CORAM

by Bonnie Burrows

  “Sir, yes Sir!” they yelled in unison.

  “Now Cambria here, is going to show you how it’s done.”

  Cambria stood completely still, the words taking a moment to sink in. Did he really just put her on the spot like that?

  Tom stepped in close, “You can do this. I think the thing you were missing with Gary was the pressure. I know you’re going to pass with flying colors this time. I’ve watched you run this course time and time again, even in the pouring rain. Take your time, breathe, and just do it!”

  Without another word, he walked away to climb on the perch in the middle of the field.

  Cambria stretched her legs out, cursing Tom under her breath and trying to remain calm. She wasn’t warmed up yet and she wasn’t prepared to test in front of so many. What if she failed?

  She pushed the thought back and walked to the start line, mentally preparing herself for the task at hand and clearing her mind of all other thoughts. She was going to pass this time. Everyone was watching, waiting for her to fail.

  She nodded her head that she was ready and Tom fired the starter pistol. Cambria took off, running through the tires arranged on the ground with ease and heading for the next obstacle. She was focused, thinking only of the next, immediate obstacle in her path.

  When she vaulted over the wall and her feet hit the ground, she knew that this was her fastest time and cleanest round so far. But she was almost to the final obstacle. She pushed thoughts of the rifle challenge out of her head and ran through the water hazard.

  Coming up on the final challenge, Cambria took a moment to breathe before starting. The world around her dropped away, so that it was just her, the rifled and her target in the distance. She put the rifle together, jamming the magazine in and stretching out on her belly.

  She lined up the sights, careful to keep her trigger finger still while she waited for the scope to line to. She checked the wind speed and adjusted accordingly. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the trigger on the exhale, the motion smooth and unhurried. The bullet hit dead-center, tearing a large hole in the chest of the paper target stapled to a thin, wooden board.

  She disassembled the gun and laid it back on its station neatly before running to the finish line. Bent double, she slowly caught her breath, the raucous applause from the young recruits drowning out the sound of her pounding heart in her ears.

  Tom climbed down from the perch and ran to her. He showed her the stopwatch and Cambria was floored. Not only had she completed the course with ample time to spare, but she’d beaten the previous record for fastest time.

  Turning towards the men gathered, Tom smiled. “Anyone else want to show us how it is done, or do the rest of you weaklings think you might need a lot more work?”

  No one answered him. Instead they all went towards the course, each man working even harder on the task than before. A girl had just made them all look foolish in under five minutes. If they were going to prove they were worthy, they had a lot of work to do.

  Tom left the group to walk Cambria towards the mess hall before stopping her just around the corner of the building. She was muddy and sweaty, still breathing hard but beaming with pride at her accomplishment. She was ahead of him, and he grabbed her hand to stop her.

  She turned towards him and he shoved her almost violently against the wall, kissing her hungrily and running his hands down her shoulders and over her pert breasts. His tongue dipped and dived into her mouth, and Cambria was overwhelmed by the heat of him, of his body pressed so forcefully against hers. She kissed him back, tentatively, trying to forget that they were standing in the open and in full view of anyone who passed by.

  Tom broke the kiss off, his hands lingering on her breasts for a moment before he turned abruptly and walked away. She was still leaning against the wall, using the solid building to hold her up as her legs shook beneath her. She watched him walk away, struck by the way his body moved as he did. Everything about him oozed sexy, and Cambria was overcome by the thought of their bodies, locked in love-making.

  He looked back at her over his shoulder and winked at her. Her heart raced inside her chest, waiting for him to look back again, but he didn’t. He jogged easily back towards the course and his job for the morning.

  Cambria turned, intent on getting out of her filthy clothes and getting something to eat for breakfast. In her haste to get the morning over with, she’d forgotten all about food. But now, she was suddenly starving.

  She went into the main cabin, taking her muddy boots off before entering and heading straight for her room. Low murmurs of conversation floated down the hall from the open office door and Cambria stopped abruptly. The door was opened wide enough that whoever was inside would see her pass by, and it sounded like the conversation was private. She was about to turn around and go back out the door when she heard Gary say something that caught her attention.

  “Did you get the last of those fools?”

  “Yes. Aldrich is dead. He died the same as the others, alone and poisoned. The poison is untraceable, in and out of the body quickly. The coroner will list him as dying of old age like the other elders.”

  “Good riddance, filthy beasts.”

  “Yes. When he’s found I expect the tenuous hold he had on the human politicians to end immediately. It won’t be long before shifters are being rounded up by the thousands and shot in the streets. Once they realize their place in the world and bow down before the humans, things will get easier for them.”

  “But many will fight it to the death,” Gary sounded concerned.

  “Let them. The fewer there are the better. And now that they’re barred from mating with human women, their numbers will dwindle even further.”

  “What about Sable and his shifter-loving bride?” Gary nearly snarled when he talked about the woman, and Cambria couldn’t help but wonder about her.

  What would lead a human woman to breed with a shifter? she wondered. But she knew there was no answer to that. So many had been brainwashed to think that shifters were good, kind people; as normal as any other human walking on the street. But Cambria knew that couldn’t be further from the truth, and she was looking forward to the day when the world opened its eyes to the plague that was the shifter population.

  “We’ll flush them out whatever way we can. If we can kill Egan and the little brat too, that would be even better. Every day their bastard child is allowed to live, it gets stronger and more dangerous.”

  “They could be breeding again right now,” Gary offered.

  “Exactly. We can’t have women like Olivia bringing filthy mixed brats into this world. Better to kill the breeder and her spawn.”

  “But how will we find them?”

  “Brave Sable left Olivia’s friend Grace here to deal with the fallout. She’s been subjected to vandalism and attacks simply for being the friend of a woman who ran off with shifters. I’m sure it won’t take much convincing to get her to sell out her friend.”

  “And if she won’t?”

  “Then we’ll kidnap her and force her to call her friend for help. She can do it willingly or under duress, it makes no difference to me. I don’t think she’ll protect them. Not after they left her here to fend for herself.”

  Gary laughed and Cambria’s blood ran cold at the sound. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How was kidnapping and torturing a human going to help the cause? Weren’t they doing this to protect humans?

  The men continued talking, but Cambria had heard enough. She didn’t know what she could do about it, but she couldn’t listen to them speak anymore.

  She had her hand on the door handle when she heard someone step into the hall behind her.

  “Cambria, come here please.”

  Still facing the door, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She’d been caught, so pretending she hadn’t heard them was no longer an option. She wanted to run, but Laskin deserved better than that after all he’d done for her.

  She turned, but didn’t bother to
plaster a fake smile on her face in hopes of smoothing the situation over. Laskin was able to read her like a book, always had been.

  Laskin dismissed Gary, who turned red when Laskin asked him for privacy and to close the door behind him. As Laskin’s first in command, he felt that he was beyond the rules of others, but Laskin had always had a soft-spot for Cambria.

  Cambria sat down, laying her muddy boots on the floor beside the chair. She crossed her legs and rested her hands on her lap, waiting for Laskin to make the first move. She was visibly upset by what she heard, and Laskin appeared to realize that.

  Laskin smiled at her, his expression soft.

  “How much did you hear?”

  “Enough to wonder why we need to hurt humans to further our cause. I thought we were saving humans. How are we any better than they are if we go around kidnapping and torturing the very people that we’re trying to save?” She didn’t bother to hide her thoughts. She had never had to with Laskin, which was a refreshing change from the home she’d grown up in.

  Laskin might not take her opinion into consideration, but he didn’t beat her for having an opinion like her father had.

  He waited patiently for her to finish, his face blank and maddeningly indifferent to her impassioned plea for the human woman. She knew before he started that she wasn’t going to change his mind.

  “Sometimes, when a cause is so great and so just, we have to look at the big picture, Cambria. Is it worth the life of this one woman for hundreds or even thousands more to die?”

  “No. But we don’t have to hurt her.”

  “Of course we don’t. It’s up to her how it goes, but I can tell you that shifters are masters at brainwashing those around them. This woman fully supports the relationship of her friend with a shifter. She even rejoiced at the birth of a child, a shifter mix that will be able to easily walk among the humans completely undetected.”

  “But it’s a child.”

  “Cambria, you cannot let your heart get in the way of your head. That child is going to grow up to be an adult. To destroy the world we’re working so hard to save. That woman can give birth to a new child twice a year. It won’t take any time for them to build an army of their own from the safety of their hideout. And then what will we do?”

  “I don’t know.” Cambria admitted, head hung low in shame.

  “And what if his brother, Egan, has taken a mate? What if they’ve taken several? We can’t risk the damage that this family can cause. If they’re allowed to get away with breaking the laws, what’s next?”

  “I understand, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t question you.”

  “Of course you should. We can’t grow as a movement if every member is a mindless drone who can’t think on their own.” He smiled at her reassuringly.

  “I want to help.”

  “You can help by being ready when I call on you. We may still need to do what we talked about last night, but we won’t know until it needs to happen. So be ready for that, and understand that your role in all this is just as important as mine.”

  Cambria smiled shyly. She didn’t believe that, but his words made her feel good just the same. She realized that he didn’t know about her running the test that morning and all at once, she was bursting to share the news.

  “I passed.”

  “Passed what, dear?”

  “I passed the challenge course. I got the fastest time ever.” She was almost giddy with excitement, and Laskin’s lackluster response was a blow to her ego.

  “As many times as you’ve attempted it, you should be able to run it in your sleep.”

  His words crushed her, but she didn’t let on. He was only being honest and he was right. She was proud to have completed the course, but the amount of times she’d failed was embarrassing to say the least.

  “At any rate, I’m glad you finally passed. That means I can give you this.” He reached into pocket and pulled out a key, unlocking a drawer in his desk and pulling out a box. “I ordered it for you before you took your first test. I had meant it to be your nineteenth birthday present, but now is as good a time as any.”

  He slid the box across the desk and Cambria carefully opened it, staring in awe at the brand new Glock with a matte black finish.

  Cambria set the box back on the desk and ran around to give Laskin a hug.

  “Thank you so much!” She was excited. So much effort was put into proving that she was just as good as the men and it was nice to be treated like just one of the guys.

  “You’ve earned it.”

  Her set her away from him, regarding her with a strange look on his face. She felt a little uneasy, but she reminded herself that the scar that took up so much of his face prevented his expressions from looking normal. Her unease was more than likely from the effect and not the man himself.

  At least that’s what she always told herself.

  “Remember, Cambria. You may not always understand what I’m doing, but I have our best interests in mind. You have to trust me or this movement is doomed. Do you understand?”

  Cambria nodded. She gave Laskin one more boisterous hug before she grabbed her gift and headed for her room. There was a lot to do before rounds tonight.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  After dinner that evening, Cambria tapped gently on the door, waiting patiently for Tom to open the door to his room. As a recruit trainer, he was afforded his own bedroom in the main house, as were Cambria and Gary. Cambria had never been in Tom’s room before, and when he answered, he stood in the doorway and blocked her view of the room behind him.

  “Yes?” he asked. His tone was almost cold, and Cambria wondered if she had misjudged their relationship.

  “Maybe this is a bad time, I’m sorry.”

  “No, it’s okay. I was just dealing with something.” He flashed her a brilliant smile and pointed to the box in her hands. “What’s that you’ve got there?”

  “I got a new handgun, and I was wondering if you could show me how to use it. It’s a little different than the .357 I learned on.”

  Tom lifted the gun out of the box and whistled softly between his teeth.

  “Now, that’s a beauty. Where did you get this?”

  Cambria hesitated, questioning whether she should tell Tom that or not. Laskin had never asked her to keep anything secret from the others, but she didn’t think what went on behind closed doors was meant to be shared with the others. He had even sent Gary from the room before presenting it to her, so it was likely that he would want her to keep it to herself.

  “Does it matter?” She mentally slapped her forehead. Of all of the noncommittal blow offs she could have used, she picked the most off-putting one. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I just need help and I was hoping you could help me.”

  Cambria started stammering. She was embarrassed the entire exchange and turned quickly to go back to her room. She could figure the gun out for herself. If she was being honest, it was just a thinly veiled excuse to see Tom, and he obviously wasn’t that interested in seeing her.

  She was almost to her room when she felt a hand on her shoulder. He spun her around steps from her door, pushing her against the door and kissing her violently. He reached behind her, still kissing her as he opened the door and shoved her into her room.

  Tom closed the door behind himself and locked it. Cambria set the box down on the dresser a split second before Tom grabbed her, all but throwing her on the bed and falling in after her.

  He shoved her shirt over her head, his mouth rabid on her body. Tom’s hands covered every inch of her bare flesh, squeezing and rubbing while he watched her body respond to his touch.

  Cambria’s excitement grew, and she was finding it hard to think straight. He was on top of her, straddling her hips and raking the pads of his fingers over her body with wild abandon.

  She reached up to touch his face and he leaned into her hand. He gently kissed her palm, stopping for a moment to breathe the sweet scent of her peppermint soap on her skin b
efore leaning down and nipping her throat.

  A soft moan escaped her lips as he trailed kisses down her neck, between her breast and continuing down her flat stomach. A chill tore through her like lightning, and she felt Tom chuckle into her skin.

  “You like that, huh?” he asked with a knowing smirk on his face.

  “Yes,” she managed, though her mouth had gone dry.

  He wrapped his arms around her and rolled, pulling her with him. With her hovering over him, his hands were free to explore her body further. Tom reached behind her, unclasping her bra and letting the thin fabric slide down her arms before casting it aside and onto the floor.

  Cupping her breast as the hung inches from his face, he kneaded and squeezed them roughly. Cambria’s body responded, her nipples forming hard points under his attentions, even as she bit her lip to keep from crying out.

  Tom was still fully clothed beneath her, and she reached down to pull his shirt from his waistband, but he pushed her hands away. He went for the snap on her jeans, unsnapping them and pushing the zipper down. He left her jeans up, shoving his hand into the small space between her panties and the bottom of her zipper.

  He touched her through the thin fabric, smiling at her when he found her heat. She was very wet.

  “You’re ready for this, aren’t you?” he asked.

  She nodded, biting her lip as his hand explored the small space and touched her in ways that no man had ever touched her before.

  “Take your pants off,” he ordered, removing his hand from her pants and pushing her towards the edge of the bed by her hips.

  She did as he said, though she felt self-conscious under his gaze. He watched her unabashedly as she dropped her pants to the floor and stepped out of them.