by C. Y. Croc
I try to sound pissed at being spoken down to. “Point made! As I said, I’ll go back in ten mids and get them... Where is she then?”
He frowns at me as if I’ve gone mad. “You told Figat to take her to the byre... Why are you acting so weird, Boraf?”
“Because of what we have just done and what we are about to do!”
“It’s never bothered you before. You’re not starting to regret what we’ve been doing are you? Six females later is a bit long in the tooth to be having regrets. Don’t forget, if one of us goes down for what we’ve done, we all go down.”
I’m trying to decipher the hidden message between his words. They’ve been taking females for some time. Hiding them away in a byre throughout the wind season. For what? And what happens to them later?
My stomach convulses when I remember the way they’d leeched over Saaxx.
I need to cut this conversation before I put my foot into it. “Let’s just get to the byre!”
The male hangs back waiting for the Alpha to lead. Boraf. Me! But I had no clue where to go.
“You go! I’m going to try and get the supplies now.”
He shakes his head and strides off. I pretend to turn and walk away. Instead, I walk over to a building and slink back out of sight, watching where he goes. Then I keep tucked into the buildings and follow him.
The wind almost blows him off his feet twice but he’s determined to get to his destination.
Once we reach the end of the open-plan square he walks past more buildings, until they begin to become less built up, until finally after the last house there is a line of pink leaved trees, and just past them a line of byres.
The male heads for one in particular, and I am not too far behind him.
9
Saaxxatee
I’m normally unfazed by everything, but when I come to, the smell inside the byre reminds me of livestock that didn’t make it through the sinno season, of the poor creatures I had to burn because they were too decomposed to bury as their smell would have attracted unwanted predators.
But this smell of death has a different pungent aroma to it, and it’s one that is unknown to me.
One of the minions sits on a chair in the corner. His eyes haven’t left me since I woke up. I have no idea where the other two are now but I do know they won’t be far away. I need to try and make my escape now while there is only one of them. One on one, if I get the upper hand I have a good chance of getting out of here.
My eyes scour the floor of the byre. I need something—anything to act as a distraction, or even better still, a weapon.
“My friends will come looking for me soon.” He ignores me. “You know you won’t get away with this.”
He smirks. “We haven’t done too bad so far, this is our sixth sinno season.”
His answer confuses me. “What do you mean?”
“This byre has seen many females before you and it will see many more when you are gone.”
When I’m gone? Do they intend to take me somewhere far away once the sinno season is over? My heart rate is accelerating again as realisation dawns on me what the smell is.
I’d come across this smell only once before. Seven yanas ago after the sinno season had finally run its course and it was my first journey into the township to get much-needed supplies.
It was the smell that had alerted me to it, halfway on the trail to the sooq. It had drifted on the almost non-existent wind teasing my nose, luring me to get down from my dray and go and find what it was and where it was coming from.
But when I did find the cause, I was not prepared for what I was about to see. A male had got caught out in the winds. He had been lifted high into the air had been impaled on a tree branch. There he’d stayed rotting and decaying, the sinno season’s delicatessen for the creatures that we're able to venture out, climb up, and feed on him.
No one knew who he was and word had been sent to all of the surrounding townships in case one of their males was missing, but he was never claimed. He must have been carried on the winds for hundreds of milics.
That smell was the same pungent smell that was in this byre. It was the smell of Kimanka death, not livestock.
My stomach convulses and my entire body turns cold. They were killers of females.
The memory of the odd remark here and there from Mimette over the yanas about females disappearing and maybe running away which was completely out of character for them comes into my mind. Had these males been the reason for all of the females’ disappearances?
The male in the tree proved that bodies could be swept up and carried for milics away in the sinno season for easy disposal.
Or is my mind going into overdrive? Am I reading more into this than there is? It seems they want to keep me here throughout the winds to...to be a female to relieve their sexual frustrations on.
As soon as I think it, I want to vomit, but my thoughts are interrupted when the other minion, Drety comes into the byre.
“Nearly everyone’s inside their dwellings now and Boraf has finally gone to get the supplies, but the wind is really picking up. I think we ought to start without him this time.”
My heart jumps at his comment.
The minion sitting down nods with a lecherous grin. “Yes, He always goes first anyway. It’s about time we got the chance to sample the females before him.”
They both lunge at me simultaneously; one holding my arms while the other grabs my legs, taking me by surprise.
“Get away!” I kick out and catch one on the chin and for a moment I think I’ve knocked him out, but he quickly regains his composure and tears at my leg coverings with his claws, slashing them down the middle exposing my cooch. I’m mortified, embarrassed and angry all rolled into one.
“Whoo-hoo! That looks untouched. I’m taking her first!”
“No! That’s not fair! It was my suggestion to take her before Bor-...”
The door crashes open and Boraf stands there with a face that radiates murder as he eyeballs me and then the minions.
“Boraf! We were...we were just getting her ready for you.”
He looks into my eyes and a chill goes up my spine.
“Get off her now!”
“What! We always hold them down for you! You won’t manage to take this one on your own, she’s vicious!”
Then my eyes blear because I see double. Another Boraf comes behind the one in the doorway carrying a box of supplies. His eyes bug out in astonishment as he eyeballs the first Boraf up and down before crunching his face up into a scowl, raising the box above his head he slams it down. The first Boraf falls onto his hands and knees.
The minion holding my arms lets go. “What in damnation! Is that really you Boraf?”
The one holding my legs scrambles to his feet and points to the Boraf still standing. “It must be, because those are the dusty clothes he was wearing when he came back from the female’s property.
I feel like I’m in a living nightmare.
The standing Baraf stamps on the back of the one on all fours and he falls onto his stomach with a grunt.
“What the fuck are you?”
Then it dawns on me and my heart beat soars. “Tex! Are you okay?”
The Boraf on the floor lifts his head on hearing me but the standing Boraf raises his foot above his head, ready to stamp on his face.
The cry leaves my mouth just as a hand clamps over it. But it doesn’t cover my eyes and what I witness truly astounds me.
The standing Boraf’s foot stops inches from the other one’s face, hovering in mid-air.
Fear is weaved into one of the minion’s voices. “Boraf, what are you doing?”
The one lying down slowly gets to his feet and the minion standing draws back a fist and fires it at the rising Boraf, but just like the other Boraf, it stops inches before it makes contact. I watch him trying to pull it away but he and the other Baraf are locked in position.
The final minion lets out a battle cry and lunges past me to
throw himself at Boraf only to be stopped as he flies through the air, floating halfway there, frozen like a spectre.
Then just like I’d seen him change at Mimette and Kerty’s property, there is a significantly smaller sparkle of light and the Boraf who I know to be Tex, metamorphoses into the Kimanka form I’d seen him change into earlier.
Where’s my Tex gone? Why isn’t he changing into him?
He strides towards me and I pull my legs together, covering my cooch with my hands. Tex had seen it but this male’s eyes hadn’t.
Strong hands pull me to my feet. “Saaxx...”
I pull away abruptly. “Only Tex can call me that.”
He takes a step closer. “I am Tex.”
I shake my head. “No-No, you’re not. I don’t recognise who you are.”
The sparkles appear again and the Kimanka changes before my eyes into a Human—my Human. Tex is suddenly there in front of me again and he takes my breath away. I gasp. “Is that better?”
I look him straight in the eye. “No! You know what I mean! Not just externally, where is the Tex I know...and love!”
He snatches in a breath of surprise and his eyes dilate, and in the next node, he is sucked out of the doorway and up into the air, before being released and falling meriks back down onto the ground.
Shocked, I run to the doorway thinking that it must be an early gust of wind from the sinno season that’s picked up. That is until I see Boraf standing outside grinning manically and walking towards Tex on the ground. How in damnation can a Kimanka have mental powers like a shapeshifter?
I swing my head from left to right to check on the minions, but they are still held in position.
Walking outside after them I’m immediately battered by a huge gust of wind, but I desperately need to see if Tex is okay so I run towards him, past Boraf, without a thought about what Boraf is doing.
But when I’m almost there, my feet lift off the ground and I scream out in surprise. I too find myself floating in the air. Tex’s eyes shoot open and I watch his head lift off the ground and his eyes follow me up, concern for my wellbing written all over his face.
My arms extend out either side of me, as if I’m about to start flapping them, but I know they won’t halt my plummet to the ground, it’s just a natural reaction of being so high in the air.
Boraf walks towards Tex laughing darkly. “You’re not the only one to have shifter blood running through his veins!”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. A male from my township is a shifter too. How many more of them are there?
My heart is in my mouth. I’m so much higher than Tex was. If he releases me, I’m sure to break both legs when I land.
Tex is on his feet in one swift movement. I watch him look over to a felled log and instantly it rises from the ground and flies in Boraf’s direction. He ducks just in time and I feel myself drop for a brief moment as if he loses his lapse in attention, before stopping suddenly as he regains his mental hold on me.
A cracking sound rings out and from my vantage point, I watch a huge branch break off from a tree overhanging Tex and hurtle at speed down towards him.
“Tex, look up!”
Tex’s head whips back and sees the branch just as it’s about to hit him. I scream expecting to see him pulverized, but the branch halts and changes direction towards Boraf. Boraf looks up at me and once again the branch changes course and heads towards me instead. My extended arms fling up to my head, as if they’re going to make a difference protecting me.
I clench my eyes shut and grit my teeth waiting for the impact, but it doesn’t happen. When I open them again the branch is gone, and I see Tex striding towards Boraf.
More cracking sounds ring out, so much louder than before and a whole tree falls in Tex’s path followed by another. The sound is deafening and if my feet were on the ground I’ve no doubt the quake from the fallen trees would be felt through my whole body.
I fear for Tex. All I can see are the fallen trees and branches full of leaves. Did they hit him?
I begin to hear voices not too far away and then see males and females of the township coming to investigate the ruckas.
I hear a couple of females scream when they spot me hovering up in the air. Did they think I just did that?
Then my breath catches in my throat when I see the trees lift off the ground, their small pink leaves falling from them to the ground, like mating celebration confetti. More screams and gasps come from the large crowd now gathered as the trees lift higher and higher, until to my relief I see Tex standing with his feet astride and his shoulders back. But still, they continue to rise, moving over to where Boraf is standing. Boraf looks up at them and I see terror in his eyes for the first time.
Then the trees fall...but so do I.
My stomach shoots up into my mouth and I swear my heart stops. This is it, if my fall doesn’t kill me, the ricochet from the trees will.
I glance at Tex and see fear in his eyes too. Can’t he stop me?
“Stop!”
And just like that, the trees and I halt mid-fall as soon as the last syllable is said, but the word came from neither Tex nor Boraf’s lips.
I scour the crowd confused but then Niddoo steps forward and walks towards the catastrophe unfolding below me.
Tex and Boraf turn to see who had halted their battle. Then the tree and I float gently to the ground.
Tex and Boraf’s faces are just as shocked when they lift off the ground and levitate towards Niddoo.
What in damnation is going on?
I run towards Niddoo too and get there just as Tex and Boraf’s feet touch the ground.
“You two are not the only shifters that are pissed. Now I’ve had to reveal my identity to my whole township after living here peacefully for over thirty yanas.” He looks up to Boraf. “Son, you have broken my heart in two. You are not the male I raised you to be.” I’m shocked by the admission. I would not have guessed in a trillion yanas that Niddoo was Boraf’s father. He stares intensely at Tex. “At least I’ve found what I originally came here to find.” He finally looks at me with the same kind eyes that he’s always looked upon me with. “I’m so sorry Saaxxatee. As if you hadn’t already been through enough in the last fifteen yanas.” He turns to face the growing crowd. “Councillors, I want to speak to you all in the community-dwelling. I’ll bring these males and female with me. We have lots to discuss.”
He lowers the males to the ground and spots the minions in the byre. They come flying through the air and land on the ground just behind Tex and Boraf.
Niddoo turns to me. “Were you being held against your will by my son Baraf and his friends?” I nod. His face crumples. “I’d suspected for a while that the missing female's abductors originated from this township...but never did I ever suspect my own flesh and blood of such a heinous crime.” Niddoo holds out his hand in the direction of the township. “We must sort this all out once and for all. After you lot!”
Tex
I’M SO GLAD I WENT with my gut.
When I opened the door to the byre and both of the males that had attacked us at Saaxx’s property were all over her with her pussy exposed, I became incensed, and just stopped myself from ripping their limbs from their bodies.
The strike from behind had come as a shock though, but not as great a shock as finding out that Boraf had shifter abilities too.
Battling him, I was able to find out that neither one of us knew how to override the other’s mind control. It wasn’t until his mind turned off from controlling something that I was able to claim control over that thing with my own mind. And when he pulled Saaxx down with the trees, I thought I’d lost her forever. The look of panic in her eyes combined with my helplessness at not being able to override Boraf’s mind control on her turned my soul icy cold.
But then for her to be saved by another shifter, one who was a master of the power he commanded and one who could control our powers too, well...I didn’t know whether to thank him profoundly
for saving Saaxxatee or to be scared for my own wellbeing. But his comment about finding what he originally came here for when he looked at me has made me relax a little.
Now, heading for their communal meeting building I’m buzzing. Not only did that battle confirm that Saaxx cares for me, but I might also find out more about shifters and possibly even where I came from too.
I glance to my side at Saaxx. She’s trying desperately to pull the cloth together at her crotch as she walks. I grab the back of my shirt and pull it up and over my head, handing it to her.
She runs her eyes over the bare chest of my Human form and I see the desire in them. It sends a surge of blood to my cock and the corner of my mouth hitches up. Her eyes continue south and notice my swelling. Her lips part and I see her quickly draw in a breath.
So she still wants me physically too.
I feel like I’m soaring. Whatever the outcome with the older male shifter I’ll be happy now I know Saaxx still has the hots for me.
A wall of noise greets us as we enter the building and I’m not surprised to see it’s filled to the rafters. But there’s not a cat’s chance in hell all of the people present are just councillors.
The noise quietens as soon as our presence is known and we make our way through the throngs of parting people to the top of the room.
When we are there, the three males are raised into the air, and hover like phantoms, all with masks of fear.
The older male shifter turns and addresses the crowd. “By now you will have established that I, Boraf my son, and this male to my left are not Kimankas. But before we discuss our species, I need to make you aware that we have three suspected murders amongst us.” He holds his hand up to the three levitating males and the crowd gasps. Niddoo turns to a group of men. “Go and secure them in the town cell!” The males look at Boraf hesitantly. “Don’t worry, I’ve got control of his mental abilities, he can’t do anything to hurt you or the others.”