Miss South

by Kay Williams

  “Ashamed? Of what?” I couldn't keep the dismissive tone to myself, up until the theft Fallow had never let me down.

  “I’m not sure if you realize it,” Cornwall said motioning me along towards the door and the gym. “But Jess is in a great deal of trouble.”

  “Because of the nature of her beast?”

  “Being Wildling is a balancing act,” Cornwall explained. “Animal confidence to human intellect, the thrill of the hunt against human compassion, it’s not something we need to be taught to manage, we just understand the give and take.”

  “That doesn’t sound at all like Jessica.”

  “It’s not,” Cornwall frowned, his voice and manner suddenly so serious it was frightening. “We can fall out of balance for any number of reasons. Jess was tortured, her human half couldn’t help her survive and she was too young to understand the ramifications of giving in to animal. It was life or death so when she was too cold as a human she had to shift, when she was starving and was only thrown scraps of raw foods or was forced to catch whatever had wandered into her prison it was more palatable to feel animal to whom raw meat is actually preferable than cooked.”

  “She told you what happened?” I stopped him with a hand to his elbow.

  “No,” Cornwall hesitated before he started walking again. “You told me not to expect anything from her but from the moment we met we were always heading here. It was never about sex, Henry, I am Alpha, like in the wild where Alpha dominant males or females control a pack, Alpha Wildlings have a kind of power over others of our kind. We are tougher, stronger, faster, we can sense the mental distress of the animal within others, we have a way of soothing it, and we have a way of binding other Wildlings to us in the bonds of Pack.”

  “I knew that some of your kind chooses to live in Packs, mostly family, some businesses I deal with are Wildling Packs, but I had no idea it was some kind of psychic connection.” I replied, while privately admitting it would go a long way to explain why I couldn’t read them.

  “It’s not a true psychic ability.” Cornwall hedged. “We can’t hear each other’s thoughts, and the Pack isn’t bound to others in it. An Alpha is in the centre, holding court if you like, the Alpha has a connection to each Wildling he or she offers the bond to, they only link to the Alpha, on a subconscious psychic level the Wildling accepts to submitting to the Alpha’s power and they carry it with them, bringing peace and security to the Wildling.”

  “For example?”

  “Well, if a Wildling is of a nervous disposition, an Alpha’s power will give them a confidence they didn’t have, they wouldn’t be reckless but they would have a better idea of what they are and aren’t capable of.”

  “I think I understand,” I said slowly, suddenly nervous as we reached the gym door.

  “When I met Jess everything that was Alpha in me hit the roof, she was seriously out of balance and the animal had almost total control of her. When she didn’t like something, instead of disagreeing she would snarl, her smile was feral, like any other top predator you couldn't maintain eye contact with her. She wouldn’t tell me why and the drug she was taking was limiting her capacity to feel my power. I have friends in child services, when she wouldn’t respond to me I got on to them and got hold of her files.”

  “That’s illegal,” I hissed in surprise.

  “It was necessary,” Cornwall replied in a firm tone I had never heard him use. “I know where and how she was kept, I know what she was forced to do to survive, and I know what she was like when they brought her out that hole and institutionalised her. Unfortunately Michigan wasn’t overflowing with Wildlings and even though there is acceptance since the Pause the one thing the human’s trying to help her should have done, wasn’t.”

  “They never called in another Wildling?” I was shocked.

  “No,” he shook his head as if still amazed how something was missed that was so logical and simple. “But then if they had she would have had a Pack, probably moved out of Michigan, she never would have met you and though I don’t doubt your tenacity for business I think you would have been looking at lower profit margins, and she would probably have gone to MIT and succumbed to the glamour of academia.”

  “Good point.”

  “The last six months I worked hard to get her trust, Alpha means being one step ahead and knowing all about the horrors of how she grew up, I’m sorry to say, gave me plenty of ammunition for when she tried to pretend I wasn’t there,” Cornwall sighed and I didn’t have to be a mind reader to know he wasn’t impressed with himself for his actions. “She hasn’t told you, Henry, but being so out of balance for so long has resulted in a marked degradation in her mental ability, her animal is no longer ‘listening’ to her human sensibilities, the drugs aren’t helping any more.”

  “You are telling me she is slowly becoming completely animal?”

  “Eventually she will stop talking, she’ll shift and not know how to be human again and she’ll only want to eat what the tiger considers proper food. The human thoughts will still be there which will only lead to clinical dementia.”

  “Why didn’t she say something? I can’t help if I don’t know there is a problem.” It was my turn to snarl.

  “She’s ashamed, Henry. If her animal has been taking over slowly for so long who do you think has been keeping her under control the last ten years?” I felt myself blink blankly which made Cornwall roll his eyes. “You, Henry, there is something in you that her animal doesn’t think it can match.”

  “I doubt that,” I replied, I had a strength I had never really tested but I wasn’t a warrior, against teeth and claws, and against a friend, I doubted I would be able to defend myself.

  “Perhaps,” Cornwall rocked back and forth on his heels. “The incident at the gallery was very important to her, she didn’t think a lawyer would break the law, in the theft I did prove myself but not in the way you supposed.”

  “So what am I here for?”

  “Jess has finally agreed to submit herself to the bonds of Pack.”

  “Bonds of your Pack? So that your ‘Alpha power’ can help soothe her beast and put her back in balance?” I guessed and Cornwall nodded. “So we eat cake?”

  “Not exactly,” Cornwall winced.

  “Then what?”

  “For Jess’s beast to submit to mine I have to prove I am stronger than it is, that my power is enough to take care of it.”

  “So that if she was ever faced with that hole again you’d be able to protect her.”

  “Now you are starting to get it.”

  “I’m sensing a ‘but’.”

  “But for Jess’ beast to accept mine she has to realize that she can’t win against it.”

  “You are going to hit my chief race designer?”

  “No,” Cornwall seemed to hesitate at my dead and disapproving tone. “She stopped taking her medication last week, she is going to shift and come at me like the beast she is.”

  “Simon,” I protested, instantly feeling sick to my stomach.

  “It’ll be alright,” he promised me. “She can’t win, she is going to draw blood but I’m not going to hurt her unless I have to.”

  “But you expect me to watch two of my friends tearing at each other?”

  “If she doesn’t get the help she needs, she is dead, Henry, which would you rather?” Cornwall snapped.

  I looked away, I had carried South’s to the life boat and had to wash her blood off my skin, now Cornwall was standing in front of me and telling me I would have to do it all again for another friend and I didn’t know if I was strong enough to face it. South’s rescue had left me shaken, my solid wall of confidence had shuddered and I was now surer than ever that there was a crack in it I hadn’t managed to patch yet. But if Cornwall was right and Fallow was in more trouble than I knew then how could I justify putting my discomfort before her life?

  “What do I have to do?”

  “Very little,” Cornwall assured me. “When she submits, my power
is going to suppress her beast to the point where they are back in balance, it will be incredibly disorientating for her, that's when she’ll need you.”

  “Until then?”

  “Stay out of her way.”

  “Very comforting, Simon.”

  Cornwall pushed open the door.

  The gym was comprised of a large room; the last time I was here it had been filled with high tech and expensive equipment but was now bare. The ceiling was made of simmering solar plates that let in light but absorbed the UV that charged the Fusion Drives that powered the office. Maintaining the panels was easy and accessed from a walkway built hanging on support wires, Cornwall pushed me towards the stairs and I climbed them, shutting the door at the top and leaning on the rail.

  Below Cornwall had shut and locked the doors leading into the gym and climbed out of his clothes I wanted to avert my gaze but I had never seen a Wildling shift before so curiosity won out against preserving Cornwall’s modesty, but from the way he stretched his muscles I doubted the over confident Wiling had any.

  A low hiss jerked my attention to the door to the female showers. I had never expected to see Fallow as a tiger, and I would never have guessed that so tiny a woman could shift into something so large, she stood tall and with her head held high Cornwall only came up to her chest. She was an extraordinary burnt orange colour along her back that melted into pure white at her belly. Back strips stood out strikingly against both, the white fur continued up her neck to cup cheek ruffs and graced her forehead, comparatively her ears were quite small but I think that had something to do with how they were drawn flat, her eyes were narrowed and her lips pulled back off fangs as long as my fingers.

  Fallow continued to make low hisses around an almost continual growl vibrated menacingly in her throat, none of which seemed to bother Cornwall who walked to the shower room door and closed it firmly while Fallow stalked him from behind, easing low to the ground her moves would have been soundless but for her threatening noises.

  I don’t know what I expected a shift to be like, maybe fur growing out of skin that would fall to the gym floor, maybe bones snapping and contorting retching and realigning, maybe a shower of colour and magic. But it was none of those things; like a heat-haze obscures the horizon, the air around Cornwall vibrated and blurred his body. When the haze had cleared what stood in his place was a full-grown African lion, golden brown fur covered powerful muscles, he rather lazily shook his head and the tawny gold of his mane swished and swirled around his face and muzzle.

  He moved towards Fallow in small slow steps, after each one he paused, Fallow never backed off but her snarling became more pronounced. I knew then she wasn’t in control of herself just as Cornwall had said, she had never been violent, she had never really liked to be touched and allowed only short contact with people she trusted, but when she wanted release she never snapped to get it.

  She was snapping now, even as I recognized Cornwall was trying to give her the chance to come to him willingly. Fallow was going lower and lower but her muscles were locked, standing out in sharp relief, her claws slid out of their sheaths and scraped the wooden floor suffering beneath her attentions, but Cornwall kept padding slowly forward. He lowered his head and in a sudden burst of movement Fallow jerked away. Cornwall moved with her but she feigned better than I, or Cornwall, expected her to and she lashed out her claws digging into his flank and slicing through his flesh like a hot knife through butter. Cornwall snarled at her, but the sound was almost scolding, more of a reprimand than a challenge, he didn’t even lash out at her in return out of reflex.

  Blood ran freely down his thigh and I couldn’t help but remember the sight of South’s blood running down my own hands. I shuddered but couldn’t keep from watching as they began circling again, again Fallow went low but this time Cornwall snarled in response a warning telling her not to. Fallow eased all of her weight back, this time when she lashed out Cornwall was ready with a swift dodge and a counter swipe of his own, he didn’t use his claws but he still snapped her head hard to one side.

  Fallow roared in outrage and anger and threw herself at his larger form, Cornwall reacted, his movements were calmer and more precise less fuelled by anger but no less intense, he rose up on his back paws, his own injury seemingly forgotten he caught her full in the chest and shoved her back. Fallow’s claws found his shoulders and dug in again more shallow gouges this time but still enough to draw blood, the weight of Cornwall’s shove lifted Fallow off her feet and threw her a few feet away.

  Fallow rose again, and they began circling once more, Cornwall must have begun to feel the pain of his injuries but he didn’t even flinch as he walked, again advancing on Fallow’s snarling giving her the chance to go to him. This time when Fallow lunged it was with her head down and she just charged, Cornwall went down under the weight of her and Fallow got her claws in his soft underbelly before he could pull away, this time he wasn’t so forgiving to her and his own claws bit into her hind quarters as she struggled up. Cornwall was ready, he leapt onto her, his weight and the help of a paw forcing her down his teeth dug into her collar.

  Fallow roared and squirmed, the floor suffering more as she kicked and snarled loud enough to make my ears hurt, one of his back legs lifted and his paw landed on her back and the claws dug in forcing her down, he was growling at her now.

  Fallow’s sounds took on a new tone, a more anguished noise that sounded human but she remained tiger and Cornwall didn’t let up, I wanted to yell at him but I found that he raised his perfect pale eyes to mine and held on and I held my tongue.

  The blurring began again first over Fallow and then over Cornwall and I found myself moving to the stairs trying and failing to keep my eye on both of them, by the time I was moving across the gym they were both human again and both naked. Fallow was still keening and crying and making more noise than I had ever heard from her in all our time together and it distressed me more than I could ever have imagined, Cornwall was licking at the puncture marks he had made on her neck in a tender way as he was whispering words I couldn’t hear.

  Cornwall’s back was a patchwork of scratches that worked down to his ass where four deep furrows carved into his flesh. I was surprised that they weren’t bleeding, and even as I approached they looked to heal themselves.

  I pulled off my jacket as Cornwall pulled back, still masking his pain but I caught the wince at the corner of his eyes, as Fallow eased up I flicked my jacket over her shoulders and pulled it around her. I had no intention of getting an eye full of my chief race designer, especially when she was shaking and hiccupping her breaths and had tears sitting thickly on her lashes.

  “Jessica?” I whispered the word.

  Fallow looked up and when she tried to look away I caught her face in both my hand in astonishment, I had never been capable of holding her gaze, her beast had always roamed in them too close to the surface, but it was gone now. There was just the soft colour that was the greener side of hazel and an uncertainty that I had never seen in them before, I was also suddenly aware that I was holding on to her, Fallow had never permitted me to linger on her face so long before.

  “Jessica?” More of a demand this time, she had hidden from me by not telling me how she was suffering I wouldn’t let her get away with it again, all I wanted was some reassurance she wasn’t harmed but she just started to cry again, I swept my thumbs against the tears and held her shaking body against my chest.

  # # #

  Harriet South

  I was waiting for my discharge papers before I could meet Rosemary and go back to the hotel.

  A little part of me was looking forward to seeing what the enormous suite that Heronsgate had booked for me would look like. The room from my own package had been more than adequate for my needs but I got the feeling that a man with no home would travel a little more stylishly.

  I had called my parents yesterday and managed to convince them to stay on their holiday. I knew that they didn't care about the money it
had cost them, but I did. I was fine, I wasn't going to get a scar and I was already fighting fit. I told them there was no point in getting off the boat at the next port and flying back to London to wait for me when I wasn't going to need any care or ongoing treatment. After much lecturing I was pleased to say I had managed to succeed, I had called again this morning over my hospital breakfast and the dutiful questions about how I was feeling Angela had taken me off speaker phone and wanted to know all the details about Heronsgate, only for her to become promptly disappointed when I lied by telling her there wasn't anything to talk about.

  Lucy had been even worse, her animal had been riding her and she had spoken in excitable squeals and chittering rather than words.

  Over the years I had brought home nice guys who never passed muster.

  Heronsgate had appeared to have smoothly endeared himself to my parents and my usually overly fussy best friend.

  Saving my life and having lots of money should not have spared him the hazing that he was due as a man in my life. They all had a lot to answer for when I got home.

  I started to scroll through the posts on the author board while I waited for the doctor.

  Jonathan had taken to it with regular updates even though I hadn't been anywhere close to the Door of Death, but his posts hadn't stopped thousands of people take to it both anonymously and with a user name to wish me a speedy recovery.

  I checked my sales log I was sitting on three hundred and sixty-four thousand one hundred and twenty-six.

  My accident had caused over one and sixty thousand people to buy a copy of my book. I had to wonder what they thought. That if I had died the digital copy was going to be worth more than they had paid for it?

  People were peculiar; there was no other word for it.

  There was a light knock on the door and my doctor let himself in.

  “Good morning, Miss South,” he smiled.