Shaping Destiny

by Hmonroe

  “You scream again, you’ll be dead!” He spoke in a stern and evil voice.

  “Pick up her phone! Do I have to tell you everything?” the attacker said to a skinny man next him.

  “But it’s broken.”

  “Pick it up!”

  His lackey listened in a hurry and caught up with us when we reached his SUV.

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked.

  He ignored me. “Grab the duct tape.”

  “Yes, boss.”

  With his large, cracked hands, he put a thick chunk of tape over my mouth. I tried to scream and get away, but his strength outweighed mine. I was like a fly trying to fight a giant. He continued with my hands, wrapping tightly halfway up my arms. My ankles were next, and he spared no mercy. He had pure hatred in his brown eyes and dark circles that indicated exhaustion. The dark night matched his clothes, his eyes, and his whole being.

  The attacker’s minion opened the back door. Just before I was thrown in, I saw Max emerge from the doors of the student center. I wiggled even harder and screamed as much as the tape would allow. Max gave me hope, but when the door shut behind me, and the vehicle started to move, my confidence left. Max didn’t get to me in time, I thought.

  After a drive that seemed like forever, we started to slow. A second later the door opened. A hand ripped me out of the car and let me fall onto the blacktop.

  Another man stood over me. “This is it? It looks human. No way this pretty little thing could be it.”

  “I’m sure. Now bring it inside,” The attacker said.

  Only holding the tape that wrapped my hands, one of the men dragged me into the storage garage. Dried tears and new tears covered my face. The bangs and scrapes of my body along the ground was excruciating. When they finally got me to the place they wanted, they sat me up on a hard, simple chair. The whole floor was cement, and the walls were lined with boxes. My pants were ripped and arms were bleeding.

  There were about thirty men circling the room, but the one in charge stood in the center.

  “Let me tell you a story,” he began. “Over one hundred years ago, your kind destroyed my family.” He paused for a minute. “Do you remember this story, shifter?”

  I shook my head from side to side and mumbled through the tape. He stepped forward and ripped the tape off my mouth.

  “Ahhh!” The tape took the first layer of skin with it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” I cried out.

  “Well, you would say that, so let me continue so I can refresh your memory.” He circled around me. “All these men you see are my family, and each one of these people you hurt. A long time ago our family owned massive lands and homes and had families. We were happy and prosperous, until your ancestor had to destroy everything we had worked for. Every generation has been watching your family to see who would be the next demon. But what we’ve noticed is you are the only female born since your ancestor. None of the males before you have ever shown any shifting abilities.”

  “Shifting? I don’t know what that means!”

  “Sure you don’t, and maybe you haven’t shown any shifting abilities either, but we don’t know what triggers it. Knowing you are the only female born in the last hundred years is reason enough to suspect it’s you. What’s the worst that could happen, anyway? We kill you and eliminate the chance of another abomination destroying someone else’s life.”

  “I’m sorry about your family, but I am not capable of what you say.”

  My face stung, and my shoulder and head throbbed when I hit the ground. He slapped me hard and picked me up to place me back on the chair.

  “Don’t tell me what you’re capable of. Just like your ancestor you will kill. So many people died that night. Blood covered everything, fire destroyed homes, and they had to run from the only place they knew. Your family stole what would have been ours today. I guess you can say I am just repaying the debt.” He glared at me for a moment longer before he wanted proof. “So show me. Shift into your monstrous form and show me what the devil looks like. If I am going to kill you, I want you to fight at your strongest.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.” I had no idea what this crazy man was talking about. Certainly he had the wrong person. At this point I would have shown him anything he wanted me to do. Some part of me wished I knew what shifting was all about.

  “Oh come on, there is no need to be shy here.” He came to me and stroked my cheek, continuing down my body.

  I trembled in disgust. He continued only to see me suffer. He moved to the top of my shirt and grabbed ahold.

  “Now, let’s shed these cloths. When you shift, you won’t need them anyway.”

  I sat there hurt and exposed. My shirt hung from my shoulders. When he started at my pants, everyone froze when the garage door concaved in the center. Another blow hit again, making more bulges in the metal frame. Everyone was on their feet, and even the man in charge turned away from me to investigate.

  “What is that?” men’s voices were mumbling back and forth between the room. “Go check it out.”

  “No way!” another man sounded.

  Loud, crushing hits crumbled the metal. No human being could be behind that door. At first I thought a car ran into the door, but when it happened over and over I was lost on ideas. I was grateful for the distraction, even if it was just another thing going to kill me.

  Growling and scratching sounded around the room as the metal started to bend near the corner of the door. A large, black animal tried to squeeze through the hole, but vanished to do another hard hit.

  “What is that?” the boss said.

  “I think we found your shifter, boss,” one of the men said.

  “That’s impossible.”

  At another moment, a large, black wolf emerged from the door and landed in front of the men. It roared at the top of its lungs. Boxes from the sides of the walled shook and fell from the vibration. The men scrambled in fear, leaving out the same hole the wolf came through. The only man that stayed was the boss.

  “I’m not scared of you!” He pulled out his gun, but in the same moment the wolf snatched it in his mouth and bit hard until it bent.

  “Go ahead, kill me!” he yelled at the wolf. “I will just come back for her and you after I have my army ready. So you better kill me now, or you’ll be dead next time.”

  The wolf leaped forward, swiping the boss’s chest to leave shallow, bloody scratches. He circled around him to shove him hard to the ground toward the gaping metal whole. The boss raised his head to see outside and crawled out. The attacker was fearless, but he still wanted to live.

  The wolf sharply looked at me. We were the only two left in the garage.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Being killed by a human is one thing, but being mauled my razor-sharp teeth sent a different fear entirely. I didn’t dare move, or look into his eyes. Looking into the eyes of a wild animal only made the animal more vicious. It’s all about who is the alpha, and at that moment I was not. Just being still worked, as he swiftly turned and left.

  I let out the breath of air I didn’t knew I held and started using my teeth to work off the tape that bound my wrist and arms. It took time, but eventually with a few pulled-out arm hairs the tape went one loop around.

  “Leah!” Max said, rushing to me.

  The sudden noise startled me. Max slowed, not wanting to further scare me.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to . . . Leah, I’m sorry.” He finished his way to me. “I need to get you to the hospital.”

  “If we go to the hospital they will just ask questions,” I whimpered. I knew he heard me.

  “That’s not important anymore. My job is to protect you, and I failed. You need to be checked by a doctor, and that’s what’s important.” He slowly moved forward to kneel in front of me. “Now, let’s see about this tape.”

  The garage was not heated, and now that the threat was behind me, my lack of clothes made me quiver. He didn’t seem to notice, though. Instead, he l
ooked concerned and sad that he hadn’t prevented what happened.

  “Did you see anything before you got here?” I asked.

  “No, what do you mean?”

  “There were a lot of men here, and then a giant wolf came and scared everyone away.”

  “Nobody was out there, but if I had seen them I would have torn them apart.”

  After Max crumpled up the tape from my arms, I grabbed the two sides of my shirt and wrapped it around my front. He then moved to my ankles.

  “I am not leaving you again. I know you want a normal life without a bodyguard, but I am calling my employer and telling him that I’m not leaving your side. I am sorry if I’ll be intruding into your life, but you’re not going to get hurt like this again.”

  I didn’t say anything. I just stared at him and admired his kind and gentle nature. Once finished with my ankles, he scooted even closer to evaluate my injuries. He locked eyes with me to gauge my reaction while he slowly and gently placed my arm in his hands. His touch sent fire through my whole being, a feeling I only felt with Max’s touch. Every time I saw Max his touches were more intense and the feeling of never wanting to lose him consumed me. How could I feel such an extreme connection with this man? A man I knew so little about.

  My breathing started to increase, and the more he moved up my arm the more I felt blushed. I physically shuddered and then pulled way.

  “I . . . I think I’m OK.”

  He noticed my reaction, and I hated how transparent I was.

  He smiled and looked down to shake his head. “Come, I have antibiotic wipes in the truck. Let me get the dirt out.”

  We got to his truck, and he helped me in. He had a black Chevy Avalanche, which he turned on right away to blast the heat. The gloved compartment was packed with first aid equipment.

  “Wow, do you get hurt a lot?” I asked.

  “You can never be too prepared.” He ripped open an antibiotic wipe and again glanced at me in case I was against his touching me. My hands remained on my lap, but he scooted over and turned the truck light on.

  “It’s OK, I know you have been through a lot, but I am just trying to help you.”

  “I know. But I’m fine. Really! In fact, I have no more pain with it.”

  “I can see that. Leah, your skin is perfect.” He gently moved my hair away and noticed the scratches were gone from there too. “Do you heal fast?”

  “Heal fast? No, I . . . ” Looking down, I saw my skin was healed. There was no sign of abuse anywhere on my body. “This is impossible.” I continued to turn my arms every direction in amazement.

  “You have never seen this before?” he asked.

  “No, this has never happened to me. What’s going on?” I didn’t know whether to be scared or grateful. “Do you know what’s going on?”

  “No, but whatever it is we need to be extra cautious of how you feel. While you were captured, did they give you anything?”

  “I feel great, normal. I feel no pain, and no, they didn’t give me anything. Max, this isn’t right. I’ve had cuts and bruises before; they would take days or weeks to heal.”

  “Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Most likely this is a good thing and you have nothing to worry about. I have seen weird things before, but they always works out.”

  “I guess if I feel OK there is nothing more we can do right now. But this isn’t normal . . . I didn’t want to go the hospital anyway.”

  “Me either.” He smiled at me and shifted his truck to drive to start our travels back. “So tell me everything. While they had you, what did they say? The more we can learn about them the better.”

  Understanding, I started to replay the night. I told him that they thought I was a monster. They told me a one-hundred-year-old story about a woman who was supposedly a shifter and killed and destroyed everything and everyone in the boss’s family. They were going to get rid of me so I couldn’t hurt anyone else.

  “According to them I am the devil. They even wanted me to prove it to them by shifting into something else. Of course I couldn’t, because they are absolutely crazy!”

  “Yeah, crazy . . . so what do you know about your family? Did you ever hear of anything close to what they said?”

  “No, of course not. For one thing, my family has no history of murder, and second, I think I would remember if I inherited a shifting ability.”

  “You’re right, stupid question. I’m just trying to get all the facts.”

  “And Max, there was a giant black wolf that came and rescued me. He was strong enough to get though that metal garage and frighten all the men away. Did you see him before you came in? He left just before. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “No, but it sounds like I owe this wolf a thank-you.”

  The lights of campus started to come into view. It read 4:00 a.m. on the truck radio. What was I going to say to Melissa and the girls? I left them high and dry at the dance; they probably thought I ditched them. Plus, it was so late. How would I explain getting back at this time? We pulled up to the dorms and parked.

  “Now Leah . . .” Max placed his hand upon my knee. “You’re safe, and from now on I’ll be close. I’ll be with you as much as possible without interfering with your life.”

  His touch made the truck feel smaller as butterflies filled me. “You’re not interfering.”

  He smiled uncontrollably. “I’ll be around, OK? Now, get some sleep.”

  “Thank you.” I stared at him for a moment longer, then nodded and slowly got out of the truck, not knowing when I would see him again.

  ***

  “Girl! Where did you go last night? The dance was off the hook!” Melissa started bouncing the bed to wake me up. “Aren’t you supposed to be in that group thingy this morning?”

  “Oh shoot!” I jumped up and looked at the clock; it was almost lunchtime.

  “What happened last night? When we got back well past midnight, you still weren’t here.”

  Frantically, I started pulling clothes out of the closet. “Jared called.”

  “Yes? Wait, you stayed with him all night?”

  “No! I mean . . . I’m late for the study group. Sorry I left girls night. Something came up. But we’ll do it again.” Making it to the bathroom and leaving my lame excuses behind, I showered and got ready. I grabbed a granola bar and my bag and darted to the door.

  “Every month there’s a dance!” Melissa yelled from the kitchen.

  “Great, I’ll be there. See ya!” I exhaled.

  Skipping anything for school wasn’t like me. I’ve always gotten straight A’s and been very faithful to my studies. But telling my study group I was late because I was kidnapped and almost killed wouldn’t be believable or smart.

  The afternoon air smelled fresh, as if rain resided just over the mountains. The sky brightly shone clear. When I smelled hotdogs, my attention switched entirely. Instantly, I looked through campus in the direction of the student center. The smell came from there. Images of sizzling hotdogs on the grill filled my senses. As if the delicious meat lay just under my nose, I breathed in deeply.

  Within a second, my attention was whisked away again. A spicy, musky, male scent took over my brain. I knew where it was coming from. Max stood at the end of the block next to his black truck, casually leaning up against it. My sharp look shocked him, but he smiled. I smiled back and shyly looked away. How could I smell him or everything else that crisply? Strange things were happening, and for the most part I knew how to stay calm. But when my throat started to tighten, I knew the confusion of the last month was finally started to creep under my skin.

  “What’s wrong?” Max asked.

  I didn’t see him move, but my brain was in pity mode. “Oh! Wow! How did you get over here so fast?”

  “Are you answering a question with a question?”

  “Very funny. Umm . . . nothing’s wrong. I’m fine.”

  “Yeah, and I got over here so fast because I’m Superman,” he sarcastically said. �
��Both of our answers are a lie, so should we start over?” He stopped walking, which made me turn to him.

  “I grew up a hard worker. I can handle a lot, and my father made sure he taught me that life is not easy. I may not be street smart, but I know what it means to be strong. It’s just that . . . this month has been emotionally and physically demanding. And this morning . . . oh, never mind. I’m fine. It’s nothing I can’t handle.” I turned again to start walking away.

  He reached to grab my biceps, which only made me tingle down to my fingertips. “This morning? I have seen you all day from the time you left your room.”

  The thought of him watching thrilled me. “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

  “There are a lot of things I believe in. Try me.”

  I thought about how well he had handled our strange event last night with my skin healing on its own. He was the ideal person to talk to about this, so with a small inhale I told him.

  “I can smell everything. It’s not normal. Not only can I smell with much more intensity, but I can pinpoint where each smell is coming from without a doubt.” I looked away. “I can even smell you.” Silence occupied the space between us. “OK, you can tell me I’m crazy.”

  “You’re not crazy.” He gently moved my chin so I could look into his eyes. “If anything else happens out of the ordinary will you tell me? Every little piece we find out about you or the enemy is very important. I’ve told you before, I’ve seen strange. Whatever happens, we’ll work on this together.”

  “Thank you.” I wanted to say more than that but didn’t know how to show my appreciation. Just then, both Max and I looked through campus.

  “Jared,” we said in unison.

  Max darted his head back at me. We were now only inches apart.

  “You could smell him,” I whispered.

  Max’s sign of stress was when he ran his hand through his hair, and this time wasn’t an exception. Slowly, he backed up, keeping his eyes on me. Our stare conveyed confusion and yearning. I could feel our connection trying to will us to stay together, but with Jared closing in, now was not the time. As Max quickened his exit, Jared’s voice hit my ears.