Shiftless: Tuatha Series Book 1

by Linton Bowers

  With the bleeding stop now the question was did that do it. Would Tabitha heal now? I sniffed the air careful not to get too close. The sweet and rotten smell remained. I figured that she was not out of the woods yet. I also wondered if the poison would do more damage over time.

  My work was far from done. I held my hands over the wound without touching it and pictured energy, white and pure, pooling in my palms. Visualization had worked to draw power from my pack and I placed my hope on it working again. I held that pose for a long time focusing on the energy I imagined to be there. When a magical glow did not emanate from me and heal my serpent I stopped.

  Laying down next to Tabitha I wrapped my arm around her being careful not to agitate her wounds. “I’m sorry, Tabitha. This is my fault. If I would’ve just gave up on this damn mission of Rodriguez’s then you wouldn’t be in this predicament.” I wiped a tear from my eye. “I wish I could just wave my hand and make you better.” I chuckled. “I pretty much tried that.”

  I let out a sigh and laid my head on her shoulder. “This is all so crazy. Hell, my life is crazy now. I’m basically a monster now and I have two crazy-hot women by my side. Do you know how wild that sounds? I feel like I should be locked up in an asylum for what I just said, and yet this is my life.”

  I tilted my head back and looked at Tabitha. She was still out cold but I continued talking to her. “You want to know the part that would mark me as certifiable? I wouldn’t change this for anything. I don’t want to know what life would be like now without you and Miranda. Maybe it's the effect of the bond we share but I know I love the two of you more than anything. I could give less than two shits if it’s a side effect of the bond. What I feel is real and that’;s all I care about.”

  “I love you too,” Miranda said.

  I looked up to see my wolf looking at me from where she lay. “Hey, Beautiful,” I said. “Did you sleep alright?”

  “No, not at all.” She laughed. “Ask me that again once were in a comfortable bed with lots of pillows.”

  I chuckled. “I will.”

  “This isn’t your fault, Terry. Don’t be too hard on yourself.” She propped herself up on her elbow. “As bad as this seems I know we’ll come out on top. How could we not?” She leaned closer. “I’m part of a Tuatha’s pack now. I’m more powerful than I ever thought I could be. So is Tabitha, which is how I know she’ll pull through.” Miranda moved her free arm to Tabitha’s stomach and started making slow small circles around Tabitha’s belly button with her index finger. “As crazy as it seems I also love this little snake. I never thought I could get along with a Lycan that wasn’t a wolf. And yet, here I am. Hoping with everything I have that this snake pulls through. Maybe you’re right and this is crazy.”

  “If that’s the case then I’m good with crazy,” I said.

  Miranda reached across Tabitha and traced the wolf symbol on my chest. “Did you use your shirt to stop the bleeding?”

  “I did, and I’m glad to say it worked.”

  “That’s a start,” Miranda said.

  “Is there anything else I could do to help her?” I asked my wolf.

  “I don’t know. Lycan physiology is different from normal people. We aren't supposed to need any medical attention. We either heal, or die from our injuries. Short of silver to the heart or brain there isn’t much that can cause death.”

  “Could a Lycan take so much damage that their body eventually gives up? You know, like a limit to how much we can heal before we need food to do more?” I asked.

  “Yeah, that could do it.”

  “Well, now I know how to kill. I just need to know how to heal. Fuck!”

  “If anyone can figure it out, Terry it’s you,” Miranda said.

  “I’m not a doctor, Miranda. I can’t figure out shit. I am useless. You should have found a better Tuatha,” I snapped.

  “There is no other Tuatha, Terry. And we are not human. We do not need a doctor. What we need is you, someone who can do things no doctor or Lycan can,” Miranda said.

  “I hope you’re right, Miranda,” I said.

  I shifted to lay on my back and look up at the ceiling of our little cave. “Do you feel the need to have a cave like this?” I asked.

  Miranda laughed. “No, Terry. The wolf in me doesn’t need a den, just a pack to run with.”

  “Is this pack enough then?”

  “For now, but bigger would be nice,” Miranda said. “In time it’ll happen. You’re unique and this is new to both of us. You’ll figure all this out and I’ll do all I can to help. So will Tabitha.”

  I didn’t respond. But something Miranda said did keep coming back to the forefront of my mind. Tabitha didn’t need a doctor she needed me. So what could I do that a doctor couldn’t? I let that question linger trying to come up with an answer. While I thought my hand came up to my chest. Miranda still fingered the wolf mark over my heart. I traced the serpent mark.

  Light bulb.

  I sat up. “Oh shit!”

  “What?” Miranda asked.

  “I think I figured it out, Miranda. I know what to do!”

  “Really? Are you sure?” She asked.

  “Nope! Here it goes though.”

  “Anything I can do to help?” She asked.

  “No l…” The words died in my mouth as another thought occured to me. “I think there is.”

  “What do you want me to do?” She asked. Miranda sat up and crossed her legs.

  “ Well, when I was fighting I was able to pull energy from you and Tabitha through our link, and these marks. I think you might be able to send me energy I could use for more than fighting,” I said.

  Miranda’s mouth puckered like she just sucked a lemon. “I don’t know. I never felt a drain from you or anywhere while we fought.”

  “Maybe it doesn’t take much. I don’t know. All I know is that it’s worth a shot. Focus on sending energy from you to here.” I pointed at the wolf mark on my chest. “I’ll do the rest.”

  “Ok, you got it, Terry.” miranda closed her eyes and set her hands on her knees. She looked like the most beautiful monk ever in her meditation pose.

  I followed her lead and crossed my legs with my hands on my knees. I let the image of light from my middle form in my head. I pictured that light moving to the serpent mark. Both symbols warmed. I gained another light glowing in the wolf mark from the energy Miranda sent. I bridged the marks allowing energy to go from the wolf to the serpent. The ball of imaginary light flared. I sent the energy to my serpent. I felt the drain and knew it had to be working.

  “Terry?” I heard Miranda say with worry in her voice.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “I feel it too. Keep it up, and give me more if you can.”

  The light from Miranda intensified. It seemed to get stuck on the wolf mark as if it was in a bottle neck. I imagined the mark as a gate and threw both wolf and snake gates open wide.

  Tabitha gasped. Her back arched sending her perfect breasts up in the air. Miranda gasped too and I clenched my teeth. The energy flowing through me felt like fire. My veins had become lava tubes. My vision filled with the light I imagined. A scream left me.

  The whole thing lasted a few seconds. When the energy stopped coming from Miranda my own well ran dry. Red became black and I felt the world shift sideways. I vaguely heard Miranda scream my name, but she sounded like she was a mile away.

  Chapter 23

  I woke to find two blurry people hovering over me. They spoke but the words sounded like they were being filtered through water.

  My vision cleared slowly and the figures came into focus. Miranda and Tabitha sat on either side of me looking down. Concern marked both of their faces.

  “Tabitha?” I asked.

  “You did it,” Miranda said.

  “I’m okay,” Tabitha said. I saw her hand was covering her side where she had been hurt. She noticed my gaze. “It still hurts but it’s healing. Slow, but getting better.” She moved her hand and I was able to see th
e wounds had mostly closed.

  “Oh thank god,” I said. “What happened?”

  Miranda spoke first. “Well, your idea about me sending power was spot on. Somehow you channeled it to Tabby. Then it just dialed up to eleven and we all screamed. Then you passed out and Tabby woke up for a bit. She passed out again and started to heal. I’ve just been waiting. She woke a little bit ago then you just now. Not much to tell really.”

  “I see,” I said.

  “I felt like I was dying,” Tabitha said.

  My serpent sat still as stone while a torrent of tears ran down her face. I sat up and pulled her into my arms and held her. As she cried I felt her pain through our link. She had come close to no longer existing and it had a profound effect on her. Even with feeling what she did I couldn’t fathom the experience she lived through. All I could do was be there for her. Miranda joined us by scooting up behind Tabitha and wrapping her arms around the two of us. We stayed locked that way for a while.

  It was my amazing little serpent that broke apart our moment. “We should go and save Rodriguez,” Tabitha said.

  “She’s right,” Miranda said one Tabitha's shoulder as she looked me in the eyes. She was the first to pull away. “Speaking of Rodriguez, what are your plans for her?”

  “what do you mean?” I asked as I pulled back from Tabitha.

  “Are you going to make her pack?” Miranda asked.

  “Yeah,” Tabitha chimed in. “I like her and would love to call her sister.”

  “Really?” I asked. “You guys would be okay with me bringing in another woman?” That thought boggled my mind. I would have thought bringing another dick into the mix would have been what they would want. Not that I did. That thought made me angry and want to hurt the dude that didn’t even exist.

  “Um yeah,” Miranda said. “We want our pack to grow strong. Duh!”

  “What she said. And Rodriguez is cool and hot.”

  “Oh,” I said. “I think it’s a moot point. Rodriguez doesn’t seem to like me. I bet if I asked she would laugh at me and tell me to get the hell away from her.”

  “No,” Miranda said. “I know she feels it and when you are both ready she’ll submit, just like I did and just like Tabitha did. Have some faith in yourself, Terry. You’re a catch and one hell of an alpha. She will come around.”

  “I agree,” Tabitha said. “Rodriguez is totally into you, she just doesn’t know it yet.”

  “That doesn’t even make sense.” I laughed. “If you guys say so. Tell you what. If she is into it then I will take her in as one of us. Happy?”

  “Yup,”Tabitha said.

  “Very,” Miranda added.

  “Wow. I don’t know if I should be excited or worried,” I said.

  “Probably both,” Miranda grinned at me.

  I laughed. My mirth was short lived though. Rodriguez was in trouble and I had no way of knowing how much. There was also the very real chance that we would be bringing a body back to Barnabus.

  “We need to move. Rodriguez needs us like yesterday,” I said.

  “Right,” Miranda said.

  “What’s the plan, boss?” Tabitha asked.

  “Simple. We track those freaks back to where they went. I bet we’ll find Rodriguez there,” I said.

  “You want one of us to scout ahead?” Tabitha asked.

  “Negative. I want us to stick close. I’m not giving those fuckers a chance to get their teeth or claws in either of you.”

  “Make sure you worry about staying safe, yourself,” Miranda said. “We don’t know what affect their toxin will have on you.”

  I gave my wolf a smile and a thumbs up. “Will do, Miranda. Lets roll out. You two change so were combat ready.”

  An instant later Miranda was in her wolf form. Tabitha didn’t change. She stood there with a look of concentration on her face. Then her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell forward.

  “Tabitha!” I shot forward catching my serpent before she could pitch forward more than a few inches. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at me.

  “I’m sorry, Terry. I can’t change,” She whispered.

  “Don’t be sorry, love. It was stupid of me to expect you to change after what you went through. I hope you can forgive me of my ignorance and inexperience.”

  “Of course, Terry.”

  “Can you walk?” I asked

  “I think so,” she said.

  “Do you think you could make it back to the car?” I asked.

  “What?” Her brow furrowed and her nose wrinkled in anger. “No, Terry. I will not go back without you and Miranda.” She stood and pushed my hands away. “I am not weak and I will not stand by while you and Miranda go off to fight.”

  Miranda stepped forward. “Honey,” she said. “It’s not like that.” Miranda placed her hand on Tabitha’s bare shoulder. “We don’t think you're weak. You’ve proven how strong you are. We just want you to recover so you can fight again when you’ve regained your strength.”

  “I’m not going back. I…” Tabitha’s eyes went wide and her face slowly turned from Miranda to me. “Terry, can you do that energy sharing thing and get me going?”

  “I don’t know if it will give you a boost but I can try it,” I said.

  “Please?” Tabitha pleaded.

  “Ok, give me a sec.” I imagined the ball of energy and it came easier. I sent a tendril of light to the serpent mark. The mark grew warm. My stomach rumbled and the sphere of light in my mind shattered.

  I doubled over holding my middle. The Rumbling continued. Miranda wrapped an arm around me. I could see her mouth moving but couldn’t hear anything other than rumbling. My stomach hurt like something was trying to eat me from the inside. I realized It was me trying to eat me from the inside out.

  “... you hear me, Terry? Terry!” Miranda shouted.

  “I hear you,” I said. “What the hell is happening?”

  “You need food,” Tabitha said. “You’ve used too much energy.”

  “We need to find you some food and fast,” Miranda said.

  “Where are we going to find food?” Tabitha asked. “I haven’t seen any game and if there is any they were probably eaten by all those Lycan-creatures.”

  “Let's just go,” I said. “I’ll be okay. We need to find Rodriguez.”

  “You’re right.” Miranda helped me to stand up straight. “We have to find Rodriguez and we will probably find food where she is. There is no way they could control all those Lycans without feeding them,” she said.

  We started off on our trek. We had to be a sight to behold. Miranda had her arm around me helping me walk and I had mine around Tabitha helping her. We went a good two hundred yards before this officially became the worst day of my life.

  “Do you smell that?” Miranda asked.

  “Nope,” I said.

  “I think you’re alone in this Miranda,” Tabitha said. “What do you have?” Her voice was thick with fatigue.

  “We need to stop,” Miranda said. “Terry, I have an idea, but I need you to listen to me and do exactly as I say.”

  “Why am I getting a bad feeling right now?” I asked. I looked at our surroundings for anything that might have caused her to stop our progress. There were trees, underbrush and dirt. Lots and lots of dirt. But I couldn’t see what grabbed her attention. “What is it?”

  “Um… it may be best to follow me and hear me out when we get there. This is going to test your abilities in a new way,” Miranda said.

  I trusted my wolf so I nodded and followed along. Five feet to our left was a bush that came up to my waist. Miranda pulled back the leaves and that is when I smelled it. The rancid odor of old rot.

  “Is that what you wanted to show us?” I asked as I pointed at the long dead carcass of something that I think had been light brown once.

  “Yeah, and here is where I need you to listen to me,” Miranda said.

  “I trust you, Miranda. Go ahead,” I said.

  “Alright. I
need you to eat that.”

  “What?” I took a step back and had to catch Tabitha as my unexpected movement tipped her off balance. “Are you crazy?”

  “Use the wolf bond. Wolves are scavengers and capable of eating some nasty shit. Then, use the serpent bond to digest it over time and get every single bit of energy from it. I believe this will work.”

  “That is horrifying,” I said.

  “I know how you feel,” Miranda said.

  “You’ve had to do this before?” I asked my wolf.

  Miranda scrunched up her nose and shook her head. If not for the situation and request I would be goo goo eyed over how cute she looked. “Oh god no,” Miranda said. “That’s just nasty.”

  “And yet you want me to do it,” I said in a deadpan voice.

  “Yes,” she replied. “If I were in your shoes I would. But since Rodriguez isn’t relying on my power alone then it has to be done by you.”

  “That’s a low blow,” I said. As I spoke I tapped into the wolf mark activating it. I didn’t pull power but instead imagined my senses getting sharper. “But I will, in order to save her.”

  The smell from the carcass changed. It was still rank, but there was more. I could pick out the protein that remained. As well as the bacteria that was still working to break down the animal. From what I could smell there was no doubt this poor little guy still had a little bit left to give. “Fuck,” I mumbled.

  I passed Tabitha over to Miranda and crawled into the bush. I considered picking it up, bit I didn’t want my women to see me eating it.

  “A little privacy please?” I asked.

  “We will be over there,” Miranda said.

  I looked back over my shoulder to see Miranda smiling and Tabitha looking a little more green than normal. Tabitha covered her mouth and gave me a thumbs up while not being able to hide her look of disgust.

  I turned to my meal. I tested with my tongue and retched. Tasting was not my friend here. I went with plan B. I scarfed it down as quickly as I could. Given how chewy it was it took longer than I wanted. After there was nothing but skin and fur left I released the wolf mark. That was a mistake. My body tried rejecting the meat and bone. I reactivated the wolf mark and my middle stopped trying to tear me in half. Then I activated the serpent and to my delight I could use both at the same time.