by Chant, Zoe
Her mind made up, Ella dashed toward the shed. She spared a glance over toward the trees, her heart thumping – Oh God, Callan, please be okay, please, please – just in time to see the smaller animal get sent flying into the sturdy trunk of a tree with one swipe of Callan’s front paw. It lay unmoving on the ground.
Yes! Get him!
She felt like cheering, but she didn’t think it would be helpful.
It was that moment of distraction that meant she didn’t see the dark shadow descending in her peripheral vision until it was almost too late.
Instinct kicked in before her brain, just like it had all those times when she’d been swooped by magpies protecting their nests. Ella raised her arms, throwing them up over her face, and ducked low.
Pain ripped through her forearm, and Ella pushed down the urge to cry out.
She felt a flurry of wind and feathers against her skin, before whatever it was that had attacked her swooped away again, a piercing shriek ringing in her ears.
Ella lowered her arms, looking down – her right forearm was covered in blood, and she could see some fairly deep lacerations in her skin. She pulled in a deep, shocked breath, holding her arm vertical, hand up, to slow the bleeding a little.
How – what –
She looked up, her eyes falling on a large, dark shape wheeling above.
Of course.
There’d been two men in the van – and now the second one had shown up, in his eagle form. He’d swooped her, his talons slicing her arm. Ella shuddered to think what could have happened to her face and neck if she had been only a second slower.
She heard a low, dangerous sound from behind her, and turned to see Callan raising his massive head, bellowing in fury as he realized Ella was in danger.
But a moment later, she heard the massive eagle above her screech again, and then it descended once more.
Callan would never make it before the eagle completed its dive, and Ella knew she couldn’t run to the shed in time. This time, she was certain the eagle would make good on its strike.
The only place I can go is – is –
The realization hit her.
The only place I can go is down.
Only a step or two to her left was the drop over the brink of the ledge. The waterfall cascaded down it, plunging into a dark pool some fifteen feet below.
Ella had no way of knowing how deep the pool was, but right now, she didn’t exactly have much choice. If she didn’t do something, she’d be flayed by the claws of the eagle swooping down at her.
Ignoring the voice in her head screaming don’t die, don’t die, don’t die, she took a deep breath, the wind rushing past her face as she leapt over the side of the ledge. Above her, she heard the eagle shriek in anger, and Callan in fear.
It’s okay! she tried to send to him. I’m fi–
She hit the surface of the pool with a smack, freezing cold water rushing over her head. She didn’t feel any pain, aside from the water striking her skin, so she had to assume that at least the pool was deep enough for the jump, and she hadn’t hit any rocks on the way down.
Her eyes open, Ella kicked her feet, heading for the glinting sun. She took a deep breath once her head broke the surface of the water, shaking her wet hair out of her eyes and looking around.
She could see the eagle circling high, clearly having been surprised, but now waiting for her once again.
“Ella! Ella!”
Callan’s voice rang out, echoing off the close sides of the gorge.
“I’m fine! I’m down here!”
She saw him a moment later, back in human form – and, she noted, with a little surprise, fully clothed – making his way down the drop with ease, his muscled body moving with a surprising amount of grace.
Not like that big lumbering thing he was before, Ella thought, realizing that perhaps she was getting mildly hysterical.
Callan dropped to the rocks that lined the pool and looked about to dive straight in, but Ella was a strong swimmer, and she breaststroked her way swiftly over to him.
“I’m fine, Callan, really,” she called out to him, spitting some of the water that swelled up over her chin out of her mouth.
Callan’s eyes looked desperate as he leaned out toward her, extending his arm. He clasped her hand as soon as she was in reach, pulling her over to the edge of the pool and then out of the water.
“Ella, your arm – shit, you’re hurt –”
Callan lifted her injured arm with an amazing gentleness, inspecting the slashes on her forearm.
“It’s okay, seriously,” Ella insisted.
Better than what could have happened, anyway, she thought, wincing as the pain came back to her. The adrenaline of her jump was wearing off now, as was the icy plunge into the pool.
Unconsciously, she raised her left hand in her usual bad habit of touching her necklace to comfort herself. But her fingers closed around –
– Nothing.
Ella looked down, frantically scrabbling at the neck of her shirt, pulling it open to look inside.
Nothing there.
Her necklace was gone.
It must have flown off over her head when she’d jumped, she realized, or else come off in the water.
I shouldn’t care. It’s just something my dad gave me anyway, and now that I know what kind of person he is…
But somehow, she did.
She looked around, trying to find it. It was probably at the bottom of the pool, or lost amongst the rocks, or –
“Ella? What’s wrong?”
Callan was looking at her, eyes still wide with concern. His hand on her shoulder, he pulled her against the warmth of his chest, shielding her body with his own. He looked up at the circling eagle, watching it warily, clearly ready to protect her at a moment’s notice if it came any closer.
“It’s – nothing. Just my necklace came off,” she said. “It doesn’t matter –”
She heard a shriek from above her and instinctively curled over to protect her face, just as Callan pulled her even closer against his chest.
When nothing happened, she glanced up, only to see the same kind of massive eagle as before alighting on a rock on the other side of the pool.
Ella’s eyes widened as its body twisted, the same kind of terrifying distortion as before, until finally a man was standing in its place.
This man was larger than the red-haired one, his hair dark and cropped short. Muscles bulged in his shoulders and arms, and his eyes had the same cold, cruel look as his friend’s.
They both become birds, though, Ella thought. But did this man also have a second animal he could turn into as well? Or even a third? Could these people take on any shape they liked? If that was the case, then she didn’t see how either she or Callan stood a chance against both of them, regardless of what powers of his own Callan might have.
Ella chanced a glance into the sky, looking for the first man, but there was no sign of him.
Probably for the best, since one of them is going to be more than enough.
She felt Callan’s muscles tense, and she held her breath, waiting to see what the man would turn into – and for his attack.
But to her surprise, he did neither.
“That was simpler than I thought,” the man said, his voice smug. As Ella watched, he plunged his hand into the shallow edge of the pool, before standing straight up again. Ella’s eyes widened as she saw what was glinting in his fist.
My necklace.
The man had grasped the chain, the pendant spinning below it.
“Thanks for that – too easy,” he said.
Confusion swirled in Ella’s head. What was going on?
My necklace – all along, they didn’t want me, they wanted –
“Good idea to keep it on you at all times,” the man continued after a moment. “We weren’t expecting that – we were sure you’d stashed it somewhere at your home, or you were working on it at your lab. Too bad we had to trash the place looking for it.”
Ella could feel Callan’s muscles tensing.
“What do you mean?” he rumbled, his voice low and dangerous.
The man shook his head. “Nothing you need to worry about – you’re not even supposed to be here. That was a nasty shock, for sure. But now that we’ve got what we came for, we’ll get going.”
Ella could feel Callan’s anger as if it was her own.
“You piece of shit –”
Anger flashed over the man’s face, before he shook his head.
“C’mon – I’m not going to fight you. Like I said, you weren’t supposed to be here. You made an easy job into a hard one. If we’d known, we wouldn’t even be here. We’re not the right type to be fighting that thing of yours.”
He took a step back as Callan tensed again, seeming ready to stand.
“Anyway, we’ve got what we wanted. So we’re off.”
The man smirked again, and then, in the same bubbling frenzy as before, he transformed back into an eagle, Ella’s necklace clutched in one of its talons.
With a screech, it took off, rising rapidly into the sky. It had sailed far beyond the reach of any human before Ella could even think through everything the man said.
“Fucking – fucking hell –” Callan’s hand balled into a fist. He looked down at her, his expression desperate. “Ella, I’m so sorry. You’ve been hurt, and now they –”
Ella shook her head, blinking. “It wasn’t your fault. There were two of them, and you couldn’t deal with them both. I’m not badly hurt – just a few scratches.”
Unthinkingly, she raised her hand, pressing her palm against his stubble-roughened cheek. She saw his Adam’s apple dip as he swallowed, his eyes staring down into hers.
“Ella, I’m sorry about all of this. I should’ve told you sooner. About me. About what they are. Though to be honest, I’m not sure I know myself exactly what they are. But I should have told you about me, at least.”
Oh, Ella thought dizzily. Oh, right. The… the whole turning into a massive creature thing.
She’d been so dazed by everything that had happened in the last few minutes that she simply hadn’t had time to process it all yet. Now that it was all coming back to her, she really felt like she should get an explanation before she started stroking Callan’s face.
“Yeah,” she said, dropping her hand. She didn’t miss the way Callan flinched as she did so. “About that.”
“I tried to tell you –” Callan started, before cutting himself off, shaking his head. “No, I won’t give you an excuse. I should have told you.”
Ella sat up, careful to keep her bleeding arm angled upwards. She supposed she could understand him being reluctant to say anything – perhaps he’d thought she might run away screaming once she found out the truth about him. But still, she knew she needed to ask Callan some tough questions, and she didn’t think she could do that while he was still cradling her against his chest. She pulled away from him, even though she missed the warmth of his body against hers immediately.
“All right,” she said, looking him in the eye. “So tell me.”
Chapter 9
Ella looked up at him, her eyes sharp and serious.
Well, thought Callan, here goes nothing.
“I’m a shifter,” he said. “As in, I shapeshift into another form.”
“Oh, seriously? I didn’t notice,” Ella said, her voice tinged with sarcasm. “Yeah, I saw that part. The how is what I’m interested in now. And the why, I suppose.”
“Shifters are born that way,” Callan said. “It’s inherited – my parents, my whole family are shifters. We have been as far back as anyone can trace. It’s just the way we are.”
Ella was silent, clearly chewing that over. “Okay. So… in other words, there’s lots of you guys around. I mean, obviously, since those two guys were also… what did you call it?”
“Shifters. And we’re not that common, but yes. There’s more of us around than you’d think – which probably isn’t really all that surprising, given that no one can tell if you don’t see us shift. That’s the only time it becomes obvious. And only then if you actually see it happening. Once we’re in animal form, we look just like that animal. You wouldn’t look twice.”
“Huh. Yeah, I think I’d know if I saw whatever you turned into. I don’t know what kind of animal it was, but I’m pretty sure it’d make me look twice.”
“Good point,” Callan admitted. “I suppose given that diprotodons are extinct, that might be a bit of a giveaway.”
“A diprotodon?” Ella cocked her head. “Wait – I remember that word. We learned about those in school.”
“Extinct Australian megafauna,” Callan said. “Haven’t been around for about forty-five thousand years, but for some reason, I still exist. We’re the only ones left, though. It’s not like the Tasmanian tiger, where there’s still rumors they’re around somewhere, hiding.”
Ella chewed her lip. “So that means those guys were…”
“Marsupial lions. Though they look more like big Tasmanian devils,” Callan said. Anger swirled within him as he thought about them. And there was something else too that he didn’t like – and which had caught him completely off-guard. Something that until he’d seen it with his own eyes, he hadn’t even known was possible.
That first one – he had two shifter forms. The eagle and the lion.
He had only seen the second man shift into his eagle form, but the way he shifted – that strange, bubbling motion, rather than the smooth, shimmering shift Callan knew – had been the same.
So, might he have another shifted form as well?
Callan didn’t know, but it seemed like it was something he should assume was true. Better that than to be caught off guard.
“So, do you have other forms as well?” Ella asked. Her tone was curious, but Callan could see in her face that she was still shaken and putting a brave face on it.
“I don’t – it’s just me and the diprotodon in here.” Callan tapped his chest. He frowned. “To be honest, that was… weird. I’ve never seen that before. Never even heard it was possible. It shouldn’t be possible. And then there was the way they shifted…”
“They looked like they were water boiling over,” Ella said, shaking her head. “All bubbly. I take it that’s unusual?”
Callan nodded. “Yeah. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
Unease settled in his gut. He looked upward at the ledge above them.
“I saw you knock that guy out,” Ella said. “Should we go check on him?”
“There’s a lot of things we should do,” Callan said. “But you’re right – we should go see if he’s still there. And then I’m going to bandage that arm. And then we should talk about what’s just happened here. I mean, as long as you feel up to all of that?”
Ella got shakily to her feet, her face a little pale. “Yes, I do. I’ve still got some questions for you. And I need to know – why the hell did they want my necklace?” She paused, her face grim. “Though maybe I already know, at least broadly.”
It was clear now that the two men had been after the necklace all along. One of the men said they’d smashed up her house and lab looking for it – that they hadn’t realized she’d have it on her.
They said they thought she’d be working on it. But working on what?
Callan swallowed. “You said your father gave you the necklace.”
“He did. Right before he sent me here,” Ella replied. “Obviously, this has something to do with him. I just don’t understand what.”
She lifted her left hand to her face, scrubbing her fingers across her forehead.
“God, I feel like I’m trying to untangle my fucking iPod headphones by smashing them with my face! My stuff gets trashed, I get a phone call telling me to go out into the middle of nowhere, I meet you, we get attacked, they take my necklace… what the hell is going on?”
Ella stumbled slightly, and Callan caught her.
Alarm rose up with
in him.
Our mate is hurt! We must tend to her!
The diprotodon reared up, and before Callan could think, he pulled Ella against him.
“Come on,” he said. “We need to get you bandaged up before we do anything else. We can figure this mess out later.”
The deep slices on his back from the lion’s dewclaws were already beginning to heal, though Callan knew they’d left bloodstains on his shirt. It didn’t matter, though – he barely felt a thing as he swept Ella up with one arm, using the other to scale back up to the ledge where he’d left the panniers containing his first aid kit.
He could feel the warmth of Ella’s breath on his throat as he climbed, feel the heat of her skin as she pressed against him. They were lucky it was a warm day – the water of the pool had been icy cold, but she’d warmed up again in no time.
You still haven’t told her she’s our mate.
The diprotodon was not happy about that, but Callan pushed its indignation aside.
One fucking thing at a time, okay?
He was furious with himself for not sensing the danger until it was too late. Why hadn’t he sensed their presence earlier?
But then, nothing about what he’d seen had made sense. Two shifter forms? Callan had never heard of that being possible. He supposed that they might have guessed that he’d be able to sense them if the lion had tracked him. Soaring high above as eagles meant they could watch them from miles away, and he never would have known.
Dammit.
They’d just been waiting for him and Ella to emerge from the canopied forest and into an area where they could make an attack.
He placed Ella gently down against the slanted rockface once they were back on the ledge. A quick check of the area revealed nothing – there was a pool of drying blood where the unconscious body of the marsupial lion had been, but it was gone now. Obviously, it had fled as soon as they’d gotten what they came for.