by Elle Thorne
Chains, padlocks, keys, duct tape, and a thick wool blanket. A change of clothing, in case.
She was prepared.
Not that I planned to be out here. I was hoping to be at Arceneaux Point, safely ensconced in one of the cabins for privacy.
Best laid plans and all that.
To think, she’d postponed being at Arceneaux Point the last two nights because she knew the potential power. The fuller the moon, the stronger the effects. She’d been sure tonight would have been the best night to arrive.
Who’d have thought I’d run into—
—him.
What if he did tell her family anything? Would it have been so bad if he’d told them about MysticConn? Would it have been the end of the world?
Well, yeah. It would have been. It would have downright sucked. Then she’d have to explain her—
Everything. Her life. Her decisions. Her job.
Yeah, she couldn’t have the wolf talking to her family. That’d never work.
Ever.
A snap caught her attention.
A twig breaking.
A raccoon? A possum? Could be any assortment of creatures.
Stop panicking, she counseled herself.
Her tigress snarled.
She inhaled the thick air rich with pollen and forest scents. She needed to make sure there wasn’t a human in the area. No animal concerned her—not really. As a tigress, there wasn’t much she couldn’t handle in Alabama’s natural habitat.
Maybe a bear.
Shit. She had no idea if bears were in Alabama. What about mountain lions?
God, I suck at planning.
Nah, not really. It’s not like she could have predicted seeking a place to hide in the backwoods of Podunk.
Valencia ignored the second crack, figuring yet again, some local creatures that wouldn’t prove harmful. She unlocked the padlock, wrapped the chain around the thickest tree trunk and knelt to collect the–
“Well, well, well, what have we here?” A male voice.
She jumped to her feet and whirled around.
Two men, large and brawny, with arms thicker than large branches. She glared at them. They had no scent and yet… she studied their long unkempt hair.
—Shifters!
Shifters using block. She’d been known to use it herself, but hunter’s block usually meant the one using it had something to hide.
What were these two hiding?
“What clan are you with?”
One of the shifters laughed. The sound, squeaky like a set of broken gears, was also loud and menacing, quieting the din of the forest’s crickets.
She didn’t like that at all.
Her tigress growled deeply in her chest. The noise grew to a roar, filling Valencia’s mind so the only thing she heard was her tigress’s roar.
Enough. Stop.
Her tigress pushed for a shift.
Valencia pushed back. It wasn’t time to shift yet. Perhaps they didn’t mean her harm. Just because they didn’t want to claim a clan.
Her tigress snarled in disagreement. She had a point. The last time Valencia was caught alone…
Her tigress grumbled in agreement and pushed harder for a shift.
“She’s perfect. Scanlon will be happy to have her,” Squeaky laughed, his voice matching his laugh.
Perfect for what? Who the hell is Scanlon?
“What are you talking about?” She wished she hadn’t wrapped the chain around the tree. It would’ve made a good weapon.
“Don’t worry about it.” Squeaky pulled his hand from behind his back and aimed a pistol in her direction.
Before she could yield to her tigress’s wishes and shift to attack, before she could protest, or run, a dart flew from the end of the pistol and embedded in her thigh. The burning sensation dispersed throughout her body.
Fuzziness spread alongside it. The two shifters became four, then six, then there were two again but they were surrounded by a fog. Her limbs turned to jelly. She dropped to her knees, then laid her palms against the pine needles and dirt.
Valencia shook her head. She tried to get her tigress to come to the forefront but it was silent.
Pushing as hard as she could, she still couldn’t get the animal to step forward.
I need to shift. I need to get out of this jam, right now.
Her tigress was silent.
Valencia didn’t realize she’d moaned in frustration until the men started to talk.
“Why is she still awake, Ellis?” Squeaky asked.
“She shouldn’t be. Did you put the correct dosage in?”
Squeaky huffed in irritation. “They are premeasured. I don’t mess with that.”
“Shoot her with another.”
“Hell no,” Squeaky said. “Scanlon will kill me if she dies. It’s too damned hard to find good ones these days.”
“So we carry her?” Ellis’s voice raised an octave. “Fuck. What if she shifts into a tiger? If the Tranq works, she’ll stay human. Let’s wait it out.”
“Let’s move her.”
“Not while there’s a chance she’ll turn into a man eater.”
“So give her another bump of the tranquilizer.”
“I said no.” Squeaky stomped his foot near Valencia’s fingers.
She felt the vibrations from his boot. She turned her head, tried to focus on him. She placed her hand on his boot.
“Don’t…” She struggled to get the words out. “Don’t move…” More struggling. She swallowed the thickness the drug placed in her throat. “Me.”
Squeaky moved his foot, then stood on her fingers. “Don’t tell me what to do. You’re as good as dead.” He ground her fingers into the dirt. “Let’s move her, now.”
The tranquilizer’s potency kept Valencia from feeling what he was doing physically, but the humiliation stung.
Hands slipped under her armpits, another set grabbed her legs. She was hefted into the air like a sack of vegetables as the two men began to walk through the woods, carrying her face down.
“It’d be easier if just one of us threw her over his back,” the thug called Ellis said.
“You’re volunteering me, I suppose?” This came from Squeaky.
“We could take turns,” Ellis offered, releasing his grasp on her legs.
Valencia thought she was going to fall. She squirmed. She yelled for her tigress in her mind.
Silence.
What the hell?
She knew her tigress wasn’t unconscious. She wouldn’t be out while Valencia was awake.
Would she?
“Help me get her up then,” Squeaky’s voice sounded strained.
“Wuss.” Ellis grabbed her roughly and threw her over Squeaky’s shoulder. “Now, let’s go already.”
Valencia landed on Squeaky’s shoulder and grunted as the breath was knocked out of her.
“No.” Valencia protested. “No moonlight.”
“Shut up, wench.” Ellis smacked her on the ass with an open palm, the blow stinging.
Bastard.
“Yeah, shut up,” Squeaky parroted, following suit and striking her already tender flesh.
Each step he took on the uneven terrain was like being tossed around in a bumper car, without padding.
“Be still,” Squeaky commanded after a few steps.
She couldn’t help it. Panic set in. They were taking her out of the protection of the trees.
Valencia knew they’d gone too far when she felt the burn. It started on her forearm. She glanced down. A beam of moonlight crossed her arm.
In her mind, her tigress’s roar reverberated, causing Valencia to cover her ears, though she knew it would do no good. The sound was not outside her head.
The burning intensified. Spread through her body with the fierceness of a forest fire. A creaking, almost subtle and soundless, began deep within her body. Molecules loosened, reformed, tendons stretched, muscles rearranged. Valencia tried to push her tigress back, tried to keep the change fro
m happening, but the power was too strong. This was no regular shift. This was the curse she’d brought upon herself.
She raised her head.
“What the fuck?” Ellis was staring at her.
“What?” Squeaky pushed her off.
She landed on the ground with a thud and looked at the two shifters.
“Her fucking eyes,” Ellis exclaimed. “What the hell is that about?”
Chapter 4
Rory managed to stay on her trail, but not because of scenting. Clearly she had taken hunter’s block and eradicated her scent. What else could have stopped him from picking up her tigress’s essence?
The skill he was thankful for that kept Valencia Arceneaux on his radar in the woods was his ability to track visual signs, not his animal abilities. He’d been the best in his unit, long ago.
Nice to see I didn’t lose my skills.
Broken branches and displaced leaves, along with the occasional print allowed him to keep up, but stay a safe distance behind.
Once, he’d glimpsed her, then fallen back to make sure she didn’t pick him up. He’d rubbed the pine needle laden dirt on his body and clothes, smashed elm leaves against skin. None of this was enough to completely mask his shifter scent, but he hoped it would diffuse it somewhat. Unless the wind changed on him, he should be safe from discovery.
The wind carried voices his way.
A male voice.
Then he heard Valencia talking.
Was this a meeting? A boyfriend or lover?
Fury and jealousy ran rampant through his body, clouding his judgment for a brief moment. He shoved those emotions aside.
I have no rights to her. It’s not like we ever…
He shoved that thought aside.
What the fuck was wrong with him?
He slipped behind a tree trunk, concentrating his shifter hearing.
There were two males.
And whatever their relationship with Valencia was, one thing was certain, it wasn’t friendly.
He snuck closer, careful to stay behind large trunks.
The men shot her with a Tranq.
Rory knew all about Tranqs. You don’t serve paranormal units in the military and not know about Tranqs. Too bad the private sector had access to them now. The special concoction, created especially for shifters was devastatingly effective at rendering a shifter unconscious.
Except…
The men were confused. They’d shot Valencia with it and she was still conscious.
They hefted her, the two of them carrying her, then one slung her over his back with the help of the other guy.
She landed on his shoulder with a grunt.
Bastards.
God, but he wanted to kill the sons of bitches. Rory reined his temper in. He needed to see if there were others and what their intentions were.
A few seconds later they smacked her on the ass. He gritted his teeth and almost rushed them.
They walked a few paces.
She squirmed. They dropped her on the ground unceremoniously. He stepped out from behind the tree. His wolf barely under control, pushing for a shift, wanting to kill them.
He didn’t have a chance. The men were freaking out and staring at Valencia. Rory looked to see why.
Valencia’s eyes were blood red and turning darker quickly. He’d never seen a shifter do that. It was one thing when their animal’s essence flared in the depths of their eyes—but what was going on with Valencia? No, this was very different.
Her features began to change. Her skull widened, claws sprouted. She bared teeth, revealing dentition that wasn’t human, definitely fangs. But she hadn’t shifted.
She snarled at the men, jumped to her feet, still in human form but with tigress characteristics.
It was as if she were frozen mid-shift.
Without warning, Valencia leapt toward the men. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
She wrapped herself around the man with the Tranq pistol and sank her fangs into his neck. She twisted her head, swiveling back and forth, savaging his flesh.
The other man shifted into a brown bear and released a roar. The bear rushed her.
Valencia jumped off the now dead human form, his throat ravaged and bloody. The bear swung his mighty paw, claws razor-sharp and lethal.
Rory dashed toward them, beginning a shift that wouldn’t take more than a few seconds. Shifting he practiced regularly, to keep adept and quick.
He’d barely managed a few paces before the flurry of the scuffle between the half-shifted Valencia and the bear ceased.
The bear collapsed, throat wasted.
Noticing Rory, Valencia whirled around, her face a fearsome blend, yet beautiful, mix of white tigress and human. Her eyes were still blood red.
“Go.” She stepped back.
Emotions flooded Rory. She was the same woman he’d fallen for. Adrenalin coursed through his body. Anger that she’d vanished from their life together. Rage that the assholes were trying to hurt her. Concern that she’d have gotten hurt. Confusion with her half shifting and the speed with which she’d killed the two men.
He wasn’t going anywhere. She owed him answers.
“I’m not leaving.”
“Go. I have to get out of the moonlight.” She stepped further back. “Go before this thing makes me kill you.”
Chapter 5
Valencia stared at the wolf before her. What the hell was he doing here? The bloodlust seized her, urging her forward, urging her to take his life, to seek his blood.
The wolf shifted to Rory quickly, then stood watching her.
Her heart warred with her body in the battlefield of her mind. A part of her wanted to kill—do nothing but kill, see and feel blood flowing. The other part of her couldn’t tear herself away from the vision before her.
It was him. The man. The only one who made her body and heart react with a passion that rivaled the fierceness of the bloodlust.
She stepped back, and then more, until she was out of the moonlight, until she was under the cover of the trees.
The blanket. She needed to hide. She felt the bloodlust receding, her flesh returning to human. The effect of the tranquilizer was already beginning to wane.
“You’ve got to go, for your own good.” She looked at her hands, felt the blood on her face. She drew her hands over her thighs, wiping them on the fabric, then continued. “As the moon travels across the sky, it becomes unpredictable. When moonlight touches me, things happen.”
Unless I’m buried under the blanket, and chained so I don’t decide to move.
“I said I’m not going.” His voice was gravelly, his wolf clearly near the surface. “Let me help you get cleaned up.”
She shook her head, the blood on her skin beginning to get sticky and uncomfortable. “You can’t. Just go. I’ll take care of it when the sun comes up.” She backed slowly, toward the deeper cover. “What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you. What the fuck do you think?” Anger and frustration tinged his voice
“I need you to go.” She had to get under the blanket, and to chain herself.
“Nah. I don’t think so. And you can’t go out after the sun comes up. Not looking like that.” He pointed toward her face. “You’re a bloody mess. You have some explaining to do.”
“I’m not discussing what happened here with you.”
“Fine. Then you can discuss why you decided to stand me up and never see me again.”
Valencia looked down. Explaining what happened here tonight would be easier than telling him why she did what she did.
“It’s complicated.”
“Yeah. I get that you’re a bit complicated yourself.”
Even though Valencia was moving away, she couldn’t escape some of the tiny moonbeams that slipped through. She had to get him the hell out of there. “Will you fucking go?”
“Nope.”
“Even if I might kill you?”
“You won’t. Not after what we shared.”
“We didn’t share anything. It was nothing.”
He snarled and was upon her quicker than she could have reacted.
Rory pushed her against a tree trunk, his body pressed against hers. Hard muscles on her curves, trapping her. His scent reflected his emotions. This man was hellishly pissed.
At her.
Why? For saying we weren’t anything?
“You’re a goddamned liar,” he growled, his mouth close to her ear, his breath teasing tendrils. He pulled back, stripped his shirt off and wiped at her face. “Don’t tell me it was nothing. Tell that to your pulse.”
She cursed her telltale body, watching him in a white tank, muscles rippling, heat emanating from his hard body.
I can’t be involved with anyone. Not with this damned bloodlust.
She fought to shake his effect off.
And failed.
“I have to go. I have to get cover.”
“From?”
“The moon.” She forced the words out with an exhale. She’d never confessed to this before. Not since it happened to her. Not since it had become a part of her life. Not to a single soul.
“Fine. Let’s do that.”
“You won’t leave?”
He shook his head. Even in the dimness she could see those features. She’d memorized his every characteristic. The full lips. The dark eyes. The highset cheekbones. The way his mouth curled when he smiled. The way his wolf’s amber light shone through when he was feeling the thrall of passion.
God, why haven’t I been able to get him out of my mind?
He was watching her. His dark eyes seeking answers.
She turned her gaze away. She couldn’t have him seeing the responses to the unspoken questions. She asked again, “You won’t leave?”
He put his hand on hers, making her look up, then said. “Only to get supplies to help you get cleaned up.”
“I have stuff.” She started toward her bag, glancing behind to see if he really followed.
Pissed that he was.
Happy as hell, at the same time.
He gave her a look.
I thought I’d never see him again.
Her pulse raced, though she fought to control it. And deep in her mind and in her chest, her tigress made a series of low chuffing sounds that Valencia hadn’t heard in a long time.