by L. A. Boruff
“If you promise to not leave me behind, I’m game,” I said. They sometimes got exuberant in their fur and took off running. One of them always stayed with me, but I was paranoid they’d run off without me, and I’d get lost.
“We always do, and always will,” Cas said without looking up from his food.
I smiled at him. “Thank you.”
He finally looked up, grinning. “Our pleasure.”
We finished eating and cleaned up before heading out to the front yard. Dylan pulled a baggie out of his pocket and opened it as Cas and Levon shifted.
“I’ll stay with you,” Kerry said to Dylan as he took the bra from him and held it out for my lions to smell.
“A bra?” I said with one raised eyebrow.
Dylan chuckled. “I figured it was closest to her skin, and she might’ve sweated in it. Should have the best smell.”
Cas shook his furry head and turned away from the house. “Does he already have a scent?” Dylan asked.
“I don’t think so,” Kerry said. “He’s searching.”
As they followed, I slipped my clothes off and shifted behind their backs to remain discreet in front of Dylan. Soon I was in my fur, running after them. It felt like home, running through the forest. My vision was sharper, my sense of smell more acute. I bleated out my joy at being in my second skin. I couldn’t believe I’d avoided doing this for so long.
Kerry laughed as I bounded past him. I stopped, skidding a little, and turned back to him.
“Is she always this happy?” Dylan asked.
“Usually,” Kerry replied. “She’s not been shifting very long, so it’s still a novelty for her.” He smiled at me, showing he wasn’t speaking negatively of me.
My brain was still my own, as sharp as ever. It was an inconvenience sometimes, when you really wanted to use your voice, but there wasn’t much that could dampen my joy at being shifted. I ran forward, but Levon and Cas were too far ahead to easily catch up, so I bounded back around to stay with Kerry and Dylan and listen in on their conversation.
“What are you going to do when we find her?” Kerry asked. “She’s got to go to trial.”
“I know. How fast can the proceedings go?” Dylan asked. “I understand she might have to be punished. I think it might be why she came back, to face the music.”
“Guilt?”
“Definitely. She’s got guilt weighing her down, has as long as I’ve known her.” Dylan looked down and scuffed his feet. “It eats at her.”
Kerry’s attention jerked away from Dylan, and he looked into the distance. I turned my head the same way and saw Levon standing at attention. It was some sort of signal to Kerry, because he took off running on his human legs, Dylan hot on his tracks. I could outpace them on all fours, but just as they didn’t want to leave me behind, I wouldn’t leave them. I kept them in my stride as we rushed to catch up to the lions.
They made sure to go slow enough that we could keep them in our sights. No matter how hard Kerry and Dylan tried, they couldn’t possibly run as fast as the lions.
We ran for nearly a half hour. When we stopped, Dylan and Kerry weren’t even slightly out of breath. I wasn’t either, but I was shifted too. If I’d run full blast for a half hour on two legs, I’d have been dying, lungs bursting.
We caught up with Levon and Cas, standing just inside a break in the woods. They were crouched down behind a thicket of brush, hiding. I picked my way over to them without a sound, but Dylan and Kerry sounded like elephants on their two legs.
I hadn’t figured out why it was so easy to sneak on four legs, but so hard when walking on half that.
My gaze was drawn to the clearing, where a derelict cabin sat, the sun beating down on it’s half-caved-in roof. I cocked my head and pawed at the ground. The cabin was so familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Could I have come across it in a run and forgotten about it? Surely not.
“Is she in there?” Dylan asked.
“See for yourself,” Kerry said. Dylan closed his eyes, and gold dust enveloped him like a cloud of glitter. I nudged Kerry with my snout, and he put his hand on my neck and rubbed lightly. “He’s sending his aura into the house to look around. If he wants, he can transport his body to meet his aura. That’s how he entered our party without anyone besides you seeing him.”
I watched in awe as Dylan stood motionless, eyes closed. The gold grew brighter and stronger until he shuddered and opened his eyes. “She’s in there,” he said, misery in his voice. “She’s huddled under a blanket, shivering in her sleep.”
Nudging Kerry again, I tried to convey how agitated I was. “Shhh,” he said. “She’ll be okay.”
I needed to shift back. I took the backpack he was wearing with a change of clothes for all of us between my teeth and tugged.
“You want to shift?” he asked.
I nodded my head up and down, an awkward movement while in my fur. My unicorn neck muscles weren’t made to nod.
We walked a few yards away behind a copse of trees, and I shifted back into my skin. Kerry pulled out my leggings and an oversized shirt then I dressed quickly before walking back to the others with one hand on my stomach.
Cas and Levon had shifted back and were pulling their own clothes on. They weren’t as shy about shifting in front of Dylan as I was. He was motionless again, gold dust flying. With no warning, he disappeared.
I jumped, startled by the suddenness of his disappearance. “What happened?” I cried.
“He’s gone in the house,” Cas said, striding forward. “We need to make sure she comes into our custody.”
We followed as Cas walked carefully into the dim interior. The inside was dim, but lit well enough for us to see via the holes in the roof and the grime-covered windows.
The cabin was one large room, one corner holding a bathroom with a rotted curtain still hanging on the hooks. The kitchen was opposite the bathroom, while the other half of the room contained a sagging bed and moldy couch. A petite woman sat on the bed, Dylan beside her. He had one arm around her, and she looked up at him in awe.
“I can’t believe you came,” she whispered. I didn’t think she’d even noticed us yet.
“Of course I came, Mary. I love you,” Dylan said, squeezing her close.
“I love you too,” she said as tears fell down her cheeks.
Cas ruined the moment by clearing his throat. “Ma’am?” he said.
She’d noticed us after all, because she didn’t startle at the sound of his voice. “Yes,” she whispered, looking away from Dylan and studying us.
“We need you to come with us. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
She nodded. “What will happen to me?”
Kerry stepped forward. “You’ll be given a chance to tell your side of the story. You’ll be given a fair trial. And you’ll be sentenced.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said with a sob. “I didn’t mean to.” She buried her face in Dylan’s shoulder, and he enveloped her in a hug.
6
I watched as Cas and Kerry took Mary away, Dylan following close behind, no doubt wanting to make sure they treated her with dignity. I was a little insulted by that, but then, he didn’t know the two of them like I did. They’d never hurt someone if they didn’t have to.
“What happens now?” I asked Levon.
“We go home and wait for the trial to happen. If Cas can get everything sorted, it’ll happen as soon as tomorrow.”
“Is there anything we can do to help Mary?” I asked, hating the idea that we’d found the woman only to cause her more distress. It was an odd thought, especially because of what she’d done to my parents. And what that, in turn, had deprived me of.
“No. Depending on what the judges’ verdict is, you might be able to request leniency as one of the victims.”
I swallowed nervously, unsure about whether or not I should take that burden on myself and away from the families of the other victims. They were probably still hurting too.
“Come on, let�
�s get you home and get you a hot drink. You’ll feel better for it.” He put his arm around my shoulders and held tightly.
I sighed and leaned into him. He was right, and I knew it. Plus, some alone time with Levon sounded good, even if I was still sore from what the three of them had done to me last night.
We’d traveled a long way from home, and decided to shift and run back. Kerry hung back a moment to put our clothes in his backpack. Cas, Kerry, and Dylan were hiking to the main road where the pack enforcers were picking them up to take Mary to the small home they used for official pack business. There was a room in the basement magically enchanted to hold prisoners, though they hadn’t had one in years.
Kerry stayed back while we stripped, then gave me an appreciative wink. “You’re gorgeous,” he said. “Have fun.”
I shifted quickly to my unicorn, and couldn’t help the exhilaration that took over me every time I shifted. I gave Kerry a tap with my head, then took off. I knew Levon could catch me easily.
My feet found the right spots instinctually. I let my animal lead the way and went faster and faster. The loud snarl of the mountain lion behind me pushed me farther, and I bleated out my joy. He gained on me quickly, his growls and footfalls causing thrills of excitement to shoot through me. I knew once I was caught he’d make me feel really good.
He let me stay ahead of him for a while, but I could tell he was corralling me, nudging me in the right direction. I began to recognize that we were nearing the house, so I stopped letting him guide me. I bounded over him in a sudden move and went down a path that I knew would lead to a particularly beautiful copse of trees.
Levon ducked as my hooves cleared his head, though he really hadn’t needed to. I could jump pretty high. He growled at me and followed, staying right on my heels until I stopped in the middle of the clearing, the sunlight streaming down through the break in the trees. The grass there was so soft, and every time we visited the clearing, I swore I was going to go home and google what kind of grass it was so we could plant it in the woods all around the house, but I never remembered until I was back in the clearing again.
I turned a slow circle, keeping my eyes on Levon, who walked around me, getting closer every time. I shifted back to my skin, ready for him to catch me. When I finished shifting, he stopped, still about four feet away from me. I stood unashamed, sunlight washing over my naked body. My chest heaved with anticipation, nipples already hard.
Levon growled, stalking toward me in a crouch. If I hadn’t known he was who and what he was, I’d be terrified. He looked every inch as if he was going to attack, kill, and eat his prey.
He’d most likely eat me, and the French for orgasm meant “little death,” so I wasn’t far off the mark.
I sat on the soft grass, bringing myself eye level with the massive cat. He shifted in front of me, his long black hair hanging down over his shoulders. I studied his body, his tawny skin tight over rippling muscles. His skin tone and the color of his fur were nearly identical, something I hadn’t noticed happening with any other shifter I’d met.
He was stunning, whether in skin or fur. He stood in front of me, allowing my assessment of him, but he wasn’t idle. As my gaze lowered, he moved one of his hands to his cock, hard and standing at attention. He moved his hand up and down his shaft, slowly stroking himself as he looked at me.
“Shit,” I whispered. “Come here.”
He walked forward without taking his hand off of his impressive erection. I climbed up onto my knees, and he walked straight to me. I opened my mouth as he neared, and he guided his head straight into my mouth, finally releasing himself to rest his hands on my head.
I didn’t waste any time sucking him down my throat, then bobbing back and forth, creating as much suction as I could. He moaned, and his hands smoothed over my hair. I could tell he was itching to grab my head and fuck my face. Liquid dripped down my leg at the thought. I renewed my vigor, eager for him to take control.
He finally lost his self-restraint and did just that. “Pinch my leg if it’s too much,” he said through clenched teeth. I just opened my mouth, pulling my teeth back as far as I could, and looked up at him.
They all loved to fuck my mouth while I looked up at them. Cas might’ve been the alpha of the pack, but they were all alpha males, and very dominant in bed.
His body tensed, and I knew he was close to his orgasm, so I pinched his leg. He jerked back, fisting the head of his dick to calm it down. “I’m sorry, was it too rough?” he said, dropping to his knees in front of me. His voice was a mask of worry.
“No, calm down,” I said with a laugh. “I just didn’t want you to come.”
“I would’ve taken care of you even if I had,” he said. “I can make you come over and over with my hand.”
“I know that,” I said with a laugh. “And you’re welcome to make me come in any way you want to. But I want to finish with your dick inside me, fucking me. Hard.”
His face darkened, lust flowing from his eyes. “Lay back.”
I grinned as I lowered myself to lay on my back, propped up on my elbows. I wanted to watch him as he did his magic.
Oh, what magic it was, too. He guided my legs up and out, so I was on display for him.
“Shit, you’re so wet,” he whispered as he stared at me. “You’re gorgeous.”
Those were his last words for a while. He ate my pussy like a diabetic at a chocolate convention.
I cried out my release after several tortuous moments. Levon brought me to the brink three damn times before he finally sucked hard on my clit, taking me over the edge.
Without waiting for him to indicate his preference on what position he’d fuck me in, I rolled over and presented him with my ass. I wanted him to take me from behind. It was deeper and wilder that way, and I loved it.
Even though the night before had been an exercise in how much my body could handle, I still felt a bit of stretching to accommodate him. He entered me slowly, giving me time to adjust, then set a pace sure to bring us both to a quick orgasm.
I threw my head back, and he grabbed my hair, digging his fingers into my scalp. None of them had done that while fucking me before, and I gasped, a guttural moan coming out of my mouth.
How did I go so long without having one of them grab my hair? It felt amazing. Every time he slid fully inside me his balls slapped my clit, and he tugged on my hair. Each thrust was a notch in my orgasm, building me up to a crescendo, accompanied by my grunts, groans, and at the end, screams of pleasure.
He came as I did, pushing in as deep as he could. He let go of my hair and grabbed my hips for the last few thrusts, squeezing and massaging as he rode out his orgasm.
We collapsed together on the soft grass, me laying half on top of him. “That was great,” I said.
“It’s always great with you,” he replied.
The sunlight warmed us, the air still crisp up in the mountains in early spring. I hadn’t noticed before how chilly it was. Shifters tended to run a bit hot, anyway.
As the post-coital glow left me, reality set in. The morning’s job had been filtered through a mask of euphoric hormones related to my shifting. My brain had shunted the emotional trauma to the side in favor of happier, sexier emotions.
Time to face the music. Tears ran down my cheeks as the enormity of what happened hit me.
“Leola?” Levon whispered, pulling me tighter against him. He wrapped his arms fully around me. “It’s okay. It’s not going to be easy, but I promise it will be okay.”
We lay in the forest for a while as I vented my emotions. “I should be angrier at her,” I said. “I just felt sorry for her.”
“You don’t have to feel any certain way. There is no guide book to tell you how to feel about the person that murdered your parents and tried to kill you.” He stroked my back as he spoke. “Feel how you feel, and don’t be worried about how you should feel.”
“Thanks,” I said. “But I don’t know how I should feel, and I’m so confused. I r
eally couldn’t tell you how I do feel.”
“That’s okay, too. Let’s get home so we can prepare you for what’s going to happen tomorrow.”
“Will the trial really happen so fast?” I asked.
“If all the appropriate people can be present, then yes.”
I sat up, allowing him to get to his feet. “Walk or run?” he asked, and I understood what he meant. If we walked, it would be on two feet. If we ran, it would be on four.
“Walk, I think,” I said.
We strolled back to the house, a bit gingerly. Our human feet didn’t love the rough forest floor. When we neared our place, we both tried to be as quiet as possible. If anyone was around besides my guys, I really didn’t want them to see me naked if we could avoid it. They kept telling me that it was a part of pack life. At some point, you saw somebody else’s bathing suit parts. I wanted to avoid showing mine of as long as I could.
7
Mary bit her lip, her nerves obvious for every shifter in the room to see, never mind smell, which I was almost certain they were all doing too.
"Mary Walker, you're here to answer for crimes committed twenty-five years ago against the Mountain Shifter Commune. How do you plead?" Cas's voice boomed deeper than I'd ever heard it before. This was him going full alpha on the poor woman.
"Guilty," she whispered.
Murmurs filled the room. No doubt most of the shifters had expected her to deny what she'd done.
I studied her again. She looked more rested than she had when we'd found her in the cabin, that was for sure. But she looked far too young and innocent to have committed crimes like that, nevermind to have committed them twenty-five years ago. Even if Cas had explained that shifters aged more slowly than humans, it was confusing to see it in person.
"What are you guilty of?"
"The murder of Joan and Frederick Brown," Mary admitted. "I didn't mean for it to happen..."
"What about the twenty-three others you left dead in your wake?" Cas demanded.
"Others?" Mary's eyes widened. "I don't remember any others. What did I do?" She echoed the last question to herself over and over. If her hands hadn't been tied to the chair, then I was certain she'd be rocking back and forth.
