by Knight
There, on the floor, writhing, her body flickering between man and woman, is my mate.
Her mouth is open in a silent scream, and her bones are stretching and snapping with a wet-sounding, pained noise. Like a ghost is superimposed over the man’s body, I can see her true form flickering in and out of view.
The change.
My mate is a skinwalker.
A woman I didn’t notice before turns with a roar, pointing a gun at me. Her hand doesn’t wobble at all, and when I sniff I realise she is human.
“Don’t fucking come closer, I will shoot you scum!” she shouts, and when I hear a muffled yell I look behind her to see a doctor strapped into what looks like an operating chair with a gag over his mouth as he stares at me wide-eyed.
I look back at the woman and frown until I realise she thinks I’m part of the guards, probably due to all the black I’m wearing.
“Don’t point your toy at me sheep, not when you stand between me and my mate,” I sneer and she scowls, before glancing at the woman still changing on the floor and back to me.
“We’ll wait until she’s finished, and if she doesn’t know you, you’re dead,” she shouts, her voice sure. When she looked at the changing mate of mine, she didn’t even flinch or seem surprised. So she has seen it before, yet the dirt, blood, and lack of clothing on her shows her as one of the humans’ captured women. How long has my mate been here?
If any of these sheep touched my mate, hurt her, experimented on her, I will burn them all to the ground before ripping out their souls.
I stand casually with the gun aimed at me, my eyes locked on my mate, as all of us wait for her to ride it out. Eventually, the writhing and noises stop, and she’s slumped against the floor, breathing heavily. Long, blonde hair obscures her face from me.
She’s still and the sheep looks from me to her, obviously nervous until my mate groans and starts to push herself up.
“Fucking hell, that bastard hurt. Seriously, growing a cock is fun and all, but when it goes back up, not so much,” my mate moans, getting to her knees with a sigh. She has a grimace on her face as she looks at the human woman before she follows her gun to me. Her mouth pops open, and those eyes of hers are still black from her change as she watches me.
“Name’s Griffin, sweetheart,” I taunt, my asshole side coming out. I never wanted a mate, yet here she kneels, and she is fucking beautiful and powerful. It shrouds around her until I’m almost choking on it.
She gets to her feet and ignoring me completely, she turns back to the man in the chair. “Well, Griffin Sweetheart, why don’t you make yourself fucking useful and go and open the cells if you’re here to help. If not, get the fuck out before BB here shoots you or I rip you to pieces.” With that, she grabs a scalpel and grins at the human male who visibly cowers before her.
“Now, where were we?” she purrs, the sound sending a bolt of lust straight to my already hard cock.
Ignoring the newcomer, Griffin, I smile down at the doctor. That change really took a lot out of me, I think it was because of how long I held that form. I’m almost sagging from exhaustion, my body is obviously burnt out, but I can’t let them see that. Especially Griffin, since something tells me he’s watching me very carefully. It doesn’t help that I can’t tell what he is. He isn’t human, that’s for sure, but he doesn’t feel like Nos. He’s hot as hell though, and my tired lady bits even perked up when I saw him. That attitude is a huge turn off though, so I ignore him and concentrate on what I came down here to do—the faster I do it, the faster I can leave to rest.
BB, with wary eyes still flickering between the doctor and Griffin, comes to stand on the opposite side of the chair.
“Now, you were going to tell me who you’re selling the women to. Weren’t you?” I say softly, leaning closer with the scalpel and running it lightly across his cheek. He flinches to the side before freezing, his eyes staring at me as he breathes around the gag. “If I take this gag out and the first words out of your mouth are not the address or name, I will cut you. Understood?”
He breathes faster as I cut away the gag, his mouth moving hard as he swallows. “Fuck you,” he spits out and I grin.
“I was hoping you would say that.” Darting forward, I cut his cheek and he cries out as the scalpel slices through his flesh faster and deeper than I thought.
“Tell me,” I demand and he shakes his head. “BB, pass me that full syringe from the side, will you?” I ask sweetly and he swears, starting to struggle in the chair.
BB turns and passes it over, and I uncap it and hold it to his neck, his pulse jumps there as he freezes again.
“Now, I’m no expert and I don’t know what’s in this syringe, but by the look on your face, you do. One more time, who are you selling them to?”
His eyes dart around the room desperately before coming to rest on me again. “I don’t know, I swear. I was just brought in to test and experiment on their...unique natures, and get them to manifest as fast as possible. I just get them from above and then they’re taken away again. I don’t have any part of it!” he rushes out and I sigh.
“Well, that’s disappointing. I don’t need you then,” I mutter and sigh dramatically.
“No! Wait! I know who will know though!” he screams, watching the needle.
“Who’s that?” I whisper, leaning down so we’re almost touching.
“Marco,” he gasps.
My face twists in a scowl. “That prick, tell me where to find him.”
“You know him?” he asks, looking confused.
“We’ve met, it ended in me being drugged and waking in a cage,” I respond with a laugh.
I hear a growl, and when I look over Griffin is scowling, his hands are clenched into fists at his sides, and murder is written in every line of his body. “Who drugged you?”
Ignoring him, I turn back to the doctor. “Where?”
“I, erm, he owns a club. I know he visits there often. It’s called The Clubhouse,” he gushes.
“Good boy,” I purr, tapping his chest as I straighten. He visibly relaxes so I lunge down and inject him in the neck.
He screams and thrashes in the restraints. “You! You fucking bitch, you’ve fucking killed me!”
Throwing the syringe at the wall, I grin. “Good. Now, stay.”
I look back at BB. “Watch him.”
She nods, throwing a look at Griffin. Turning to face him, I see him still silently fuming. “Who. Drugged. You?” he grits out, his voice deadly. Rolling my eyes, I step past him and pat his shoulder.
“Don’t you worry, I take care of myself, Griffin Sweetheart.” Whistling to myself, I wander over to the glass cages. I ignore the man I can feel prowling after me and gesture for the woman inside to step back. She nods and retreats to press herself against the wall, and her skin changes when she touches it so she blends in with the brick. Cool, a human chameleon.
Winding my fist back, I punch through the glass. It shatters, cracking along the wall before it all falls to the ground in pieces.
“What the fuck? I could have done that!” Griffin yells, rushing to my side and grabbing my hand as he eyes the blood and cut skin. It heals before our eyes, the glass embedded there pushing out and dropping to the floor with a tinkle as the skin heals. He watches it hard before brushing the blood away with his thumb to see the smooth, unblemished skin.
“I don’t need you to, like I said, I can take care of myself. Now, if you want to help go and open the other cells.” I pull back my hand and try to ignore the tingle his touch ignited. I could feel his touch throughout my whole body and that was only from him holding my hand. My blood is burning, pulsing again, wanting him like it wants Nos, but I step away and ignore it. Turning my back on him, I give the other glass cell the same treatment. Both women stay inside, watching us warily.
I step back and hold my hands out to the sides. “I don’t want to hurt you, you’re free. If you go out of the door at the end and up the stairs, you can go wherever you want.
I would advise not going back to your normal life though, since they might find you. If you need any help, there’s a shelter run by someone I trust just down the road.” I rattle off the address and with another look at me, they both spring from their cells and race down the hallway and through the busted open basement door.
“Woman, come here!” Griffin yells from down there.
“Woman? Are you fucking serious?” I fume, stomping over to him.
He looks down at me from where he’s standing outside a cell door. “Well, you never fucking told me your name. What else do you want me to call you? Sugar tits?”
Grumbling, I sigh. “Dawn, my name is Dawn.”
He smirks at me. “Dawn, I like it. Now, sugar tits, what would your majesty like me to do about this?” He jerks his thumb towards the open slot in the door, allowing you to see inwards.
Pushing past him, I peer inside and try to ignore him when he pushes up behind me, his body hard and filled with power. I can feel the steel running through it and the breath he blows on the back of my head.
Breathing out, I concentrate on what’s inside, not how he feels pushed up behind me. When I spot what he was talking about, I smirk. Well, fucking shit. A bloody wolf is prowling the back of the small, closed in cell. Claw marks line the walls and when it spots me, it growls, throwing itself against the door before retreating again.
“Werewolf?” I ask, beyond happy. It makes sense that they exist too.
“Looks like, it’s feral though. If we let it out it, it will attack us and then I will have to kill her,” he muses, stepping back and letting me move away.
“Feral?” I question.
He eyes me. “Means when a werewolf has given over to their baser instincts. They have let their animal take over. You can’t bring them back, the nicest thing to do is put them down. Now, why don’t you know that? Unless you were raised in the middle of butt fuck nowhere?”
“I’m new to this whole world,” I reply distractedly, frowning at the wolf. Poor woman, they pushed her past her breaking point, forced her to shift into a wolf, probably for the first time, and now they want to put her down for it? No.
“What does that mean?” he growls, and it makes the wolf howl and throw itself at the steel door again, rattling it.
“It means it’s a long fucking story and if you haven’t noticed, sweetheart, I’m kind of busy. Why don’t you go stand in the corner looking all brooding if you aren’t going to help?” I quip before pushing past him and making my way back to the room with BB and the doctor.
When I get there, I see him sweating profusely. “Doc, listen up. The wolf, how do we turn her back?”
“Gi-give me the antidote and I will,” he cries shakily, and I follow his gaze to another syringe waiting on the side.
“Deal, but you tell me how first,” I demand.
“You can’t help her,” Griffin adds, and I throw him a dirty look where he leans against the wall, almost blending in with the dark there.
I grab the syringe, ignoring him, and face the doctor again. “Tell me.”
He must realise he has no options now, and he’s desperate, especially when blood starts to drip from his nose. I raise my eyebrow at that. What the hell was in that vial?
“There’s a convocation, in the left drawer. Labelled Moon. It forces shifters into their form and keeps them trapped there until you administer the vial next to it labelled Bain,” he gasps out, with blood dripping from his mouth. It starts to come from his eyes too, like tears. “Please, please give me the antidote,” he yells, the last word turning into a scream that rattles the room.
Leaning down, I stick it in his neck like I did the first one. Within a few seconds he slumps in the chair. His face is less red and the blood coming from everywhere seems to be slowing down.
I step back and turn to the cupboards, and root around until I find the bottle labeled Bain.
“What are you going to do? Throw it through the slat?” Griffin jokes, but he frowns at the same time. To be honest, I hadn’t even thought about it.
Shrugging, I head back down the hallway until I stand outside the werewolf’s door. “If she bites me, I won’t turn into, one will I?” I ask, curious more than anything. I have enough going on with changing my skin, I don’t need to go full animal mode.
“No, but it can kill certain supes,” he warns. Brilliant. Here goes nothing.
Unlatching the cell, I suck in a deep breath as I prepare to open the door. I can feel Griffin watching, but he doesn’t say anything or offer to help. “You want to do it?” I joke.
“You want to save it, you do it. Don’t worry though, I’ll protect your pretty ass if it gets too close,” he replies. Wow, that fills me with confidence...hey, does that mean he’s been staring at my ass? What a creep. Total creep, not hot at all.
I poke my head through and eye the growling she-wolf, who’s backed against the wall, her paws parted and fur on edge. She’s beautiful. All white fur apart from a heart-shaped patch just above her nose on her muzzle.
“Hey there, beautiful. I’m Dawn. I’m a friend. I’m here to help,” I coo, stepping slowly through the door. When she growls again, flashing sharp canines, I stop and show her the syringe. She snaps before darting back to the wall again.
“Shh, I’m not here to hurt you. This will help you change back.” I wait for her to stop growling before I step closer again. You are probably supposed to drop your eyes, but I’m too alpha now for that and I want her to see the sincerity in mine.
When she growls again, I stop in the middle of the room. Okay this isn’t working, now that I’ve got closer she’s snapping her jaws at me. Blowing out an exasperated breath, I make a reckless decision—let’s just hope Griffin isn’t lying about protecting my ass.
“Stop!” I yell, narrowing my eyes at her and holding our gaze. Her growling stops and turns into a whimper as her eyes drop to the floor and she drops to her belly, her rump in the air with her tail downcast.
“Come here,” I order, and when she tries to fight back I add a little more oomph to my order. “Now.” She cowers again, whimpering in the back of her throat as she crawls on her belly until she lays at my feet. “Good girl,” I coo and she rolls onto her back, exposing her belly.
Crouching down, I pat it, stroking her as she vibrates. Distracting her, I speak to her in hushed tones as I line the injection up at her flank. This is going to have to be fast. Wincing, I push it through her fur hard and push it in quickly before jumping back with my arms in the air.
She jumps to her feet, growling and snapping before spinning and licking at the injection point. “Shh, you’re okay,” I soothe and she stumbles to the side, the drugs obviously taking effect.
She staggers again before her legs give out, a whine escaping as her head drops to the floor, and her eyes slide shut even as she seems to fight it. Her body folds in on itself. I can hear bones snapping and reforming as the fur retreats and skin flows over her body. It’s not smooth, in fact, it looks downright painful and only thirty seconds later, a naked woman is curled up where the wolf was. Blood and white liquid cover her skin as she lifts her head.
Short, spiky, grey hair covers her head, and her eyes are the same deep grey with flecks of orange inside. She eyes me tiredly, not even trying to move. “Thank you.” Her voice cracks, obviously from disuse, and I back away.
“You’re welcome, I’m going to set everyone else free. When you’re ready, you can leave,” I say softly and leave the cell.
Griffin is waiting outside and he claps when I emerge. He has a proud look on his face before he masks it into cool indifference again. “Now what?” he asks, leaning there casually. I hadn’t even noticed the siren had cut off, leaving just the flashing lights, until I noticed he wasn’t shouting anymore.
“We get everyone out, then I go to that club and hunt down that slimy bastard who drugged my wine. Who would ruin good wine like that?” I shiver in disgust and his eyebrow quirks up.
“No, I will go to
the club and hunt him down. You will go home,” he grits out, his eyes narrowing on me as his nostrils flare.
Snorting a laugh, I tap his chest as I head back down to BB and the doctor. “Sure thing, Griffin Sweetheart.”
“I mean it, vasculo, you will go back to that swanky hotel,” he growls behind me and I freeze. Turning slowly, I eye him in a new light.
Who the hell is this man? Has he been stalking me?
He must realise his mistake or see the accusation in my eyes because he rolls his. “Don’t flatter yourself, I saw you coming out of one of the sheep’s apartments and figured I would follow you in case you turned out to be important.” He starts to walk past but stops at my side and leans in and whispers, “You weren’t.”
He walks away then and I spin, fury rolling through my entire body. Who is this man to decide my worth? He thinks he can just dismiss me and leave like that? No, Marco is my next victim whether this pig-headed man ‘allows’ it or not.
Ignoring him—it’s either that or kill him—I stride past him disregarding his mocking laughter that follows me, and walk back into the room to see the doctor still strapped in but back to his normal colour. BB nods at me from her perch.
“Okay, let’s go. The others we’ll let out on the sweep back through, but they will realise something is wrong soon.”
She nods and leaves the room and I turn to follow her, but I stop when the doctor cries out. “Wait, please! What about me?”
Grinning over my shoulder at him, I reply, “Just because I stopped you from bleeding to death doesn’t mean I won’t kill you. Some people don’t deserve to live, an eye for an eye, isn’t that the old saying?” I muse, before stepping back as he starts to struggle.
I laugh and saunter down the corridor, releasing the rest of the girls. They fly from their cells with a mixture of anger, hurt, and wariness. “Ladies, you are free to go, but if you want revenge like I imagine, then there happens to be a certain someone tied up down that corridor behind you.” Smiling, I leave them to their decision. I won’t kill him outright, but he sentenced himself to his own demise when he hurt those women.