Snarling at the Moon

by Zenina Masters

The light outside was bright and the sun was high. It had to be noon or so.

  “Damn. Ah well.” She headed for the bathroom, filled the tub and worked herself around for a nice soak with her bandage elevated.

  Her hair was pinned up on her head, and she pulled out the bits of leaf and bark as she let herself relax.

  When her muscles had unwound, she drained the tub and worked on getting out of the slick porcelain without falling on her face. She wrapped a towel around herself and hopped into the bedroom for breakfast.

  Sera was halfway through the meal when there was a knock on her door. “Come in.”

  Teebie and Spike came in, and they sighed in relieved unison.

  “Was I that bad last night?”

  Teebie rocked her hand. “You were a little too pale for my liking.”

  “You were corpse grey. Does that happen a lot?”

  Sera sighed. “It is becoming less frequent, but I guess all the fey magic around here brought it back with a rush.”

  Spike looked at her neck. “Do you claw at yourself often?”

  Sera touched her neck and collarbone. “I guess it happens more than it should.”

  Spike leaned in and checked the scars. “They will fade if you let them, but you are not letting them, are you?”

  Sera got to the heart of it. “They never caught her. She is still out there, and she might have another menagerie right now.”

  Teebie nodded. “Ah. I thought that might be it.”

  Spike pressed her lips together. “Have you seen a therapist?”

  Sera’s lips tightened. “Four of them. Each one said that I needed to release my frustration, but no one could tell me how.”

  Spike exhaled sharply. “Right. I am guessing you were the first of her collection?”

  Sera nodded. “How did you know?”

  “Your injuries are usually associated with what is considered a jewel of a collection. She kept you at her side.”

  “She did.” The insight that Spike had was surprising.

  “I did some work with the Guild and councils to retrieve kidnapped shifters like you. I was not involved in your case, but I am aware of the kind of mental trauma shifters such as yourself experienced in the collars. I am amazed you are still sane.”

  Sera chuckled weakly and finished her breakfast quickly, mumbling, “I still howl at the moon.”

  Spike smiled, “Wolverines don’t howl.”

  “Snarl then.”

  “That is more like it. I would like to check your foot.”

  Sera stuck her foot out, and Spike knelt at her feet, unwrapping the work she had done the night or, perhaps, hours before.

  Teebie went to her closet and pulled out some clothing and a pair of comfy shoes. “You are going casual today.”

  Spike whistled softly. “You don’t have to go that far. There is no damage left. If she is feeling anything, it is because of the stitches, which I am going to remove.”

  As Spike swabbed her foot with sterilizing solution, Sera giggled and her leg twitched.

  Spike smiled and quickly removed the stitches with freshly unwrapped scissors and forceps.

  “Give it a wiggle.”

  Sera wiggled her toes and her foot moved freely. No twinges. “Much better. Thank you.”

  Teebie was back in the closet, and she pulled out a summer dress, a set of low heels and underwear that wouldn’t show under the pale cotton.

  “Can I help you get dressed?”

  Sera raised her eyebrows, “Do I have to get up?”

  “Nope.” Teebie put the clothing down on the bed and rubbed her hands together. She focused and the clothing and shoes disappeared.

  When her towel disappeared, Sera jumped, but her dress, bra and panties were in place. The shoes were a problem. Sera lunged down, “Wrong feet!”

  She unbuckled the shoes and kicked them free, sighing in relief.

  “Darn. Everything else is jut front to back. Sorry.”

  Sera slipped the shoes back on the correct feet and she looked at the shoes. “Emmy has good taste. These are very pretty.”

  Sera got to her feet, and Spike put her implements away. A few steps later, she stopped. “It feels fine.”

  Spike sighed in relief. “Good.”

  Teebie smiled and lifted her head. “Ah, new arrival. I have to go. See you downstairs.”

  Sera went and found the brush that Stephan had obtained for her; she sat on the edge of her bed and watched Spike for a moment before asking, “You have worked with the council?”

  “I have.”

  She quickly worked the brush through her locks. “How many shifters have been sent home after two years as prisoners?”

  Spike paused. “You are the first that I have heard of. I certainly never thought to meet someone like you here.”

  “Ah. Got it.” The inference was that the others, if there were any, were nuts or dead.

  “We don’t do well in captivity.”

  Spike got to her feet.

  Sera smiled, “And on that understatement, I am headed downstairs. I feel the need for fresh air.”

  “Chuck is on duty at the Crossed Star, so would you like some company?”

  “Please.” She smiled brightly.

  They walked out of her room and down the stairs. In the lobby, they paused, and Sera whispered a question that was bothering her. “Where did the towel go?”

  Spike laughed loudly, and from the dining room, several elegant faces turned their way.

  Sera blushed when Atter came to face her.

  Spike cleared her throat. “I will be at the first-aid station if you want company.”

  “Serapha, you are well?”

  She nodded. “I am.”

  “I heard you were injured last night.” He reached out and touched her arm, sliding his hand down to her elbow.

  “I was. I got better.” She smiled brightly.

  “Would you go for a walk with me?”

  She looked at the doors and remembered flashes of her run from the night before. “Sure.”

  Sera linked her arm with his and walked outside with him, her shoes crunching on the gravel. He glided along with grace in his jeans, running shoes and a t-shirt so tight that his skin glowed through it.

  They walked away from the businesses and past the field where shifter couples were frolicking and occasionally coupling.

  “So, you just have sex anywhere?”

  Sera snorted, “Me, personally? No. But this is a safe place with only this purpose, to get folks to meet their mate by whatever means. The connections are usually fast, our beasts tell us who they will accept and the physical connection confirms it.”

  Atter nodded. “Your shapes have their own instincts.”

  “No. We have two souls. One soul is human and the other is our beast. Usually, the beasts are attracted to bloodlines, but occasionally, there is a random event where the beast appears in a bloodline that it never was before. Spike is one of those.”

  She remembered that much from her tipsy conversation with the perky bartender.

  “I see. What do you think our children will channel?”

  She wanted to stumble, but the question seemed natural. “Well, if I choose to have children, I think they will follow my beast with your colouring. What shape do you take when you change?”

  He raised his eyebrows. “You know about that?”

  “Of course. I got a briefing.”

  “I am a lion.”

  “Oh, good animal. A little out of place in north America but a good animal.”

  “With no pigment. Do you mind that?”

  She looked up at him and cocked her head. “I didn’t notice it as unusual. You are already a different type of being from me. Why wouldn’t you have more interesting colouration?”

  A tension went out of his shoulders, and she blinked when she realised he was really nervous about that.

  They continued the
ir walk until they were alone. Her nose told her there was no one for half a mile. He led her to a stream and took a seat on a nearby rock, inviting her to sit next to him.

  “I know this is painful, but what left those scars on your neck?”

  She touched the scars exposed by the neckline of the dress. “Damn. I forgot about them for a moment.”

  “I didn’t mean to make you self-conscious, but I want to know why those marks are there. They are part of you and I want to understand.”

  She dragged in a deep breath. “It is a long story.”

  “I have time.” He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss against her skin.

  A bright spark snapped between them, and she jumped. The reaction of her body to the spark wasn’t pain, and it surprised her.

  “Well, when I was young and dumb, I went with some friends to a party and we got separated. A woman came toward me and asked for help finding her car. I am pretty good at tracking, so I said sure. I was stabbed with a sedative syringe and woke up in a crush box.”

  “A what?”

  She rubbed her neck. “It is a means for traders in shifters to force us to go from human to our shifted form. When we feel the pressure of the top of the box coming down on us, we shift to our stronger forms to defend ourselves. I shifted, and when they opened the door enough for me to stick my head out, they put me in a bladed collar. That is what made the marks.”

  “Why?”

  “Shifters can’t shift when they are hooked on something, with something embedded under our flesh. We heal faster as beasts, so to save us, our instincts lock us up. That is my theory. No one has really explained it to me because no one wants to talk about it.”

  He shuddered and squeezed her hand. “How long until someone came for you?”

  “Two years.”

  He nearly crushed her fingers. “How did you survive?”

  She stroked his hand with her free hand to ease his grip. “I have no idea, but I did. I was in the menagerie of a woman who had a vet come in to pull my more obnoxious scent glands, and when I was finally free, my lack of scent meant I could never go home.”

  “You were kept as a pet?”

  “Oh, yeah. I was even included in her formal portraits for both years I was with her. It was a celebration of my incarceration for her.”

  He looked grim. “Was she another shifter?”

  “No. It was a fey. Lady Norviss. I was her pet and companion for those two years.”

  “And then you were rescued?”

  “Yup. She escaped, but I managed to take a chunk out of her on her way out. When they came to the compound, I bit the hell out of her leg. I was on a short chain, so it was all I could do.”

  “Most would have focused on their own escape.”

  “Yeah, but I really wanted her to pay. I still do.”

  “What happened last night?”

  She sighed and looked at her feet. “I am guessing it was the alcohol. It woke me in the middle of the night and I was still wearing the collar. I clawed at it and then went for a run. I ended up stepping on a chunk of rock that wanted to join with my foot.”

  “How is it today?”

  “Pretty good. Teebie and Spike took good care of me.”

  “I would have helped you if you had told me.”

  “I don’t want help, though I occasionally need it. Last night I needed to run and I did. Even when I run, I always come back.”

  He continued to hold her hand. “Why did your family have an issue with you returning?”

  “That gets into the tricky universe of shifters depending on their beasts, and if a beast is wounded or different, it is removed from the family. I still talk with them on the phone, but my physical manifestation is confusing for them. I no longer smell like a member of the family.”

  “So, you lost your freedom, your home and your family because one vain fey wanted to keep you as a pet.”

  Sera swallowed. “That is basically it.”

  “I would like to offer you all of the above. Freedom, a home and a family.”

  She stared at him. “You don’t even know me. Don’t you fey have weird courtship rituals or something?”

  He leaned toward her and his pale eyes locked with her gaze. “I am in the shifters’ Crossroads. I am willing to go on instinct.”

  His lips caressed hers, and the tingle of recognition ran through her. The light caress sent more sparks into the air, and she leaned toward him, cupping his jaw with her hand and he did to hers. They kissed again, and the power surged in a wave between them, back and forth, as they huddled close together.

  When an amorous couple broke up their moment of introduction, they separated and got to their feet.

  They didn’t speak as they returned to town, entered the Bright Soul and headed up the staircase to Sera’s room.

  If Atter thought he was her mate, he was going to have to see the entire collection of damage. If he still wanted her after full disclosure, he had himself a mate.

  Chapter Seven

  The light was streaming in through the windows, reflecting off shining surfaces and leaving her no shadows to hide in.

  “Atter, my scars are not just on my neck.”

  “Your scars are part of you, and I want the entire package, not just the skin, Serapha.”

  Sera blinked. “I have no idea how to respond to that.”

  He smiled and took a seat at the table. “Show me what you are concerned with, and I will show you that it doesn’t matter.”

  She swallowed and unbuttoned her dress, turning around and showing him her back as the dress slipped to her feet. She unclasped her bra and heard his sharp intake of breath when she swept her hair aside.

  When he touched her, she jumped. She hadn’t heard him approaching. The thick scars on either side of her spine went to the curve of her buttocks where they became a mass of cuts and stitches.

  He knelt and feathered kisses over her spine, slipping her panties down and continuing to press his lips to the thickened skin.

  He muttered softly in a liquid language, and it appeared to be some sort of vow.

  His hands held her hips, and he continued to kiss her back, slowly working his way upward until he was standing and pressing kisses to her neck. “They are not marks of weakness; they are marks of survival.”

  She leaned her head to one side as her body slowly woke under his touch and the sparks that they generated together. “Are you sure you want to be with me when you haven’t met my beast?”

  He paused. “Do you want to show me?”

  She grinned and slipped the bra straps over her shoulders. “I think it is only fair. You are welcome to return the favour.”

  She stepped away from her dress and underwear and shifted. When she turned to face him, a huge white lion was standing where Atter had been.

  She snarled at him and approached with her nose twitching and her claws splayed wide. She blinked in surprise when her claws were the same colour as the polish on her human hands. It wasn’t very dignified for a proper wolverine, but it was just right for her.

  The lion with the clear eyes watched her approach and sniffed at her. She sniffed at him with a low growl in her throat as she circled him. He turned slightly and watched with remarkable restraint as she crept around him. It was proof that there was no true beast in him. A proper shifter would have squashed her flat for her threat display.

  She moved around him until she was nose to nose with him. He smelled like a crisp night in the forest when the moon was full. To her, it was better than fresh sheets out of the drier. It was a scent she wanted to roll in.

  She shifted to human and threaded her fingers in his mane. She dug her fingers in deep, and he closed his eyes blissfully, narrowing them to the point where he looked sleepy. She stood and walked around him, still rubbing and stroking his white hide down to his tail. She rubbed the base of his tail, and he yowled and his butt went up in the air. She bit her l
ips to keep from laughing.

  Sera finally finished her tour of his shifted form and stood in front of him. “I accept your beast.”

  He shifted back to his normal shape, pointy ears and all. “I accept your beast.”

  “Excellent. Now, we can have sex.”

  His clear eyes widened, and he didn’t hesitate. His clothing shifted away, and he pulled her tightly against him, moving her body with his to a silent rhythm.

  They danced together, swayed and he eased her to the bed.

  Their skin crackled as he slid his body over hers.

  His erection pressed between them, and she could feel it throb against her belly as he moved back and forth, waking her skin with the energy that mixed and mingled when they touched, a magical tangle.

  She sighed and he smiled. It was a tangle she was interested to be a part of. In her beast form, there were few others that could match her for ferocity. Here, she was helpless, which was a trick of nature that made her want to have a little chat with the one who made women the receivers. Sera had unlimited aggression, but this was the one place she was on unsure footing.

  “I think it is fair to warn you that I haven’t done this a lot.” She lifted her head to take in his scent and get her close enough to nip his jaw with the edge of her teeth.

  “When was your last time?”

  She sighed and slid her hands up his ribs, working her touch into the deep groove of muscle in his back. “It was probably in a previous life.”

  He leaned back, pushing upward on his arms. “You are a—”

  She snapped her hand up and pressed it over his lips. “I hate that word. Go with novice.”

  “Novice?” He raised his brows.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “I will take it slowly, then.”

  She chuckled and nipped at his neck, grazing him with her teeth. “Go at the pace that we set. The magic might surprise us both.”

  His smile was slow. “I am willing to be surprised.”

  “The wild wind save me from a willing man.”

  Atter stroked his lips across hers slowly, deepening the kiss when she gripped his hair tightly with as much subtlety as she could muster.

  His tongue navigated her mouth, past her sharp teeth, and they duelled while her body continued to warm and spark under his.