Shifter Romance Box Set

by Unknown

  We sat listening to the forest, smelling the fresh air. Maybe that was enough for him, perhaps it should have been enough for me.

  But it wasn't.

  Bumping my hand against his, I watched him startle. His nose was so close to mine when her turned, eyeing me in confusion. “What is it, what's wrong?”

  “Nothing,” I lied, staring down at a beetle on the rock. It was suddenly the most interesting thing. “Just nothing.”

  “Fiona.” His fingers traced over my own, turning my blood electric. “Do you know why I took you here?”

  Blinking, I squinted into his serious eyes. Brandon's mouth twitched at one corner, his brows furrowing. Is he... nervous? “To show me a neat place, I figured.”

  Chuckling, he smoothed a hand over his messy, mouse brown hair. In the sun, it shone like silver. “Yeah, that's sort of true. But it was also—it was kind of...”

  “What?” I breathed out, desperate, sensing what I thought was tension. “Oh, no. Are you breaking up with me? Brandon, is that why you haven't... did I do something wrong?”

  The look of consternation on his face would have been funny any other time. “Huh? Shit, no! Fiona, that's the opposite of what I'm trying to get at here.”

  My chest thrummed, threatening to crush my lungs with how much room my heart wanted to take up. I'd always thought you were supposed to wait for the guy to kiss you. That was how movies did it, and fairy tales, and everything. It was how my world had been shaped. It was what I had dreamed was supposed to happen.

  When I leaned forward, pushing my lips hungrily, awkwardly, to Brandon's... I didn't care what was 'supposed' to happen. I just wanted what I wanted.

  Right then, I wanted him more than the fulfillment of fairy tales.

  I knew he was surprised, it was just that my own shock was so strong I had trouble focusing on his. Leaning back, my palms covered my mouth. The color of my cheeks rivaled fresh tomatoes. “Oh god, Brandon, I'm so sorry. That wasn't—I mean—you weren't...”

  Laughing, his own face on fire, he reached up a shaking hand to touch my jaw. “Fiona, you're fantastic. Don't ever change, okay?”

  “Okay,” I agreed, copying his anxious laughter. “Okay, okay.”

  It was my first kiss, and it was more perfect than any story could have promised.

  * * * *

  If we'd been inseparable before, Brandon and I were glued permanently now.

  Wherever we went, our hands were linked. If we couldn't see each other, we would stay up on our phones, talking softly until our parents insisted we go to bed.

  It was a feeling unlike anything I'd ever had. It filled me up, made me antsy and comfortable and ecstatic all at once.

  Brandon and I were in love.

  Together, the world felt more alive than ever. We climbed every hill, we crawled through bushes into dark caves. Nothing scared us. Nothing could hurt us.

  What could ever threaten the armor built by soul mates?

  Being sixteen gives you many advantages. Ours was the confident surety of love, the logic that we'd found our one and only. It gave us a future, a de facto life of warm love and contagious giggles.

  Humans are never more naïve in our lives than at age sixteen.

  Chapter 2

  “I know, Mom. I heard you the first time.” Straightening my hair in the bathroom mirror, I didn't look at her.

  My mother leaned on the door frame, arms folded tight as a snail in a shell. “Fiona, I don't think you're listening. The weather has been really bad lately, we've had so much rain... I've never seen it like this. Can't you and Brandon just hold off on your hike for a bit?”

  Rolling my eyes, I dabbed some concealer on my cheeks. “You don't get it. It's our six month anniversary. It's important.”

  “Hiking in the rain important?”

  “Yes,” I countered, shooting a pout at her. “We don't care that it's raining.”

  “You don't, but I do. Can you promise me you'll at least come back before it gets too late? It's already nine, how long does it take you to go hiking? Why does it have to be at night?”

  Because it's romantic. I didn't want to say it so brazenly. Peering over, I could see the worry in her face. The weather had been awful, but Brandon and I could handle it. “Fine. I won't be back super late, but it'll take us like an hour to get to where we're going.”

  She said nothing for a minute, looking me up and down. “Alright. Fine. Go ahead, I won't stop you. But Fiona... why are you putting on makeup for a hike?”

  That made me blush fiercely. How did you explain to your mom that you wanted to look nice for your boyfriend? I didn't bother trying, I just shut the door on her so I could finish.

  * * * *

  The rain was coming down violently. It made me relish the umbrella I'd grabbed, though the wind became my next challenge. I made it halfway to where I was meeting Brandon before the entire contraption inverted, becoming pointless.

  Awesome, I thought glumly. The work I'd put into my hair and makeup washed away in seconds.

  Struggling against the torrent, I made it to the shelter of the forest much later than anticipated. Brandon was waiting for me under an oak tree, his arms over his head. “Hey!” Laughing, he waved me under the branches. “What's that you're holding?”

  Waving the busted umbrella, I rolled my eyes. “Just some cheap plastic, apparently. This weather is atrocious!”

  Nodding, he glanced up at the thick, black blanket of clouds. “The sky seems angry, doesn't it?”

  Following his eyes, I nodded slowly. “It does. Uh, my mom suggested we not go out in this.”

  Brandon's eyebrows lifted sympathetically. “Maybe we should call it off, you think?”

  My brain buzzed, thinking of all the times I'd been wary of whatever adventure Brandon wanted to take us on. How he'd always comforted me and coerced me into what ended up being something worth doing. “No,” I said bluntly. “I think we should do this.”

  “Really?” He blinked dubiously.

  “Yeah. Yeah, it's just a little rain.”

  Grinning, Brandon took my hand. “That's the spirit.” Together, we worked our way into the brush. It was hard to see, the leaves were weighed down by rain. Shadows lived everywhere, a blue hue coating the world before our eyes.

  Gingerly, we arrived at the steep slope. That time, we inched down together. Brandon was patient with me, stabilizing himself where he could to give me support on the wetter areas. It was slow going, but we made it to the bottom in one piece.

  We were soaked with mud down our backs and legs. Exhilarated by our successful climb, we just laughed, stomping carelessly through puddles. Why try to stay dry anymore?

  Slipping out from under the cover of branches, we approached the creek.

  The place we'd shared our first kiss.

  Our laughter faded when we saw how bloated the entire area was. The rocks we'd sat on were gone, hidden under rushing ripples. “Whoa,” I said, staring in shock. “Uh. That's a lot of water.” It was a dumb, obvious statement. Blushing, I gave him a side-look. “I mean, this is a little extreme, isn't it? Brandon?”

  My boyfriend, he was just... staring. Those lovely green eyes, eyes I got too much pleasure from gazing into fondly, were now fixed in rapt horror. Slipping on mud, he turned quickly. “Fiona, come on! Follow me.”

  “What? What's wrong?” I asked, hurrying to keep after him. He was faster than me, way better at navigating the brambles in the darkness. Above us, the sky roared like it was full of angry gods. “Brandon? Hey!”

  The gangly boy said nothing. Looking straight ahead, he didn't flinch as a twig ripped a red line across his cheek. It took everything to keep up with him, climbing the hills was hard enough without slippery rain.

  Finally, we fought our way onto the flat section of a field. Below us were the rivers, the lakes, and the dam that had stood for far longer than I'd lived. It was the east side of our tiny town, a place that looked beautiful on a sunny day. Now, it just scared me.

>   The water was raging, I could see chunks of things—logs, leaves, mud?—ramming up against the inside of the dam. It was clogging everything, furious white foam rattling hungrily at the lip. It was frightening, but it was Brandon's pale face that scared me the most. “Brandon?” I whispered, edging closer. “What is it? What's happening?”

  Turning to me, as if in a dream, he spoke words that put me close to fainting. “Fiona, I think the dam might break.”

  “No. Impossible, it's never before. Why now? Why would no one be preparing for that?”

  “We've never had rain like this,” he answered. I could hear the tremor on his tongue. “We need to go, we need to warn everyone!” Eyes, wide as the moon we couldn't see, bore into me. “Fiona, we need to hurry, or everyone is going to die!”

  I didn't answer. I didn't even think. I just turned and ran through the trees.

  There was no sound but our labored panting, the rumble of thunder above. It was as if we were racing the sky. That black expanse had an unfair advantage. With the wind at our backs, rain pelting our faces, Brandon and I climbed the steep slope faster than we'd come down it.

  Breaking through the trees, the hour arriving on eleven, we looked out over the town as the clouds roared louder. No, that noise isn't the storm, I realized with horror. It was too man-made, too concrete and screeching metal. Brandon shared a look with me, our mouths gaping.

  That's the sound of the dam breaking.

  “Hurry!” he cried, rushing down the street.

  “Brandon, wait!” My heart was threatening to explode. I knew what we needed to do, what was required of us. Can we possibly knock on every door? Can we wake everyone up and save them in time?

  He was shouting as he ran, outpacing me easily. “Get up! Get up! It's a flood, the dam is down!” His hands cupped his mouth to carry his voice over the noise.

  That was when the first wave of water came. It rolled down the hills, through the streets. It was a monster that pushed parked cars along with it.

  Standing there, I was frozen on the spot. No, this can't be happening. My body didn't want to believe what I was seeing. This isn't how my story goes.

  Brandon turned, hurrying back my way. I didn't realize he'd gotten so far, not until I saw how quickly the flood was coming at us. It swept up the world, stealing anything not bolted down. Items vanished, or they slammed into the nearest houses.

  “Fiona!” he screamed at me, eyes pure white around the edges with fear. “Quick, move! Go!”

  I couldn't, I couldn't do anything.

  He barreled into me, dragging me through the streets. I could hear the sound of other people, but over it all was the deafening bellow of destruction. Brandon shoved me against the side of a house, then forced me onto the roof of a car. “Go! Go, climb!”

  Shaking, I tried to hoist myself up the slippery surface, but I couldn't reach the roof. “I can't,” I sobbed. “I can't get up there! I'm not tall enough!”

  He was beside me, arms around my waist so he could lift me. My fingers scrabbled, gripping the ledge. It was a tenuous hold, but it was enough. Grunting, I pulled myself higher, feeling him guiding me. He's always there, he always helps me. We're going to do this, we can be saved!

  I rolled over the ledge, gasping with relief. Twisting, I reached down, wanting to help him up. Below me, I glimpsed Brandon's lovely green eyes. They watched me as he was ripped down the street, then consumed by the raging black water.

  In seconds, he was gone.

  In seconds, the love of my life didn't exist.

  That was the moment I knew fairy tales weren't real at all.

  All night, I screamed and cried. Long after the rain finally stopped, and long before the rescue teams arrived to get me off of the roof. A few others had managed to climb high, like me, but we were rare.

  Electricity burst in the air, fires starting from the sparks. The smoke was thicker than the storm clouds. I could hear the sounds of people in pain, cries for help. Eventually they went silent, and then I heard no one.

  Almost everyone had been wiped out, my hometown ruined overnight.

  They called it the worst flash flood of the century, worst South Dakota had ever known. So many people dead, so much damage the numbers were beyond me. In the end, they couldn't even find all of the bodies.

  They couldn't find his body.

  It was a closed, empty casket funeral. I was one of the few who attended. All of Brandon's friends, his family... everyone he'd known closely—besides me—they'd all died.

  We'd both lost everything. I'd lost everything.

  One single event, and my life could never go back to what it had been.

  All because of the rain.

  Chapter 3

  “Here you go,” I said with a smile. “Just copy those five pages, it's everything you missed from the last three days.”

  Rubbing his cheek sheepishly, Mark took my notebook like it was worth a million dollars. “Man, seriously Fiona. I really owe you.”

  Waving my hand, I adjusted my backpack self-consciously. “No no no, not at all. It was really nothing.”

  “To me, it's something.” His grin was wide, showing too many teeth.

  That was my cue to stand, clearing my throat loudly. “You were out sick, it isn't your fault. Just get them back to me tomorrow, if you can.” Smoothing my tight ponytail, I tried to avoid his eyes. They were too interested, too aimed at me. “Okay, Mark?”

  Laughing softly, he spread the notebook open on the tiny coffee shop table. “Right. Not a problem. I'll see you tomorrow, before your marketing class.”

  Waving, I backtracked out the door, nearly bumping into someone. “Tomorrow—sorry, sorry—right! Bye, Mark! Bye!” Turning before the whole shop saw my raging blush, I power-walked down the sidewalk outside.

  Eesh, that was awkward. I knew it was my fault things had gotten weird. Mark was a nice guy, we'd talked occasionally in our math class, but... But he's starting to look at me like he wants more than just my notes.

  Frustrated by my own reaction to someone showing interest in me, I cut through the back alleys of the area's restaurant district. It wasn't the nicest location, especially after it got dark out. Then, well... then you didn't want to be anywhere near that district.

  Luckily, it was still sunny enough that I wasn't worried.

  I had other things to bother my brain. Things that poked at me all the way till I got home.

  Hopping up the front steps of my tiny apartment, my keys jingled in the lock. I'd hardly gotten the door open before the insistent meowing of my cat hit my ears. “Shh, shh, relax Angel. I'll feed you, give me a second.” Kicking the door shut behind me, I dropped my backpack to the floor without a care.

  The tiny place was warm, prompting me to open the windows in the kitchen and my attached living room. It was a cramped studio apartment, but with my grandpa paying for it, I had no complaints. As far as I was concerned, it was as home as home could ever be, for me.

  “Here you go,” I said, handing off a small bowl of wet food to the giant cat that wouldn't stop bumping into my ankles. The second the meal hit the ground, Angel jumped at it, forgetting me entirely.

  Chuckling, I grabbed my hips. “Wish I had someone to feed me dinner.”

  Digging around in my fridge revealed nothing but an old cartoon of Chinese takeout. Sighing, wishing for something better, I chucked it into my microwave.

  By the time the sun had gone down, I was settled in front of the television, chomping away on chewy noodles. There was nothing that caught my attention, I kept flipping the channels with boredom.

  Sports, news, reality TV, news, cartoons, news...

  I caught a snippet as I rolled by the different stations, found myself hesitating to hear the rest. “...so expect rain in the next few days, it'll be cool and wet! Next up...”

  Frowning, I turned the television off entirely. The last thing I wanted to hear about was the rain. I'd moved to Arizona to get away from the damn rain.

  Want
ing to distract myself, I filled the old, deep basin tub in the bathroom with enough hot water to turn the room into a sauna. While I was uncomfortable—often scared—of rain or big areas of water, if I didn't think it could drown me I didn't care.

  Adding in sweet smelling soap, making the tub sparkle with hilariously purple bubbles, I grinned. Much better. No, wait. Hurrying into the kitchen, I returned with a glass of old whiskey. Technically, it wasn't legal for me to drink, but who would know?

  Grandpa lives back on the edge of South Dakota, there's no one around to know.

  Setting the glass on the edge of the sink, I let my clothes fall in a heap. My toes warned me how hot the water was, but that was just perfect. Sinking in, down to my chin and enjoying every excruciating inch, I sighed. With whiskey in hand, I tilted my head back.

  Okay. Now, it's better.

  The drink burned my throat, taking the edge out of my body. Even so, the moment I closed my eyes, the thoughts in my head ran loose. They melted like snow, filling the bottom of my brain to take hold.

  It was always like that. I'd never escaped the memories of that night, two years just wasn't enough. Will any length of time be enough? I don't think it's possible to forget everything, to forget Brandon.

  I wasn't sure I really wanted to.

  Thinking of Mark, how he'd flashed me a smile when I'd handed him my notes... it made me gulp down more whiskey.

  Is there something wrong about not wanting to let go?

  Chewing my lip, tasting bitter soap, I popped out the tub's cork. Listening to the water run down, echoing in the old pipes, I dried off absently. My grandpa had told me that with time, everything that needed to heal would do so. Wounds would mend, memories would fade.

  Green eyes and a teasing grin entered my mind.

  Not all memories can fade, or should.

  Angel purred at me as soon as I entered my bedroom. She had taken up residence in my bed, tail and toes stretched as far as possible. Laughing, I sat down hard enough to make her jump. “Trying to take my bed away, are we?” Scratching her chin, I fell back in just my robe.