by Mandy Rosko
Dogs barked. Big ones. The Rotties were coming out to play.
Jake angled his head down and over, his body moving in a way that snakes in the wild didn’t normally move. He turned back to look at Alice, who was still staring at him as though she couldn’t quite believe it.
For fuck’s sake. He rattled his tail three more times.
It’s me! It’s me!
Alice shook herself a little, looking away from him. It still took her two seconds longer than he would’ve liked for her to make the change, but she did it. Alice’s body shimmered and shifted, shrinking, clothes and all.
Even in this shape, she kept her eyes locked onto Jake, as though making absolute sure he wasn’t about to come any closer than he already was.
He couldn’t exactly blame her for it. She probably didn’t trust herself, or what she’d seen Jake do. Jake wouldn’t either if his shifter shape was a damned prey animal, but there was no choice. The barking was coming up on them.
Jake held his breath, noting the way Alice’s tiny body tensed and tightened when the dogs passed right under them.
And then kept right on going.
They didn’t realize they’d gone by their targets.
Didn’t mean it was safe to move. The dogs would be hunting for a while. They’d come back around this way to make sure they hadn’t missed anything, and then they would go back to the motel before driving away to search elsewhere.
Jake expected to wait in this tree with Alice for several hours.
*****
Alice nearly peed herself several times throughout the day.
Bobby and his Rottweilers passed under her hiding tree several times throughout the day. Once, they’d even stopped down there for a couple of minutes.
She’d thought for sure they were smelling her. It couldn’t be hard to get a lock on her scent, since she’d been forced to leave so much of her stuff behind in her room, but when they shifted, it seemed it was just for Bobby to yell at them for losing her.
“You fucking idiots! How hard is it to find one little girl!”
Little?
“She’s too small. We can’t get a lock on her and we can’t see her unless she’s scurrying around.”
“We caught and killed three squirrels so far. We’re trying.”
Alice shivered, and she looked toward the rattlesnake, the snake that was still intently watching her, not moving, and not coming any closer to eat her.
Because it was...it had to be...with those three rattles...that was their code for each other.
“Those were grey squirrels, you fucking morons,” Bobby said. He spoke slowly at this point, as though he was trying to explain himself to children. “I told you that she’s a flying squirrel. She looks,” Alice wasn’t watching him, but from the noises he made, the pauses in his voice, and the sounds of paper crinkling, he’d pulled out a couple of photos, “like this! She looks like this. Find this!”
There was no more arguing out of the men Bobby had brought with him to hunt her down. Alice didn’t know where he’d picked them up from, if he’d found them online, or hired them for this job alone, but she was really starting to hope they were hating working for their new boss.
If Alice was lucky, they’d quit and leave Bobby to find her on his own. That would just make things a thousand times easier for her.
They left in their human shapes. Were they done looking for her? Were they going to look somewhere else?
Luck was on her side, because as they walked away, Bobby spoke of his new plans.
“Get back to the inn; pack up your shit, and hers. Her scent is still fresh, so she can’t have gone far.”
Did that mean they were leaving the motel? Or leaving the town? Alice prayed they were leaving Woodland Creek. If they thought she was gone, then she could stay here.
But then there was still the matter of the snake that was staring at her with those sinister looking almond-shaped eyes.
Alice had nearly forgotten about him when Bobby had been directly beneath her. She was almost positive this was…but it couldn’t be. What was he even doing here?
Either way, even if it wasn’t Jake, the rattlesnake looking at her had plenty of opportunity to eat her alive, to pounce when she hadn’t been paying attention.
She waited a whole extra hour before shifting, and by then, it was twilight and the trees were dark.
Thankfully, when she changed her shape, the snake slithered to the nearest large branch across from hers, and it shimmered and changed as well.
Though part of her had known it was him, another part didn't want to get her hopes up. Not even with all those signals and hints. Now that she could see him, could really look at him, her heart clenched, as though skinny fingers tightened around it. She was that happy to see him.
Jake looked older. For a half second, she hadn’t recognized him. Not because he looked older, though that was slightly part of it.
It was mostly because his hair was a touch longer. There were some grays at his temple, though they made him look more distinguished than anything. He wasn’t so thin, and he wasn’t wearing leather or chains. The earrings were out of his ears, too.
Basically, he didn’t look like a punk drug dealer anymore. Funny, because he never was. That had always just been his cover.
It was still interesting to note how he could look so much different, and yet exactly the same.
A laugh burst from her chest at the sight of him. “What are you—” She stopped to clear her throat, lowering her voice this time. Her life was still in danger, after all. “What are you doing here?”
Jake shrugged. “Trying to save your life.”
More of that squeezing sensation went on in her chest. She tried to ignore it.
“He’ll kill you, too, if he sees you’re here.”
Jake’s venom was the reason why half of Bobby’s face looked like melted plastic.
“Yeah, I figured, which is why we need to get out of here quick before Bobby realizes that’s my car parked in the back of the inn.”
Alice felt like she was living in some strange, unreal dream. The sort of dream she’d had a million times before, but this one was slightly different, because:
A. It was actually happening, and Jake was holding her hand, and B. Her dreams hadn’t involved being hunted down by a malicious shifter out for revenge.
It was full dark by the time they got back to the motel. The plan had been to stay close, just in case. Alice had wanted to run, but Jake seemed to think it was a better idea to stick around where he could at least have a better idea of what the enemies were doing. His plan was simple enough. If they got back to Two Creeks Inn and those expensive looking cars were still parked out front, they would leave. But if they got back and the cars were gone, then it was a safe bet that Bobby had moved on and wouldn’t be back for a little while.
“Are you sure it’s safe here?” Alice asked. She wasn’t entirely sold on the idea of coming back to a place where Bobby had just been.
“You’re too used to moving around,” Jake said. He didn’t even look back at her as he scanned the front parking lot, which was fairly small. It was obvious the cars weren’t there, so he had to be looking for people.
Or dogs.
“So?” Alice said. That’s basically what had kept her alive after Bobby got out of prison.
Jake’s mouth twitched. Was he smiling at her, or what she’d said?
“Don’t be so defensive,” he said.
Smiling at what she’d said, then.
“Oh, bite me.”
Both of his big eyebrows lifted high. “You’re still saying that, are you?”
Heat climbed her neck and rose up into her face and ears.
That was what she used to tell him, back before they started getting along. Back when she’d been just a worthless little thief forced to work for Bobby, and he’d been the punk new guy hoping to get in good with the man.
It had been sort of a flirty joke, since he was a snake shift
er, after all. A way for her to hide how scared he’d made her before she realized how good he really was.
Alice couldn’t look him in the face. Her chest hurt just thinking about all that. “Shut up,” she said. “Just tell me what’s going on.”
Jake was silent for a few long seconds. He finally spoke, and his voice didn’t sound as though a laugh was on the edge of it anymore. “Sometimes it works out to be in a spot that was just searched. It could be a while before he decides to come back here. Come on,” he said, dragging her forward before she could ask any more questions.
They skulked their way through the trees and shrubs. Alice would prefer to be in her animal shape for this, but she’d been in her squirrel form for so long, all day, that she didn’t think she could shift again if her life depended on it.
And considering what was going on around here lately, that wasn’t such a far out description. Her life might actually depend on it.
They rounded around to the back of the parking lot. There were a couple more cars parked there, but nothing that looked remotely like it could’ve been bought with drug money or stolen goods.
Jake swore some pretty awful words she hadn’t heard come out of his mouth since the days when he’d pretended to be another hired goon working his way up through the crime system.
“That motherfucking, cocksucking fuck.”
“What? What’s the matter?” Alice searched for what could have him so furious, but she didn’t see anything.
“He knows I’m here, at least,” he said.
“What?” Alice looked again, and she finally noticed that all four tires on one of the cars were flat. “Oh.”
Jake sighed then shook his head. “Whatever. This could be a good thing. If he knows I’m in town, he might think I’ve taken you to the sheriff’s office and hitched a ride out with you.”
Alice tensed. “You can’t arrest me. The statute of limitations is up.”
Jake dropped his head then shook it. “I didn’t track you down to arrest you.”
That didn’t make any sense. “Then why did you? Are you still a cop?”
“Private detective,” Jake said. “Couldn’t exactly stay on the force with a good conscious after…you know.”
Alice’s face flamed up like there was a bonfire under her skin. “Right.”
Jake took a cautious step out of the trees. Alice nearly yanked him back to stop him, but she just slowly let go of his hand as he moved farther and farther away from her. He was ten feet onto the concrete when he sighed and looked back. “Their scent is old. They’re not here anymore.”
“Are you sure?”
Alice thought of the little squirrels those dogs had killed, thinking they were her. She knew how dogs liked to kill squirrels. It usually involved grabbing them by the necks and shaking until something broke. Or just biting down hard enough until there was nothing left that wasn’t broken or torn.
Jake nodded. “Pretty sure. Come on.”
Alice hesitated then stepped out of the relative safety of the shrubs. She didn’t like being out here, out in the open, but she came anyway, because being near Jake also seemed to signify some form of safety.
Also, his sense of smell was so much better than hers. It, and his venom, had been most of what had allowed him to infiltrate the bad crowd she’d been running with at the time.
She hadn’t trusted him then, especially for being a cocky snake, but she did eventually, and she trusted him now.
Her hand found his when he held it out. It was as though it wasn’t even a question whether or not she would grab onto him. Of course she would. At this point, she needed something to hold onto just to keep her sanity.
“Come on. Let’s go inside,” he said, and no sooner were the words out of his mouth did a pair of red and blue lights flash as a truck pulled up, coming to a stop right in front of them, the headlights blinding.
“You said they weren’t here!” Alice yelled. Panic rushed her like it wanted to pile drive her and for a split second, she couldn't think. She couldn't breathe.
“That’s not—Alice!”
She’d already let go of his hand and started to run for it, back into the trees.
*****
Fuck. Jake had to chase her.
“Hey! Stop!”
He couldn’t. It would look suspicious as all hell to the cop who just pulled up, but there was no choice.
He wasn’t going to lose her again.
“Alice! Come back! It’s not Bobby!”
She still ran, but she didn’t change into her animal form. She probably couldn’t, which was good for him, because he was faster than she was and gaining on her quickly.
She was right there. Pumping her arms and legs in a desperate bid to escape, blonde hair flying behind her. He just had to reach out…
He caught her. His fingers curled around her small forearm, and as he tried to yank her to a stop, she attempted to swirl around in another direction. It just sent her body mass spiraling out of control since he refused to let go, and she ended up being pulled back into him hard enough to topple both of them to the ground.
She was a fighter. Even with both of Jake’s hands on her arms, she still struggled to get up, to get away. “Let me go!”
“It’s not Bobby!” he yelled, shaking her a little.
Falling on the ground and nearly getting the wind knocked out of him had been annoying as all hell.
The cop chasing after them hadn’t been some donut-bellied guy in a truck either. He was fast, and on top of them in the next second. “Don’t know what you kids think you were doing, but I’d like to see those hands.”
“A cop? Great. That’s much better,” Alice said.
"The truck had red and blue lights. How did you not know it was a cop?" he asked.
Alice's eyes widened. She looked down, her cheeks brightening, and Jake didn't think he'd ever seen her so mortified.
"I...I wasn't..."
Fuck.
“Just do as he says,” Jake said, pushing her off him so he could sit up. “And don’t run.”
Alice huffed, turning away from him and apparently deciding she wasn't embarrassed for the mistake anymore. “Fine,” she said, and then put her hands up, still frowning, still very clearly irritated with this whole thing as she got to her feet.
Jake did the same. The guy appeared to be on the cuff of middle age, but clearly in good shape to be able to catch up to them. He hadn’t drawn his gun, but his hand was on the weapon, and his flashlight was out and pointing at them.
“My name is Jake Redfield,” Jake said. “I’m a private detective, and I’ve been tracking Miss Grey for the last couple of years.”
He gave the rest of his credentials, where he was from, and who he was working for, which was himself at this point, and invited the officer to look at his license in his side pocket.
“Uh huh,” said the cop. “My name is Officer Rickman, and I happen to be Chief of Police around here.”
Jake sighed. “Good,” he said.
Police Chief Rickman didn’t take Jake up on his offer to look at his license. He just looked over at Alice. “I got a call that there were some suspicious men around here stalking a young woman. Are you all right with this guy?”
Shit. Alice could make something up right now and have Jake in cuffs in seconds. By the time he could convince the chief that he wasn’t the bad guy, she could be long gone again.
Jake looked at her, but the Chief noticed that, too. “Keep your eyes on me. I don’t want you looking at her until she gives the okay.”
“Right,” Jake said, staring at the man in front of him.
This guy was sharp. He’d seen that look and thought Jake was trying to threaten Alice into keeping quite.
Still, why was Jake always the one who got looked at like the bad guy when he was doing his job? Maybe all the sneaking around and hiding out in his car in front of buildings when he was tailing his leads had something to do with it.
And Alice still ha
dn’t said anything.
“Miss?”
Jake could just visualize the cuffs coming out.
“He’s with me. I know him,” Alice said softly. Finally.
Jake breathed. It felt like the first lungful of air he’d taken in all day.
“You sure about that?” asked the chief.
Alice nodded. “Yeah. He’s a friend. He was being serious. He is a private detective,” she replied, which meant she at least believed him when he’d told her that, since he hadn’t shown her any of his credentials either. “And we do need some help.”
*****
Police Chief Rickman took them back to his truck. There were no other cop cars around, but in a small town like this, it probably took a lot more than one call of a domestic disturbance before every cop in town rolled up.
For all Jake knew, Rickman was the only one working tonight.
On the way to the station, Rickman used the radio on his shoulder to call in for someone else to come to the inn and take a statement.
What do you know? There was more than one cop on duty at night in a town like this.
“So, what’s the story?” Rickman asked.
Jake took one look at Alice, who was sitting between him and the chief. She ducked her head a little, her cheeks slightly pinker than he was used to seeing.
Not that he’d seen her in the last several years.
Jake told the man. Told him absolutely everything he could, and all the while, carefully left out the part where he was a snake shifter, Alice was a flying squirrel, and Bobby and his men were a bunch of Rottweiler shifters. Of course, he also left out the part where Jake had stupidly risked his cover by falling for Alice, and then sleeping with her.
That wouldn’t have looked so good to explain.
The story took so long to explain—how he’d gone undercover, met Alice during her time as a thief, and then their run-in and escape from Bobby, when he’d found out about Jake—that they were in Rickman’s office drinking coffee by the time it ended. Turned out that Police Chief Rickman could be a good host, even when he was on the job.