by Cyn Bagley
Men in black SWAT clothing ran toward me. They shot bullets where I was standing, but I didn’t feel anything more than the buzz. They could see me. I walked toward them, borrowing the blue dome my small son had used. When I touched the men one by one, they screamed and went silent. Not dead but not unharmed either.
Then I heard Jake scream. He was not fully changed. I floated toward him. “Nova,” he screamed. “Don’t come any closer.”
Jake's arms and legs had turned furry with claws. But his head and torso were still human. He was on his back and the wolf was chewing into his stomach. Jake screamed again. I couldn’t watch without doing something. I put my hand on the wolf and he changed to the half-wolf I had seen in the warehouse chained in the other cage.
“Why?” I asked. The wolf-man rolled over and gave me his throat. Jake was bleeding and dying by me. I touched the head of the wolf man with my right hand and put my left hand on the Jake’s stomach. A butterfly filled with diamonds floated over my head.
“Heal,” I ordered. I felt the energy from the wolf-man pour into my right hand, through my body, and into Jake. “Heal,” I kept saying over and over.
Dave drove up as I finished healing Jake. The wolf-man was shriveled and dead from the energy pull. Jake was sitting up. Before Jake or Dave could say anything to me, I felt myself drawn back to my body.
I woke on a couch near an open window. My heartbeat sped up when I reached for my baby and he wasn’t there. I heard a noise, and there was EJ holding the baby and cooing at him. The sunlight from the window caressed her face and I could feel peace coming from her. I wanted that for me and my son.
“Have you made a decision?” She rocked the baby. There was such a peaceful look on her face. There was something about her that reminded me of my strong and loving grandmother. I already knew in my heart that my grandmother was dead. We couldn’t go back.
I chose peace. I chose people who could love my son. He wouldn’t be alone.
I sighed. “Yes, I’ll stay.” It also meant I had to have a job. “So is there any work around here?”
EJ laughed and rocked the baby. “I bet we can find something.”
Chapter Ten
I leaned against Jake as we sat on a small wooden swinging porch chair in front of a dusty single wide trailer. He held my son, lifted my son’s shirt, and rubbed his nose into my son’s belly. My son giggled and smiled at him. My beautiful son was growing and changing so quickly.
When we were introduced to the pack, my son charmed his many new grandmothers. He was passed from hand to hand, cuddled, and loved. The men came by and smelled his hair. They smiled at me and left me to the women. I felt that connection to all of them.
The stars shone in the night sky and we watched the moon rise. “Before I go hunting,” he said, “What is the baby’s name?”
“Tsela, stars lying down.” I whispered. I kissed him long and deep.
Jake handed me my son, and then pulled off his jeans and T-shirt. I admired his chest and abdomen. I could see the fading scar on his abdomen. He was chiseled and formed from the desert. Then he changed. I watched him flow from man to beast as the full moon filled the horizon. He woofed, and then ran to the pack. I could hear the howls in the distant.
I was home.
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About the Author
Cyn Bagley spent of her formative years in moving from place to place with her family. She continued this travel obsession by joining the US Navy and seeing the world: Japan, Panama, and Germany. She was diagnosed with Wegener's Granulomatosis, a Vasculitis disease, in 2003, giving her more time to write. She now lives in Nevada and has a Chihuahua friend, who keeps her walking and healthy.
What I'm Reading
Lately I have been going back to favorites. I binged on the Retrieval Artist series by Kristine Katherine Rusch. I really enjoy the mixture of alien cultures and detective work. She makes me believe that this world is real.
Pam Uphoff is one writer I have been reading who makes me laugh. Her series "Wine of the Gods," this link is Book 1, is a mixture of sci-fi and fantasy. The characters have god-like powers with a scientific base. Plus I am curious of what Zen and Quicksilver will do next.
My go-to author for great descriptions and stories is Anne Bishop. I have been reading and waiting for the next book in her series: A Novel of the Others. I became fascinated with her storytelling when I picked up the first book in her "Dark Jewel" series.
Excerpt from Billy the Kid
Betsy gazed out the window of her law office adjacent to the Sheriff's office when she saw a nude man jogging down the main road towards the small community center and grocery store. The bright desert sun glinted off the highlights in his dark blonde hair; his arms, legs, and chest had well-defined muscles When he jogged by, she could see his butt-cheeks flex and bend. Grains of sand puffed under his feet.
"No way," she said as she started on her paperwork. "I must be dreaming." She sighed, "It has been too long." She was the pack's attorney and the last time she had been out with a man was in college before law school. It was not that she was a feminist. She didn't hate men or the male body. She just didn't have time for the care and feeding of a man.
Even so, her eyes drifted back to the window. Yes, she had not imagined it. There was a nude man standing next to the door of the country store. It served as a grocery and department store in their small community. Thankfully you could find what you needed on the internet, if a product wasn't in the store.
The man looked uncertainly around him. His body had a light sheen of sweat mixed with the desert dirt. Then she saw what she had missed because her eyes were studying his body.
"Hell, no," she said aloud as she observed a herd of goats jumping and running around the nude man. The Billy goat nudged the nude man towards the door. "Adam is going to shit his pants."
Just a few months ago, Adam's mate, EJ, had spent several days traveling through the desert with a herd of goats. They had been with her when she found the facility that was being used to discover and manipulate shapeshifter DNA. The scientist in charge of the research facility had kidnapped and experimented on a young boy who was a member of the pack. EJ and the goats had rescued him. Betsy was sure from the description that these were the same goats. "What was a man doing with them?" she said aloud. Her voice startled her as she grabbed the afghan off the chair.
It was the one her mother had crocheted for her before she died.
She rushed to the door and stepped outside before Adam had the chance to see that the circus had come to town. The goats skittered away from her, puffing dust under their hooves, as she ran through them. She threw the afghan around the man. It startled her that she had this need to take care of this stranger. Inside a voice yelled mine. She had never believed in instant attraction. So to hide the confusion she felt, she lifted her eyebrow and did an up and down sweep of his now afghan clad body.
Discover More Titles By Cyn Bagley:
EJ Hunter Pack
Short Novels
Billy the Kid
Urban Werewolf
Diamond Butterfly (coming soon)
EJ Hunter
She Called It, Wolf
Dark Moon Rising (coming soon)
Hilda’s Inn
Hilda’s Inn for Retired Heroes
Dragon Boy
Unlicensed Sorceress (coming soon)
Short Stories and Collections
The Case of the Golden Seed
Ghostly Glimmers
Hidden in the Sierras: a were-bear story
Land of Gehenna
Norn’s Judgment
Smoke and Mirrors
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