“What? My age? I’m sorry I’m not a young, blushing virgin, but I got news for you, pal, not a lot of people are.”
“Don’t talk about my wife like that.”
His possessiveness pained her. Had anyone ever stuck up for her? Or her brother? The closest she could remember was lowered gazes and a shuffling of feet. They were too afraid to be painted with the “creepy” brush for speaking up for someone not completely human by the Norm’s standards.
“I wasn’t talking about her. Look, congratulations. Best wishes and all that. Have a nice life.” Bethany started to walk away.
“I promised her I would get her the dog. It’s our wedding day. I can’t go back on a promise.” He smiled at her, showing the two dimples in his cheek that she thought gave him a roguish air. He was really attractive. Too bad he was such an ass. Actually, the more he pushed, the less she hurt.
Bethany stopped in her tracks. “How badly do you want the dog?”
“I’ll do anything.”
“Would you continue to sleep with me?”
Keith grinned even as the dog made urgent sounds. “Sure, but only if we keep it a secret.”
Bethany shook her head. “So much for the promise of being faithful. Congratulations. You just broke your second promise to your bride today.”
“You’re a desperate old maid. Not too pretty and a little weird. I’m young, handsome, and broke up with you. There’s not a person here who will believe you,” he sneered at her.
“They don’t have to,” she said and took out a pocket tape recorder. She pressed Play, and his voice said, “Sure, but only if we keep it a secret.”
“You little bitch,” he said. He made to grab it, but the dog got between them, and its growls impressed even Bethany.
“Now, get lost before I play it on the loudspeakers,” Bethany said.
“Why are you being so mean?” Keith tried out his green eyes on her. Bethany looked at him and felt nothing. It was a relief.
“I’m weird that way,” she said, using his words back at him.
“Look, I’ll get my way anyway when we come back to the tribe. It’s not like you’re going to be sleeping with the mutt. You don’t relate well with animals. You scare them when you reach for the Tech. She’ll come around when it’s a choice between dried meats or fresh kills that I can provide. You’ll see. I’m just trying to get you something for your trade. What do you say, the turkeys and rabbits for the dog? I’ll even smoke the meat for you so it’ll keep longer.”
Bethany ignored him and continued on to the Tech cabins. “That’s what I get for sleeping someone ten years younger than me,” she said to the dog. “Thirty isn’t old. And I’d rather be weird than married to him. For what it’s worth.”
“I didn’t ask you,” he called after her.
“Maya didn’t tell you to,” she countered back and felt that same dizzy illness when he didn’t deny it. Maya was a good chief. She knew how to keep her people happy and productive members of the community. Apparently men like Keith and Lem didn’t mind selling themselves for power. There was a logical part of her deep inside that knew Keith was not her mate, but still Bethany was going to miss that little thing he did with his tongue.
No one glanced up at her when she walked into the Tech cabin. Computers were lined up against the walls, and there were people in various forms of relaxing. Someone had put on a pop album, and even though no one grumbled about it, Bethany could tell it wasn’t a favorite. But when it wasn’t your energy you were channeling into the DVD player, it was all ice cream.
“In here,” she said and led the dog into her room. She shut the door behind her. Walking into the bathroom, Bethany concentrated. The water coming out of the faucet gradually became warmer. She could feel the background pull of the Techs assigned to the job to heat the ancient water heater. Reminding herself to check the duty log and see when she had to sit a turn, Bethany concentrated harder. She had to sit down and rest her head on the sink by the time the water had filled the tub. Even with all the Techs keeping the unit running, it was still old and needed more energy to jump-start the heat. But hot water that didn’t come out of a hide bag heated by the sun was pure bliss. The dog jumped in, soaking Bethany and the floor.
“Okay, I guess you needed a bath either way.” She got up and rummaged through her cubby hole. “Here’s a dress I bought when I thought I might have a date, and some soap made by Lelinda. It smells like honey and almonds.” Bethany held it out to the dog, who licked it. “Yuck.” Bethany snatched it away and put it out of licking distance. “Anyway, I’d lend you jeans, but I’m not sure what size you are. Of course, if you really are a dog, that will change the plans somewhat, and I’m going to feel like an idiot. I’m going to get changed for dinner. Take your time.”
Bethany stripped out of her wet jacket and cargo pants and looked at her rangy frame in the mirror. She had good muscle tone. Sleeping with a hunter made sure she had plenty of protein, and she was lucky to be able to barter playing opera music records on the milkmaid’s record player for a bottle of milk every day. Her brother taught her the importance of trading looters for medicine, so she was in good health all around, although she thought the vitamins were a waste of energy. The mirror was dusty, and she used her soaked clothes to wipe the image so she could see her face a little better. She grinned and noted her teeth were good. Keith was right, though; there wasn’t anything special about her looks. Her eyes and hair were the same color brown as dirt, but at least she didn’t have any grey hairs yet. And her nose wasn’t crooked.
Have fun kissing around that beak, she thought sourly about Keith’s bride, whose name she still hadn’t bothered finding out.
Bethany changed into a pair of jeans and a thick wool sweater. She’d wash her other clothes in the tub, if it wasn’t too dirty after her Shifter was through with it. Plaiting her hair off her face in a sloppy yet functional braid, Bethany lay down on the bed and tried to clear her mind. She channeled a lot of energy for the tape recorder and for the hot water, and she felt a little thin. Bethany slipped off into a light doze, helped by a kind soul who replaced the pop music with some pleasant instrumental.
About an hour later, Bethany woke up feeling a little disoriented. The music playing was now had a deep bassline that made her think of sex, which was depressing because it didn’t look like she was going to have a bed partner tonight. Forcing herself up, she knocked on the bathroom door. The Shifter should be ready by now. When there wasn’t an answer, she cautiously peered inside. The wet dog stared dejectedly at her.
“Oh well, it was worth a shot.”
Bethany tried not to feel like a moron when she leaned over and started soaping the dog up. It took another hour to rinse and dry the dog, and the sopping wet chamois cloths she used for the job were aromatic to say the least. She hung them and her wet clothes outside to dry and changed her clothes for a second time while the dog padded happily after her.
“This is my last outfit, aside from that dumb dress you’re not wearing. Can we try and keep it presentable until the rest of my stuff dries?” Bethany repacked her knapsack. She checked to make sure the safety was still on her pistol and the box of bullets still dry. The pistol was worth a lot of livestock and other goodies on the open market. The bullets even more so, but that wasn’t why she kept it. It had been her father’s. He had been a policeman, and if he survived the earthquake and tsunami that overtook Florida, they had never seen him again. They travelled with another band of survivors. Daniel said their mother had been trampled before his eyes. She survived the impact, only to die a few months later. The Orange Grove tribe adopted them and everyone took a hand in raising them. Bethany didn’t remember either of her parents. But sometimes she thought she could, based on the stories Daniel would tell.
The pistol was loaded, and she knew how to use it. Daniel had taught her as their father had taught him. She didn’t expect trouble, but Maya had been right. Techs were kidnapped by other tribes during conclaves. By
the time they were released, they were too far away from home to do anything but settle in with the new tribe. Although Bethany had a feeling she wouldn’t put up too much of a struggle if her last conversation with Keith was any idea on how living in the tribe with him and his bride were going to be. Maybe it was time to move on again. But where? She didn’t want to go back to Florida. Too many bad memories. Maybe she’d head west, like Daniel always talked about. He wanted to walk from one end of the country to the other to see what it looked like. Just set his compass and keep walking. Bethany snorted; yeah, she’d last about three days before she starved to death. Keith had one thing right. She was a bad hunter and a worse gatherer. Her head was stuck in the clouds or listening to radio waves that only she and the other Techs could hear without a device.
“I’m probably still going to talk to you,” Bethany said, picking up the harness. “You’re a good listener.”
Bethany was not about to attend the wedding feast, so she and the dog walked companionably over to the vendor areas. She picked out two sausages and tossed them to the dog and then a few more when the dog looked at her expectantly. For herself, she tried a vegetable pilaf dish and strips of juicy chicken. She traded a couple of jazz CDs she burned herself on some old tech to the vendor for her dinner. He was happy to get them. It would raise his status in the tribe that he could contribute more than just cooking.
The music from the wedding tent was live. Bethany would have liked to kid herself that her fellow Techs had boycotted the event, but it was more likely the live musicians worked cheaper. She strolled around the conclave grounds and marveled at how many tribes were in attendance.
When the dog planted herself in front of the leather vendor and refused to move, Bethany glanced over and saw an array of clothing and shoes.
“Would you consider some Tech services for those boots?” she asked the woman behind the counter.
“Don’t have much need for the fancy stuff.” The vendor looked her up and down. “Anything else to offer, love? I think you and I have a lot in common.”
The vendor glanced toward the wedding tent.
Bethany flushed red. “I appreciate the interest.” She looked longingly at the boots. “I’ll let you know.”
“Don’t wait too long.”
The dog pulled her away at a fast clip. “They were really nice boots,” Bethany said. “Too bad I don’t swing that way. Although if they had been fur lined, I might have said what the hell. Better than sleeping alone tonight of all nights.”
Bethany looked around the camp. It was probably only her imagination that people were avoiding her eyes. People were just busy, that was all. Everyone had jobs to do in order to make the conclave run efficiently. She felt a tug of pride at how much the tribes accomplished in such a short time.
The first ten years after the meteor hit, it was utter pandemonium. Survivors swore they would rebuild, but too many people who had the knowledge had died. It was only in the second decade after the tragedy that survivors started to communicate with other survivors across the land. So they set up the conclaves each year. Trade was good, and people were learning more and more. Teams of Shifters and scientists scavenged and looted goods to see if they could put civilization back together. Maybe in the next decade everyone would be able to have running water, electricity, and old-style communications, and her kind would become geeks instead of freaks.
Or maybe they would be shunned and distrusted like the Shifters were now. Bethany had run away from her old tribe after they started hunting her brother. While she understood their hysteria and paranoia, she didn’t have the strength or ability to stop her brother or the hunters. So she left before they brought back his corpse.
People laughed and drank homemade beer and wine from skins and kiln-fired mugs. As usual, she stood on the fringe looking in.
“Weird.” Bethany sighed and wished the word didn’t hurt as much as it did.
She had long ago come to terms with the fact that she’d never be a beauty queen. And she cared too much for books and gadgets to ever take the time to make herself up properly. She had long, ragged brown hair that she kept in a messy ponytail most of the time, and equally boring brown eyes. Nondescript was a nice way to describe herself, but mousy and plain would probably be more accurate. Most of the time she told herself she didn’t care when she was accepted as just one of the guys. That was why when Keith, the tribe’s main hunter, wanted her, it was like a fairy tale. Only he was Beauty, and she was the Beast. She chose the Bluff tribe because they promised to build her a home and provide food for her so she wouldn’t have to hunt or garden for herself. She was abysmal at both.
In return, she would use her mind to heat the water in the morning, or run the computer for a few hours, or the printer to gather information on the other survivors through radio. Bethany even provided nightly entertainment via any DVD players that had been repaired or still worked. She was a giant battery. Her brother called her the Energizer Bunny, and she still had no idea what the heck that meant.
The dog barked again, and Bethany turned around, half expecting to find Keith but was surprised to see Rene, a doctor, from her old tribe.
“I didn’t know the Orange Grove tribe would come all this way to the Northern conclave,” Bethany said and hugged her.
“We had a record-breaking crop this year, and we figured it was worth the trip to trade instead of seeing them rot. Besides,” Rene said, glancing around, “one of our looters found a few cars with gas in them.” Rene pressed an orange into her hand.
Bethany smiled. “I bet it was probably Ned and his boys.”
“You remembered.” Rene smiled back. “Yes, it was them. Anyway, it cut a few days off the journey—for the leaders anyway. Chris won the lottery and got to ride in the back seat. It was like he got invited to ride on a spaceship.”
Bethany smiled, remembering Rene’s little boy.
“Do you still ride that iron horse?”
“Keep it up and I’ll start calling you medicine woman instead of doctor. I still have the hog, but even I can’t keep it in gas. Besides, it doesn’t do well at all climbing all the way up to get to the Bluffs.”
“How have you been? Are you happy?”
There was the million-dollar question. Was she happy? “I do all right,” Bethany said. But the truth was, no, she wasn’t happy. While the Bluff tribe had helped her settle in, it was never her home. Keith’s harsh words just underscored what everyone else felt. And now, she’d have to go back and see Keith and whatsername every day. Well, that could be too much to bear.
“Look, I wanted to tell you. The hunters...they never found your brother.”
Bethany felt light-headed. “Daniel’s still alive?”
“I don’t know that,” Rene said. “But he wasn’t executed by our tribe. I know that’s not much. But it’s all I have.”
“Thank you,” Bethany whispered.
Rene shifted uncomfortably and said, “I’d better go. It was nice seeing you again. You’re always welcome if you want to come back to the tribe.”
Bethany hugged her again with more enthusiasm. “Thank you.”
She could go looking for Daniel. But it had been about five years since she left. He wouldn’t still be in the Panhandle area. Where would he go? What form would he be in? Bethany scanned the air for the eagle. Was he her brother? She ran into the woods searching for the bird, any bird—the dog barking happily after her. Almost falling on her face after tripping on a root, Bethany decided that she was probably jumping to conclusions again. Not every animal was a Shifter. Poochie over there proved that. And not every Shifter would be her brother.
Bethany sat down against the tree, and the dog happily plopped down next to her. “I suppose I should come up with a name to call you. I mean I’m sure you’ve got one, but unless you’re going to tell me what it is...” She paused and looked at the dog, who just lolled her tongue and panted. “Then we’ll call you Fluffy.”
Fluffy growled low in her
throat.
“What? If you don’t like it we can change it.” Then she heard the snapping of twigs and the lowered voices of men talking. The wind brought only bits of their conversation.
“A gold mine.”
“Earth spit it back up.”
“Lost men.”
Bethany shivered and got up and started to walk toward the voices, but Fluffy clamped her mouth on the harness and pulled Bethany back. The velvet sound of wings filled the air, and unless she was deluded, the eagle had been perched nearby and was now going toward the men. Fluffy pulled back again.
“Okay, okay, but that sounded like a good story.”
Chapter Two
Bethany
BETHANY WAS ASLEEP in her cot in the Tech cabin when a tap, tap tapping at her window woke her up. Instead of a raven, though, it was the eagle. Tripping over Fluffy in her haste to get to the window, she sprawled against the pane. When the bird did nothing but flap its wings at her, Bethany knew it was a Shifter.
“Daniel,” she said, muscling the window of the cabin open.
The eagle flew in and perched on the dresser.
“Daniel? Is that you? It’s not safe for you here. The Orange Grove tribe is here. They’ll probably recognize you. If you can stay a bird until we go back to the Bluffs, my new tribe will take you in.”
The bird’s image fluttered, and standing before her was a man straight out of the fantasy books. His eyes remained amber, but the rest of him was rock-solid muscle and sinew. Jet black hair hung to his wide, powerful shoulders. A hard jaw was set in a grim line, but he didn’t say anything. Without meaning to, Bethany checked out his muscled chest and washboard abs. After a quick peek lower, she felt her face redden. Locking her eyes back to his, she saw that his expression was shuttered. Without a word, she handed him the sheet off the bed.
He took it, wrapping it around himself toga-style.
“You’re not Daniel,” she said lamely.
The man cocked his head like a bird would and attempted to speak, but only a coughing screech came out.
Shifter's Price Page 2