Shift After Dark

by Liz Paffel

  A high-pitched screech cut the air behind her. Isla gasped and slowly turned her head. A pair of golden eyes reflected at her. She shrunk back as a large form materialized from the night sky. From the distance, it looked similar to a great snowy owl.

  The closer it came through the dim light, the more it revealed itself. The neck was longer than any bird she’d ever seen, the head triangular with a thick, hooked black beak. The creature glistened ethereal in the faint moonlight. The outline of its feathers appeared metallic as if it had been created by a metal smith. The entire body came into view—huge, bulky, yet graceful, with thick hind legs and a long tail that whipped through the night before curling around the side.

  “Holy shit.”

  Isla stepped back farther as the animal’s huge wingspan folded with a whoosh that nearly knocked her over as it landed.

  Jesus Christ, it wasn’t an owl.

  It was a dragon. A snow-white dragon.

  Oh God, oh God, oh God. What do I do? She should run, run! But her body wouldn’t allow it. She needed to help the Ahpret. No matter the risk. No matter the fight. She just... she just needed him to live.

  It opened its mouth wide and screeched into the night, the sound laced with unmistakable warning. Twisting its neck, it darted its head low and rumbled low in its throat. The wings arched slightly. A defensive display. As if she were any threat.

  Cautiously, she brought her hands up, palms out. “Please, I just want to help him. I have to hold pressure on his chest to stop the bleeding.”

  The dragon’s gaze was intelligent as it cocked its head and assessed her. This had better not be a trick of her tumor, some crazy manifestation her cancer was making up. It seemed too real. A dragon, here in the woods, staring at her with humanness glimmering in its eyes. Eyeing the huge stain seeping through the jacket on the Ahpret’s chest, she shifted anxiously.

  “He’s been shot. I... I need to get him inside the cabin.”

  She moved to hold pressure again. The dragon growled louder with a snap of its jaws. Isla flinched but didn’t stray from her work. “I’m not going to hurt him. I’m a doctor. I need to figure out how get him inside.”

  The dragon leveled her with a stare so intense and fierce, Isla felt it cut right through her. Goosebumps rose on her flesh as a sense of awe overtook her.

  One wing unfurled and knocked her against the chest, pushing her back. She fell onto her butt in the snow. Keeping her palms up in a sign of submission, she kept perfectly still. The creature settled over the Ahpret, covering him with his huge body. The dragon’s head dipped against the Ahpret’s, a low rumbling taking on shape.

  Words. The sound had the intonation of words. The dragon was speaking to the Ahpret, the words laced with a soothing accent. The dragon lifted its huge wings, steadying itself with rapid backstrokes as it curled one massive foot around the Ahpret’s body and made a graceful ascent. It easily maneuvered into the air and through the trees in the clearing. Her heart flipped as she realized the dragon was carrying the Ahpret away.

  No! Wait!

  Her forehead scrunched. Why did she care? Why... did it hurt to see the dragon soar above the trees, the injured shifter cradled in its claws?

  Pushing to her feet, Isla studied the distance as if they might come back. Her vision blurred as a lance of hot pain sliced through her skill. Grabbing her head between her hands, she fell to one knee and hissed out a groan. Something warm ran over her lips and rained into the snow at her feet.

  She wiped the back of her hand under her nose, feeling the slick warmth of blood.

  “Damn it.”

  She had minutes, if she was lucky, before the tumor ravaged her into oblivion. Pinching the base of her nose with her fingers, she moved toward the cabin.

  Panting, Isla crawled to the door just enough to kick it shut. Cradled in complete blackness, she stumbled to the couch and fell upon it as pain unfurled at the base of her skull.

  And started to play.

  Chapter Three

  No light.

  His body was absorbing the buckshot. He knew the hallmark pain, like a tiny man wielding a blazing axe that hacked mercilessly through his insides. He’d been in this place of stasis before, too many times. Despite knowing full well that he was physically unable to move, he tried anyway and growled when he was met with resistance.

  He had to get to the woods. He’d been baiting the hunter for weeks now, carefully luring him in and waiting with barely restrained patience each time the hunter spooked and bolted. Playing cat-and-mouse was part of the fun and each session drove his desire to rip into the killer’s neck even more. The hunter owed his life for what he’d done to every Ahpret. He’d killed their King, and he needed to pay.

  Guilt poked at him. It had been his job to protect his King. They’d been ambushed, and he’d failed. He’d been shot first, too weak to find strength to get to his feet and take the automatic rounds that riddled the King. He should have been stronger. He should have been a shield for the sacred dragon.

  Killing the hunter who still stalked these woods would be a small repentance for the death of his king.

  He’d been so close until the woman had gotten in the way.

  Gavin tried to rest his mind to match the stillness of his physical body. But his subconscious had woken a short time ago, his thoughts crisp and clear and he couldn’t stop thinking about her.

  Where had she come from? As the Alpha of the North, he’d sent his people to a new reserve in the Canadian wilderness where hunting Ahpret was unheard of. Their new home was protected with shock collar technology that guaranteed humans couldn’t get inside if they did decide to start slaughtering shifters. Soon, it would be time for his sister to take her place as Healer Supreme, and the people would decide on a new king.

  He’d have to stop biding his time on the reserve, waiting for the killer of his king to return. The hunters always came back. Humans did not come here for any other purpose anymore. Residents of the resting house were long gone.

  Bjorn hadn’t notified him that another would be coming. Yet, the female was here. He’d scented her inside the cabin. He’d seen her with his own eyes—beautiful, like an angel looking over him.

  A twinge of desire lit inside him. He growled in his mind. Nature was cutting into his will to stay here, alone. He was growing old, nearly past the time of taking a mate. Without one, old age would settle in, weakening him into a premature death. He needed to get to the new reserve; find a mate. It might already be too late. His body wasn’t healing the same this time; it felt different, more chaotic in its attempt to repair. Another wound like this would probably be fatal.

  No light!

  The thought pierced his mind as a lance of pain heated and expanded in his chest. There must be light somewhere—the pain was too severe and coming too often. He needed complete darkness to heal at peak efficiency. Had the human done something to him? Taken him somewhere? Impossible. She was a tiny thing, much too small to drag someone his size anywhere.

  Her scent vaguely touched his nose. He’d noticed it immediately upon his subconscious waking and it had plagued him ever since. Warmth spread inside him at the same time a little knot started in his gut. He tried to dismiss it, but the strange feeling grew stronger. Gavin huffed inside, wishing he could beat down the doors of his physical body and get the fuck out.

  Now he had the hunter and a random female to track down.

  Where are you, woman? His thoughts demanded. The heady scent of pine and brisk snow seeped into his senses, momentarily taking over the soft perfume of the woman’s skin. He was too vulnerable—something about this didn’t feel right.

  “What the hell was that?”

  Gavin stilled as a female voice cut through his mind. He must be delusional from the pain—hearing things, imagining things.

  “That was weird.”

  His subconscious jerked as the voice sounded again, faintly, as if it were far away. His breathing kicked up as he struggled to listen, both with
his physical ears and his mind. Telekinesis was common among the SVH, but there were none within hundreds of miles for him to connect minds with. Who are you?

  “Jesus Christ!”

  His mind went silent; even the rush of his own breathing stilled.

  “It’s the headache, that’s all. I’m... God, I’m getting worse.”

  Her words were thick with anguish but tinged with a tone he remembered. The woman! She was here, close by. Somewhere. Where are you? He concentrated on projecting the thought by recalling her face and focusing on her scent.

  “Are you... are you in my head?”

  Somehow, he was. Gavin recalled the blue of her eyes, and the red tendrils of her hair fluttering in the cold breeze. Her skin had been so pale, almost like the snow itself.

  Where are you?

  “Oh God, I’m going crazy!”

  Where. Are. You.

  Silence met his demand as if she’d simply shut off her mind. Impossible, all of this was impossible. The woman he’d come across last night hadn’t been SVH; she was human. And no human could communicate telepathically with a shifter. They simply didn’t have the ability. A sheet of fatigue draped over him then, fogging his mind and making his subconscious weak. The unexpected mental connection was literally draining him. He shut his mind’s eyes and willed himself into a relaxed state.

  Please, he thought as he began to fade. Where are you?

  “Get out of my head!”

  The words were forceful, almost palpable as if he could feel her fear. Gavin’s breathing slowed as he sunk deeper into stasis. The faint screech— an owl? — sounded from the distance, followed by the soft rush of wings. He tried to focus on the sounds as a flicker of hope lit inside him. Worthless to hope. There were no Ahpret here... not anymore. He’d sent them all away...

  He sank deeper into his mind with one last thought lingering in the ether.

  There was one other way a human might be able to get into his mind.

  If she were his mate.

  Chapter Four

  The dried blood on her hands cracked and pulled at her skin.

  Isla held her palms in front of her, unsure which of the mahogany streaks were hers and which belonged to the shifter. Her lips and chin itched from remnants of the nosebleed she’d had last night, and her vision still hadn’t fully cleared.

  Carefully, she pushed herself to her feet and stood for a moment until her balance evened out. Light seeped dimly into the space from the closed curtains. Could she really have slept the entire day? Last night seemed like a dream. In a rush, she remembered the wounded Ahpret and the dragon. Her pulse picked up as she recalled blood pooling from the shifter’s wound before the dragon had taken him away. Had he survived?

  Where would the dragon have taken him? Worry flooding through her, Isla began a slow pace around the living room. Why did she feel so agitated over the thought of the shifter’s death? She wished she could call Bjorn and make him explain all this!

  She padded to the bathroom and turned on the shower. Locking the door, she stripped and carefully stepped beneath the hot spray. Her muscles relaxed under the delicious heat.

  The voice she’d heard in her head, there was nothing to prove that had been real. Even if it had been as clear as someone speaking into her ear. A lump lodged in her throat as she stepped out of the shower and toweled off. The brain tumor was likely progressing and giving her aural hallucinations. Her eyes stung as she held back a sob. What she wouldn’t give to have her brother here. He’d put his arms around her and sit quietly while she rested her head on his shoulder. They’d sit in silence, the unspoken words more comforting for her than anything he might say. Once she’d learned that there was no cure for her cancerous tumor, words couldn’t console her anyway.

  Isla dressed and wandered through the house. She turned on a floor lamp to combat the fading light as she took in the living room. It was tidy and decorated with rustic cabin-style things: plaid wool blankets draped over the back of the leather couch, a ‘Welcome to the Cabin’ sign above the hallway arch; lampshades with stenciled moose on them. An oversized, well-stuffed leather chair sat beside the stone fireplace, a small braided rug on the floor.

  How many people had died in that chair? Warm by the fire, their feet on the rug while Gavin Perry let his fangs down and gave them a peaceful, euphoric death?

  Rubbing her arms, she pulled her gaze away from the chair, strode back to the couch and pulled a small pouch from her bag. She withdrew two slender syringes filled with clear fluid. She’d missed her daily dose yesterday, though it didn’t really matter. Bjorn had promised her the serum may prolong her life, but she doubted it was doing much more than causing her to hear voices.

  That wasn’t entirely true. It must be working because by modern medical standards, she should have been dead months ago. Yet by some miracle of this unknown science Bjorn was fiddling with, she’d survived. He refused to tell her what the injection contained, and it didn’t matter. He was a doctor and her brother—her only living family—and she trusted him. Another comfort in a world where you couldn’t trust anyone.

  She wiped the skin of her forearm with an alcohol square, uncapped the syringe and slid the small, thin needle beneath the taut skin. A bleb formed beneath her flesh as she injected the serum and winced against the familiar burn.

  Done. Maybe it would give her another day or two. Maybe it wouldn’t. Maybe Gavin Perry would come for her first, and that would be the end of it. But... perhaps he wouldn’t come. An Ahpret had been seriously wounded, and as the Alpha of his people, it made sense that he might be tied up in that. The driver had said it was highly likely there were more Ahpret than Gavin in these woods.

  A bang from the front door boomed through the room. It came immediately again, bam, bam, bam, bam!

  Isla froze in position. Not again. Remnants of the night before flickered through her mind. Her heart flickered with anticipation. What if it was him, coming back to show her that he was alive? What a silly fantasy. What the hell was wrong with her, pining over a dangerous creature? Her temple began to throb as she listened closely and heard nothing.

  She slipped off the couch and slowly tread to the front door with soft foot falls. Reaching for the door handle, Isla hesitated while she worked out a breath. Anything could be on the other side, things with claws and fangs, humans with guns. A dragon. Fear had become such a constant in her life, it suddenly didn’t feel so threatening right now. She was afraid yes. She was always afraid and would be long after she opened this damn door.

  Fuck it.

  Isla turned the handle and pulled the door wide. A blast of crisp air smacked her in the face. She struggled to take a breath against it, her eyes darting from side to side. Nothing. It had snowed heavily during the day, but the roof over the porch prevented a new layer from forming there. Her tracks from the night before were everywhere, messing up the ability to see if new lay over old. She scanned the area again before slowly pushing the door to a close. Whatever had been there was gone... for now.

  The door almost rest against the frame when she spotted it. Her hairline began to tingle as she studied the small object near the threshold. Her mind recognized it despite its gnarled and melted appearance.

  Her face tingling with disbelief, Isla picked it up and shut the door, locked it tight.

  How? She’d pulled the tab and thrown it out the window. She’d watched it burst into a ball of flame. But there was no mistaking it. Part of the shimmery pink nurse sticker she’d had on it still showed. Someone had found it and dumped it on her porch.

  Her cell phone.

  The cabin was supposed to be an iron-clad secret! The driver had said he felt as if they were being followed. Bjorn had assured her the driver was loyal, that he’d die before telling anyone about the resting house or the work he and Gavin Perry were doing here.

  But if they’d been followed closely enough, someone might have seen her get out of the car; could have followed her tracks through the woods, ri
ght to the damn front door. No matter how it occurred, the appearance of the cell was a threat.

  And she was trapped. No car, no cell phone.

  No way to call for help.

  No way out.

  Chapter Five

  Her scent wrapped all around him.

  The female descended the back steps, her arms wrapped tightly around her.

  His brow furrowed as she moved beneath the moonlight, wearing nothing but a thin, green nightshirt. Her breath puffed with each breath, hanging on the frigid air. Goosebumps rose on her skin, her nipples perked from the cold.

  She tossed back her hair. The ends swept just above the dip in her back, the auburn color shimmering in hues of copper, purple and red in the silver moonlight. It was stalker-ish, watching her from the trees like this. But his cautious animal side needed to observe before he allowed the human side to rush in and slack its curiosity about her. He’d clung to her scent in the air while he’d healed. How she’d gotten him into the small cave, four miles from here, he had no idea.

  He needed to know. What strength did this human possess that allowed her to move him like that, and how had she known he needed darkness in order to heal?

  He wavered a bit. His full strength hadn’t yet returned. Soon. Until then, he’d continue to lie low and keep himself out of harm’s way. A little hard to do when his instinct was telling him to find the hunter once and for all and finish this mad game.

  The woman crossed her arms tight over her chest and descended the last step. Her bare feet sunk into the snow as she took three small steps and paused. She glanced behind her as if to make sure she was still close enough to the house to dart inside. Except that in a minute or two, her small human body would be too cold and numb to move very well. He scowled as she covered her face with her hands. The nightgown clung to her slender frame, hugging her hips and the fullness of her breasts. Gavin’s senses homed in as each breath pushed her breasts into the fabric. Goosebumps blossomed over her bare flesh as a slight tremble racked her body.