“When you’ve struck him, twist. Twist hard. Blood will probably gush over your hand; try not to panic. It will be hot. Pull the knife out. It will be slippery, but the gloves may help.”
She was staring at him, open-mouthed, in disbelief. “I...I…oh…” She swallowed hard, her throat suddenly dry, her stomach turning in queasy circles. Gabriel frowned, then reached for the comb.
“Give it to me. Maybe you’re not…” His hand touched hers but she pulled it away.
“You shall not.” She squared her shoulders. “I will do this. I will look after myself.”
She was surprised by Gabriel’s smile. “I will look after you, but you are allowed to defend yourself. Don’t take chances or go off thinking you can take on a full-grown man. Or an alien. Keep your eyes open and your wits about you, and do not leave me, under any circumstances.”
He touched her cheek. “Take no offense when I ask you stay one step behind me. I need you close and in the safest place that you can be. Agreed?”
“Agreed. I will do as you say.”
There was a noise outside, the sound of roaring, a strange rough sound. Gabriel moved to the side of the window, looking toward the front of the train. Slinging the handles of the travel bag over her shoulder, she waited, heart beating, breathing fast and shallow. A wave of dizziness washed over her for a minute, she thought she would be ill. But she took a breath, focused on Gabriel’s voice, and it lessened.
“Whatever they’re doing, I think they’re done. The aliens are moving around and I can hear voices.” His voice was tight.
“What do we do?”
“We wait. The train should be leaving soon. We can’t leave here until the train is moving, or one of the Ottway’s guards might see us. Be ready.”
After a moment, she heard the huff of steam, but no whistle though. Then there was a louder noise and from habit she braced her feet, reaching for the support of the back of the divan. But her car didn’t move.
“The train is leaving. Get ready…” He looked at her and the message was clear. She gripped her comb tightly as he’d showed her. The roar of the machines was louder, but she saw only one rider outside the window. The huff of the train was loud for a moment, then grew progressively distant. Against her arm, Gabriel’s fingers tensed.
“Now.”
They were moving toward the door. She’d expected somehow they’d sneak out, try to remain hidden. But as soon as the door opened, Gabriel let loose what could only be a war cry as he jumped to the ground. It was impossible for her not to scream, to join her voice with his as she half jumped, half fell to the ground. He let go of her arm, but she stayed as close to him as his shadow. He stopped, teeth bared, every muscle in his body tensed, the armor straining against his body. Somewhere along the way, he’d taken off the Ottway’s colors; she couldn’t say when, and it bothered her that she couldn’t recall.
A terrible sound filled the air, the ragged sound of a machine close by. The very air seemed to vibrate from the noise. It tore at her ears but she focused on Gabriel, where he was moving, staying with him. He moved in a circle. Most of the riders were following the train, spears and fists waving in the air in some bizarre kind of send-off.
Then a single alien came screaming out of nowhere, coming up fast along the side of the train car, the two-wheeled machine it rode on sending up a plume of dust. All she could do was stare. Even the stories Ana had told her as a child, or she’d told herself, the glimpses she’d had out the train window, couldn’t match the terrible thing that rode toward her.
Gabriel had said they were wearing leather, and she could see that now. They wore tight-fitting leather jackets and pants, and layers of dirty rags around their faces. But behind the torn leather, the gaps where the rags didn’t cover, she could see the flash of silver skin. It was horrific, but mesmerizing at the same time. As the creature rode past, it looked directly at her. Lifeless black eyes stared into hers. Her blood went cold, and she stumbled to a halt. It wasn’t until Gabriel called her name that she realized she was staring, open-mouthed, as the alien rode past.
“Senna!”
She jerked into motion, grabbing Gabriel’s arm. Another rider flanked them now, coming so close the dust and dirt he kicked up stinging against her skin. She threw up a hand, ducking her head. Blindly she ran forward until she felt Gabriel’s hand on her arm.
“This way. Against the car.”
He pushed her away, toward the train car. “Underneath. Stay low.” With one last shove, he sent her stumbling toward the back of the car. She scrambled underneath, her hands and knees cut by the rocks that lined the railroad tracks. But the pain barely registered. All her attention was on Gabriel, on the riders converging around him.
And then Gabriel was shifting. His yell turned to a deep growl. His body seemed to shimmer in the heat and dust, arms and legs lengthening, the body armor moving with him, changing to fit him as he began to shift. She hardly dared to blink, not wanting to miss a moment of his transformation.
With a howl he threw back his head, his jaws lengthening, white fangs growing in place of teeth. Ears with tufts of dense black hair pushed up from the side of his head. Dense black hair began to show through the plates of his armor, thick tufts sticking out between segments of armor. When it all seemed to be too much for him to bear, he dropped to the ground. Gabriel the man was gone, replaced by a thick-bodied black desert wolf.
One of the aliens dismounted its machine, waving a spear. It ran toward Gabriel, shrieking an inhuman battle cry, tearing the dirty rags away from its face. With horror, she realized it had a tail, a long whip-like thing that thrashed behind it, covered in ragged scales. It was revolting, disgusting.
Gabriel lunged at the thing, diving low as the alien brought the spear in an arc over its head. She couldn’t hold back a scream. But Gabriel pushed forward, hitting the alien low with his powerful shoulder, knocking it off balance. The spear struck the ground, buried itself in the sand. The alien rolled on the ground once, then jumped to its feet, spinning around, crouching low.
The thing had claws, long gray claws. It curled them, hissing at Gabriel. The wolf turned, snarling, advancing stiff-legged toward the alien. Then it jumped, landing on Gabriel’s back.
She screamed again, scrambling out from beneath the car. Holding the comb, she ran at the alien, bringing it down in a slashing arc. It struck the thing in the back, cutting through the leather. But then it stopped, the handle bending, snapping off. She was left with the broken comb, and no weapon.
The alien turned on her, hissing, a long forked tongue flicking the air in front of her face. She screamed again, not a battle cry this time, but a sound of sheer terror. The alien clawed at its back, unable to reach the broken handle of the comb.
Gabriel shook the alien off, getting to his feet, turning with a snarl, teeth snapping at the alien. The thing ignored Gabriel and the broken comb in its back, reaching for Senna with those dirty and broken claws.
She staggered backward, tripped, sat down hard. The alien smiled—revolting behind description—grabbing for her. Claws caught in the silk, tearing it, slicing a long cut down her arm. The pain was immediate and intense and she cried out, and she fell back on the ground in shock. The only thing she was told not to do was attack an alien, but that’s the one thing she had done.
The alien hissed again, reached for her, and then, oddly, it flew away. That had never been part of the fairytales.
She sat up. The alien wasn’t flying. It was being thrown through the air by Gabriel, the wolves jaw, around the neck of the alien. It landed with a crash against the railway car, then slid in a boneless heap to the ground. Gabriel growled at it, then turned to her, cocking his head, whining at her, sniffing the air. Even without words, she knew what he was asking.
“Fine. It hurts, but I’ll be fine.” She got to her feet, feeling just a little weak. Warm blood trickled down her arm. He whined again, but the sound was lost in the roar of another machine. Gabriel spun around, jumpi
ng so quickly on the alien as it rode past that he was just a blur of fur and armor. The machine and the alien tumbled to the ground, Gabriel on top of the whole mess. The alien struggled beneath the machine, making a terrible gurgling noise, a horrible smell that she realized was burning flesh, filling her nostrils. It took her a minute to realize Gabriel had the alien by the neck, fangs tearing through leather and scales. Something dark, almost black, ran into the sand and she realized that was the creature’s blood.
Gabriel shook the alien once, then dropped the lifeless body and scrambled back, teeth bared, looking at the retreating train. The final three riders were racing back, now aware something was wrong. She waited, expecting Gabriel to run at them, meet them head on. Eyes never leaving the machines and riders, she waited.
“Come on. We need to go.”
She turned, shocked to see Gabriel in human form, breathing hard, body covered in sweat. The armor held rents and slashes, marks from the aliens’ claws, perhaps teeth, or weapons. She shuddered to think what would happen if one captured her.
“This machine.” Gabriel was righting the nearest machine, the one the first alien had driven. He climbed on, kicked the starter and it roared to life. Gunning the engine he held out his hand.
“Get on.”
Surprised she still had it, she hiked the travel bag higher on her shoulder and climbed on behind him. He smelled of sweat and dust and something acrid. But she didn’t care. She wrapped her arms around him tight as the machine came to life beneath her.
Gabriel crouched low, the machine screaming in protest. She’d never experienced anything like this, flying over the hard-packed desert, the wind tearing her hair loose, pulling at her tattered silk clothes. It took all her concentration to hang on as they raced across the sand.
After a minute she dared turn her head, looking behind. The three aliens were following them, plumes of dust marking their course. But there was too much dust. Something was wrong.
“Gabriel!” She screamed his name, but she could barely hear her own voice. She hit his shoulder, leaned forward as far as she dared.
“There are more of them! More aliens.”
Gabriel nodded, tensed, then quickly looked back past her quickly. She leaned forward, and he turned his head, his lips against her ear. Even so, the wind tore the words away, almost before she could hear them.
“Ottway’s men. Shifters. Three.”
Her blood went cold. She knew what that meant. The Ottway knew they’d escaped. And now his men were after her too. Somehow being brought back to the Ottway was more frightening than the unknown aliens. She knew what he would do to her.
They’d been headed away from the setting sun, trying to catch their shadows, but they only grew longer. Somehow Gabriel got the machine to go even faster. She clung to him, hiding her face behind his back. She didn’t know how they could possibly outrun both the aliens and the Ottway’s men, but she had to trust Gabriel, had to believe he knew what he was doing.
She risked a peek over his shoulder. The desert had been flat, featureless. Now she saw a dark shape on the horizon, a lump that could only be a rock formation. Bouncing on the back of the machine she had no idea how close it was. It seemed so far away, but maybe that was just an illusion, like stories she’d heard of travelers, lost, seeing water where there was none. A mirage.
The rocks grew larger very quickly. It gave her the courage to glance back. The aliens were closer, but the Ottway’s men were gaining, closing the distance far too fast. But she had to trust they had time, to trust that Gabriel knew what he was doing. But as she watched one of the riders broke away, machine flying over the sand, rider bent low over the handlebars. It was one of the Ottway’s men; even from here she could see the gold and yellow trim on his tunic, the flash of silver off his gleaming machine. He was gaining so quickly it seemed like she and Gabriel were standing still.
Then they were flying through a field of broken red rock, pieces the size of camels flashing by. Gabriel drove with confidence, swerving and dodging. It gave her hope that they would lose their pursuers, but only for an instant. She was certain any driver of one of these machines would be able to follow them, be able to navigate this maze of rock.
And as she had the thought she heard the sound of a machine roaring behind them, gaining on them. She turned her head and looked into the eyes of one of the Ottway’s men. He wore brass goggles, and something like a mask over the rest of his face. The effect was frightening, inhuman.
The man reached for her, but his hand closed around nothing but fluttering silk. It tore away, and she thanked whatever Goddess was with her for the cheapness of the Ottway’s gift. The rider held the silk an instant, then flung it away. He reached again, and she knew she wouldn’t have the same luck.
Gabriel gunned the machine, and they pulled ahead a few yards. But the other man closed the gap easily, swerving around rocks, keeping pace with them. It was up to her to stop him, or he’d pluck her from the back of the machine.
Letting go of Gabriel, she let the handles of the travel bag slide down her arm, and into her hand. Holding them tight she swung at the man. Beneath her, the machine wavered as she seemed to hang in space for an agonizing moment, the bag flying in a wide arc.
It hit the man in the head with surprising force, almost tearing the bag from her arm. She cried out in pain, but held on as he disappeared from her view. Held on as the momentum carried the bag forward, almost swinging into Gabriel. She jerked her whole body back, clutching wildly at Gabriel. Their machine screaming, wobbling violently, missing a rock by mere inches, a piece of silk catching on it, tearing away. Instinctively she hugged Gabriel tightly, felt more than heard him grunt something,
“Too tight.”
But she didn’t care. Her heart hammered so loudly, she thought it would drown out the sound of the machine, that it would explode in her chest.
But it all happened so fast she’d lost track of the Ottway’s man. She looked back, the travel bag swinging from her hand. There was a cloud of smoke rising behind a rock, and as she watched a fireball exploded from behind the rock, flames shooting into the air. A strange sense of exhilaration washed through her, and she tipped her head back, screaming into the wind.
Suddenly Gabriel leaned the machine hard to the left. She clung to him, arms tightly wound around him, legs tensing around his hips to keep from falling off. Ahead was what looked like a sheer cliff face. And they were headed straight for it. The wall rose up, blotting out the sun. She wanted to close her eyes, or get off the machine, but she hugged herself against Gabriel and waited.
She saw it an instant before they shot through the tiny opening in the rock face. The world went dark and cool with shadows and she was blind after the blinding sunlight. The machine shuddered to a stop, slewing to the side. Gabriel was off the machine, and it fell to the side, almost pinning her beneath.
“Gabriel…” She fought her way out from under the hunk of metal, ending up on hands and knees. Gabriel had run back to the opening, disappearing in the dark. Her eyes were slowly adjusting, but she couldn’t see him. But she could hear a grinding noise, the sound of rock moving against rock. She stood, running toward him.
Through the narrow slot, she could see the aliens, what seemed like only yards away. They were flanked by the Ottway’s remaining men, on shiny new bikes. They were too close; they’d be through the opening in a heartbeat.
Gabriel was to the side, pushing hard, straining to roll a huge rock. In that instant, she realized what he was doing, and she ran to him.
“It’s too heavy for one person…” He was grunting with the effort. She set her shoulder to the rock, her feet slipping on the sand. But the rock moved, rolled forward, and then, gaining momentum, slid the few remaining feet with ridiculous ease. It banged across the opening with a thunderous crash. Gabriel was a few feet away, hands on his thighs, breathing hard. He looked at her, frowning.
“You’re bleeding, Senna.”
She looked down at h
er arm. “I’m fine. It’s stopped. It looks worse than it is.” Truth be told, it hurt more than anything she’d ever known. But she was proud of her war wound, proud that she’d survived. Proud for a moment, that she’d killed one of the Ottway’s men. But then it hit her; she’d killed a man. Suddenly, her body was wracked with shivers so severe she thought she’d faint. Gabriel grabbed her, eased her to the ground.
“I killed…someone…” Her words were lost. She buried her head against his chest, great choking sobs coming from deep inside.
He held her close, rocking her back and forth. Finally, she sat up, wiping her face on one of the few pieces of silk still left on her body.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I suppose it’s just routine for you, to kill someone.”
He shook his head. “It’s never easy. I would never want it to be easy. But you did what you needed to do, to save your life. And mine.” He kissed her softly. “And for that, I am profoundly grateful. Now, we need to get going. We have a bit of a walk ahead of us.”
She let him help her to her feet. Every muscle in her body seemed to hurt, and she wanted to get wherever they were going, to be welcomed, to sit down, be safe. Be fed. She hefted the travel bag. It felt like it weighed a full ton.
“Lucky for the wine in the sleeve. You dispatched the Ottway’s man, and didn’t break the bottle.”
She managed a smile. “Small favor. I’m certain the wine will be substandard.” At that Gabriel laughed.
“You’re feeling better I take it. True to your form again. You’ll be safe soon, with my people.”
“Is this your home?”
He nodded, looking up at the walls around them, at the slim sliver of blue sky overhead, darkening with the coming of night. “It is. Our little kingdom.” Nodding at the wall behind them, he wiped sweat off his forehead.
Wild Things (BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance): Shifter Lovers Romance Page 9
