by Chant, Zoe
It’s a dream, and I’ll have to wake up soon. Things like this just don’t exist – men like Callan just don’t exist.
She didn’t just mean the ability to shapeshift, either.
Callan was everything she’d ever dreamed about, but had never dared to let herself believe in. Sure, the whole ‘By the way, I can turn into an extinct megafauna’ thing was… not something she had ever imagined, and obviously she was still in a certain amount of denial that such a thing could be possible, but she didn’t exactly see it as a drawback, either.
Without it, how could Callan have protected me from those men? And without it, how would I be zooming through the wilderness now?
Ella decided that there was simply nothing else she could do for the moment but accept it. The world wasn’t at all what she’d thought it was – and she had to admit, she was growing more and more curious about shifters and how they worked. She’d dedicated years of her life to science – to understanding cells, how they worked, and how they could malfunction. The idea of shifters had already begun to fascinate her, and her brain was already suggesting a thousand things she wanted to know.
Are shifter cells the same as human cells? Ella wondered. How do they change during the transformation? Is their blood human when they’re in their human form, and animal when they’re in their shifted form? Or is it something else again? Could Callan eat something in his human form he couldn’t in his diprotodon form, and vice versa?
No matter how many questions she had about it, though, Ella decided to keep them for another time. Callan wasn’t her science project – not that she thought of him that way.
No, I just think of him as strong, amazing, handsome, kind, brave, sexy as hell –
Ella cut herself off, gritting her teeth.
Clearly, the only way she was going to get through this journey was by stopping her brain in its tracks, and not thinking at all.
* * *
Ella wasn’t sure how much time had passed when she finally felt Callan’s body begin to slow. He had slowed down once or twice before, she supposed, to recover from quick sprints, or while they were covering particularly tricky ground. But this time, something felt different.
She raised her head and saw a sturdy fence ahead of them, and beyond that, what was obviously a cultivated field.
We’re here, Ella thought. Callan had explained to her that they’d be heading out to his friend Hector’s farm, since he was the closest person around that Callan knew he could trust.
Callan trundled to a stop in front of the fence, head swinging first left and then right as he looked around. Ella could sense he was still on his guard, and it was a minute or so before he bent his legs, lowering himself to the ground so she could slide off his back.
Callan shifted back into his human form as soon as she was off – again, keeping his clothes. Ella felt a little pang in her chest that she quickly identified as inappropriate disappointment, and cleared her throat.
“What now?” she asked.
“Once we cross over the fence, Hector will know we’re here – the kind of shifter he is can get, uh, pretty proprietary. They know if someone’s touching their stuff,” Callan said, leaning down to pick up the panniers that had slid from his shoulders as he changed forms.
“Oh. Right.”
Callan looked over at her. “Just before we do hop over the fence, I feel like I ought to warn you. Hector’s shifter type can be a little… startling, I guess, if you’re not used to it.”
Ella’s curiosity spiked. “And what shifter type would that be?”
“A griffin.”
She blinked. “A griffin? You mean… a flying lion?”
Callan nodded. “With the head of an eagle. But don’t worry – I swear he’s fine. Well, sometimes he has a temper on him. But he’s a great bloke, and I’ve known him forever.”
Ella shook her head.
A griffin. Well, why the hell not, after everything else that’s happened?
At some point, Ella realized that the only way she was going to get through this with her sanity intact was if she just went with the flow and accepted whatever Callan told her about shifters and their world.
“Okay, sure, a griffin. I promise I won’t scream or anything.”
Callan shot her a grin. “It’s not that I thought you would – I just wanted to make sure it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise. You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be, I guess.”
Together, they climbed over the fence that bordered the pasture lands.
“We shouldn’t have to wait long,” Callan said, looking up. “Ah – yep, here’s the welcoming committee already.”
Ella gazed up, straining her eyes against the endless blue of the sky. After a moment, she saw what Callan must be seeing: a dark speck in the sky, growing larger every second. After a moment, she realized it was two dark specks, before finally she was able to see them in detail.
Yeah, those are griffins all right.
The two massive griffins flapped their wings as they circled above Callan and Ella for a moment, before the larger of the two swooped down into the paddock, its muscled hindlegs cushioning its landing as its feathered front legs – ending in the huge, curving talons of an eagle – dug into the dirt.
But it only stayed in its fearsome form for a moment. A second later, it underwent the same shimmering transformation as Ella has seen Callan go through before – and then, a man was standing in front of her. He was tall and broad, though not quite so tall and broad as Callan, and his eyes were an unusual shade of gold, his hair falling over his forehead in loose curls.
He looked, Ella thought, mildly surprised, exactly like what she would have expected a griffin’s human form to look like. If she ever could have expected such a thing.
“Callan? What the hell’re you doing out here?” he asked, striding forward. “Robb’s been up my arse all day, asking if you’ve gone walkabout or something. You didn’t check in when you were supposed to, and they haven’t been able to get hold of you. He’s worried because it’s not like you.” The man glanced at Ella, frowning. “Everything all right?”
“Yeah – sorry about that,” Callan said. “I had some unexpected interference, and things aren’t sorted yet. I don’t like to dump all this on you, but I didn’t have the time to get all the way back to HQ, and I’m trying to work fast.”
“No, it’s fine, you know you can always come to me.” The man looked again at Ella, holding out a hand. “You’re Ella Woodson, right? Hector Richardson.”
Ella took his hand, though surprise rippled through her. “You, uh, you know my name?”
Hector glanced at Callan. “Sorry, yeah. I was in the meeting where Callan was assigned the task of checking you were okay.”
Looking down, Ella chewed her lip, feeling self-conscious and a little weirded out. “You guys… had a meeting about me?”
She wasn’t sure how to feel about that – but then, hadn’t Callan already told her he’d been sent to protect her, and make sure Hargreaves weren’t coming after her?
Which they were, and if they hadn’t had that meeting, who knows where I’d be right now, Ella thought. She decided that however weird it might seem, she had to keep a level head about these things.
She shook her head. “No, it doesn’t matter. You already explained yourself. Forget about it.”
“We can talk about it more later, Ella, if you like,” Callan said. “But for now, let’s focus on the problem at hand.”
“Which is?”
Ella looked up at the sound of a female voice, and suddenly remembered the second griffin. It must have landed and shifted while she’d been talking to Hector and Callan.
The woman was tall and shared Hector’s coloring: unusual golden eyes and curled, light brown hair, pulled back into a loose bun at the back of her neck. She was wearing a flannel shirt and jeans, but even so, Ella could make out her muscular build. Anyone would have picked them for siblings right away. Aside from their simil
ar coloring, they were both enviably good-looking, as well.
“Evelyn,” Callan said. “Like I said, I’m sorry to drop in on you like this.”
Evelyn’s lip curled a little. “I guess it can’t be helped, but you know how I feel about you bringing your work home, Hector. Seriously?”
“Hey, I had no hand in this,” Hector protested. “But if Callan needs help, then I’m going to give it to him.”
Evelyn shook her head, throwing up her hands. “No, it’s fine. But you’re lucky Dad’s away at that tractor show – he’d be less happy about it. C’mon – if this is so urgent, let’s go.”
There was obviously a little rancor between the siblings about something, but Ella knew it wasn’t her place to ask or even to speculate. She glanced up at Callan.
“I’m sorry if this is causing trouble,” she said.
Callan shook his head. “Don’t apologize – I knew this might happen, but it’s still the best option we had. And I know Evie. She might make a show of being unhappy about it, but she’d never refuse anyone help if they needed it. And she’s right. We should go.”
It was only a short trip to the main house of the farm – well, it would’ve taken her some time to walk, but riding on the back of a diprotodon it took only twenty minutes or so. Hector and Evelyn’s family farm was a sprawling property, and Ella couldn’t help but be impressed.
The house itself looked old – built from pale yellow stone, a verandah wrapping the full way around it. It was surrounded by garden beds planted with Australian native plants, some of which Ella recognized – kangaroo paw, tea tree, grevillea – while a massive, sweet-smelling wattle grew next to the house.
“Wow,” she said, as she slid down from Callan’s back and onto the dirt of the drive. “This is beautiful. I love the native garden.”
Evelyn, already back in human form, glanced at her, as if reappraising her. “Thanks. Sorry, I didn’t introduce myself. Evelyn Richardson – that big boxhead over there’s sister. I run this place, since he and our brother are too busy being big city wankers to bother.”
“Oh, come on,” Hector protested. “How is that fair? Big city wankers? Are you serious?”
Ella glanced at Callan a little uneasily, and saw him hiding a smile behind his hand.
“Don’t mind them, this is what they’re always like,” he said. “We know they love each other, really.”
“You keep what you think you know to yourself,” snapped Evelyn, though Ella could see a sparkle of laughter in her eye. “Now come on, chop chop, if this is so important.” She jerked her head toward the house. “Go inside and get it sorted.”
Ella swallowed down a smile as she followed Callan up the front steps of the house, while behind them, Hector asked Evelyn why she had to be so rude to his friends.
“Oh,” Callan said, as if suddenly remembering something, just as he opened the front door. “There’s something else I should probably tell you about –”
“RUBY!”
Ella heard a woman’s voice from inside the house, raised in a frantic yell. Startled, Ella looked up – just in time for something small and white to crash into her chest in a flurry of white, feathery wings.
Ella instinctively raised her hands to catch it, thinking it must be a dove – a big dove – or some other kind of bird, but a second look quickly disabused her of that notion.
Oh my God, it’s – it’s a –
“Mee-ehh!”
The tiny winged horse let out a small, almost bleating sound, shaking its shimmering mane out of its eyes. Ella stared down at it in her hands. It regarded her for a long moment with huge, liquid silver eyes, as if deciding whether it liked her or not.
It was then that Ella noticed the small, golden horn on the little creature’s forehead – A unicorn, she thought, in a daze. Wait – do unicorns have wings?
“Ruby! Ruby, I – oh!”
Ella dragged her eyes away from the tiny winged unicorn to see a short woman with curly blonde hair standing in the corridor, clearly having just come rushing down the stairs.
“Me-eh!” The unicorn flapped its wings, wiggling its way out of Ella’s hands, before climbing up onto her shoulder. “Mee-eeh!”
The woman raised her hands. “I’m sorry – I hope she didn’t startle you. She’s having a little tantrum because I told her she shouldn’t knock pens off the desk, and apparently this is a violation of her rights or something.”
The woman had a strong American accent, and her manner was bright and friendly. She held out a hand to Ella.
“Sorry, I’m Myrtle, Hector’s ma–” Her eyes flicked up to Callan where he stood behind Ella, and she stopped a moment. “Hector’s wife. I’m sorry Ruby’s being so rude, but really, her climbing around on you like that just means she likes you.”
“Oh,” Ella said, turning her head and feeling Ruby’s soft wings against her cheek. Despite the startling introduction, she couldn’t help but feel charmed by her. “She’s beautiful. Is it… uh, is it rude to ask what she is?”
“Not at all,” Myrtle said. “She’s an alicorn – and she’s a little rascal. But she’s a cute little rascal, so we all love her anyway.”
“Mee-eh!”
Ruby apparently decided she agreed with that assessment.
“I didn’t know you were coming, Callan,” Myrtle said, turning to him. “Is this a social call?”
“’Fraid not,” Callan said. “Something… came up, for work.”
Myrtle cocked her head, concern crossing her face. “Nothing serious, I hope?”
“Fairly,” Callan told her. “But it was something I couldn’t handle on my own, and Hector was closest. I’m sorry to barge in on you while he’s on leave.”
“Don’t be silly.” Myrtle shook her head. “You’re always welcome, Callan. And I know Ruby will be thrilled to see you – she always comes back from your place completely spoiled.”
Ella felt tiny hooves scrabbling against her shoulder as Ruby launched herself off it, apparently having noticed Callan for the first time. Ella turned in time to see Callan holding out his massive hands for Ruby to land in. The alicorn seemed utterly overjoyed to see him, turning a wobbly loop in the air before settling on his palms, prancing and tossing her sparkling mane.
“Hey cutie pie, someone says you haven’t been behaving yourself,” Callan cooed, shifting Ruby into one hand while the other scritched her forehead. “Is that true?”
“Mee-eeh.”
If Ella hadn’t known better, she would have sworn the sound Ruby had made sounded apologetic… but then, she thought, maybe she didn’t know better. She really knew nothing about the world she’d just stepped into. She didn’t even know what constituted proper manners here. But she already knew her curiosity was going to get the better of her, as she watched Ruby preening and dancing on Callan’s hand.
“Will she – um, I mean, does she have a human form too? Like Callan and Hector and Evelyn?” Ella realized suddenly that she didn’t know if Myrtle was a shifter too, but Myrtle was already nodding her head, a smile on her lips.
“She does – or she will. She’s still young, and shifters have to learn how to take on their other form when they’re older. She’ll learn, but not for a while yet.”
“Oh.” Ella found herself wondering if that had been the same for Callan – had he been born as a diprotodon, and had to learn how to become human?
Callan glanced at her, apparently reading the question on her face.
“Before you ask, no, that’s not how it worked for me,” he said. “I was born human and had to learn to become a diprotodon. That’s the usual way for shifters, but Ruby here is just an extra special girl. Isn’t she?”
“Meeh!”
“Oh boy, don’t tell her that,” Myrtle said. “Like she doesn’t already know!”
Ella felt an irresistible smile tugging at her lips. Seeing Callan with Ruby warmed her heart in a way she couldn’t quite define – as if it was ringed by a warm, golden glow.
&n
bsp; Oh, great, she thought. So now in addition to being devastatingly handsome, gut-churningly sexy, and ridiculously sweet, he’s also great with kids. Just shoot me in the head right now, because I have got it bad.
There was no coming back from this, Ella realized – from seeing Callan affectionately ruffling the mane of a clearly besotted tiny unicorn with wings. For all his strength and massive build, he couldn’t have been more gentle.
Ella knew she’d already been falling for him, but this was the final straw. There was no way to resist it.
I give up, universe, she thought. My heart is officially melted. Now please, stop.
Ella had always thought of herself as cynical about love, and not easily impressed. Her past had always made her wary of getting involved with people. But clearly she’d never met a man like Callan before.
He made her want to forget how hurt she’d been, how unwanted she’d always felt. How much like a fraud she sometimes saw herself as. How she sometimes held her breath before meeting with her thesis supervisor, telling herself that if she told Ella her work was useless after all and pulled her funding, it would only be what she deserved for tricking her into thinking she was worth her time in the first place.
Ella swallowed, closing her eyes for a moment.
All of that – even her work – had seemed so far away during these last few days. She felt almost as if she’d been pulled into a new world.
Which, in a way, I suppose I have been, Ella thought, watching as if from a distance as Callan and Myrtle spoke briefly to each other, Ruby fluttering joyfully in the air between them. It’s the same world, but there’s so much more to it than I thought.
“Ella? Ella –!”
Ella hadn’t realized she’d begun to sag a little until Callan’s hand shot out to catch her, closing around her shoulder.
“Shit, Ella, are you all right?”
Ella nodded, looking up into his face.
“Yeah, I – yeah. I’m just more tired than I thought.”
“I don’t know what’s happened, but you can save the explanations for later,” Myrtle said. “Right now, I’m going to heat you up some soup, and you’re going to go lie down. No arguments.”