by Lucy Kelly
“Laura Donahue?” he inquired.
“Hello, I hope you’re hungry, there’s a lot of food.” Just then Mara appeared in the doorway behind Marshall.
“Here, Laura, Ben, and I will help you carry all this into the dining room. Alpha, Tom has some stuff for you and Laura has a tale to tell us over dinner.”
Laura worked up a smile, here goes nothing.
As her guests carried everything into the dining room, Laura wheeled in behind them. She had purchased a heated serving cart but it looked like she wouldn’t need it tonight. Marshall took the seat she gestured him to at the head of the table. Mara sat on one side while Tom and Ben sat on the other. Finally Laura wheeled up to the empty space at the foot of the table. After she made sure her guests were comfortable and had wine or water there was very little talking as the food was passed around the table and each person helped themselves.
Once everyone had a full plate, Laura decided to jump in with both feet and started telling them her tale.
“Okay, long story short. I’m the seventh child and only daughter of loving parents. Found out I was allergic to the sun while still a baby. Got hit by a drunk driver while trick-or-treating when I was seven. Mom got compound fractures to both legs and I got a broken back. Learned to be a programmer from my mom who quit her job with the NSA, where my dad is still working, to be at home and take care of me. Designed my first video game at nine, you may have heard of it, Fae Wars. Started hanging out in chat rooms to see what my next game should be and came across people talking about shifters. My next game was Alpha Quest. Life went on and with time on my hands, combined with a high IQ and access to NSA software, allowed me to set up searches on the internet, social networks, VOIP calls, etcetera, to find out what people were saying about my games. Found two things out. First, shifters and other magical people really exist. And second, there is a war of good and evil being fought under the noses of most of the population. I was a few months past my thirteenth birthday.”
She stopped talking long enough to take a long drink of water. She hadn’t touched her food yet. Here came the hard part.
“I knew I had enough proof that my father would believe me about the shifters. At least he would take a closer look. I didn’t say anything because this was my private secret, Laura’s Secret Shifter World was what I called it and I didn’t want to share that with my overprotective, loving, and sometimes smothering brothers. By this time my mother had died and my father and brothers were worried about losing me too. My health has been frail since my accident. So I decided to gather more data on both sides of the shifter/Shayatin conflict. Using my hacking and data-mining skills, as well as my uncle’s FBI access, I learned quite a bit. By the time I turned sixteen, I’d not only accumulated a huge amount of information, I’d also chosen a side. Good guys being the shifters and magical people and the bad guys are The Society and the Shayatin.”
Stopping once again she looked up at her guests. Unable to meet their eyes and see condemnation she’d been staring at her plate while she played with her food. Okay, no one was sprouting fur and fangs, so far so good.
“End of story coming up fast. I started making plans to contact the shifter contingent. All of the data I’ve amassed on the bad guys, where their money is, their properties, names, etcetera. Well, I wanted to hand that over to the good guys. I searched for and found this property and started making arrangements to buy it and build this house. I think that covers all the main points. Any questions?” she asked.
“Oh and Tom has a box filled with flash drives. It holds the most important and immediate information on your enemies. There’s quite a bit more, but that will get you started on defending those under immediate threat.”
Mara and Marshall had exchanged a few looks during Laura’s speech. Tom and Ben remained quiet, this was above their pay grade. Marshall was sitting still and calmly eating his very tasty dinner. Inside he was seething, how had a child found out about his people. Their very existence was at risk. If this small human actually had what she said she did, she could show the world at any time. This was not acceptable.
Something had been bothering Mara, so she spoke up while Marshall digested Laura’s words along with her excellent food.
“What’s in the cases?” she asked.
Laura actually blushed. She had done some pretty illegal things and now she had to confess.
“Um, when I discovered the bad guys I kind of hacked into various law enforcement databases. Whenever there was a transferring agent with time on their hands, I set up false orders for them to surveil or set up electronic surveillance on my behalf. One and two day assignments that were routine to them and wouldn’t be noted. The agents I used left the various towns and cities soon thereafter, so they weren’t suspicious of turning over any evidence or information, it was expected. In some cases, I used more clandestine organizations and contract agents. I was able to discover ten artifacts of power. They are evil, four belong to The Society and six were retrieved from the Shayatin. Whenever I uncovered the existence of a grimoire or other object I waited until I found the right person to retrieve it so they wouldn’t be affected, or could at least withstand the evil in the short time they were exposed. They are all packed with healing herbs and surrounded by vials of blessed water,” she explained.
“Why are you here?” he asked her in a quiet voice. He needed to find out what motivated her. Everyone wanted something.
“I’m not going to lie to you. When I first found out about shifters and magical beings, I had hoped to find someone that could heal me. I let that dream go after a few years. I saw some of the things your enemies were doing. I intervened when I could and I think I saved some lives. I have skills. My entire family works for a better world. My dad with the NSA, my uncle and one brother in the FBI, two brothers in the Army, two in the Navy and one in the Marines, while I sat in my dad’s basement programming video games!” her voice going up at the end, showing her emotion and frustration.
“Sure, I might be able to get a job as an analyst with an agency. But once I knew about shifters and what was happening in this world, I realized I had a lot I could offer this community. If I could figure out shifters are real, someone else could too. I’m needed here. I have skills that would be a real benefit in your struggles with your enemies. Well, that’s my story. Are you going to let me live? You can easily kill me you know. I don’t have a box of evidence that would fall into the hands of the authorities or anything if I disappear. I’m more committed to this cause than that. I’m putting my life and my future in your hands,” she stated in a quiet voice. She was determined and wanted them to know it.
She knew she was taking a chance, gambling with her life. How many times had she heard her brothers talk about drawing a line in the sand, making a stand and then living with the consequences? This entire adventure had been about making a stand. And now her life would either end here, or begin here. It seemed like everyone around the table held their breath.
“You’ve been so busy talking, you haven’t eaten. The food is good, you should eat,” he said in his deep gruff voice. He had a great deal to think about. He was Alpha of this region, if she had what she said she had, he needed to consult with the national Alpha. And if what she said about how she learned about them was true, his video conferencing system wasn’t secure. He’d have to find another way to contact national.
Mara picked up the conversation then by talking about the sights to see in the area with Ben and Tom making a comment here and there. The tension in the room dropped as the conversation became more general. Second servings of food were taken and then thirds. By the time the meal came to an end, there were no leftovers. It seemed at least that part of the shifter legend was true. They obviously had fast metabolisms to be able to eat that much and not be as big as houses. She didn’t eat very much at all, her metabolism was slow and she didn’t get that much exercise.
Tom and Ben offered to clean up and make coffee for those that wanted it af
ter the meal. So Laura, Mara, and Marshall headed into the living room. Laura didn’t realize how tense she’d become. After traveling only at night for so long and then only getting a few hours sleep before the store opened this morning and then spending the day moving into her new place, added to the tension of the meal, Laura was tired. The full meal on top of the long day was too much for her. While Marshall walked around the room, looking at the house, its architecture and how she’d set it up, Mara went to check on the coffee. Laura wondered if he would mind if she asked him some questions. They hadn’t actually admitted they were shifters, but they hadn’t laughed and asked her about missing her medication either. She tried to think of the best way to approach him, to make the next step in this slow dance of communication.
Marshall stared at the half-empty bookcase in front of him. He didn’t want to confirm Laura’s suspicions but he and his bear really wanted to get a good whiff of her scent. A spring cold, and yes shifters got colds, and other diseases, combined with the spicy foods and he hadn’t satisfied that urge. That was another true thing about shifters, they used their sense of smell to a much larger degree than full humans. They could scent truth from lie, arousal, fear, and many other emotions. But in order to use those senses, they needed to be close when in human form. Their human noses were more sensitive but not nearly as strong as when shifted. A nine-inch bear nose had twenty-one hundred times the sensitivity of a human nose. Right now he really wanted to get up to this human’s skin and pull her scent into his receptors. He could learn a lot about her that way.
Part of him was surprised she wasn’t peppering him with questions. Maybe she was intimidated by him, most were. He was over seven feet tall with broad shoulders. In the shifter world, size was everything, the biggest, the baddest, the survival of the fittest still held true. He decided to see how long it took her to break the silence in the room. He knew he could outlast her, he just wanted to see how strong her commitment was. After fifteen minutes he was tired of wandering around the room and poking into half-unpacked boxes. He was also pleasantly surprised she hadn’t spoken, she was stronger than he thought. Mara came into the room with the coffee.
“Ben and Tom have gone home…” she said and then went quiet.
“What…” he started to say, turning back to the room.
They both noticed Laura had fallen asleep in her chair.
“So, Marshall, are we going to kill her,” she asked, putting down the tray holding the coffee carafe, cups, and milk and sugar. They both were well aware of the laws regarding humans that had knowledge of shifters. If they wanted Laura to live, and Mara was beginning to think they did, they had a limited amount of time to act.
Marshall didn’t listen to what Mara said. The urge had been beating against him since he’d entered the house took over his actions when he saw the frail beauty was asleep. Striding over to where she was slumped over in her chair he bent over her small frame and pushing aside her hair, put his nose right against the skin of her neck and took a deep breath.
When Marshall took his first up close and personal sniff of Laura, he smelled deep forests and running streams, lavender, honeysuckle, and wildflowers. As good as that was, he still knew she wasn’t his mate—now they had a problem. She smelled too good to be evil, she hadn’t been lying, and she now had a death sentence hanging over her.
The only way a human could be allowed to know about shifters was if they were mated to one. That was the law. Find out and either you died or took a mate within a short period of time. Marshall had a lot of respect for the female and he didn’t want her to be killed. At the same time, she knew too much about them to be running around free, they would have to keep her under house arrest until they discovered if she had a mate.
“We need to have our single men scent her,” he said.
“I can just picture it now, a long line of men out the door, taking turns sniffing up on her,” Mara laughed.
“Do you have a better suggestion or just more humor,” he growled at her.
“She’s been traveling for weeks with no time to do laundry,” Mara said, remembering the bag of dirty clothes she put into the laundry room. “If the Kobold she hired hasn’t already cleaned them, I suggest we grab some of her dirty laundry, cut up scraps, put them in baggies, and send those around to be scented,” she said.
“She has a Kobold?” he asked astonished. Kobolds were something like brownies; they kept the house, cooked, cleaned, and even made minor repairs to things like clothing and shoes. They were most likely to be found in the Rhine lands of Europe where they were first from.
“She hired the Kobold as decorator and offered her a home. I ran across Lola earlier in the kitchen. Laura couldn’t see her,” she added. “That’s all I was able to discover so far,” Mara said.
He thought about everything for a minute and agreed the dirty laundry was the best solution to their current dilemma.
“Agreed, I’ll carry her into her bedroom, bring her chair. You will need to stay with her until she’s mated. I’ll want two others here as well in rotating shifts. She’ll have to be watched for now. I’m going to review the data she’s gathered. I’ll call you in the morning and let you know if I need to speak with her again,” he said, reaching down to pick Laura up out of her chair. He was surprised at how light she was.
“Yes, Alpha. Ben and Tom went home to get a few things from my place and to pack overnight bags for themselves. They should be back in an hour,” Mara answered, having foreseen the Alpha’s orders. She took hold of the chair and followed, giving directions on the location of Laura’s bedroom as they went along. She remembered seeing a large first aid kit in the bathroom. She counted on Laura having some latex gloves handy. She would use them as she picked through Laura’s clothes so her own scent didn’t get intermingled. She gave a brief thought to sending out her own clothing too, after all, she too longed for a mate. But this was a life or death situation for Laura, so she let the fantasy slide away.
Laura didn’t awaken when Marshall lifted her from her chair and carried her into her bedroom. And she also didn’t wake up when he put her on the bed and he and Mara began to strip her clothes from her body.
Marshall was shocked when he removed the sweat pants from Laura’s legs. They were so thin, he could see the outline of each bone. She had very minimal flesh and almost no muscle at all. It made sense since she’d been paralyzed for so many years. He would have to find out more details about her injury, exactly what her limitations were. In general, shifters were in very good physical condition and they healed quickly. He didn’t know of any shifters who had become paralyzed. The fact anyone in his care had suffered bothered him on an instinctual level.
With Mara’s help, they stripped her to the skin and covered her with blankets for warmth. It wasn’t until he stepped away from the bed that he smelled the blood. Looking down he saw that he’d scratched the pad of his finger. Flipping back the cover, he saw that her skin was scratched also. He pointed it out to Mara and she got the first aid kit to treat it. Mara searched through the clothes and found a bent hook on Laura’s bra. She put it aside to be cut up. Laura must have been exhausted because she slept through the entire process. It was about that time he remembered the household computer that had greeted him earlier.
“Maggie?” he said in a soft voice.
“This is Maggie, do you need assistance?” a voice said.
“Maggie, Laura is asleep. Mara, Ben, and Tom will be staying to make sure she is well. Are you able to secure the house behind me?” he asked as he left Mara and Laura in the bedroom and walked back to the entrance.
“Hold please.”
While he waited for an answer he took the time to look over the rest of the living areas. There were several large bedroom suites, all fully decorated and ready for occupancy. Why was that?
“There are four life forms in the house and all entrances are secure. I will open and re-secure the entrance door after you leave.”
“Who is the
fourth life form and where is it?”
“Lola is resting in her quarters, she is an unusual life form, she doesn’t act within established parameters. However, all her life signs are within normal ranges so the authorities have not been notified. Will there be anything else?”
He’d forgotten about Lola, the kobold. “Tom and Ben will be returning to act as internal security. That is all, Maggie. Refrain from making any notifications about members of the household and visitors unless you’ve checked with myself or Mara first.”
“Very well, please have Laura add her guests and yourself to the security protocols within twelve hours or I will consider her to be illegally held and contact the local police regardless of your current command.”
What the hell? “Maggie, explain what you mean,” he said in a gruff voice.
“Since Laura activated my program, she is currently the only one with full security access. You and other life forms have limited security access as guests. She seems to be unaware of Lola, which is strange because she has Lola’s security built into my systems. Scans show Laura’s respirations are normal and regular so you have not harmed her. If Laura does not awake and reset my security measures within current parameters then security protocols previously programmed will take effect. Do you require further information?”
“No, you have been quite thorough,” he said as he stood in front of the door, waiting for Maggie to open it for him.
“Thank you. Goodnight, Marshall Connor,” she said, opening the door.
“Goodnight, Maggie.” If he thought it was strange saying goodnight to a computer, he let that slide. As he left the house and walked down to his truck to drive home, he thought it was too bad that Laura wasn’t his mate. He admired her a great deal. He worried about her frail body and felt sorry for her family. If she were his, he’d be frantic.
Shifter males were always seeking their mates. If too much time passed they began to go feral. He had another twenty or thirty years before he needed to worry. Still, he wouldn’t mind meeting his mate and starting a family.