I reached out and stroked the leathery wings. They were tough, and rougher than I was expecting. Dagur stayed still as I pushed against his wings, and then again I rubbed his crocodilian arms. There was no response. He was a heavy sleeper. I think he just assumed I was going to stay in the cave. That was a pretty safe assumption. I didn’t have many options. I was going to freeze if I got out of his arms.
“Dagur,” I called out just to be sure. He didn’t respond, so I decided to try crawling. I separated the arms and started easing my way out.
“Ahhhhh!” Dagur stretched and tossed me up against the wall as he rolled over onto his other side. I was glad that he had thrown me. I would’ve been crushed if the dragon rolled the other way. I had all of the wind knocked out of me when I hit the wall, but I scrambled to my feet to get the robe.
Under the robe I put the blanket back on. I was still not warm enough to risk a trip out into the artic. That’s when I remembered the crack. The crack in the Earth that I was going to be hurled into if I stayed. Maybe the crack would kick out enough heat for me to survive the walk back to civilization. I decided to risk it, and I walked for the tunnels that led to freedom.
PTPTPTPTPTPTPTPT
It was faint, but I could hear the chopper getting closer. I had flown in enough helicopters to recognize the sound immediately. I ran to the mouth of the cave in time to see the chopper coming in. I knew that people would be looking for me.
A man dropped out of the chopper and tied a rope to me. I couldn’t see the upper half his face, because of his helmet. The friendly smile just below the tinted visor was a welcome sight. The wench started to tug on the rope and the helicopter started to fly away before we were even in the cabin of the chopper.
“He is on the move!” The co-pilot was screaming as we got up into the chopper. My savior got on me into a seat and gave me a blanket before doing up my seatbelt. He moved quickly, but he was very gentle with me all the same.
“I’ve got the gun,” he said into the comm-unit in his helmet. He walked to the machine gun that was perched on the side of the helicopter. He fired several rounds and I heard a tinkling sound against the hull of the chopper. As the helicopter circled, I saw Dagur disappearing back into his cave. The man fired several rounds into the rock above the cave. The rock crumbled and the side of the mountain seemed to shift. The dust was climbing into the air and we had escape quickly.
“Is he gone?” I asked.
The man in the helmet lifted his visor. I could see his bright, warm golden eyes, but there was a sadness behind them. He shook his head and looked apologetic. “He’s going to live through this.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It seemed almost impossible after watching the rock and debris falling over on top of Dagur’s cave. I was sure that even in his dragon form, there was no chance of survival. I watched the dust settle half expecting to see those massive leathery wings burst free.
“Francois,” the man said as he offered me another blanket. I was already wearing the robe and the thick blanket from the cave, but I threw the new blanket over my legs. It was too cold for exposed skin. “And your name is?”
I was a little shocked to hear him asking. After all my face has been all over the place lately. I have been on five magazine covers in the last two months. Does this guy not buy groceries? I wondered to myself as we flew away from the dust cloud, and Dagur’s cave.
“I’m Anya,” I said as I stuck out my hand. Francois was about to take it when we heard the screaming. A man was down on the ground, and he was grabbing at his arm.
“It’s the ricochet,” Francois explained as he got ready to give the man a shot.
“No shots!” The man roared, but it was not just a loud sound. Fur appeared around his mouth and nose, and they formed into a snout. The man’s nose was wet and black. I was pushing myself back against the seat as I tried to get away from the snarling beast/man.
“This is just a pain killer, and a bit of a sedative,” Francois tried to explain, but the man thrashed and soon all of him had been replaced by a snarling bear. “Guy, you need to relax, take a deep breath, I put the needle away.”
I watched the pilot fight with the weight adjustment in the cabin. “Get him under control back there.” The bear looked over to the pilot and Francois stuck the needle into the bear’s fur. The bear crashed hard onto the floor. Slowly it started to change back into the normal, average man that it had been before any of this had happened.
I was freaking out as I tried to stay as far away as I could from the crumpled up man on the floor of the chopper. I had forgotten about the danger behind me and I was focused entirely on the danger in front of me. I didn’t say another word until the helicopter was on the ground.
Ch. 4
“Help!” I screamed. As I ran for the woods. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the light of the forest. The helipad was the only open space. As soon as I was off the pad I was swallowed by what looked like deep forest, but as my eyes adjusted I could see the houses and buildings. It was a city, a city hidden away among the trees.
People were already coming out to look at me as I screamed. I was relieved as I saw them, and then I realized that they were likely all shifters too. They were all trying to kidnap me. I was past the point of rationale thought. This was the second time in two days that I had been kidnapped by shifters. Why had I tried to speak out on an issue I knew nothing about?
“Where are you running to?” Francois sighed as he caught up to me. He was gritting his teeth and desperately trying to keep his voice down. “We are in the middle of nowhere, if you ran all day you could get to the place where they’ll find your body by nightfall.”
“What do you want from me?” I asked Francois as our eyes met. I had been trying to look anywhere else, but he was not about to let me get away with that. He gripped me by the shoulders and I couldn’t get away.
I was having a breakdown. I was crying and shaking, but I had stopped trying to get away. There was no reason to try and get away. I could see now that this forest city stretched on for miles. I was stuck here until they let me go.
“We just saved you,” Francois said. “Guy just took a bullet in the arm for you.”
“You took me from Dagur and now you have me for yourself,” I cried the words. “Are you going to use me to start a war, too?”
“Look around,” Francois said as he pointed to the people who had gathered to watch my mental breakdown. “My people don’t want war. We’re trying to avoid war at all costs, but we’re not willing to give up our freedom.”
“You have no problem taking mine away,” I screamed.
“I didn’t take your freedom,” Francois was shouting through gritted teeth. His eyes were scanning the crowds around me. I could see the concern in his eyes. I could see that he was not a cold unfeeling monster like Dagur. I just so tired and confused, I let myself fall into his arms.
Francois carried me into one of the wooden buildings. It was just a 20’ by 20’ room. It had a wooden floor and there was a fireplace in the corner. There was a mattress against the back wall, and a couch that ran along the side wall. Francois set me down on the couch and went to a small kitchenette. He poured some water out of a bucket into a pot.
“Coffee?” Francois asked as he started putting the ingredients together. I knew it wasn’t going to stop me from falling asleep. I was going to be sleeping hard and fast.
“What do you want with me?” I asked the question again. This time I was a little calmer and more receptive to whatever answer was about to come out.
“Why do you assume that I want something?” Francois asked. “I know that you’ve had a bad introduction to shifters but we’re not the aggressors here. We’re not the ones trying to throw people into camps. We’re not the ones orchestrating a genocide.”
I could hear the pain in Francois’ voice. He meant these words, and I could hear the truth in his voice. “I saw the camps,” Francois said. “I was a on a joint military ope
ration, the Canadian military is always happy to help our neighbors to the south. They took us on a tour and asked us to start sending our shifters across the border.”
“What are they going to do with them all?” I asked, but I was sure that I didn’t want the answer.
“They are going to exterminate us, because they believe that we’re a threat,” Francois said. “People, like you, you all have your ideas about what shifters are, and you let your prejudices blind you.”
“I have been speaking out against the genocide,” I tried to defend myself.
“But the second you saw Guy shift, your mind went to the worst conclusion.” Francois was starting to look upset, and I could feel the nerves, as I started to edge away from him. “Did it occur to you that he was hurt? He wasn’t trying to hurt anyone, but he was in pain.”
Francois noticed the fear in my eyes and he waved his hand at me dismissively. He tried to stand up and walk away, and I put my hand on his shoulder. He turned back to me and our lips met. At first they moved slowly, but soon they started moving feverishly. Our tongues rolled and danced together through our mouths.
Francois easily lifted me, leaving the blankets behind and took me to the mattress. I was still wearing Dagur’s robe as he laid me down on the sheets. Francois peeled off his tight shirt and I let my hands glide along the smooth contours of his washboard abs. The soldier had picked up a few scars along the way, but his muscles were an impressive sight.
I noticed how warm his skin was immediately. It could’ve been that I had just come out of the arctic, but it felt like he was much warmer than me. I liked it as his body pressed against me, and I could feel the heat moving through me.
Deftly, Francois removed the see-through dress and the gold bikini. I had almost forgotten that I was wearing any of that. Everything that I had been through was making my old life seem trivial and silly. I got onstage and sang a silly song, while real people were dealing with actual problems.
Francois kissed me again, forcefully, and I grabbed the back of his neck, to kiss back. I need to taste him, and feel him. I wanted to have his warmth inside of me. His hands were moving all over my body, and I was moaning, and writhing under his touch.
I could feel the stretch as his manhood buried itself deep within me. I could feel the heat down there too, and I shivered as I felt he warmth spreading through my body. I began to rock my hips in time to his thrusts. I wanted to take as much of Francois inside of me as I could. I could feel our bodies melding together. It was hard to tell where he ended, and I began. I kissed him again and ran my fingers through his hair.
Our sweaty bodies were pushed tightly together. I felt so small in his arms. I felt safe. The world had melted away to just the two of us. I ran my hands along his well-defined back, and wrapped my legs around his waist. The feeling of his skin was driving me wild with lust and desire.
I could feel the pleasure building and taking over my body. I started to thrust down hard against each one of his long strokes. I wanted to hear him moan, I wanted to feel him grunt and release his seed inside of me. I didn’t care in that moment what he was, or about anything other than feeling him enjoy my body the way I was enjoying his.
Francois looked me in the eyes, and I nodded to him. The last few strokes were shorter, and more deliberate. I could feel him starting to throb, and I could barely take it, when I felt the liquid filling me up, I erupted in a volcano of passionate release. I could feel my muscles contracting and clenching as waves of pleasure swept over me.
I could hear Francois talking, but it was too late. I hadn’t slept in a long time, and it had been a very stressful time. My body shut down. Everything went blurry, and then faded to black.
Ch. 5
“How did you sleep?” Francois asked as my eyes opened for the first time in several hours. I could feel the crust on my eyes, and it felt like I was coming out of hibernation. “I made coffee.”
“Thank you,” I squeaked. I tried to clear my throat, but I decided not to speak again until I got a sip or two of coffee. “Umm…this is…a…horrible.”
“We’re in the middle of nowhere,” Francois laughed. “You want Starbucks you’ve got a long walk ahead of you.”
“Where are we exactly?” I asked as he reminded me that I had no idea where I was in the world even.
“Northern Alberta,” Francois laughed. “I would give you a city, or county, but that’s irrelevant. We aren’t close enough to any sort of civilization for that to matter.
“But you have helicopters?”
“They’re on loan from the Canadian government,” Francois laughed. “But don’t tell them that. They think they’re still in a hangar in Gatineau.”
“How do you steal a helicopter?”
“A wench set, a flatbed truck, and the cover of night,” the shifter laughed, but his laugh was cut short.
“What is it?” I asked as I ran over to him. I found myself pressing up against Francois’ chiseled body. He looked down at me and smiled. Then I heard the swooping sound. I recognized the sound of the large leathery wings cutting through the air. “He found me.”
“Stay here,” Francois yelled as he ran out the door.
“What if he sets this thing on fire?” I yelled back from the doorway.
“Then get out!”
I closed the door and got back onto the mattress. I wanted to stay in the corner of the room. I thought maybe Dagur wouldn’t see me here. As soon as I sat down and pulled my knees into my chest I knew it didn’t matter where I was in the cottage. Dagur had survived the rock slide, he could survive anything.
I heard the guns shooting at the dragon. It sounded like a thousand bullets had been fired. The rapid fire continued to blast as the ricochets started coming back at the cottage. I jumped as they bounced off the roof. I pulled the covers over my head, and screamed as another group of bullets bounced off the roof.
“Fire!” People were screaming just outside of my door. I wanted to go to them, but I didn’t want to risk getting taken by Dagur again. If he saw me, he would definitely try to take me. I felt like a coward. I felt small and scared, but he was a dragon after all. It wasn’t like I was hiding from a fluffy bunny. Bullets didn’t hurt him, my fear felt justified.
“Raaawwwggggrrhaw!” The screech hurt my ears, even under the blankets, but the firing stopped and Francois came running back into the cottage.
“Are you okay?” I was in his arms before he got the words all the way out. I was so glad to see him walk back through that door.
“What happened? Is he dead?” I asked as I squeezed Francois tightly.
“He flew off,” Francois laughed. “And I think he’s hurt, because he flew south. We blasted him good.”
“No, he was already planning to head to Montana,” I explained. I remembered Dagur’s plan to start a war. I knew that he wasn’t going to give up on that. Even without me, he was going to eliminate shifters and humans, and find a new woman to toss into the lava. “He’s going to attack the camps and claim that he is supporting the shifter cause.”
Francois was already heading out the door, but I followed him. “You have to get back inside,” Francois yelled barely turning around to talk to me. I ignored him and as he turned to tell me to go one more time, I walked right past him onto the chopper.
“I’m not getting off this chopper,” I said. I could see all the burned trees, and houses. I could see men and women putting out the fires. I knew that I had to help. I was no good at fight, dragons, or fires, but I could tell people what was going on.
“This is too dangerous,” Francois insisted. “This is a suicide mission, I am not coming back. I just want people to see me get killed by this thing so they know it wasn’t on our side.”
“Well, that’s insane!” I yelled. “We need to find a way to stop him. Who has the fire power to stop Dagur?”
“Maybe no one,” Francois shrugged. “Bullets bounce off of him, and if he wasn’t hurt by the barrage he just faced, then there isn’t
much more that could be done. Maybe a missile, or a rocket launcher could help.”
“Do you have a rocket launcher?” I asked.
“Officially it’s still in Gatineau,” Francois smiled. He ran to grab the rocket launcher.
I was going with him. I was going to do whatever I could to draw attention to the shifter cause and to stop Dagur, and hopefully the camps too. I felt bad for how I had reacted to seeing the injured bear shift. I could see the people of this community working together. They were just trying to live their lives, and the camps were going to put an end to all of that. There was no reason to treat them any differently than other people.
“I am going after him alone,” Francois tried one last time to get me to move. I just turned away from him.
“I have a name and people will listen to me,” I said to the window, “I have more twitter followers than you have people in your little city.”
Francois told the pilot to head up, as I continued to list off my social media numbers. When I told him about my Google search ratings, Francois rolled his eyes and begged me to stop. I just wished that I had my phone with me. I could’ve started helping the bears right away.
I felt like I needed to make up for hiding earlier. Dagur had come looking for me. People were injured, and maybe even died trying to keep me safe. Now, it was up to me to do everything I could to keep them safe.
Ch. 6
Five helicopters took off from their separate clearings launch pads. They flew in an arrowhead formation through the skies as they tried to catch up to Dagur. There was a chance that he was hurt, but he still had a long head start. Francois didn’t like our chances for saving the concentration camps, at least not completely.
“Why does he want to get rid of us?” I asked Francois. I was hoping that as a shifter he would understand Dagur, and his motivations.
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