Shifting Hearts

by Ivy Hayes

  Ted decided to speak up with that, “Not the easiest, we don’t have an accurate description of her human form. No one alive saw her. The only thing we know is the color of her hair since we saw her eagle form. It’s red-blonde.”

  “How interesting. She can fly. I can’t even imagine that.” I try and change the subject immediately away from her hair color. Ash’s hair is anything but common and I have no doubt any lingering on that subject would point thoughts straight to her.

  “That is the only reason she got away and it was barely. We almost shot her down out of the sky, but she was fast.” Ted looked resentful, like that was the most frustrating thing that has ever happened to him.

  “Damn. Well, I hope you find her before she causes any more damage.”

  “I will. I have a feeling she is in the area and my gut is never wrong. When I find her, I will neutralize her.” He is one scary man. I have no doubt about his tracking capabilities and that terrifies me.

  Stann shocks me when he adds, “After we make her suffer a bit.”

  My response was the most disgusting thing I have ever said in my life. I looked at Stann and said, “If you need any help, count me in. I can help give her what she deserves.”

  I said it to help cover any doubts about my willingness to help, thus protecting Ash, because they knew of my affection to her. Also, it will help me stay in the loop if they get on her trail.

  I hope, more than anything, I never get the request.

  TWENTY-ONE – GREGORY

  I stayed with them long enough to finish my drink then I excused myself back to my own table. There is so much about the world and my village that I was blind to. I am no longer as confident about keeping Ash’s secret, or my own, while we are here. After all, my own father is a Ridder. I must tell Grant, as soon as possible. I can’t risk him mentioning anything.

  Den and Stann really shocked me. They are both prominent members of the town and I would have never expected them to be so close-minded or hateful.

  Ash is, without a doubt, the shifter they are looking for. They know her hair color, but that alone is not enough to convict her, or at least I hope. Thank god she has been so private and no one else knows where she came from. If they knew she was from Naven, I guarantee they would have already snatched her.

  At least one thing is a relief, we are no longer in the dark just waiting. The enemy is here and we know who they are. That gives us a leg up. We just need to convince them that no one here is a shifter and that the person they are looking for is in another town.

  I desperately want another pint, but I can’t risk being tipsy. But I need to look like I am here for a reason. I can’t just sit at a table and not eat or drink anything. I motion over at Ash and she nods. She will head over as soon as she has a chance. When she gets here, I will order dinner and another drink, though I doubt I will touch either.

  I watch her and find myself wondering what our lives will be like after this crisis is over. Ash is strong and I have plenty of confidence she will rise above the heartbreak she is bound to be feeling. We could be happy together, though we will be forced to hide half of our identity for the rest of our lives. That is what it would take to be safe. We will make sure no one else knows about us and only fly at night.

  How normal will our lives be?

  We will get through this. I want to see her years from now, surrounded by love and family. I want us to be happy and we will.

  Lost in thoughts of our future, I watch her finish up with another table, then saunter her way over. When she nears, I see the strain on her face. “Gregory, I can’t do this.”

  “Yes, you can. Just keep going and as soon as they are gone, I will get you out of here.”

  “They are all dead. My whole clan.”

  “I know, my love. I know. It is better than them being captured though, suffering at the hands of those monsters.”

  She pales, “You are right. You don’t know how bad I want to sneak behind Ted and slit his throat, right here, in front of everyone. I am so angry.”

  “And he would deserve it.”

  “But as soon as I did, Cliffden would be swarming with Ridders and we would be hunted.”

  “Yes. So be strong love, when they are gone, we will go somewhere where you can grieve and release that anger.”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “You’ll see. You should head on from me, can you bring me another pint and some dinner? I need to look busy.”

  “I will. I hope they leave soon.”

  “Me too,” I say, and she turns to walk away. I am so grateful she chose to trust me. The longer I am around her, the more I grow to admire her character. She has had to be so strong, her whole life. I don’t think I would have been able to make some of the decisions she made.

  In fact, I know I wouldn’t be. I wasn’t strong enough to leave my family. She was.

  I was so busy, watching her walk away, I didn’t notice Grant until he was sitting right next to me.

  “I knew I would find you here.”

  “Because I told you I was coming here.”

  He is smiling, “Yup! How’s Ash doing?”

  “Not good. You see that man sitting next to Den and Stann?”

  “Yeah, I noticed him when I walked in. He is something. He set my hairs pricking when I first saw him.”

  “You are an amazing judge of character. He is a Ridder.”

  “Seriously?” He sputters out, “How do you know?”

  “Because I just spent a few minutes talking to them. They made no effort to hide it.”

  Ash showed up with two drinks and dinners. “I saw Grant coming in, I figured he would be hungry too.”

  “You would be right, I am starving.” He has a bite in his mouth practically before Ash even set it down on the table. “This is great!”

  “Thanks, for bringing these,” I say, “I was just filling Grant in on the situation.”

  “What situation?” She asks. Oh crap, I forgot to tell her I told Grant about both of us this morning.

  “I didn’t have a chance to tell you, with everything going on. I shifted in front of Grant this morning and filled him in on the danger you are in.”

  “You told him my secret?” She looks furious.

  I gulp, “Yes. I needed his help. Keeping you safe is not going to be easy and I wanted to reduce any risks.”

  “You had no right.” With that, she stormed off.

  I wanted to punch Grant, he decided that moment was a good one to laugh out, “Good luck recovering from that one. She looks pissed.”

  “Way to state the obvious,” I grumbled. Great, another thing for her to be upset about. I need to make this up to her while trying to distract her from all the other troubles. “She will have to get over it. Telling you needed to happen. I feel more comfortable with it too, after what I just found out. Grant, dad is a Ridder.”

  “You’re kidding,” he starts, “I can’t believe he kept that hidden from us?”

  “I wish I was, my best guess is he didn’t want us to know his bloody past. Stann told me our father was the best. Apparently, he killed the most shifters.”

  “Thank god we didn’t tell him anything that is going on. You know what this means? He can never know who you really are.”

  “I know. The game just became much more dangerous.” At this, Grant starts eating again. I catch a quick smell of it and my mouth starts watering. My appetite came slamming back, though it probably never went away. I dig right in and we stay silent while eating. Not for any reason other than talking would distract from shoveling the next bite in. What can I say, we are big eaters. I contemplate getting a second portion when I see the Den, Stann, and Ted stand up. Looks like they are done.

  “Grant, can you follow them?”

  He nods, “I’ll see if they have any others with them and find out where they are staying.”

  “Thanks. If they catch you, just say I told you what is going on and you want to help. It’s not perfect, b
ut they should believe it.”

  “You’re probably right, I guess we are lucky to have father’s legacy for this.”

  “I am going to get Ash out of here and take her back to the house. Don’t linger around them and as soon as you get back, come find us.”

  “I will.” The group is slipping out the door, so Grant stands up, getting ready to follow, “Good luck, brother,” I say to him.

  When he is out the door, I go find Nash. I need to convince him that Ash is not well, she is having a breakdown from the memories of the attack. It should be easy, considering Ash looks the part right now. She broke down as soon as they were out the door. It’s time to get her out of here.

  He is behind the bar, so I walk up in front of him. “Nash, do you see Ash? She isn’t doing too well. Do you mind if she has the rest of the night off? I would like to get her out of here.”

  He looks over at her, and I can’t tell if she is acting for his purpose or not, but she is shaking so bad we both see it from across the room. “She looks like she is going to faint. I will be fine for the rest of the night. Take care of her, son.”

  “I know just the thing to help her. I am going to teach her how to defend herself.”

  “That is a wonderful idea. Make her feel safer.”

  “Exactly. Thank you, Nash.” I turn to Ash, then nod my head at her and start to head towards the kitchen. She catches my meaning and follows. Time to go.

  TWENTY-TWO – ASH

  I am numb when I walk into the kitchen behind Gregory.

  “I just talked to Nash and he is okay with you leaving. Do you need anything from your room, or can we leave now?”

  I can’t spend another second in this building. I feel trapped. Stifled. “Let’s just go.”

  “Okay,” and I follow him outside via the back door. We shouldn’t run into anyone this way and thankfully we don’t. We are away from the tavern in less than a minute, then we are on our way towards the manor. I don’t say anything, for fear of breaking down. For the past hour, I have been numb, trying to forget all I just heard, that my whole clan is dead.

  I knew there was a chance, but having solid proof makes it so much worse. All hope was dashed with his nonchalant brag. He was proud and I was disgusted. I was instantly nauseous, but I was able to fight the bile down.

  The worst part is I am now pleased I killed two of their people. I want them to be suffering as much as I am. I hate myself for this. I am not evil, they are, but here I am rejoicing in the death of my enemy, just like them.

  Gregory respects the silence, he keeps leading the way, letting me be alone in my thoughts. As we approach the house, he does not head inside and up to his room, like I expected. Instead, we round the backside to an open field. I finally talk, “What are we doing here?”

  “This, my sweet-eagle, is our practice field. I thought you would need to beat something up and will offer myself for that position.”

  “I don’t think that is what I need,” I don’t want more violence.

  “Trust me, I have been feeling what you are feeling right now and you will feel better after this. We will stay safe. You know the basic rules of sparring, I am guessing?”

  I nod, he continues, “Try not to hit me too hard.”

  “What am I supposed to wear,” I motion down to my dress, “This will get destroyed and it is too restricting for proper grappling.”

  “Right. We have some spare clothes in the shed, over there.” He points at a small wooden building towards the edge of the cleaning. “We have to be prepared, as Grant and I have shredded each other’s clothes a time or two.”

  I start to get irritated, “And those are supposed to fit me?”

  “You should be able to make it work,” he gives me a small smile. “Just try, you will feel better.”

  “Fine. I will only do this because you need a good beating after spilling my secret.” He looks ashamed, I stop him from responding by holding up my hand and walking towards the shed.

  I find the pile of clothes and dig through to see what I have to work with. They are impossibly large. How would he think I can work with this? I pull on one of the shirts and it is just like the one I wore in his room yesterday, nearly reaching my knees. That won’t work, so I take some scissors from the wall and trim them just below my waist, leaving it long enough to tuck into pants, but not to interfere with movement. I pull on a pair of the pants, then use a rope to tie them up on my waist. They extend at least a foot past my feet, so I give them the same treatment as the shirt and cut them close to my calves. I have no doubt I look positively ridiculous, but I will be able to spar without too much hindrance.

  I walk back out and glare at Gregory, just daring him to laugh, which to his benefit, he doesn’t. I am already annoyed enough with him, his laughing would have only made it worse. Instead, he shifts to a ready stance and asks me, “Ready to go?”

  Instead of responding with words, I launch myself at him. Striking fast with my right fist, trying to distract him. He falls for it and dodges. At that moment, I kick out and swipe his feet out from under him. He lands with an umph and instead of jumping on him, I let him stand back up.

  “I will take that as a yes. Nice shot.”

  I smile, relieved to see he didn’t get angry. “Thanks. I won’t take it easy on you.”

  “Don’t, I am eager to see what skills you have.”

  Feigning modesty, I say, “I only have a couple tricks. Ready to go again, this time I won’t stop if I get you on the ground?” I practically giggle. Blast him, he was right, this is already fun.

  He meets my smile, “Let’s go.”

  Gregory makes the same stance and I am already picking apart his weaknesses. His stance is all wrong, he is putting too much pressure on the back leg, which is how I got him down last time. He isn’t set to move his feet much either, with any luck, I will be able to trip him up over himself. I start circling, keeping an eye on his feet, so I can know how he moves. His left leg is a little bit slower than his right, that will be my focus.

  I strike out in between steps and he is immediately put off balance. He blocks my attack easily, but I wasn’t trying to hit him, yet. I punch with my left hand, then spin on my back leg, bringing my right leg up for a head kick. His arm is slow from blocking my punch, but he moves out of the way, just enough where I strike his shoulder. His balance is worse after that, so I attack faster. One punch after another, aiming at different parts. He tries to back up and that is when I strike for the kill. I slip one leg behind his weaker left one, then use my body weight to throw him over it.

  He falls, fast and hard. I am on top of him in the same instant. Straddling his hips and working to get control of his side. He is so slow, he must have gotten through his whole life on his strength and size. Lucky for me, that is going to work against him. He is struggling to stand and that allows me full control of his side, I grab his arm, then fall back into an armbar. I didn’t do it hard enough to hurt him, but it was enough to stun him into stillness. He calls out a quick mercy and I release my hold.

  I won. It wasn’t even a competition. I try not to look smug as he stands to face me, rubbing at his shoulder. “Holy shit, Ash, that was amazing.”

  “Thank you,” I take a fake bow. “I hate to tell you this, but that was almost too easy.”

  “Believe me, I know. You had control of the whole fight from the beginning.”

  “It was your stance. Your feet and balance were all wrong.”

  “Really? Can you show me?”

  “Go to your starting stance.” He does and I walk behind him. "Most of your weight is on your back leg, sometimes that will be necessary, but you should try to have a solid, balanced distribution." He shifts forward, ever so slightly.

  “That feels awkward.”

  “Because you are not used to it. Next time we fight, I am going to focus on working on your balance. You need to fix this stance before you have any hope.” I try and push him over, and he doesn’t budge. Good.


  “Also, your steps. They need to be shorter and quicker. That is how I got you on the ground both times, I waited until you were mid-step and used your bad balance to throw you.”

  “Hmm. That is so different than any way Grant or I spar. We rely on strength to toss each other, but that wouldn’t work for you.”

  “No,” I laugh, “If these clothes are any indication, I am much too small to try that.”

  He stands upright and laughs with me, “You truly are remarkable, Ash.” I blush, and he continues, “You are beautiful when you laugh, your eyes light up.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that.” I try and brush the compliment off.

  “What do you say we do this again tomorrow, but with Grant? I want to see you take him down.”

  “Sure. Does that mean we are done tonight?”

  He stalks up to me and brushes my hair behind my ear “It does, I have another thing planned to get your mind off today’s events.”

  “This one already worked so well, what could you possibly do to top it?” The fight brought me back and made me feel in control. I am not helpless and this is not all over.

  “Let me show you,” he whispers into my hair, then picks me up and carries me into the shed.

  TWENTY-THREE – GREGORY

  She walked out of the shed wearing my oversized and butchered clothes with all the confidence of a woman who is absolutely sure about herself. I was enthralled. She threw me on the ground and I was both physically and metaphorically swept off my feet. She trapped me into submission and I belonged to her.

  I never thought fighting with a woman would be so sexy, but she proved me wrong. The only positive thing that came from her beating me up: I was in too busy being a blundering fool to spring an erection, but as soon as we were done, it snapped right to attention. I am surprised she didn’t see it while she was showing me how to hold my stance. I am going to have to get her to repeat that lesson tomorrow, I can’t remember most of what she said. I was too distracted by the scent of her, by her proximity and what I was about to do to her.