by Wilson, Tia
“That’s not like you to let an animal get the drop on you,” Tom said.
“What can I say? I’m a little bit rusty. Being in the ground for so long will do that to you. A few more hunts and I’ll be back to normal,” Oishin said.
She went inside and Tom heard her slamming the hunk of meet onto the table with a loud slap. She came back outside and stood a few feet away from him.
“The showers around the back,” Tom said.
She didn't move a muscle. She just stood before him with a smile playing at the corner of her full lips.
I’m not going to let her get to me Tom thought as he tried his best not to look at the curve of the small of her back or how her breasts moved as she walked. Her smell was intoxicating and filled his senses with the aroma of animal blood and the rich musk of her body after the shifting process. Below all those aromas the one he was trying his best to ignore even as he felt himself harden was the smell of her excitement. It was common for hunting pairs to be barely able to keep their hands off each other after the heart pounding exhilaration of a hunt.
Oishin took a step closer to him and rubbed her hand down her blood caked body knocking dry flakes off of her pale skin. Tom felt pinned to the ground unable to move as her aroma seemed to bombard every one of his senses. She stood before him her eyes twinkling as she looked down at him. Her crotch was at his eye level and she moved her legs apart slightly and from his sitting angle he could see a small amount of the soft pink folds between her legs. He swallowed hard and pictured himself reaching out and sliding his fingers between the warm wetness and watching her eyes roll back in her head as she let out a sigh.
Oishin looked at him and the smile on her face said it all. I know what you are thinking and I know what your heart desires. She turned and headed towards the back of the cabin, glancing back at Tom as she turned the corner.
The noise of running water started from the simple backwoods outdoor shower Tom had constructed and and connected to a rain water collection system. He had even hooked up a beat up wood stove to heat the water.
Tom stayed sitting on the ground with his eyes closed shut. Oishin's aroma still filled him, it was the kind of aroma he wanted on him, to breath it in deep and to taste it. His cock throbbed painfully against his leg as he stood up as if dragged up by puppet strings. He could hear the water cascading and images of it running over her body as the dried blood washed away, he could see her rubbing her hands over her breasts and across the dark nipples that he had licked and sucked on over a hundred years ago. He knew what awaited him if he walked around the corner and joined her.
Tom took a step towards the corner of the house, his heart hammering in his chest. The water sounded like a rushing waterfall as he stood there caught between two destinies. Tom turned around and went inside the cabin and closed the front door behind him. The familiar coppery smell of blood and flesh filled his nose and he sat on the bed waiting for Oishin to return.
You can get through this he thought, don’t let her suck you back into her world you know that path can only lead to heartbreak. Do you really want to go back to being the shifter you used to be and sacrifice what elder Silas did to help you out of the deep dark hole. Get back on the road as quick as possible and you wont have to deal with her alone again.
Tom tried to distract himself with images of Grace and the way she made him feel when they were together. There was something special growing between them and he couldn’t let Oishin destroy that. He imagined sweeping Grace up in his arms when he got back into town and feeling her against his body, both their hearts hammering a rhythm in unison. Focus on that and Oishin will have no power over you he told himself.
Oishin returned to the cabin and steam rose off her naked body now scrubbed of all blood. When she entered she gave him a look of half surprise and disappointment.
She still think she holds power over me Tom thought as he tried not to meet her eyes.
Oishin tapped the suitcase with her foot and said, “Is there anything in there that I could wear? If you want me to get dressed,” she said in a playful tone.
“Theres a few pairs of loose pants and t-shirts that might fit you,” Tom said looking on to her eyes.
I will not give her the pleasure of looking at any part of her body he thought as they looked at each other.
“You’re a good man Tom,” Oishin said giving him a friendly smile.
I think she is finally getting the point Tom thought as he allowed himself to relax a tiny bit.
Oishin kicked open the suitcase with her foot and bent over at the waist and rummaged through the clothes inside it. Tom could feel himself grow as hard as steel as he looked at her bent over and pointing in his direction. The smooth curve of her ass, her long legs and muscled thighs that were slightly apart. The soft hair between her legs and the swollen pinks folds seemed to beckon him. Her scent was intoxicating and all he could hear was the noise of his heart beating like a snare drum. She seemed to stay like that forever, bent over, legs apart as she waited for him. Images of him ripping off his trousers and taking her roughly from behind flooded his brain as he watched her unable to take his eyes off her body. Tom could feel himself begin to rise from the bed.
Oishin stood up and slipped a grey baggy t-shirt on and then pulled on a pair of loose jogging pants. Her sudden movements dragged Tom from her spell and he slumped back on the bed feeling like a man awoken from a deep dream. She turned to him and smiled a knowing smile and crossed the room to the small table with the bloody hunk of meat on it.
She was playing with you Tom thought, she knows exactly what she is doing and is willing to try anything to either break you or mess with you. Don’t let her into your head, get back on the road and then she is the elders problem, he thought to himself as he tried to ignore the painful throb between his legs.
“We leave in thirty minutes,” Tom said getting up and leaving the cabin without meeting Oishin's eyes. Once outside he let out a long sigh as if releasing the pressure that had slowly been building up inside him. Focus he told himself as he went to the car and busied himself until Oishin was ready to leave.
12
Nathaniel
Nathaniel felt the first warming rays of the morning sun hit the side of his face and and he opened his eyes and looked around. He had slept up in a tree far off the ground and directly across from the hole where his children slept with their new brother. He stretched his arms and twisted his neck and they cracked loudly. He was still feeling the effects of his long term hibernation and would need another few more days before he was feeling himself again. He heard the branches rustle across from him and his wife rubbed her eyes and stretched.
The forest around them was waking as birds began to sing and swoop through black clouds of mayflies as they rose from the warming forest floor. Nathaniel sniffed the air and looked across at his wife. Neither of them smelt the pungent smell of humans. They were safe for now.
“We need to get moving soon,” Nathaniel said in a whisper, “they will be looking for us. I wont feel safe until I have the river at our backs and we are closer to the old falls.”
Melissa looked at her husband and she had tears in her eyes and said, “I’m scared. I haven’t been able to shake it since we left the boys house. Surely you felt it too?”
Nathaniel had been trying to deny to himself what he had picked up on since they snatched the young boy. The scent had been faint, buried under the heady aroma that the boy was emitting. He had laid awake for hours last night watching the trees and sniffing the air for any silent approach on their camp. Every time an owl had hooted he had snapped awake thinking they had found him and his family. The scent he had caught was the undeniable musk of a member of one of his own clan, the smell of another shifter was a scent he had not smelled in a very long time.
He didn’t want to lie to his wife and after over a hundred years together Nathaniel knew that she would know what he was trying to do. “I caught their scent when I stepped into the hous
e. It was so faint at first that I wasn’t even sure it was real. I didn’t want to say anything until we got the boy. I thought I was going crazy.”
“I caught their stench as we left the house. I nearly froze to the spot for a second before I willed myself on. Do you think it’s Tom? Could he have found us after all this time?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe the old man has dealt with him by now. Things could be very different since we left. We could be welcomed back with open arms,” Nathaniel said.
Melissa looked at him in total disbelief and said, “Don’t even suggest we go back. After what we did, after what you took from them they would slay us if we ever set foot on any of their land. The old man always had a soft spot for you, even he couldn’t stop the rest of the clan from getting revenge. Please Nathaniel you have to stop obsessing over the idea we can return home. We made our decision. Our family is the only thing that matters now. We can never go back to the others. I can’t,” and her voice began to break as she continued, “keep doing this with you. We have to be strong together. It is only us now. There is no black bear clan anymore. We focus on our family, strengthen the numbers, thats how we keep alive.”
Nathaniel nodded his head, he knew she was right. On the long nights when he couldn’t sleep and every sound in the underbrush sounded like a potential attacker he had often imagined returning to the clan. He knew in his heart that even after all this time had passed they would most likely be slain on the spot. A shifters memory was long and they didn’t forgive easily. In his late night scattered dreams he imagined being back on the sacred land of the clan and entering their stronghold with his family. He would talk to Elder Franklin and ask for clemency. If Nathaniel was given a chance to explain what they did all those decades ago maybe Elder Franklin would see fit to let him reclaim his place in the clan. Nathaniel could never tell his wife, could never explain to her how he yearned to be trusted again by Elder Franklin. When he and his family had fled from the clan, Nathaniel had lost more than his home, he had lost his identity and the respect his position had bestowed on him. What hurt the most was that he had lost Tom who was like a brother to him. He knew his wife could never understand so he kept it to himself.
Still Nathaniel clung to the dream of returning home and now he had something that the clan wanted. He had the boy. If he offered him up to Franklin and the other elders they might have a chance to rejoin the group. All sins might be forgiven if the boy turned out to be as special as Nathaniel believed he was.
I wish I could believe that they would take us back, Nathaniel thought as he felt a deep ache in his core. Being banished from the clan was like an open wound that wouldn’t heal and he felt the pain of separation every day. He knew Melissa felt it too but she clung to the family like a drowning woman. If they returned they could put the children in danger and that was enough for Melissa to not even risk making contact after all these years. He knew she was right but the draw to return was becoming stronger every day and Nathaniel didn’t know how long he could last before he did something reckless and put his whole family at risk.
Listen to Melissa he told himself, she is right. Stop twisting yourself into painful contortions dreaming about returning home. You made your decision close to forty years ago and now you must lead a life apart from other shifters.
He climbed down the tree and stretched when he was standing on the forest floor. Melissa looked at him from her resting place above and he gave her a weak smile. As he walked to the sleeping place of his children, both old and new, Nathaniel had already made up his mind about what he was going to do next.
13
Grace & Anne
She was out of breath and running for her life. The people chasing her were not very far behind, she could hear them hollering and calling her name. She had taken a wrong turn coming out of the park and she was now running scared though an area of derelict factories. Bags of garbage lay stacked in piles, baking in the sun. No one was around, no one except the two men chasing her, hunting her for what they thought they deserved. She splashed though a puddle of grey water, her legs and feet soaked with the foul smelling water.
“Get nice and wet for us,” one of them shouted after her. They were getting closer, driven by lust mixed with rage and they didn’t seem to be slowing down. She looked ahead down the broken pavement of a once bustling area, two choices, go left or right.
Her feet skidded out from under her as she took a hard turn to the right. Her palms burned as they shredded across the ground. She glanced back, they were so close. If she didn’t get up they would be upon her in seconds. Her feet kicked out again as they slipped out behind her. A tobacco stained hand shot out to grab her and sliced through the air close to her neck. The two men were close now, she was barely out of arms reach. She could smell them clearly, stale beer and cheap tobacco. She turned the corner and increased her speed. It was a dead end. A dumpster lay on its side with sections of shredded car tires spilled out of it, black rubber snakes escaping from a sinking ship. The wall at the end of the alley was tall and topped with enough rusting razor wire to stop the most intrepid of urban explorers.
The two men slowed as soon as they saw the dead end. “It’s not your lucky day,” called one of them in a jeering tone as they slowed down. No point in wasting energy now. Their prey was trapped.
She ran to the end of the alley and leaned with her hands spread against the wall. Her chest burned from the exertion. She spat onto the ground and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
The two men had slowed down as they approached. The older one, the one who stunk of tobacco said, “You chose poorly,” and uttered a thick phlegmy laugh.
The other man was younger and he had a downward cast to his eyes, this wasn’t his first time, no jitters or shakes, only a sure footed strut as he closed in on his quarry. “This can all be over for you quickly if you don’t make a scene. You’re young you’ll brush this off quick enough” he said. His gold tooth glinted as he grinned at the girl.
“That’s the first thing I’m going to take,” the girl said watching the two men, her breathing now under control.
“What did this bitch say?” the tobacco stained man said.
“Didn’t anyone teach you to respect your elders?” the gold toothed man said and took a flick knife out of his pocket and waved the blade back and forth in front of him. “We were going to play nice, and now you have to go and act all crazy.”
The men stood looking at the girl not yet ready to approach her and get within striking distance. This dance was nothing new to them and they both knew that once they started everything would be over all to quickly. They liked to savour the moment, watch the fear grow in their preys eyes as they came to realise help was not coming.
“You didn't hear me. I said thats’ the first thing I’m going to take,” the girl said and nodded to the gold toothed man.
The two men looked at each other and laughed. Gold tooth never took his eyes off her, his blade swishing back and forth in front of him, always moving and ready to cause serious damage. “Looks like we have a crazy one here,” he said, “no matter to us, tonights still going to go down the same way for you. What are you jabbering about taking? We will be the only ones doing any taking tonight,” he said grinning at her and licking his lips.
“Have it your way,” the girl sounding completely relaxed, “that gold tooth is going to make a sweet necklace. The girl grinned at the two men.
They looked at her frozen to the spot, was she high or just stone cold crazy. Something was off about her smile, it seemed too wide for her face, too many sharp teeth packed into a small space. The gold toothed man looked to his companion and said, “Play time is over.” A woman speaking back to him or disrespecting him in any way was a woman not long for the world. His only thought now was he wanted to wipe that stupid grin off her face. He stepped forward the tip of the knife glinting as he moved it back and forward.
The girl threw her head back and roared. The skin on
her face ripped open like wet paper and hung from her bloodied face. The noise of bones grinding and breaking echoed around the alley as her skull began to elongate and reconfigure into a new form. The gold tooth mans mouth hung open in horror, his mind scrambled for an answer. The bitch had drugged me somehow he thought as he jabbed forward with the knife. The girl swiped down with force and broke his arm. The knife went flying and spun off under a pile of rubber strips. The gold toothed man stumbled backwards and fell hard on the ground as pain shot out of his shattered arm.
The tobacco stained man looked to his fallen friend and the mass of pulsating blood and fur and contorted limbs before him. He turned and ran, not looking back, not caring if his friend was going to die.
The gold toothed man tried to get up and his legs felt like jelly. He back peddled away from what was once the girl, he couldn’t take his eyes off what was unfolding in front of him. The girl fell down on all fours and roared. Her spine cracking sounding like popcorn popping right against your ear. Her clothes ripped and fell away with chunks of skin attached. All traces of the girl was gone as her limbs elongated and claws ripped through steaming flesh.
The gold tooth man gibbered and groaned as he tried to get away from the creature. The alleyway was drenched with blood and chunks of flesh lay around the paws of the creature. “What are you?” the gold toothed man shouted.
The creature before him shook its self and a wide arc of blood and flecks of flesh splattered the wall surrounding it. A black bear, its fur matted and clumped on its hide stood where the girl was only seconds ago. “What did you do to her?” the man screamed. He couldn’t seem to move away his limbs not obeying his commands.
The bear charged at him. The man screamed a high pitched wail. The bear kicked him on his back and pinned him down. The bear roared in his face, spittle flying. The man tried to push the bear away and his arm felt weak and feeble. The bear placed his paw over the mans face. The sharp claws dug into the man tearing his scalp and ripping open his cheek. The man screamed as utter fear and panic consumed him. The bear hooked a claw into the mans open mouth and ripped his lower jaw off and threw it across the alley. The mans screams ended in wet bubbling gurgles as the bear bent down and ripped open his throat and ended him.
