Shifter's Destiny
Page 12
“You’re not crazy.” His voice was soothing, calm, and for a moment she had a flash of blue sky, and the feel of a cool fresh breeze on her skin. “Tell me.”
“It happened a little over a year ago, just before the flu struck. I ran a bakery, in the town center. Right across the street from the meeting hall. I’d go in early in the morning, before anyone else was awake, in order to be ready for the first rush of people wanting bread and bagels. And I felt...there were things following me, lurking. Things in the shadows. Even in the middle of the day I could feel something wrong, like spiders across my back.”
“Survival instinct,” Josh said. “Something was there, but you couldn’t see it, so your mind was trying to warn you some other way.”
She nodded. “Maybe. It went on for a few weeks, not regular, but enough to make me twitchy, uncomfortable. And most of those days I would come home and there would be Ray sitting on our porch. Just sitting. He wasn’t a friend of my parents, but he was an Elder, and so I was polite—I’d submitted plans to enlarge the bakery, and one strong voice against it could kill the proposal. If he wanted to see what I would offer, to gain his support, it would make sense. But even then he made my skin creep. He would talk casually, to all of us, but there was noise under his words.” She knew that didn’t make any sense, but it was true.
“Noise?”
“Like he was saying one thing and a different thing, all at once. And I was the only one who could hear what he was saying, the second thing. He would make allusions to Maggie’s skill, about the history of the Community, and I heard...something else. Not about the bakery, or trading support. Something darker.
“My parents didn’t hear it.” She didn’t want to speak ill of her parents, didn’t want to believe they were oblivious to the threat, but they had sat there and listened to him, and smiled and nodded without any sign of hearing what she heard. “They were wonderful people, loving and kind, but they assumed everyone said what they meant and meant what they said.”
The snort Josh made at that could have come from the Mustang’s muzzle.
“You have to understand, the Community was founded not just to get away from the outside world, but to make ourselves better. Mostly by increasing trust and kindness, but I think, back then, they had some idea of directing bloodlines by arranging marriages. That kinda fell apart pretty fast. You can’t expect to raise independent thinkers and then have them accept that sort of thing.” She managed to laugh. “My folks were hooked up by their parents, though. They used to tell me stories about their first date, how they were convinced they’d hate each other until they actually met.”
She felt more than saw him smile, and the hand holding her own squeezed lightly.
“But Ray...he talked like he wanted to bring back those ideas, ‘for the better result of the Community,’ he said. And he’d...he’d hold Maggie up as an example of what could be achieved. He never said anything to suggest he knew but...he knew. And just listening to him made me feel like I’d waded through a pool of muck.”
“Sounds like a bad animal to me,” he agreed, and the steel in his voice didn’t surprise her at all.
“You think he wants to use me,” Maggie said, startling Elizabeth, who had thought she was far enough ahead not to have heard. “To do something bad.”
“I...”
“It seems likely,” Josh said calmly. “I don’t know the guy, but his choice of hirelings doesn’t leave me with the impression of a guy who only wants puppies and kittens and rainbows for everyone.”
“He eats puppies for breakfast and kittens for lunch,” Maggie said darkly. “And I’d kill myself before I let him get his hands on me.”
“Maggie, don’t ever say that!”
Her sister went pale, doubtless remembering, as Elizabeth was, Cody’s funeral. Maggie reached back to hug her sister around the waist, burrowing her head against her chest. “I’m sorry” came out, muffled. “I didn’t mean to...”
“I know, baby. I know. But don’t say that, ever. Dying is not an option, you understand?” Elizabeth looked down at her sister, waiting until she saw her head nod in agreement.
* * *
Josh looked around, making sure that nobody was paying them any attention or watching from inside the houses still in view, then looked at the sisters, stock-still on the sidewalk. His nerves were calm for the moment, the rut had been sated, briefly, probably by his violent reaction to the kidnappers. But it was only a matter of time. The shift had happened so smoothly, almost too easily, and that was not good. His instincts were taking over, pushing him to find a mate, to finish the roving part of his life and rejoin the herd as a full—mated—member.
He wanted that, as much as he could ever remember wanting anything. He had left the herd full of excitement and wanderlust, but it called to him now, the rolling views and sweet grass of home, the sound of the yearlings at play, the way the lead mare would sit back and watch the world go by, nothing escaping her careful, wise eye.
His home was not like Elizabeth and Maggie’s Community; they gathered only twice a year, and the rest of the time they scattered to their homes and jobs, their normal lives. But the time of the Spring Gathering was almost here, and he hadn’t seen his people in nine years. If he didn’t go now...
He would never walk among them again.
And none of that mattered. What Elizabeth had revealed to him, and his own experiences with the men sent after them, told him one thing: he needed to get them somewhere safe. Not just for now, but for always. And if doing that doomed him to a life on four legs...maybe that was what it meant to be a Mustang. If Elizabeth and Maggie were safe, he could accept that.
“What will you do now?” His brain was churning over the beginnings of a plan—a crazy plan, but a plan. But they needed to agree to it, first.
Elizabeth looked defeated, for the first time since he had met her. “I need to get Maggie somewhere safe. Then...I don’t know. My parents were cautious and invested money outside the Community. I don’t think Ray could know about it. It’s enough for us to get by on, for a while. It will take a little time to get access to it, but I know how. Then I can worry about Ray. I just have to know Maggie’s safe, first.”
“I’m not leaving you!” Maggie objected, pulling away and staring at her sister as though she’d just been slapped. Her lower lip quivered, and her chin jutted up at a stubborn angle. If she’d been a yearling, Josh thought, she would have pricked her ears back, and swished her tail in defiance.
“Come home with me. The herd will protect you.” The words slipped out before he could think about them, before he could frame them properly, or think it through.
“What?” Elizabeth looked shocked, and Maggie forgot to be angry, her pout turning to an open-jawed gape.
He didn’t know if the herd would protect them, actually. Especially if they were seen as the reason why he was trapped in Mustang form. But Maggie would be safe with the bachelor herd, at least until she hit puberty. No member of the herd would hurt a child, but they would take any attempt to harm her as a personal insult—and a chance to prove themselves. And maybe, growing up in the herd, she would choose to be someone’s virgin mate. Or not. But she would have a choice, freely made.
And Elizabeth... He swallowed hard at the thought of seeing her every day, of watching her through Mustang’s eyes, of being with her but never being able to touch her....
But the thought of looking for another mate repulsed him. He didn’t want a virgin stranger. He wanted Elizabeth.
And he couldn’t have her. Not the way that mattered; not forever.
His decision took solid form, even as Maggie was nodding enthusiastically at her sister, begging her with eyes and voice to accept Josh’s offer. It was best this way. Elizabeth would be safe, Maggie would be safe. That was all that mattered.
Chapter 10
There was a long silence after they finished reporting that drew out past the socially comfortable and into the ominous. The two men did not dare shift or cough, although the one man’s arm sling was clearly paining him, and the other had a nasty bruise on the side of his face, and what looked like a burn across his mouth, as though the skin had been roughly abraded.
Ray wasn’t impressed by either injury. “You were overpowered—Stephen was killed—by two girls? Admittedly two smart and desperate girls, but really...”
The bandaged man started to speak, and glared at his companion when he tried to stop him. “I’m not going to be quiet, no. It happened and just because you got knocked out don’t mean it didn’t.”
“What happened?” Ray’s eyes narrowed, and he stared at the two men intently. “What did you leave out of your initial report?”
“Stephen didn’t get killed by the girls...and the girls didn’t do this to me.” He indicted his bandage. “It was a beast. A monster.”
“A monster.” Ray was repeating the word, not asking a question, but the two men both became defensive.
“Not a monster. They had a horse with them,” the first man said. “Same as the one they rode away on, near the woods. We told you about that.”
“It wasn’t a horse.” The bandaged man was definite on that fact.
“A big goat then.” His companion, equally stubborn, wasn’t going to admit that anything out of the ordinary had happened, even if it meant that a girl and a woman had taken him down.
“It was a beast. A monster. It looked like a horse but it wasn’t. It had horns, and its eyes were red, and they were smart. A horse has dumb eyes. This one looked right at me and there was an evil mind behind it, I swear.” The bandaged man clearly didn’t expect anyone to believe him, but he wasn’t going to back down.
“And then it did that to you?” Ray asked, his voice neither scoffing nor convinced.
“It ran me through with that horn, threw me across the room. After it broke down the door and trampled Stephen. Did you look at his body? You think anything human did that? And it wasn’t a horse, damn it. It was a...” He paused, unable to form the words his brain wanted to say, and then fell back on his earlier words. “It was a beast.”
“It broke down the door coming in, not going out? Interesting.” Ray looked away from the two men, staring instead at the wall behind them. “So it was outside, and came in to save them. She’s getting stronger. No more birds and squirrels, not even someone’s old plow horse, as I’d thought. A beast, you say? How very, very...useful.”
He refocused on the two men in front of him. “We’ve tried doing this as quietly as possible, to spare the tender feelings of others here, but clearly that is no longer an option. We are ready to proceed to the next level of experiments. Maggie needs to be here, and she needs to be here now. I am tired of waiting.
“Michael, you’re on injured reserve for now—get that wound rebandaged properly, and tell them I’ve authorized whatever painkillers you need. Dump the man, we don’t need him any longer. Then start telling people that...hmm, that the girls were clearly under the sway of some outside force, some person or persons who had them captive, afraid and confused, and were willing to use violence to keep them, probably for some terrible reason you don’t even want to imagine. That should spread easily, and people will add their own lovely touches, I am sure. Clive, I want you back on the trail. Take Meredith, and bring Set and the Dos with you.”
“Sir?” Clive’s tone was polite, but clearly dubious. “Are you sure? Take them outside the Community?”
Ray did not like being questioned, but he kept his voice calm, reassuring. “Meredith will keep them in check,” he said. “And really, who better than those three to find our little beast-mistress?”
To that, Clive could only nod in agreement, and go off to find his new teammates.
* * *
Elizabeth had been uncertain, as they walked away from the house, leaving the cozy suburban landscape behind them and heading farther into the more rural areas, what her next move should be. While Josh kept an alert eye to any potential dangers, moving from walking in front of them to falling a few paces behind, he had not volunteered any further advice or suggestions after his original, shocking offer, and Elizabeth’s mind felt like a blank slate. She could not think of anyone who could or would help them—if there was, in fact, anyone that she could turn to—and yet Maggie kept looking to her with a hopeful expression, assuming that her sister would do something now to put things right.
The weight of that expectation was almost too much, and Elizabeth wanted nothing more than to sit on the ground and cry. She had made the best plan she could, and it hadn’t been enough, undone by Ray’s willingness to put other people into harm’s way, to use vile tricks and threats to get what he wanted. Meg had been her best, nearest hope. The only other person she knew was her father’s uncle, an older man who lived out somewhere in Ohio. How were they supposed to get to Ohio, and what was to stop Ray from sending his men there first? Oh, God, what if he had already thought of that? No. She would put no more people at risk. Whatever they did, they would do themselves.
And that went for Josh’s offer, too. His people were already at risk. If Ray found them, he could—he would—threaten to expose them, to turn them all into the sideshow freaks she had taken Josh for, at first, if they didn’t hand Maggie over.
If Josh’s herd was anything like Josh, they would never let Maggie go into danger. Even if it put them in danger, as well. She knew that the way she knew that her arm was connected to her shoulder, or that Maggie snorted when she was upset about something.
Everywhere she turned, it seemed as though things just got worse, no matter what she did to solve the problems. She had the overwhelming urge to find a soft bed somewhere and crawl under the covers. Then her brain supplied the image—fueled by Josh’s fresh scent next to her, walking beside her—of not being alone in that bed. Soft pillows and cool sheets and the warm flesh of Josh’s arms around her, his chest pressed against hers, their legs entangling, the smooth ignition of his lips and tongue on hers. She didn’t think of herself as sexual, often, or even sensual; she missed the physical aspects of being in a relationship but she wasn’t panting after every available male. In fact, since the flu struck, she hadn’t really thought about it at all, she’d been so worn down with caring for others, and then worrying about Maggie. But since she woke up that morning and saw Josh standing there, watching her...
No. It had started before that. While she slept that night, on the pine-bough bed, and for the first time in months, had dreams that were pleasant, not distressing.
When Josh, in his other form, had stood watch over them, and kept them from harm.
Elizabeth knew that she was strong. She could take care of herself, and her sister, under normal circumstances. Being chased by a man who should have been protecting them, threatened with violence and...and God knew what? Those were not normal circumstances.
“I’m glad Maggie called you,” she said suddenly.
Josh didn’t ask her why she felt the need to say it now, merely put his arm around her shoulders, and pulled her close for a one-armed embrace. “So am I,” he said.
Maggie, ahead of them, didn’t look back, but Elizabeth suspected that her sister had a smile on her face, from the way her steps took on a sudden bounce.
They had left the suburban development behind a while back, and the road they were following now was almost deserted, with only the occasional car passing them by. They were half-hidden by the trees along the side, the greening branches casting a comforting shade over them,
and the feel of Josh’s arm casually resting on her shoulders made Elizabeth feel, for a moment, like three ordinary people out for an ordinary stroll on an ordinary day.
It was illusion, but for a few seconds, she relished it. Then the clanging of bells startled her, and Josh’s arm slipped away as he strode forward, passing Maggie, to see what was happening.
Josh stopped and pointed ahead, where red-and-white painted gates were coming down across the road, lights flashing red. The clanging bells were coming from there, matched by a rumbling noise and then a whistle heralding a long freight train coming into sight up ahead and to their left, riding a previously unseen track. There were ten, maybe twenty cars, all different colors, with different logos on their sides, slowing as the train came to the crossing, then chugging to a halt. The bells stopped, although the lights were still flashing.
There were no cars on their side, and only a single sedan waiting on the other side of the barrier.
Josh reached back and grabbed their hands, startling them both as he tugged them into a run. “Come on,” he said. “Hurry!”
And just like that, somehow, they were running across the road, down the line of boxlike railroad cars, and then he jumped up, catching the handle of one sliding door that was slightly ajar, pushing it open even as his other hand reached backward, coaxing them to follow him up.
Elizabeth had grabbed her sister by the waist, lifting her up so that Josh could take her. He caught her as though she weighed nothing, depositing her inside the railroad car, and then turned back to Elizabeth, still hanging from the door’s handle. His pale hair was windblown, his eyes alight with laughter, and she felt as though she was suddenly seeing an entirely new side of him, or a new person altogether. How many forms did he have?
“Come on,” he called to her. “Before the gate lifts and they start up again!”
Even as he said that, the gate started to clang, and the bar began to lift. The fear of being left behind gave Elizabeth the impetus to swallow hard and make a running leap, scrambling for his hand even as the train whistle sounded. The train jolted forward, and they were thrown together, staggering into the dark interior of the car. His hands went around her waist, and there was a long instant where all that existed for her was the feel of them together, pressed face-to-face, her legs straddling one of his as she tried to maintain her balance.