Shifters Escape

by Selina Woods

  Only the vagabonds, like me, and the predators not associated with Raphael roamed the streets after dark. On the street, I changed forms and walked with my head down, the collar of my heavy coat flipped up to my cheeks. A few cars rolled past me, but none stopped. Up ahead, I saw a shopkeeper locking his door, then turning to make his way in my direction.

  One advantage of being small, I discovered at an early age, was that folks seldom found me to be a threat. The man, shifter or human, walked quickly in my direction, evidently not at all concerned for his safety. While he was in no danger from me, his pocket was. With my head down, I bumped into him, and in the blink of an eye transferred his wallet from his possession to mine.

  “Sorry, man,” I muttered.

  “No problem,” he replied, then hurried on past me.

  At his current pace as well as mine, several blocks would stretch between us before he realized I had picked his pocket. Before rounding a corner, I shot a fast look at him and saw he was nearly out of sight. Experience told me not to check the wallet’s contents until I was absolutely certain my victim couldn’t find me. Thus, I rushed on, turning down alleys and ducking behind dumpsters, changing direction every block.

  In a deep doorway alcove, I flattened myself inside it, then checked the area for anyone too interested in me. The passing cars had ceased, and only the icy cold kept me company. Opening the wallet, I nearly whooped in triumph. Payday. It contained a thick stack of cash, enough to keep me fed for quite a while.

  Though I usually stuck to stealing food and clothes, since the victims of my thievery needed the little cash, they had to pay their dues to Raphael’s enforcers, I did take money once in a while to actually buy things. Tonight, I wanted to buy a beer and chat with Jae.

  Shifting into my lion, I trotted and loped the distance to the Tiger’s Paw, as always remaining alert to trouble. I spotted a few enforcers strolling around the streets, and I hid until they passed by. Jonesy never failed to hold a grudge, and his brother enforcers would be happy to turn me over to him. Since I had a goal, besides survival, this night, I certainly didn’t need to be chased from it.

  The Tiger’s Paw spilled light and warmth into the street as I went in. A rapid glance around showed me the only one interested in my arrival was Jae. Standing behind the bar, she poured whiskey into a glass for a patron and gave me a quick smile.

  “You came,” she said, heading toward me.

  “Yeah,” I replied, sitting down at the end of the bar where I could see the door and the customers. Out of habit, I kept my shoulders hunched and my head down but lifted my face to grin at her. “How about a beer?”

  “Coming right up.”

  Keeping my movements concealed behind the counter, I pulled out a few bills. If one was stupid enough to flash a big wad, one didn’t keep it for very long. When Jae returned to me with a full glass, I pushed them across to her. “That enough?”

  Jae picked them up and counted. “More than. Here.”

  She tried to hand some back to me, but I shook my head. “Keep the rest. It’s a tip.”

  “Declan.” Jae frowned. “You don’t have a lot. I shouldn’t.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  Her expression told me she was doing exactly that, but she put some of it in the till and the rest in her jeans pocket. While she waited on a few others, I sipped the beer. I almost never drank alcohol and never got drunk, and either could be detrimental to my life. It tasted good, and although it grew too warm to keep my coat on, I did. Survival depended upon my being able to run at an instant’s notice, and I never dared drop my guard.

  Jae wandered back to me. “Are you the only one working here tonight?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Chad, the owner, trusts me to run the place when he’s not around. Of course, I’d never steal from him.”

  “Don’t you worry about being alone? I mean, you don’t know what will walk through the door.”

  Jae glanced around, lowering her voice. “I have a shotgun under the bar. I’ll use it if I have to.”

  “Even so, you have to walk home, right? That’s dangerous, even for a tough lion like you.”

  “I take my chances,” she answered. “Like everyone in this city.”

  After another quick look around to make sure no one tried to listen in, I, too, dropped my voice. “I’ve heard rumors of people leaving here, heading to safe cities.”

  “Shh.” Jae left me to refresh someone’s beer and took his money to put in the till. I understood she wasn’t snubbing me or decided she shouldn’t talk to me when she washed a few glasses in the sink behind her. Jae knew as well as I did that to be spending a great deal of time chatting up one customer might instill suspicion in the others.

  I sipped my beer, eyed the door and the drinkers, and waited. Jae eventually came back and said, “You know it’s too dangerous to talk like that.”

  “Yeah. At least here.”

  “We might talk about it,” she murmured, “if you walk me home.”

  I tried not to grin. “I’d love to.”

  Jae paid me little mind for the next hour, came back to ask me if I needed a refresher, which I refused, then doled out the alcohol and took money until closing time. I stayed where I was as the customers got up to leave, talking in low voices as they, in small groups of twos and threes, ambled out into the night. Jae shut off lights as the exodus continued, leaving me in shadow.

  “I just need to tidy up a bit,” Jae told me as she locked the door after the last customer departed.

  “No problem. I’ll sit here and watch you.”

  She laughed. I must admit, she had a very cute ass, and a graceful way of moving that endlessly fascinated me. I’d be happy to sit there and watch her all night if I could. Jae blushed an entrancing shade of pink while casting me quick looks as she worked.

  “You’re staring,” she accused.

  “I can’t help it.”

  Facing me, her hands on her hips, she managed a scowl. “Yes, you can. Now knock it off.”

  Leaning both elbows on the bar and resting my chin on my fists, I waggled my eyes brows up and down. “I’m not staring. I’m leering.”

  Jae laughed and shook her wealth of rich hair. “I’ve certainly been leered at before.”

  “Of course, you have. Who wouldn’t want to eyeball that delectable little ass you got there?”

  She flushed. “Now you’re embarrassing me.”

  “Sorry.”

  Standing up from my stool, I asked, “You got a bathroom in this place?”

  Jae jerked her thumb toward the back. “Over there.”

  “Be back in a jiffy.”

  I sauntered past her as she swept the floor in the midst of the tables, setting the chairs atop them to give herself more room to clean. I found the bathroom and used the toilet and was just zipping up my jeans when I heard the front door crash open. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as Jae let out a small shriek, then yelled, “Get your ass out of here.”

  “Not till I’ve had my fun, baby,” growled a voice I recognized.

  Making no noise, I slid down the short hallway to the bar and peeked around the corner. A big lion shifter named Barry, one of Raphael’s top enforcers, swaggered inside, closing the door behind him. Self-styled Barry the Blade, he stood between Jae and the bar, meaning she had no way of getting to the shotgun.

  Though she must have seen me behind him as I slithered around the corner and ducked behind the counter, Jae never moved her eyes from him.

  “I’ll report you to Raphael,” she warned, taking a step back. “We pay our taxes.”

  “I ain’t gonna kill you, sweetheart,” he said, his voice smooth, taking off his jacket. “Raphael doesn’t care if we get a little piece now and then.”

  I found the shotgun on the shelf, and lifted it, making sure the safety catch was off. Though I had never fired a gun before, I did make sure to learn how in case I ever found myself in a situation that required it. This one certainly did. Straigh
tening, I stepped out from behind the counter.

  “Leave her alone, Barry.”

  Chapter Three

  Barry the Blade swung around, his eyes wide in shock, taking in the gun leveled at his chest. A smart girl, Jae edged away from him, stepping out of his reach as well as my line of fire. The enforcer recognized me instantly, and his lip curled in a feral grin. “You don’t have the guts, runt,” he growled, stalking toward me one slow step at a time. “Put it down, and I’ll forget I saw you.”

  “Nope. Leave now, and I’ll forget to kill you.”

  With Jae now safely behind me, I waited for Barry to realize I would shoot if he didn’t leave quietly. Killing an enforcer was a death warrant in Cheyenne, and every one of them would never rest until they hunted the murderer down. I knew full well what I risked by picking up the gun, nor would I put it down and step aside while he raped Jae.

  “Put it down, runt,” he ordered, standing still once he realized I wasn’t backing down as he expected me to.

  “Get lost.”

  Barry licked his lips, clearly growing nervous as he tried to make a decision. Risk a huge loss of face by letting me chase him off or take his chances that I would be too cowardly to pull the trigger no doubt ran through his mind. I knew the instant he decided I’d never dare kill him.

  His brows lowered, and his eyes flattened. “Give me that gun—”

  I pulled the trigger. The resulting explosion nearly deafened me. Barry, hurtled backward by the lead shot from the twin barrels, crashed to the floor amid the tables, and lay still. I gazed at him, half expecting him to get up and make a run at me now that the shotgun was empty. Barry’s foot twitched a little, and that was all.

  Jae stepped up to my side. “Now look at the mess you made.”

  Surprised, I glanced at her. Her lips curved upward in a nasty sort of grin. “Oh, sure, make me work harder to clean up around here.”

  “I’ll make it up to you,” I replied. “What are we gonna do with him?”

  “Chad has a truck out back,” she answered. “The keys are here, but I’m not supposed to drive it.”

  “Well, I don’t know how to, so you have no choice. Let’s get him into it before he bleeds too much onto the floor.”

  With a quick nod, Jae picked up one of his legs, but I took a minute to search his corpse for anything valuable. Enforcers didn’t get paid much, but either Barry got paid a helluva lot, or he hadn’t yet brought his take to Raphael. I held up the wad of cash to Jae.

  “Whoa,” she breathed. “That’ll come in handy. Does he have anything else?”

  Rather surprised by her mercenary outlook, I checked his pockets and found some expensive jewelry. “Maybe he was going to give this to his girlfriend,” I suggested, putting it in my pocket.

  “Eww.” Jae made moue of disgust. “Who would want him in bed with her?”

  “Someone as sleezy as him. Let’s get him to the truck.”

  Together, we dragged his body across the bar and through the rear door into the cold. The truck stood in the alley, and neither of us saw anyone watching as we struggled to heave the corpse into the truck’s bed. Once we had him inside, I, panting with exertion, threw a tarp over him. “Run, get the keys and lock the bar,” I told Jae.

  She obeyed and came back out by the time I climbed down from the bed and opened the passenger door. “You never learned to drive?” she asked, turning the engine over and putting it in gear.

  “Nope. Had no one to teach me, and no vehicle anyway.”

  Without the headlights, Jae drove the truck out of the alley and into the street. “So, tell me something?”

  “Sure. What?”

  I turned my head to find her watching me. “How many times have you killed someone?”

  The question stunned me and made me laugh at the same time. “Until this asshole, never. Why?”

  “You were so cool, so collected,” she admitted, glancing at me then back through the windshield. “It seemed as though you’ve killed dozens of times.”

  I gazed through the passenger side window at the dark and silent buildings we passed: closed businesses, shuttered houses. I tried to feel some remorse for what I had done—taken a life. Yet, there was none in me. I did what I had to do, and that was that. “I should feel bad for killing,” I said, my voice soft. “But I don’t. Is that wrong?”

  “Wrong? Hell, no.” Jae’s beautiful face turned nearly ugly with the deep scowl she sent me. “That bastard would have raped me until I was dead, Declan. You know he would. Now he’s dead, and I’m not. We’re not.”

  “Better him than us?” I tossed her a wan smile. “I don’t feel bad, I guess, because it was the right thing to do.”

  “The only thing to do. Now, where are we going to toss him?”

  “The creek. It’s a dumping ground for just about anyone who wants to get rid of a corpse. And there won’t be any ties to you or the bar.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  The creek that ran through the southern edge of town once had been a drainage canal, and only during heavy rains did it ever get any real water running through it. In the dark, we dragged Barry’s body to the edge and rolled it down the steep hill to the small trickle below. “There might still be some blood in the truck bed,” I commented as we climbed back into the cab.

  “Do you mind helping me scrub it?” she asked, shooting me quick glances as she drove. “And the bar?”

  I grinned. “Nope.”

  Jae breathed deeply. “Thanks. Blood can be hard to get rid of.”

  Fortunately, as well as oddly, what bloodstains there were came up easily. I used soapy water and a push broom to wash the truck while Jae started cleaning the mess inside the bar. I hoped there weren’t smaller stains I couldn’t see in the dark, then went in to assist her. Together, talking easily and cheerfully about our lives, we wiped up the gore. To me, and quite possibly to her, it felt as though we hadn’t just met that day, but had been friends for years.

  “We need to disinfect it,” Jae told me as we finished. “There will always be blood we can’t get up, and it will get nasty.”

  “As well as smelly,” I agreed. “Wolf noses will notice immediately.”

  Thus, we scrubbed the floor again with a disinfectant cleaner and found it was nearly two in the morning. There was little we could do about the lock Barry had busted crashing in, so we tied it shut as best we could, then left by the back way. Jae locked it behind us and pocketed the keys.

  “I have to tell Chad what happened,” Jae said as we both hunched into our coats and headed down the alley. “I won’t lie to him.”

  “No,” I replied, walking quickly to stay warm. “You shouldn’t. But he won’t squeal, right?”

  “He hates Raphael and his goons as much as we do,” she replied, her teeth chattering.

  My instincts and senses on high alert, I kept Jae in the shadows as we headed for her apartment. A few lone cars, no headlights on, passed us by as we hid in the darkness and waited for them to roll out of sight. Then we hurried on, not talking much as conversation tended to interfere with one’s survival skills.

  Arriving at her apartment building, I escorted her to her door, keeping an eye out as she unlocked it. Swinging the door wide, Jae paused to gaze at me, her hazel eyes locked on mine. “Want to come it?”

  Her voice, tentative, uncertain, informed me she wasn’t sure how to proceed. Ask me in, and accept the possibility I may wind up sharing her bed with her, or wish me goodnight and shut the door. I bent my face close to hers and kissed her slowly, giving her every opportunity to withdraw, to shove me away. Jae kissed me back, her mouth opening in invitation, encouraging more, her tongue dancing with mine.

  That told me how much she trusted me. Rather than push where I wanted to go, I withdrew from her and smiled into her eyes. “Next time.”

  “Declan.” Her voice still held that hesitancy, that need, the desperation to do the right thing with me.

  Holding her hand in mine for a m
oment, I kissed her again, then winked. “Get inside and lock your door,” I murmured. “Too many bad guys out there.”

  Jae started to go in, then stopped even as I headed back down the hall to the stairs. “Declan, wait.”

  I half turned.

  “How will I find you?”

  Grinning, I replied. “You won’t. But I’ll find you.”

  I offered her a jaunty salute, then continued to the stairwell. I moved slowly until I heard her door close and the lock click shut. Feeling pleased with myself, I made my way back outside and shifted to my lion form. My four-legged self moved faster in case of trouble, and even at this late hour, packs of marauders outside of Raphael’s influence roamed freely.

  These lions, wolves, and even the rare tiger shifters tended to use drugs that made them high and stupidly dangerous. They feared nothing, raping and killing anything that crossed their paths. Female, male, it didn’t matter to them; they would rape her or him, murder their victim, and move on. Raphael didn’t like them preying on his populace that paid his taxes but could never hang enough of them to stop it.

  My keen night vision saw them before they saw me. Crouching behind a rusted wreck of a car, my belly low to the ground, I watched them cross the street about a block away. A lion leading four wolves. Even in their drugged-out high, the wolves' sense of smell was too good to risk messing with. Edging my way backward, keeping the wreck between them and me, I watched them continue on without stopping.

  Breathing a fraction easier, I slunk to the other side of the street and struck a fast lope in the opposite direction. Where there was one pack, there would be others. The night was their territory, and if I wanted to remain uncaught and unraped, I needed to get to one of my “homes” and out of any possible sight. I had one not far away, and I raced to get there, my paws flying.

  “There goes one.”

  I heard the shout, and, too late, realized I had sped past a pack wandering down the alley I had just galloped past. “Oh, shit,” I muttered, risking a lightning glance over my shoulder.