by Jeff Hale
He put a finger under my chin and gave me a cold look. “I don’t accept sorry, kitten.” And his foot slammed against my other knee. The stab of fire in my knee was almost forgotten as my body dropped lower, tightening the chain, my weight helping it to choke the air from me.
“Katelyn!” Darien screamed my name, his voice filled with terror and panic. I heard him struggling with those who held him down.
Another bloom of fire, as the knife Henry still had was plunged somewhere below my sternum, just below my heart. Then another as it was removed, and driven in again, lower. My body was trying to heal the wounds, but I was a new shifter and Henry was adding to them faster than it could keep up. My eyes met Darien’s, tears spilling from them as I fought to breathe, and the despair in his own eyes was overwhelming. Hysteria bubbled up in me as I felt my life slipping away, desperation tearing through my mind as the world began to go grey.
“Now, Henry, she won’t be much more fun if you actually kill her,” the man in the fedora and trench commented dryly from somewhere behind me.
“Says you,” Henry replied, laughing deep in his gut. He caressed my breast through my shirt with the knife blade. “As long as the body’s still warm, don’t matter if she’s breathin’.”
I didn’t want to die, especially knowing Henry had plans on violating my body afterward. I had too many people to live for, too many things I still wanted to experience. I put everything I had in me toward trying to call my beast through my skin, shutting my eyes, ignoring voices, closing my mind to the pain in my body; my entire non-physical being was centered on nothing but escape.
My skin went cold as I tried vainly to draw in air, but I could feel something else under my skin, twanging my nerves. Warm air danced and writhed over my skin, whipping my hair and howling through the room, followed by a booming bright crack of lightning and the ringing shatter of glass as the windows exploded. That something else soared up inside me with a rush of air and wings, and in a moment of sheer ecstasy I felt my form change instantaneously.
But it wasn’t the cat. She was… elsewhere. This was something different.
Screams and shouts echoed through the room, the shifters holding Darien down scattering away from him as they backed away fearfully. Darien stared at me with amazement and wonder in his eyes and I heard Alex exclaim, “Bloody fucking hell!”
Henry tried to scramble away from me, but I knocked him down and held him in place with one gold taloned hand… claw, I didn’t know what to call it. The chains rattled their way to the floor as the beam above me snapped across my back. I gave a challenging roar that shook the walls, my long tail swiping the air behind me angrily, and my wings unfurled with a loud echoing snap. I dipped my head to look down at Henry, growling. I wondered if I could speak in this form, and decided to try.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t bite your head off,” I said to Henry, glaring at him down my yellowish, leathery skinned muzzle. It came out as words, not snarls or growls, and sounded vaguely like my own voice, only deeper. It even kept my slight accent.
“What the fuck are you?” Henry’s voice was laced with awe as he looked up at me.
I snapped my teeth near his face. “I’m…” I began, then trailed off, my righteous fury giving way to stunned confusion.
What the hell was I? I wasn’t sure. Hell, I was still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that I very obviously wasn’t a freaking cat, at least not at the moment. I was big, I knew that much; the large table was straining under my weight. I stood on all fours and seemed maybe the height of a tall horse at my shoulder. I had wings; I gave them an experimental flap. And I had leathery yellow skin.
“Darien? What the hell am I?” I asked him, pressing down harder on Henry with my foot as he tried to wiggle away again. He was still looking at me slack jawed so I snapped my head over to where Alex was still guarded by the two weretigers. They regarded me thoughtfully. “And you two, leave him the fuck alone! Shoo!” I roared again and they leapt the table, disappearing wherever the others had gone to hide. I looked for the man in the fedora and trench, but he had gone as well. It dawned on me that I was being rather level headed for someone who had damn near died, but I figured my brain would deal with that bit later.
Henry chose that moment to surprise me, his large shape moving under me as he shifted. I didn’t blame him, not really; I had been desperate to shift when he was holding me down. His skin swelled and moved, stretching, dark fur or hair sprouting through his skin, and damned if he didn’t get even bigger than he already was. I looked down at the Aspected shifter still lying under my foot and I wasn’t surprised at what I saw. He was a goddamned grizzly bear.
The table creaked ominously underneath the weight of both of us and Henry took my moment’s distraction to wrestle out from under my foot and dive off the table. He brought himself to his full height, a loud roar pouring out of him, and just about stared me in the eye. He had to be at least twelve feet tall. I felt his Alpha aura try to take control of my beast and I shrugged it off. In this form, at least, it seemed to have no effect.
There was a blur to my right as Darien took advantage of Henry’s fixation on me to tackle him. Chairs went skittering across the floor, scattering pieces of glass, and smaller tables overturned as the two bodies went sliding, Darien on top, his claws sunk into Henry’s belly. I saw movement as Henry’s pack tried to come forward to help their Alpha and I hopped down from the table, toppling more booths and chairs.
“No one moves, no one helps him!” I declared loudly, my eyes going to each of them in turn. “Let this be how it should have been to begin with, Alpha to Alpha!” I cringed inside when I said it, but they listened to me, backing away to relatively safe vantage points to watch. I was worried that Darien might not come out the victor on this and I winced inwardly at the thought of him being hurt, or killed.
Wood shattered among snarls and growls and I turned my attention back to Darien and Henry. They were grappled on the floor, Darien’s much smaller form locked against Henry’s chest by his front legs as Henry tried to crush him. Henry’s vice grip like maw snapped at Darien’s face, attempting to take chunks out of him, but Darien managed to push away enough to keep those fangs from doing anything more than superficial scoring.
With a dexterity I was surprised to see from Darien, he managed to punch his claws through the flesh of Henry’s lower arms, weakening their hold on him and allowing him to slither from Henry’s grasp. As Darien dropped to the floor, Henry bellowed in rage and swung one large paw like hand at Darien, catching him in the shoulder. I gasped as Darien flew several feet through the air to crash into the back of a booth, a yelp coming out of him as he hit and crumpled to the floor.
I felt something pat my leg in reassurance and I looked down to see that Alex had snuck up next to me. Even though he was trying to comfort me, there was real worry in his eyes. Darien was still previously injured and I had the gut feeling that Henry was a much older, much stronger shifter.
Henry was charging Darien’s still form, white froth coming from his mouth as he snarled and snapped. Just as he was almost on top of Darien, Darien moved, rolling aside as Henry slammed into the back of the booth. I could see what looked like small sharp bony protrusions all over Darien’s body, and Darien howled, springing onto Henry’s back and sinking teeth and claws into his neck. Blood sprayed as Darien tore pieces out of Henry’s flesh and Henry roared in pain and fury.
Darien withdrew his fangs and claws from Henry’s neck, holding on like a bull rider as Henry tried to shake him off, thrashing in the air to dislodge the wolf from his back. But Darien just dug in again, his claws plunging into Henry’s ribs on either side. Henry roared again, trying once more to shake Darien loose, throwing himself backwards onto the floor in an attempt to crush Darien beneath him. I started to take a step forward as Darien disappeared beneath Henry, but Alex stopped me.
“You can’t interfere, Katie. He either wins or loses now, there isn’t any other way.”
But I could hear the dread in his voice.
Henry rolled to the side, pushing himself up to his feet and staring at Darien’s still form on the floor. He wasn’t dead, or even unconscious, because he was still in Aspect, but he wasn’t moving either. I could see blood bubbling slowly from his mouth.
Henry bent over him, plucking him up off the floor like his was a rag doll, lifting him in both massive hands, while a roar of anguish tore from my throat as I realized that Henry meant to break Darien’s back. I wanted to hurl myself at Henry and trample him into dust, but I knew that coming to Darien’s aid would only make things worse in the end. I could see Darien moving now, hands trying to find purchase in the air, and all I could do was stare at him. My brain working desperately as I willed him to move, to protect himself, to have the strength to defeat Henry.
Henry raised Darien to head level so that he could make the final descent downward over his upraised knee, when Darien suddenly bucked in his grip, rolling back over Henry’s head and onto his shoulders. Darien reared his own head back, a spine chilling howl coming from him, and sank his fangs into Henry’s throat, locking his arms around Henry’s head and his legs around Henry’s chest.
Once again Henry tried to fling Darien off, shaking and pushing at Darien with his arms, but Darien could not be budged. Arterial blood sprayed from Henry’s neck as Darien whipped his head back and forth savagely, never removing his fangs from Henry.
Beside me, I heard a gasp from Alex and a muttered, “Bloody fucking hell, when did he pick that trick up?”
Henry dropped to the floor and rolled, trying again to crush Darien, but not quite able to since Darien was wrapped more around his side than on his back. Nothing Henry did seemed to be able to dislodge Darien, who was, literally, holding on for his life.
Blood still poured from Henry’s neck, glistening darkly off Darien’s skin, and after several minutes, Henry’s movements became weaker and weaker, until he finally lay still on the floor, Darien still locked to his throat.
“Do you surrender?” Darien eventually growled through clenched teeth, releasing his grip on Henry, his face bathed in blood.
“Fuck no!” Henry snarled back, feebly trying to push himself up off the floor.
Darien plunged claws simultaneously into Henry’s gut and his groin, forcing a yowl of anguish out of the bigger man.
“Yes!” Henry’s voice was desperate as Darien began to twist his claws in both areas. “I surrender!”
“You heard your leader!” Darien cried in that deep guttural voice he had in Aspect. “He has surrendered to me, and all that was his is now mine!” He pulled his claws free, moved up so that they were poised over Henry’s face. “His life is now mine to do with as I please!”
I could hear the voices of the other shifters as they muttered amongst themselves, unsure whether to be happy about this change or not, but they all moved forward, almost as one unit, until the almost two dozen of them surrounded Darien and the fallen Henry.
“Relinquish the pack,” Darien commanded, claws still hovering over Henry.
“They’re not mine! I can’t re—” Henry began to protest, looking around futilely for something, or someone.
“Are you their Alpha?” Darien demanded, growling now.
“Yes! But—”
“Then relinquish them!”
“Spill some blood, then,” Henry snarled said through clenched teeth. “Only cups I got are some dirty coffee mugs in the back somewhere.”
Darien just glared at him, then wiped the palm of one hand across the side of his face where blood was wetting the short fur along his jaw. He pressed the hand across the front of Henry’s snout, smearing the blood there.
“Do you accept my rule, for yourself and on behalf of this pack?” Darien asked stonily.
To my surprise, Henry actually opened his mouth and licked the blood from his face and Darien’s paw-hand. “I do,” Henry muttered, and I could have sworn I heard him whisper ‘thank you’ as well, but I might have imagined it. A shudder went through him and I could see that same shudder go through all of his pack. They all abased themselves before Darien, although grudgingly, as they showed their acceptance of his rule over them now.
“Does anyone challenge me?” Darien asked, facing each of them in turn to give each the opportunity if they so chose. One by one they shook their heads, averting their eyes, although the weregator seemed to think about it briefly, giving Darien a vengeful look before turning away.
The pack was now Darien’s.
“What will you do with me?” Henry asked. He had shifted back to human, the gaping wounds on his throat, ribs, abdomen and groin slowly closing. His face was pale from loss of blood and I had to blink in confusion when I noticed that the tattoo on his forearm, the skull with the hood and fangs, was somehow mysteriously gone. I checked the others, the gator and Takeo and Sayuri; theirs were gone to. Henry rose to his knees before Darien, and while his posture screamed submission, the tension in his shoulders and neck did not.
Darien let himself go back to human form as well, and now that he no longer had black fur covering his skin, I could see where Henry had made his marks on him. Two sets of deep furrows were gouged vertically down his back. Deep bruising marred both of his buttocks, his back, and his stomach and chest and he sported several sets of shallow teeth marks on his face where Henry’s fangs had grazed him. These, too, were starting to heal, but they looked like they might scar. Darien still had the pinprick scars across his chest, left shoulder and neck from the silver buckshot months before, as well as the still healing wound from the previous day.
“First, I want you to apologize to my mate.” Darien pointed in my direction, his voice even, although he was starting to wobble.
“She’s a fucking dragon!” Henry exclaimed in protest, starting to rise to his feet. At Darien’s growl and glare, Henry gave me a sideways look, one that was filled with something that wasn’t fear, but I couldn’t quite place. “It ain’t natural. Fine. I apologize,” he said, directing the comment toward me, but I could see it lacked sincerity.
I figured it was the best I was going to get. I gave him a fake smile and a nod.
“Why are you baring your teeth at him?” Alex asked quietly from where he leaned against my leg.
“I’m not,” I told him, pitching my voice as soft as I could. “I’m trying to smile.”
“Well, it’s not working.” He grinned impishly at me.
“How in hell do I change back?” I asked him, beginning to feel like a very big white elephant in the room. I was the only one still shapeshifted in the room, and to be truthful, I wasn’t quite sure how to get back to human form from this one.
“No clue. You didn’t change like a normal shifter. One second you were Katelyn, then poof, you were a drake. I’ve never heard of a shifter turning into a magical creature before.” He ran a hand up my leg, feeling the skin. “Soft.”
I moved, walking carefully closer to Darien until I was towering over both of them, mindful not to step on any of the shifters who were still submissively on their hands and knees around him. Darien was looking pale and I wanted to be close by in case he collapsed.
“I said I was sorry!” Henry reiterated, eyes going wide in alarm as I approached. He still didn’t sound sincere.
I gave him a baleful glare. On top of moving closer to protect him, I had hoped that maybe getting closer to Darien, closer to the Alpha aura he was exuding, might help. It hadn’t. Other than being able to manipulate my beast, it seemed Alpha auras had little or no effect on me.
I sighed, delving into my mind again to find the connection to my beast that I had always had with the cat. The cat was always there, even when I was in human form, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker, but there, to be called or sent away when I needed her, or fought with when she wanted something else. But this, this drake part of me was different. It wasn’t there, hovering at the edges of my mind. And that’s when I finally realized it.
I’ve never h
eard of a shifter turning into a magical creature before.
Magic. It was different from that place that I pulled my power from to turn into the cat. I finally sensed it, that connection to some other place that I had tapped into, the line of energy that I was pulling from it, and I severed it.
I immediately became human again amidst the startled gasps of Henry’s followers. And Alex had been right; there was no transition, even minutely. One moment I was a drake, the next moment, a small bloody female crouched on the floor. I felt a hand reach out and hesitantly touch my foot. It was a small Asian man who looked at me with worshipful eyes, eyes that I recognized from the male weretiger, Takeo.
“I am sorry, mistress,” he whispered to me regretfully before dropping his eyes from mine. Unlike Henry’s, Takeo’s apology had the ring of truth to it.
“So, what’s to be my fate?” Henry was asking Darien, seeming slightly less uncomfortable now that I was no longer looming over them and was once again a small harmless human.
I stood up, taking a deep breath and patting myself down, pleasantly surprised that all my injuries were somehow gone and my clothes were still intact. They were ruined though, the scent of my own blood filling my nostrils. The cat stirred from wherever she was hiding deep in me, no longer suppressed, but I exerted my will and she paced restlessly at a distance.
“To reform your pack, lead them in a way that doesn’t revolve around—” Darien gestured to the altar table, “—violence and blood.”
“They’re yours now, do what you will,” Henry said sullenly.
“I don’t want them!” Darien glanced around at the shifters who still knelt at his feet. “I want you to stay as their Alpha, but change your damned ways! I have my own pack, small as it might be, and that’s all I’m interested in.”
“And if we don’t? Change our ways?” Henry actually got to his feet now, taking Darien’s words as a reinstatement of his leadership.
Darien gave him a look that should have frozen the blood in his veins. “Then I’ll kick your ass again, only this time I’ll finish the job and leave them a broken pack, easy pickings for the next Alpha that comes along.” He gave a slightly arrogant toss of his head. “You know who I am, you know who my father is, you know I have the power to back it up. And I’ll be keeping tabs on you.” He took a step back from Henry. “Come on, Alex, Kat, it’s time for us to get out of this hellhole.”