pushed against his iron-hard chest. Or she tried to. “Let go of me.”

  “Listen to me,” he demanded. “You think that just because you saved my life, saved Cristobal’s life, that you have the right to know everything there is about us? You think you deserve our blind trust?”

  “No,” she said softly, meeting his beautiful eyes. “Not because I saved anyone’s life. But because I survived that damn swamp with you, because we fought side by side to get this far, because we… I don’t think I deserve blind trust. But I know I deserve more than a fucking cold shoulder. Let…go of me.”

  His arms tightened briefly. Long enough that she began listing the options in her head of what weapons she had handy and how to get to them. But then his arms opened, and she almost stumbled as he turned and walked away from her.

  Rachel focused on breathing as she filled her canteen with icy river water, then settled for a quick wash of her face and neck, her arms and hands. It was far too cold for anything else. Running wet fingers through her hair, she re-braided it tightly, then headed back to where the others were setting up for the night. As she walked, she repeated a mantra in her head. Breathe in, breathe out. And whatever you do, don’t let him see the hurt on your face, the pain in your heart. Don’t give him the satisfaction.

  By the time she reached the main camp, she was back in control. She had more important things to worry about than Aidan. Wolfrum was still out there, and everyone seemed to agree that he’d returned to the city. She wasn’t sure he’d ever left. It was possible he’d sent his goon squads out to do the dirty work and was still waiting for them to report back with their captives, so they could all rendezvous and leave Harp together. That would explain how he’d known about the first ship, despite Harp’s comm issues. Population-wise, Harp was a small place, and as with all such communities, gossip was probably a competitive sport. No matter how hard Aidan and the others had worked to keep a lid on the arrival of the invaders, it would have gotten out. These things always did.

  But now, she considered the logistical problem Wolfrum would have faced in getting not just himself, but his two crews and their captives off-planet. She and the rest of the crew from her ship had piggybacked on a big transport for most of the journey here. Which meant that Wolfrum must have made some similar accommodation for their departure with the captured shifters. In fact, it would have been even more crucial to his plan at that point, because he’d be sneaking unwilling captives off-planet. She scrolled back through her memories of the commercial vessel that had brought them here, but there was nothing. No hint of to whom it had belonged, no logos, no stray cargo stencils. Whoever it was had been very careful to keep her and the rest of her crew locked up on their own little shuttle.

  For now, it seemed she’d have to settle for stopping Wolfrum, and maybe getting him to spill his guts. But despite whatever he told them, she’d investigate the rest of it herself once she returned home. He’d lied to her from the very beginning. She wasn’t inclined
to believe anything he said at this point. But once back on Earth, she’d have the full resources of a major university at her disposal. It would be much easier to discover Wolfrum’s industrial backer, then. And her brother would help her, too. He was a genius at uncovering all sorts of records that people tried to hide.

  It suddenly hit her that she’d be going home after this. In the past, after an arduous trek through some dangerous environment, those words had always made her heart feel lighter. She was sure the feelings would come this time, too, once her task was complete and Wolfrum had been stopped. She’d feel better about all of this then. She was sure of it.

  She happened to glance up and see Aidan on the other side of the fire, conferring with Fionn and Cristobal, who was looking remarkably well, albeit not yet at full strength. All three men looked over at her at the same time, and she stared back at them, refusing to be cowed by their alpha stares. Cristobal smiled and said something to Aidan that made him scowl, even as Fionn shot her an amused grin. It was possibly the first time he’d ever looked at her with anything other than a snarl on his face.

  Whatever. She was so done with these guys.

  …

  “God knows I’m no expert on women,” Cristobal said cheerfully, “but I think she’s pissed at you, Aidan.”

  Great, Aidan thought. Now the whole damn family were sticking their noses into his love life. He caught Fionn grinning over at Rachel as if they were sharing the greatest jest of all time. Asshole. He’d almost taken her head off when she’d tried to help his father, and now suddenly they were best friends.

  “Yes, sir,” Aidan said, tired of being the source of Fionn’s amusement and pissed that Rachel had put him in this position. She wouldn’t even try to understand. Not that he’d done much explaining. He believed in his heart that she could be trusted with the truth about Amanda’s pregnancy. But it wasn’t his decision. Was it? If Rachel was his, wasn’t it his choice whether to trust her or not? And if he didn’t take that step, wouldn’t he lose her?

  “There’s no reason for everyone to take the slow route back to the city,” he told Cristobal. “You and your guard can take the tree road, travel at your own pace. I’ve already tasked several clansmen to race ahead and warn Rhodry that Wolfrum’s still at large. The others will return with word for Clanhome, and I’ll bring Rachel to the city. She travels fast for a norm, so we won’t be more than a day or two behind you.”

  Privately he was thinking he could use the time to bring Rachel around, to make her understand… He glanced over and saw Santino being a little too helpful. What the hell?

  …

  “You should set your bedroll over here.”

  Rachel looked where Santino was pointing and saw that the area that had been cleared of the worst bits of loose forest debris, the kind that could torment even the most exhausted traveler’s sleep and leave them with some nasty bruises.

  “Take the spot nearest the fire. You’ll need it more than the rest of us will,” he said.

  She saw him wince, as if wishing he could take the words back. After all, if she’d still been Aidan’s lover, she’d have been bedding down with him. Warmth wouldn’t have been an issue. “My cousins and I will be leaving during the night,” he hurried to add. “A couple hours’ rest and we can travel straight through to the city.”

  “That’s where I’m heading, too,” she said casually, taking his advice and spreading her bedroll close enough to the fire for warmth.

  Santino grimaced. “I’d let you come with us, but we’ll be moving nonstop and full speed. I don’t think—”

  “No, that’s okay,” she assured him. “I know you’re all worried about Amanda.”

  He snorted. “Rhodry’s crazed enough about her safety. The last thing he needs is that fucker Wolfrum stirring up more trouble.”

  A sudden unwelcome thought made Rachel’s breath catch in her throat, but she strove to keep her response casual, her movements easy. “I hear that.”

  Santino suddenly glanced over her shoulder and grinned. “Looks like someone wants a word,” he said and strode off to join a pair of shifters who welcomed him with low words and jabs at his shoulders that would have felled an ordinary man. Rachel’s gaze slid sideways and wasn’t surprised to see Aidan strolling around the fire.

  She watched him, unable to do anything but admire the easy play of muscle and grace as he moved, avoiding every obstacle in his path as if it wasn’t there. If they’d been on a space station, or somewhere with an artificial gravity, she’d have suspected he’d been artificially enhanced. But Aidan’s grace was owed to a shifter’s inborn strength and prowess, which only made it more appealing, not less.

  “Trying to suborn my cousin?” he inquired.

  “He was just being friendly, showing me where to drop my stuff. We spent two days traveling together, you know.”

  Judging by the look on his face, that didn’t make him happy. Too bad. They had more important things to discuss. “Tell me something.” She stared up at him, daring him to lie. “Is Amanda married to Wolfrum?”

  His reaction was immediate and very telling. “What? Fuck, no!”

  She tilted her head thoughtfully, remembering Santino’s comment about how Rhodry was “crazed” with worry for Amanda. She met Aidan’s gaze. “She’s married to your cousin Rhodry, isn’t she?”

  His expression tightened. “I’m going to kill Santino.”

  She shook her head dismissively. “Santino didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. You’re all tiptoeing around Amanda so carefully. You won’t even say her name. It was obvious she’s more to you than just some novelty Earther.”

  “She’s a member of the Guild. That alone gives her status on Harp. It’s the Guild who keeps everyone safe, and does most of the hunting, too.”

  Rachel hummed wordlessly. “Maybe,” she conceded. “Or maybe it’s just that she’s female. Are all shifters such asshole dominants?”

  Aidan’s eyes flashed. “You weren’t complaining about dominance when I got you through the damn swamp.”

  “That’s because you didn’t,” she said sweetly. “I seem to recall killing a snake that was trying to eat you. Maybe I should have let it.”

  “What the hell, Rachel?”

  She gave him a narrow stare. “The hell is that after everything we went through together, after—” No, she thought. She wasn’t going to bare her soul like that. Wasn’t going to tell him how she’d thought they were building something between them that had nothing to do with anyone else. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to admit that she had feelings for him. Feelings that, in her most private of private thoughts, she’d been ready to admit might be…love. But you didn’t lie to someone you loved. If there was something he didn’t want to tell her, something he maybe couldn’t because it involved more than just him, a secret crucial to Harp’s safety, even—that she’d understand. Every state had its secrets. Harp probably more than most, given its history. But why couldn’t he just come out and tell her that’s what it was?

  “Never mind,” she said now. “I’ll stay out of your way until we get to the city. And then I’ll do everything I can to help you catch Wolfrum and prosecute him, or however Harp handles it.” A new possibility hit her. “If you’re worried about the fleet or Earth authorities or whatever, don’t be,” she assured him. “First of all, they won’t want anything to do with his scheme. Not publicly, anyway. But, more important, the crime happened on Harp, against Harp interests, which means it’s subject to your laws. That rule goes back to the original colonies, probably about the same time as your ancestors took off from Earth.”

  Aidan was watching her, but he seemed impatient. As if he was being polite, rather than interested in what she was saying. When she finished, he studied her a moment longer then took her arm and said, “Let’s take a walk.”

  She started to pull her arm away, but he tightened his hold, and she didn’t want to make a scene, especially since she didn’t have a chance of breaking away i
f he didn’t want her to.

  “Why are we walking?” she demanded in an angry whisper.

  “Because you need to know some things, and we need privacy for this conversation.”

  She glanced over to see his jaw clenched as he stared straight ahead. “You could have asked,” she muttered, but stopped struggling.

  “Please,” he said insincerely.

  Rachel wanted to tell him to shove it, but she wanted to know what was going on even more, so she held her silence and kept walking.

  …

  Aidan had made his decision, but it hadn’t been easy. His loyalty to Rhodry, to family and clan, was in the very blood that ran through his veins. But Rachel…she was important, too. It was new to him, these feelings he had for her. It had never happened with any other woman. But his gut, and maybe his heart, was telling him she was just as important as those other loyalties. It wrecked him to know that she didn’t think he cared, that she thought she didn’t matter. And he wasn’t willing to let that go. He’d lived this long by trusting his instincts. He knew Rhodry would understand.

  They finally stopped in the deep shadows beneath an ancient grandfather tree, the branches so heavy that they drooped almost to the ground. Aidan pulled Rachel into the quiet beneath that canopy and pressed her up against the trunk. She gave him a hostile stare, but didn’t try to get away, which he took as a positive sign.

  Resting his forearms against the rough bark to either side of her head, he leaned close enough to feel her breath on his skin, to feel the humming tension in her stance. “I know you think we’re secretive, probably too much. But Harp has good reasons for that. You’ve seen what would happen if news of our existence got out.”

  “You mean shifters,” she said quietly, her eyes reflecting horror at what the invaders had tried to do to him. “I’d like to say it was an aberration, a few Earthers willing to undertake unspeakable activities for money.” Her eyes closed briefly as she shook her head. “But it wasn’t. It they’d succeeded…”