Shifter Planet

by D. B. Reynolds

  She stared in dread fascination as the monster opened a mouth as big as her head and let forth a howl of rage and pain. In a move too fast for her to follow, it flexed its hind legs and leaped onto the rocks, claws digging deep furrows into the stone with horrific shrieks that made it sound like what it was, a creature from hell itself.

  She cried out and stumbled backward, stunned at this new attack. She’d thought herself safe high above the ground. None of her books had said ice bears could jump like that.

  Her hand shot down in a blind grab for her belt knife, her eyes searching frantically for someplace to hide. She was trapped on the rocks, treacherous underfoot and nowhere to run. If she could find a gap big enough to wedge herself in deep, she could use her belt knife to make the bear think twice about coming after her.

  The bear was bellowing furiously as it came over the lip of stone, not even pausing before it charged. Wounded, bleeding from a half dozen different places, it was on her in seconds.

  Her feet slid out from under her and she fell backward, the unforgiving stone slamming into her tailbone as she scrambled desperately to hold onto her knife. One giant paw swept in, raking down her thigh, shredding her leggings and tearing through muscle as she screamed in agony.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Rhodry had heard the bear’s victorious bellow and shot awake, jumping to his feet and nearly slamming his head against the sloped stone ceiling before remembering where he was. He looked around frantically for Amanda and heard her scream his name. Cursing his absence of claws, he grabbed the two knives she’d left him and scrambled out of the cave, snapping his head back in just before eight inches of ice bear claw nearly took off his face. Rocks tumbled from above and he heard the whisk of arrows.

  “Amanda!” His shout was nearly drowned by the roar of the ice bear as it turned to deal with her attack.

  Three bolts suddenly pierced the creature’s neck, one right after the other, and Rhodry realized she was above him, up on the rocks and aiming for the back of the bear’s neck, right where every Harp hunter would have aimed. And exactly the wrong spot to take down an ice bear. They had too much fat, hitting the spine was nearly impossible, especially on a monster like this one. The killing shot for an ice bear was through the eye into the brain. It was a difficult shot, not impossible for a trained Guild hunter. But did she know about it?

  He yelled at her, knowing even if she could hear him, she’d be too consumed by the bear’s attack to make sense of his words. The creature was wounded, her arrows had done that much. It was whipping itself from side to side, no longer interested in Rhodry, twisting around, searching for its tormentor, for Amanda. Another arrow flew, striking the thickly padded chest and sticking there. The bear reared up to a fearsome height, roaring, the percussion of sound sending rocks and dirt rattling down the stone face as one more arrow struck and the bear finally realized where the threat was coming from.

  Beady eyes focused, powerful legs flexed and the screech of injured stone blended with Amanda’s shriek of terror as the beast climbed upward. He shot out of the cave, forgetting his injuries, no longer feeling the pain. He rolled behind the huge animal and stood, knives thrusting upward, just in time to see the great creature make a final effortless leap to the top of the unforgiving stone. The bear howled in triumph and Amanda screamed.

  Rhodry dropped the useless knives and shifted.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Amanda stabbed wildly with her belt knife, pressing herself back into the crevice, trying futilely to squeeze deeper into what was nothing more than a narrow seam between two giant boulders. The bear was maddened with pain and blood loss, wounded by her many arrows, one paw bleeding freely where she’d slashed it open with a lucky jab of her knife. Running on nothing more than instinct now, blinded by its own fury, the monster howled its defiance at the puny creature who’d dared to attack it, who smelled like prey, and yet fought like a shifter. It stuck its jaw forward, snapping at her arm as she drew back, sharp teeth barely grazing her forearm and yet slicing it wide open. She didn’t have the breath left to scream. She could only choke out a silent sob and shift her knife to her left hand.

  A savage scream suddenly ripped through the air, sending involuntary tremors through Amanda and spinning the ice bear around to face a new, far greater threat. A growling blur of black fur flew up and over the edge, and the two massive creatures collided, their mingled howls filling the air with rage and violence. She blinked through her tears, trying to make out what was happening, wondering what new hell had joined the fray. It was a huge beast, sleek and black with a mouth full of snarling teeth and eyes that spat gold fire as it grappled with the massive ice bear.

  She gasped in shock. By all the gods, it was Rhodry. He had shifted at last.

  The two great predators rolled back and forth over the uneven boulders, claws slicing flesh with terrifying ease, jaws ripping open bloody wounds as screams of fury and pain bounced off the surrounding stone.

  She struggled to her feet, her leg barely holding her upright. There was little she could do. Her knife was useless for this, and she was out of arrows, though their bodies were so entwined, she would have been as likely to hit Rhodry as the ice bear even if she’d had them.

  Rhodry’s hind claws dug into the bear’s belly as they rolled over and over, the bear trying to use its greater weight to crush the shifter, its huge jaws snapping at his throat. The bear gave a high-pitched shriek of pain as the cat’s claws found purchase and ripped open a great gash in its gut.

  Momentum shifted and now it was Rhodry who snapped at his attacker’s throat, furious snarls tearing through the air. The bear wrapped its huge arms around the big cat and squeezed, trying to snap his spine, keeping its head tucked in to protect its vulnerable neck. They rolled perilously close to the edge, and Amanda cried out a wordless warning. The bear gave a powerful shrug and flung Rhodry away, then curled back to its feet and started forward after him.

  Rhodry spun gracefully, all four feet leaving the ground as his body twisted in midair. He launched himself at the ice bear again, halting its forward momentum and shoving it backward until they were both poised at the very edge of the rock formation, twenty feet or more above the rough ground.

  For a moment they hung there, balanced on the precipice.

  Then she watched in horror as some infinitesimal balance shifted and they went over, falling with duplicate screams of outrage. She felt more than heard the impact shuddering up through the stone and then nothing.

  She lunged forward with a shout of denial, her leg giving way beneath her, so that she half climbed, half fell down the rock face and landed with a shriek of pain. The two powerful creatures lay on the ground in front of the cave, neither one moving. Rhodry was barely visible behind the mountain of blood and fur that was the ice bear, the monster’s neck twisted at an angle that left no doubt it was dead.

  Stumbling and clawing her way over the bloody ground, she reached her shifter. His leg was trapped beneath the dead bear, and she threw herself at the thick body with a shout of defiance, shoving its great, lifeless bulk away until he was free.

  “Rhodi.” Her voice broke as she knelt over him, tears streaking down her face to fall on his blood-drenched fur. He was panting heavily, eyes closed, sides gusting as he struggled to breathe. She ran her hands down his sleek body, crying anew at every fresh wound, despairing of ever finding the skill to heal him this time. “Rhodi,” she repeated, holding his head in her lap, stroking his face, not knowing what else to do.

  She felt him stir, felt the shudder of flesh and muscle, and knew what it meant. She scooted away reluctantly, one hand trailing over his leg and paw. One moment there was a huge black cat lying before her, and then with a ripple of fur and popping bones, Rhodry lay sprawled naked, his golden skin torn and streaked with blood and sweat. He rose up on hands and knees, head hanging down, breath coming in great sucking gasps of air. He eyed her through half-closed lids and he shifted again, retaking his animal
form.

  She swallowed a wordless protest, knowing the effort it took for him to shift rapidly like this, knowing also that instinct was driving him now, pushing him to change, the shift finally undertaking the long-delayed healing of old wounds and new. The cat rose again on four wobbly legs, panting heavily. His big head swung over to regard the dead ice bear, and then back to stare unblinkingly at her once again. He took two faltering steps, closing the distance between them, and collapsed against her with a groan of effort.

  Amanda wasn’t sure how much time passed as she sat there with Rhodry, the two of them slumped next to the dead ice bear. At some point, she slid to the ground, lying with one arm over his furred back, too weak to remain upright. She knew when he shifted again to human, could remember being relieved that he had his shifting ability back at last.

  “You’re bleeding.” Rhodry’s voice was low, with a note of panic she’d never heard from him before. “Damn it, Amanda, you’re bleeding.”

  She smiled. Of course, she was bleeding. The bear had attacked her, hadn’t it? She remembered pain…and fear. That was gone now. Everything was gone. She drifted away, coming back to feel a sharp ache around her upper thigh, something too tight. It hurt. She pushed ineffectively at the hands that were hurting her.

  “Stop it,” he said absently. “You’re bleeding out here. Damn bear must have nicked an artery.” That last was said more to himself than to her. His fingers dug into her leg and she screamed. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I’ve got to stop it.”

  “Amanda.”

  Her eyelids were impossibly heavy. Something in her responded to the urgency in his voice, and she forced them open, squinting as she tried to focus.

  “Where’s your flare, Amanda?”

  She blinked at him in confusion, feeling sweet darkness pulling at her consciousness. She didn’t want to be awake, why wouldn’t he let her sleep? She shifted slightly and nearly screamed at the pain in her leg. Rhodry was holding her, forcing her to remain still, to look at him. “The flare, acushla.”

  She frowned. She didn’t need the damn flare. It was all a trick anyway.

  “Threw it away,” she mumbled through dry lips. He swore viciously, and she felt laughter bubbling up. She’d fooled them all. She smiled and let her eyes close, and the pain went away.

  When she woke next, his arms were around her and the ground was falling away. That wasn’t right. She was too big. Men didn’t sweep her off her feet like some dainty maiden.

  “No,” she protested fitfully. “Rhodry, no. I’m not—”

  “What you’re not is dying on me, damn it. Now hold still.”

  Amanda’s eyes opened slowly. Rhodry was sleeping next to her, his breath warm and steady, his arm lying across her body, his big hand draped protectively over her hip. She ached. Her hands, her arm, her leg more than anything, a deep pain that throbbed with every beat of her heart. What? Oh right, the ice bear. She doubted that particular memory would lose its potency any time soon.

  Rhodry stirred, his arm tightening as he moved in his sleep. They were still in that damn cave. Or, no, not the same one, one just like it. He’d probably moved them, what with the big dead monster right outside the front door. She felt like giggling and recognized the touch of hysteria. She brought a hand up to cover her mouth, which didn’t stop the tremble in her shoulders.

  “Amanda?” His voice was rough with worry.

  “I’m okay,” she said, her voice shockingly scratchy. “It was just…” She closed her eyes, suddenly exhausted all over again, wishing they were waking up somewhere else, wishing things could be easier for a single gods-be-damned day.

  He curled carefully around her, and his lips brushed her cheekbone. “When this is over, acushla, I’ll take you to the mountains and show you my home. You’ll see the Green like you never have before, rolling hills of it as far as the eye can see. There’s beauty to be had in the darkward too. I’ll show it to you.”

  She nodded silently, waiting until she knew she could speak without blubbering.

  “What does ‘acushla’ mean?” she asked, feeling overwhelmed by the sudden emotion of the moment. “You keep calling me that.”

  She felt his smile in the curve of his lips against her cheek.

  “It’s Irish Gaelic, from the Devlin half of my family. It means ‘sweetheart.’”

  “Oh,” she whispered, wanting to cry all over again. What the hell was wrong with her? A little near death experience, and suddenly she was going all weepy. “Are you okay?” she asked hoarsely. “You shifted…”

  “Shifted and healthy. It was you I was worried about this time. Damn bear ripped the hell out of your leg.”

  She mumbled something incoherent, already drifting off again.

  “You threw your flare away,” he said accusingly.

  She answered without opening her eyes. “I wasn’t going to use it.”

  “Amanda—”

  “How long was I out? I mean since the bear attack,” she asked, changing the subject.

  He sighed. She could feel the vibration of his body, his heat against her chilled back. “The bear attacked yesterday morning, and today’s sunset was about four hours ago.”

  Her heart fell. She wanted to be back among the trees now. She could taste it she wanted it so badly.

  “We can start home again tomorrow. I’ll go slowly—”

  “Day after tomorrow, acushla. You haven’t even been on your feet yet. And yes, we’ll go slowly.”

  “I don’t want—”

  “Another day will give me some time to start curing the bear’s pelt before we pack it out. It took most of today to strip it down. That was a fat bear.”

  “Pelt?” She opened her eyes and rolled over slightly to look at his face. His golden eyes were gazing down at her, glinting with humor. “You skinned the bear?”

  “Aye, I thought that might get your interest. You didn’t think I’d leave it behind, did you?”

  “Who gets it?” she asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

  “We’ll talk about that later.”

  “Day after tomorrow then,” she said, pushing her face against his chest to cover her yawn, finding it difficult to keep her eyes open. “We’ll go slowly,” she repeated, already asleep.

  “Slowly,” Rhodry agreed again, wrapping the tattered sleeping bag more securely around them both, and watching her sleep in the curve of his arm. He hadn’t told her the whole truth. Hadn’t told her how close she’d come to dying, her blood soaking into the dirt to mingle with the ice bear’s. If he’d been even two minutes slower in recognizing the danger, it might have been too late, and she would have been gone forever. And in that brief instant when he’d thought he was losing her, he’d felt…empty. As if his own life was draining away instead of hers. It had surprised him. It had scared the hell out of him.

  All those oaths he’d sworn to himself to stay away from her, telling himself that she was a complication he didn’t need. All of those excuses for ignoring the aching desire, the hunger that had consumed him from the moment they’d met… No more excuses, no more pretending. She was his, and he was going to fight for her whether she liked it or not. Because that moment of emptiness when he’d thought he’d lost her? It was something he never wanted to feel again.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Amanda half dragged the backpack behind her, suppressing a grimace of pain. Rhodry was in animal form, ranging out ahead somewhere. She knew he was keeping a close eye on her all the same. He’d watched her like a hawk ever since they’d started out from the cave this morning. She’d realized early on that if there was any hope of reaching the trees today, she was going to have to pretend to feel a whole lot better than she actually did. If it were up to him, she’d be sitting down and resting every time he went off on one of these scouting trips, and they’d have made only half the distance they’d covered so far.

  Since there was nothing he could do to stop her, at least nothing he was willing to do, she tho
ught with satisfaction, she just kept walking and pretended not to notice his displeasure.

  Admittedly, she wasn’t at her best right now. Her arm hurt, although she’d been lucky in that there didn’t seem to be any nerve damage. Her leg, on the other hand, wanted to give out with every step, and she was pretty sure some of the local bacteria had taken up residence in the deep wound on her thigh. She had already begun taking the antibiotics that remained from her original stash. Rhodry no longer needed them. He was disgustingly healthy now that he could shift again. It hardly seemed fair.

  Unfortunately, there was only a two-day supply of the pills left. Just enough to kick-start her immune system. If they reached the Green before then, she could find some coneflower, which might hold off the infection until they got back to the city, or until she reached one of her own caches. Unless it took weeks instead of days to get there. And that would only happen if they had bigger problems than her leg to worry about. Not that she planned to mention any of this to Rhodry. No need to borrow trouble.

  It was sweet, really, the way he worried about her. And it was about to drive her absolutely mad. She’d camped alone in the Green plenty of times while preparing for her trial, even through the winter. She really didn’t need him to light her fires, or help her over fallen tree trunks. Although, it was sort of nice that he did.

  Part of it was guilt on his part. He still felt bad about not stopping Nando and the others from sabotaging her trial. Which was fine with her. He should feel bad about that. Even though he hadn’t known about it until afterward, and he had come out here thinking to rescue her. It wasn’t his fault that she’d rescued him instead. She smirked lightly.

  That wasn’t the only reason he was being so nice. The rest of it, and maybe even the bigger part, was lust. Her lovely, big shifter had finally admitted, to himself at least, that he wanted her. He hadn’t said anything. The signs were there, though. In the way he looked at her, touched her. He wouldn’t do anything about it as long as she was hurt. That would be too much like taking advantage, and Rhodry de Mendoza was not one to take advantage of a woman, she’d grant him that.