by Chant, Zoe
“Just wait here, Ella,” Callan said. “I’ll go get the first aid kit.”
He was back by her side in record time. Ella held out her arm for him to inspect.
“Some of them are deep, but overall there’s nothing to worry about here,” he reassured her, feeling his own relief flooding through him. He didn’t know what he would have done if Ella had been badly hurt… and more to the point, he could feel rage misting his diprotodon’s senses even at the sight of these superficial wounds. He wasn’t sure he could’ve contained its fury if they’d been worse.
Ella sucked in a short, pained breath when he dabbed the lacerations with antiseptic.
“Sorry,” he apologized. “I’ll try to make this quick.”
“No, it’s fine,” Ella said. She tilted her head, as if trying to see his back. “You got hurt – I saw the blood. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Sure as eggs,” Callan said. He rolled his shoulder, feeling the newly healed skin stretching. “It’s… just another benefit of being a shifter. We heal fast.”
Ella nodded, though her eyes still looked a little wild.
“I… I feel like I have a lot of questions for you,” she said after a moment’s silence. “I never knew anything like you could exist. I mean, shifters. How have you kept yourselves so secret?”
“Some humans do know about us,” Callan said, as he wound a clean white bandage around Ella’s arm, careful not to wrap it too tightly. “It’s a tricky situation. Some shifters think we should be more open. Others live in shifters communes, so they don’t have to worry about discovery. That’s kind of how I grew up. In a little outback town, full of shifters.”
“And… you decided to leave to go into law enforcement?”
Callan nodded. “The problem with being such a closed community is that the only people who can deal with those problems is ourselves. There’s some shifters – not a lot, but some – who use their powers to... well. You just met two of them. You can see how it’d be an advantage to have those kinds of powers, if you chose to live on the wrong side of the law.”
“I guess so,” Ella said, a little shakily. “Is that who these… what did you call them? Hargreaves? Is that what they are?”
“Mostly,” Callan said. “Some humans work with them too.”
Ella licked her lips. “And my father…?”
“Human,” Callan told her. “I’d be able to sense it if you were half shifter.”
Watching silently as Callan pinned the end of the bandage, Ella let out a low, short laugh, though there wasn’t much humor in it. “I suppose it doesn’t matter. Being completely human doesn’t make him any less of a monster.”
Callan glanced up at her, pain piercing through his heart.
My mate thinks I’m a monster?
At his look, Ella raised her eyes, which were now wide with alarm.
“Oh my God – Callan, I’m sorry, that was a fucking stupid thing to say. I didn’t think.” She shook her head. “No, that’s obvious. I’m an idiot. I guess that’s also obvious.”
Taking a deep breath, Ella closed her eyes, clearly trying to calm herself.
“I’m sorry,” she said when she opened her eyes again, her voice sincere. “Truly sorry. That was a horrible thing for me to say, and I hope you can forgive me. You’ve been nothing but caring, and polite, and you probably saved my life before, not to mention how much you’ve helped me, and –”
She stopped, swallowing hard, and Callan was certain he saw a pink tinge coloring her cheeks.
The golden glow of the mated bond pulsed around his heart. She could feel it too, he knew. Callan knew he had to tell her, but she’d already gotten the shock of a lifetime due to his shitty sense of timing. Springing that on her now seemed like it’d be a mistake.
I need to give her some time.
“Ella, it’s okay,” Callan said, reaching out to touch her uninjured arm. “All of this is a huge shock. You don’t need to apologize any more. You’re not an idiot. At all. I can’t imagine how you must feel, finding all this out now.”
She blinked, swallowing. “Thank you. I just – thank you. I owe you so much. If those guys had come after me and you hadn’t been there…” She shuddered, before taking a deep breath, raising her eyes to his again. “But leaving questions about shifters aside for the moment – why are those guys coming after me? I mean, my necklace, obviously. Which I guess they have now. But I don’t understand why they’d even want it.”
“And who called you to tell you to come out here?” Callan asked. “Those two are the opposite of shy. They smashed up your stuff without regard for the law of the land, so I can’t imagine they wanted to get you somewhere isolated to grab your jewelry.”
“So… what if it was someone else?” Ella said. “Someone unconnected to those two? They didn’t seem to know where I was headed – they had to follow us, and we lost them a couple of times. So it wouldn’t make any sense for them to be the ones who sent us here.”
Callan nodded. “True. So there has to be another reason we’re here.”
As one, they raised their heads, looking at the shed.
“I guess we could do worse than check it out,” Ella said, pushing herself to her feet.
“Be careful.” Callan reached out, helping her up.
“I’m all right now,” she reassured him, but between her wet clothes and her injury, Callan could feel she was still a little shaky on her feet.
Together, they made their way over to the shed – or at least what remained of its twisted metal roof and stone walls. Up close, it was in even worse condition than it had first appeared – the roof had rusted and fallen in, and the back wall had completely collapsed. The door wasn’t really a door anymore either – it sagged open on its hinges, treating them to a view of the miserable interior.
“Well. I don’t know what I expected,” Ella said, peering around. “Why would anyone tell me to come to this?”
Callan looked around, but there was nothing obvious to be seen. It was an old pioneer’s shed, nothing on the floor, walls, or the crumbling bits of wood that might once have been shelves.
No, you’re not looking, his diprotodon suddenly spoke up, sounding frustrated. How are you going to find it if you’re not looking?
What’re you talking about? Callan asked it, equally frustrated. Be more specific. What should I be looking for?
He felt the diprotodon muscling to the forefront of his mind, sniffing its large, sensitive nose, sharpening Callan’s senses far beyond their normal human capacity.
Aside from its other attributes – its size, strength, quick healing, and empathetic instincts – Callan’s diprotodon also had a good sense for dirt.
Which made sense – his extremely distant ancestors had been burrowing animals, though diprotodons themselves had never lived in burrows. But the good sense for dirt had remained.
It didn’t sound important, but it had done him a lot of good in the past. Tracking was easier. He could find food in places where it wasn’t obvious. And he could sense if dirt had been recently disturbed, using scent alone.
There, his diprotodon said. Look. Properly, this time.
Callan blinked, looking down at the patch of floor the diprotodon had directed him to. Calling it a ‘floor’ was probably being a bit generous – it was just dirt and rock, covered by dried leaves that had fallen through the hole in the roof.
But nonetheless, the diprotodon was right. This part of the floor had been dug up – not recently, or even within the last few years. But the dirt at the top was fresher than what lay around it.
“Callan?” Ella asked, looking up at him. “Everything all right?”
Callan nodded. “Look here.” He crouched down, brushing aside the fallen leaves.
Ella’s breath was warm on the side of his throat as she crouched beside him. “What am I looking at?”
In answer, Callan dug his fingers into the dirt – it was loose, unlike the hardpacked, almost stone-like ground around i
t. If he could have shifted, Callan would have had the dirt dug away with one or two swipes of his paws, but shifting here would have busted the shed apart like it was made of cardboard. So he scrabbled away with his fingers as Ella watched, until finally, they scraped against something hard.
Something metal.
“Oh,” Ella breathed, as Callan cleared away the dirt from around it, managing to loosen it enough to pull it up out of the hole he’d dug.
It was a sturdy metal box, padlocked. As Callan wiped away the last of the dirt on its lid, he paused, pulling in a quick, surprised breath as the logo on it was revealed.
“What’s that?” asked Ella.
“Hargreaves’s corporate logo,” Callan replied, feeling his diprotodon snarl at the sight of the eight-pointed red and white star, with a small ‘H’ stamped in the middle.
Ella swallowed. “Oh,” she said again. “Then…”
“Then whoever put this here must have something to do with them. Or know someone who does.”
“I suppose I don’t need three guesses as to who that is,” Ella said, her voice low. “But why’s it here?”
“Let’s see if what’s inside will give us any clues,” Callan said, taking the padlock in one hand and giving it a quick jerk. The shackle broke easily in his hand.
“Oh – well, that was easy,” Ella said, and Callan heard it as she ran her tongue quickly over her lips, before she swallowed heavily.
Despite his diprotodon’s egotistical response to Ella’s clear appreciation, Callan concentrated on the box. Opening the lid revealed a stack of papers, sealed inside a plastic folder – probably for protection, Callan guessed. Who knew how long these things had been out here, buried in the middle of nowhere?
He opened the folder, pulling out the documents inside. He flicked through them, but everything written on them was completely unintelligible. Just a jumble of words and numbers and squiggles. Nothing at all that could be read.
“What – what is that?” Ella asked, leaning forward.
“It’s in code.” Frustration welled up in Callan’s chest. “We’ll have to crack it before we can do anything. Shit.” He ran his eyes over the pages, but it was completely incomprehensible. “I have a bit of training in codebreaking, but it’s minor league stuff, just for decoding messages with a key about missions and things. I can’t figure this out by myself. Not without a lot of time, anyway.”
“Do you think we have much of it?” Ella asked, staring down at the numbers and squiggles on the page. “I have no idea why they wanted my necklace, but it seems like they were determined to get it. The only thing that links what we’ve found here and my necklace is my father. Do you think –” She paused, chewing her lip. “Do you think he was trying to get a message to me, about something? Something he was working on for Hargreaves?”
“I don’t know, Ella,” Callan said, pain piercing his chest that he couldn’t say something more positive to encourage the small thread of hope he heard in her voice. It was understandable – the idea that perhaps her father wasn’t such a monster after all would have to be appealing. But he knew it would be worse later if he gave her false hope.
“What should we do, then?” Ella asked. “Do you know anyone who could crack this code?”
“Yes,” Callan said. “Several somebodies, actually, but I can’t contact any of them right now – not since my transmitter got shot. And to be honest with you, I don’t think going back to the bike and riding back to HQ would be the most time-efficient way of doing things.”
“So what should we do?”
Callan hesitated. He knew Hector was supposed to be on leave right now with his mate, Myrtle, and their adopted alicorn daughter, Ruby. But he was also the closest agent to their current location. His family’s sprawling farm wasn’t too far from here – well, it wasn’t too far for a diprotodon in a hurry, anyway.
“I have an idea,” he said. “But you’re going to have to trust me a bit.”
Chapter 10
Ella stared at Callan as she clutched the metal box to her chest.
“Let me get this straight. You want me to… ride you?”
Callan nodded. “Believe me, it’ll be the quickest way. We need to cover some pretty rough ground, and it’ll be much faster on four legs than two. I can move at a pretty fair clip when I need to.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Ella said, swallowing. That wasn’t what she was worried about. Could she really ride on the back of the massive beast Callan had become before?
You rode on the back of the motorbike with him, she reminded herself. If anything, this should be less awkward.
“I… okay. Okay, fine,” she said, shaking her head. “But I don’t really have much experience… riding things. I went horse riding for school camp once or twice, and that’s literally it.”
“I promise it won’t be too rough or scary, and I don’t startle as easily as a horse,” Callan said. “Remember, it’s me. No matter what I might look like, it’s me. And you know I’d never let any harm come to you. Ever.”
Ella looked up in surprise at the strength of Callan’s tone. He swallowed as her eyes rested on him, as if he was about to say something more – but then, he just shook his head.
“We should get going. You can trust me, Ella. I promise you.”
“I do trust you,” Ella said quickly, before she had time to think about her words. They’d just slipped out – but Ella found to her mild surprise that she had no desire to take them back. She continued quickly, before she had too much time to contemplate what that might mean. “Well, okay then. Let’s do this.”
Callan nodded, his eyes trained on her face. She met his gaze unflinchingly. She still felt terribly guilty about what she’d said about monsters, and she wanted to show Callan that she truly didn’t think of him that way. Whatever he could turn into, he was kind, decent, brave and good. He’d proved that to her many times over.
“You might want to stand back a bit,” Callan said. “I take up a bit of room in this form. Oh – and grab the panniers. I’ve put everything essential into that one there, so it shouldn’t be too heavy.”
Ella took several strides away from him. Remembering the enormous proportions of the diprotodon, she then took a couple extra, just to be sure.
“Okay,” she said, turning to face him. “Ready.”
Callan took a deep breath – and then he began to change. Ella was struck again by how it was nothing like the seething contortions the lion and eagle shifters had gone through: this was smooth and fluid. It looked… natural.
Callan’s body spread out, becoming huge. His arms became sturdy, tree-trunk sized front legs, his feet and hands massive paws. Fur spread across his expanding body. His head lowered, changing in size and proportion.
But his eyes…
His eyes were the same. Deep brown and devastatingly gentle.
After a moment or so, Ella realized that the transformation was complete. The creature – the diprotodon, Ella reminded herself – stood a few feet away from her. It – he – remained where he was, clearly waiting for her to feel comfortable approaching him.
“I guess you are pretty huge,” Ella said, staring at him. The diprotodon let out a low noise, as if asking her if she approved.
“Yes, yes, very impressive,” she laughed, walking over to him. She reached out, brushing her fingers tentatively over his short, brown fur. It was surprisingly soft, and she could feel the strength that lay just below the surface of his skin. Warmth radiated over her palm as she ran her hand over his shoulder, getting used to the idea that this was still Callan – still the man whose heart she felt she knew.
Somehow, none of this still seemed quite real, but Ella knew her brain would have to catch up to reality sooner or later.
Well, I guess if I’m going to do this, I better do it.
Ella grabbed the panniers Callan had pointed to, thanking her lucky stars she’d put her bag in them before they’d left the campsite this morning. If her phone had been i
n her pocket, it would’ve been decidedly non-functional after her leap into the rockpool. She slung the panniers over Callan’s neck, and then stepped back, swallowing. Callan looked at her expectantly.
“I suppose I better – uh – well, how do I –?”
The diprotodon rumbled, before lowering himself to the ground, folding his legs beneath him. Even like this, Ella barely cleared his shoulder.
“Excuse me. I might just have to use you as a shelf for a moment,” she said, balancing the box they’d found on Callan’s broad back as she opened one of the panniers, before placing it carefully inside.
Well, here goes, she thought, taking a handful of fur. Trying not to pull, she heaved herself up onto Callan’s back.
It was surprisingly comfortable up there – she positioned herself just behind Callan’s shoulders, leaning forward over his neck.
“Okay,” she said, once she felt secure. “Okay, I’m ready to go.”
Callan glanced back at her as if to make certain – but apparently whatever he saw in her face was sufficiently reassuring. The massive creature turned and then started moving, his powerful body covering ground at a surprising speed.
And yet, Ella didn’t feel frightened. She kept her head low, wary of tree branches, but somehow Callan seemed to avoid anything that might smack into her, despite the density of the trees. She gripped his fur in her hands, feeling his flanks expand with his breath, and tried not to think about what anyone who might happen to see them would think.
A woman riding on a giant wombat’s back. Well, at least they won’t tell anyone, if someone does happen to see us – people would think they were bananas.
The landscape flashed by them, too quickly for Ella to really take it in. Which was good in some ways, but it meant she had nothing in particular to focus on, except her own thoughts.
Is this really real? was the first one that popped into her head.
No, it can’t be, was a pretty close second. For all her talk of her brain having to catch up to reality, she couldn’t quite see that happening anytime soon.