The Shifter's Gift

by Haley Weir

  “Dad!” Jennifer glared.

  “Yankees, or Red Sox?” The whole room fell silent and he was certain this was the question that was the most important of the whole night.

  “Yankee’s, of course.” A collective sigh of relief went around the table and Hank clapped him on the back.

  “Well done, son. Well done.” A chorus of “you better bring him back, Jennifer” came from around the table as they were ushered out the door. Laine felt like he had just passed some sort of sacred test.

  “I’m so sorry!” was all Jennifer kept saying as they crossed the street to the car.

  “Why are you sorry?” he asked.

  When they got in the car, Jennifer turned to him, “my brother shouldn’t have done that. I told Mom to tell him not to. He doesn’t listen, it’s so frustrating.”

  “So, he takes after his big sister?” he teased, earning him a swat on the arm that was uncannily similar to Rosie’s. He laughed, and she started the car. They were halfway to the brownstone when the whole car shook and threatened to split apart.

  Chapter 8

  Jennifer screamed when something slammed into the car so hard that the frame threatened to burst apart. Laine was around her side of the door and yanking her out of the car so fast that, at first, she wasn’t sure who had ahold of her. He took off running towards Central Park and made it into the woods when she felt the heat of fire at Laine’s back. It singed his clothes off, and her own were smoldering so she beat at them with her fists. When they got to the park, he set her down hard and she staggered. Then he backed up in the direction of the flames and shielded her from their heat as he shifted into dragon form.

  Jennifer caught a glimpse of the Serpentina behind him. The female dragon had angry eyes and scarlett scales so red they looked venomous. She began running through the forest as she heard the roar of frustration from the Serpentina. Laine didn’t roar back. Instead, he took off in flight and before she even realized it had happened, he scooped her up into one massive paw, cupping her and clutching her between his talons like she was his prized possession. Jennifer screamed louder the higher they flew, and she knew Laine was leading the Serpentina away from the city and his new home. Jennifer wondered how he was going to battle with a dragoness when his own claws were occupied with protecting her. Then she remembered the vicious looking spikes on his tail and heard the sickening thud of one of them connecting with a hard body behind Laine.

  Jennifer tried to peer out between the gaps in his talons, but he was cupping her so securely she had no idea where they were. She felt his whole body shake and he briefly loosened his grip. She caught a glimpse of the bay below when the Serpentina managed to get a hit in to his side. Jennifer screamed again when a burst of fire erupted over him, and he had to tuck his claws into his chest to keep her from being burned. She could feel the natural sway of his huge body when he banked left and right.

  Jennifer wasn’t sure how long their fighting went on when she heard the awful screech of a giant beast being ripped apart in midair, although she didn’t think it was Laine because he was still circling steadily. Had his brothers come to help? A moment later, his paws unclenched, and she was staring up into the flame filled eyes of his reptilian face. She looked around and saw three other dragons flanking him. The largest, and the one with the whitest on his scale tips, must be Drake. She guessed, much like with humans, that age meant more silver and white in the scales. Scryos barely had any, and she knew he was the youngest.

  “The safe place. I want to go to the safe place,” she called up to him.

  She watched as he looked at Drake and the others. They banked hard left and circled back around, patrolling for other Serpentina in the area. Laine turned right, back towards the city. She was glad that he knew exactly where to go: the library. It was closed now, but he landed on the rooftop and shifted quickly. He pulled her into his arms. She started to sob and he held her, rocking her back and forth.

  “It’s alright. She’s gone. We got her. She was alone. It’s alright.” But Jennifer understood as well as he did that the Serpentina knew about her now. They had picked her out of hundreds of cars in the city; there was no going back now. She was in this life whether she wanted to be or not.

  “My family?” she cried.

  “We will check on them and make sure they are safe. I don’t think they know their location, the Serpentina didn’t attack until we were far away from them,” he answered.

  “Yeah but they must know about school and about my dorm...”

  “We will move you to the house like Claire did,” he said. “I will accompany you to school, and any rally. Your life isn’t over, Jennifer. It will just be different.”

  “It’s too much, Laine. It’s too much too soon,” she said. How could she make him understand that she needed some control over her own life? With her siblings, she grew up striving to find that balance in her life of maintaining control and going with the flow. In the course of one battle and only a few days, all of that had come crashing down around her. “I want to go home,” she whispered. Laine stiffened.

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea to take you back to your parents tonight.”

  “No, I want to go back to the dorms.” He could do nothing but agree to take her where she wanted to go. He flew her to the campus and circled overhead, searching for a place to touch down. He finally chose a dark alley that was wide enough to fit his girth, and he dropped quickly so if there were any students out and about this late, they wouldn’t spot him. When he had shifted back to human form again, Jennifer quickly stepped away from him. She felt cold, like she would never warm up again. It hurt her to see him reach for her and then drop his hand. He was staying true to his word, but she hated seeing the pained expression on his face when he forced himself to let her go.

  “I’ll go straight to my room,” she told him. She could see he was searching for something to say, an argument that might convince her of his point of view, but he came up with nothing and simply nodded. He couldn’t follow her either, because he had no clothes. He watched her cross the lawn to her dorm building. When she safely reached the steps, she saw a shadow dart into the sky and knew he was up above, probably circling and scanning the sky for danger. She knew he would stay as long as he could, and then return in human form, fully dressed. She knew she would feel his eyes on her, watching her back. But she needed her space. She needed to feel like she could breathe again.

  Jennifer made her way up the steps, feeling like there was cement in her shoes. She trudged to her room and opened her door, finding her roommate already passed out. It was for the best. She did not want to answer questions about where she had been, and what she had been doing. It was too painful. She thought about staying up for the rest of the night to study for finals. But when she looked at her books and got an instant headache, she gave that idea up quickly. She grabbed her shower bag and walked down the hall to the bathroom, shut one of the stall doors behind her, and turned the shower on. This late at night, she was sure to have hot water and she was grateful for it. It didn’t compare to the heat of Laine’s embrace, but it helped warm her up against the coldness that accompanied shock in the wake of the battle. She was in an actual dragon battle. She stuck her head under the warm spray. Dragon battle. More spray. Jennifer was trying so hard to grasp reality, whatever it was, that she didn’t hear anyone come in the bathroom.

  She prepared to shriek, and a hand cupped her mouth. She knew instantly that it was Laine.

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

  “I couldn’t leave it like that, Jennifer. I flew home, grabbed clothes, and came back.”

  “How did you know I was in here?”

  “I can smell you everywhere. It drives me mad.”

  “I don’t know if I should be creeped out or not,” she said.

  “Please, just let me hold you.” Jennifer didn’t argue. Even ten minutes away from his embrace had felt like too long. Her skin was like ice, even against his
warmth and the hot water at her back.

  “My roommate is home. This is all you get,” she said coldly. She did truly did not want to be pushing him away, but she needed to stand on her own, without him around to save her.

  “I will leave before she wakes,” he whispered, and Jennifer nodded into his chest. Instead of attempting anything sexual, he turned her back to the shower nozzle and helped her wash her hair. He gingerly dabbed at a scrape that was on her cheek, and she noticed he looked pained when he saw it. It was like her pain was his pain and he wanted to take it all from her, despite being in bad shape himself. They both showered off, and Jennifer's face became deadly serious.

  “One week,” she said, and he looked puzzled. “I need one week of space to cope with everything.” He was about to protest but she held up her hand. “Do what you need to, lurk in the shadows if you want. And please make sure my family is safe. But give me one week. After that, meet me in the safe place and we can talk about to do from there. But I also want you to take the time to decide if a lifetime of protection detail is truly what you want, Crylaine.” He was about to argue again but again she silenced him. “I mean it. You have every right to walk away too, if you want. If you don’t show up at midnight at the library, I’ll finish out the night in a sleeping bag on the roof. I won’t search the skies for you again to come and rescue me. Promise me you will think about it all.”

  He nodded but she could see the stubbornness on his face. It was all just happening so fast. She was the kind of person who needed time to adjust, and he had to respect that. He also needed time for himself, whether he was willing to admit it or not. Crylaine let go of her and stepped back. He pulled on his clothes, still dripping wet, and opened his mouth to say something.

  When he said nothing, she pulled her bathrobe tighter and looked at the floor. His response was to cup her chin and kiss her softly but deeply. This was his promise that, despite her demands, he would see her on the rooftop in one weeks time. He turned and left quietly when he broke off the kiss, and Jennifer felt the tears slip down her cheeks. Tonight was the only night she would let herself cry, and then she would refocus her attention back on the other things in her life. She needed to organize the rally and study for finals. What she hadn’t anticipated needing was something to fill the gaping hole in her chest when she watched him turn around and walk through the door, leaving her standing there all alone.

  Chapter 9

  Crylaine was going to go nuts. Five days, seventeen hours, twenty-two minutes and three seconds had passed since he had last saw Jennifer. When she gave him the weeklong ultimatum, he had every intention of trailing her on a daily basis. But when he told Drake about what had happened, Drake announced that Laine was not permitted to leave the house. Laine had raged, and they ended up in a wrestling match, which resulted in breaking one of Corey’s antique sofas. In his fury, he also broke a state of the art television with Internet and browsing capabilities and every channel available known to mankind, and yet, he couldn’t bring himself to give one single damn about any of it.

  He attempted to sneak out the first night, but he quickly discovered that the whole house was out for him. As he reached for the doorknob, and tried to open it, Drake was standing on the other side, his eyes lit with fire. He hauled his ass up and over the stairs so fast that he was sure he had left dents in the walls. He tried everything. He tried swearing, arguing, fighting, bribing, cajoling, tricking, and finally pleading. And he tried it on everyone. He thought that he would have his best shot at escape through Claire, but she would not budge. She stuck with the decision of her mate, and also made it very clear that she could understand why Jennifer had decided to go cold turkey on their relationship. Scryos and Arrlien were on guard duty and Corey watched Crylaine, reporting to Drake whenever he made a move. Claire wouldn’t tell him if she had talked to Jennifer at school. He suspected she had, and Jennifer asked for space, but she refused to tell him anything. Drake patrolled the sky at night and worked at the college during the day. They were already stretched thin, and Drake looked exhausted. Crylaine pleaded with him to see reason and allow him out to patrol, but he refused. He went every other night with Arrlien or Scryos at his side and the other on call for emergencies.

  Laine remained in his room for two days after initially seething and pouting. He refused to come down for meals and eat with his family. He knew he was being childish, but no one had punished Drake for kidnapping his mate. Because he was the Lord of the Dragons, he was allowed to get away with a whirlwind romance. Laine was being irrational, petulant even; but there was a hole in his heart that was shaped like Jennifer, and not being able to see her was slowly killing him. He wondered, if this break went on much longer, if it really could kill him. The only way to truly kill a dragon was by destroying its heart, but did heartbreak count, too?

  On the third day, his stomach was growling so much that he decided he needed to leave his room. He joined the others in the kitchen but only grunted at them when they tried to make conversation. Drake silenced Arrlien and Scryos when they tried to tell him anything about Jennifer with only one quelling look. Crylaine was seething inside, but the next day he woke up and smiled. He had a plan.

  His plan started out by going down to breakfast and sidling up to Scryos who looked like he was ready to pass out in his pancakes. “Morning Scry. How are the pancakes?” Scryos jumped and looked at him alarmed, like he was waiting for a bomb to go off. Corey went to the pantry to get more supplies, and Laine spoke low.

  “Hey, good to see you don’t hate us all. I want to tell you, but you know I have the gag order from Drake,” he explained.

  “It’s all good,” Laine waved him off and clapped him on the shoulder. Scryos continued eating. Corey gave him a withering look when he set a plate of pancakes in front of him. He didn’t take kindly to one of the warriors he felt honor-bound to serve not speaking to him.

  “Good morning, Corey.”

  “Hmph,”Corey grunted.

  “I’m sorry I’ve been so grumpy.”

  “You should be.” The older man’s wrinkles were starting to show on his face. But they were thankfully from years of laughter and love for the warriors and not pain and fear.

  “I thought maybe when the week is up, I could take you for a ride to make it up to you?” Laine said. Corey paused. He loved going for rides.

  “My arthritis kicks in during the cold season now. Can’t do as many rides as I used to. And after the week is up, I expect you to show up on that rooftop and bring that little lady home!” he replied. So maybe Corey needed a little longer to forgive him for the silent treatment. It was just as well, because when Scryos fell asleep with his face on his arm at the kitchen table, and Corey quietly removed his plate and put it in the sink to take care of later and went off in search of a blanket for Scryos, Laine carefully liberated the thing he needed to make his plan work.

  Up in his room he held the small metal rectangle in his palm and glared at it. Why hadn’t he asked Jennifer to teach him to use one of these things? He pressed the little round button and a screen popped up asking for a code of a fingerprint. He didn’t know the code, but dragons didn’t have fingerprints. He wondered if Scryos had tried to set up the phone so it wouldn’t need an actual fingerprint. No such luck. Laine stared at the phone from all angles, and finally found a pattern of smudges on the screen that were clustered together. He tried the first combination of four numbers, then another, and began painstakingly working his way through the many variables of number combinations. After a few tries, the phone’s screen brightened. He was in.

  Laine pulled up the phone and stared at it. He was able to hear the clicks on Jennifer’s phone when the messages had come through, and he wondered if they were a signal of some kind that would let him trace the numbers back to her phone. He tried each number and had to hit the end button several times when he realized that he had accidentally called someone. He learned the tones of each number and then began playing around with the sounds
of the patterns he heard Jennifer’s phone make. He heard her voice answer on the other line when Drake burst into his room.

  Dragon punishments are different than human ones. He suffered for that little plan, but Drake didn’t inflict any damage that he wouldn’t heal from quickly. He knew that Drake would forgive him. He had never rebelled against him before. He knew he could not help his emotions, but he did have to set an example for his brothers. Laine leaned against the side of his bed and Corey looked in on him. His face was full of pity. Apparently, he had forgiven him. He wasn’t sure which was worse: Corey’s anger or his pity. Arrlien just shook his head. Just when he thought everyone would finally leave him alone, a woman’s size seven pair of sneakers crossed his line of view. He looked up and found Claire standing over him. Her face was impassive, and he anticipated she was going to say something about his daring act of thievery, but instead she dropped her book bag from school and squatted down in front of him. She glanced over her shoulder, unzipped her bag and the floral scent of Jennifer filled his nostrils. She held out a sweater with a note attached to it that read, “She left this behind after class today by accident. Go to bed, sleep it all off. Tomorrow you get to go to her.”

  Claire was sympathetic after all. It meant the world to him that she cared. He pressed the material to his face. It was soft, but not nearly as soft as Jennifer’s skin. He would make due for the night. He collapsed face first down onto the sweater and he finally drifted off into a deep sleep.

  From the moment he left her dormitory bathroom, he spent all his time thinking of ways to get back to her, counting the seconds until he could fly out and see her. He felt his body begin to heal itself now that he finally relaxed. He dreamed of her eyes and the way she tilted her head back when she laughed. He felt himself harden as he recalled the memory of what it sounded like. Even in his sleep, he was aware of his erection, and he couldn’t wait to bury himself in her the next night on top of that roof. She said she was bringing her sleeping bag, which was good, because he was going to pin her down and not let her up for a week if he had his way. Laine knew his irrationalism had come with the madness of denial, but he could not help it. He failed whenever he tried to imagine life without her. Even if she refused him tomorrow, he would wait for eternity in the shadows, watching over her. There was never going to be another woman for him, and he just hoped he had the chance to tell her so tomorrow.