Unleashed By The Shifter

by Juniper Hart

  She didn’t like it, but she stayed. Part of her was curious to see what he actually looked like as a werewolf.

  He pulled off his shirt and continued to undress. She looked away quickly; she wasn’t sure why. She wanted to see it, but society dictated that she look away unless he said it was fine to stare. She peeked anyway. His entire body was tight and muscular, and not hairy like she had anticipated. The hair must only grow when he transforms, she thought to herself. It took everything in her power to resist moving towards him to finish off what was started in the elevator.

  “What… What are you doing?” said Cara.

  Why were her cheeks burning?

  “I don’t want to ruin another set of clothes.”

  Reuben noticed Cara peaking at his naked body. He smiled and gave her a wink. How was she going to hack a computer when her mind kept imagining what she wanted to do to him?

  He breathed deeply, made sure he had a good grip on the door, and flexed. His form shuddered and grew violently until Cara’s head came up to his midsection. She had wondered if he had a tail; well, he did. She’d expected a dog-like creature, like a German shepherd on legs. She was right, mostly, but she could still see rippling muscles underneath.

  Those same muscles bulged when he tried to tear open the steel door, but the door didn’t move. He put all of his strength into it and the vault twisted slightly. The holding latches snapped and the rest of the restraining steel shredded. The lock snapped off and the door slid open.

  His form shrunk back to human proportions, and he sluggishly pulled on his clothes again before dropping to a knee. He released the lock, which hit the ground with a sound mimicking a bowling ball hitting the floor. He muttered under his breath as she hurried to him.

  “Wait, wait! I didn’t see your face when you changed!”

  “You don’t want to,” he replied. His skin was slick with sweat from what she could only assume was exertion. “Just get in there and fix me.”

  “How do I find you in all the code?”

  “You’ll know. Or at least I hope you will.”

  He straightened. Every muscle on his body was bulging, like he’d just had an intense workout.

  She stepped inside.

  She’d expected something relatively ordinary for some reason, but the moment she stepped inside, she vanished from the real world. She was still in the room, but the room was indescribably long and high. Long lines of codes flew by her like speeding trucks, passing straight through her body.

  Strangely, she wasn’t panicked. She felt right, like she was part of a system instead of an outsider. She simply knew where Reuben was. She called for his code and it appeared in front of her. How did she know it was him? How could she distinguish that long line of code from any of the other millions?

  She didn’t know, but somehow her natural instincts had kicked in. Maybe she was enchanted.

  She got to coding. It was tricky. What he’d said was true; it really didn’t function like a normal code. It moved differently, looked strange, and even seemed to shift as she was working on it. She went through millions of lines of codes in what felt like seconds, but she couldn’t be sure. Nothing was clear. It could have been lifetimes.

  Finally, though, Cara felt like she was done. Nothing told her it was finished, but something in her heart said that she had completed her task. She tried to will herself out. For just a moment, panic flashed through her. She wasn’t going to be able to get out; she was stuck. Then, finally, just before she started going crazy, she was sucked out of the coding room and found herself tossed into the room with Reuben.

  “Did you do it?” he asked, helping her to her feet. “Did you find it?”

  “I think so. I hope so.”

  “Yes, I can feel it. You did it!” He bared his fangs in a grin. “Nice job, human.”

  That’s when she noticed that something was blaring. It sounded like an alarm.

  “You set off the alarm while you were snooping around in there. We probably have forty-five seconds.”

  She started towards the elevator, but he pulled her towards the stairs.

  “Bad idea. You don’t want to get stuck in there.”

  They dashed up the industrial stairs. She’d always considered herself in pretty good shape. She’d run track back in college. But her physical aptitude was definitely being challenged as they raced up the long set of staircases. Two guards entered the stairwell and blocked them in both directions. Reuben seemed unfazed.

  The first one was holding a baton, which turned out to be a bad move. Reuben simply tossed him over his shoulder, sending him clattering down the stairs while reciting a stream of curses. The second one was actually armed with a handgun. He fired off a shot at Reuben, which made him trip and fall.

  “Oh my God!” Cara yelled. “Reuben!”

  Reuben stumbled, bleeding from his shoulder with golden blood. He charged the guy and beat him into unconsciousness; the guy was lucky that Reuben had spared his life.

  “How are you still alive?” he cried, as they busted onto the ground floor.

  “It wasn’t silver,” he muttered, but he was still wincing.

  Was the pain killing him? Probably not, but it was obviously hurting him.

  More guards were waiting for them at the doorway. Enchanted creatures were scrambling away wildly from what they perceived to be dangerous intruders—a bloodthirsty werewolf and his sly human.

  “Stop!” they yelled, rounding the corner to try to catch them.

  Reuben and Cara didn’t listen. Reuben grabbed Cara’s hand as they sprinted for the door. It became a wild race for the exit—one that Reuben won. Cara was right behind him, but one of the faster guards grabbed her from behind.

  She went down in a heap with the guard on top of her. Reuben stopped at the door and raced back to retrieve her. He tossed the guard off and pulled her to her feet. They sprinted out the door, jumped into her car, and sped away as the guards fired at them.

  “Are you okay?” he asked as he raced out of the parking lot.

  “Yes. Thanks for coming back for me. I know you could have left me there now that you don’t need me anymore.”

  He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, trying to pay attention to his driving, “Hey, we’re partners. I told you that I am going to keep you safe.”

  He grabbed her hand and gave it an assuring squeeze.

  “Are they going to come after us?”

  “Probably. But there are a million enchanted criminals. They don’t have time to worry too much about us when there are some really violent killers out there.” He winced, touching the bullet wound in his shoulder. “I’m probably going to need some rest though.”

  “I forgot that you got shot! Are you ok?”

  “Yes. It’ll heal soon. No permanent damage done.”

  Cara smiled at him, but felt sad knowing their adventure would soon be over. Soon, he would send her to the mage, who would cast the safety spell on her.

  After a couple of hours driving in silence, Reuben pulled into the parking lot of a hotel.

  Chapter 7

  Reuben checked in quickly and requested two rooms across the hall from each other.

  As they walked up to their rooms, Cara asked, “Don’t the hotels ever come after you for trashing the rooms?”

  “I use different names. But to make things right, I let them charge the damages to my credit card. Years of mercenary work have made my bank accounts quite sizeable.”

  “If you have plenty of money, why do you keep taking on dangerous jobs?”

  “Honestly?”

  “No, please lie to me,” said Cara, sarcastically.

  Reuben laughed, “I guess I just get bored. I come from the most powerful pack of werewolves, and I’m in line to become the pack leader when my father dies. The whole system is just like human government—full of a bunch of kiss-asses. It started driving me nuts. I never knew if they were actually my friends or just trying to get on my good side. Not to mentio
n, being pack leader comes with a lot of responsibilities. So I left.”

  “Why don’t they help you with the vampire thing? I mean, if they’re powerful, it seems like…I don’t know. Just doesn’t make sense to me.”

  He forced a smile.

  “Well, my dad’s pretty upset with me for leaving. We’ve talked a couple times since I left. He told me to ‘clean up my own shit.’”

  “That’s awful!”

  “No, it’s how we work. We stick together, but it was my fault for leaving.”

  “Do you regret it?” asked Cara.

  “Every day.”

  Cara was silent. They reached their rooms.

  “I thought you were able to control your transformation now, but we have two separate rooms,” she protested as they stood in the hallway. “I thought…maybe…you’d want to share a room.”

  “What if you were wrong and I do transform?”

  He had a point as much as she didn’t want to admit it. If she had screwed up and failed to break the spell, her life could still be in danger. He could overpower her as a human, but when he changed into a werewolf, she didn’t stand a chance—especially if she was lying in bed with him, exposed and vulnerable.

  “Fine,” she said, getting closer to him. Her heart was thumping in her chest. “But we have a little time for fun, don’t we?”

  He caught her drift.

  “You’re a brave little thing, aren’t you?”

  Reuben flung Cara over his shoulder and entered the hotel room. He threw her on the bed, being careful not to hurt her.

  He climbed onto the bed, straddling Cara, and reached down and slowly lifted her shirt over her head. Effortlessly, he removed her bra and ran his fingers across her stomach, eliciting chills that undulated throughout her body. Reuben leaned down and gently kissed her bellybutton, and slowly kissed lower and lower, until his mouth reached the button of her pants.

  He raised his eyes to meet hers with a sly smirk before ripping open her pants with his bare teeth. Cara couldn’t stifle her squeals of pleasure. His index finger played lightly with the hem of her panties, building up Cara’s anticipation of what would happen next. Slowly, he reached down between her legs and gently stroked until Cara couldn’t contain her ecstasy. A violent pleasure pulsated through her body as she called out Reuben’s name. Breathless, Cara looked at Reuben and smiled.

  “Oh, we’re not done,” he said devilishly as he slid off her pants, and then pulled down her panties with his teeth.

  Cara sat up and slowly unbuttoned Reuben’s shirt, kissing his chest as she removed his shirt completely. Forcefully, she pushed him down on the bed. It was her turn. Reuben looked up at Cara, turned on by her boldness.

  Cara continued to kiss his chest, moving down his stomach. She unzipped his pants, which revealed his erection. He shifted, making it easy for her to remove his pants and boxers.

  She massaged his manhood, surprised by its immense size. She took him into her mouth, teasing him by encircling the tip with her tongue before settling her mouth completely over the length of him. Using her hands to caress him, Cara applied pressure with her tongue to stimulate every nerve. Reuben moaned, begging Cara not to stop.

  Before he descended into bliss, Cara moved and anchored herself on top of him, slowly easing herself into position because of his size. Reuben placed his hands on her hips, guiding her movement. Leaning forward, Cara placed both of her hands on Reuben’s chest as she continued to move in rhythmic motions, completely lost in a pleasure-filled daze as they both climaxed. They sat for several minutes in silence, relishing in the sensations that still coursed through their bodies.

  Just as Reuben pulled on his pants, the door flew open and a swarm of thugs charged in. Cara screamed, as Reuben moved quickly to stop anybody from getting near her.

  The men were on top of him in a moment. They looked like the others – the ones that had attacked them back at her apartment – but instead of a measly three, they had close to a dozen. And this time, instead of crowbars, they were holding silvery bats. They started to beat Reuben and he fought back as best as he could, but there were simply too many of them. They smashed him to his knees, where they kept him in submission.

  Meanwhile, Cara tried to remember where she’d put the gun. It was still in her jacket, which she’d thrown off while being carried into the room. It was lying on the floor, about halfway between the intruders and herself. She could see the chrome handle of the gun sticking out of her pocket.

  Completely naked, she made a charge for the gun. The intruders saw her coming and tried to reach the gun before she did, but somehow she’d managed to get there first. She had enough time to fire off one shot. One of the vampires vanished in dust, but before she could do anything else, they’d overpowered her.

  One of the thugs picked her up and tossed her on the bed. She tried to fight against him, but she was nowhere near as strong as he was. Before she could blink, the others were holding her down, with the first one standing beside the bed, looming over her. He roughly grabbed her wrist with his glove, looking back at Reuben.

  “Thought we wouldn’t find you? Thought we’d forget?”

  The vampire holding Cara’s wrist clenched his hand, making her shriek in pain. Reuben fought with a burst of intense strength. He flung one of the vampires into the TV and sent another reeling, but four more were there to hold him down.

  “Let her go! She has nothing to do with this!” he bellowed.

  “Nothing?” The one grabbing her wrist, evidently the leader, leaned close to her with his head close to her throat. He bared his fangs, threatening to puncture the skin on Cara’s neck.

  The vampire never broke his gaze from Reuben. “You stole my family. You stole those who meant everything to me.”

  He gestured to the other vampires, who slid the shades closed, blocking out any sunlight. A bedside lamp was the only light source in the room, making it safe for the vampires to expose their skin. The leader pulled off his hood and sunglasses to show his sickly white skin and intensely pale blue eyes. His canines were long and sharp and slick with saliva. He pressed them against her tender throat.

  “Wait!” Reuben yelled. “Ezekiel, please! You know it wasn’t me. I would never have done that!”

  He pulled his fangs away from Cara’s throat and swung the silver bat at Reuben. His companions were forced to duck to avoid getting hit, but the bat slammed into Reuben’s jaw. For a second, Cara thought he’d knocked him out before Reuben sluggishly leaned back up.

  “Do not address me by name! You know nothing of me, fucking dog!”

  Reuben was still struggling, but he knew he couldn’t overpower all of the vampires.

  “Let her go. Kill me if you wish, but she has no place in our disagreement.”

  “No?” Ezekiel put a slender hand to his chest in mock surprise. “I think she does have a place. From what was obviously happening in this bed, I now have the chance to take away something that matters to you.”

  Cara struggled to break free, but one vampire held one arm and another vampire held the other. Then, a third vampire held her feet down. She wanted to move, or fight, or do something, but she couldn’t. Both her and Reuben were stuck.

  Ezekiel turned his seductive gaze upon her, but then motioned for one of his thugs to cover her with a blanket so she wasn’t as exposed.

  “Would you like to know something about your little boyfriend?”

  “Let me go, you sadistic fuck!”

  His smile dimmed for a second and he slapped her. Hard.

  “Consider that a warning. What did he tell you about himself? Why did he say we were hunting him?”

  “He said someone put a spell on him and made him kill against his will.”

  He laughed and looked at Reuben’s kneeling form. “Is that what you told her?”

  Suddenly, he was back in Cara’s face.

  “I can tell you the truth. The dog knew someone had put the spell on him before the party. He simply didn’t do
anything to keep himself away from my family. All because my sister rejected him for another. Oh, sure, my sister’s ex-boyfriend cast the spell on Reuben for revenge for sleeping with her, but did you really think he couldn’t feel it? He wanted my sister dead too – for rejecting him. He should not have come to that dinner that night because he knew he would kill everybody.”

  “You’re lying!” Cara screamed.

  He grinned broadly, exposing his razor-sharp fangs.

  “Oh, am I? Why don’t you ask dear little Reuben?” He directed his attention to the werewolf. “How about it? Have I told her a lie?”

  Reuben looked Cara in the eyes, “Don’t believe him, Cara. I could feel someone put a spell on me, but I had no idea what it would do. I never would have murdered his family intentionally.” He turned his gaze back to Ezekiel. “I never loved your sister. She was in love with me, and I broke it off after a couple weeks of fun. She repulsed me with her white, cold skin and dead eyes. But… I never would have killed her intentionally. I didn’t hate her; I just didn’t love her. I had no idea I would transform that night.”

  Reuben’s face revealed that he was telling the truth.

  “Everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie!” Ezekiel screamed.

  “Police! Put down your weapons,” yelled a new voice.

  A rather unlucky policeman was standing in the doorway with his gun drawn, pointing it towards the vampires with bats.

  “Don’t make me repeat myself. Put down your weapons!”

  His hands were shaking. Cara didn’t blame him; she doubted he had experienced many scenarios like this before.

  “Put down your weapons!”

  Ezekiel stepped away from Cara with a frustrated sigh.

  “Really? Now? Fucking humans.”

  Ezekiel’s form shifted into darkness and before anyone could move, he soared over to the cop. Cara couldn’t see what happened, but she heard several shots, and the next thing she knew, the man was slumping to the floor. Ezekiel was soon back at her side with a deep red liquid dripping from his lips.

  “Excuse me,” he said with a sly smile. “Hate to snack before lunch, but he gave me no choice.”