by Ramona Gray
“Good to know,” Reese murmured. She yawned hugely and rubbed at her eyes. God, she was tired.
Hanif suddenly shifted. He walked next to them, not embarrassed by his nakedness, and stared curiously at Reese. Adina, her cheeks red, was staring at his swinging cock and Reese took her own quick glance. Unsurprisingly, it was large and thick and she could only imagine the size of it when it was erect.
“Reese, how do you not know any of this? I would know the truth,” he said earnestly.
“I’ve spent most of my life locked up at the auction house,” she lied feebly.
Ghita shook her head immediately. “No, you haven’t. You arrived shortly after I did and we were only there for a few months.”
She smiled eagerly at Theran. “I told you. She is from another world.”
He laughed. “That is impossible.”
Ghita shrugged. “I was in the room when they brought her in. She was wearing the strangest clothing. She wore pants like a man and the material was very heavy and thick. Her shoes were pink and furry looking.”
Reese sighed. She had been wearing jeans and her favourite slippers when she had been sucked into this world. She stared down at the flat shoes she was wearing now. They were too small, and just a morning of constant walking had given her a blister on her heel and worn away at the thin sole. She missed her slippers.
“Tell us more about this world,” Hanif said suddenly.
Reese shook her head. She had learned the hard way not to speak of her own world. The other women had avoided her and the warden had beaten her. She would not make the same mistake again.
“Tell us, Reese,” Hanif repeated. “It will help pass the time.”
“No. There is no other world. I’m crazy, that’s all,” Reese said simply.
Hanif frowned as Adina cleared her throat. “How much further to your home?”
“It is at least another seven days, if the weather is good,” Theran replied.
“Probably longer,” Hanif sighed. “You humans move much slower than I anticipated.”
“Seven days?” Reese groaned. She would be dead before they made it to the shifters’ home. She would die of exposure if she didn’t figure out a way to stay warm at night. Of course, on the plus side her death would mean she wouldn’t be forced to rut with some crazy-ass, alpha half-beast.
“You will like our home,” Theran told Ghita. “It is in a valley with mountains and a lake on one side and woods surrounding the rest of it. It is very beautiful.”
“How many members are in your pack?” Ghita asked shyly.
“We are a fairly large pack. There are more than thirty of us. Most of us are male, which is a bit unusual. Generally, there are more females in a pack than males but we get along well enough.”
“Why don’t you have many females?” Adina asked.
Reese, lagging further behind, yawned again and stared at her feet. Every muscle in her body seemed to be burning with weariness and there was a bleariness to her thoughts. She looked up in time to see a look pass between Hanif and Theran.
“The lack of females is one of the reasons why Dagon has decided to bring human women into the pack,” Theran said. “If you make us good mates and bear us children, we will probably purchase more human females.”
“Lovely,” Reese muttered. “It’s a breeding program.”
A flash of colour caught her eye and she looked up, smiling a little at the sight of the large purple flower nodding in the wind. It was exceptionally pretty and she slowed to a stop, staring at it.
“But why don’t you have many females?” Adina persisted.
Reese was only half-listening and she suddenly decided she didn’t care much what the answer was anyway. The scent of the purple flower was drifting toward her and it smelled wonderful. She wanted to touch the flower and bury her nose within its fragrant petals. She was getting even sleepier and her lids started to close as she bent toward the flower.
There was a sharp barking and then she was hit by something that felt roughly equivalent to a large truck. She flew backward and landed with a thud on the hard ground. She was unlucky enough to land on a rock. It dug directly into the already painful area on her back and for a moment the pain was so great she could only writhe silently on the ground. The large gray wolf was crouching over her and she paid no attention when he shifted to his human form. Tears streamed down her face and her hands scrabbled weakly at the ground as she gasped for air.
“Stay away from the flower, human,” Kane snapped at her. “It will put you into a sleep that you will not wake from.”
She barely heard his terse warning. Pain was radiating across her back in slow waves and she rolled to her side, her hand twisting behind her back to try and soothe the offending area.
“What is wrong with her?” Kane asked impatiently as the others gathered around her.
“You hit her hard, Kane,” Theran said worriedly. “Perhaps you have broken something.”
Kane shook her arm roughly. “Human, did you break something?”
She took a deep, sobbing breath. “No, my – my back is sore.”
“What’s wrong with it?” He reached for her shirt and she pushed his hands away before sitting up. The pain was starting to recede and she moved her head cautiously.
“I’m all right now.” She could feel wetness on her back and she wondered how badly she had scraped it.
Great, she thought sullenly. If exposure doesn’t kill me, an infection will.
“Let me see your back,” Kane said harshly.
“It’s fine,” she replied as she staggered to her feet.
He snorted angrily and turned her around roughly. She kicked at him and he growled and slapped her sharply on the ass. “Hold still, human.”
He pulled up the back of her shirt and she heard the soft gasps of Adina and Ghita. She turned her head to look at them, her face paling at the looks on the others crowded around her. Even Kane, whose expression was normally unreadable, looked a little sick.
“What? Is it that bad?” She tried to crane her head to see for herself but Kane pushed her head straight before brushing her dark hair over her shoulder. He bunched up the back of her shirt and gripped her neck with his large hand, holding her steady as he and Theran bent and studied her back.
“Is it bleeding badly?” Reese asked apprehensively.
“No,” Adina said reassuringly. “It’s only scratched a little from the ground. But you have a terrible bruise on your back.”
“Why did you not tell us you were injured?” Kane demanded.
Reese stared blankly at him. It had not occurred to her to even mention it. The shifters had made it perfectly clear that they didn’t care if she lived or died, and complaining about her sore back would not have gotten her anywhere.
Theran shook his head in disgust. “The humans are so barbaric. And they call us the animals.”
“I did not realize he had hit her so hard,” Kane replied softly. The bruise was an ugly large splotch of dark blue and purple across the middle of her back. He traced the center of the darkness with the tips of his fingers.
She cried out and arched her back. She tried to twist away from him and his hand tightened on the back of her neck.
“Hold still,” he grunted as he touched the bruise again.
“Stop touching it, for fuck’s sake!” She shouted at him. “Do you have any idea how much that fucking hurts?”
He blinked in surprise at her sudden anger, and she scowled at him and twisted in his grip again. This time he let her go and she stumbled a little bit before shoving the back of her shirt down and glaring at him.
He turned away, her eyes dropped to his very tight and very naked ass, and motioned to the others. “We keep moving. There is a freshwater pool a few miles further. We will stop there for the night.”
He shifted into his wolf form and loped ahead.
* * *
Reese sank to her knees and eased her trembling hands into the water. It was ice co
ld and she gasped softly before cupping her hands. She drank the water quickly and dipped her hands back into the pool. She was thirsty and she drank her fill before splashing water on her face.
Despite the cold air, she was grimy and sweaty from the day of walking and she briefly considered taking a dip in the pool. She decided that a hot shower was the thing she missed most about her own world. She snorted to herself, remembering how she had taken all those daily showers with their glorious hot water for granted. She eyed the water again before sighing. She had better not. The cold water would leech what little body heat she had left, right out of her.
Beside her, Adina was mashing water and mud and dark green leaves she had picked from the water’s edge into a soupy mix on the ground.
“What are you doing, Adina?” Reese asked curiously.
“I’m making a poultice for your back. It will help soothe the pain and aid in healing it faster. Take off your shirt.”
Reese pulled off her shirt and drew her knees up to her chest. She rested her head on her knees as Adina applied the thick, cold paste to her back. She shivered and winced. “It’s cold.”
“Aye, but it will help ease the ache. Trust me, Reese.”
“How do you know all of this?” Reese asked.
Adina shrugged as she finished spreading the paste on Reese’s back and dipped her hands into the pool to clean them. “My mother taught me, as her mother taught her.”
“Where is your mother now?”
“She died a few years back. A sickness went through our village and she succumbed to it.”
“How did you end up at the auction house?” Reese asked.
“I was travelling with my brother to the village where my grandparents lived. We were ambushed by the traders and my brother offered me to them in exchange for his freedom.”
Reese stared at her, stunned. “Are you kidding me?”
“No,” Adina said shortly.
“That’s awful.”
Adina shrugged and pointed to Ghita who was sitting further down. Theran was sitting next to her. He had taken a long, brown reed and was running it lightly up and down her bare arm. Ghita giggled and clutched at his muscled arm.
“Ghita’s father sold her to the auction house because he needed money to pay a gambling debt.”
“What is wrong with the people in this world?” Reese breathed quietly.
Adina watched Ghita and Theran for a few moments. “She has a crush on him.”
“Yeah. The feeling seems to be mutual,” Reese replied. “If this Dagon doesn’t choose her, I’m certain Theran will take Ghita as his mate.”
Adina glanced at her. “Did you notice how they did not answer my question about their women?”
Reese nodded but before she could reply, Kane appeared beside them. Like usual, he was in his wolf form and he ducked his head and drank deeply from the pool before staring at them with his light green eyes.
Reese leaned forward further and hid her naked breasts against her thighs as Kane looked her up and down. He approached her slowly and a shiver went down her spine when he sniffed at the paste covering her back.
He made a soft woofing noise and Adina said nervously, “It is a healing paste.”
He chuffed and trotted away. Adina let out her breath in a shaky little sigh. “Theran and Hanif seem nice enough, but that big one – he scares the tar out of me. He obviously doesn’t agree with his alpha bringing humans into the pack. Nor does he seem concerned with keeping us safe. What are the odds that one or all of us die before we even make it to their home?”
“I’d say pretty high,” Reese answered reluctantly. She squinted at Adina in the growing gloom. “Don’t worry. It’ll probably be me who dies. When the morning comes where you wake up and find my frozen, dead body, promise me you won’t let the shifters eat me.”
She smiled at Adina, trying to get her to laugh but Adina just frowned at her. “Do not joke about that, Reese. It is only going to get colder and if we do not get to their home before the rains begin, you’ll die for sure.”
“Don’t worry about me. I have a layer of blubber to keep me warm, remember?” Reese said cheerfully.
Adina shook her head. “I will ask Hanif to curl up around the both of us tonight. He is big enough to at least partially curl around the two of us. The heat they throw off is unbelievable.”
“Thank you, Adina,” Reese said gratefully.
“You’re welcome.” Adina patted her back gingerly. “Reese I – I am sorry for how I treated you at the auction house.”
Reese frowned. “You didn’t treat me badly.”
The blonde woman stared down at her lap. “No, but I avoided you and called you barto behind your back like the other women did.”
Reese patted her hand. “Don’t worry about it. Can I put my shirt back on now?”
Adina touched the paste on her back. “Aye, it’s dry enough.”
Reese slipped her shirt over her head as Hanif walked up to them. He had two large water skins in his hand and he uncorked them before dipping them into the pool and filling them up. He corked them tightly and handed one to each of the women. “For tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” Adina replied.
He nodded and glanced up at the sky. “It is not safe to stay around the pool at night. We will camp further into the woods. Come.”
They stood and followed him into the woods and when Adina took her hand, Reese squeezed it firmly and smiled at her.
* * *
“No, I won’t do it.” Hanif shook his head and Adina gave him a soft, pleading look.
“Please, Hanif. Why not? You are big enough to keep both of us warm.”
“I said no,” Hanif repeated.
Adina sighed with frustration before glancing behind her at Reese. “She nearly froze to death last night.”
“She was fine,” Hanif said dismissively.
“She was pretty cold,” Theran spoke up. “Why won’t you let her lie with you? What’s the big deal?”
“Because she is mad!” Hanif suddenly hissed. “What do you think Dagon will do to us when he discovers we’ve brought him a mad woman?”
Theran glanced at Kane who was lying on the ground with his head between his paws. His eyes were closed and he appeared to be sleeping deeply.
“Kane picked her, not us.”
“It does not matter! You know how he is,” Hanif replied. “It would be better for us and the human if she dies before she reaches our home.”
“Hanif!” Theran snapped. He gave Reese a weak smile. She stared back at him impassively.
“It’s true,” Hanif said. “Besides, if you feel so bad for the human, you lie with her.”
Theran shook his head immediately, a nervous look crossing his face. “No.”
Hanif scoffed loudly. “You know I speak the truth. It is why you won’t lie with her either.”
Reese stood. “Tell you what, boys. If you’re so worried about what the big bad wolf is going to do to you when you bring the crazy lady into the pack, I’ll save you both some worry and just bid you farewell right now. I’d rather die a quick painful death alone in the woods than slowly freeze to death with cowards like you.”
The two shifters flushed and Reese grinned bitterly at them. “I’ll assume your silence means you’re agreeable to it.”
“Reese, wait,” Adina said nervously.
“Good bye, Adina. Good bye, Ghita. Good luck with the wolf pack. I hope you both are very happy and have many sweet, furry wolf babies,” Reese replied.
She started to stalk into the woods and halted when the growling started. She sighed and turned back. Kane had sat up and he was staring at her, his eyes gleaming and a low, continuous growl erupting from his chest.
She didn’t have to understand wolf to know what the growling meant and she stared silently at him. She considered simply turning and fleeing into the woods. No doubt the big wolf would catch her and rip out her throat but that would be quicker than freezing to death.
/> He growled again and she plopped back down to the ground, wincing a little at the pain in her back. Apparently she wasn’t quite ready to die after all.
* * *
Kane stared through half-closed eyes at the large human. Ten minutes after he had growled at her, she had stood up and she was now yanking and pulling at the lower branches of a large pine tree.
She pulled at a particularly stubborn one, trying to tear it from the thick trunk. She leaned back, putting her considerable weight into it, and it tore from the trunk with a thick, ripping noise. Not expecting it to tear free so quickly, she lost her balance and fell backward. She yelped loudly and rolled to her side, her hand curving around to press gingerly against her back. She lay on the ground and panted lightly as the blonde one – he didn’t remember her name – crouched beside her. She spoke quietly to the big one but his hearing was excellent.
“Reese, what are you doing?”
“Trying to survive the night,” Reese said grimly. “Help me up, would you?”
The blonde one helped her stand and then joined her in pulling down more branches. When they had torn down a healthy amount of them, they carried them into the small clearing they were camping in and Reese sat down on the ground.
He watched as she curled up on her side and began to pile the branches with their thick green needles over her lower body. Once the blonde one realized what she was doing, she urged Reese to lie down and she finished the job of covering her with the branches.
“Okay?” She asked softly.
“Just ducky. Remember, if I freeze to death in the night don’t let those damn shifters eat my body,” Reese replied dryly before tucking her head under the fragrant branches.
He had to bite back his bark of laughter as the blonde woman returned to Hanif. The timid human was already curled into Theran’s body and he chuffed his disapproval when Theran licked her arm. Theran ignored him and licked the woman’s face. She giggled and buried her face in the soft fur of his neck as he rested his tail over her lower body.