Unleashed By The Shifter

by Juniper Hart

  Eddy kept giving her advice, but she wasn’t quite registering it. Everything was happening in slow motion, and she had a hard time making sense of Eddy’s words.

  “You’re going into shock,” she heard him say. “Pay attention to my voice!”

  Cara watched as Adrianna punched Reuben in the face, which only made him angrier. His form shifted into a werewolf again. He was only able to hold his werewolf form for about ten seconds at a time, but in those seconds, Reuben could do a lot of damage. He grabbed Adrianna’s throat and dragged her to the swimming pool, dunking her head underwater. Adrianna had been unarmed at some point. Cara wasn’t sure when, but she couldn’t focus because the pain from her stab wound was starting to kick in.

  “Wait!” she heard herself say. Adrianna’s legs were flailing as she tried to break free, but Reuben was entirely too strong in his werewolf form. There was no way she could break free.

  “Don’t kill her,” managed Cara.

  “You need to be quiet and stop exerting yourself,” Eddy said. “Just listen to me. Focus on me. You’ve been badly injured. I know how to treat wounds like this. You’re just going to need to trust me.”

  Cara saw Adrianna’s legs go limp. Her hands rolled to her sides listlessly into the pool. Reuben wasn’t done. He kept holding her underwater for twenty more seconds before tossing her back towards the house. Her limp frame busted through the glass door. She didn’t move again.

  Cara tried to stay conscious, but her world quickly became blurry and darkness closed in from all sides.

  “No!” Eddy yelled. “Stay with me! Stay with—”

  And with that, her world went dark.

  Chapter 9

  Cara’s nightmares were horrific, piecing together the violence and terror she had witnessed since meeting Reuben. She couldn’t break free. At times, she knew she was dreaming, but in the next moment, the nightmares seemed entirely real.

  Cara began to pass in and out of reality. When she opened her eyes the first time, Reuben and Eddy were yelling at each other. The small part of her brain that was functioning figured they were arguing about something. She tried to tune in to hear what they were saying.

  Reuben gestured to her, and both men ran to her side. She appeared to be on a couch in Eddy’s home. She moved her hands to where the knife had pierced her side. She couldn’t feel it. It felt like bandages had covered it up. One stabbing pain later, she pulled her hands away.

  Reuben screamed, “She needs a hospital! Look at her! I can’t lose her, Eddy! You don’t understand.”

  “We can’t take her to a hospital!” Eddy replied fiercely. “You put her in there and Ezekiel will find her within an hour. Trust me, Reuben, I can do more than any hospital.”

  She zoned back out. When she came to again, her body was jolting around. She tried to move and felt a stabbing pain in her side.

  “Reuben…” she muttered. “Reuben, where are you?”

  Cara was lying in the backseat of a car she didn’t recognize. When she turned her head, she saw Reuben driving and his frame was rippling with musculature like when he tried to hold in rage.

  “I’m telling you, the cops didn’t see us,” Reuben barked.

  Eddy was seated next to Cara.

  “She’s awake!” he called to Reuben.

  Eddy’s hands were hovering over her injured side with a green energy coming from his palm to the wound.

  “Cara, can you hear me?” He swore. “I don’t think she can hear me.”

  “How’s the wound healing?” Reuben asked.

  Cara saw treetops passing by the window.

  “Is she healing?”

  “Yes,” Eddy said. “She’s healing. Slowly. Her body’s fighting me, but she’s going to be fine. I think.”

  “Eddy, please try harder. Don’t let her die,” Reuben demanded, obviously panicked.

  “I’m doing the best I can, Reuben,” answered Eddy, who remained calmed.

  Cara blacked out again.

  When Cara opened her eyes, she guessed it must have been hours later. She was no longer in a car. Instead, she was lying on a bed in a room that she didn’t recognize. Reuben was sitting beside her, stroking her head. He wasn’t looking at her. He was staring off at the blank wall of what she could only assume was a hotel. But when she moved, she didn’t instantly wince from the cut in her side. In fact, she almost felt… fine except for exhaustion.

  “Where are we?” Cara said.

  Her lips were dry. She felt like she’d attempted to eat sandpaper while unconscious.

  Reuben looked down at her and grinned.

  “Cara! You’re awake!” He leaned down to kiss her forehead. “How do you feel?”

  She tried to sit up. He helped her gently.

  “I don’t know how, but I feel surprisingly good. Almost healthy.”

  She touched the spot on her side where the knife had been. Someone had ripped the cloth away from the spot and bandaged it. It was tight, but not too tight. Well done. She’d spent a little time studying to be a paramedic before realizing she had no stomach for it. She recognized a good wrap when she saw one. She couldn’t even feel the incision. It was like it had simply gone away.

  “Eddy fixed you up,” he told her. “He wasn’t sure if he could because you were hurt pretty bad.”

  She blinked. “How?”

  “He’s a mage,” Reuben said. “That’s how he met my father. When my mother gave birth to me, we both nearly died. Eddy saved us both. That’s why he’s my godfather.” Reuben paused. “Now he’s saved you.”

  Cara touched the bandage again.

  “So I’m completely healed? How does that work?”

  “It’s enchantment,” he replied. “Ask him when he comes back.”

  “Eddy’s here with us?”

  “Of course,” he said. “You, Eddy, Adrianna, and I escaped. Eddy and I had a hard time getting you in here without people asking questions.”

  Part of her wondered how that had happened. It didn’t make sense. If they’d just wandered into the front desk with an unconscious, half-dead woman, something told her that the hotel wouldn’t be too eager to offer a room.

  “Through the window,” Reuben answered, without Cara having to ask. “Listen, you still need rest. Magic healing takes a lot out of people. You were almost dead.”

  “I don’t feel like I was almost dead.”

  She blinked, trying to wake up. Then she registered what Reuben had said moments earlier.

  “You said Adrianna’s here with us? Why on earth did you bring her? I thought she was dead? And let’s not forget the fact that she was trying to kill us! And she escaped? We were trying to escape from her!”

  “Of course she’s alive,” Reuben said, giving her a funny look. “Why would I bring a dead woman along?”

  “I thought I saw you drown her to death.”

  “Into unconsciousness. I wanted to kill her...”

  Reuben grabbed Cara’s hand and squeezed it, thinking about what Adrianna had done to her.

  Cara pulled her hand away, sternly asking, “You brought along a woman who tried to kill you and nearly killed me? Why? What were you thinking?”

  “I know it sounds crazy. We brought her because she knows where Ezekiel is. Eddy’s house is destroyed and there were cops everywhere. It was only a matter of time before more of Ezekiel’s men were alerted to our location. And Eddy had a point – we need to go on the offensive. Otherwise we’re just sitting around, waiting for him to send any number of bounty hunters our way.”

  With that, Reuben began to once again stroke her hair, helping calm her emotions. “Go back to sleep. You might not feel like you need it, but trust me—this isn’t the first magic healing I’ve seen. You need rest.”

  She didn’t want to rest. She wanted to get up, find Eddy, and thank him. She wanted to go celebrate being alive. Based on the sun outside, she’d been unconscious a long time. It was nearly dusk, but she’d been stabbed early in the morning.

  W
ait.

  She’d been stabbed.

  Somehow she was gleaning right over that like it was no big deal. She, meek Cara Stone, had managed to get stabbed. Not just that, but she’d been stabbed by an assassin that was Reuben’s former lover. Adrianna had a pet name for him, Reubs, which made Cara cringe. They would certainly have been a power couple. But she decided she didn’t care. Their romance was over. After all, Reuben had choked Adrianna into unconsciousness after she stabbed his current lover. That’s a pretty good indication that a relationship isn’t working out.

  Cara started to drift back into sleep, but she fought it. Somehow, using wizardry, Eddy had been able to drag her back from death’s doorstep, but that kind of thing couldn’t be too easy on a person. She didn’t know. All of it was just too new to her. Her mind relaxed, as she decided not to try to make sense of it all. Sleep grabbed her and dragged her down as soon as she let her eyes close.

  ***

  The moonlight peeked through the curtains, and Cara began to stir. It was sometime during the middle of the night. Reuben had fallen asleep next to her. It looked like he’d tried to stay awake as he had a magazine in his hands that he must have been reading. Exhaustion took its hold on him too.

  Eddy wasn’t sleeping. He was staring out the window thoughtfully. Cara’s eyes dragged across the room and she noticed Adrianna sitting on a chair by the desk. How had Cara failed to notice that they were in the room when she last woke?

  Adrianna’s arms were bound with a glowing rope. Eddy’s magic maybe? Adrianna noticed Cara staring at her and curled her lip in a wicked snarl. The assassin’s golden eyes glowed in the darkish environment.

  “Eddy,” Cara whispered to avoid waking Reuben.

  Eddy turned from the wall. He gave her a gentle, tired smile.

  “You’re awake.”

  “Thank you for saving my life,” she told him. “I don’t understand how you did it, but thank you.”

  He came over to her, staying out of reach of Adrianna. Even though Adrianna was bound, Cara wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up finding a way to escape.

  “Reuben is my family, and now that you’re his mate, you’re my family too. Families watch out for each other, right?”

  Cara’s eyes welled up with tears. It had been years since she had been part of a family.

  Adrianna tried to say something, but only muffled noise came out. Cara looked at Eddy with a questioning look.

  “It’s an invisible gag.”

  Eddy sighed, and looked over at Adrianna. “You know we can’t take that off yet. You can breathe, can’t you?”

  She stared him down silently. It was like watching a lion observe a wounded antelope from afar.

  “I can see you’re fine,” he said. “You’re lucky Reuben didn’t rip you up for stabbing our girl here.”

  Our girl? Warmth washed through Cara, once again feeling that she belonged. Adrianna tried to say something else. Her eyes were narrowed in anger. Cara got the feeling she wasn’t the kind of person that lost very often. It was driving her nuts to be helpless.

  Eddy ignored Adrianna and focused back on Cara, still speaking quietly to avoid waking up Reuben.

  “Why’d you want to save her? She stabbed you and you started muttering ‘Don’t kill her, don’t kill her.’”

  Cara blushed, unsure of why she was feeling embarrassed.

  “I’m not sure. I just…” she shrugged. “You know what? I actually don’t know. I wasn’t in my right frame of mind.”

  Eddy gave her a mischievous little smirk. Cara liked him even more. He had a funny spark about him that most people didn’t have. Reuben had a spark, but it was entirely different—more dangerous, more intimidating. Eddy seemed just plain kind like the type who’d organize a church picnic.

  “Am I hearing you right? You’re saying you would have been fine with Reuben killing her if you’d been in your right mind?”

  Cara glanced over at Adrianna. All she could focus on were those golden eyes that were burning with rage.

  “I don’t know. If you would have asked me two weeks ago, I would have never imagined that I would want someone dead. It’s all so confusing.”

  “Well, don’t let what’s happened change you. You’re too nice. Reuben needs your gentle nature to balance him. He’s mean enough for the two of you.”

  Cara smiled. She looked over at Reuben. His chest was raising and lowering with deep, heavy breaths. He looked so peaceful.

  Cara leaned back and snuggled with his muscular frame. He stirred for a moment, realized she was okay, and nuzzled up against her lovingly.

  Eddy moved on to the other bed while Adrianna probably thought of how great it would be to kill everyone in the room as violently as possible. Cara had no doubt about it—she’d made another enemy.

  ***

  Cara felt like it was Christmas morning—part nervous, part excited. Except the nervous part wasn’t about wondering if Santa had brought what she’d asked for, it was whether they were signing a death warrant by going on the offensive against Ezekiel. The part of her that was excited? She couldn’t explain it. She’d never been much of a fighter. She’d always come up with better ways—peaceful ways—to solve conflicts. But there was some primal part of her that was actually tingling with excitement at the possibility of not running from a problem, but taking it on face-to-face. She’d never encountered a scenario where it simply wouldn’t get better with time. People forgive and forget. It’s a thing. Of course, she’d never been in a situation where someone wanted her dead either.

  But with Ezekiel, it was a different story. She had no doubt that the vampire would devote all his resources to chasing them. It seemed that Reuben had a rather impressive reputation as a man that was hard to kill. They had a little time, or so they hoped, before others would be coming for them soon.

  Adrianna had been the first one to answer the call, but Cara knew that other bounty hunters would be joining the cause for what she could only assume was a large amount of money on their little triumvirate.

  Cara had been stabbed. She’d seen Reuben get shot. She’d seen him get his fingers lopped off like sausages at a butcher house. She used to consider it shocking whenever she stubbed her toe against the table on the way to make coffee. But now that seemed commonplace. She’d only been on the enchanted road for, what, a week? But she felt, for the first time in her life, that it was where she belonged. She was never meant to have a 9-to-5 job, sitting behind a desk, and working for someone she hated for just above minimum wage. She wasn’t destined to be an author. She wasn’t even destined to follow up on her computer science training, which had just been a job in the first place—not a passion.

  However, the most important part of her journey so far was that she’d fallen in love.

  With a werewolf.

  She let that sink in. A werewolf.

  Cara knew she’d see some frightening things in the days to come. All the injuries and phenomenal experiences so far in her little adventure had come from them purposefully avoiding conflict. Now, they were seeking it out.

  Reuben had taught Cara some basic fighting skills when they were on the road to Texas, and tried to prepare her for other kinds of enchanted beings she might encounter.

  But now, Cara would have to step up her game. She had to be able to defend herself, be it with weapons or knowledge of what to do in a hand-to-hand confrontation. She’d need to learn weaknesses, strengths, and how to survive in the enchanted world that was very hostile to humans.

  She could see Adrianna staring daggers at her from across the room. Cara snuggled up closer to Reuben and winked. Adrianna’s rage only seemed to intensify. Cara knew she shouldn’t instigate Adrianna, but she couldn’t help it. Adrianna had tried to kill her.

  It wouldn’t be easy to go on the offensive against Ezekiel and his clan. She wasn’t even sure they could pull it off. What did they have going for them? A single werewolf, a mage, and a human. Against what? A clan of vampires and who knows what el
se? Going in, Cara felt like she was the heroine in her own book or starring in a bad action movie. But it wasn’t an action movie. It was real life. There was a real possibility that some—if not all—of them might not make it.

  But that was tomorrow. She would worry about how they could actually start to pull it off the next day, when the sun rose and presented a new challenge and a new adventure for her and her little group of ragtag heroes.

  She would worry about it then. Until that time came, until the sun drifted in through the hotel room curtains, she was simply a woman next to a man she loved. She snuggled up against him, feeling his musculature bulge as he drew her in close. She would enjoy the moments that she had with him. Tomorrow might bring destruction. It might bring chaos. It might even bring death.

  But right then, for that one moment, she was determined to enjoy the calm before the storm.

  ***

  THE END

  Werewolf Reunion

  Enchanted Werewolf – Book Three

  By: Alexis Davie

  Chapter 1

  It didn’t take long for Cara to get over being stabbed.

  For some reason, she’d expected to have a great deal of trouble getting over the memory of having someone stab a knife into her side. It was an experience unlike any other and one she never wanted to have again.

  Eddy, the mage, had healed her using his magic powers as she slept from being in shock. While dreaming, all she could think about was seeing the knife fly from Adrianna’s hands in painfully slow motion.

  The military-grade knife, a blade small enough to carry around but large enough to do some serious damage, flipped through the air towards her side. In her dream, she tried to dodge the blade. But eventually, no matter how much she tried to duck away, the steel found her. The tip touched her side exactly like it had when Adrianna had chucked it at her. Apparently, Adrianna’s aim had been just a tad off. Cara was betting she was shooting for Cara’s heart, but she was about six inches off, which equated to way the heck better than Cara could do in the same scenario.