Flame

by Ophelia Sexton

  Most modern shifter lineages had evolved to be able to shift quickly and painlessly between their human and animal shapes.

  But sabertooth shifters were an ancient lineage, and shifting took longer, with the bonus that it hurt like hell as muscles and bones rearranged themselves.

  Cassie loathed the process of shifting, though she liked the freedom that her four paws gave her once the ordeal was over.

  A familiar prickle ran over her skin from her scalp to her heels. The shift was beginning.

  Cassie took a deep breath, steeling herself for what came next. She silently urged her cat to hurry. She couldn't afford to let Katzenberg and Tigredientes catch her mid-shift, when she'd be completely helpless.

  They would kill Thor without a second thought, no matter what they were promising now. He was an outsider, and he'd just been caught in a compromising situation with the female shifter that Baldwin thought he owned.

  Oh God, Thor. I'm so sorry for letting you get yourself mixed up in this.

  It was her last coherent thought before the shift rolled over her and her world shrank to the white-hot agony consuming her.

  * * *

  "Let us in, and we'll explain everything," the first man wheedled.

  Thor snorted. "You must think I'm stupid. Now, for the last time, go the fuck away."

  He cast a worried eye down at the floor next to the bed, where Cassie was panting and whimpering softly in pain. Alternately curled into a tight ball and arched in agonized spasms on the bedroom carpet, she no longer looked human as her shift proceeded with excruciating slowness.

  Is this what shapeshifting is like? It looks really uncomfortable.

  Thor tried to remember what it had felt like and encountered the familiar, frustrating blank wall in his memory.

  Intense curiosity to discover what kind of shifter she might be warred with anger that she was hurting right now because of him.

  Because he was injured and fucking useless.

  Cassie was his, damn it, and he had to find a way to keep her safe.

  He had smelled the sharp tang of her fear when the pounding on their door started a few minutes ago. And yet she hadn't hesitated to move into action, trying to protect him.

  Deep inside him, something big and fierce stirred. The presence rose like the tide, filling the empty space that had gaped inside his soul since waking up without his memory.

  Thor's racing thoughts were diverted when the second man spoke up.

  "Oh, I don't think so, mister," he drawled, his Texan accent stronger than before. "Ms. Long's car is parked right outside. We know she's in there with you. Now, open up before we're forced to break down this door."

  "Not so fast," Thor said, desperately stalling for time. "Why do you want this Cassandra person, anyway? What's she done to you?"

  "Her daddy arranged for her to marry our boss, so that she'd be taken care of properly," said the first man. "She ran away the day before the wedding 'cause she's got issues, man. Serious issues. Her head's not right. We're only trying to help her, honest!"

  Thor remembered those long, savagely inflicted scars across Cassie's back and shoulders and snarled in the direction of the door.

  "Fuck you," Thor said loudly.

  "Fine," he heard the first man say eagerly to the other. "Let the asshole have it his way."

  In the next moment, the front door splintered, and two big men came charging into the living room. Both of them reeked of enraged feline.

  With a sick lurch, Thor saw that they both wore swords belted at their sides, and each carried a thick club. He realized that they had intended to beat Cassie into submission from the very beginning.

  His broken bones twinged in sympathy as red hazed his vision. Not on my watch, they won't.

  The blond-haired thug of the pair stopped just inside the living room. Thor saw him take a deep sniff. "Hey, she's shacked up with a shifter."

  His partner, a broad-shouldered Hispanic man who wore his black hair in a military-style buzz cut, slapped his cudgel against his palm. It made a meaty sound.

  "Bring it on," he said, grinning. "It's been a while since I had a good fight."

  Out of the corner of his eye, Thor saw a huge cat rise shakily to its feet next to the bed. It stood for a second, swaying, as if disoriented from the shift.

  Thor stared in wonder and appreciation at Cassie's other form.

  She was big. Much bigger than a cougar. Bigger even than a fully grown lion. Her tawny fur was thick and shaggy, with faint gray spots and stripes, and the short ruff around her neck and throat was light brown tipped with gold, like her hair.

  She was utterly magnificent, but what caught Thor's attention was the pair of impossibly long, wickedly sharp fangs that descended from her upper jaw.

  Cassie…his sweet, shy, Cassie…was a sabertooth cat, a huge predator from another age.

  Thor wondered if his old self had known such marvels existed in the shifter world. His new self, stripped of its memories, could only marvel at the sight.

  He reached out, and she nudged his hand with her head, just like a cat. He sank his fingers into the thick, soft fur that covered her skull, and caressed her tufted ears.

  "You're magnificent," he breathed.

  His words, soft as they were, were enough to draw the attention of the men in the other room.

  "Found 'em!"

  "Go!" Thor urged her, trying to push her towards the bedroom window. She was big enough to crash through the glass with ease, and with her thick fur, the shards probably wouldn't even cut her. "Get out of here!"

  "In there!" shouted the blond.

  Instead of doing the smart thing and running for her life, Cassie opened her jaws and roared her defiance.

  The sound filled the room like a palpable cloud, pressing on Thor's eardrums. She was defending him!

  "Cassie, NO!" he shouted as he saw her crouch, every muscle tense.

  "Here kitty-kitty-kit—" She leapt for the bedroom doorway, just as it framed a big blond man, and bowled him over.

  Thor saw the man go down under Cassie's massive paws and held his breath as her wickedly curved fangs dipped towards her opponent's throat.

  And instant later, he heard the sickening impact of the Hispanic man's cudgel as it swept down and stuck Cassie's skull with a sickening impact. "Oh no you don't! Bad kitty!"

  Momentarily dazed by the blow, she collapsed sideways onto the carpet, then rolled to her feet, shaking her head and snarling.

  Red rage hazed Thor's vision at the sight, and he felt something large and angry stir inside him.

  His skin prickled ominously. Instinctively, he sat up and began to tear at the Velcro straps that fastened his casts, desperate to free himself from their constriction.

  Cursing, the blond man scrambled to his feet. His face twisted in rage, he raised his arm and aimed a blow at Cassie's face.

  Thor's breath caught as she dodged it—barely. He finished freeing his leg and turned his attention to the cast on his arm. His cracked ribs had finally healed enough to just feel bruised, but he knew his fractures were going to be a problem no matter what shape he took.

  Waves of dizziness rolled over him as the prickling across his skin intensified. He felt a deep growl bubbling up from his throat and prayed that these were signs that he was about to shift.

  And that when he did shift, please God, let his other form be something able to put up a decent fight against the two shifters menacing them.

  "Awww, look at the big bad kitty," the Hispanic man taunted Cassie. "Fraidy-Cat wanna play?"

  He darted in and hit her across one foreleg, clearly looking to cripple her.

  Cassie snarled and swiped at him with her paw. He hopped nimbly backwards, and her long ivory claws only snagged on his shirt. It tore with the shriek of tortured fabric.

  Meanwhile, the blond man aimed at her other foreleg and swung his club like a baseball bat.

  The great sabertooth yowled in agony and Thor saw Cassie's right leg collaps
e under the force of the blow.

  She regained her feet in an instant and turned on her tormentor, but Thor could barely breathe with the rage that tightened his chest and hammered through his pulse.

  They hurt her! I'm going to kill them both.

  The prickling sensation running over Thor's body had become more intense now.

  Come on, he willed. Come on. Faster!

  "It's that all you've got, Fraidy-Cat?" sneered the blond man.

  Both men closed in on her. They were both in human shape but with enhanced shifter speed and strength, and they were utterly fearless. Each one took turns inflicting hard strikes on her while her attention was on the other.

  And time and again, despite her superior mass and her claws and teeth, Cassie missed her chance to strike a killing blow.

  It was a battle she couldn't win fighting purely defensively, and Thor knew it. He wondered whether Cassie had realized it yet.

  Despite her fearsome appearance, she was clearly not a killer…unlike the two shifters attacking her.

  The next few moments passed in a blur as the shift finally took hold of Thor, sending spears of agony down his injured arm and leg.

  He clenched his jaw, trying to not make a sound. Difficult as it was, he needed for the two strangers' attention to remain focused on Cassie for the next thirty seconds while his muscles and bones quickly rearranged themselves.

  The two shifters circled her with expert teamwork, taunting her and distracting her so that one or the other could slip past her guard to land a blow. It was a brutally effective strategy.

  The bed creaked under Thor's weight as he completed his shift. The world sharpened around him as his enhanced senses came fully into play.

  For the first time since his accident, he felt centered and whole again.

  Thor glanced down at himself and saw a thick muscled foreleg covered with glossy dark brown fur. It ended in a gigantic paw tipped with long, shining black claws.

  Oh, yeah. That'll do. He felt his lips curl back from his teeth in an ursine smile. Thank God I didn't shift into a giant bunny rabbit.

  And just in time. Working in unison, both male shifters brought their clubs down on Cassie's shoulders, sending her crashing face-first into the carpet.

  Thor opened his jaws and roared as he launched himself off the bed. He ignored the red-hot stab of pain in his right rear leg as he dove through the bedroom doorway to Cassie's aid.

  "Shit!" The two shifters barely had time to turn their heads in the direction of the sound before Thor was on them.

  He swung his left paw at the blond shifter who was standing nearest to him and sent him flying across the living room.

  The dark-haired man snarled and took a swing at Thor's face with his club. Fearless…but utterly futile. Thor caught the heavy length of rubber-coated metal between his teeth and ripped it out of his opponent's hand.

  An instant later, he smashed the dark-haired man to the floor and pinned him down. The man's expression finally lost its cockiness as he sprawled, helpless, and saw Thor's snarling muzzle above him.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cassie regain her feet. She shook herself and seemed uninjured.

  The big cat padded slowly over to Thor's side. He felt her rub her furred cheek against his muzzle and under his chin. A purr vibrated through his jaw.

  Then she turned and bounded over to the living room wall, which was dented. She stood over the motionless body of the blond shifter sprawled against the baseboard, and batted at him inquisitively with one huge paw. The shifter didn't stir.

  She looked back at Thor with luminous golden eyes, and he could read the question in her glance. What now?

  Thor glared down at the shifter he was holding captive. His bear half desperately wanted to kill the dark-haired man for daring to terrorize and hit Cassie.

  His human half was tempted too, but murder was a messy business. And Thor was a firefighter and first responder down to his core.

  He saved lives. He didn't take them.

  Still, the world would probably be better off without these two thugs running around and terrorizing innocent women…

  He was still torn between his options when a new voice barked from the doorway.

  "Police! Hold it right there!"

  Chapter 10 – Unfinished Business

  Thor froze. In his animal shape, it was highly likely that an Ordinary police officer would shoot first and ask questions later. Especially since he and Cassie were crouched over opponents who were still in human shape.

  Then a breeze blew the police officer's scent into the suite, and Thor realized that the officer was a coyote shifter.

  He was an older man, extremely fit, with weathered Native American features and a no-nonsense air.

  Thor relaxed marginally. But he didn't release his captive.

  "Hey!" the dark-haired man said indignantly.

  He grabbed Thor's paw and strained to push it off his chest. In response, Thor leaned in a fraction, feeling the other shifter's ribs compress slightly under the added weight.

  "Officer, help me! This bear just attacked me for no reason!" the man gasped.

  "Is that so?" the officer asked, sounding skeptical.

  He looked pointedly at the splintered doorframe.

  "You see, I'm here because the Sheriff's Office received a call from the manager. She reported seeing two men, one Caucasian blond and one dark-haired Hispanic, trying to force their way inside this room."

  "We only wanted to talk!" Thor's captive insisted.

  "Uh-huh." The officer didn't sound convinced. "So which one of you clowns broke the door down?"

  "They—" the Hispanic man wheezed.

  Liar! Thor applied fractionally more pressure to the man's chest.

  The officer raised his hand. "Don't bother trying to lie to me, son." His voice was stern. "My bullshit detector is finely tuned."

  His dark gaze studied Thor and Cassie in turn. Thor saw the man's brows shoot up in surprise as he spotted Cassie's enormous fangs.

  The policeman pursed his lips in a low whistle. "Well, I'll be. I'd heard that there were a few surviving sabertooth clans down south, but I never thought I'd meet one."

  The big cat inclined her head.

  "Now, why don't you two go and shift back to your human skins," the officer said to Thor and Cassie. "Then we'll get this sorted out."

  Neither Cassie nor Thor moved, unwilling to leave their prisoners.

  The officer sighed. "No one's going anywhere until I get some answers, I promise," he said firmly. He pointed at the bedroom. "Now, go."

  Thor growled one last time at his captive, then lifted his paw.

  Cassie huffed her displeasure but followed Thor into the bedroom.

  Now that the excitement was over, he became aware that his injured arm and leg were both very unhappy with him for shifting.

  He wasn't looking forward to shifting again. Cassie, who had padded over the side of the bed where she had left her pajamas and underwear, didn't look any happier.

  Thor's bear didn't want to release control at first. Finally, Thor managed to persuade it to step back with the promise that their two attackers would pay for what they'd done to Cassie.

  Shifting back to human hurt every bit as badly as Thor had thought it might.

  When it was over, he sat naked on the carpet at the food of the bed, panting. It felt like red-hot bands of pain were tightening over the site of each fracture.

  Cassie took longer to return to her human shape, and her shift looked even more painful than Thor's had been. When it was over, she lay curled in a fetal position, shuddering and panting, her skin shining with sweat.

  Thor saw the reddened, bruised patches where her two attackers had landed blows, and felt his bear try to surge back into control.

  He clenched his jaw and concentrated on wrestling his other half back down.

  By the time he was sure he wasn't going to shift back to his bear-shape, Cassie had wobbled to her feet and
was slowly pulling on her rumpled pajamas.

  She scooped up Thor's discarded casts and knelt beside him.

  "You're a bear," she said with wonder in her voice. "I've never met a bear shifter before. No wonder I couldn't recognize your scent!"

  "And you were amazing and fearless," Thor responded. He grinned. "I didn't think you'd be so fluffy. I love the combination of cute and deadly."

  "The deadly part's a lie," she confessed. "Those two guys were totally kicking my ass until you jumped in."

  Thor noticed that her hands were still shaking as she leaned over him and gently put the cast on his arm. Miraculously, the hot throb of pain in his forearm began to subside at her touch.

  She sighed. "I'm such a pathetic excuse for a sabertooth. I've never won a challenge duel in my entire life."

  "And that makes you the bravest person I've ever met, for leaping to my defense," Thor said, with complete sincerity. "Thank you, Cassie. That's the second time in three days you've saved my sorry ass."

  Cassie shook her head. "But I didn't—" she began.

  "And lucky for you, I'm looking for a lover, not a fighter," he interrupted in a joking tone.

  That won him a shy smile. "I'm better at that part. I think."

  He leaned forward and captured her mouth in a brief, gentle kiss. "No complaints here. You're beautiful and brave, and I don't want to hear you call me a liar."

  Cassie's face went dark pink under her golden tan, and she looked down, busying herself with his cast.

  "I'm really sorry for lying to you about being a cougar," she said a short time later, as she tightened the straps and fastened the Velcro.

  Thor put his good arm around her shoulders and breathed in her sweet scent.

  She was trembling, a slight, continuous tremor. But she didn't smell scared, so he figured it was probably just an aftereffect of two shifts in such a short space of time.

  "I'm not sure I would have believed you if you'd told me the truth," he confessed. "Hey, are you hurt? Those guys out there were really whaling on you."

  She rolled her bruised shoulders cautiously. "Nothing's broken," she reported. "But I'm probably going to have to sleep on my stomach tonight."

  "Yeah, my leg and arm aren't too happy with me right now either," Thor admitted.