by T. S. Ryder
The man laughed uncontrollably. He spilled his coffee on his lap and then cursed to himself.
“Later Maurice,” Kalin offered, dismissively.
The two of them left the warehouse while the doorman tended to the stains on his pants.
Chapter Six
Coral ended up living about ten blocks away from the club. The location was fortunate, in that Kalin didn’t have to be an escort for much longer. There was also an element of misfortune in the location. The Hockey Club was located in the most anarchic part of the slums. In fact, the only reason the club was able to stay in operation was because of its seedy location. A few blocks away from her house, Coral started to get uncomfortable. She clung closer to Kalin’s side. He noticed that she was less confident in her walk. She was scared.
Kalin grabbed her by the hand and brought her against a wall. His other hand braced her head from the impact on the bricks. Coral’s eyes were wide with surprise. Kalin leaned in like he was going to kiss her on the neck.
“They’re here, aren’t they?” he whispered.
She could feel an edge in his voice. Coral was frightened. The fact that Kalin took the threat seriously only increased her concern.
“I saw one of the guys, I think from last night,” she replied. “He turned a corner just as we walked by.”
“You’re not telling me everything, and I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Kalin said.
Coral broke.
“Look, my brother, he’s kind of an addict. He disappeared a while ago and I think these people lent him some cash. Really, that’s all I know,” she confessed.
“And you said that they know where you live?” he asked.
She got flustered.
“I don’t know why this is happening,” she said.
She was crying now. Kalin kissed her.
There was nothing tentative about the kiss. He dove straight in and connected with her. His presence helped to ease her anxiety. His hands wrapped around her waist. Their bodies were pulled together. For a moment, she forgot entirely about every problem that had plagued her mind.
Then the kiss was over.
“Follow me,” he whispered. “Stay close.”
Kalin knew that they needed to find a way to end this problem. He couldn’t afford to be this woman’s bodyguard day in and out. Besides, each time he got caught up inside of this conflict he knew he put his Clan at risk. The type of person who tracked down women like Coral obviously had no moral conscience. The fact that the leader of this group had at least six men willing to do his bidding was also problematic. Hired men cost money. So did bullets and cars.
Kalin’s mind raced through the problem set that was presented.
“It costs a lot of cash to front an operation like this. If he's connected with the drug trade he's likely to be one of the kingpins of the area,” Kalin reflected.
This meant that even if there was another fight, things wouldn’t stop. The man who had issued the order to capture Coral would need to be confronted directly. Otherwise, she could be stuck without any safety. They would wait until she was alone. Then they would take her. Who knows where she would go. What she would be made to do.
Kalin had heard of women being drugged and taken outside of town. There were reports of missing women throughout the slums. Kalin knew a thing or two about the drugs in that part of town and figured that there was probably a connection between the drugs and the sex trade.
“This is getting too big,” Kalin said out loud.
His senses were on high alert. He had not gotten much more than an hour's worth of sleep on the last day. Kalin’s body was running on pure adrenaline. His hand tightened around Coral’s hand. Fighting the urge to break out, he continued toward her house.
He brought her close once more and placed an open hand on her ass. Kalin wanted to give these people the impression that he was just a guy who got lucky. The kind of guy who was hoping to get some action when they got back to Coral’s house. If Coral was right and they were being followed, then there would likely be a group of people staking out the house.
“Follow my lead,” he whispered, kissing her neck once more.
He laughed and lifted her into the air. He spun around briefly so she would fall on his back. He pretended like she weighed a lot and that he was focused on carrying her forward. In reality, his strength was more than sufficient — he could have carried her all day. Coral was a natural. She laughed and smiled as though nothing had ever been wrong in her life.
“That’s the same type of car,” she whispered.
Her message was delivered with a kiss on the cheek. Kalin noticed the vehicle was on the other side of the road. The car's windows were tinted. Kalin knew that if he showed any interest out of the ordinary, they would probably shoot him on site. His only hope was that they valued the girl’s life enough not to risk shooting her as well. That was one of the motivations for putting her on his back.
The two strained to keep up the image of the happy couple while they approached another identical car on their side of the street. Kalin smiled and looked down at his feet. He held Coral in his arms.
“Hold on,” he whispered.
Kalin grabbed Coral’s legs with a firm grip. He hunched over slightly and began to sprint.
Coral screamed. She tried to make it sound like a laugh, but she was too startled. Terror widened her eyes. They were headed right for the car. She saw movement inside of the car, the doors began to open. When Kalin was 10 feet way, he leaped into the air head first toward the car’s windshield. In the middle of his flight, Kalin shifted.
His body swelled beneath Coral. She held onto his chest as tightly as she could. Coral was terrified and overwhelmed. His size tripled mid-flight. By the time the two landed, Coral was holding onto the back of a grizzly. Her fingers clutched his fur for dear life. Their landing had smashed the windshield through the car and damaged the hood. The car would likely never start again. A huge commotion broke out as the other nearby car witnessed the transformation.
All pretenses were gone. Shots were fired and then a call to hold off stalled the first shots.
“Not while the girl is on his back!” someone shouted.
The shots ceased. None of the bullets had hit home, though they had come dangerously close. Kalin pounced off of the car and onto the man who had escaped his initial onslaught. The man was stumbling backward over his feet, trying to escape. He failed to escape and was soon crushed under the weight of the bear.
“Take him down!” a voice commanded from the car behind them.
Coral turned around with wild eyes. She wanted to catch a glimpse of the man who had shouted those words. She wanted to know what threat was coming next. The command had come from a man in a suit. He wore dark glasses and a coat with a fur collar. Two men were advancing toward them on either side. They were stripping off their clothes and grinning with hunger. Kalin turned around to observe their approach. Then fear rose like lightning along Coral’s neck.
“Oh god…” she whispered.
The two men had removed their clothes and were now sprinting full on toward them.
“Run!” Coral cried.
Kalin had already come to the same conclusion. Soon the two of them were flying down the street, straight past her apartment. When Coral looked behind her again, her worst fears came true.
Two massive wolves were in hot pursuit.
Chapter Seven
Masses of heaving fur bounded down the street. Coral clung tightly to Kalin’s back. She prayed that he would get away, but she was scared. The wolves were gaining in speed. When she looked back, they seemed to be closer than the time before. Soon, she could see their teeth and their saliva. As they grew closer to Coral, they began to bite the air near her feet. Kalin could sense them. He could hear them and even feel them. He wasn’t scared for himself. Fights with other Shifters were interesting, to say the least. The problem was Coral.
Just then, he saw a small park. The grass area was located about 50 feet t
o the left. He felt he could make it, but the turn would be hard. Kalin had so much momentum that the very idea of turning seemed problematic.
No time to think.
The window of opportunity was closing. Kalin needed to act quickly if he was going to make the turn. The wolves were so close now that he had no other choice.
Hold on! he thought.
Coral screamed. The two were headed straight for a barber shop. The bottom floor was full of glass pane windows. The top floor was solid brick apartments. The wolves were about to close in when Kalin leaped up onto a parked van. In sequence, he left the van and leaped onto a sheet metal rain awning. The van was crushed beneath his weight. The awning fell as well. Coral had trouble holding on. Kalin had managed to distribute his weight between the brick wall and the awning itself. The brick wall held and allowed Kalin to leap toward the park. His momentum carried them forward and he hit the ground hard. Kalin nearly toppled, but he adjusted and Coral held on fast.
Behind them, the awning and one of the wolves who had been closest to them ended up in the barber shop. The other wolf skidded to a stop, slamming into the destroyed van. With no time to waste, Kalin kept up his sprint toward the open field. Within seconds, Coral and Kalin had arrived.
Kalin let out a warning growl, offering the only communication he had accessible.
He ducked his head down to a halt. He knew she would be thrown. She would have to figure out that part on her own. Kalin’s claws dug into the ground. He pitched himself forward on one paw, causing his own body to flip.
Coral had to trust her intuition. She released her hold of his fur when Kalin’s paws first dug into the open field. She knew her landing was going to hurt. Coral also knew that the landing was going to hurt less than concrete. She was glad and tried to curl her body up in a ball. When she hit the ground, she rolled. Coral clung to her knees and went head over heels for a solid twenty feet. She slid to a stop, opening her body as she did. Though she was dizzy, she looked behind her. Kalin looked like a large brown blur. He was crouched down toward the ground. The first wolf approached Kalin by the air. The gray blur and the brown blur met. The sounds of combat had begun.
Coral was totally exposed. She tried to get her bearings, but she was lost. While the fight went on, she crawled toward the nearby trees. Adrenaline coursed through her body. She knew that she needed to get out from the open. The nearest trees were not large, but she needed to go somewhere. Her body was bruised, but she was okay. She got off of her hands and knees and started to run. The first wolf was already engaged with Kalin. The second wolf had seen her run, but he figured her for an easy mark — besides, he had other plans.
Kalin batted the body of one wolf with a paw. The other wolf approached the battle moments later. Shards of glass jutted out from the second wolf’s body at awkward angles. The lust for blood had clouded the judgment of the second wolf. The mission had been to secure Coral, not to engage the Bear. Pride and anger swelled inside of the second wolf. He waited for a moment, circling the two other combatants. When Kalin was most vulnerable, the second wolf struck. Teeth flashed and tore at Kalin’s throat. The second wolf was cocky and was going for a quick kill. It didn’t understand the power of the bear.
Instead of trying to bite the wolf in return, Kalin gave him a deadly hug. Two huge arms wrapped around the body of the wolf. The huge muscles of the bear caught the wolf in his attack. Kalin also weighed significantly more than the wolf. The bear used this to his advantage. Leaning forward, he crushed the second wolf beneath his body. Glass crunched, and dove further into the wolf’s body. Kalin took some damage from the glass as well. However, the thick hide of the bear provided resistance against penetration. The glass shards slid more easily into the body of the wolf since they were already stuck.
The pain of the glass was sharp. Kalin found it difficult to breathe while the wolf attacked his neck. However, Kalin knew he had an advantage. As long as he committed, he was fairly certain that he could crush the wolf beneath his body. The fact that there were additional glass shards in the wolve’s body made Kalin’s attack more powerful. Kalin strove to place his entire weight on top of the wolf. He smothered him with pressure. Kalin’s body drove the pieces of glass into the wolf’s body. The glass shards found their way to the wolf’s arteries. A thick warm pool of blood formed between Kalin’s body and the wolf’s body. The wolf knew that he was doomed and tried to escape.
Meanwhile, the other wolf raked Kalin’s back with his teeth and paws. The wolf’s claws were nowhere near as proficient as the bear’s claws. Kalin’s back ended up scratched. He also took a few severe puncture wounds from the wolf’s teeth. The first wolf gripped Kalin by the muscle. He tried to rip a hole in Kalin’s body. Kalin tensed up his back and focused, dominating the wolf underneath his body. After far too long for comfort, the wolf stopped struggling. Kalin was furious at this point. He was also covered in blood. The front part of his body was mostly the blood of the second wolf. The blood on his back was his own.
On the ground, the body of the dead wolf transformed. Within moments, the wolf was human once more. As a Shifter, he had a remarkable ability to heal. However, if the man did not get medical attention soon, he was a goner. He had several broken bones and his shards of glass were lodged deep in his body. The glass went so deep that if anyone were to have pulled it out, he would have bled to death on the spot. The broken man gasped for breath. The light dimmed in his eyes.
The first wolf now had a choice to make. He didn’t like his options. He backed away from the bear and growled a warning call. Wolves tend to attack in packs. Kalin was injured, but he was still stronger than the wolf. Kalin also retained his mobility, which meant that the wolf couldn’t out maneuver him. The wolf had orders to acquire the girl, but at the moment, she was high up in an oak tree. If the wolf didn’t have the bear to contend with, he probably could have gotten her down. The wolf’s mind ran quickly. There was only one reasonable decision. The wolf charged.
Responding to the movements of his adversary, Kalin leaped up into the air. The first time the two had clashed, Kalin had taken the low ground. With the knowledge that he could use his weight in his favor, Kalin had a new approach. He planned to connect with the wolf in midair. He spread his legs out as he prepared to land. Kalin wanted to take the wolf in his arms and squeeze the life out of it too. The wolf had other plans.
A quick bluff maneuver allowed the wolf to dive low and skid on the ground beneath the bear’s body. With one swift motion, the wolf snatched up the dying Shifter in his mouth and sprinted away from the park. The wolf knew that the move was risky. The Shifter could die in his mouth. The wolf figured that was a preferable option to dying on a field in battle. The wolf knew that they had made a new adversary, both a personal and a professional enemy. The knowledge that he now had an adversary gave him strength.
Lose the battle. Win the war, the wolf thought as he fled the Bear Shifter. “Besides, now we know who he is.”
Kalin charged after them, but he stopped when he got to the edge of the park. His reason for attacking was not as strong as his reasons to stay. Kalin let out a final growl and snorted. He looked around the park and saw that the place was completely abandoned. There were no people in sight. If there were, they were hiding. Kalin padded over to the tree and scratched at the bark of the oak. Coral climbed down and stood next to Kalin. Stretching out, Kalin shifted forms.
Coral saw that he was hurt and helped him to his feet. Together, they walked toward the wilder area of the park. The grass began to grow taller and the trees grew more densely together. Little pockets of untamed landscape like this grew more common in the slums. Major development had to do with industry and commercialism. Nobody wanted to develop in the slums. The only people who wanted to live in the slums had nowhere else to go. What ended up happening was that huge blocks of land ended up going uncultivated. Buildings would atrophy. Parks would expand. The landscape was changing into a more feral version of itself.
As
Kalin and Coral walked together, they grew closer. Soon their steps were timed with one another. Their breath rose and fell at the same pace. Her hands wrapped themselves around his waist. His naked arm pulled itself around her shoulder. They stopped walking when they arrived at the far edge of the pocket of wilderness. Any further and they would run into a thicket of trees. Beyond the thicket of trees was a tall barbed wire fence. Beyond the barbed wire fence was a water treatment facility. Nobody was around.
“How bad is it?” Coral asked.
She ran her hand up along his side.
“It will heal,” he replied. “That other wolf might even heal. The regenerative rate of Shifters is pretty impressive.”
“A bit Promethean,” she commented.
Pulling her hands up along the front of his body, she felt his penis beneath her palm. He responded at once to her touch. Kalin’s body grew warm with arousal. He pulled Coral in toward him and the two kissed. Unlike their earlier kisses, there was authenticity in their connection. Coral felt a spark in her chest that set her on fire. Her desire rose inside of her. Coral’s hand pressed more firmly in between Kalin’s legs. The two exchanged tongues and saliva. Their kisses were wet but had definition. When they connected, it was like fireworks. A series of small explosions went off in a chain. His hands pulled at her clothes. Soon the two of them stood naked together in the wild.
She knelt down in front of him and admired his hard body. Kalin’s abdomen was firmly chiseled. His thighs were full and powerful. His hair was thick and coarse. The brown color of his pubic hair reminded her of the thick fur she had held onto earlier. Coral ran her hands through Kalin’s pubic hair. Holding one hand on either side of his penis, she kissed him.
When her lips touched the head of his penis, he moaned. She could tell he was aching with desire. Her own desire rose up inside of her. Leaning forward, she opened her mouth and brought him inside. Her mouth was warm and wet. Kalin felt like a small part of his body was entering heaven. He dug his hands into the back of her hair. His fingers clenched the hair at the base of her skull. He wanted to fuck her so badly. The way her hands wrapped around his shaft felt delicate. Her tongue stroked just below the head of his cock in a way that felt soft. Even Coral’s breath was a miracle for Kalin.