by K. N. Knight
Oran snorted. “I’m not rewarding you for your scams.”
“Then leave me the hell alone and let me earn some money here. Because without it, I’ve got nothing!”
His eyebrows shot up. “I’d be happy to leave you alone, believe me, if only the other two would realize you were just a con artist.”
“Screw you!” I registered my voice was getting very loud in the quiet street, but I didn’t care. I was bursting with fury.
“I even question whether you’re an ether element at all. When I think back to that little display in the forest the other day, it seems possible you created some kind of fake light show that duped my two poor friends who are so desperate to believe in you.”
“Get out of my face!” I yelled and shouldered past him.
But he grabbed my arm, clearly not done. “Just admit it—you’re a fake, a hobo who’s gotten good at manipulating people. Nothing about you makes me think you have something special.”
“And you know why that is?” I jabbed an index finger at the middle of his chest, madder than I could remember being in my entire life. “You’re just some typical over-privileged asshole who only values people with money. If I had a rich mommy and daddy, I’m sure you’d think I was plenty special.”
He curled his lip. “A little girl with a smart mouth. That’s all you are.”
I snarled at him. “I’m not a little girl. I’ve been through more shit in life than you can imagine. I can’t even remember what it feels like to be a child. That’s how long ago it was. Who are you to judge me when all you do is sit up in your wagon day after day, with that sack of money in the back, taking it easy, while some of us have nothing to live on but our wits?”
“And now you’re using your ‘wits’ to cheat Rael and Zain, who are trying to do something good for this fucked-up world. That’s beautiful.”
I gasped. “Fuck you! Just remember, you assholes kidnapped me! From my bed! I didn’t ask for any of it.”
I jolted as my back bumped against something. An old lamppost.
Apparently we’d been performing some kind of dance while screaming our lungs out at each other, and we were now on the opposite side of the street, me wedged against the lamppost, and Oran bearing down on me.
“You—you—” he stuttered, his eyes blazing pure ice fire. Suddenly, his mouth was on mine, hard, crushing. His firm lips pushed mine apart, his tongue probing into my mouth. My breath caught as if I’d been gored. And then I returned his kiss. I ran my hands all over his hard muscular torso, greedy, desperate to get under his shirt, while my mouth worked hungrily, my tongue dancing around his. It had been such a long time, and his mouth was as welcome as a cool fountain for someone dying of thirst. He held me tight, pulling me up, almost off my feet, and I liked it, liked feeling crushed by him, liked his tongue probing my mouth as if he couldn’t get enough of me, his teeth grazing my lips from time to time. It was hard, angry, and it kindled a fire in my insides.
I don’t know how much time passed as we continued to devour each other—minutes, at least.
“Oh, is that them?” Zain’s unmistakable rumbling voice said. Oran and I broke apart guiltily, and I was almost surprised his lips weren’t bleeding. My own lips were tingling, and my wolf was poised, eager for me to launch myself at him again.
The wagon and horses were there, and I looked from Zain and Rael’s shocked expressions to Oran’s slightly mocking one. He’d been trying to show me something, that he could manipulate me, do what he wanted with me. And there I was, getting shamefully wet panties. Screw him. And screw all of them. I was done with them. They all wanted something from me, and I just wanted to be left alone, wanted to go back to my hustling in peace.
I spun around without looking at any of them again, and I took off at a lope toward the main road.
Dusk was already approaching, and if I left the town, I’d definitely have to sleep in the wild, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to get the hell away from them. I left the town and turned onto the road. I crossed onto the opposite side and started walking back in the direction we’d come. I’d find somewhere to hide for the night, reassess my long-term plans.
But the further I went, the more my wolf whined. She wanted to go back. What the hell? I told her no and kept walking as fast as I could. But she wouldn’t quit. Her claws were out, threatening the soles of my boots in her effort to dig into the earth, and she bristled, demanding to be let out, to take control of me. I swung my arms harder, kept going. But something was wrong. My legs felt heavy, and each step became an effort. I was breathing hard, and I felt like I was trudging through mud. Was I that low on energy? We’d eaten, what, four or five hours ago? No, my body felt strong enough. But my legs couldn’t hold me, and they hurt. My muscles burned as if I’d just run a marathon. I fell to my knees, and then my hands were on the ground, too. I began to crawl backward, as if I was being dragged by an unassailable force, like a giant magnet. With a huge effort, I forced myself up onto my feet again. My body wanted me to go south, back toward the town. I fought it, one, two more times. But it was no good. Walking north became a pain that threatened to tear me apart.
With a groan, I turned south, a full one-eighty, and the pain stopped instantly, like a faucet being turned off. Wow. I began to move and my body felt rejuvenated, full of energy again. I carried on until I came to the turnoff for the town. But my body wanted me to continue another hundred yards, it seemed, as if it was set on a course, until a second turnoff, along a narrow track with farmland on one side and partially burned forest on the other. At the end was the wagon. And there were my nemeses, tending to the horses and unpacking their possessions.
I stomped right up to them, arms folded. Oran, in the midst of removing the gray horse’s head collar, kept his eyes averted from me. Zain passed in front of me, hauling the tents off somewhere, but he made out he hadn’t seen me. Then Rael jumped down from the wagon, and as he landed, he met my eyes, and his lips parted in a grin.
“I knew you’d be back, little one,” he said.
I made a noncommittal sound and watched him as he strode off into the bushes after Zain. He seemed awfully sure of himself. Was he just being cocky? Or did he know from his books that I wouldn’t be able to stay away from them? Whatever. I wasn’t about to tell them about the physical pain it cost me trying to leave them just now.
Chapter 7
That night I insisted on hunting, my wolf desperate to come out. Oran and Rael shifted too, but Zain stayed back, and I had a twinge of pity for him that he had to live mostly on vegetarian rations since he shifted only in emergencies. Out of all the animals, his was probably the one that needed meat the most. I didn’t find much, just a small rabbit at the edge of a field. And then Rael appeared in front of me, two more hanging from his jaws. He deposited them at my feet with a deep vibrating purr. It was a gift to acknowledge I’d returned to them.
I had another heavy, dreamless sleep, and the next morning we set off after a tasty breakfast. Zain had gotten some milk yesterday, and he made us all a kind of cold porridge with raspberries mixed into it.
It was a gray, chilly morning, and I kept my coat on while I was walking beside the horses. I was hoping we’d have moved to a warmer climate by now, but the fall weather seemed to be following us. The road was worse here, more pockmarked than potholed, and we made slow progress. We’d gone less than ten miles and it was nearing lunchtime when I picked up a faint trace of human scent somewhere close by.
“Guys, do you smell that?” I said, and before they could reply, a woman sprinted out in front of the wagon screaming and waving her arms.
“Whoa!” Oran called and, obediently, the horses came to an immediate stop.
The woman was in her mid-thirties with wild brown hair, prematurely threaded with gray, and she was wearing a long, heavily patched skirt and an ancient cardigan. “Help me!” she screamed. “Please! You’ve got to help me!” She came up very close to me and Zain who were walking to the left of the wagon. �
��Thank God, you’re here!” She clasped her hands in front of her, as if in supplication.
I stared at her intently. Her eyes were gray with the whites showing all around in a way that unnerved me, but I forced myself to keep looking, searching. There were flickers of suffering. But deep inside. Nothing sharp and white-hot. Nothing that hurt me. “Let’s go!” I called to the guys.
But they remained motionless.
“Come on, let’s go. I don’t feel good about this.”
“No! I need your help!” the woman yelled. “Men are holding my family hostage in our cabin. I barely managed to escape. They’re shifters. And I think one of them’s got the madness in him. We’re all women there. They’re going to kill us all! Please! You’re the only ones who can save us.” She flapped her arms, gesticulating at some point in the distance.
When Zain turned his head toward me, I instinctively met his gaze. Then I smothered a yelp. His pain took my breath away. He’d been reminded of something similar, some terrible suffering that haunted him deeply. As it took hold of my body, too, I staggered and I grabbed at his arm, trying to steady myself. He caught my opposite shoulder with his other hand, and suddenly I didn’t hurt so much. It was as if a painkiller had suddenly taken effect in my body.
I dragged my gaze up to meet his again, and I was startled that it was possible to look him in the eye without feeling like I’d been punched in the chest. He was hurting less as well. Because I was touching him? No, that couldn’t be it. I’d only ever had the ability to see pain, not to take it away.
But I had no further opportunity to speculate on that theory because Zain turned to the woman and asked, “What’s your name, ma’am?”
“Selka,” she answered
“Show us the way,” he said.
“It’s this way.” She pointed further along the road again, and immediately he began to follow her. Rael went after him. Oran clicked his tongue, and the horses began to move as well. Cursing under my breath, I began to follow at a distance.
Within a few yards, we came to a turnoff and Oran brought the horses to a halt.
“It’s just down here,” the woman said, pointing at a wooden building at the end of a track. The guys paused and looked at each other, each evidently wanting to accompany the woman. Still smelling a rat, I wanted no part of it.
“I’ll stay here, mind the horses, and keep Selka safe,” I said.
Her eyes widened. “No, I need to show you the way.”
“You said it’s just down there,” I said.
“Yeah, but it’s best if I go with you.”
I shook my head. “Guys, come on. I think this is a bad idea.”
But the three of them had gone into macho mode, biceps flexing, chests broadening, ready to play hero.
“I’ll go first,” Oran muttered. “You two bring up the rear.”
They headed off, and I watched as they moved stealthily toward the cabin. Selka stood beside me, fidgeting and twitching, and I didn’t trust her one bit.
And then I got an idea.
My senses on high alert, my hand on the handle of my knife, I turned my back on her and took a big step forward, pretending to be scanning the area.
There was a rustle and the sound of booted feet taking two steps. I spun, glimpsing a flash of metal. Raising my left hand to snatch at the arm that was poised to bring a knife down into my back, I brought my right foot up to kick hard at her left knee. She crumpled forward with a scream, the knife dropping from her hand and snagging on my shirt as it fell to the ground. I landed a clean right hook in her face that knocked her off her feet. I watched her fall backward, her head smacking against the earth with a satisfying thud. She was out cold. And then I stripped my clothes off and ran.
I registered there were two humans and two wolf shifters as my wolf burst out of me without me even breaking stride. Oran was still in human form, with one of the wolves on his back, trying to take him to the ground, while Rael was too busy soaking up an attack from the two humans who were both wielding clubs to be able to shift, and Zain was doing his best to release his bear, while the other wolf sank its teeth into his thigh.
I didn’t pause to think. Leaping high off the ground, I launched myself at the throat of one of the humans. He went down with a crash. I kept my jaws clamped on him a couple more seconds until he stopped moving, out cold as well. Then I felt a tremendous whack on my behind as the other human hit me with the club. I flipped around, yelping, but then there was a deep roar, and Rael’s tiger burst out of him, huge and astounding. The two wolves began to slink away, their tails between their legs.
Zain finally took his bear form as well, and he and Rael went to work.
I had no qualms about killing anyone who wanted to hurt me, in theory, although I’d never done it before. And the guys evidently felt the same. Before I knew what was happening, two human necks were snapped, and Zain had dispatched both wolves with slashes of his huge, razor-tipped paws.
When it was over, I stood frozen, heart pounding, breath coming in pants. Rael and Zain stood on opposite sides of the pile of bodies, both huge and intimidating. Oran remained in his human form, blood running from a wound on his shoulder. Time seemed to stand still. I must have been in shock. One minute I was walking alongside two horses as if I was in the midst of a rural idyll, and the next, four living beings were dead. Four living beings who’d intended to kill us, I reminded myself. And that didn’t include Selka, who’d set the whole trap. I ground my teeth, realizing I should’ve killed her as well.
As I continued to stand there like a statue, stunned, Rael and Zain shifted back and began to look for their torn and scattered clothes. I finally came back to life, turned around, and sprinted back to the wagon, needing a moment’s privacy to shift and get dressed again. Selka was still lying on the ground, unconscious but breathing.
“What do we do with her?” I asked the guys when they approached.
Oran let out a long sigh. “She made her bed when she decided to ambush us. She’ll have to deal with it all when she finally wakes up.” The other two shrugged and walked over to the wagon, and I followed them numbly.
“That was... a little more than I was expecting,” Rael said, breaking half an hour’s silence.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I replied. By now the initial shock had worn off, and I was feeling a little smug at having been right.
“Thanks for the warning, Ranger,” Zain said. “I’m sorry we didn’t heed it.”
“I should’ve remembered,” Oran said in a lazy tone. “Takes one fraud to know another.”
“Shut up, Oran,” I said, equally lazily.
I had helped them, I thought, as I walked alongside the gray horse. As horrifying as it had all been, I’d made a difference. Who knew what would have happened if I hadn’t taken Selka out before she had a chance to use that knife on someone. A week ago, I would’ve laughed my ass off if someone had told me I’d come to enjoy being part of a group. But it felt strangely good to belong, to have protected the others from harm. I was even kind of proud of myself. So Oran was still an asshole, but what was new? The sun had come out and it enhanced my mood as we walked along the straight road, heading deep into the unknown.
When we stopped for lunch, two solo travelers passed us, asking for food. The guys usually refused, because supplies were never reliable, but gratitude at not being alone anymore made me generous, and I handed them each a portion of buckwheat, wrapped in some polythene we had lying around.
Before nightfall, we passed a pine forest that seemed to have escaped the wildfires. We pulled up beside it, and Zain stayed with the horses while the rest of us went to look for an entry point and somewhere to set up camp for the night. Oran was twenty feet in front of me when, without warning, he stripped off his shirt and pants. He wasn’t wearing any underwear, and I gaped at the bronze muscular body that was revealed to me. His ass, his thighs, his tapering back were unreal. And the heat that ran through my own body confused the hell out of me
. Ever since the surprise kiss yesterday, I’d been doing my best to pretend it hadn’t happened since that was the only way I could deal with it.
But now, that feeling was back, stronger than ever. As I stopped moving and watched, he raised his arms until they were horizontal, and then the smoothest shift I’d ever seen overtook his form. His skin turned to long gold and white feathers, he dropped and raised his arms once again, and he was airborne. I blinked. The whole thing couldn’t have taken more than a couple of seconds.
“We should probably just take it easy now,” Rael said as Oran ascended above the trees. “Oran will be able to scan the whole area in a few minutes.”
We watched as the huge, golden eagle became smaller and smaller in the sky. “I think I’ll miss flying,” I said wistfully.
Rael gave me an odd look. “I have a feeling you won’t. Flying is good and all, and as you can see, it’s very useful having an air element in the group. But what you have is very special. Beyond special. I don’t think you’ve begun to appreciate it yet.”
I shrugged. “I guess not.”
We waited in the cool, damp pines, my nostrils full of their rich, resinous scent. Oran was back soon, swooping in, claws out, and landed almost silently. I averted my eyes as he shifted. Getting the full frontal would have been way too much.
“You’re looking very pleased with yourself,” Rael commented. When I heard Oran fasten the zipper on his jeans, I raised my head again. Oran’s lips were curved in an annoying smirk.
“Just caught a snack,” he said. “Man, I was starving.”
“And the campsites?” Rael said.
“Oh, that. Yeah, if we go another three hundred yards, there’s a rough track. It’s kind of overgrown, but I think we’ll be okay. There’s a clearing at the end of it. And best of all, a stream runs beside it.”
I shook my head at his offhanded tone, pretending I wasn’t impressed.
