Myths & Magic: A Science Fiction and Fantasy Collection

by Kerry Adrienne

  “Mama.”

  Why was the crying louder now? Was this one of those freaky dream-within-a-dream things? Denise didn’t think those happened in real life.

  The sleeping bag was an unbroken expanse of pearlescent cloth. No fur pile. The cub wasn’t on the bed. Had he rolled off in his sleep?

  The crying was the cub. Wow. It sounded almost human.

  “It’s all right, kiddo,” she mumbled, pulling back the blanket. “I’m coming.”

  She scooted across the mattress and blinked rapidly at the sight that met her eyes.

  “You’re not really there. I’m still asleep.”

  The naked baby boy crying on the floor didn’t care what she believed. He just cared that she was awake. He held up his chubby little hands in an impossible to misinterpret pick-me-up gesture.

  Denise coughed to clear her raspy throat. “How did you get in here? Where is your mommy?”

  At the word mommy, the toddler’s volume climbed to ear-splitting levels. Wincing, Denise hurried to pick him up. Unused to small children, she imitated what she’d seen women doing on television—holding him close and patting him on the back. The baby’s sobs turned to hiccups as Denise slowly made her way around the cabin, looking for additional intruders.

  Had she left the door open? Was that how he had gotten in here? Denise knew she hadn’t done anything so stupid, but checked anyway. Both the front and back door were closed, as were the windows. She was alone.

  She looked down at the still-sniffling toddler. “Hell, kid, did you get here through a wormhole? Is there a tear in the universe in the closet?”

  The baby didn’t answer. Quiet now, he snuggled in her arms and drowsily blinked up at her.

  Was she looking at a kidnapping victim? Or maybe he’d been lost in the woods? On this part of the lake, her rental was the only cabin for miles. Maybe the baby had stumbled to the only recognizable structure in the dark. Could he have crawled inside here on his own?

  What if there was someone camping nearby and their baby had wandered away? The parents were probably frantic. What was she supposed to do? Go around the lake with a naked baby until she found the right tent? To her untrained eye, the lake was big—far too large for an aimless search of the shore.

  Anger roused her to full consciousness. The lost-child scenario was all wrong. A baby couldn’t have physically entered her cabin. She had locked up tight for the night.

  Someone had broken into her cabin and abandoned a toddler. A naked toddler. What the hell kind of person did that?

  I’m screwed. Denise couldn’t call the police. She was in possession of a stolen research animal. Wolves weren’t typical pets. Unless the police officer was especially dense, she couldn’t pass the cub off as a dog. Not even a husky.

  Wait. Where was the cub?

  Still holding the drowsy baby, she crouched to look under the bed. Nothing. A quick scan of the cabin revealed a startling lack of wolf cub.

  Shit. Denise swore under her breath, looking around for something to swaddle the little one with. Grabbing her phone to check the outside temperature, she frowned. It was too cold to take the baby out unless he was properly clothed. Even with a blanket, the frigid air would make its way through the cracks unless she could learn to swaddle in the next five minutes.

  Denise had two options. She could leave the baby asleep on her bed and take a quick look around in the dark with a flashlight…or she could wait for morning.

  If she went out now, she might run into the parents or a search party looking for the little tyke. Of course, if she left and they came here to check, she might miss them.

  I’m better off waiting until morning. Despite living in the cabin for over a month, she simply didn’t know the area well enough to conduct a nighttime search. She’d just take a quick peek around the place itself in case help was nearby.

  Decision made, Denise turned her attention to the problem at hand. She put the baby down on the bed and covered him with the blanket. Using her pillows, she built a makeshift fort around him.

  The flashlight was under the sink. After checking the batteries, she crept out the front door before turning to go back inside.

  The couch cushions. She could put them on the floor in case the baby rolled off the bed. After pulling the tan squares off the couch, she tiptoed to the bedroom. She nearly tripped over her own feet when she saw the cub was back…and it was covered by the blanket she’d used on the baby.

  Her breath stuttered as she shakily inhaled.

  The cub ate the baby. Yes, that was the explanation. The wolf was hungry and had eaten the baby. Because the alternative was too crazy to believe.

  I have to find the boy. Despite a stern mental order to get her butt moving, she just stood there like an idiot, staring at the wolf cub. Bending over, she knelt on the ground, her eyes level with the sleeping animal.

  The cub sensed her watching and opened his eyes. Then he sneezed. She blinked as a ripple of…something…passed over the wolf. Then the baby was in the cub’s place, holding out his arms.

  Denise backed away so fast she fell on her ass, hitting the wood floor with an oomph. The momentum rocked her into the bureau, sending a vase rolling off. The heavy ceramic piece glanced off the side of her head, striking with enough force to make her ears ring.

  On the bed, the baby fussed and waved his arms. When she stayed on the floor, rubbing her head, he started wailing.

  “No!” Denise scrambled to her feet. She held out her hands in a classic panic move, trying to ward off any tears. But that just made it worse. The volume of his cries climbed several decibels as the toddler screamed furiously.

  Wincing, she lifted him up, holding him a little away from her body. The shrieking continued unabated. Denise squeezed one eye shut and kept the other fixed on the baby.

  “What I said earlier still holds. Do not eat my face.” Gingerly pressing the squirming little body to her chest, she rocked him until he stopped crying.

  It took the better part of an hour, but the baby finally quieted down—for like a minute. The second she stopped rocking him, he started up again.

  Maybe he’s hungry?

  Babies needed to eat regularly, didn’t they? But would this one want milk or raw meat?

  She squinted at the red-faced little boy. Both. She’d give him both.

  Balancing the toddler on her hip, she dug through her bag until she found one of the jumbo-sized syringes she always packed. They were useful in case the animals were too young or weak to eat proper food and needed to be on a liquid diet. It would have to work as a baby bottle in a pinch.

  Fortunately for her, the baby took the milk. Halfway through the syringe, he passed out in her arms. Moving like molasses, she set the sleeping toddler down as if he were made of glass. If he woke up again, she didn’t know what to do.

  Crap. What if he pooped the bed?

  Denise tiptoed to the dresser and took a T-shirt from a drawer. She gingerly wrapped it around the baby’s bare butt, wondering if he was warm enough.

  With a feather-light touch, she tested the baby’s forehead. It seemed hot, but maybe that was normal? It was cold here and she didn’t want him to get sick. Deciding he needed another layer, she tucked a sweatshirt around him.

  The baby rolled over and farted in his sleep. An exhausted and shrill giggle escaped before she could clap her hands over her mouth.

  Too afraid to jostle the baby by sitting on the mattress, she settled down on the floor. When the sun came up, she was still there, watching the baby werewolf sleep.

  Chapter 4

  Denise scanned the aisle of the local grocery store, loading up her cart with anything in the baby aisle that was marked with a toddler stamp.

  Diapers or no diapers? Would they fall off when the werewolf shifted again? And just when would he do that?

  She eyed the baby, who was sitting contentedly eating raisins in the shopping cart, before throwing in a box of toddler-sized diapers. He had stayed human shaped ever since
he’d woken up this morning. So far, he hadn’t done anything wolfy or aggressive, not since last night. Part of her had wanted to believe it was a dream, but she knew better. There was no history of mental illness in her family.

  Werewolves exist.

  She had made herself say it aloud several times that morning. Denise was now acting caretaker of a toddler lycanthrope. She had spent all morning on her phone, trying to research werewolves. Most of what she’d found had been completely irrelevant. She didn’t need to read werewolf erotica or watch any of the Underworld movies. No resources existed for her situation.

  Denise had decided the unfortunate lack of how-to-care-for-baby-werewolf manuals wouldn’t stop her. She would simply pretend the boy was a baby when in human form and an animal when he was a cub.

  Hanging on to her practical side was the only thing that kept her from cracking up.

  After spending most of her ready cash on a car seat, she and the baby headed to the cabin. “You and I are going to be okay, kiddo,” she assured the drowsy toddler.

  Denise wasn’t as confident as she sounded, but the baby didn’t need to know that. Sooner or later she was going to figure this thing out.

  Whatever happens, I will protect this child-slash-werewolf, she thought, driving around the last bend on the road leading to her rental.

  And keeping it away from the huge, muscle-bound man nearly bursting out of his army green T-shirt—the one currently climbing out of her cabin window—seemed like a good way to start.

  Yogi heard the van’s engine as soon as it rounded the bend leading up to the cabin. He jumped out the window, but the driver reversed and floored it, getting away.

  All he had was a quick impression of a small, heart-shaped face surrounded by a cloud of dark hair. A woman had Oliver. Yogi hadn’t seen him, but Oliver’s scent was in and around the cabin. Instinct told him the cub was in the van.

  Shit.

  He ran to his Jeep, which was hidden around a clump of bushes.

  His intention was to cut the other vehicle off before it got any farther, but the road was too narrow to overtake it. By the time he made it to the main highway, the van was already out of sight.

  Damn it!

  Yogi floored it, taking advantage of the empty street to fly over the asphalt. They couldn’t have gotten far.

  Chapter 5

  Denise nearly spun the van out getting away from the cabin. Miraculously, she managed to keep all four wheels on the ground as she drove pell-mell down the unpaved road to the highway.

  She’d only caught a glimpse of the man breaking into her cabin, but that brief impression was all she needed to know he was dangerous. He was massive, at least a foot taller than her five three. Despite the cold, he hadn’t been wearing a coat—giving her an unobstructed view of enormous biceps and a barrel chest that tapered down to an enviable narrow waist.

  The way he’d moved, slipping out of the widow so fluidly, pointed to some sort of military training. That or he was a professional thief. She wasn’t betting on the latter. What pro-thief would target a random little cabin on a lake in Wyoming? Maybe a druggie would, but addicts did not look or move like that.

  Was it Reliance? Had they found her? How?

  Her van looked completely different. And if they had been on to her the whole time, why hadn’t they busted down her door last night?

  It didn’t matter. She needed to dump this van and get a new car. Denise had more cash socked away in a safety deposit box in Cheyenne, but it was at least an hour away. Her plan had been to avoid cities while the baby was with her, but it didn’t appear as if she had a choice. That money and a new car were now a necessity.

  Denise had dozens of credit cards, some under different identities she’d carefully constructed over the past couple of years. Her inheritance had given her some serious advantages. However, living off the grid was the safest course of action for someone in her line of work. That was why she made it a habit to stash cash in various places around the country.

  After Cheyenne, she would drive over the border to Boulder, the site of her next closest stash, to get that too. Babies were expensive…especially the ones who enjoyed a steak the size of their own head before their binky.

  Scanning the traffic in the rearview mirror, Denise decided she’d lost the muscleman. She gave herself a little shake and apologized to the baby for the rough ride. However, he didn’t seem to care about her driving. He was snoring softly. The baby continued to sleep deeply for the next several hours, even when she stopped to buy a truck at a junkyard she passed on the way.

  Later that night, Denise checked them into a cheap motel off the interstate. She’d taken a room on the ground floor with the stipulation there was an open parking space directly in front for her use. Everything was ready for a quick getaway in case the muscleman somehow found them again.

  That’s not going to happen. I definitely lost him. And Max had laughed at her when she told him about studying evasive driving techniques with a disgraced police detective… Well, who was having the last laugh now?

  She settled the baby in the portable crib she’d bought for its resemblance to a dog bed, then checked the battery on her Vipertek Taser.

  A girl can’t be too careful. She slipped it under her pillow and lay down fully dressed, just in case. There were more dangers in the world than one mysterious muscleman, especially in a place like this.

  Denise drifted off to sleep with one hand on the portable crib and the other on the Taser. A few hours later, her eyes flew open when the window opened with the lightest of scraping noises.

  Reacting on instinct, she shot from the bed, stun gun in hand. The dark muscular arm reaching inside the bedroom started to withdraw as she rushed forward, but not quickly enough. Flipping the switch, she pressed the contacts to his skin and blasted it with everything the Vipertek had.

  The smell of burned hair, with a hint of cooked bacon, filled the air. Whoever was on the other end of the arm swore viciously and fell back.

  Heart pumping wildly, Denise grabbed her backpack and the handles of the portable crib. She threw open the door and ran toward the new-to-her truck before skidding to a stop.

  The hood was open, several wires haphazardly hanging out.

  Fuck. She needed another vehicle. Spinning on her heel, Denise turned, ready to sprint to the motel lobby, but he was there.

  The hulking figure stumbled in front of her, cutting off her path to help. His frame was so big it blotted out the light from the naked bulb outside the lobby door.

  Denise pulled the baby from the portable crib, hugging him to her. He was awake now, upset at being unceremoniously yanked from sleep into the chilly night air.

  The baby made his displeasure known, opening his mouth in an ear-splitting wail.

  That little cry compelled her to move. There was no plan, no way to escape, but she ran anyway. Denise faked left, and the man fell for it. She broke right, heading toward a four-door Jeep with a soft top.

  She didn’t look behind her when other shouts went up. Multiple voices were calling out. The ruckus had alerted the motel’s other occupants. A crashing noise signaled something heavy being thrown—maybe a lamp. Someone must have been trying to help her, but she didn’t have time to stop and thank them.

  Hurrying forward, she took out her pocketknife, prepared to slash her way into the cab, but when she tried the door, it opened. Buoyed by the stroke of luck, she jumped behind the wheel before anyone could stop her.

  Sensing the danger, the baby shifted to a wolf and whined. Panicked that someone would see him, Denise shoved him out of sight below the passenger seat, stowing her backpack next to him to act as a sort of cushion. Without a car seat, it would have to do.

  “Stay down, kiddo.”

  She checked the visor and the seat around her for the keys, but there was nothing. Swearing, she reached underneath the dash, slicing and dicing wires by feel. But then the muscleman appeared in front of her, his features clearly delineated b
y the moonlight.

  His face was sharp angles and flat planes—handsome in a savage kind of way. Even though he was wearing a jacket, she could still see he was built like a brick wall.

  Denise shivered when he smiled at her. He raised a set of car keys and jingled them. They stared at each other through the windshield. The man opened his mouth as if about to say something when she finally got the wires connected properly. The engine started, transforming her adversary’s expression from smugness to shock. She threw up a one-finger salute and hit the gas.

  Chapter 6

  The Jeep was a war horse in disguise, but it didn’t help her much when she didn’t know where she was going. Denise took a blind turn, expecting to join the interstate highway, only to find the way narrowing. It unexpectedly turned into a dirt tract bordered by trees and high bushes. There wasn’t enough room to turn the vehicle around, so Denise kept going. She hoped the road wouldn’t dead end, praying there would be another turn off to the highway.

  She never found out. A huge, blurry shape shot out from the trees on the left, leaping in front of the vehicle. Screaming, she yanked hard on the wheel to avoid hitting it, steering into a deep ditch on her right.

  Denise tried to put the Jeep in reverse, but no matter how hard she pressed the gas, it didn’t budge. She was stuck, the back wheels spinning in midair. Only a tow truck would be able to pull it free.

  Hands slammed on the hood. She raised her head to meet muscleman’s livid expression. Dumbstruck, Denise gaped as the now-shirtless stranger tried to incinerate her superman-style with his furious gaze.

  Where did his clothes go?

  A wail from the cub caught her attention. Still in wolf form, he yapped at her.

  “All right,” she told him, catching him in her arms. She threw open the door and shot toward the trees on the other side of the road.

  Run. Don’t stop.

  Her feet flew over the uneven ground, stumbling over the rough terrain as she dodged tree trunks to get distance between her and the Reliance agent. Pain shot through her chest from a stitch in her side, but she held onto the cub and kept going until she was nearly doubled over, unable to catch her breath.