Shifters of the Wellsprings: The Complete Paranormal Collection

by Leela Ash

  Maybe that was because that ‘Worm’ treated her a hell of a lot better than her ‘boyfriend’ ever did.

  There. That was the truth. A fact she’d refused to see for two years.

  I was so flattered that a Bear, a Shifter, would ‘fall’ for a mere Kin like me that I was blinded.

  To Todd’s selfishness; his willingness to risk her life; the way he belittled her and ordered her about.

  I don’t feel loved when I’m with him. I feel… well, like an ingrate. A silly Kin woman who doesn’t appreciate how lucky she is to have a lover like him.

  She remembered Todd’s cutting words this afternoon, embarrassing her in front of the entire Shifter council.

  And how Jordan Beaumont had leaped to her defense.

  He did that a lot. Even deep in the heart of Ormaz Corp., he made her office a tiny fortress. The one safe place where she could retreat. He defended her, refused to allow others to put her down. It didn’t matter if her attackers were Fangs or Shifters. There was no man he wouldn’t battle on her behalf.

  Warmth filled her at that thought, a gentle happiness. Nothing had ever made her feel so loved in all her life.

  Love? What a silly, overwrought word to use! Jordan Beaumont didn’t love her. He just… just…

  The phone’s shrill ring demanded her attention. She ignored the request.

  No, Todd. Not tonight. Why the hell couldn’t the man take a hint?

  The sharp annoyance that filled her made one thing plain, however. She didn’t know how Jordan felt about her, what word could describe the awkward, delightful, strange bond between them.

  But, whatever it was, it was a hell of a lot better than what she and Todd shared.

  Savannah tilted her glass back, letting the last of the wine swirl across her tongue.

  Tomorrow, her world would change. She would learn the fate of the man for whom she’d come to care. One chapter of her life would close – and she had no idea what she wanted to ‘write’ in the next one.

  One thing was clear though. It was time to write Todd out of her life and see if there was a place for Jordan Beaumont instead.

  Tonight, though, sleep. She needed her strength for the battles of the next day.

  A whispered plea woke Savannah from a deep sleep – and into a dream.

  …help me…

  She lay on an autumn moor. Dried, dead grass rose high above her. When she stood, she found herself amid desolation. Grey sky overhead, thick clouds that wrapped the world in twilight. An endless sea of dead vegetation stretched in all directions.

  In the distance, lay something darker. A lake of black, peat-stained waters. No breeze stirred its dead, ebony surface.

  …help me…

  Once more, there was that plea, from somewhere near the lake. Savannah dusted herself off and strode toward it.

  She wore nothing except a long white shift. Her arms and feet lay bared to the chill air. Dead grass crunched underfoot, its frost-touched blades seeking to tear her feet. Yet the cold couldn’t harm her. A heat – rich and strong – radiated off her body. It held the cold at bay and turned aside the moor’s feeble attacks.

  At the water’s edge, she found a tiny rowboat. No one else was there, and that cry for aid never repeated itself. After a moment, she stepped into the boat and took a seat.

  Like in the dream with the dragonfly, Savannah marveled at the vivid details. The scent of rot, thick in the air. The dampness of the boat’s floorboards against her feet. The faint whish of water against its bow as the boat arrowed deeper into the lake, driven by unseen hands.

  That makes two of these strange dreams. It can’t be a coincidence. I need to ask a Hare what this means!

  Not Witch Queen LePierre, however. There was no way she would ask that woman for help!

  At the center of the lake, the boat drifted to a halt. Savannah studied the waters, seeking clues as to why it had brought her here. Streamers of mist drifted across the surface, dark and haunting.

  Nothing, as far as the eye could see. She leaned over the boat’s edge and peered down into the water.

  Something stirred in the depths. Something pale that drifted toward the surface. Instinct screamed at her to recoil as the ghostly form rose closer, but Savannah gritted her teeth and held her ground.

  A woman’s face rose into view, surrounded by billows of long hair. Where her eyes should be were two black holes and her pale skin had a sickly, yellowish cast.

  “Hello? Did you call for help?”

  “…yes…” the form burbled.

  It sounded nothing like the voice that had summoned her. Yet, even in her dreams, she wasn’t willing to abandon anyone. “What’s wrong? How can I help?”

  “Laud… laudanum…lauda… g-give me…”

  Laudanum? Wasn’t that some old Victorian drug? “I’m sorry, I don’t have any.”

  Rage swept across the vision’s face. Thin lips curled back from her teeth and she screamed, “Liar! You took it all yourself! You let me suffer while you… while you… GIVE IT TO ME!”

  “I swear, I don’t have any laudanum. Why don’t you tell me who you are and I’ll−”

  “I’m your wife!” Two bony hands lashed out of the water and fastened onto the side of the boat. The little dinghy rocked sharply, threatening to dump Savannah into the cold water. “Give it to me! I can still hear them!”

  Then Savannah heard ‘them’ too. Children calling from the mists. “Mommy! Daddy! Where are you?”

  “Give it to me!” Savannah lurched as the drowned woman began to drag herself into the boat. “I can’t hear them when I have it. Give me the laudanum, you bastard!”

  The surface of the lake roiled. An enormous form, long and sinuous like a sea serpent, writhed. Savannah caught a glimpse of black scales, glistening in the water. Ghostly forms clung to it, hissing a litany of accusations. “You lied! You betrayed me! You left! You never loved me!”

  At once, the drowned woman abandoned the boat. She shot through the water and grabbed the serpent, adding her complaint to all the others: “You took all the laudanum!”

  Weighed down by all those bodies, the serpent sank, once more, beneath the waves. But as it disappeared, Savannah heard a voice in her head.

  …help me…

  Stillness returned, and with it, shock.

  This wasn’t a dream. This was real. A spiritual realm she’d entered in her sleep.

  That form? That was a Dragon. The dead, decaying remnant of Jordan Beaumont’s Shifter soul.

  Begging her for help.

  And the wraiths that haunted these waters?

  Those must be the people he loved. The ones he failed to protect.

  All was clear… except for one thing.

  What should she do? How could she help him?

  “Jordan!” On unsteady feet, she stood and waved at the Dragon. “These aren’t memories. They’re your guilt, not the truth. You still have good in you.”

  Nothing broke the silence. Well, perhaps a warmer heart could win where mere words failed?

  She thought of today’s meeting and how Jordan’s first thought was for her safety. The way he shielded her with his own body. The joy that brought her, to know a man would risk himself for her.

  A soft, pearly light spread along her hands. She was beginning to glow, her body shining a pale light across the dark waters. Delighted, she added more memories. The way Jordan kicked down the lunchroom door to save her from that Darkborn. How he kept close to her, guarding her, as they left Ormaz.

  “You remember what it means to be a Dragon,” she whispered to the lake. “You can be one again.”

  Light surrounded her now, sharp and strong in the grey. Yet, no matter how it grew, it did not call Jordan’s soul to the surface. Only the ghosts came, pale strands of slime in the dark water. Angry, hungry. The light kept them at bay; none dared touch the boat. They longed to, though. To flip the boat and drag her under. Devour the light, the devotion, that her own soul held.

  Mo
re light. More love. That’s what she needed. So, she thought of poor Lara, and how upset Jordan was when…

  “…when he failed to save me. Like he’s failed everyone else.”

  Lara floated among the other dead, purple hair faded, mascara smeared across her face. A bloodless bullet hole in the center of her forehead.

  The sight of that familiar corpse chilled Savannah, but she wouldn’t give up. “Eddy shot you. Your death is his fault, not Jordan’s.”

  “He tried to save me and failed,” the secretary whispered. “He failed.”

  She hadn’t known Lara well – well enough to be sure that wasn’t right. “You aren’t real. The real Lara would be pissed as hell that her lover and master didn’t think she was worth a five-minute wait.” Dragging her eyes away from the woman’s corpse, she called out across the waters. “Jordan, that’s not Lara. That’s you. Your guilt. You can’t blame yourself for her death.”

  But he did. The ghosts of the lake were proof of how deep his guilt ran.

  “I don’t blame you.”

  Nothing. No movement, no sound, except the ghosts’ quiet complaints.

  And suddenly, she understood what was wrong. Words held no power here. Only deeds mattered. Her path became clear to her and she set her feet upon it with a calm, sure heart. “I trust you! I know you remember your true self. Let me prove it to you.”

  One step. She placed her bare foot on the edge of the boat – and it flipped. Casting her into the dark lake… and the arms of its wraiths.

  Water closed over her head. The light that shone from her body, so soft and comforting, vanished, quenched by that chill touch. Her white shift wrapped about her legs like a corpse’s shroud.

  Then, they came. Jordan’s dead. Snatching at her, their bony fingers twining through her hair. Pressing close, dragging her into the depths. Hissing with vicious delight.

  And nowhere, nowhere, was there any sign of Jordan.

  Deeper, she sank, lungs burning. Savannah gasped in pain as fingernails raked her leg, and boggy water rushed in to fill her mouth.

  “You’ll see,” Lara promised as she tugged her to her doom. “No one’s going to save you. No one ever gets saved.”

  Savannah gagged, choked. Feebly, she fought to claw her way to the surface. The ghosts were right. This was a mistake.

  And then, the ground rushed up toward her.

  No, not the ground. A vast serpent, rising from the depths. Catching her, boiling upward with her secure in its claws.

  As they broke the surface, it sought the sky. But the ‘wings’ that spread from its back were bones and tatters of skin. They beat furiously – and impotently – against the air. Shamed, the creature limped to shore, carefully holding her above the waters. There, it set her down gently among the dried grasses.

  Drenched and shivering, Savannah staggered to her feet.

  It was a Dragon. Or, the remains of one. Weeds draped across its muck-spattered scales. Bones poked through its gaunt form and the skeletal ruins of its wings trailed beside it.

  It was hideous… horrible…

  But a Dragon. Not a Worm.

  “I told you,” she whispered, as a fit of coughing took her. “I told you.”

  …knock knock knock…

  The dream shimmered, threatening to dissolve.

  “You saved me. You remember. You can−”

  …KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!...

  Thundering and insistent, that sound dragged her back into the waking world.

  With a wail of disappointment, Savannah sat up in her resort bed.

  …knock knock knock KNOCK KNOCK…

  It was 2:15 am. Who could that be? Was there a fire? Had the Fangs found her?

  Still groggy and dazed, Savannah staggered over to the door’s peephole.

  A familiar man stood outside her door in the middle of the night.

  “Todd?”

  “Savannah. Open the door. We need to talk.”

  Chapter 12.

  “What’s wrong?” Adrenaline mixed with the remnants of the dream – and all that did was leave her fuzzy-headed. “Has there been an attack?”

  “What? No. I just wanted to talk to you.”

  “At two in the morning?” Was he drunk? Savannah squinted through the peephole, but the Bear seemed steady on his feet.

  Just annoyed. “Yes, at two. The damned Dragons grilled me for hours. I got here as soon as I could.”

  He sounded so irritated. Like Josh Bentley had seriously inconvenienced him by ‘demanding’ to be shot. “Let’s talk in the morning, all right? I’m really tired.”

  “Seriously? I thought you’d want to talk after what happened.”

  After what happened? Savannah didn’t know if it was fatigue or annoyance that clouded her mind, but she could not understand what he meant. Why would she want to talk about Bentley’s death? Todd was the one who killed him. Or did her handler worry that she wasn’t strong enough to do her job?

  “Is this about me shooting Mariset? If so, I’m okay with it.” She’d never actually killed anyone – but every spy knows that, one day, they might be forced to make that lethal choice.”

  “What? No! I meant after you embarrassed me in front of all the senior Shifters of this region.”

  Oh. When she refused to obey his orders. When he yelled at her like a disobedient pet. “Todd…”

  “Why are we still talking through this goddamn door? Are you going to let me in, or what?”

  ‘Or what’ was very tempting right now. Though there was no way in hell she’d sleep again tonight. Not after this argument and that dream.

  Two a.m. breakup… in a bath robe. Sure. Why not?

  Sighing, she opened the door. Todd brushed past her and scanned the room with deep suspicion, as if he expected to see another man’s feet sticking out from under the couch.

  “Coffee?”

  “No.”

  Good. Because there were only two packets left and she was sure she’d need both.

  Hot, angry eyes studied her as she crossed the room. Intent on getting her caffeine, Savannah ignored him.

  “Well?” Todd snapped at last.

  “Well what?” Man, this had to be the slowest coffeemaker on the planet!

  “I expect an apology.”

  “So do I,” she shot back. “I bet we’re both going to be disappointed.”

  “What the hell did I do wrong?”

  “You ordered me about like a dog. You treated me like a child, not a skilled undercover agent.”

  “And you forgot yourself! You’re the agent. I’m the handler. I am in charge.”

  “Respect still matters.”

  “Are you kidding me?” he scoffed. “You were permitted to speak before the leaders of the Shifter community. That’s more respect than any Kin woman should hope for.”

  And there it was. Savannah took a sip of the black coffee, letting its bitterness join the darkness in her heart. That was the truth. The fact that doomed their relationship from the start. Todd would never consider her his equal. Without respect, love had no chance.

  I shouldn’t have fallen for a Shifter. They’re all jerks.

  No, not all of them. Jordan Beaumont never looked down his nose at her. Physically, he was far more powerful. Yet, he respected her. Her intelligence. Her wit. Her heart.

  Todd didn’t.

  Because he’s an asshole, not a Shifter.

  An asshole who wasn’t done grousing. “You have to remember how the world works. When you insult me in front of my peers−”

  “Todd, stop.” She didn’t need to raise her voice. The disgust on her face silenced him. “There’s no point arguing about this. We’re done.”

  His jaw dropped in almost comical shock. “You’re breaking up with me?”

  What was he…? Oh.

  Well, that wasn’t the most tactful way of saying it, but… “I meant, professionally. I won’t be taking a second undercover job, so you aren’t my handler anymore. But… yes. I do want to break up
.”

  “Seriously? Just like that? No talk? Not even going to bother to try to fix it?”

  “You said I’m not your equal. I’m ‘just’ Kin. What else is there to talk about? I can’t ‘fix’ that.”

  “That’s hardly a surprise! From the start, we both knew you were Kin.”

  “But I didn’t know what that meant to you.” Tears stung her eyes, sudden and unexpected. Savannah didn’t know how she’d ever cared for this man… but she had. “I thought you saw me as a partner, not a pet.”

  “Bullshit.” His eyes narrowed as he rose to his feet. “You’re seeing someone else, aren’t you?”

  “What? No!”

  “You are. Who... Oh, hell, tell me it’s not that stinking Worm? If you picked a goddamn Worm over me, I will…”

  That ‘goddamn’ Worm cares about me! He protects me! He stands up for me when jerks like you insult me!

  No point saying any of that, though. It would only drive the Bear berserk.

  “Tell me you didn’t sleep with that goddamn Worm!”

  “I did not cheat on you,” she snapped. “I did not sleep with my boss. Happy?”

  Todd rocked on his heels as if he could feel, physically, the waves of anger rolling over him. Quickly, though, that rage vanished.

  Very quickly. Like, one second later. Savannah blinked, stunned by how fast he came to terms with the breakup and sighed, “Oh well. Like you say, it doesn’t matter.”

  He really didn’t care about me.

  Once again, pain lanced through her heart. At least, she consoled herself, that would make their parting easier.

  “Saves me time too.” From under his jacket, Todd drew a .357.

  And pointed it at her.

  Her heart skipped a beat. “Todd, what are you doing?”

  “Cleaning up a loose end. The real reason I came over was to find out your plans for the future. Getting an apology before you died was just icing on the cake.”

  Everything fell into place now. Why he never worried about her safety. Why he refused to ask Griffin and Ghost what Jordan had told them.

  Why the Fangs knew her boss was Nemo the moment she told Todd.

  “No need to schedule some ‘accident’ in the future.” He clicked the safety off, his hand steady as a rock. “Apparently, the Fangs of Apophis found you and killed you.”