That made sense but she wasn’t looking forward to walking over the narrow, bumpy road.
“Why don’t you stand behind the Jeep to take your clothes off that way Dev doesn’t kill us.”
“What?”
Had she zoned out and miss something critical? The fact that she wasn’t preparing to run told her how much she trusted Lore and Ben. It also helped that she knew Dev would hurt them if they tried to kill her.
“We could walk if we want to get there tomorrow or we can change shapes.”
That little quip about getting there tomorrow was about her, but she wasn’t mad, it was probably the truth. As for the rest of it, it made sense but the thought of going through the woods as a lion made her feel like her life was in jeopardy.
She looked at Dev who wasn’t saying a word, but she could hear his teasing laugh in the link between them. Taking off her clothes was the easy part even though she felt like someone was going to pop up and take pictures like she was at a college party.
Deep breath you can do this. Every thought of why she couldn’t turn into an animal assaulted her, then Dev’s silent approval filled her thoughts. He calmed her down allowing her body to change shape. The sounds of her body breaking apart didn’t bother her much this time, and although it was still painful, it didn’t hurt as much as it did the first time.
She stepped from behind the Jeep. She was long, lean, and sleek. The tips of her brown hair were red. She hadn’t noticed it the first time, but now she was determined to find some water so she could see herself.
Dev was a panther this time. He did have a plethora of animals inside of him.
“Can we talk this way?”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t have thought so.”
“You’re a panther.”
“This was the only animal I ever turned into before I became a bear. The military believed we might have the skills or the knowledge of the other animals but that we would only become one animal. Looks like they were wrong. Follow Lore he has the lead on this.”
Both Lore and Ben were panthers too, but she had no problem telling them apart. Lore took off loping across the rocky terrain. Ben followed, then Dev, and she went last. The guys were bigger than her with a longer reach, but she was faster, so she was able to keep up with them.
Lore slowed to a walk examining the area. One look at him told her that he was sending them to fan out and see what they could find. She went in the same direction Dev went before taking a different angle.
A scent drifting on the air caught her attention. It didn’t make sense, but she remembered smelling a toothpaste made for kids. It had a different smell than the one adults used. She started following the scent.
“Rissa, where are you?”
“I…” She stopped moving because she was off course. “I smelled something that I associate with children, and I went to check out the source. I’m close but not there.”
“Stop tell me what else do you smell.”
She took a deep breath in and waited for all the different scents to be sorted.
“I smell gasoline and burnt rubber.”
“You’re on the right track, but I don’t want you facing them alone.”
“I can tear them apart and—.”
“If they kidnapped a child do you think they don’t have guns? And how will you calm the child down as a lion? I don’t know about you, but if I had run into a lion at that age, I might have been too scared to listen. That is if you can talk while you’re a lion.”
“I’ll sit here and wait.”
He cut their mental channel and was gone. She laid down resting her head on her front paws. Dev made a little too much sense for her at times, but she liked it because he was logical. He thought things through while she would just rush into saving Danny, he was already planning the rescue.
It was the high-pitched scream that brought her to her feet. She was running hearing the voice of a little boy pleading for help.
“Stand down, Rissa!”
Dev’s voice beat inside of her head while the little boy’s whimpers assaulted her ears. How could he tell her to stand down? What gave him the right, the power to tell her what to do? She was indignant that he would try to stop her from helping.
Her paws slowed even though she told herself to keep going. Dev and her were a team, and then they were part of a bigger team. If you couldn’t trust your team, then there was no reason to stay together. She flinched hearing the weak whimpers but what could she do by herself. He was right if they had a gun she’d just be a dead lion.
It was the soft sound of paws approaching that made her turn her head. They were all there each one looking at her with pride. She had listened become part of their team when she didn’t have to, and they were proud of her. It made her chest expand.
Lore took the lead nose to the ground as he covered the space looking for traps or signs of alarms to let them know someone was approaching. They approached carefully stopping just before the ring of trees gave way to a clearing. Danny was sitting in the middle of the clearing with his feet tied together.
“So, you like to run?” A male with black hair asked him.
She found herself shaking inside the body of her animal because he was so normal looking. She could picture him in a suit and tie with a briefcase in his hand going to work as a lawyer or a high-powered executive. Thoughts of Roger in his early days when he looked clean cut came back to her.
“Don’t worry soon you’ll be able to run all you want.” Another voice said as he lifted a shotgun. “Your tonight’s entertainment. Too bad you’ll be an easy kill that means we’re going to have to find someone else to hunt later.”
“Please, I just want to go home.” His voice shook even as he tried to hide his fear. “My mom will be worried when I don’t come home from school.”
“You’ll be dead by then so you can stop thinking about your mom. She made you I’m sure she can make more.”
“Please.”
“Let’s kill him now I can’t take any more of the begging. Next time get a girl at least I can have fun while she’s begging.”
“No problem. Looks like your free to run kid.” The first speaker, the one with black hair said as he untied him. “You have ten minutes to run, hide, sing a song. You might want to say a prayer, but when the time is up, we’re coming for you.”
He lifted his hand to hit him making Danny take off while the others laughed at him.
“We actually gonna wait ten minutes?”
“Yep, he’s a kid he should have a chance.”
Lore tilted his head backward, and they moved further into the trees before he changed forms. He stayed crouched because of Rissa.
“Rissa I want you to go after the kid. You’re going to have to show him our secret, but there’s no other way. Change back after you do I want to make sure you can protect yourself. The rest of us are going hunting. My panther is hungry.”
Chapter Eighteen
She was stalking Danny trying to pick up his scent. He must have been running in a criss-cross pattern that was throwing her off. With a huff, she decided to climb a tree to see if she could get eyes on him. She waited patiently until she caught a glimpse of him. He was lost and didn’t know where to go.
Jumping down from the tree she raced towards him being careful not to make a sound.
He stopped to look around even as he was quietly begging his mom to come and find him. She padded silently behind him until she found a place she could change forms but not appear naked before him.
“Danny.” He spun around looking for her fear in his big brown eyes.
“Your mom sent me to find you because she knows I’m different and I can help you.”
“Who are you? How do you know my mom?” There was a quiver in his voice, but he still squared his shoulders.
“I met your mom, Jane, this morning she was out looking for you. She knows something happened, she asked my friends and me to help her find you.”
“Can you t
ake me home?” The quiver in his voice was more pronounced, and a tear slipped out of his eyes. “They’re going to hunt me like I am a deer and kill me. My mom will cry and be afraid when I don’t come back. She loves me.”
“She does love you, Danny. I need you to be calm because to take you back I have to look different.”
“Can I see you?”
She lifted her head. Before she could blink, she had an armful of little boy. His body started shaking as he clung onto her like she was his only hope of survival.
“It’s going to be alright. I have a secret that will help us get away, but I need you to keep my secret even from your mom, Okay.”
“Okay, what’s the secret?”
“I can turn into a lion. A lion that won’t hurt you I promise but I can protect you better that way.”
He nodded his eyes even wider than before. He moved back and watched her. She changed as fast as she could pushing it. Her lion was hurt from the fast change, but she didn’t give herself permission to take it easy. Instead, she slowly approached him and gave him a gentle lick. His smile warmed her heart.
“You’re pretty.”
Yeah, this kid was a keeper. She felt sorry for the girls when he grew into himself. She directed his path as they slowly picked their way down the hill. The sliver of road that brought them here was far away, and she didn’t want to get close to it yet. The sound of the first gunshot made her want to shake and reach out to Dev to make sure he hadn’t been hit. It was hard, but she kept her attention on Danny. She knew that Dev needed to be focused on what he was doing. Something he couldn’t do if he were answering her frantic questions.
Danny looked at her fear in his eyes. She rubbed her large head against him to let him know it would be alright. It was a ruffle of leaves over grass that had her knocking him down into the tall grass.
A shot was fired that missed them by mere inches. She rolled him over until he was hidden in the trees.
“How’d you get a lion to protect you kid? No worries I’m going to kill that animal before I kill you. The trophy will be mine tonight.”
She stared into his eyes hoping he would understand to stay down. Making sure she was low to the ground and not making any noise she moved away from him and began to hunt her prey. She revealed herself wanting to make sure the hunter kept her as his primary target. When he was about to cock the rifle, she ran. He missed her and cursed.
“You’re a clever one, but you will be the one dying today. Too bad you can’t talk I’d sure like to know how you got out here. I bet you escaped from the circus. Too bad, I’m going to mount you, or maybe I’ll make a rug out of you.”
He turned around moving in the direction she was taking him away from Danny.
She wanted to play with him, maim him bit by bit, but not at the expense of Danny’s life. Climbing a tree would be the easy way to get the jump on him. She crouched ready to pounce on him when he raised his gun shooting her. A roar left her mouth as she fell on top of him not giving him another chance to get a bullet off.
The gunshot angered her to the point that she tore his throat out. It wasn’t until warm blood slid down her throat that she realized what she did. Her stomach tried to revolt, but her lion was proud of them and their actions. She dragged her mouth and face through the grass because she didn’t want Danny to see the blood on her.
The minute he saw her he ran to her dropping to his knees to hug her around the throat.
“Thank you, Ms. Lioness, you saved my life.” He placed a kiss on the side of her neck as he took off his shirt to wrap it around her wounded paw.
This kid was definitely a keeper. They walked even slower down the hill as she tried to keep as much weight as possible off her injured paw.
When they finally got to the car Dev, Ben and Lore were waiting for them.
“Hi, Danny.” Dev went down to one knee. “Did you get to meet Rissa?”
He nodded moving closer to her and away from them.
“She’s our friend. Can I tell you a secret?”
Again, he nodded. The look in his eyes told them he was interested.
“She’s the reason we came to find you. That’s Rissa, she’s very caring.”
Danny placed his arms around her throat and kissed her back.
“If you let her go she’ll go change and then you can sit next to her on the way back to your mom.”
He backed off, and she went around the Jeep. She walked out with a smile on her face and his shirt wrapped around her injured hand.
“Rissa, what happened?”
“It’s just a little wound, and Danny was kind enough to give me his shirt. Thank you, Danny.”
“Your welcome.” His voice was small.
She opened her arms, and he ran to her. She picked him up and placed him in the Jeep between her and Dev.
“Your mother is going to be so happy to see you.”
“I’m going to tell her everything, but I won’t tell her your secret. Can I ask you something?”
“You can ask anything you want.”
“When did you grow up?”
“What do you mean.”
“I’m eight, and the kids at my bus stop were teasing me because my mom was coming to stand with me.”
“I see. They were jealous.”
“Jealous?”
“Yeah, friends can get jealous when they see a parent doing something that their parents aren’t doing. That’s why they were teasing you. You have to decide when you want your mom to stop coming to the bus stop with you, don’t let them decide.”
“Sometimes I wish she was there. Other time I wish she would sit on the porch and just watch me.”
“I bet if you told her she would like to do that for you. Sometimes mom’s like to stand at the stop, but other times they’re tired and would prefer to sit on the porch.”
“You think I should tell my mom?”
“I do.”
He nodded and closed his eyes drifting off to sleep. They pulled up to the diner where there was a mob of people and cops.
“I don’t want to wake him up until his mom is here.”
Ben got out of the Jeep and went to look for his mother.
“Have you ever thought of having children?”
“Not until I saw you with Danny.”
She smiled and stroked his hair waiting for his mom to come. Her cry of joy made it to the car before she did.
“Danny, wake up your mom is here.”
“Mom!” He threw himself out the car and into her arms.
There were reporters and camera’s clicking. “Mom they saved me from the bad men. They were going to hunt me!”
A shocked gasp went up through the crowd. Lore took that as his cue to leave backing out of their parking space.
“Thank you! Thank you!” Jane screamed as they drove off.
Rissa turned around and waved.
“Let me see that hand.” She stretched it out so he could take her makeshift bandage off.
“The bullet went straight through, and it’s almost healed. It must have something to do with the shift.”
He pulled on a pair of surgical gloves and began to look at it.
“I killed one of the men. He shot at Danny, and I killed him.” Her voice was low and shaky.
“I’m sorry you were in that position love.”
She swallowed before she lifted her eyes to meet his. “That’s the problem Dev, I’m not sorry. I should be sorry, he wanted us dead, but I should still feel something, and I just don’t. Relief, I feel relief that I’m alive, Danny’s alive, and all of you are alive. What does that say about me?”
“It says you’re a survivor who loves life, not just your life but other lives. You could have walked out of that diner, but you didn’t. You said you would find him and you did. You promised his mother to bring him back whole, and you did. Danny didn’t have a choice but the men who took him did, and they took him anyway.”
“You’re right, and I know it, but sometimes
what you have to do to stay alive can devastate you.”
“You’re right but not this time. This time you did everything right, and we’re going to celebrate our victory. What else is bothering you?”
She smiled at him. He could feel her feelings, but he could also read her like a book.
“Did you see those men?”
“I saw them.”
“Did you think there was anything strange about them, Ben?”
“It depends on what you mean. They looked like nine to fivers who got together for a weekend to drink beer, shoot deer and talk about the one that got away with the big rack.”
“That’s what I mean, when do nine to fivers hunt children and ride motorcycles like they’re a gang.”
“Friend’s getting together who love bikes are not unusual.”
“I’ll give you that Lore, but hunting children isn’t that taking it a step too far? Are they from the government or military?”
“No.” All three denied that at once.
“That’s too obvious. The military wouldn’t go that far. They would hunt us but not children. The government has better things to do.”
Dev was right but why was the back of her neck prickling every time she thought about them?
“I don’t like it.”
“Why?”
“Because they remind me of Roger.”
He pulled her closer and rubbed her arms. She closed her eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep where Roger had her tied to the bed. This time she would die.
Chapter Nineteen
They rented two cabins they were close enough to make the guys feel good but far enough apart to make Rissa feel even better.
“This is our stop.” They were parked in front of a log cabin that brought a smile to her face.
“I’ve never stayed in a log cabin. I’ve seen them on television, but that’s all.” She got out the Jeep looking around.
The cabin was in a secluded area. The ground around the cabin was flat with plenty of space for them to run in. Further back was an area of grass and flowers with trees behind it. In front of the cabin not too far away was a winding lake. It was beautiful and peaceful. Their area was private maybe they would be able to roam around in their animals later.
Dev's Mate (Shifters on the run Book 2) Page 11