Shifters Escape

by Selina Woods

  “Hey,” he called from behind me. “I want to talk to you.”

  Sure, you do. I broke into a run and ducked down an alley. He instantly gave chase, yelling at me to stop; he only wanted to talk. Switching forms, I hit my top speed, galloping fast. Skidding around a corner, I caught a glimpse of him, a lion, charging after me. “I mean you no harm,” he yelled.

  “I’ve heard that before,” I called back.

  Racing down the dark and now-empty street, I hoped I wouldn’t run smack into a renegade pack and dodged through another alley. Time to lose this loser. Making zigs and zags down streets and alleys, I searched for a bolt hole I could fit into, but he couldn’t. He ran steadfastly on my tail, determined to catch me.

  “Please, stop.”

  “Hell no.”

  At last, I reached a fence at the end of an alley that I had used to escape large pursuers before. It had a space under it that I could wriggle through, but big fellows like him couldn’t. Of course, he could leap it, if he were willing to risk becoming entangled in the razor wire at the top. I dove under at top speed, lost chunks of my mane and scratched my back, but was on the far side before he reached it.

  “Dammit,” he roared, skidding to a halt, his tail lashing. “Come back here.”

  I stopped long enough to grin at his frustration. “Sorry, got an urgent appointment.”

  Turning, I loped away, still listening to him promise that he had no plans to harm me. He almost had me believing him. Experience taught me that predators after my hide promised that at first, but once the chase began, they dropped that shit. This guy still insisted, even after I escaped. “But what would a lion like him want with me?”

  I puzzled over it as I trotted and loped toward Jae’s apartment, keeping a wary out for Lightning Bolt as well as enforcers and marauding packs. One such group made their way down the street toward me, their shapes clear under the moonlight as I squirmed under a wrecked car to hide. Holding my breath, I watched their legs and tails pass me by without noticing my presence.

  Reaching Jae’s apartment building, I passed it without going in, then slipped into the next one and made my way to the roof. Leaping across the space between them, I padded to a dark corner where the moon and starlight couldn’t reveal me and peered down into the street. Jae wouldn’t be back for more than an hour. I watched for Lightning Bolt.

  If he knew where she lived, he never appeared in her neighborhood. Its headlights out, Chad’s truck rounded the corner and pulled to a stop. Both got out, and Chad escorted her inside as I left my corner and trotted to the door that led to the stairs. Shifting into my two-legged self, I reached her floor at the same time they did.

  “Declan,” Jae said, the tension draining from her face like water down a drain. “Where did you go?”

  “Talk inside,” Chad ordered brusquely. “See you tomorrow.”

  He strode back the way they came as Jae let us both into her apartment. “What happened?” she asked, turning the deadbolt.

  “That big guy at the bar,” I replied, taking off my coat with a sigh. “I didn’t want to risk him following you here.”

  She frowned, taking off her own and hanging it on a hook. “The one with the tattoo on his face?”

  “Yeah. He was too interested in us. Chased me halfway across town.”

  “Shit,” Jae snapped. “He wasn’t an enforcer.”

  I sat on the couch and patted the spot beside me as an invitation to sit. “No. Kept claiming he just wanted to talk to me.”

  “Maybe he did.” Jae sat next to me and took my hand.

  “Yeah, right,” I snorted. “Big tough lions don’t want to simply talk to me. They prefer to kill me.”

  Somehow, however, the strange notion that occurred to me earlier came back. The idea that maybe he told me the truth, that he merely wanted to talk. “Even if he did,” I went on, hasty, as though Jae had protested, “what would he want with me?”

  “You won’t know until you chat with him, now will you?”

  “That won’t happen.”

  Jae agreed with a smile. “No, probably not. It’s a big town, and it’s easy to lose someone in.”

  “I did.”

  Despite my assurances to her and myself, I got up to peer out the window, pulling the curtain aside just a fraction. The nearly full moon over a clear sky gave illumination to the street below, and unless someone was hidden in the shadows, I saw nothing moving. While I should have felt better about the situation of being behind a locked door, I didn’t. My gut clenched; my pulse beat faster.

  Someone was out there.

  “Declan?”

  “Not right,” I muttered.

  “What do you mean?” Jae rose to stand behind me, looking out over my shoulder.

  “There’s someone out there.”

  We both froze, stiff, the hairs on the back of my neck at attention. “There,” I hissed.

  From the deeper shadows trotted a lion and two wolves, not bothering to conceal themselves from any watchers. In the open, looking neither left nor right, they crossed the street toward us. As though they knew what they wanted and knew exactly where it was. Jae swore under her breath; we lost sight of the trio when they entered the building.

  “Are they after us?” she whispered.

  “I don’t know.”

  Shifting into my lion, I bounded across the apartment to the door and pressed my ear against it. Beside me, in her four-legged self, Jae growled softly as she, too, listened for the sounds of the drugged-out invaders. Nor did they disappoint us. Their growls and insane laughter rose from the stairwell as they climbed past the second floor.

  Jae’s eyes widened, staring into mine. “They’re coming up here.”

  “Just wait.”

  Maybe their target is someone else. That didn’t make me feel much better, as it meant someone in the building was going to get raped and killed within the next few hours. Maybe they’re here to get their fixes. Even that thought failed to reassure me as I listened to the footfalls they didn’t bother to conceal. Closer they came, and I held my breath, wondering if they were planning to attack us after all.

  The sounds stopped at the door directly across the hallway. Jae swallowed hard. “That’s a human over there,” she whispered. “A girl.”

  Strong lions and wolves had difficulty fighting off a pack. A single human female stood no chance against them at all. Unless she heard them coming and left her apartment via the fire escape, she would suffer rape over and over again before they finally killed her.

  No one dared interfere.

  Chapter Seven

  Across the hall, one of the ramped-up pack hit the door hard. It splintered under the impact, and from within the unit, a woman screamed. The sound sent a chill through my bones. High, terrified, utterly without hope. I met Jae’s eyes as the pack crashed into the girl’s apartment, shrieking wild laughter.

  “We can’t let them hurt her,” Jae hissed, her lip pulled back from her fangs.

  Three against two weren’t the greatest of odds, but we had surprise on our side, and they had fried mush for brains. “Let’s go.”

  Shifting so I could unlock and open the door, I went lion once again. With Jae at my side, we silently crossed the hall and through the broken door. The lion had altered himself into his two-legged body, holding the screaming girl to him even as she fought and bit and kicked.

  “Hold still,” he growled. “We won’t hurt you; we just want some fun.”

  None of them saw us approach. The wolves had their backs to us and the lion had all his attention focused on keeping his screaming victim under control. I caught Jae’s eye and jerked my chin at the wolves. Then I pointed at myself, then at the lion. She nodded once, then flattened her ears as she crouched in attack mode.

  I seldom fought tooth for tooth, claw for claw. I was too small to hold my own against a larger opponent, but I was faster and lighter than any. The lion wasn’t as big as most, but he was still very dangerous if he got me down. Hop
ing I could take him down before he had a chance to shift, I, too, crouched low and bared my fangs.

  In a swift dash forward, I leaped over the wolves, hit the carpeting, then bounded up again. I struck the pack leader, and the girl, in a full-bodied tackle, raking deep gouges in his back and legs as I bit the back of his skull. Both fell under me in a tangle of legs and arms, and the girl quit her screams. Hoping both of us on top of her didn’t hurt her, I aimed to kill him before he could shift.

  That plan failed.

  Before my fangs could dig deep, he changed into his lion, and instantly threw himself sideways. Flung from him, I nonetheless hung on with my claws and took a great deal of his hide with me. Roaring in pain and fury, he spun to face me even as I gained my footing and charged him again. Though he outweighed me considerably, I managed to knock him off his paws.

  Savage snarling, and Jae’s roars informed me of the battle for the girl’s life had engaged behind me. I didn’t dare take my eyes off the lion. Before he got his feet completely under him, I raked my right front claws across his face, hoping to blind him and end the fight quickly. He lunged back, squalling, blood spilling across his eyes and muzzle.

  I didn’t dare give him an opportunity to open my gut with his savage weapons, which he could do even if I knocked him on his back. Circling around him in a fast lunge, I opened his flank in great red furrows, then skipped aside as he slashed at me with his claws. I couldn’t tell if I succeeded in blinding him, as he still knew exactly where I was.

  “Little coward,” he screeched, twisting his body to chase after me.

  Not wasting my breath in a reply, I dodged behind him and seized his tail in my jaws. I crunched down and threw myself backward at the same time. His howl of agony shook the apartment, but there was little he could do as I half dragged him with me. On his belly, roaring and screaming, he dug his claws into the carpet while still trying to bend around enough to get at me with his fangs.

  Dropping his mangled tail, I leaped onto his back, hanging on with everything I had as he rolled over, trying to pin me down, get me under him where he could open my throat. His teeth raked my shoulder, but I hung on grimly, slashing at his muzzle with my fangs, ripping his lips, my claws shredding his hide. From a dim distance, I heard Jae fighting the wolves, their yelps of pain, and I thought I saw a big shadow looming in the open doorway.

  The marauder succeeded in twisting around and throwing his superior weight hard against me. Tossed off him, I fumbled to keep my footing, knowing full well that if he got me down, I was toast. Not even my thick mane would protect my vulnerable throat. He charged, aiming to push me back, chest to chest, where he would overwhelm me in seconds.

  I didn’t wait to meet him. Dancing aside, I slashed at his face again and succeeded in ripping his nose and muzzle wide open. Ignoring the fountaining blood, he spun and came at me again. This time I wasn’t quick enough. He caught my injured shoulder on his claws and dragged me toward him.

  Rather than wait to be slaughtered, I charged in, face to face, chest to chest, thinking that I’d rather die fighting on my paws than under him, small, weak, and vulnerable. He reared up on his hind legs, slashing, biting, trying to throw me onto my back. I refused to go over and snapped my jaws hard onto his bloody upper jaw. Like a terrier with a rat, I shook him hard, putting all my strength into twisting my neck and him with me.

  At the same time, I closed my powerful jaws, crushing bone, teeth, muscle, and tendon. Screeching, wild with panic, he threw himself backward in an effort to escape me. Hanging on like that selfsame terrier, I went with him, my front claws shredding the rest of his face, blinding him, my rear dragging along the carpet. No matter what he did, he could not shake me loose, nor could I immediately kill him.

  The wounds I inflicted might be fatal in time, should I let him go, but I wanted him dead at my feet. Thrusting hard with my hind legs, I propelled myself upward, then in midair, twisted my entire body. The lion had no choice but to go with me. His neck could not stand the pressure, however.

  It snapped like a dry stick.

  His limp body dragged at me. Releasing his face proved difficult, as I had buried my fangs in so deep that I got stuck. Snarling in fury, I pushed at his corpse with my paw and finally got his crushed upper muzzle and face out of my mouth. Closing my jaws required a bit of effort, and cracked with an audible popping sound. I shook my head to dispel the last of his blood, then listened to the room echo with silence.

  I spun around.

  Two mangled and bloody wolves lay dead at Jae’s feet. She gazed at me, gore coating her fur and muzzle, her paws splashed with red. Beside her stood the big lion who had chased me to the fence, staring at me with wide eyes. “Uh,” I said, “what the hell are you doing here?”

  “I thought you would need help with these morons,” he replied. “I reckon I was wrong.”

  “You knew where I’d be? Where she would be?”

  “Declan, he’s not here to kill you.” Jae also gazed at me; her eyes anxious as though worried I’d attack him next. I was sorely tempted to do just that.

  I gazed around the shattered apartment, seeing the human girl the pack had come to assault staring at the corpses with a strange expression. “Are you all right?” I asked.

  Her eyes flicked to me. Licking her lips, she nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”

  “I know I sorta squashed you.”

  Walking toward me, the girl put her arms around my filthy mane and hugged me. “Thank you.”

  Leaving me, she went to Jae. “You live across the hall. Thank you.”

  Jae shifted into her human before the girl embraced her, Jae’s arms reaching around her shoulders. “I couldn’t let them do that to you,” she said. “We had to help.”

  The girl half turned toward me, her arms still around Jae. “He’s your boyfriend? He’s cute.”

  Only that I was still in lion form prevented my blush from being seen by all present. Still, I ducked my eyes away, mortified, and it only deepened when Jae chuckled. “Yeah, he’s my squeeze.”

  “Your squeeze?” I demanded, my voice hardly lionlike when it ended on a squeak.

  Of course, the two girls laughed.

  The stranger stepped forward. “You got hurt in that fight. I should take a look at your wounds.”

  “Just who the hell are you?” I demanded.

  “My name is Morgan, and as I said before, I need to talk to you.”

  “Declan, come on.” Jae, her arm still around the girl, waved at me. “We need to do something about these corpses, but she can’t stay here. We’re all going back to my place.”

  With that, Jae marched the girl across the hall to her still open apartment, and Morgan turned to follow. I grumbled, unhappy with the entire situation, but started to walk behind them. Only when my left front leg all but buckled under me did I realize the extent of my wounds. Pain washed over me with the absence of the adrenaline rush that kept it at bay during the fight.

  Thus, I limped across the hall, feeling the fresh flow of blood run down my leg. “Dammit,” I muttered as Jae closed the door behind me, then locked it. “This sucks rocks.”

  Morgan shifted into his human and eyed me sidelong, the tattoo stark on his cheek. His dark eyes were still cold, but yet that iciness didn’t seem directed at me. “Will you let me help you?” he asked.

  “Do I have a choice?” I snapped, peering at my torn shoulder.

  Jae knelt in front of me, her hands under my jaw lifting my face to gaze into her eyes. “Hey,” she murmured. “I think he’s on our side. Please let him help.”

  “Um,” the girl said, tentative. “I’m Chelsea, and I have some medical training. I work for a human healer downtown, so I can help, too.”

  Morgan nodded. “I don’t suppose you have suturing materials at your place, do you?”

  “I do. Let me go get it.”

  She left Jae’s apartment and trotted across to her blood-splashed home where three corpses lay. Vanishing from my sight for a momen
t, she returned with a small leather bag, and then closed and locked the door behind her. “Um, Declan? Maybe you should be human for this. It’s a bit easier to work on skin, or else I’d have to shave your fur.”

  Jae grinned. “Heaven forbid.”

  Rolling my eyes, I sighed dramatically and changed forms. I swayed where I stood, suddenly unable to maintain my balance. Both Jae and Morgan caught me under my arms before I fell. “I’m all right,” I snapped, but found myself half-dragged into the kitchen by the two of them.

  Jae turned on all the lights despite the need to never advertise an occupancy. “Chelsea will need them,” she explained when I scowled.

  “It’s dangerous, Jae.”

  “I’ll keep watch,” Morgan offered, then strode across the apartment to the big window.

  “Jae?” Chelsea asked. “That’s your name?”

  “Yeah, I’m Jae, and this is Declan.”

  “Can you scrub the sink out as best you can? I need to fill it with warm water to wash his wound. If you have a disinfectant cleaner, that would be best.”

  “I do.”

  Jae went to work scrubbing the sink as Chelsea dragged the single chair over and sat me down in it. Without comment, she examined my ragged shoulder, frowning with her brows lowered over her intelligent blue eyes. She was pretty in a way, but plumper than what I liked, with dark brown hair braided down her back.

  “The pack knew where you lived,” I commented. “They targeted you.”

  Her eyes met mine briefly. “The healer I work for helped one of the wolves a few days ago. They saw me there. I watched to make sure no one followed me home, but I will guess they did.”

  “The wolves may have tracked you,” I said quietly. “You would never have seen them.”

  “I should have known that, I guess, but I trusted my instincts to tell me if I was followed. I felt nothing from them.”

  “Sometimes our instincts can fail us,” Morgan commented from the window. “Sometimes they speak, but we don’t listen.”