by Cheri Wood
Desert Shifters
(Crazy for Cryptids #1)
by
Cheri Wood
This is a work of fiction and does not in any way claim to be quality literature. It has been produced solely for entertainment purposes. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you’d like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.
Copyright © 2017 Cheri Wood. All rights reserved. Including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the author.
Cover image under license from Shutterstock.
Ashley Wilson’s ass was sore when she reached the remote camp after hours on a camel, and she rubbed it as she dismounted. The men escorting her gave her an odd look and she quickly adjusted her crossbody camera bag instead.
One of them gestured to one of the Bedouin tents in the camp. “This way, Ma’am.”
At 5’9”, Ashley had to duck her head to enter. A man seated cross-legged on a dusty carpet looked up when she stepped inside and she sucked in a breath as they made eye-contact.
Under a shock of windblown red hair, the man had the most startling green eyes she’d ever seen. He rose to his full length, easily towering over her as he extended his hand in greeting.
“Miss Wilson,” he said, the timbre of his deep voice revealing his Irish heritage. “Welcome to Western Sahara.”
Her hand felt small and delicate in his strong grip, and she reflected on how rare it was for her to feel that way. With her athletic build and take-charge personality, delicate wasn’t a word she used very often when referring to herself.
“Mr. O’Leary, I presume,” she said, smiling to cover her temporarily short-circuited brain.
“Duncan. How was your trip?” he asked, letting go of her hand.
“Bumpy,” she said, laughing as she thought about the camel ride. It wasn’t the first time she’d ridden one, but it was the longest ride yet.
“May I offer you something to drink?” he asked, gesturing to a jar on the ground.
“Thank you, but I’m fine. If it’s no trouble, I’d really like to get going as soon as possible.”
“Oh. I’m afraid we can’t leave the camp until morning,” Duncan said, scratching his short beard.
Ashley frowned. She only had a limited amount of days to snap her photos before her return transport was scheduled. Every minute mattered. “Why is that?”
“The Harmattan is expected to blow through tonight. Visibility will be low and temperatures will drop significantly. It’s not the kind of weather you want to be out in.”
“But is it dangerous to be outside?” she pressed, but Duncan appeared unmoved.
“We won’t be leaving the camp until it passes.”
___
While Ashley listened to the storm raging outside the tent, she went over the notes on her target again. She’d been a nature photographer for years, but this assignment was completely different to anything she’d shot before. Especially since the creature she was trying to catch on camera wasn’t just elusive, but possibly not even real.
“You are hunting the Kelb-el-khela,” a voice said from behind her and she startled, dropping her notebook. “My apologies,” the man said as he walked around and picked up the book. Ashley was mesmerized by the dusting of bronze hair on his tanned arms and how it appeared to glow in the light from the solar-powered lamps that had been moved inside as night fell. He had long, lithe arms and a sculpted body on display in his cargo shorts and tank.
“I don’t believe we’ve met,” Ashley said and reached out her hand. “I’m Ashley Wilson.”
“Hiram,” the man said, handing her back the notebook instead of shaking her hand. “Why do you think you will find the Kelb-el-khela here?”
“Well, the only sightings reported have been in this area, so the magazine-”
“Magazine? What serious newspaper would send a pretty photographer to the desert to chase down a legend?” another man said, walking up to them and taking a seat opposite her on a crate. “Connor Donahue,” he introduced himself with a handshake and a leisurely roaming gaze over her body.
Ashley felt her nipples bud as Connor’s amber eyes paid them special attention. Could he see the hard peaks through her sports bra and tank top? Like Hiram, Connor had a reddish-brown tone to his skin and hair, and she could see curly copper hair peek out from under his half-buttoned white linen shirt.
“I never claimed to be with a serious magazine,” Ashley said once she snapped out of her trance, adding a smile and a wink.
“So you don’t believe in the legend?” Duncan asked, walking up to them. Now she was flanked by the three tall, muscular men and a little shiver went through her.
“I haven’t given it much thought, to be honest,” she said with a shrug, looking away from Duncan as soon as she started to get sucked into his green stare. Not that Connor’s amber gaze was any better. These guys had panty-melting eyes, that’s for sure. She focused on Hiram instead, the brown-eyed one with the least magnetism.
“I used to be a nature photographer, but the economy changed and I lost my steady income. A friend tipped me off to a new magazine that wanted to create a niche market with quality reporting and serious photography.”
“On cryptids?” Duncan practically scoffed. “Hardly grounds for serious reporting.”
Ashley straightened and held her head high. “It’s a paying job. Besides, I get to travel to exotic locations and meet interesting people.”
“Sounds like a waste of time and money to me,” Duncan muttered.
“Doesn’t your boyfriend object to you traveling so far, and all alone?” Connor asked, his words rolling off his tongue like honey. Heaven help her, she wanted a taste.
“I don’t have one of those,” she said with a shrug. “Never seen the point.”
Connor chuckled and she felt her whole body warm up. There was wickedness in his eyes, and it made her body react in crazy ways. Like her tongue slipping out to wet her lips slowly and seductively, or her fingers twirling a lock of blonde hair as if she were a teenager. They were in a large tent with several people, no privacy except a couple of towels hung between the mattresses scattered around the space. And still she wanted Connor in her mouth, between her legs, and anywhere else he wanted to go. The clearing of a throat had her attention shift to Duncan, towering over all of them. She wouldn’t mind him, either.
“You should get some rest. We will set out in the morning,” he said and the two other men rose from their seats, nodding their good-nights before following him.
What the hell happened? Ashley wanted to yell in frustration, but what was the use? Duncan had saved her from embarrassing herself completely, blinded by lust as she appeared to be all of a sudden, and tomorrow she would thank him for it.
Or not.
___
The next day was spent trying to reach the area where the most reports had come in about Adjule sightings, and Ashley was feeling the heat. Every inch of her was covered in sweat and she longed for a bath. But there were no streams in sight, and water needed to be conserved for drinking. After a fruitless day, she didn’t have any trouble falling asleep in her tent.
In her dreams, she was surrounded by water. She was laying on a soft pillowy bed while bronzed servants b
athed her with sponges. But she wanted more. Why couldn’t she swim in the pool? She tried to get up, but the servants held her down. When she objected, they put away their sponges and put their tongues on her instead. She writhed on the bed as long, wet tongues laved her all over, inching closer and closer to her most sensitive spots. She gasped and gripped the sheet as her nipples were tended to, and arched off the bed as one particularly long tongue stroked her inner walls while a soft, wet pad pressed against her clit.
The tongue strokes intensified and she bowed off the bed as she came, gushing her juices all over the servant’s face.
Then she woke up. And screamed.
___
Ashley came to slowly, shading her eyes against the sun seeping through the tent walls. Was it all a dream? Had she dreamed she’d woken up from an erotic dream to find two huge canines in her tent, licking their snouts? She had to have dreamed it, right?
She was still wearing her pajamas, and she reached into her bag for her notebook. She turned the pages frantically until she found the picture she’d tucked in there. An artist’s rendition of the Adjule - or Kelb-el-khela - that looked so much like the dogs in her dream. Large dingo-type canines with long, sensual tongues… oh, for crying out loud! She had completely lost it. First the mind-melting arousal from the other night in the camp, and now sex-dreams about imaginary animals? What was happening?
She shook her head and dressed quickly, hoping she hadn’t talked in her sleep or anything. She would be mortified if anyone else knew her shame.
When she got outside, she saw the majority of their party taking off, yelling at each other as they went. What on earth?
“What’s going on?” she asked Hiram, who was heating breakfast.
“Disagreements.”
“What about?”
“I do not know. It started at dawn. Now they want to go back to camp.”
“But-”
“Good riddance, I say,” Connor said, dusting off his hands. “Bunch of crazies. Good morning, by the way,” he said to Ashley, grinning. “Good night?”
Was he-? Ashley felt her face flame. From the mischief in his eyes, she wouldn’t be surprised if he had indeed heard her moaning in her dreams.
“It was fine,” she mumbled, looking down at the ground. “What are we going to do without the guides?”
“I’m your guide,” Duncan spoke up from behind her and she turned her head to look up at him. “No need to be concerned. Unless you’ve decided you’d had enough of the desert?”
Ashley swallowed. “No. I haven’t had enough.”
Connor chuckled but she kept her focus on Duncan. His strong jaw was tense and his eyes hard. She dropped her eyes to check out if any other part of him was hard, too, but he seemed to be in complete control of himself.
“Eat your breakfast. You’ll need your strength for today’s trek.”
With that, he turned his back on her and she watched him walk away. Hiram prodded her side and she smiled at him as he handed her a plate. Yes, she could use all the strength she could get around these men.
___
Ashley dropped into a squat to examine a section of disturbed sand just outside a cave-like structure. Could that be a paw-print?
“Look at this,” she called out to her three guides and after some hesitation they approached. “Doesn’t this look like a paw?”
“There are over 260 species of carnivores in Western Sahara,” Duncan said, sounding bored. “A lot of them large cats you don’t want to cuddle.”
“That’s okay, I’m not a cat person,” she said and straightened. “Can we investigate this cave?”
“Go on and shine your flashlight, see what pops up,” Duncan said with a shrug.
Ashley frowned. That didn’t sound very appealing.
“Can we set up camp here for the night and keep watch?”
Duncan hesitated, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hiram shaking his head. Just as she was turning to see how Connor felt about it, Duncan spoke up.
“We’ll set up camp a few hundred yards from here. Downwind,” he added to his friends, who both nodded pensively.
___
Instead of falling asleep right away as she had the night before, Ashley kept tossing and turning, and eventually she had to get up and pee. Their little camp was dead silent and she tiptoed past the other tents before she turned her flashlight on. Curiosity led her back to the cave, and she listened hard for any sounds. How was the night this quiet?
Deciding peeing would have to take priority over exploring for the time being, she found a spot and squatted. She was just about finished when something moved not far from where she was. She held her breath and quickly pulled her pajama shorts back up, grabbing the flashlight and her camera. When she heard a crunching sound, she shone her flashlight in that direction and barely contained a scream.
The eyes were glowing in the dark and the feline bared its sharp teeth in a sneer. A cheetah, if she wasn’t mistaken. She’d photographed them in Namibia, but then she’d had an armed escort just in case the animal decided she looked like a tasty treat. Here, her guides were all asleep in their tents because she’d foolishly snuck out of their camp in the middle of the night.
She started slowly backing away, but the large feline followed with measured strides. It was hunting her. At any moment, it might lunge for her throat and she’d be dead before she could even raise the alarm.
Her blood was pounding in her veins, the beat almost deafening as it rushed through her ears and brain. She was poised for flight, but reason was calling her attention. She couldn’t outrun the fastest animal on land, there were no trees to climb - not that that would do her any good, either - and no body of water to dive into to escape.
Instead, she focused on putting one foot behind the other, slowly inching away to delay the inevitable. But a loose rock made her lose her footing and Ashley’s ankle twisted, making her tumble backwards. She closed her eyes as she heard the roar and told herself that at least she’d see her parents again.
But the pain didn’t come.
And the roaring didn’t cease.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and in the faint light of her flashlight on the ground beside her, she saw the cheetah wildly fighting an animal of matching size. The Adjule! She gasped, and watched breathlessly as the mammals fought. The cheetah swiped at the Adjule and it whimpered. With renewed vigor, the cheetah lunged at the large canine, going for its throat. But before it could, two more Adjule appeared, ripping the cheetah off the first one. The cheetah, outnumbered and now injured, scampered off as fast as it could. Instead of giving chase, the Adjule stayed and tended to their injured pack member. Ashley could do nothing but stare in awe.
Had the Adjule saved her from the cheetah, or simply fought it for a meal? Why weren’t they coming for her?
She squirmed on the sand, trying to slither away unnoticed and get to the camp to alert Duncan and his friends, but her movement called their attention. The three canine cryptids turned their heads towards her and howled.
Her blood ran cold. Instead of a swift bite to the neck by the cheetah, she would be torn apart by these creatures. Frying pan, meet fire.
“Please,” she whispered, inching backwards on the ground. She didn’t know why she was attempting to speak to them when she hadn’t tried to reason with the cheetah, but there was something about their glowing eyes that suggested intelligence. Plus, she’d always been more of a dog person.
The two smaller Adjule looked at the larger, injured one. It got up and shook itself off, then padded towards her.
Ashley held her breath as the cryptid stopped inches from her face, standing over her with its big, furry legs braced on either corner of her. Its eyes were what took her breath away, though. They were emerald green and seemed to look into her soul. Slowly, breathlessly, she raised her hand to touch the Adjule’s fur. It wasn’t coarse as she’d expected, but soft and warm. She couldn’t be entirely sure in the poor light, but it seemed to
have the color of copper.
“Thank you for saving me,” she whispered and the Adjule tilted its head. Then it lay down beside her, allowing her to stroke its fur until she fell asleep.
___
Ashley woke up in a man’s arms with the morning sun heating her skin. Startled, she looked over and saw Duncan beside her. Turning slowly, she studied his naked body, his chest covered by a soft mat of copper hair, except for a white scar across one of his pecs. Almost like he’d been scratched by a cat-
She gasped and sat up. No. It wasn’t possible.
Her startled movement roused Duncan, and he sat up, wincing. “Ashley.”
She flew to her feet, her arms wrapped around herself. “What’s going on? What the hell happened last night?”
“He got into a cat-fight, that’s what happened,” Connor said from behind her and she spun around to see him walking over bare-chested and barefoot, holding a cup of coffee.
“You- you’re crazy,” Ashley stuttered, pointing at the two men. “Both of you. You mean to tell me that last night-”
“You came all this way to see the Kelb-el-khela, and now you complain?” Connor clicked his tongue in mock reproach.
“You- no, no, this can’t be real. You drugged me or something. I’m hallucinating. Is this what the desert does to people? You’re a mirage.”
“Sweetheart, trust me when I say that the cheetah packs a mean punch for a mirage,” Duncan said, rubbing his chest.
“I can’t-” Ashley shook her head, rubbing her temples. “This isn’t real, this isn’t real,” she mumbled to herself, hoping she’d wake up at some point.
“Ashley,” Duncan said firmly, putting his hands on her shoulders and holding her still. “Listen to me. You can’t tell anyone what you saw here. We’d all be in grave danger if you did.”
“But, I don’t understand-”
“We’re shapeshifters,” Connor said easily. “That’s why the rumors about the Kelb-el-khela, or the Adjule, never pan out. Because we’re not stupid enough to show ourselves when nosy reporters are around.”
