[The Shifters Committee 01.0] Time Shifters

by Rebecca Foxx

  She reached up to unbutton his shirt. He shrugged the shirt off of his shoulders revealing his lean body. Running her fingertips across the ripples of muscle in his chest, Sophia bit her lip. She wanted to beg him to be inside of her, but she could wait a few minutes more, knowing exactly how sweet it would be.

  Colton and Sophia were fully unclothed, under the light of the full moon. He wrapped a blanket around them and there by the lakefront, made sweet love to his woman. Sophia wrapped her legs around his waist, careful to pull him in to the exact spot where she wanted to feel him most. His thrusts were deliberate, focused, leaving her body writhing with pleasure.

  His soft whispers in her ear, the way he held her close, the sound of the waters of the lake lapping against the shoreline. Everything set the mood and made the atmosphere just right.

  Colton dove in deep, careful to make sure that he touched each and every spot of her body that called out to him. There in the open, Sophia found a freedom with Colton. Feeling the cool ground beneath her body, hearing the water beside them, and seeing the moon beaming down on their bodies. They were transported to their own world, a space where they could experience one another completely.

  Bliss surged through the lovers, covering them in erotic whispers, moans of satisfaction, and satisfied cravings for one another.

  Sophia sank in to his arms, her body trying to come down from the high of the release. Colton held her tightly, caressing her.

  "I promise that I won't let you go, Sophia."

  "If you know what's good for you, you had better not."

  Chapter 3

  When Sophia opened her eyes, she was completely unaware of her surroundings. All she heard was tranquil water and the sound of crickets. When she could focus her vision, she saw Colton lying there next to her.

  "Colton, wake up. We must have fallen asleep." She rushed to find her clothing which had been scattered about. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and with the moonlight so bright, it made it easy for her to see quickly.

  He grunted, but did not wake up immediately.

  "Colton. It's late. We need to go." She tried to shake him, but he did not move.

  Sophia slid on her clothing, still trying to get Colton to wake up. He was breathing deeply, resting. She laughed at the fact that he was out like a light. How he could sleep so soundly out here in the open, Sophia could not figure out.

  She put the last of the food and wine and the dishes in the basket. The sound of howling made her jump right out of her skin.

  Looking around, Sophia's heart began to race. Hopefully whatever animal that was would not come rushing toward her and Colton anytime before they could get out of there.

  "Colton, come on. I've packed everything up."

  She retrieved all of his clothes and sat them beside him. She shook him again, this time with a bit more force. His response floored her.

  A growl came from somewhere unknown. Sophia called out Colton's name again. This time, he twitched, and she heard the growl again.

  "Colton?" Sophia leaned in closely trying to figure out what was happening. Suddenly, the dimly lit area felt a bit brighter.

  There was no way for that to happen in reality, but the moon seemed higher and bigger.

  When Colton did not verbally answer, she tried to turn him over. Was he having an allergic reaction to something? Was there something ailing him that she could help with? It suddenly dawned on her to find her cell phone. She may need to call for assistance. Unable to find where she'd sat the phone, Sophia gave up trying and instead set her focus back on Colton.

  He still had not answered her verbally and the twitching had increased. There was another growl, this time it was as if it came from the depths of Colton's soul.

  Sophia stepped back, unaware of what was actually happening before her. She wanted to scream, but was unable to release the sound. Colton rolled over, his body tensing. She was not even able to recognize him. Hair grew from his body, pouring from his ears, surrounding his face, and then spreading to his body.

  His torso jerked again, and he let out a loud howl.

  "Sophia, leave me!"

  When she heard his familiar voice, she was immediately drawn to it. Wanting to help the man that she loved, she briefly lost her senses.

  "Colton, what is happening?" she rushed to his side.

  "Go!" his voice boomed. It was almost a roar and the bass of it shook her to the core.

  Sophia lost her footing, falling back on the soft earth. Tears were streaming down her face, clouding her sight. It was for the best because she was not sure what she was seeing before her.

  When she wiped the tears away, she could see clearly that Colton was no longer the man that she knew. He was this monster, a creature that she had only been aware existed in fairytale books.

  But hadn't he peeked out for a brief moment and made sure that she was going safe? Maybe so, but she could not be sure of whoever this was before her. Snarling, fangs, fur, and pointed ears on the lean body of a man. When he bent over on all fours and ran off toward the wooded area, Sophia almost fainted.

  Unable to make sense of what had just transpired, she cleared her mind enough to know that she needed to get out of there right away. It was the only way that she could be safe. Fortunately, she knew how to operate the motorcycle.

  All she wanted to do was take a moment to collect herself, but when she heard the guttural howl, Sophia knew that she had to get out of there as quickly as possible. She could not stop the tears from falling and by the time she collected the basket and her belongings, she was shaking.

  "Collect yourself, Sophia." She took a deep breath and thought for a moment. Where could she go? She had to talk with someone about what had just happened. And she could not go home and tell her parents. They were already not the biggest fans of her dating Colton. As far as her mother was concerned, Colton was a bad boy and she thought that her daughter deserved better.

  Her father agreed and although the two of them were not in agreement with Sophia's dating choices, neither of them spoke about it. It was what worked best for her family; not speaking about what was going on was the way that they kept the family together. They would love her either way and would never want to know that her safety had been possibly compromised. It was just not something that Sophia wanted to bring up with them.

  Instead, she knew exactly where she had to go. There was one person that should know all of the answers. She'd only met her once, so Sophia was not sure if she would be welcomed showing up at the woman's door in the dead of night.

  In this case, desperate times called for desperate measures. Colton had just transformed into an unknown creature right there before her eyes. As far as Sophia was concerned, she had nothing to lose.

  Chapter 4

  Sophia rode as quickly as she could to her destination. It was well after one o'clock in the morning and time was of the essence.

  Amazingly, she remembered the way there. Parking the bike in front of the house she took off her helmet and rushed to the front door.

  "Come inside." The front door swung open and a tiny woman stood there, beckoning for Sophia to come in. It was as if she knew that Sophia was on her way.

  "Sophia right?"

  "Yes. Ms. Cade, I'm so sorry to come here so late."

  Ms. Cade threw her hands in the air. "I knew that this was going to happen. Just had no idea it would be so soon."

  "Were you with him? When it happened?"

  Sophia tried to hold back the tears. It was impossible to do so. She just let them flow. She could barely speak, just nodding in the affirmative.

  "No need for tears. We just have to wait for him to come back home. I just never wanted this to happen before I got a chance to tell him about it."

  Sophia wiped away her tears. "Excuse me?"

  "I’m his mother. Of course I knew that something like this was bound to happen. I thought we had more time. When it didn't happen on his sixteenth birthday, I breathed a sigh of relief. When it skipp
ed his eighteenth birthday and his twenty-first, I thought that maybe it would never happen. Valentine's Day? Three years after his twenty-first birthday? Who would think it?"

  Sophia sat trying to make sense of what Ms. Cade was saying.

  "You knew that there was potential for this- this tragic thing to occur and you did nothing?"

  "Look, don't turn your nose up at me. There is no handbook on how to handle these things. And this comes from his father's side of the family. In case you didn't notice, his father is no longer with us and I don't really keep in touch with that side of the family. They were never really too fond of me. He has an uncle that we hear from occasionally. Maybe I need to contact him to see how to handle this."

  Sophia sat listening, but she realized that she had no clue what exactly was going on. Ms. Cade spoke so casually, as if Sophia was aware of Colton's secret.

  "Ms. Cade, what exactly happened to Colton?"

  The tiny woman eyed her curiously.

  "Weren't you there?"

  "I was."

  "Didn't you see it for yourself?"

  "That's not the point. I'm not so sure what I saw."

  Ms. Cade continued pacing. She lit a cigarette, taking a long pull on it before giving Sophia the answer that she was seeking.

  "My dear. I’m so sorry that you have to be in the middle of this. Colton has spoken so fondly of you and I can tell that he truly loves you. But I'm not sure if you are prepared for a thing like this."

  "Ms. Cade, please. What is going on with Colton? Please tell me."

  A thump interrupted the women.

  Her hands shaking, Colton's mother took another drag on the cigarette before stubbing it out in the nearby ashtray. She pointed to the door.

  "I think we'd better get that. It's probably Colton returning."

  Sophia did not want her to open the door until she got a briefing on what would be facing them on the other side.

  "Ms. Cade. Please."

  Colton's mother turned on her heels, looking up at Sophia.

  "My dear, Colton is a werewolf."

  Sophia stood frozen in her steps. Even though she knew to expect something completely out of my realm of thought, she was not prepared for whatever answer Ms. Cade would give her. And for her to give an answer like Colton was a werewolf, Sophia wanted to close her eyes and somehow wake up from the dream that she was having.

  "A what?"

  Ms. Cade shook her head and made her way to the door. "What did you think you were seeing, dear Sophia?"

  "I don't know," Sophia shrugged, still standing in the same spot, unable to move.

  "We don't have time for all of this now. We have to get him inside. He's going to be very tired and we're going to have to nurse him to health. I have to contact his uncle and get him here pronto."

  She beckoned for Sophia to accompany her to the door. Feeling lost and not fully understanding what was happening, Sophia could tell that Ms. Cade was growing frustrated with her and her lack of ability to push through the situation.

  "First thing's first. We need to help Colton inside."

  She swung the door open and there he was, lying there naked on the ground.

  "Grab that blanket off of the couch," Ms. Cade commanded. Sophia did as she asked, finally able to move.

  "Colton. Colton, honey. It's Mom. You made it home. Sophia and I are going to get you in the house."

  He was balled up like a newborn, shivering. He did manage to etch out a few words. "Mom. No. Sophia. Go home."

  Hearing him as for her to go home sent a pang of hurt through Sophia, but nothing was going to make her leave his side. Ms. Cade looked to Sophia, empathy in her eyes. Then she turned her attention back to her son.

  "Colton. She's here to help. We're going to help you."

  Draping the blanket over his body, Sophia did her best to help, but that did not stop the shivering.

  "On three, let's lift him over the threshold." Ms. Cade did the countdown and they were able to get him into the house safely. After closing the door and locking it, they did their best to bring Colton over to the couch. Unsure how they were capable of hoisting Colton's limp body up on to the couch, the women were grunting with all of the strength in them. He was like dead weight, and the shivering was not helping.

  "Sit right here with him," his mother commanded.

  Sophia did as she was asked as Ms. Cade went to a room and brought in more blankets. She piled them on top of his body. He was mumbling something unintelligible and neither of them bothered to try and figure it out.

  Ms. Cade excused herself. Soon, the scent of something cooking filled the house and Sophia could hear her making a phone call. Ms. Cade was trying to speak as low as possible, but she was easily overheard saying something about how her son needs the help of the person on the other end of the line and something to the effect of her not understanding what in the hell was going on.

  Sophia sat by Colton's side, keeping vigil. It did not appear that he was going to be waking up anytime soon. Sometimes holding her finger under his nose to see if he was breathing when he was lying there entirely too still, Sophia continued to be worried about how things would turn out.

  Werewolf. What did that mean? One minute they were making love, and she was wrapped in his arms as they lay there as lovers Colton and Sophia. The next moment, he was transforming into this creature, something out of the storybooks and he was screaming for his lover to leave his side. The night had gone from romantic to devastating in the matter of moments and Sophia was not sure how to recover from that.

  Even more, she was not sure if the relationship would recover.

  Ms. Cade appeared from the bedroom. "I fixed some soup on the stove in the kitchen. You are welcomed to stay here and wait for Colton to wake. I'm going to bed. His uncle should be here first thing in the morning. We should be able to get this whole thing sorted out." She clasped her hands together and with a fake smile plastered on her face, I think she was trying to make me feel better for some reason about what was going on. I wanted to tell her that it wasn't working, but I didn't have the heart to do so.

  She disappeared back into her room. Sophia took one of the blankets that was covering Colton, wrapped herself in it, and fell asleep beside him. Morning had to bring on a much different outcome.

  Chapter 5

  When Sophia opened her eyes, she found Colton staring directly at her.

  "You're awake."

  "I am. Please, don't move, Colton. How are you feeling?"

  He reached over and immediately pulled her into his arms. "Well enough to know that my woman is here with me by my side and I appreciate every moment of it."

  Sophia melted as his lips touched hers. That was the Colton that she was used to. The first thing she wanted to do was give him a once over and make sure that he was physically unharmed.

  "Stop fussing over me. I'm fine, Sophia." He held his hands up, trying to settle her, but it was to no avail. She continued to fuss over him, looking all over him to make sure that he was alright.

  She would not be calm until she knew that there were minimal bumps and bruises and that he was back to her in all one piece.

  "Do you even understand what happened last night?" She could feel the fear bubbling in her throat.

  "I do. A little bit. But please, don't get upset. I'm back. I'm fine."

  He pulled her tighter, trying to get her attention by looking her directly in the eye.

  "Sophia. I'm fine," he replied as he held her face in his hands. "I'm fine and I'm back."

  "I'm so glad that you are back." Sophia tried to fight back her tears. If he said everything was alright, she had to trust it.

  "Me too."

  She realized that he was dressed in a black t-shirt and a pair of black track pants.

  "How long have you been awake?"

  "I woke up in the middle of the night, completely famished. I may have eaten everything in the kitchen. I was so full of energy. I don't know."

  He rubbed his
hands through his hair, taking a deep breath. "I really don't feel like I know anything anymore. My whole live changed in the course of one night."

  "I don't understand, Colton."

  "Me either. But I will. My uncle should be here soon. I want you to stay with me while I figure all of this out."

  "Are you sure?" she asked.

  Colton nodded. "So very sure. I can't do this without you by my side, Sophia."

  He paused for a moment. "I know that I asked you to leave last night, but I don't want you to leave. I need you here with me to help me through this."