The train shook the landscape and terrified what creatures had dared try to find food. The hunters took down what they could get from the train and sent the Shifters out to retrieve the food.
Bethany made a cute snoring noise against his chest. Stroking her hair absently, he fell into a fitful doze. Jesse coming into the compartment woke him a few hours later.
“Bethany?” she said.
“Mmmm?”
“It’s time to get up. You’re needed in the caboose.”
The snarl left his throat before he could stop it. Bethany bolted awake.
“What?”
“No,” Jesse said. “Not for that. They need you to power up the facilities and other stuff.”
“That other stuff is what I’m worried about,” Lucas said. He might not be sure about forever, but as of right now she was his mate, and he wouldn’t share her.
“Can you give me a few moments?” Bethany said. “I’d like to get dressed and shower.”
“Shower’s ice-cold.”
“I can fix that.”
“Well, all right. I’ll meet you in there. In another stall,” Jesse corrected in a hurry when Lucas poked his head out from behind the curtain.
“I should be going as well,” he told Bethany and watched her eyes cloud with concern.
“Are you going out scouting?”
“The Shifters need to spring any ambushes waiting for us in Ohio. We’ll dispatch them if we can, come back here to warn you all if we can’t. If all goes well, we’ll also need to fortify Lewis and Clark’s holdings in the station if we’re going to survive the attacks.”
“You sound so sure there will be a force waiting for us.”
“This is the farthest we’ve ever gotten. The farthest the tracks have been repaired in one solid line. Everything stops in Ohio while we switch trains and take the other line as close to California as the repairs will get us.”
“Are the attacks always in the same spot?”
“No,” Lucas said. “The guards are heaviest at the train station, so we’ll probably not have any problems after the first attempt. But when we bring out the wagons? Bet on it.”
She shivered, and he wrapped himself around her again.
“I wish we could stay here forever,” she said.
“Not under Lewis and Clark. I don’t have that kind of stamina. You know you don’t have to fuck them—even if they get persuasive about it.”
“I know.”
“You don’t want to, do you?” It bothered him that her answer meant a lot to him.
“I just want you. For however long you want me.”
Lucas grinned and swatted her on her ass. She bit him on the arm in retaliation. “Keep that up, Lady Tech, and we’ll be here all day.”
“Or until Jesse comes back looking for her shower, or Lem needs me to fire up the grill or something. Or the batteries that were running the lights and stoves last night fizzle out.”
“Sounds like we both have work to do.”
“Yeah,” she said and then surprised him by giving him a sweet kiss before climbing down to her own bunk. He listened to her get her things together for her shower and jumped down when she went to leave the cabin.
“Wait,” he said.
She turned back to him and blushed, her hands covering up what he had thoroughly enjoyed last night. His cock twitched when she ogled him.
“I’ll be gone for a while. Maybe a couple of days. Stay close to Jesse and Lem when you can. Don’t be alone with Lewis or Clark.”
“I can handle them.”
“Then don’t overdo it pulling the Tech.”
“You stay safe too.” She hugged him again.
After one last kiss to remember him by, he opened that door and shifted into the eagle, flying out into the sky. Other Shifters were circling the train, too afraid or perhaps unsure of the way. Lucas ignored them. They were not his pack. Lisa was hunkered down with her lover, having pulled night-guard duty last night. He was scouting today, and he would do it alone.
He banked on a warm current and left the train far behind him. He saw some men working on the tracks and hoped they would finish before the train got there. Lewis and Clark didn’t handle delays very well. And the looters would take advantage of the stopped train.
The forest had grown back with a vengeance. The Midwest looked like a desiccated rain forest, as scrub brushes fought with nature for water and sun. Everywhere there was decay from the smell of rotting corpses to the rusted scraps of cars and buses littering what used to be highways. Great big pits and rough terrain made traveling slow and difficult, and the nomad tribes were as dangerous as the wild animals and twice as feral.
Lucas saw one caravan band and recognized it to be a peaceful tribe by their onion-skin-dyed clothes. However, he was careful not to fly too close to attract their arrows or another Shifter looking to run him out of their territory. Still, if one of his pack had escaped, they would try to assimilate into whatever group they could. He let out a series of squawks that captured the attention of the men and women, but no one answered him back. Discouraged, he wheeled away before anyone could nock an arrow at him.
The sky was as gray as ash, but some sunlight filtered through. It was cold flying, but the fresh air felt good. Sometimes he wanted to give up on the quest and perch up in the trees and watch the world go by. Or in his case, pretty Techs. But he would always feel guilty that his pack suffered while he checked out for a while. True, he had used the time to heal his mind and body from the tortures, and also true, he had no way to get back to them. But he was coming now, and they would free all the prisoners or die trying.
Bethany hadn’t signed up for that. Not the dying part, anyway. Maybe he’d hit her unconscious before the fighting started and hide her somewhere safe. That idiot Lem would look after her and bring her back to that harridan chief. And she would walk the bluffs alone and as an outcast.
Victory was their only option then. There was no other way. Lucas felt better once his mind was made up and he spotted a mouse. Remembering that he hadn’t had breakfast yet, he dived down and snatched it with his claws. As he tore into it, he longed for the taste of fish. But he wasn’t in flying distance of the ocean, and any of the lakes or rivers would put him off course.
He hit a rare thermal updraft and powered into it, feeling the speed like freedom in his face. This was how he’d escaped Alcatraz. They’d thought the drug would keep him from shifting. They’d thought the restraints would stop him from breaking free. They hadn’t known he could shift into a mouse. Not many Shifters could—or would risk going that small. He’d scurried outside unnoticed and then exploded into a bird, flying faster than even the train Bethany was on. He flew like he was being chased, trying to outrun the memories. He‘d flown all the way to Lisa.
Lucas was determined not to fail his pack this time. He could still remember how the scientists cut them to record how quickly they healed. Shot them. Burned them. Hurt them all in the name of science. Had cut off Victor’s fingers, Randy’s arm. Those didn’t grow back. The scientists had forced the shift using drugs, but couldn’t make the Shifter shift into a different animal on command. At least they still had control over their forms. Of course, he’d wasted a lot of time finding Lisa and trying to mount a rescue. Who knew what the so-called scientists had done since his escape.
They made them mate with each other to see if offspring would sprout. Lucas had left before the results could be measured. He hoped for Imogene’s sake she wasn’t fertile. He flew faster trying to escape the images and the memories. It wasn’t working. They were stalking him like a wolf sighted down on a deer.
The brainwashing. The trying to tame them to fight as a unit. His pack already knew how to do that. And they would never fight for a tribe as some shock troop or assassins. His grandfather had been a special forces commander. His father had been a policeman. Lucas would carry on their legacy. His pack would help people, not for profit or for trade, but so the world could become wha
t it was before the meteorite. It was possible.
Peace came slowly back to him. The scent of fresh water was a balm to him, unlike the harsh salt water in the West. Lucas dived and perched on the bank of Lake Erie. He didn’t need to feel the fatigue and thirst to realize he had gone way too far and a little off course. There was no way he’d catch up to the train tonight. He had a good enough head start that he might as well be the first to the Bellevue station and see what type of ambushes were set up. They wouldn’t expect a scout this far in advance of the train.
Lucas fished for a bit until his belly was full and then found the highest tree he could find and put his head under his wing for a nap. The sun going down woke him as the temperature dropped. Using the night sky to get his bearing, he took off in search of the train station. The night was full of predators, but they slunk along on the ground far below him. Some were on two legs and some were on four. None saw him as he glided over their heads to the station.
The smell of death and battle hit him as he came closer. Dead workers were arranged outside the station, piled up on the tracks to stop the train before it reached the safety of the yard. Vandals had looted the bodies as well as the technology of the station. Most of the scavengers took the goods and left, but a quick scout showed two bands of mercenaries looking for the big score of the incoming train. Lewis and Clark hadn’t made their schedule a secret, but it shouldn’t have been this easy to pinpoint a time for attack.
When a giant scorpion emerged from the train tunnel, Lucas had his answer. Misha was looking for revenge, or to take over the expedition, or maybe both. Either way, she’d made better time than the train, so it was possible she could shift into a bird as well. With that happy thought and before she could spot him, he hightailed it back toward the tracks. Toward Bethany to warn them they were steaming right into an ambush bigger than any of them had imagined.
It was just after midnight when he found the train, chugging along. Lisa flew up to greet him, but he snapped his beak at her, and she darted away. Lucas aimed himself toward the open window of the caboose and launched himself through.
Jesse was pleasuring a blindfolded woman with a large pink dildo while Clark rubbed his cock against Jesse’s lips.
Against his better judgment, Lucas shifted on a pile of pillows in the corner.
“Uninvited guests are usually put to good use,” Clark said. “Come over here and suck me off, and I won’t punish you too hard.”
“I think you’d rather hear what I have to say first.”
“I have better uses for your mouth.”
“I’ve just come from Ohio. The train station is lost.”
“Shit,” Clark said and sat down hard. “Jesse, come over here and work your magic while the Shifter gives me the details. Lynn, it’s your turn with the dildo.”
Lucas watched Jesse take Clark’s cock in her mouth, her wide lips coating him with thick saliva. Her head bobbed eagerly, and Clark threaded his fingers through her hair.
“Look at me,” he crooned and grunted in satisfaction when she did.
Lucas’s cock twitched as he watched Lynn, who was no longer blindfolded, jam the dildo into Jesse with hard, eager thrusts.
“Slower, Lynn. Fuck her slow. She’s being so nice.”
“Where’s Lewis or Flint?” Lynn whined. “I’m so horny I could burst.” She turned toward Lucas. “Fuck me? Please.”
“I have a mate,” Lucas said, although he was tempted. Lynn’s breasts were large, and the scent of sex was strong in the air. He was still animal enough after the Shift to take a step toward her.
“Bring her,” Lynn moaned. “Clark is showing me how to like women. I like all the sucking and rubbing, but I’m so heated up. I could use a good fucking. Just. Like. This.” And she held on to Jesse’s hip as she slammed the dildo up to the hilt three times, fast and hard.
Jesse made a hungry sound and tried to get free of Clark’s cock. But he tightened his grip and forced her head up and down on it a few times.
“Lewis is busy. Maybe he and Flint are fucking in the corridor. You can have her, Shifter. I guarantee she’s wet.”
“I will ride you and let you do whatever you want to me.” Lynn started to crawl over to him.
She wasn’t Bethany. He demanded exclusivity from Bethany. He would not betray her.
“I cannot,” Lucas said. “And I will leave right now without letting you know the situation if you don’t respect that.”
Jesse made hot, hungry sounds, and Clark’s eyes rolled back. His buttocks spasmed.
“God, I could let you suck me all day. Okay, since you’re the one Shifter who isn’t randy enough that he’d fuck a hole in a barrel, you can tell me the story while I satisfy this little slut.”
Lynn gave a shriek of joy and threw herself at Clark. He kissed her as she pawed at his cock, stroking it hard again. Jesse smiled at Lucas who averted his eyes from her naked body and nodded politely.
“I think it’s real nice that you’re faithful to Bethany,” she said.
Clark cut off the kiss, and Lynn started nibbling on his neck as her hand pumped him faster. “So you’re the nasty cat that was growling at me.”
“Bethany is mine. We don’t share.”
“Pity. All right, Lynn, enough foreplay. On your hands and knees.”
Lynn crouched down and wiggled her ass.
“Jesse, get in front of her face and spread your legs.”
Jesse lay down as she was told.
“That’s it. You keep looking at me with those pretty blue eyes. Lynn’s going to make you come, or I’m going to stop fucking her.”
“I’ve never done this before,” Lynn said, arching her back as Clark rubbed his cock over her ass. He guided it around her labia, then darted inside her, getting it coated while he slicked it over the folds. Deftly moving as she tried to impale herself on him, he slapped her ass hard.
“Do it again,” she moaned.
“Put your face in her pussy. Lick it. Fuck her with your tongue. Find her clit and tease it with your lips and tongue. Do it now.”
Lynn lowered her head but shrieked when Jesse grabbed her hair and pulled her in. Clark laughed and plunged into her, and Lynn’s cries were muffled by Jesse’s body. She was fucking Lynn’s face, not giving her a chance to change her mind.
“Okay, catbird, spill it. You get bonus points if you finish before I do.”
“The nomads are staying clear of the tracks. I was curious so I flew to the station.”
“Naughty,” Clark grunted. And for a moment Lucas thought he was talking to Lynn who had broken free of Jesse’s hold and was using her fingers instead of her tongue on Jesse. But Jesse had a wild smile on her face, and Clark finished his thought. “The scouting crew is going out now. You went all alone. You could have been captured.”
“I work alone.”
“If you were killed, there would have been no one to help the Lady Tech from my nefarious advances.”
“I’m still here,” Lucas said. “However, your entire train crew in Bellevue are dead and piled up on the tracks. Misha was there.”
“Damn her,” Clark said and slapped Lynn’s ass. She tossed her hair over her shoulders and looked at him. He pushed her back down to Jesse, who scissored her legs over Lynn’s shoulders, waggling her toes at Clark. Leaning in to suck on them briefly, Clark turned back to Lucas. “What else?”
“I saw ten men with rifles, nets, and bows.”
“Any Techs?”
“Not that I saw, but there wasn’t any electricity running. All the lights were off.”
“I told Lewis we should have bought Misha off. That greedy bitch wants this whole expedition.”
“Didn’t she finance the last one?”
“Who told you that?”
“Clark, faster,” Lynn moaned.
“I have ears and eyes,” Lucas said.
“Careful someone doesn’t cut them out. Yes, she financed the last one. But she couldn’t keep Lewis entertained enough, a
nd the project failed.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Hopefully, you’ll find out when we get to Bellevue. Tell the Shifter commander what you told me and tell him I said to have his men ready to leave the train a few hours before we get to Ohio. I want them to surprise attack once our ambushers attempt the train. I handle everything else.”
Lucas nodded.
“Are you sure you don’t want to join us? We’re just getting started.”
“No, thank you.” Lucas left the caboose as a bird. Even though he was pretty sure leaving the caboose naked was a common occurrence, he didn’t feel like stepping on the platform in the cold, whipping air while he opened the door to the next car.
Chapter Ten
Bethany
BETHANY PERCHED ON the counter and leaned her head against the window of the train. She was mesmerized by the passing land. Traveling at this speed should have been thrilling, but it looked like they were headed into nowhere.
Lucas hadn’t come back last night, and the only thing that kept the worry from eating her alive was the amount of Tech it took to keep the lights on, the showers hot, and the stoves burning. When she finished the batteries Lewis and Clark gave her, they brought her to the engine car.
The wood and fuel burning in the boiler was hot enough that she didn’t need to heat any hot water to add to the hopper, so then she was dragged into the kitchen where she watched Lem make lunch for fifty people.
The burn of the Tech as she became a conduit for the systems on the train was exhausting, but it was constant—which was less of a strain that doing a lot of little projects. The generators were almost at full capacity, and after that, she could take a break and try to sleep. God knew she was tired enough not to let the worry hit her.
Jesse sneaked in, and Lem slammed a few pots, making sure she knew he was ignoring her. Jesse had a contented grin on her face, but it didn’t stop her from ogling Lem’s backside. Bethany rolled her eyes. She didn’t see the attraction. Lem was a bean pole who was noncommunicative on good days and surly on bad days.
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