by Melinda Hyde
I strolled over to him, quietly stroking the creamy-whit strip that ran up his nose. He quieted, and except for the occasional snort, the other horses did the same. I was still eyeing him curiously, when the sound of whispered voices drifted down the abandoned passage.
I froze, my hand still lingering on the animal’s soft fur, and I slowly turned my eyes to the end of the lane. My heart began to beat furiously in my ribcage, as if it were alive and demanding to be set free. A flush came over me, and my head swam with dizzy disorientation.
My hand fell away from the stallion’s velvety snout, and on trembling legs, I started down the dark corridor. Something whispered in the back of my mind that I should turn back; I didn’t want to see what or who occupied the last stall. Still, my body drifted forward, propelled by a will of its own.
I stopped just outside the doorway, squeezing my eyelids together, then my heart staggered, skipping several beats. The words that stole out of the stall, slammed into me, and felt as if they had ripped my insides out. My hands balled into themselves and my body began to quake with anguish and rage. The pain inside grew until it was unbearable.
“You’re going to be a father.” The voice came out in a gloating, self-satisfied purr.
I could stand the tension no more. I staggered into the opening, forcing myself to witness what I knew I was going to find. Never in my life had I felt such a pain as the one that enveloped me. It shot through me like a reckless bolt of white-hot fire. It scotched my mind and heart, burning a trail singed by betrayal.
My hand came up to grip the center of my chest, where a tightness that pressed in on my lungs had formed. I shook my head to clear the tears from my vision and choked on the bile that rose in the back of my throat, making a squeaky, strangled gasp.
His lips still lingered, maybe even brushed, over her bare, creamy shoulders. His body went rigid, and his eyes, emerald pools of striking green, shifted up to capture mine. They hit me like a heavy, backhanded blow, knocking me off balance. I stumbled away, pushing my hands up through my dark locks.
The look on Orin’s face was one of guilt. He had been caught, and there was no denying what had gone on. His hands fell away from Mallory’s bare skin, but she turned, leaning into him. She pulled his arms around her naked belly, sending me a cruel, gloating smirk.
I turned to leave. My vision was blurred with a tsunami of tears that threatened to breech the shores of my face. I heard Orin’s pleading voice call out my name, but it didn’t matter. I kept going. I didn’t want to see him. There was nothing to be said between us. The betrayal I had witnessed was more than I could stand.
I had almost made it to the barn door when Orin caught me by my arm, jerking me around to face him. “Don’t do this, Leonia. Listen, I don’t know what you heard, but I can explain.” I shook my head; there was no explaining what I had seen—what I had heard. “Please,” he begged, his desperation clearly written on his face.
Mallory practically glided up behind him, and I shoved his hand away. “You can explain?” I shrieked the question. “You can explain how you are to be the father of this—this wench’s bastard child?” I waved my hand dismissively in her direction. “I want her gone, Orin. I want her gone tonight.”
Orin’s eyes went wide. The look on his face was both shocked and miserable. “I can’t do that, my love.” I bristled at the fact that he thought that he had a choice. “She’s carrying my child. I can’t turn her away.”
Something snapped inside of me, unleashing the pent-up anguish I had so jealously guarded. “I gave up everything to be your wife—everything, Orin.” My lip twitched at the corner, caught in a spasm brought on by the ominous snarl that was pasted there. “I am the mother of your one and only son, and if not for me, you would still be too dead to raise him. How dare you bring such a lowly strumpet into our home. How dare you take her to bed,” I shouted, now trembling with hysterical rage. “She is leaving. If you don’t make her go, I promise you that I will,” I assured him, not recognizing the gravel crunching in my voice.
Mallory came up behind Orin, moving with an exaggerated swing to her plump hips. “That was a nice speech, but we both know that I’m not going anywhere,” she smirked. “If anyone’s leaving, dear, it’ll be you.” Her lips curled up into a coy smile, pinching at the dimples in her rosy cheeks, and her eyes stared from beneath her lashes, into my own. “After all, you’re no longer needed, witch. He got what he wanted from you.”
An explosion went off in my mind, blocking out all traces of rational thought. A ball that had formed in my chest cracked through its shell, and a weight that I hadn’t been aware of, was removed from my shoulders. I was losing it. I was losing control, and I knew it. It felt so good that I didn’t even want to try.
Green, luminescent light exploded in the corridor around me, forming a thick, shimmering bubble that fit close to my form. It coursed through my flesh, sprinting over and around my limbs, shocking my dormant cells to life. I peered unforgivingly at the fiery, naive redhead in front of me.
I could hear Orin begin to cry out, trying to make me see reason. There would be no reasoning, though. The time for that had long since come and gone. Orin whipped around to Mallory, wearing a sick, stricken expression. It was clear that the foolish chit still hadn’t realized the severity of her situation. She stood with her arms crossed over her bare, naked breasts, leveling me with a superior lift of her finely pruned brow.
Orin was fast to act, but I was faster, by far. I flicked my finger forward in a single, effortless motion. The slivers of translucent light crawled their way up Mallory’s shapely legs, then over the rest of her bare body. That was when the first hints of panic began to register on her features. I gave a sudden, violent jerk of my hand, and the tendrils closed in to her, forcing her body to rearrange itself.
Orin had stopped dead in his tracks. He watched me, as I mangled his lover against her will, with a growing look of terrified horror. Down she went, her bones shrinking and twisting, until she had shifted back into the body of a beast. I allowed the magic to recede. Satisfaction drifted through me, as I watched the confusion register behind her green eyes. She tried desperately to shift back into a woman, but she couldn’t—and she never would again. I had made sure of it.
Orin seemed to understand, as well. He gaped at the big, black she-cat, shaking his shaggy head in denial. She glanced up helplessly into his eyes, and his jawline hardened to stone. He turned on me, eyes blazing with inflated fury. He held out his hands, as if he meant to throttle me for what I had done, but there would be none of that— not tonight.
When he had advanced too far, his hands shimmied across the magical shield that surrounded me, and he fell back with a startled cry. He lifted his palm in front of his face to examine the damage. Already the flesh around his fingers was beginning to bubble into blisters. The rest of his palms were uneven patches of red and white.
He eyed them with shock, then anger, before meeting my eyes. “Enough, Leonia. Change her back,” he demanded, pointing a reprimanding finger at me.
I laughed, despite the pain I felt churning inside. “Never. She wanted to be a filthy beast, so now she is.”
At my words, fury blazed in the creature’s bright, emerald eyes. She flew forward, striking at the barrier around me with her deadly claws. Her blows were rapid and harsh. Yet, they were futile against my defenses. They bounced off the surface of my translucent shield, sending sparks of green showering overtop her head.
Orin had gone completely white, as if all the blood had drained from his flesh, and he wore a stricken expression. “Please, Leonia. Don’t do this. Change her back. We can all live here in peace. It doesn’t have to be this way.” He glanced over at Mallory and fell to his knees. “I care for her, even as I care for you,” he pleaded. “I love her, Leonia.”
Those word, spoken from his heart, sealed her fate. I would never, in a million years, share my home and husband with her—never. That he had even suggested it, hardened my heart to
a solid slab of marble. Another wave of pain and darkness blasted through me. I locked Mallory in my sights, and I pinned her in place with my magic.
I allowed my powers to penetrate deep beneath the surface of her glossy, spotted coat. I weaved my spell in and out, altering everything about her biological make up. She scratched and clawed, revolting against the invasion. She was putting up a valiant struggle, but I had no intentions of releasing my hold on her.
Slowly, the brilliance of her eyes began to funnel away, taking the last remnants of comprehension with it. Her eyes were still unusual for a panther, but the light behind them—the humanity, was washed away.
I pulled back on my powers, releasing my grip, and she crouched low, swiveling her head suspiciously from Orin to me. She growled in fear, backing away toward the barn door. Orin attempted to follow her, calling out her name in a broken voice. Then, she whipped away and flew into the soft glow of first light.
Orin turned on me wearing a dark look. “What have you done to her,” he growled, annunciating every word.
My skirts flowed freely around my legs, and my hair floated out in highlights of green. Orin turned back to the darkness, staring after Mallory. With a growl that resonated somewhere between human and beast, he shifted, allowing his long legs to carry him out of the barn.
No doubt he was going after Mallory, but it would be for naught. What had gone on between them was over. Whether he would return or not, couldn’t say. In truth, I was past the point of caring.
The recession of my magic came on with surprising suddenness. My feet made contact with the hay strewn floor, and the green light winked out, leaving me to sag under the weight of my exhaustion. The feeling of euphoria that had consumed me in the throes of rage began to abate, and without the magic encasing me in its protective shell, my muddled emotions crashed down on me.
I staggered out of the barn, squinting against the low hanging sun. My feet propelled me forward, even as a terrible numbness spread through my body. It started deep down, seeping out, until it was physically crippling.
I had almost made it to the door of the cabin, when I crumpled to my knees in the cool, billowing blades of grass. I turned my face up to the buttery light, whose brilliance failed to warm me. I was cold—so cold, but the chill wasn’t coming from the land around me. It was a chilliness that started deep in my marrow, spreading its way out. I fell forward, my face lolling into my hands, and I began to wail my heartache.
12.Inhuman Beast
Orin
Icouldn’t believe what was happening. I watched as a green light surrounded Leonia. It spiraled out around her, swirling around her legs and arms, until it had consumed her entire body. Her hair shot out from her head in spikes of green and black static, and her eyes became empty, bottomless sockets, filled only by a sheen of pure, unwavering green. Her feet lifted from the floor, and the magic propelled her higher, until she was towering over us.
My mouth went dry with dread, as Mallory spoke to Leonia. Everything I had worked so diligently to keep hidden had been brought to the light. Leonia now knew everything, and there would be no going back. The painfilled rage that she was experiencing flared out from her, washing over me in tormented waves. The effect was overpowering. I began to feel the onset of nausea set in.
Leonia angled her hands at Mallory, and the light that began to spark from the tips of her slender fingers intensified. I glanced over to Mallory to find her wearing a mask of disdain. She was a fool in her arrogance. She had no idea what she had awakened—the fires she was stoking. I watched as the light began to swivel out from my wife, planted in place with horror.
Leonia snapped her fingers into the smoothness of her palms, and the light encased Mallory in a tight, choking grip. It crushed down on her slight frame, forcing her bones to snap and crack. The devastating sound ricocheted through the small barn, but I could only watch helplessly as agony flitted behind my huntress’s eyes.
The magic assaulted her, bending her and tearing at her flesh, until she stood on all fours. I was confused by the unexpected turn of events. I couldn’t understand why Leonia would force her to shift. Then, as I watched the panic begin to take hold of Mallory, the fog lifted. Leonia hadn’t simply forced Mallory to shift. Leonia had locked my lover in the body of a beast.
Mindless fury galloped through my veins. The world around me faded into a haze, until all I could see was the witch hovering in front of me—my wife. I didn’t even realize I had moved, until I felt the calloused flesh on my palms begin to boil. A sharp flash of light spilt through my mind in response to the pain. I looked from my wounded palms, then up to Leonia, unable to believe that she had turned her devil craft on me.
“Enough, Leonia. Change her back,” I roared, clenching my teeth against the rage burning through me.
Leonia let of a sickening, triumphant cackle, throwing her black hair back. “Never.” The tone of her voice was deep and disturbing. “She wanted to be a filthy beast, and now she is.”
I watched with a sinking feeling, as Mallory flew forward, attacking the light around my wife’s legs. It singed the fur of her paws, and I could smell the sickening scent of burning hair. A sense of desperation crashed over me, and I turned to Leonia. I mindlessly pleaded with her to change Mallory back, but my plight only seemed to add fuel her rage.
Her face went dark with loathing, and she turned her magic on Mallory again. This time the pain I felt was crippling. The beautiful, spirited spark in Mallory’s eyes, that I loved so much, drained away. Where her eyes were once bright with sharp intelligence, they were now almost a dull, feral grey. Her attacks on Leonia subsided, and she backed away, her limbs trembling in fear. It was the kind of fear that an animal displays when it’s been backed into a corner.
I rushed toward Mallory, wanting to offer her a measure of comfort, but her eyes snatched suspiciously in my direction. The hairs that traced her spine stood on end. She backed away from me, spitting a warning through her rabid hisses. She didn’t recognize me. In one fluid movement, she whipped around, her claws leaving deep bedded marks in the dirt floor, and she raced out the door.
I turned on Leonia, shaking with rage. “What have you done to her?”
But she didn’t answer. I didn’t need her to. I suspected I already knew what she had done. Leonia hovered over me with an air of superiority, gazing down through vacant, emotionless eyes. They had become nothing more than hollow, soulless pits. I backed away, disgusted by the sight of her, then let the beast tear through my skin and followed the trail left by Mallory’s woodsy scent.
∆ ∆ ∆
My big paws churned, sending the decaying leaves spaying out behind me. The woods were quiet and tranquil, and the light from the overhead sun filtered through the thick canopy above. Still, I could see no sign of Mallory. I had been following her trail for more than half an hour but hadn’t met with success.
The trail she had left behind was erratic. There was no rhyme or reason in her chosen course. It was as if she was simply moving about for the sake of it. I growled in frustration. There had been times when her scent had become intoxicatingly strong, announcing that she was close at hand, but as I neared, she would move on—evading me.
I couldn’t give up, though. I had to find her. Somehow, I had to help her. What Leonia had done was incomprehensible. It carved in stone the way I felt about magic—the way I had always felt about it.
I rounded a large, moss covered oak tree, and I stumbled back onto my rump. Mallory stared back at me with wild, angry eyes. She was backed into a crevice that had grown into the trunk of the tree. Her muscles quivered, and her lips were peeled back from her ivory teeth. Her dark whiskers trembled. It was a warning. She was done being pursued. Now, she was on the defensive.
I lowered my head in a placating manner, dropping my belly to the dampened ground. I didn’t know what else to do. All I knew was that I needed to be near her. I needed to comfort her—to assure her that everything was going to be okay.
; I crawled forward, dragging my belly across the forest floor. Her growls became louder—more violent, and I felt a great shadow of grief fall over me. Still, I refused to believe that I had lost her. So, I pushed on, mewing soft, tender notes to her. When I was almost close enough to press my muzzle into the soft sweetness of her fur, she struck out, battering the sides of my face with her gigantic paws.
I quickly darted away, distancing myself from the attack, and she backed away hissing and spitting. Behind me, I noted the sound of my warriors padding up. I threw a pained look over my shoulder, not caring if they witnessed my moment of weakness. I glanced back at Mallory, and I felt my chest cave in.
The woman inside of her—who she had been— was gone. There was no humanity left in those dull eyes. I realized with a sense overwhelming grief, that Mallory wasn’t coming back. She had been swallowed up by the beast inside. If I had been a human, at that moment, tears would have rushed from my eyes. I wasn’t a man, though. I was a beast.
I settled myself down on the soggy carpet of leaves, and I let out a long, lingering yowl of anguish. Over and over the sound departed from my lips, as I watched the huntress saunter away into the depths of the forest. I didn’t go after her this time. There was no use.
The depression and misery that shrouded my spirit drug into me, weighing me down. The weight of it was almost too much to bear, and it fogged my mind, casting a veil over my thoughts. One still shined through the darkness, though, and I clung to it fiercely.
This was Leonia’s fault. Everything that had befallen me in the last year was because of her and Leonora. Every horrid detail was because of them, and this time, they had gone too far. They were going to pay, even if I had to exact the price with my last dying breath.
My warriors sprawled out around me, careful to allow me my space. They eyed me with wary concern. They seemed to understand what had taken place, but I no longer cared about the shame of discovery. What mattered now was revenge, and I would have my share before it was over with.