"I'm not calling a slip of a girl like you night stalker."
I chuckle. "Well if the shoe fits."
He harrumphs as he warms up what smells like stew on the stovetop. Either that or I am so hungry it doesn’t matter what it is I will love it.
"I still cannot believe it. When we heard, the animals and shifters freed said the girl could talk to them that it was another shifter and their senses were dulled because of drugs humans gave them to keep them complacent so they couldn’t smell the shifter in her."
"Did none mention Leon? He has gone with me on every mission for the last few years…more than three at least."
"No lion, just the mention of a girl wielding a knife that cut through metal like butter and fought like a mama grizzly protecting her young."
Okay that is the most badass way I have ever been described. I need business cards and that is going on it.
"I would love to see the ones that were shifters. I make it a rule to not look for any of them so I don't lead the people after me back to my released rescues, but if they can be human. I would love to hear how things are going since then."
"I can put feelers out if you would like?"
I nod smiling. That is the first good news I have had today.
"So, if you don't like imp what should I call you?"
"Belle."
"As in beauty? Very French, are you?"
"No. I don’t remember my real name. I saved my first animal at eleven, by myself, I was injured quite badly, but we still managed to escape. Both of us raging with fever and infection. Somehow, we both survived and I got her home. She said I had a soul as beautiful as an herbivore though I fought like a caged carnivore. She called me Belle. I did drop her off in France though. I had no ties to my former life so I kept it."
I haven't even seen my parents in a decade. I don’t even remember my original name. My life had shocked me into being an adult at a young age, with the burdens of hundreds of lives on my thin little shoulders. I killed a lot in those early days not having the skill to free the animals without killing their captors. I was an assassin; because I was small, it was best to kill them in their sleep. I made friends…well more like activists willing to help us out a bit and smuggle me to wherever my animals needed to go. Extremists be nuts, no matter their choice of cause.
"What was the animal?"
"A fox. A clever little fox."
"Likely a shifter. She sounds too advanced to be a normal critter."
He is not wrong; we had had many conversations about the world and how it works. She had been practice for some rich man’s hunting dogs. Caught, tortured, but never killed. Only for it to happen again and again. I freed her and not once regretted killing her so-called master. Even today, his death brings me no nightmares. I do however have nightmares about bottle feeding her and trying to keep us both alive as we teetered on the brink of death from infection.
"Belle it is."
I smile and try to not let my past invade my mind too much. If I think back to my first few weeks on the street, I will think of the reasons I hate humans, and my parents who abandoned me to that fate.
"Yes. Belle it is." I push my mind to the present as a bowl of stew ends up in front of me. I wolf down two bowls before my exhaustion catches up to me.
"Here let's put this down."
I climb into a sleeping bag in front of a roaring fire, the afghan has joined me inside the sleeping bag, and a bear sleeps curled up against my side bereft of fire. I am as warm and safe as one can be in an unknown location with an unknown bear shifter. So, I let my sleepy mind pull me under and pray I don’t get a call until I can get some more sleep.
I wake in the morning with my face buried in bear fur. I pull back sneezing which I regret as Robert gives a waking…well roar, I guess. I am not sure if it is normal or not so I pull into the sleeping bag and peek out from my warm mound of semi safety.
'If I didn’t eat you last night imp I won't this morning.'
"Aren't bears at their most cranky in the morning?"
'You are thinking of winter. During the winter, the bear half wants to hibernate, but the human wouldn’t survive. It is a constant battle. Maybe morning sucks for real bears, but bear shifters are mellow unless its winter.'
Note to self, avoid bears in the winter. Being eaten alive by a cantankerous shifter is not how I want to go.
"Honey or fish?"
'What?'
"Which should I carry in winter in case I run into a bear shifter?"
I can tell he is chuckling because his tummy rumbles and his paw brushes his eyes. He looks like Santa with his tummy rumbling like that.
'Well I had planned to hunt for most food while here and I do that in bear form so get on your warm dry clothes or stay there. If you don’t come you cannot complain about what I feed you though.'
I jump out and run to the place his dryer sits pulling out my clothing and carefully dressing. I was still sore in some spots. I have yet to trust Robert enough to do first aide…despite his looking at my bruises and his first aid kit pointedly.
"Ready. Let's go!"
I go through the open door and see a bear lying on the grass. Guess I am getting a ride today too. I close the door tight, wrapped my scarf around my neck, put on my gloves, and climb aboard.
"Let's get some breakfast. I am starved."
'Fish?'
"Let's do it! But I won't lie. I cannot fish to save my life so that part will be your job. I can however clean and cook them."
I figure living in the mountains alone he can as well but I don’t want to be totally useless.
'Can you forage?'
I roll my eyes laughing as he runs towards the river. "Of course, I can! I didn’t always have a lion looking out for me!"
I yell so he can hear me over the wind and smile. It is cool true, but I can see the appeal. It is so pure up here. So…new…free. Like even my curse can’t find me here.
"Robert I am so coming back to visit on purpose once I am home."
'Hmmph.'
"Don't grumble! You'll miss me when I am home. This is likely the only interaction you have had in months!"
'No one comes here in winter. That’s why I like it.'
I laugh and let my hair fly free. Yes, it is definitely freeing. I could live here, safe from the curse that stalks me even to IvyWood. This place is too pure to be infected by my curse. I could be free. I lower my arms as a blast of cool air hits me. I know I am being crazy. There is nowhere on this earth or in another my curse won’t reach me. My attacks in IvyWood prove that. I can’t drag another soul into it. I will let Robert help me heal and get me to a town then I will try to find my way home from there.
"Roar!"
Robert stops short roaring and I hear a snap. I jump down and look. A trap. A freaking bear trap. Three men come out of the woods. Two with guns and one the rat bastard I have been hiding from.
"You."
He yells something else foreign to me and I sigh. Why do people do that? Why try to get your point across by being louder? Does me shouting in a foreign language make me better understood? No, because that is not how life works.
"Miss step away from the shifter and you and this fellow can work out your issues without our interference."
"Robert are you okay?"
'I cannot get my paw out without ripping some. I will be missing a few toes if I do.'
"Well get it done and be glad it was toes and not fingers. I will hold them off as long as I can."
My determination to protect an animal from humans, loosely termed for everyone involved in this situation, pushes my pain back and lets the survivor take over.
"Walk away and you won't die."
They laugh as the German sits back smiling. I imagine he figures I will die and he can spit on my corpse without lifting a finger to bring me down.
"Your funeral."
I don’t wait for them to stop laughing. I just attack.
Chapter Six
I ki
ck like my life, and Roberts, depends on it. Which likely it does. These two are trappers, who obviously know about shifters. They are not fighters. That make it easier. Close quarter fighting is a stupid time to use a gun. Especially a hunting rifle with tranq darts. So, when the one watching the fighting shoots his friend in the arm, I turn focus to him as the other drops. It is strong enough for a bear so it put him down quickly.
I hear another roar of pain and the sound of ripping flesh, but I ignore it. He will need time and I need to give it to him. So, I keep the man busy until he hits me where I already hurt. I double over losing my breath for a second before standing back up smiling.
"You are going to regret that."
I heel him in the nose so hard it goes up into his brain. Not all the way but it is a death sentence no matter what. Then I grab his gun and shoot the German coming at me with every dart available. The one in there puts him down. The other six on the man ensures he will overdose. I go over to the sleeping one and snap his neck.
"This is like the bad old days before I could get away clean with no deaths on my conscious…well if their deaths bothered me all that much. I suppose you can tell I have been with animals too long when I am of the mindset its kill or be killed…"
I turn to Robert in human form holding a foot. The blood is pouring out and he is sweating. I take off my scarf and wrap his foot putting pressure on the wound.
"Robert, I need to go get your med kit. Will you be alright?"
"I would ask you the same, but it's obvious you can take care of yourself."
I smile. "They don't call me the night stalker for no reason."
He tries to laugh, but groans in pain.
"Stay still and put pressure on it. I will be right back."
He does as I ask and I run back in the direction we came. Whichever deity is in charge of shifters I hope to hell they make sure I don’t take a wrong turn. Robert needs stitches, antibiotic gel by the gallons, and some massive painkillers.
"Please be alive when I get back Robert. I don’t think I can take it if you die because of me."
I know the trappers were after him, but he’d been found easily while out because of me. I have to save him. I have to. Not because of my curse, but because he is my first friend in a long time. The first to ever give me hope about my cause and those I save and the one to give me hope Leon and I might be able to be together after all.
Leon
'Alice, I think we have been going about this the wrong way.'
"What do you mean? We are searching all her safe houses in this dimension and IvyWood has been combed over twice. What are we doing wrong?"
'Maybe instead of trying to find Belle we need to find the taint your magic sensed when she tried to return.'
"What do you mean?"
'Your magic dropped her off somewhere other than IvyWood because of the man that went through with her, likely they were still engaged in combat or he grabbed for her and the magic saw them as one. And she cannot come back because she needs to be cleansed of that taint or she would have returned on her own…'
"So, we search for the taint and where it was dumped and we can find her as well."
I nod excitedly. 'Exactly.'
"Brilliant! Let's return to IvyWood and cast the spell now."
We step through to IvyWood where Alice cast out an arm. The portal that opens can lead us to Belle. I haven't sensed her death so I don’t think she has been killed, but as we are not actually mated, I am not sure if I will feel anything should it happen. I have to hope that she will take care of herself. She is tough. Life made her so. It made me to protect her. I will find her, and never leave her again.
"Look her taser!"
I go over to where Alice points and smell. I can smell the man and Belle, but I can’t see them. Nothing to do but follow their scent. I race down the path smelling for Belle and Alice follows somehow able to keep up.
Belle
"I didn’t touch her!"
"Leon wait listen to him!"
I drop the kit as I hear Alice's voice but quickly grab it again. If I wasn’t hearing things Alice is trying to keep Leon from eating defenseless Robert. Who is still bleeding. I race into the clearing and give a watery smile to them both before dropping next to Robert throwing open the kit.
"Alice, I need your help. A bear trap got him. The poachers were after his hide. Can you stop the bleeding so I can stitch it up?"
She races to my side and grabs Robert's ankle her hand glowing a light blue and green. He lets out a sigh of relief as his foot numbs and stops bleeding. She can’t hold it forever, she is not a healer but she holds it long enough to let me stitch his toes back on.
"Belle is good at this. You will be able to use these toes again once you heal."
I smile and chuckle. "With a little help from your magic we have done some little miracles. But don’t you dare pin it all on my surgical skills. Which are limited at best."
Robert smiles looking more relived by the second.
"Thanks. Those poachers would have had me had you not been here."
I shrug off his thanks as Leon growls. I don’t look up as I finish off my stitching.
"Stop acting so childish Leon he knows I am marked and yours. He has done nothing but save me from drowning and freezing to death in a storm."
The growling stops instantly as I sense Leon come to me. He walks so quietly I can’t hear it, but I can feel him get closer and lie just out of reach. Once I finish what I can do for Robert and Alice is wrapping him up for sanitation purposes I spin around. He looks worried and I reach out and kiss his nose rubbing my face in his fur.
"You should have told me you know. Loving an animal is much harder to accept than loving a shifter. But hey, at least I know why you are so bossy. How did an alpha lion get stuck with me as a mate?"
Alice helps Robert up supporting his much larger frame with ease. Ahh to be Fae. She also lets out the biggest sigh of relief I have ever heard.
"Thank goodness you know. If I had to keep pretending, I couldn’t understand him because he was just an animal, I would have lost my mind. I hate keeping things from Dillan, this is my only secret from him and finally it's no longer an issue if everyone knows."
Poor Alice. She tries to live purely and peacefully. We are not making her life any easier.
"Leon tell her everything. I will not be privy to secrets again. Now sir let's get you home and resting."
They start walking; mostly Alice walking and helping Robert hop along. She is a kind one. They stop and Robert looks over his shoulder at Leon.
"Take care of that little night stalker. She may be fearless, but that has caused many to fall."
He turns and they continue Alice whispering to him. Likely asking him about himself and telling him of home.
"Did the portal gem make it home?"
'It was next to your knife in our space.'
"Good I was worried," my stomach growls and I feel my exhaustion. I sink to the ground.
"Stupid poachers ruing the hunt for breakfast."
'You forage and I will hunt.'
He bounds off and I stick my tongue out but pull out the waterproof bag I use to gather things from another pocket and get to work. I find berries and mumble to myself about men and how infuriating they are.
I half hope Leon hears because it is directed at him, the other half is embarrassed I hadn't figured it out and don’t want him to hear and make fun of me. He enjoys teasing me when I have a thoughtless moment.
I come back to the clearing and he has a turkey and a rabbit by his feet. I go over and grab the rabbit. He takes the turkey and we walk back to the cabin. I am not sure if I should break the silence.
'I should have told you.'
"You could have marked me properly had I known. I also could have, and would have, taken your confessions more seriously."
'I didn’t want you permanently bound to me if I could never be human again. I want you safe and happy. Someone else out there may be a
ble to accomplish that more than me.'
"Well that is stupid. Leon you are the only one I have kept by my side no matter what. Even in the one place I go when I am most vulnerable. I don’t even want Alice there, but I was relieved you wanted to be. You are the one animal, person, whatever, I keep next to my side all the time. The only one I can stand to be with no matter what.
"I also could have explained more to Turok so he didn’t set off your alpha instincts so much. Instead, you acted like more of a child than he ever has. Professing your love, claiming I couldn’t understand, and acting like I was yours while keeping something this vital from me…"
'I know. I want what is best for you. but I also want it to be me. I continued to look even once I was cursed. That’s how I was caught unawares.'
"You never told me how that happened. I suppose I never really asked. You said cursed, is that why you cannot become human?"
'Yes. Ten years ago, I got the mating urge. We all get it if we are not mated by the time, we are thirty.'
"You are forty? You are twice my age!"
'Does it bother you?'
He looks so vulnerable. I shake my head and give his head a rub. "If falling in love with an animal didn’t bother me enough to stop me this won't either."
He gives a purr before continuing.
'As I celebrated my last birthday with friends and family before searching out my mate I ran into a Fae. Not like Alice. Dark, selfish…evil if such a thing exists.'
He shudders and I grip his fur glad my bag of berries can clip to my belt. I need a free hand in this situation. I have a feeling he needs the physical reassurance, just as I do when I am having an episode.
'She tried to get me to follow her, to go with her, but the mating call was so strong it was almost painful. I refused and she took it badly.'
I stop walking unable to breathe. "Wait you said ten years ago."
'Yes.'
"That’s when I started being able to talk to animals. On my tenth birthday…"
He looks at me wide eyed and drops the turkey.
"Hey you two what's taking so long! Oh, you found food!"
Alice run over and looks at us frozen in shock.
Beauty the Beast Tamer- Light Page 4
