Loving Lucius (Werescape)

by Moncrief, Skhye

  We cleared the corral and began crossing the final stretch between two log lodges that housed single adult Shifters and headed to the outpost's open gate.

  Quiet. Nice. Gotta love a day when everybody slept in. Two more steps and we'd clear the rough-hewn log edge of the cabins to walk the final steps in the open area out front of my cousin, the clan leader's, personal cabin. Hopefully, he slept in as well and has no idea I'm departing.

  Marine trudged into the empty courtyard with nary a concern though. It might behoove a girl to have a human mate. Especially one with enough sense to be on edge from time to time.

  We stepped right into the waiting clan leader who conveniently stood, arms crossed over his massive chest, slightly out of sight to the left in front of his lodge. Classic Augustus. Even in his human skin, my cousin waited, the only hurdle I dared defy in departure.

  "Morning, Josie," Augustus casually called, dropping his arms.

  In a more submissive stance. Why the alpha-male Shifter assuming such a position?

  "Going somewhere?" he asked.

  Always calm. Cool. Augustus could work a group of anxious keyed-up un-mated Shifters two miles downwind of an ovulating female with the smooth finesse of a knife cutting through butter and avoid unavoidable conflict. Well, he won't be working me. "Heading out."

  "Sorry to hear that. Your sister will be in tears for days with nothing more than the news."

  That's not going to work on me. Maybe my sister Drea. But she mated him. I had enough sense not to even ponder that potential arrangement. Besides, Drea was just more agreeable and had enough sense to keep her thoughts to herself until she was behind closed doors with an alpha-male mate. That's nothing but imprisonment. Well, with anyone but Hostillian. I locked my gaze on the freedom the forest laying beyond the gaping gateway and kept Marine plodding onward.

  "Can you do something for me on your way out?" he asked.

  At least that isn't a command to stop. But I'm not looking away from the still leaves in the awaiting forest.

  "We'll call it a subtle way of allowing you to slip off," he added. "As if you disappeared doing me a favor."

  What then? Stop? Risk my chance to escape? But the Shifter could shape shift so quickly and catch me. I had to appear to listen. Cooperate. Humor him. I pulled up on the reins and turned Marine to face the man in his camouflage pants and black leather vest.

  His warm smile was beyond ridiculous. Nothing he could say would convince me this isn't a game he played with me to keep me here longer. To delay the inevitable. And I'm just not fond of anything lumped into the category of inevitable.

  "I was going to send ammunition to the Western Fields. But you'd think I sent one of my men out to follow you. So, you could drop the ammo off on your way and slip away in the process. I'll tell Drea I sent you on an errand." He winked. "She'll be none the wiser."

  Damn the sinister man and his winks. Always trying to get the best of people. But he had a point. I could use his little errand as a means of escape. And the whole process would be easier for him because Drea would be expecting me home in four days from these fields, whatever he's talking about. And that's four days to get the Gods-be-damned hell out of here. Now, that's a really nice head start if Drea insists Augustus send a pack of Shifters out to hunt me down and drag me back. "Alright. Where in the Gods-be-damned hell is this place?"

  He grinned, his gaze gleaming. "Two days' ride to the southwest. A patch of wheat field so large, you can't miss it."

  This waving grain isn't the only thing I won't be missing. Goodbye Cousin Busybody.

  ****

  The sweltering sunlight tried to bake me beneath the heavy denim button down shirt nature forced me to don to keep my exposed skin from burning early this morning in this insane errand of Cousin Augustus'. Alas, the July sun is always too scorching for wearing a tank top with my pale skin. But somewhere, in this prairie nightmare of a grassy ocean, lurked a cool place to rest. I just can't see that resting spot on the line of the horizon. I scanned the line where the sky's blue line and prairie until my gaze spotted green wheat plants.

  And a few lanky males dressed in military or hunting camouflage.

  Shifters and grain.

  Who decided to leave a pack of young Shifter males at an even more remote outpost than the community back in The Big Woods? That alpha male couldn't possibly still be leading a clan because a Shifter that senile would have been ousted not long after making such a ridiculous decision. Only Augustus could get away with something that ludicrous. And just how long has this wheat field been around? I don't recall hearing anything about this place the ten years I spent attending my cousin's little scientific academy. Nor did my sire speak of this place. Just who had the bright idea to arrange this insane venture fueled by raging teenage male testosterone? Hell, all the males swarmed the fields like an angry mob of bees.

  Or am I just being a pessimist because they aren't actually swarming? Rather, two manned what had to be a sluice mechanism along the river.

  Wow. Some teen had the forethought to build an irrigation system. Leave it to a Shifter. There probably isn't a Normal alive with that much sense.

  Another Shifter teen rode a bay horse toward me from the farthest limit of my periphery.

  Almost in a covert manner. Why? I'm female. Surely they've pulled their Wolf into their eyes and noses to detect I carry eggs. But the rider's olive-drab hat is one of those military bush hats. Camouflage in that it matched the color of the rest of his clothing. Maybe that's why his actions feel sneaky.

  To my right, two more teens watched me, standing where they'd been jacking with something hidden in the vegetation. I don't want to even begin to imagine what they were jacking with. In the end, young males are all alike. Even Shifters. They're all male. Predictable. Albeit, the ones of mating age had learned to control their urges because Shifter urges come packed with a whole lot of power. Werewolf strength and desires. A man's beast could overwhelm and consume a Shifter if he didn't master self-control.

  And now the truth behind my dear cousin's last grin shows itself. I've been sent to this testosterone snake pit. Literally filled with writhing snakes. Good thing my cousin had the wherewithal to send me with a good forty pounds of bullets. The lead deterrents better work with one of my firearms. Or the fact the ammunition didn't would be the biggest joke of the century. Augustus' last laugh. I'd be stranded here with a horde of sharp antsy fangs.

  "Hello," a male voice called from behind me.

  Shit. So much for outsmarting them.

  Marine's ears perked upright, his body tensing, and he turned in a nanosecond.

  The male stood a good six foot. Maybe two or three inches over. Lanky. Still filling out. Young. But nearing twenty. He'd be allowed to mate in a year or two. Once Cousin Busybody decided who he was allowed to show interest in.

  "Are you lost?" he asked with a voice as smooth as homemade whiskey.

  Sure could use a sip. Not of him. But haven't had a drink of Forget It All since winter. And something made me feel a little more than edgy. "Is this the Western Fields?" Like I'd bump into more than one agricultural patch of civilization out here in The Wilderness.

  He nodded, respectfully keeping his gaze where it should stay if he wanted to keep his nose clean. "Who sent you?"

  So, this place is really top secret. "Augustus."

  His black eyebrows pinched with question. "He sent a female?"

  Leave it to Augustus to surprise us all. "Don't tell me you think females need males to look after them too?"

  His brow arched with either surprise at being called a chauvinist or concern for my well-being. "No, ma'am."

  He's kidding. Right? "Now, don't be ma'aming me." I leaned against the hard flat surface of my saddle's pommel. "I'm not much older than you." I'd let him wonder how old I was. Or he'd insist on calling me ma'am because I would be twenty-five in the fall.

  "I'm sorry."

  Such an apologetic tone more than sufficiently made up for h
is deadly insult. "It's alright. I eased back to sit in the hard welcoming saddle and scanned the field. "Where would you like me to leave these forty pounds of lead? That is if Augustus had the foresight to provide you lads with a roof to sleep under." I met the young man's blue gaze.

  Paler than Augustus' bright blue eyes. This one wasn't his relative. Maybe one of the Shifter's sons sent to Augustus to learn how to do lab work in the underground community built by the US government before the alien invasion.

  He waved a palm to my left. "If you'll follow me, I'll guide you to the path. It'll take you to the lodge."

  Okay. Cousin Busybody at least took care of these excommunicated teens. I suppose their sires would be mighty pissed to learn Augustus hadn't left his charges with the normal protection of a building and a palisade. Even Shifters needed a secure outpost to lock away inside after sunset or spend the night fighting off alien creatures left to prey upon humans. Who wanted to do that when he could be snoozing the night away?

  The young Shifter silently led Marine to the well-trodden path through a stretch of prairie. Since I couldn't think of anything else to ask, silence proved more than adequate. But where is this lodge? "Do you boys live in a sod house?"

  He halted beside the leather of my knee-high brown deer-hide boots, his pale blue eyes studying mine.

  Maybe he isn't certain what he should disclose? But, damn, how would anybody find a place that blends into the prairie so well? Camouflage. Shifters had mastered camouflage…

  "You'll follow the trail for a good five miles. Augustus had the outpost constructed under trees in a forest for camouflage."

  Oh, there's the magic word again.

  "The distance from this field is to prevent alien spacecraft from stopping overhead and blasting the lodge as it projects its extermination beam," he kept talking. "You know. Just in case aliens think our field is too domestic for The Wild." He winked.

  Just like Augustus right before he decided who I'd mate or when he set me up for other kinds of disaster.

  My skin crawled.

  He thrust a thumb down the trail. "Follow the trail. You'll find the lodge at the end. If you run across any Normals along the way, forget everything I've told you."

  Crazy. But what can you expect from a teen? Even one about to enter the mating market.

  A horse can walk about sixty miles a day. Since the summer days are long, about twelve hours, it would take about an hour to walk the path. Not that I could test the calculation without a watch. But the young man didn't lie. The outpost's on-end tree-trunk palisade made a patch of forest appear so dense a rider couldn't miss it once hearing about the fortress' location.

  Marine's steady rocking motion never altered as if he hadn't noticed we'd almost reached our destination.

  He probably just isn't tired, hungry, or thirsty yet. We'd stopped for a midday break at a dilapidated windmill that still had a working faucet. Marine sucked down more water than one would expect a camel to fill two humps and snacked on tall prairie grass while I took care of my sore tail end by stretching my legs.

  A few weeks out of the saddle sure could lay a girl up for a day or two. Especially when her cousin decided she needed supervision.

  Like I would commit suicide? If I wanted to die, I would have stayed with the bodies back at the Chippewa sanctuary. Normals never caught wind of the place. And I'd have just frozen to death in the winter. Alone. Peacefully. Without my nagging older sister. But no. I had to pack up as many supplies as possible and check myself into the asylum run by my sister's mate. Right where I should be. With the rest of the lunatics.

  Marine snorted as if insulted by being lumped into the rest of the cuckoo's nest with my thoughts. I bet Augustus would take that lovely novel off the required reading list for his students if he knew I compared the story to his sanctuary's ambiance.

  Marine snorted.

  Probably an admonishment. I swear he can read my mind. I bet it has to do with our implied mating. What a thought! Since he isn't snorting, I don't have to worry about him reading that thought. Thank the stars.

  We passed from blaring sunlight's heat into the overarching canopy's comforting shade. Toward another teen with a large black military-grade firearm. Probably loaded to the hilt. Shifters love bullets.

  The young whelp eyed me.

  Curiously. And nodded. Fine. Three steps later, Marine stepped through the open gateway and under the trees.

  Someone had worked to cut the lower limbs away for a rider to pass free of obstacles.

  Marine didn't veer any direction. He headed straight for the single lodge's two steps that led to the door.

  Probably ready for a good night's rest. I'd give him that much. Even if it meant sleeping in this snake pit. Gods know I have no intention of providing the outpost's nightly entertainment by spreading my legs. I'd given up on the Shifter I loved years ago. Gone back to my family at the Chippewa sanctuary because Augustus began suggesting other Shifters when Hostillian wouldn't even look down at me.

  Okay. Maybe I stood up to the man too many times? Maybe I should have acted a little more like a timid submissive female. But Hostillian wouldn't have looked at me at all if I hadn't made a fuss when he tried to intimidate me. Gods. I'd tried and tried to get his attention. I'd done everything humanly possible to run with the Shifters. That took a lot for a Normal male. But every breathable moment had to be invested in the effort if the fool was an even shorter Normal female. So, I, said fool, wasted my youth and wound up with a reputation that precedes me. No problem. I'd rather be a moron left alone than forced to mate a big hairy Wolf cock I had no intention of fucking because the Shifter wouldn't take no for an answer.

  Marine halted at the bottommost step and sighed a quick snort that collapsed his ribcage between my legs.

  Just enough change in my reality to knock me out of my internal diatribe.

  The loathsome Augustus did this to me. Made my thoughts wander and obsess. August should have just forced Hostillian to mate me when I was eighteen. Hell, my cousin knew who I loved. Rather pined over. Aren't females rare? Shouldn't my needs have been met?

  And where am I now? The cuckoo. Obsessing at some teen's doorstep in the middle of BFE.

  I am so ridiculous. Why can't I forget the Big Bad Beast? And since when did the world go the way a person planned, AEI? I just needed to suck up the loss and move on. Deliver the bloody ammo, throw down my bedroll, and haul my tail out of here at sunrise. I threw a heel to the jarring hard-packed forest floor and struggled with an unbelievably heavy saddlebag of bullets.

  Half. This is only half the load. Which had to weigh a hundred pounds. How did Marine manage hauling me, my gear, and two packs of ammo? Using both arms to support the dead weight, I climbed the squawking steps and kicked the solid unyielding door.

  Okay. Kicking is not the most neighborly way to pound on someone's door. But my hands are full. And nobody knows I am Josie. Yet. The male who opened the door would just see a female and undoubtedly get all sweet and gentle. I'll just have to pretend to be as amiable.

  ****

  Hostillian froze in his footsteps. The long chocolate-brown ponytail dangling down the back of the only female who ever talked back, argued, got in my face from well over a foot beneath my nose lurks on my doorstep, he noted, biting back a growl. Josie. What in the Gods-be-damned hell is she doing at my outpost?

  Jaguar hustled toward her back.

  Her stallion swung his head around to size up the teenager.

  She turned at the horse's declaration of an approaching person.

  Without Shifter senses, she didn't detect me where I stood near a gnarled tree trunk cloaked in shadow. All the better. Her arrival wouldn't go over well. The teens would be on edge with a female afoot. If I sent them out to keep them busy, I'd be alone with her. No Gods-be-damned way. Wolf isn't going to sit by and watch a pack of scraggly pups sniff and lick at who he fancies his female.

  Over my maggot-eaten carcass.

  Gods-damn the stu
pid thought. She isn't mine. Won't be mine. There's no way in hell I'd mate the only woman who made my Wolf froth at the mouth with lust like a rabid creature. Nothing makes my Wolf uncontrollable. Except her.

  Jaguar strode up the steps, past her, towering over her shorter female form, and shoved the door wide.

  But they stood there. Talking!

  Mine, Wolf snarled.

  She isn't yours and will never be yours. Get over the fantasy.

  Wolf growled and clawed frantically at the underside of my ribcage.

  Futilely. I'd mastered caging the beast years ago. When that little female started acting like a warrior at thirteen and turned on me. Defied me in front of the other Shifters. The fool. She was as dangerous as nitroglycerin. Volatile. Too risky to mate. She'd get herself killed because she barked up all the wrong trees. Her mate would never live a peaceful moment. I certainly don't want to mate her. And the last stupid thing I'd do now is egg on Wolf's need to know what Jaguar and Josie said to one another by pulling Wolf into my ears to eavesdrop.