Unleashed By The Shifter

by Juniper Hart

  That’s as far as he got before there was a horrible slashing sound and something slammed against the door. Then silence—terrifying silence—except for Reuben’s general incoherent complaining from the other room.

  Cara slowly got up.

  “Hey, drunk guy? You okay? Drunk girl? Please tell me you’re fine, and that no horrible monster is out there and just killed you.”

  She slowly loaded the gun with a clean clicking sound. It was a handy skill that Reuben had taught her. Although they couldn’t practice shooting too often, she was getting used to handling the weapon. Reuben made her carry it around for hours at a time to get used to the way it felt. He wanted her to see it as a tool instead of being intimidated by it. She switched the safety off and chambered a bullet.

  She crept towards the door slowly, holding the gun in a way that she thought probably looked cool.

  “Hey, drunk guy? Drunk girl?”

  She heard a noise, but it sounded like something was twitching on the ground outside. Part of her wanted to throw open the door and see what was going on, but the rest of her wanted to stay in the safety of the hotel room and act like nothing had happened.

  “You’re not out there, are you? You’ve been killed in a horribly violent way, haven’t you?”

  No response.

  “Please. Please answer me,” she muttered under her breath.

  Something spilled under the door. She almost shot it because her nerves were so frazzled, but she quickly realized it wasn’t a horrible monster attacking her feet. It was just liquid – a deep red liquid that looked entirely too much like blood.

  “Anyone up for some wine?” Cara whimpered quietly. “I really, really hope that’s wine.”

  “Cara, let me out!” Reuben yelled from the other hotel room in his typical werewolf fashion.

  She groaned and put her eye to the peephole. That’s when her brain decided to remember a movie where a woman had made the rather unfortunate mistake of looking through the peephole as the villain on the other side drove an ice pick through the glass. Why her brain decided to bring up that image right then, she would never know.

  But nobody drove an ice pick into her eye. The dangerous creature—which definitely was not human—wasn’t interested in her.

  Cara couldn’t see much of the woman, but what she could see impressed her. The woman was tall, with ivory skin and a muscled, yet surprisingly curvy frame. A thick mane of jet-black hair was tossed over her shoulders, hitting her mid-back. She was holding a glowing whip with tendrils of blue energy spiraling off it.

  Uh-oh.

  Chapter 2

  Enchanted type. Probably hired by Ezekiel to kill Reuben and Cara. She probably didn’t know that they had separate rooms. The mysterious assailant reached out and laid a hand on the doorknob.

  She was going to let the crazy, bloodthirsty Reuben out into the general hotel, which was about as good of a move as telling a diehard Star Wars fan spoilers of a Star Wars movie that they hadn’t yet seen. Didn’t some guy get beat up for that exact thing? But Reuben would do much more damage.

  Cara couldn’t allow the vixen in the hallway to do that. Even if she was wrong and the girl meant no harm, she was still trying to let Reuben out. She tried to see anything that showed any potential weakness on the presumed assassin, but she saw nothing. Finally, she noticed a long black tattoo running the length of the woman’s entire forearm, which somehow seemed to be connected to the whip. The tattoo had the same blue glow as the weapon. Could that be a weakness? She didn’t know; she was just grasping at straws.

  The woman tried to open the door and failed. She jiggled the doorknob a little, but it didn’t open. She muttered something under her breath before rearing her foot back and planting it against the door in a kicking motion. At least, that seemed to be her plan. Instead, Cara summoned up enough courage to throw open the door and level the handgun at the woman, just as her foot hit the corpses of the drunk couple.

  She tried to catch herself, but it was no use. She was going down. It was just a matter of how badly she was going to fall.

  The assassin, as surprised as Cara was, stepped back. It wasn’t far enough, so Cara ended up with her face solidly positioned against the assassin’s army boot.

  “What the hell?” The assassin stepped back. “Are you… you were trying to shoot me!”

  Cara peeled herself off the raven-haired woman’s shoes and stepped back, pointing the gun at her.

  “You killed these two innocent people!”

  “They were humans. Who cares?”

  The woman’s eyes entranced Cara and she couldn’t look away. They were two golden, glimmering orbs, instead of a regular pupil, and they gave the vixen a very mystical look.

  “Well, you’re going to kill Reuben!”

  “Sure looks that way, doesn’t it?” mocked the assassin.

  Cara’s hand was shaking. The woman was too calm. It didn’t make sense. She should be scared of the gun, or angry, or something. It was freaking Cara out that her opponent looked at her like a cricket—kind of cute for a bug, but mostly irritating and just a pain to deal with.

  “So you’re the toy, huh?” The woman smirked. “You’re pretty cute. He’s got good taste.”

  “Just go away!”

  Cara hated the enchanted world. First, the vampires didn’t take her seriously and now this woman dismissed Cara. She had about enough of it. What was she going to do about it though? Honestly, probably nothing.

  She wasn’t going to shoot the woman in cold blood. The woman seemed mildly amused at Cara’s threats, but she wasn’t about to actually commit a violent act. Cara wouldn’t feel right putting a round in her. And maybe she was an ally that just came across poorly.

  The assassin reached for the door.

  “Stop it! Stop it! I’ll shoot you!”

  The assassin’s eyes went up in amusement. “Oh?”

  She moved her hand away before putting it closer again. Farther away. Closer. Farther. Closer.

  “Shoot me, human. I dare you.”

  “Quit it,” Cara snapped.

  Her shoes were starting to soak in the blood from the murdered individuals lying on the floor. She was probably about to go into shock; actually, she was amazed she hadn’t already passed out.

  “You can’t let him out.”

  “You think you can tell me what to do?”

  “Please, just leave,” Cara said, sounding defeated.

  The vixen grinned. She had Cara and she knew it. She reached for the door again with a twisted little smirk on her rather attractive face.

  That’s when Cara shot her.

  She didn’t mean to. She was trying to just fire a warning shot, but at the last second, the girl moved and Cara’s finger twitched a little too much and the assassin caught a bullet in the thigh. She dropped to the ground, dropping her whip in the process.

  “Seriously? You shot me?”

  “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to!”

  She clutched her thigh. It looked like the bullet had gone straight through and out the other side.

  “Ow!” said the vixen as she straightened her leg, putting some weight on it. “You shot me!”

  She gave Cara a funny look. Cara couldn’t quite distinguish between if she was impressed or furious or a mixture of both. But she never got to figure it out because the assassin reared back the whip and swung it at her. The whip didn’t look like it could do much damage, but Cara quickly discovered that it packed more of a punch that one would imagine. It swung straight over Cara’s head and hit the wall of the hotel. It cleaved straight through it, bringing down a great portion of the wall. Cara screamed, and wondered why she’d ever left her apartment the day she’d met Reuben. She popped off a couple more shots.

  The gun had some real power. Reuben had said it was a nine-millimeter, which directly translated to man stuff that she wasn’t interested in. The fourth shot sent the gun flying out of her hands, leaving her essentially defenseless against an enrage
d superhuman.

  She scampered backwards, dodging another strike of the whip. It completely ignored the rules of physics and moved like another part of the assassin’s body.

  Cara was going to be murdered by a prehensile whip.

  But, as it turned out, the rest of the wall keeping Reuben inside the room collapsed from the damage. A fast-moving black shape shot from the hotel room and tackled the assassin.

  What transpired was one of the most amazing things Cara had ever seen: an enchanted whip-killer and a werewolf. More specifically, a very angry werewolf. She was never sure what part of Reuben’s personality stayed when he was in werewolf form, but he remembered her name and incessantly asked her to open the door so there must be a part of him that lingered.

  The fight was brief, but ferocious. The woman kept getting solid hits on Reuben with the whip, flashing off his fur in chunks. He reached for her with his clawed hands, but she lopped his finger off with a quick thrust of the whip.

  “Reuben!” Cara screamed.

  She didn’t know what to do, but she was sure her screams were not helping anything.

  Reuben stared at his hand and missing fingers in disbelief. Howling at the vixen, he made his next move and grabbed her entire chest with his massive clawed hand. To counter his attack, the vixen reared back the whip, but Reuben was too fast. He flung her, sending her flying through the wall, over the bed, and smashing through the window on the other side of Reuben’s hotel room. She landed on a car outside, setting off the alarm.

  Leaving Cara alone with Reuben.

  He panted heavily once, twice. His huge, shaggy form was even more disturbing in person. One of the first things she’d done upon meeting him was take out her phone to see if there were any real pictures of werewolves on the Internet. Turns out, there were a couple. Most were costumes or illustrations of what people thought werewolves looked like, but there were a few gems that Reuben himself had identified as either real or an incredibly good rendition of the real thing.

  Apparently, you could tell from the skull. It didn’t look like a dog’s; werewolves’ heads tended to be very triangular with jagged, crocodile-like teeth that stuck out of their mouths at random directions. That way, when they bit something, flesh was coming with them.

  Cara retreated, tripping over the couple before trying to make her way back into her room. Fumbling with the door, Cara tried to shut it to offer some sort of protection, but Reuben got there first. His huge form could barely fit between the doorframe. She didn’t move. He’d told her one time that much of his vision while he was a werewolf was based off movement. When he’d been human, he’d been careful to warn her that if she ever ran into him when he was in his werewolf state, she must not move.

  So she tried to sit still, huddling in the corner, while the feral beast that just threw someone through the entirety of a hotel room stared at her, wondering if she was really there or if it was just his imagination playing tricks on him.

  He decided she was real.

  “Cara, come here.”

  Tears streamed down her face, as she tried to suppress her whimpers. Reuben slowly approached her as he dropped to all fours and sniffed her. Even when he wasn’t in an upright position, he still towered over her. He looked like a bear – a big, terrifying bear.

  Cara couldn’t move; her back was up against the wall. There was nowhere to run.

  “Reuben, please don’t hurt me.”

  A huge claw came at her face, and Cara closed her eyes and winced expecting a huge blow. Instead, she felt the huge paw begin to stroke her face and hair.

  “I can’t hurt you, Cara. I won’t hurt you.”

  Cara opened her eyes to see Reuben’s werewolf form staring at her intently. She couldn’t recognize any of Reuben’s features in the face, except his eyes, which were a strange hue of orange with a tint of gold right around the pupil.

  Feeling brave, Cara lifted her hand to feel the fur on his face. Reuben leaned into her hand as she stroked it. It felt rough and thick, yet somehow familiar.

  The moment didn’t last. Sirens were roaring down the street, and there was no doubt they were headed to the hotel.

  “We have to run,” said Reuben.

  “Ya think?” Cara snapped sarcastically.

  She started for the door, but hesitated.

  “Pick me up.”

  “What?” he snapped.

  He loomed over her like a furry mountain. It was unsettling to see him speak in his wolf form.

  “Why?”

  “Just do it!” Cara demanded.

  Confused, he picked her up as easily as he could a watermelon.

  “Now what?” He was sniffing loudly and looking anxiously towards the sirens.

  “I’ll play dead,” Cara explained as quickly as she could. “If we don’t figure something out, the murder of those two people will be pinned on us. If bystanders see some unexplainable beast carrying a dead chick out, they’ll assume that the beast also killed those two people. They will look elsewhere for a suspect, and they’ll assume I am dead. They’ll never assume that the man I checked in with was a werewolf, so you’ll be in the clear, too.”

  “Okay,” said Reuben.

  His answer was simple, but Cara didn’t expect much more.

  She didn’t understand why Reuben suddenly took on a calm demeanor. She had seen the damage that he could do while he was a werewolf, but her instincts told her to trust him. She didn’t really have a choice.

  The plan worked out perfectly.

  Cara heard gasps, crying and a woman scream, “Oh my god, what is that thing? Is that girl dead? She’s not moving!”

  Reuben walked out the front door, where more people gasped at his appearance. He flung Cara over his shoulder and ran. The sheer speed at which Reuben could move was astounding. Cara felt the wind rush past her face and saw trees pass her at lightning speed.

  Finally, they stopped. They were in what seemed like a forest, surrounded by towering trees that waved in the cold night breeze. He placed her on the ground and licked her cheek, which was kind of gross, but she just went with it. After all, he was in a dog-like form.

  Her teeth were chattering, and she hugged herself. “It’s so c-cold out here…”

  Reuben leaned up against a tree and said, “I can keep you warm.”

  Cara went to him, as they lay on the ground. Reuben wrapped his body around her, bringing her warmth and comfort. Soon enough, she had fallen asleep without the slightest bit of fear that Reuben would attack her.

  Chapter 3

  Cara woke up, entwined in the arms of her naked lover, who was back to his human form. He started to stir.

  “Are you okay?” e asked, burying his face in her hair and tightening his grip on her.

  Cara sat up to face Reuben.

  “What happened back there?”

  “You mean the woman?”

  “Well, yes, that too. But I meant, why didn’t you kill me? I thought you lost yourself when you shifted.”

  He looked off at the rising sun.

  “I don’t know. It’s never happened before. My instincts just somehow kicked in and I was able to focus. It’s normally like a hurricane in my head when I transform, but just for a moment, I could think.”

  He paused, laughed and looked down, almost like he was embarrassed.

  “What?” Cara pried. “Did I say something bad?”

  He held up his hands in mock surrender.

  “My dad once told me that when a werewolf chooses a mate, there’s a physiological change that occurs.”

  “A mate? I’m sure you’ve mated with lots of people. Your skills are highly indicative that I wasn’t your first.” Cara smirked, thinking back to their passionate evenings of lovemaking.

  “Choosing a mate isn’t the same as fucking. It’s selecting a lifelong mate.”

  “Umm… like marriage? Don’t you think I should have some say in this?”

  “It’s not that easy, Cara.” Reuben pulled her to his naked for
m and wrapped his arms around her once again, continuing to explain. “From the moment we met, I knew there was something different about you. My constant need to be near you was overpowering. I tried to deny it, but last night it became apparent. I have chosen you as my mate.”

  “You keep saying mate, but I don’t know what that means,” Cara said. “How does that have anything to do with you being able to control yourself?”

  “Typically, werewolves choose other werewolves as mates. While transitioned, we would never hurt another member of our pack unless they were a threat. With humans, other creatures, and sometimes with werewolves from other packs, it’s a different story. We can’t control ourselves around them. When we choose a human as a mate, it’s as if that human becomes a member of the pack. Cara, I love you, but it’s so much more than that. Love is just emotion. This is more powerful and real. I can’t hurt you and my natural instincts to protect you are even stronger than my instincts to protect myself.”

  Cara turned to kiss Reuben. She pulled back and looked into his eyes.

  Could she love him? No. She barely knew him.

  What am I doing? She then answered her own question with other questions. Why do I care? Why am I keeping this from happening? Letting go of all her inhibitions, she couldn’t resist the obvious any longer.

  “Reuben, I love you, too.”

  Reuben lay on his back and pulled Cara on top of him. She leaned down and passionately kissed his lips, feeling a new fire now that she knew he felt the same way about her. Her protector. The thought excited her, but not nearly as much as the excitement from feeling his length grow between her straddled legs. Her hips moved with his in perfect unison. Cara removed her remaining clothes and allowed Reuben to ravage her as only a man in love could.

  Even though the sex was a pleasurable distraction, Reuben and Cara were still in a dire situation. She wanted to say something to make her life seem normal again, but she was at a loss for words.

  It’s okay? It wasn’t. She’d nearly been killed by the woman with the whip, and they couldn’t go back to the hotel to retrieve her car. Police would have seized it by now, thinking that she was dead.