“You are other, it stands to reason. Maybe it is part of your otherness.”
“How am I other? I look as you, I think as you, I remember nothing but the clan, how am I other?”
The old one pushed a memory at her: a creature with no bracken standing at the edge of the forest, the Sun Father glinting off an object in her hand.
She saw the outsider falling to the ground and shifting shape. The noise it made in the quiet of their dance had the whole clan trembling.
It stood over their fallen kin, wearing their skin where it hadn’t before. Then He came forward, pressing at her with his mind, and she struck out at him.
Her mind convulsed around the memories in her head, unable to break the block. The old one stepped back as He burst into the cavern.
“What do you here?” He kneeled beside her. She reached out for him, memories not hers thundering through her mind. She needed him to shield her, wanted him near her. Her body shrieked with pain, her hand pink as she reached for him before losing consciousness.
She didn’t know how much time had passed, only that she lay in his bracken, the branch-like limbs rough against her skin. She rolled over, staring into the face that had affected her so strongly that morning in the clearing. He’d protected her, kept her safe when he didn’t have a reason to. Her mind still heard the thoughts of the clan, still felt their sorrow over what she’d done. But she had her senses back. She knew who she was and what she’d done with her life, and suddenly wasn’t very proud of it.
Her optic implant turned on. She realized it had been doing that on and off through the time she’d spent with the clan. She’d been transmitting images. She should leave, before she did any more damage. This civilization wasn’t ready for what she’d brought on them.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
Her head shot up and she looked him in his marble brown eye. “What?”
“I said you’re not going anywhere.”
His bracken swirled around her as he spoke.
“Why?”
“I couldn’t let you cease to be, to stop the clan from sending you to the Wind Father, I had to claim you.”
She froze. Tender feelings evaporated. Her muscles hardened.
“Claim me?”
She paused, as he pushed the images of everything that meant into her mind. She grinned. Maybe being claimed wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
He’d brought her to the mating cave. He shielded her from the clan. He’d cared for her. She relaxed and his tendrils loosened. She reached up to his face, her fingers hovering inches from his skin. Shura held them there and glared at the soft pink flesh covering them. The implant cackled to life, and they both saw the transmission. Both understood the implications, since she could now remember what was happening. She leapt up and fell back to the ground with a shriek. There was a deep laceration in her leg, transforming hadn’t healed her. He gathered her in his arms and carried her down the slope. She watched the sky, waiting for the ship to appear.
***
“Put the woman down.”
She felt his denial. He shouted at the men surrounding them. A few clenched their heads and fell to their knees.
“Shura, can you understand me?”
She shook her head. She heard him, but didn’t want to, didn’t want to leave now that she’d finally found a home, found someone who accepted her.
She glared at Tuoint.
“Dart them. We don’t have time for this. We’ll sort it out on Riker.”
***
Shura stared in front of her, deciphering the emotions and images caught in her Bio-network.
Her hand slipped subconsciously to her hair, as if missing a limb.
“What happened down there?” Tuoint looked at her across the table in the darkened room.
“I’ll have to think about it. I’m not sure myself yet. All I know is he saved me, and I don’t have a clue why. I remember getting there and an initial skirmish. The rest feels like a memory, or a lost dream, buried deep.” She stared off into space for a while. “Where is he now?”
“Sedated.”
The scent of fresh air and strong arms holding her, wafted across her memory. She shivered.
“Good.” Tendrils slithered under her skin. Waiting.
About the Author
Adriane Ceallaigh has been writing fiction since her early teens. Her first novel was recently published by Drakken Press. To find out more about her and her work, visit her or email her at: www.adrianeceallaigh.com
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COMING SOON
Ravaged Shadows
Dragon Shadows: Book One
1
Jinxi twirled her knife, lost in thought, the darkened street as familiar as her own breath. She neglected to pay attention to her surroundings. Distracted, she didn’t see the daffodil until it was too late. The crunch of petals beneath her foot barely felt, she stopped short, looking down at the crushed flower. She stared at it in confusion for a second before realization dawned.
“Shit!”
She took off running, listening for the sounds she knew would come. The brutal, high-pitched screech instantaneous, she dealt with one of the winged kin, pixies, unless she missed her guess. Ducking into a darkened doorway, she stood still and eyed the night, searching for sign of the little monsters. The high-pitched screech grew louder. She crept on silent feet away from the noise. The screech went quiet as fast as it had come. She almost relaxed, shrugging her pack into a better position. She’d walked a few more steps when the first piece of rotten food landed against her cheek.
Swearing, she wiped it off. “You little bastards, show yourselves!” The thud of another piece of fruit hitting her chest, was her only reply.
She stalked in the direction of Wulf Blud. In the last few years, Wulf Blud had become her haven away from home, the only place she could relax. The hail of rotting fruit dogged her steps as she slogged towards her destination. By the time she got there, she dripped in putrid slime. She slammed through the door, her stench ungodly.
Marrick glanced up from the drink he poured. “What the hell happened to you Jinx?”
“You don’t want to know,” she growled. The splatter of food hit the outside of the building.
He glared at the noise, “That isn’t what I think it is, is it?”
She could only nod.
“You’re lucky I like you.” He said, throwing her a towel as she slid into her regular chair at the bar. He clunked her usual in front of her. She tossed it back without glancing at the contents. Wiping her cheek, she nodded at him to give her another. He poured it into the glass. “Trouble?”
She growled, not even deigning to comment on that remark. She’d gotten most of the muck off when Blyth’s second, Erick, slid into the chair next to her. She set down her shot glass. “Go away,” she snarled.
He ignored her, “Blyth has a job for you.”
“Don’t care, Go away.”
“He’ll pay you well this time,” Erick said.
She squinted at him, took in the stubborn set of his shoulders and decided she wouldn’t get rid of him until he’d spoken his piece. “Alright speak,” she grunted at him, blurry eyed, and then ignored him.
She just wanted to go home, get into a nice hot bath, and soak the stench from her skin. Maybe she’d scrub with a pumice stone first, she thought, looking at the back of her hand. She wiped at it with the towel, only succeeding in smearing the muck further. Giving up, she tossed the towel in Marrick’s direction. He turned to glare at her.
“What?”
He shook his head and walked to the other end of the bar, muttering obscenities about ill-mannered Drakons.
Jinxi half tuned back in to Erick. She hoped she’d annoyed him. She enjoyed pissing him off on a regular basis. As long as she didn’t push him into his MoonSkin, things would be fine. Although, he looked pretty close, she mused.
He cleared his throat, “Are you going to listen this time?�
�� He asked her.
“Um, sure I guess, but I’ve already told you to go away and, since ignoring you isn’t working, I guess I’ll listen.”
“It’s a rogue,” he said flatly.
“Shit,” She quit bitching and focused on what he had to say.
“You’re aware that Blyth took over the Moon-Spun Pack, about six months ago?” He asked.
She nodded, “He’s changed the rules and brought most of the wild pack under control, not an easy feat, not with that pack of MoonSkins.”
“Yes… well. Evan, the old pack second, has been missing since the last full moon. Ever since then we’ve been finding partially eaten bodies. Sometimes they’re left mere feet from heavy population. Every time we think we’ve tracked him back to his lair, we lose him again. Blyth thinks it’s because he knows how we think. He could be right. Searching in moon skin hasn’t brought any better results. He backtracks into streams, puddles, any body of water he thinks will throw us. As if that weren’t enough, we think he’s using scent soaps, and you know how those will trip up even the best trackers.” Erick finished and sat silent for a moment.
Jinxi looked at him. She studied the slump of his shoulders, the defeated look in his eyes and damned her over-developed sense of duty. “That’s all the info you have? Do you have even a vague idea where I should start?”
“Ya, Blyth said if you have any questions to come talk with him. He’ll let you know everything you need to then. I don’t need to tell you we’re trying to keep this quiet, do I?”
“No,” she said. Dammit I don’t want to talk to Blyth, she thought, clenching her hand into a fist. She could feel the Drakon rising, and she didn’t want to let her baser nature take control of the moment. She didn’t want to frighten Erick when her eye flashed silver, nor show opalescent scales beneath her skin.
Her Drakon shone brighter than any she’d ever seen; fat lot of good it did her. She looked around the Wer’s bar. One of the few Drakons Marrick allowed into his place—a fine line at that—and only because she’d once saved his skin. She shook her head to rid herself of unpleasant memories.
She quit thinking, looked at Erick, and saw his face pale, his lips drawn in a tight line. He fought to keep his own beast in. She watched his blue eyes turn amber and struggled for control. Marrick watched over them, distress tightening the corners of his eyes. She’d seen the signs before. Sighing, Jinxi realized she hadn’t suppressed the Drakon after all.
She reached into her pocket, pulled out five damp Drakes, slapped them on the counter, nodded to Marrick, and heaved herself out of her chair. She was halfway to the door by the time Erick caught up with her. Jinxi looked at the sky for any sign of the pixies. She took a deep, relieved breath when she saw none and began walking in the direction of Blyth’s manor. He’d done well for himself, she mused.
The shaggy brown-haired boy had grown into a large beast of a man. She smiled at the fond memories of them wrestling in the dirt and coming up muddy, with bloodied noses and cut lips. She fondly remembered his mother’s scolding. Her heart hitched a little at the memory. It had been a warm home, albeit a poor one, and they’d still taken in a lost little girl.
She’d stayed until she was old enough to make her own way. A Drakon couldn’t be at home in the pack forever, not when they needed to find their past, where they belonged. Blyth hadn’t liked it. He’d followed her, kept a distant eye on her and pleaded with her to come home.
When she’d refused, he’d proceeded to join a local pack and set about cleaning it up. He made a name for himself. He saw it as his mission to change the way the world viewed his people.
The surprising thing, she mused, was that it was working. He had made a different name for the MoonSkins. The wild wolves tamed, he spent years working through the packs, taking over the minor ones, then the larger ones, changing each as he went. He taught them control, to take command of their beast, not let the beast control them.
Then, about six months ago, he’d challenged the leader of the most powerful wild pack in the region and won. When he’d taken over the Moon-Spun clan and become the Alpha of all the wolves for a hundred miles, she had been proud of him. She longed for him, and she worried about him when she thought he wouldn’t find out.
She watched Erick from the corner of her eye. A good loyal man, he’d been with Blyth since the first, and she couldn’t think of a better person to replace her than him. She didn’t know how far Blyth planned to take it, but she had a feeling he wouldn’t be satisfied until he changed the general opinion that Wers were only good to be used as hired guns. Until Blyth, most packs encouraged little or no control. The Alphas clung to the beast side of their nature, they lingered lost in a half state of being, and the rest of the population used them. Blyth thought it was time they were better than that, that they could be better.
***
She walked up to the manor, a tall brick building with sweeping arches and glinting windows, and felt a little overwhelmed at first. She'd spent little time in grand estates, and now that one of her oldest friends resided in such place it took her breath away.
A lanky young Wer she didn’t know guarded the door. She went to move past him as he put his hand out, touching her on the shoulder.
“You can’t come in here,” he said
“Bullshit I can’t, Blyth’s expecting me,” she snarled, actually lifting her lip.
He sneered, “Blyth doesn’t deal with filthy, outcast Drakons.”
Without stopping to think, she knocked his arm aside and slammed him against the wall. She wasn’t even aware of what she’d done until she felt Erick’s cool hand on her neck. He whispered calming words she couldn’t quite make out. She let go.
The young Wer turned around, his eyes down, his stance submissive. “I didn’t see you there, Sir.”
Surprised he didn’t piss himself, she reevaluated Erick. Shrugging her shoulders, she brushed the thought aside and watched how this would play out.
Erick didn’t say anything for a moment. “I wouldn’t let Blyth hear you speak of her that way if I were you,” he said, pushing past the younger man.
Jinxi followed him without looking back at the Wer. She’d already forgotten him by the time she got into the main hall. Even though she’d not been here before, the place had a familiar feel to it. It had been several months since she’d seen Blyth, and then he’d come to her. Their friendship was an uneasy truce, the feelings too raw to deal with, but they were too close not to have some contact.
The Pack leader stood at a window staring into the blankness of the night. He didn’t turn when she entered. Erick left them. She stood near him, reluctant to break the silence, enjoying his company before words spoiled it.
He finally spoke. “You came.”
“Did you expect anything else?”
“No,” he replied.
“So, are you going to tell me how you want to deal with this guy and what he looks like?” she asked.
“He’s cunning and smart. He was second before I took over. I thought I would be fair and let Erick fight him for the position. He couldn’t take it. I saw the strain, and didn’t move against it quickly enough.”
She recognized the guilt that he tried to hide. She knew the deaths weighed at him.
“I should have stopped it, Jinx. These people look up to me, and I’ve let them down.”
“Did he give you any reason to think he hadn’t joined the program?”
“Not really. It was little things, you know? He chafed against his new position, unprovoked fights with lower pack members, coming in bloodied from a hunt, small things that I shouldn’t have ignored.”
“Nothing for it but to catch him, then make him face pack justice,” she said, unable to think of anything to ease his worry.
“He was last seen out near East Lake area. We’ve tracked him through the woods there, but I think he spends time in human form. Not that I’m sure of that, but it would explain why we’re having such a hard time finding him. I thi
nk he’s hiding his appearance and blending in with the night-time crowds. I don’t know where he’s choosing his Vic’s. Rachel might be able to give you more details down at the Crescent Moon. Her club was the last place anyone saw his latest victim. I’d tread carefully with her. He took her niece, so she has a personal reason for wanting him caught.”
She listened to the run down and decided she needed some sleep if she was going to function. “Fine, I need a change of clothes, a bath, and an hour… then I’ll start the hunt. Oh, and I roughed up your boy out front, just a little,” she said with a sleepy grin.
“Dammit, Jinx, what am I ever going to do with you?”
“Love me,” she smiled.
“I’d hug you, but you stink to high heaven. Go on, get out of here. Take a shower. I’ll have Erick show you where it is and then we’ll talk for a few minutes about the details before you leave.”
“Alright,” she said, turning and leaving him. She smiled. It was at least pleasant this time. He really must be worried about this situation, not to give her a hard time about not visiting with him more often, she thought.
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