Second Chance with the Shifter

by Leela Ash

  “Who are you anyway?” he asked finally.

  “I…I know my name,” she said with a shiver. “Kala.”

  “You’re cold,” he observed.

  She nodded and he seemed surprised. He immediately set to work, collecting combustible branches and twigs. Within fifteen minutes, he had a roaring fire going. The warmth was like an old friend she hadn’t realized she’d missed. She hadn’t felt comfortable since the time she had woken up in the strange land and now finally she was starting to edge towards relaxing her defenses at the touch of warmth on her skin.

  “Shouldn’t we get away from the trees?” she asked sleepily, curling her arms around her lean body to conserve heat.

  “What for?” he asked, surprised.

  “They look funny,” she said. He was about to reply, but before he could, he realized that she was curled on the ground across from him, sound asleep.

  Chapter Five

  The next morning, Kala woke up to the sounds and smells of food cooking. She sat up excitedly, her stomach rumbling. Zaden was hard at work over the fire, his thick golden hair tied up in a bun behind his head. He had a look of intense concentration on his face, and she couldn’t help but find it cute. He was arrogant, sure, but when he was focused on something, he put his all into it. That was admirable.

  “Good morning,” she said softly, unable to handle the voyeuristic feeling that watching him was giving her.

  “Oh, good, you’re awake now.”

  “Yeah, I am. What are you cooking? It smells amazing.”

  “Oh, this is something that my mother used to make. I’ve always loved it, but a lot of people find it strange. My mother wasn’t from around here. But I wanted to give you something that would give you some strength. You seem to be really exhausted.”

  “That’s true. Thank you.”

  “You don’t have to tell me what you’ve gone through, but if you feel like talking about it you can.”

  She was surprised by the offer. Most men, as far as she knew, wouldn’t have bothered to say something like that. He fixed his sea green eyes on her, and she felt a flutter in her chest. He was being serious. It wasn’t what she expected from him, but then, nothing was what it seemed anymore.

  “Thanks,” she said uncomfortably. She still wasn’t sure whether or not she could trust him with the fact that she didn’t have any memories. She thought it might be better to keep that a secret. However, he had kept her safe and warm, and now was even making her something to eat. Maybe she could trust him. She sighed heavily, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was very focused on stirring whatever was in the pot that he had over the fire.

  “Where did you get that pot?” she asked.

  “Oh, I keep it in my bag. It’s retractable. I can fold it kind of and make it small. I’ll show you later.”

  “What kind of magic is that?” she asked, legitimately stupefied.

  He laughed heartily until he realized that she was being serious. The smile fell from his face and he shook his head, squinting at her as if she were a foreign species.

  “You’re not serious?” he asked. “Are you Amish or something?”

  “Amish?” she asked. Nothing that he was saying was making any sense to her.

  “You know, the people who don’t believe in technology and fancy gadgets beyond buttons?”

  She shook her head, genuinely clueless.

  “What? Where are you from anyway?”

  “I…” Her eyes filled with tears. She didn’t know.

  “Look, I’m sorry that I made fun of you,” he said awkwardly, scratching himself on the chin. “You don’t have to cry about it, though. It was just a bad joke.”

  “I don’t understand any of your jokes,” she said, her purple eyes dark with sadness and pain. “I don’t even know who I am. All I know is my name but I can’t remember anything else. I don’t know who you are, I don’t know who the men who were after me are, and I don’t know why these trees smell and look so funny. Nothing makes sense. And I’m sorry, but I don’t know what Amishes are either.”

  He watched her seriously, and then chuckled.

  “You mean you lost your memory then?” he asked.

  She nodded. That was what was going on, whether she liked it or not. Maybe if he was still going to help her, it would be better if he knew the truth.

  “That’s rough,” he said. “I’ve heard of things like that happening before, and it’s usually because of the Guardians. They really mess with your head. If they tortured you, sometimes you come out and don’t remember anything. We have a couple of people back home who have dealt with it before. Maybe you should talk to them. I bet they could help you figure out what’s going on.”

  “Why would they tortured me?” she asked, furrowing her eyebrows. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

  A sad look darkened Zaden’s face, and he looked down at the ground. The Guardians had been after the dragon shifters for centuries, and their only refuge had become the underground settlement led by the Kersh clan.

  “No, nobody they tortured has ever done anything wrong. They’re just terrible people. They don’t always treat people who are different with a lot of respect. In fact, they usually try to kill us or dissect us like science experiments to see what they can learn.”

  “That sounds awful, why would they do that?”

  But here, Zaden stopped talking. She couldn’t remember anything, and he didn’t see any point in putting false memories into her head. What if she wasn’t a dragon shifter? It would be the biggest breach of trust that he could think of to the clan to unveil their secrets about shapeshifting to somebody who wouldn’t know or understand what he was talking about. Clayton would see him as a traitor, and that was something that he could not tolerate. The man had practically raised him and allowed him special treatment after the death of his parents. He would not betray their secrets, even to this beautiful woman.

  “We traveled far last night, and I’m not exactly sure where we are,” Zaden admitted, avoiding the topic. “I have never been here before. And we are going to have to get back to my clan before the Guardians find you. I don’t know what they want with you or why they have chosen you. Their reasons are theirs alone. All that you need to know is that they are evil and they will hurt you if they find you unprotected. So we’re going to have to find our way back as soon as we can.”

  She nodded, and he served breakfast. They ate in silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts and worries about the future.

  Chapter Six

  “What do you mean you let her get away?” Richard exclaimed.

  Peter looked down at the ground wincing. Richard was always so miserable when he was angry. Sometimes, he even turned on his own group. Several of them had not survived the man’s temper.

  “I’m telling you, it wasn’t my fault. There was a shifter there. I don’t know who he was, but I think it was that little urchin that Clayton has been taking care of.”

  Richard began to pace around the dingy, dungeon-like room where he had made the headquarters for the Guardians. It looked like a medieval torture chamber, and opened up into the deeper labyrinths of the laboratory where they had several specimens collected of both Dragon and Loni descent.

  The people of Kaldernon were desperate to get back to their home world, but before they did so, they were making great use of the limited resources on Earth and tainting the genetic population of the humans. Whenever the Guardians found somebody even vaguely of Dragon or Loni descent, they would use all of their resources and power to collect them and maintain their care to keep them fit for experimentation. It was through these prisoners that the Guardians learned the genetic and mystical secrets of Kaldernon that threatened to disrupt the balance of wholesome life on Earth.

  “If it was Zaden, as you suspect, it shouldn’t be too difficult to corrupt him. That little asshole has always been anxious to rebel. Maybe we could get him to betray the girl and give her to us,” Richard said thoughtfully.

>   “That is unlikely,” Peter said. “You know that he has an intense hatred of us. Maybe that would work if we hadn’t killed his parents, but because we did, I doubt there will be any chance for us to sway him one way or the other.”

  “Well lucky for us, we uncovered the secrets to masking our scent from Dragon shifters. We can sneak up on their camp without him being any the wiser and take her away.”

  “You know the formula is only temporary, and there is a very limited amount of it. We would have to make a new batch. We already used that trying to get to the girl.”

  “Well we don’t know if she is shifter or Loni, so that was a necessary precaution. I’m actually angrier that you wasted this chance to get her even though you could have snuck up on them and made this a seamless kidnapping.”

  Peter paled as Richard’s face began to turn a dark magenta. The man’s beady eyes fixed on him mercilessly and he had a feeling that he knew what was going to happen. Before Richard spoke his curse upon Peter however, another man burst into the room.

  “My lord, there has been some activity reported in the city. People are beginning to claim that they have seen strange colors in the sky. I’m afraid that they are beginning to awaken to the presence of Kaldernon.”

  “That’s impossible!” Richard sputtered, turning away from Peter and facing Duke, who had delivered the message.

  “I’m afraid not, my lord,” Duke said with a little bow. “Apparently, anyone who has ancestors of Dragon or Loni descent are able to see the world above through the rip in the space-time continuum. They don’t understand what it is or why it’s there. They think they’re purely human and would never believe the truth. The bloodlines have become so diluted in these cases that they don’t have any access to their shifter or creative Loni powers. At least not much. That’s the only consolation in this case.”

  “Were you able to get reports of the people who have claimed such a sighting?” Richard said now with an eerie calm. Peter and Duke exchanged a quick, nervous glance.

  “Not yet,” Duke said. “But we can have the police officers detained them on suspicion of the consumption of hallucinogenic drugs. That will give us the time that we need to bring them here before anything strange happens.”

  “All right,” Richard said. He began to pace around the floor of the room, running his hand over the bald spot on the top of his head. Peter began to back away as subtly as he could.

  “Get the girl,” Richard said distractedly, lost in thought.

  “Yes, my lord,” Peter said. “Right away.”

  Chapter Seven

  Night fell and Kala found herself tossing and turning. For some reason, she couldn’t get to sleep even though it had been very easy for her the night before. They had been walking all day long, which made her think that she would probably be too exhausted for insomnia. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case. She had followed Zaden over hills and through the strange trees that she was still suspicious of. Why did they look so different than what she thought they should look like? In fact, what did she expect them to be like? She had no idea. Maybe she was just confused because of her memory loss.

  In a way, she felt worse being with somebody than being alone. Everything was a lot more confusing. Not only that, but she was starting to feel as if she might become a burden on the impatient and surly man who had saved her life. Although he was rugged and handsome, he was also irritable and full of himself. He had mentioned how he was one of the most capable fighters in the clan where he was from, and that she was safe with him. But it was the impression that she had of him as a braggart they gave her a bad feeling. Who knew who she could trust here in this strange world?

  The strange sounds of the forest were keeping her awake. There were animals of all varieties. Zaden had pointed a few of them out to her, but none of them summoned any kind of familiarity or memory in her mind. It was disappointing, although she did enjoy seeing the cute way the animals moved and made sound.

  She fingered the white gossamer lace of her beautiful gown, her eyes resting on the way that it bounced the moonlight back at her. Wherever she was from, it was a place that was capable of creating cloth as beautiful as this. It was nothing like the weird brown fabric that the bad smelling Guardian man was wearing, or the binding leather of Zaden’s tight slacks. She knew that she didn’t belong there, but she couldn’t figure out where it was that she had come from.

  As she gazed at the sky above, her lavender eyes widened when she saw a shooting star. It seemed to trail behind it colors that were familiar. Colors that seemed to be missing from the world that she was in, from the trees, the sky, and everywhere else. Why did those colors make her feel so homesick?

  She hadn’t realized she was crying until she felt Zaden’s strong arms around her. She allowed him to hold her close in a tight hug, and she buried her head in his shoulders, ashamed of the emotions that were pouring out, and confused by what had caused them.

  “It’s all right,” he said soothingly into her ear. She felt strange tendrils of pleasure from the vibration of his voice and stopped crying, confused by the sensation. “I’ll do my best to help you figure out where you belong. My clan is good at that kind of thing, don’t worry.”

  She pulled away, breaking from his arms and looking out into the ominous darkness of the forest around them. She could sense him standing up behind her, his masculine body close to hers. She couldn’t get over how good he smelled. But she was embarrassed to admit how comforted she felt by this strange man. He put his hand on her shoulder and then let it fall, his fingertips lightly touching her long, white-blonde hair. She expected him to say something, but instead, he turned away from her and went back to his side of the fire.

  “Everything will look better when the sun rises,” he said. Then he curled up on the ground and went back to sleep.

  Chapter Eight

  Morning came quicker than either of them expected it to. Zaden rose first, and stood looking down at Kala. Every time he saw her, he was startled by her beauty, and he found his eyes lingering on her longer than he meant to. The women in his clan all seemed to look plain to him. Something about Kala looked different. He wished that he could put his finger on it, but just as he was trying to, she stirred and met his eyes.

  She jumped back, startled, and he looked away embarrassed.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, sitting up and sliding away from him.

  “There’s something strange about you,” he said decidedly. “The Guardians probably did something weird.”

  It was easier to simplify his feelings this way. It made him feel more in control of himself.

  “Weird? What do you mean?” she asked, peering angrily at him. “I’m not weird.”

  “I don’t know. With your eyes or something? You just look different.”

  She glared at him and he shifted uncomfortably.

  “I mean, it’s not bad or anything.” His green eyes darkened and he turned away from her. He had insulted her when he had really been thinking about how beautiful she was. What kind of jerk did that?

  “Has anybody ever told you before that you are very rude?” she asked, standing up huffily.

  “Yes,” he said, grinning at her from over his shoulder. “Now come on. We have to get out of here before the Guardians find out where we are. They want you for some reason, and they won’t stop until they get you. You’ll be safer with my clan.”

  She growled quietly to herself and followed him away from their campsite. What if she didn’t want to be with his clan? Although, she had to admit, he seemed to be the only thing about the entire situation that gave her any sense of normalcy. And he wasn’t too bad to look at either. In fact, she caught herself staring at the contours of his muscular back right that moment. The raw power of his body made her heart skip a beat.

  She looked down at the ground, frustrated with herself. Why was he so handsome? She couldn’t stand the way he kept trying to take charge. But what was she going to do about it? It wasn’t lik
e she knew anything about the place. She had no choice but to follow him. At least until she was able to remember something. Hopefully he was telling the truth and the people in his clan could help her.

  Otherwise, she didn’t know what she was going to do.

  Chapter Nine

  Zaden sighed, glancing behind himself as Kala struggled to keep up. “You’re slow!” he exclaimed. There he went, insulting her again when he had really been thinking of ways he could help her keep up.

  Her purple eyes glared darkly at him and he laughed despite his irritation. “You know the sooner we get home the sooner you can get some help right?”

  “Home?” she said, raising her eyebrow at him. She was panting as Zaden’s capable, muscular body climbed quickly and impatiently over huge rock formations. He was clearly more agile than she was, and seemed to enjoy flaunting it. “Wherever you’re from, that’s not my home.”

  “Well, no, but –“

  “And why don’t you just slow down? Neither of us knows what kind of beating my body has taken in the past few days! Just take it easy would you?”

  Zaden pursed his lips, hiding his face from her. He felt guilty for pushing her so hard, but he was afraid of what might happen to her if the Guardians caught up. Somehow they had been able to sneak up on them and it had left him shaken up. They were capable of great evil, but he didn’t want her to know that. The amount of danger she was in wasn’t something she needed to worry about. Worrying would do nothing and he wanted to protect her from the gruesome truths.

  It had been his hope to get her back as quickly as possible for her own good. Working up a sweat would be nothing compared to what might happen to her if she were captured. He hadn’t been thinking about how his pace had been affecting her. He was used to trying to show off to all the other rookie cadets in Clayton’s army, proving that he was only there because he wanted to be, not because it was necessary.