Only Tala awakened alone. The SUV was still out in front, but the fire had died down in the big fireplace and the cabin felt cold and lonely in the dying rays of the late afternoon sun. Tala wandered downstairs, searched the yard and deck all around the cabin, but all she found was a pile of clothing and two pairs of shoes. Unless AJ and Mik were running naked in the woods, she couldn’t explain their absence.
She poured herself a glass of wine and went out on the porch to wait, but the air was cold and the sweatshirt and pants she wore were not quite warm enough. Her arms and legs kept twitching and the sensation was driving her absolutely nuts. The wine didn’t help, so Tala went back inside the cabin and added a couple of logs to the smoldering coals.
The fire eventually roared to life. Satisfied she wouldn’t freeze, Tala decided to check and see what was in the refrigerator. After all the teasing she’d gotten about not being able to cook, it might be a good idea to see if she actually did have some culinary skills. If the meal turned out absolutely inedible, they’d at least quit bugging her.
There was a lot of food, but she didn’t have a clue what to do with any of it. After digging through one of the bookshelves, Tala found an old cookbook and settled into a comfortable corner of the sofa to read. The fire was warm and cozy and the sky outside grew darker, shifting from brilliant blue to lavender, then purple. There was still no sign of AJ or Mik.
A thump on the deck brought Tala alert and glancing toward the door. “AJ? Mik? Is that you?” She set the book down, stood up, and headed to the front door. It was almost entirely dark outside, so Tala flipped on the battery-powered porch light and opened the door.
“Jimmy! What are you doing here?”
Jimmy Cole and three of the men who had raped her stood just outside the door. Tala tried to slam it shut, but they muscled their way inside and shoved her against the wall.
“Bitch. You don’t really think you’re going to get away from me, do you? You owe me.”
Tala saw his fist coming but didn’t have time to duck. The blow caught her just below the left eye. She might have fought him, but crumpled to the ground instead. Instinctively, she sent out a silent plea to AJ and Mik.
Jimmy smiled then, as if satisfied he’d taught her a lesson. He nodded to the men with him as he reached down and grabbed her left shoulder. “Tie her up and let’s get out of here before her boyfriends get back. I’d hate to have to mess up those two pretty boys.”
Panic welled up, almost choking Tala so that she struggled to breathe. Her heart pounded in her chest. She twisted out of Jimmy’s grasp and scrabbled on all fours across the wooden floor. Jimmy’s foot caught her in the ribs with an audible crack. Tala rolled to one side, writhing in pain.
AJ? Mik? Help me!
Two of the men came for her. The third held a roll of duct tape and slowly peeled off a long strip. Sobbing, her stomach heaving and breath tearing her lungs, Tala felt everything around her go dark.
Felt the tearing, stretching sense of bones moving under skin, only multiplied tenfold. Saw her world shift and shimmer from one reality to another. A reality she remembered with unrelenting fear. With dread and terror.
She heard AJ and Mik over a cacophony of screams as they burst through the front door, only they weren’t men. They were huge, slavering wolves, their ivory teeth bared and ears laid flat. Wolves just like Tala, standing here over Jimmy, her broad paws planted firmly on his chest while his life’s blood poured out of a gaping hole in his throat.
She snarled but didn’t interfere when AJ and Mik attacked the other three men. It was hardly a fair fight, two against three. The three didn’t stand a chance against two ferocious wolves.
Tala lost track of time, lost all sense of reality. She wandered over to the hearth and curled up in front of the warm fire like a big dog, her body shivering uncontrollably. Mik and AJ suddenly reappeared as men, though she didn’t recall watching them shift. They dragged the bodies outside and were gone for quite a while. When they returned, Tala was still wolf. Still waiting by the fire.
AJ sat with her, silently stroking her back and smiling while Mik showered. Mik did the same while AJ cleaned up. Their presence was comforting, but still Tala wondered where they had gone. Then she wondered if she had blood on her muzzle. She didn’t want to lick it to find out. Somehow, the thought of Jimmy Cole’s blood on her was both abhorrent and disgusting.
She also wasn’t ready to wonder why she lay here in front of the fire in the shape of a wolf. Her mind was still Tala, but the body was something else. There was a subtle sense of knowledge, a sense that she had more control of this form than she ever had as human. Lying here with Mik’s human fingers stroking the thick fur around her neck, Tala realized she knew how her reproductive organs worked, understood the process of breeding and how to control its timing.
She also realized her IUD had fallen out during the shift, but since she could no longer get pregnant unless she wanted to, it didn’t really matter, did it?
Still, the image of that little coil lying in the middle of the living room floor stayed in her mind. It was such a simple thing, a safe thing to think about. Or was it? There was a reason it had fallen out. A reason she didn’t want to think about right now.
She felt Mik’s thoughts pressing against hers, knew she should open to him, but she wasn’t quite ready. So much had happened, yet she didn’t know if she really wanted answers. Not yet.
AJ returned, hair wet and slicked back from his forehead, the thick mat of hair on his chest glistening with droplets of water. He sat down next to Tala, opposite Mik. She was surprised at the tears in his eyes.
She couldn’t speak, obviously. Wasn’t ready to open her thoughts. Her only recourse was a low whine, more a whimper than anything.
Without warning, AJ leaned over, buried his face in her thick fur, and wept. Even more confused, Tala looked to Mik. There were tears in his eyes as well, but he held himself together. He cleared his throat and held her wolven head in his hands, forcing her to look into his sparkling amber eyes.
“We were so worried you weren’t one of us. Tala, we are Chanku. You, me, AJ…part of a race of shapeshifters that goes back for thousands of years. The pills we gave you wouldn’t have done a thing if you were merely human. Because you carry the Chanku genetics, you were able to change. To become a wolf. We knew women could do it faster than men…but damn! I took about two weeks and so did AJ, but you shocked the hell out of us. It’s only been three days for you. Are you okay?”
Tala nodded her head, but the human gesture felt strange…foreign in this wolven shape, so she forced the walls in her mind to go, pushed through the barriers to make herself heard.
I’m okay. I had no idea, yet it feels right. The dreams…for so many years there have been dreams.
“I know, sweetheart. AJ and I had them too, long before we knew what we were. Can you shift back? Can you become Tala again?”
Tala dipped her broad head until her muzzle rested on Mik’s thigh. I don’t know if I want to be Tala again.
AJ’s voice whispered in her mind. Then run with us. Let Mik and me show you the wonders of the forest…as wolves. AJ sat back and scrubbed his hand over his eyes and looked almost desperately at Mik. “The forest is such a place of healing. She needs to run.”
Mik nodded. Then he stood up and suddenly Tala saw the wolf again. He’d shifted so quickly she missed the moment of transformation. She looked toward AJ, but he’d shifted as well. He whimpered, standing beside her, his ears laid back along his broad skull. Tala stood up and shook herself. Maybe they were right. Maybe some quality time in this strange form was what she really needed. Maybe something would finally make sense.
It was truly magical, running through the forest as a wolf, finally understanding a lifetime of dreams and images, sensing the creatures of the night, the small sounds and large scents of wild places she’d never ventured to before.
Tala ran behind Mik and AJ at first, following their lead, learning the paramet
ers and abilities of this strange form. Then it finally dawned on her that it wasn’t strange at all, that she’d lived the life of the wolf in her dreams since she was just a child.
Those memories refused to surface completely, though. Everything clear stopped just three years ago. She hated to think her life would forever begin with Jimmy Cole.
What did you do with the bodies? She’d broadcast the thought without really thinking about it. Realized she wasn’t really certain she wanted to know.
They’re deep in the woods, in a cave often visited by coyotes and other scavengers. Their car went into a canyon with all identification removed. They were here to hurt you and they deserved to die. Mik’s mental voice left no room for argument. Tala felt AJ’s silent agreement.
She ran on, taking the lead now. Leaping over small creeks and fallen logs, chasing a rabbit until it disappeared within an impenetrable tangle of blackberry vines. As they ran, Tala felt her arousal grow, her need to mate becoming an essential part of her existence.
She looked first to Mik, only because he was closest. Then to AJ, and knew she could never take one without the other. Accepted the bond between the two of them but knew there was room for Tala as well.
But not tonight. This form was all too new, this body untried. Tonight Tala would run as a wolf and make love as a woman.
Who knew what the morning would bring?
7
“Has anyone ever done it before? Bonded with two at the same time, instead of a single mate?” Tala’s question was purely conversational, but the tension in the room was enough to make her stomach ache.
Mik took a sip of his coffee and shook his head. “Not that I know of. When AJ and I bonded, it was like nothing I’d ever experienced. A complete merging of our lives, all our thoughts, our feelings. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like when the three of us do it.”
AJ laughed. “With Mik and me, when it was over, I had this crazy thought run through my mind, that I was really glad we agreed on politics and religion or we could have had a problem.”
Mik snorted, but Tala just sighed. “I don’t have a past. Maybe I can’t bond with anyone.”
Mik swept her hair back from her face and kissed her forehead. “Don’t worry. When you’re ready, everything will happen the way it should.”
Damn him! Every time he did that, every time he got all sensitive and understanding, Tala’s eyes filled with tears. Grumbling silently, she wondered if he did it on purpose.
“The logistics alone are mind-boggling.” Tala tried to laugh, but the noise she made was too strangled for humor. She’d tried to imagine three wolves tied together in sex and realized it could prove fatal if not done right. When they’d made love last night, the three of them in the big bed a tangle of arms and legs, mouths and sex, it had all worked just fine.
Sandwiched between two gorgeous men, she’d had one massive orgasm after another. They’d linked and the bond alone would have made her come, but that was last night and this was the light of day.
That was human. This was wolf.
She took another sip of coffee and wondered about her past. Wondered if two men like AJ and Mik really wanted to bond with a woman who was, for all intents and purposes, incomplete?
“You worry too much.” This time it was AJ whose eyes were filled with compassion. Tala’s throat convulsed with the effort to control her own swirling thoughts. She shook her head.
“When you bonded, you and Mik shared everything. Every little thing you’d ever done. What if, somehow, I end up sharing things I don’t remember? What if you find out I’m someone totally awful but it’s too late and you’re both bound to me for life? What if…?”
Mik’s laughter cut her off. “What he said. You worry too much. Finish your breakfast. You need to learn to be a wolf, first. We’ll worry about bonding later.”
The sun had slipped lower over the western horizon before they actually shifted and ran. Tala’s mind spun with the knowledge she’d gained today. AJ and Mik had told her what little they knew of their race. No one had figured out exactly where the Chanku originated, whether as an anomaly of nature, an alien lifeform, or something altogether different. Records describing the first of their species were few and far between. What little they knew pointed to the first Chanku existing somewhere along the Himalayan steppes, where easy access to the grasses that kept their nature alive insured generation after generation of shapeshifters.
As time passed and the population grew, the Chanku spread out, leaving their birthplace for other parts of the world. Leaving the nutrients, the combination of grasses that gave them the ability to shift, behind.
Tala found it hard to believe this amazing birthright had been hers all along. Her mother’s as well, and her grandmother’s before them. However, since they’d never consumed the right combination of nutrients, the tiny organ near the hypothalamus that made shifting possible never had a chance to develop.
She’d taken her supplement this morning, as Tala knew she would every day for the rest of her life. This ability was too wonderful, too powerful, to ignore.
It was frightening as well, knowing she had control over her body in ways she’d never imagined. Knowing she had the power to kill.
The image of Jimmy Cole’s body remained insubstantial in her mind’s eye. Tala honestly couldn’t recall killing him, though she remembered the coppery taste of his blood. She didn’t remember her shift, either, though it had felt oddly familiar at the time.
Just as running, now, felt familiar. There was an amazing freedom to life on four legs. The power, the speed, the knowledge of her world. Tala had often floundered as a human. As a wolf, she was complete. An alpha bitch, a leader in her own pack.
How quickly the men had accepted her! She felt her confidence grow with each stretch of her legs, each new experience that somehow fit into the puzzle that was Tala.
Scents were easy-to-read labels, announcing in the equivalent of bold print where mice scurried and rabbits hid. Noises her human mind translated as a vast cacophony and labeled simply sounds of the forest were filtered by her Chanku mind into individual voices with straightforward messages: food, prey, fear, joy.
Her broad, claw-tipped paws carried her at an amazing pace through thick shrubbery and dense forest, over rushing streams and across shaded meadows. She raced ahead of AJ and Mik, her wolven mind in the forefront, the fears and anxieties that constantly beset Tala buried too deep to slow her tempo.
All the while she ran, her intended mates raced at her side. Not once did either AJ or Mik take the lead. They deferred to Tala, their alpha bitch. Accepted her leadership no matter how new she might be to this form. Followed her without question, with undisputed loyalty.
Silently encouraged her. Welcomed her into their fold. Anchored Tala the wolf. Tala the woman.
They gave her courage and unquestionable love.
The sky was a dark bowl of diamonds when AJ suddenly caught scent of a deer. Three wolves turned as one and chased down the aging creature, one weakened from a long winter and unable to flee.
Tala made the catch, going instinctively for the animal’s throat, though AJ and Mik helped her quickly finish the animal. In spite of their assistance, she snarled at them, stood over her prey and guarded the still warm body. When she fed, they deferred, snarling and pacing, but keeping well away while Tala ate her fill.
Finally, fully sated, Tala backed away and groomed herself, rubbing her bloodied muzzle in the damp grass, licking at her paws and the parts of her pelt she could reach.
AJ and Mik fed companionably, and the three of them raked their hind paws in the soft earth and kicked dirt over the carcass. After a final sniff, they trotted down the trail, tails waving like flags.
After a few yards, Tala halted, raised her nose to the night sky, and howled. Her humanity was almost completely buried, submerged in the lust of the kill, the scent of the two males beside her. The males joined their voices with hers, the mournful howls echoing through
the forest, sending lesser creatures into hiding, bringing the more confident out to pursue their nightly routines.
The wolves had fed. There would be no more killing tonight.
Mik nipped at Tala’s shoulder and led off down a narrow trail, heading back toward the cabin. Tala refused to follow. Not yet. The night is still young and I want to run.
Mik glanced toward AJ and his long tongue lolled from his mouth. We’re not going back. There’s a place we want to share with you. A very special place.
After a few minutes, they came into a small meadow. Steam rose from behind a tangle of brambles. Circling around, Tala found a small, crystal-clear pool surrounded with flat stones. Though it appeared almost manmade, it was obviously very much a part of nature.
She sat back and tilted her head, staring directly at Mik. He shifted, as did AJ. The two men stepped into the waters and sighed. “It’s a natural hot spring, Tala. Much more comfortable without fur.”
Silently laughing, Tala rose to two legs as a woman and joined them, finding a perfectly placed flat stone deep enough below the water level that she could sit comfortably with the steaming waters up to her neck. The minerals in the water soothed the persistent pain from raw skin on her healing back.
Mik sighed again and stretched out his long legs so they tangled with Tala’s. “We’re not all that far from Mount Lassen. This is probably heated by part of the lava pool that once fed the volcano. The temperature is the same even when there’s snow on the ground. It’s a great place to finish a run.”
“It feels like a hot tub.” Tala closed her eyes and let the water ebb and flow around her body.
“That’s what we thought.” AJ moved to sit on Tala’s left, effectively sandwiching her between himself and Mik. “We built up the seats with stone when we realized what a treasure we had.”
“Hmm…it is a treasure. I can’t ever remember feeling this relaxed.”
Mik’s mouth found her right breast, his lips firm and almost cool against her heated skin. AJ nipped at the left, his tongue feathering the very tip while his fingers wound their way down between Tala’s legs, tangling there with Mik’s.
Sexy Beast II Page 8