CORAM by Burrows, Bonnie, Shifters, Simply (1)

CORAM 

PLANET OF THE DRAGONS BOOK 3

 

 

BONNIE BURROWS

 

 

Copyright ©2018 by  Bonnie Burrows

All rights reserved.

 

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About This Book

 

Introducing...

 

CORAM

 

With a strong jaw and chiseled abs, WereDragon Coram was impossibly attractive.

 

And he knew it.

 

So when he joined cute and curvy Leanna Shire on a mission to the planet of Lacerta he immediately sensed her attraction for him.

 

With one eye on the task at hand, Coram was never going to pass up the chance to sleep with an attractive human woman.

 

However, the consequences of his actions would be both a surprise and a SHOCK for the most handsome weredragon in the universe....

 

“CORAM” is Book 3 from the “Dragons Of The Universe” series. Each book features a new handsome dragon's quest to find his perfect mate on a planet far, far away. If you love steamy dragon romance, hot adventures and fiery thrills then you will love this!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                         

ELEVEN

 

CHAPTER ONE

 

“MOM!  DADDY!  NO…!”

 

The dream had come again, and it was as awful as ever.  It always came at the worst times, and this was no exception.

 

Lieutenant Leanne Shire bolted upright on her bed, shouting and panicked.  Her skin

 glistened with cold perspiration, her normally perfectly groomed brown hair a tossed mess on her head.  Her lovely face was taut with the terror that had come to her in her sleep, as it had done so many times since she was sixteen.  Her breaths came in panting, gasping half-sobs.

 

Clad in a t-shirt and panties, her typical attire for when she slept alone, she sat in the dark, chasing away the feeling of being a sixteen-year-old girl on the worst day of her life, rather than a thirty-one-year old, trained professional Interstar Fleet officer. 

 

Leanne willed her breath to slow and her galloping heartbeat to calm.  She focused her eyes in her darkened quarters aboard the starship Renault.  She took in the shapes of the simple but comfortable furnishings and the frames of the viewports, and the shimmers of the stars in space outside.  She was not where she was in her sleep; that was fifteen years ago.  This was not the planet Dorian III.  She was not surrounded by architecture being choked in wildly growing alien fronds and buildings and infrastructure being torn apart by monstrous vines, with fire and upheaval and people running and shooting and shouting. 

 

Her parents were not being dragged in one direction into the maw of something monstrous.  She was not being pulled in the opposite direction, desperately reaching for her parents and gazing into the terrified expressions that would be the last looks she would ever see on their gentle faces.  And she was not being suddenly cut away from the python-like fronds that had grasped her, released by the sure and sudden slash of a power blade and borne off to safety in strong, scaly arms, propelled aloft by mighty leather wings.

 

No, Leanne Shire was a grown woman, just out of her twenties, who had come far in her life since that awful day that kept returning in her dreams.  She had come far and accomplished much, and her parents, she knew, would have been proud to know what she had made of herself.

 

Still and all, remembering them as they were the last time she saw them and knowing what fate had surely come to them while she was carried away from the attack had a way of reaching into that secret part of her heart that would forever be sixteen years old, bringing back the shock and horror and pain of those moments.  The young girl that she’d been back then was still preserved inside her like an insect in prehistoric amber, with all the terror and grief of that day.  She despaired of her uniform and her ever-changing rank.  It was what had driven her to do everything she’d done since that day.

 

Leanne flopped backwards onto the coolness of her sweat-dampened pillow and exhaled heavily, having reassured herself that yes, it was the dream again.  Just the dream, coming unbidden and unwelcome as ever, and always at the most inopportune time—as if there could be an opportune time for a nightmare.

 

With her breathing and pulse returning to normal, she now faced the prospect of having to get back to sleep and get enough rest to be clear of mind for her conference tomorrow.  She should just put on a REM chip, she thought.  That would take her directly into the optimal stage of sleep, and by putting a timer on it, she could have it gently wake her with plenty of time for a shower and breakfast before the conference with the Captain and the senior crew.  She wished that she could have done the conference and briefing today, but the Renault had picked her up from the Spire Deep Space Station at the end of the senior crew’s duty shift.

 

They had welcomed her aboard with dinner, then everyone retired with the briefing scheduled for the morning, so there was nothing to do but settle in.  She could have given her presentation upon boarding; she had gone over it so many times that she knew the information as well as she knew her own name.  But fine, what greeted her was dinner and a good night’s sleep—or at least, that was what she’d expected and would have had if the damned dream had not come back tonight of all nights.

 

And it was somehow fitting, Leanne thought, that her rendezvous point with the Renault was the Spire Station.  It was not directly affiliated with the place she was going, but it was a pleasing coincidence.  When the Renault dropped her off at her destination, the Spires would be where she would go directly.

 

The Spires: the place where her rescuer all those years ago had been trained to protect and serve his planet and the greater galaxy.  The Spires—and the planet of its location, a place that had loomed larger than any other in her imagination for half her life.  Leanne had been there before, but never for a reason as critically important as why she was going there now. 

_______________

 

“Good morning, Lieutenant Shire,” Captain Quella Hillman greeted her from the head of the conference table.  The African-descended woman with the shiny curls of black hair beckoned Leanne to take an empty place at the middle of one side of the table, and Leanna smiled and headed there.

 

“Good morning, Captain—everyone,” replied Leanne on her way to her seat.  The seven people who had preceded her there were the same ones with whom she had dined last night.  They were the typical multi-species starship crew.  Leanne was in the company of humans and a few non-terrestrials:  a hairless, violet-skinned, sunken-eyed Krayolite; a feather-crested and eagle-beaked Kryagian; and a similarly hairless, green-skinned Sudolian, whose fingers were like grasping roots.

 

Leanne chided herself for feeling so anxious in the presence of the Sudolian, who had not joined them for dinner; as a plant being, he did not eat in the same way as the rest of the crew.  She had no reason to dislike him other than that he reminded her of the way her parents died, and that was none of his doing.  Her irrational prejudice was out of line, and she buried it deep down with the nightmare and hoped his natural empathy could not sense it.  If the menace that had destroyed Leanne’s family were still abroad in the quadrant, the Sudolians would have been as much under threat as everyone else.  The enemy that had brought such danger and jeopardy into Commonwealth space was one that saw all life from the smallest microbe to the mightiest beast as raw material.  If the enemy had had its way, all life in the galaxy would have become a part of a single mind under a single uniting, dominating, all-consuming will.  Leanne Shire had pledged her own life to ensuring that no such fate or any fate like it would come to her world, her quadrant, her space.  Not on her watch.

 

Taking her place at the table, Leanne began: “As Captain Hillman has told you all and as we were discussing in general terms over dinner last night, the reason you’re taking me to the planet Lacerta is that Lacerta is where the Commonwealth has chosen to reactivate a set of security measures that were shelved fifteen years ago: the Chimerian Protocols.  These protocols have one purpose and one purpose alone: to protect any and all planets in our space and their inhabitants from a return invasion attempt by the Chimerians.  Of course, you all know why these measures are being put into play now.”

 

Captain Hillman said to the ship’s AI, “Display Dr. Sewall Sabian and Sir Rawn Ullery of Lacerta.”  A flurry of light pixels appeared over the center of the table and congealed into two holograms, one of a human male several years older than Leanna, the other of a strikingly handsome and muscled Knight of Lacerta in the multicolored metallic-foil armor skin of his uniform.  Leanne almost thought she could feel a spike of emotion rising in the room at the sight of these two, and with good reason.

 

The Knight was among the most celebrated heroes in the history of spacefaring civilization.  The other man was among the most infamous men in the history of the quadrant.  The two of them were mortal foes, and both had been thought lost, dead in a final conflict not long after Leanne lost her parents.  Both had turned up alive and had recently met in a final showdown which one of them, this time, did not survive.

 

“Dr. Sewall Sabian,” Captain Hillman reminded the group, “was the assistant of Dr. Jacques Phifer in the Mythos Project, aimed at creating fire-breathing super Knights from an elite group of weredragon Knights of Lacerta.  These super Knights were meant to be the quadrant’s most powerful line of defense against the threat of the Chimerians.  What no one knew was that Sabian had become the disciple of the High Chimerian and was secretly working against the Commonwealth.

 

The Mythos Project was successful only in mutating Sir Rawn Ullery, its first experimental subject.  Before the project could go any further, Sabian assassinated his mentor and destroyed

Phifer’s research, which made Sir Ullery his deadly enemy.  The two of them battled several times in different sectors of the quadrant until Sir Ullery faced Sabian at the Chimerian warp nexus, which was meant to spread the Chimerians across space.  Sir Ullery destroyed the nexus, it was thought, at the cost of his own life and Sabian’s.  But the two of them turned up alive in the Catalan system where the planet Lacerta is located.  They battled again—and this time, Sir Ullery claimed his final victory.”

 

Leanne picked up from there.  “Our real concern now isn’t Dr. Sabian but the plan he used to lure the Knight into his trap.  Display Joanna Way.”

 

Another cloud of pixels appeared and became a hologram of a beautiful Earth woman, a member of the interstellar media who was well-known across the quadrant.  “While covering the story of Sir Rawn’s return,” Leanne continued, “Joanna Way became the Knight’s lover.  Sabian had a spy in the Lacertan Knighthood—a Chimerian spy who had passed himself off as a young, newly initiated Knight.  The spy abducted Ms. Way and took her to Sabian’s ship in orbit of Catalan, where the showdown between Sabian and Sir Rawn took place.  Sir Rawn rescued his lover and finally destroyed his old enemy, and the security of the Lacertan Spires discovered that the spy had committed suicide.

 

But the fact of the spy, the fact that there was a Chimerian lurking on Lacerta, waiting to strike, has alarmed the governments of Lacerta, Earth, and the entire Commonwealth.  The fear, and I think it’s a real one, is that if there could be one spy, there could be others, likely many others, hiding in plain sight, waiting to commit who knows what acts of terror and murder.  And with Sabian gone, they’ve lost their leader.  Who is their leader now, and what are they planning next?  To stop any paranoia and panic and to protect all our worlds before something unthinkable happens, Earth has called for the reactivation of the Chimerian Protocols, a technology created specifically to deal with this threat.”

 

Commander Ergal, the Krayolite, spoke up.  “The Chimerian Protocols are a technology that was put aside and never used at the end of the Chimerian conflict.”

 

“Yes, Commander,” replied Leanne.  “Ironically, the reason the project was shelved and the reason why it’s being reactivated are one and the same: to control fear and paranoia.  Back then, Earth was afraid of the Protocols being used indiscriminately against anyone suspected of being a Chimerian and citizens turning on each other because of it.  Now, the Protocols are being brought back because if the Chimerians have been lurking around our space for the last fifteen years, there’s no telling who and where they are and what plans they have in place.  The last decade and a half will have given them a dangerous head start on whatever they’re going to do.”

 

Ergal said, “And the Protocols are designed, then, to find Chimerians wherever they are—and neutralize them.”

 

“That’s exactly right,” answered Leanne with a nod of certainty.

 

Captain Hillman asked, “Can you show us exactly what the Protocol technology will do once it’s brought on line?”

 

“I can,” Leanne said.  “Run Chimerian Protocol proposal animation.”

 

The conference hologram transformed into a 3D image of the planet Earth.  “The engineers who created the technology,” Leanne explained, “used Earth for a simulated demonstration.  They chose the area of New York City as the setting of the simulation.  Watch.”  The officers looked on as the hologram zoomed in to a 3D satellite view of the island of Manhattan.  In another second, the hologram was filled with as many moving pinpoints of light as one might see in space if the angle of the satellite’s camera were reversed.

 

 “The lights, as you’ll guess, represent individuals, human and otherwise, living in Manhattan, each one scanned and pinpointed by the Protocol sensors.  The sensors are as powerful as the ones this Starship uses, but they’re specifically targeted to look for any being or any organism with the markers of Chimerian DNA.  That by itself isn’t so remarkable, but what comes next is.”  One of the myriad pinpoints of light in the display suddenly changed

colors from gold to red and began to strobe on and off.  Leanne explained, “We’re now seeing a simulation of a Chimerian being detected.”

 

The simulation changed again.  All the indicators of people disappeared except for the flashing red light.  The view zoomed in, the details of the buildings quickly resolving themselves, and then dove through the roof of the building in which the target had been located.  It came to rest inside a typical New York City apartment where a nondescript man sat at a desk looking at a holographic display, unsuspecting the scrutiny that had fallen upon him—until suddenly, he looked up in a simulation of alarm and pushed himself away from his desk. 

 

Leanne said, “Once the targeted sensor has found its mark, it can follow the target no matter what form he takes or how he tries to escape.”  Frantically, the simulated Chimerian, feeling the penetration of scanning beams through his body, bounded across the apartment to the living room window, hit the power surface to make it slide open, and flung himself out over the rooftops of the city.  This was not to commit suicide upon detection but to change his shape. 

 

In mid-air, he morphed into an Oniasian air manta.  The creature, its wing span equal to the height of two adult human males, took off into what it intended to be a glide to safety.  “Once the scanning beams have been locked on,” said Leanne, “their frequency can be changed.  They can enclose the target in a force field, they can stun the target or they can be set to kill.”  The simulation showed the air manta attempting to swoop around a tall building and disappear—only to erupt in mid-flight into a blazing, careening mass of red light and fire that shriveled in a matter of seconds into a blackened husk, then turned to a dust that floated down toward the street.

 

The animation ended and the holographic display over the desk disappeared.  Leanne folded her hands over the table and said, “The Chimerian Protocol technology is versatile.  We can use it for more than search-and-capture or search-and-destroy.  Once it’s pinpointed a target, it can affect the Chimerian’s nervous system or, with a more powerful scan, even the way its genes work.

 

It can remove a Chimerian’s ability to use its shape-changing powers.  We can even block a Chimerian’s ability to mutate and control other life forms.  It’s the best defense against them that we have.”  She turned more thoughtful now.  “Back when the Protocols were developed, there were some people who were against discontinuing the project.  Some people argued that the threat was still real even if the war was over.  I was one of them.  But I was a cadet in the Fleet Academy back then; I didn’t have much of a voice. 

 

To be honest, I don’t have much of a voice now, being just a Lieutenant.  But I spoke up anyway, and I was put in charge of a pilot project to start the Protocols on Lacerta.  When I arrive on

Lacerta, I’ll be accepting a field promotion to Lieutenant Commander, and I’ll be working closely with the Knights and the Corps to get this project running.  Once we’ve proven its effectiveness on Lacerta, we’ll be starting it up on Earth and everywhere else in the Commonwealth, and we’ll be making it available to all of our allies.  Since the Chimerians have that fifteen-year head start on us, I plan to hit the ground running and not let up.”

 

“Can I assume,” Ergal asked, “that the Protocols will work as well with other creatures under Chimerian control as they do with Chimerians themselves?”

 

“I see where you’re going with that,” answered Leanne.  “You’re remembering that along with the remains of the one at the Spires, we also discovered the remains of what was found to be a grass dragon that the Chimerian was controlling.  We know the Chimerians are only partially telepathic with life forms that don’t contain their own genes; they have to inject their genes into another organism to control it.

 

The Protocol technology can identify any organism, sentient or otherwise, with Chimerian genes.  Its designers were very careful about that.  The Chimerians’ defenses against this weapon are limited, and there is one critical limitation to the technology itself.  Isolating what may be just one specific gene out of the genetic information of every creature in a particular area is a very subtle and delicate task.  We’re talking about molecular-level scanning over what may be large areas, like a whole city as you just saw.

 

Plus, the expression of Chimerian genes can be switched on and off for camouflage, and that makes them even harder to detect.  Part of what makes this technology so effective is that it can force a particular gene to express if it knows what it’s looking for—and in the case of the Chimerians, we know.” 

 

“So, the Chimerians have a slight edge,” said Hillman, “but it’s one we can take away from them.” 

 

The Sudolian officer spoke up.  The voice of Commander Lovan was ethereal, sounding like a long exhalation.  Leanne found herself again guarding her emotional reaction to this being, and wished that she could get over her instinctive defensiveness about the Sudolians once and for all.  It was unworthy of an officer.  Lovan said, “This technology was not our only means of dealing with the Chimerians, as I recall.  It was developed after earlier measures were already in place.”

 

“Yes,” Leanne said, sounding professional.  “There was the biological defense weapon, the anti-Chimerian retrovirus that was used to cure individuals who were infected with Chimerian genes.  The retrovirus had different methods of delivery, and they were all effective—but it was a reactive, defensive weapon, and using it at all depended on capturing, cornering, or subduing someone who was under Chimerian control.  We still have access to the retrovirus; the Fleet Medcorps has kept supplies of it stored away. 

 

The Fleet Headquarters on Lacerta also has the data for the formula, and they’ve already prepared a supply of it in case they need it.  The order to proceed with that went out as soon as the incident with Sir Rawn and Sabian was reported; we can have it ready to deploy at a moment’s notice.  But what I’ve just shown you is a proactive and offensive weapon, a weapon that can take away the Chimerians’ advantage that the Captain mentioned.  I want them stopped cold.” 

 

“The Ruling Aerie in Silverwing City on Lacerta will be ready when you get there,” Hillman said.

 

“I know,” said Leanne.  “For security reasons, I’ll be delivering the specs and schematics for the Protocol tech in person; I didn’t want to transmit it and run the risk of it being intercepted.  But I know they have time on their heavy-duty fabricators set aside for when I

arrive, and I’ve been given the name of the Knight who’ll be reporting to the Spires along with me and helping me coordinate the effort:  Sir Coram Dunne.  I want to have everything in place within a week and be ready to report back to Earth.”

 

“We’ll have you there by this time tomorrow,” said the Captain.

 

“I appreciate that,” Leanne said.

 

“Then if there’s nothing further, now that everyone’s been apprised of what’s going on,” the Captain said, rising, “this meeting is adjourned.”

 

The ship’s senior officers filed out of the conference room, and Leanne with them.  In the corridor outside, Leanne walked with Captain Hillman.  The Captain said, “I’m sure you’ve looked up the service record of Sir Coram.”

 

“Of course,” said Leanne.  “Standard procedure.”

 

“What do you think of him?”

 

Leanne frowned a bit, not in annoyance but in consideration.  “He’s got an impressive record, naturally.  He’s no Sir Rawn, but he’s one of their best dragons.  Cited for conspicuous valor against the Scodax, veteran of battles against hostile occupations and colonial insurrections on some of the Frontier planets where the Commonwealth had interests, served with distinction in disaster relief on three different planets.  I expect we’ll work well together.  Why do you ask?”

 

“I looked up your record as well,” said Hillman.  “I’ve noticed you have a history of

requesting assignments where you’ll be working with Lacertan Knights or Corps members.  It seems you have a bit of a…personal interest in them.”

 

Understanding the Captain’s meaning, Leanne said, “I have a natural interest in them, Captain.  If I may be so bold, you probably looked up my record like you did Sir Coram’s.  You know what happened…on Dorian III.”

 

“Yes,” said Hillman, “I know.”

 

“Captain,” said Leanne, “permission to speak freely?”

 

“Granted, of course,” said the Captain.

 

Leanne said, “I didn’t join the Fleet because I wanted revenge for what happened to my parents, or because I thought I could bring them back.  I wasn’t a naive girl; I was almost a grown woman, and I thought that even if I couldn’t bring back my parents, I could still help to keep what happened to me from happening to someone else. 

 

And I don’t like to work with the Knights of Lacerta out of some hero worship.  Yes, one of them rescued me, and because of that, I trust them and admire them the same as everyone else does.  I know they’re the best because when I was very young, I saw how good they are.  They couldn’t save my parents, but they saved so many other people on the planet where I grew up.  They protected me, they were kind to me, and they’re the best.  I don’t think they’re gods.  I think they’re an example to follow.”

 

“So, there’s nothing personal at all,” asked Hillman, “about you wanting this assignment out of all the assignments you could have had?”

 

“Nothing personal,” said Leanne, “except what I said earlier.  I believe in this project now like I believed in it then.  I thought it was something that should have been done fifteen years ago.  I thought it was a mistake not to do it when it was first proposed.  When Sabian turned up alive again and went after Sir Rawn, I looked on it as an opportunity—a chance to correct that mistake.”

 

“I understand,” Hillman replied.  “And I see how driven you are to do this.  I think Earth and the Fleet picked the right woman for this assignment.  I look forward to your success.”

 

“So do I, Captain,” said Leanne.

_______________

 

Back in her quarters, Leanne set herself down comfortably on the bed where, only a few hours ago, the dream had come for her again, and called, “Display Sir Hagen Maxon.”

 

A swirl of pixels over the bed congealed into a hologram of a proud, powerful weredragon Knight in silver, blue, and red armor.  He was brown-skinned like Captain Hillman, except with a brighter, warmer tone, and had a short, close-cropped beard; he was built as one would expect the triumphant veteran of years of battles to be.  Though she was no longer sixteen, Leanne could not help but feel a swell of excited admiration in her heart every time she looked at the image of the Knight who had saved her all those years ago.

 

“Display Sir Hagen Maxon in dragon form,” she commanded.

 

The hologram shifted, and Sir Hagen appeared in his other body, scales glistening, dragon neck arched majestically, horns protruding regally from his dragon head, wings and tail fully

unfurled—formidable and magnificent in every aspect, the image of dragon might and valor.

 

She had not been entirely honest with Captain Hillman, Leanne knew.  It was true that she did trust and admire the Knights of Lacerta, a trust and admiration that she had in common with millions of other people on a thousand and more planets.  It was true that she respected their

ethic of protection and service, if necessary at the cost of their lives.  And it was true that she did not think of them as gods—at least not quite.

 

Looking at the image of Sir Hagen Maxon, who had come to her rescue when she was a girl even as she saw her parents being borne off to a horrible death, she felt the same way as she had since she was on the cusp of womanhood.  Sir Hagen was not a god, but he loomed in her heart and her imagination almost as a mythic figure.  The admiration and love—yes, it was a kind of love—that she held for him had guided her path in life from Dorian III to now.  It had taken her to the Fleet.  And it had even framed and

informed her choice of lovers. 

 

After losing her parents, Leanne had started a journal as a form of therapy on the advice of her counselors.  She had not written in it for longer than she cared to think, because she was now a trained and disciplined officer who knew how to handle danger and even how to help others who were traumatized as she had been.  But when she was actively keeping the journal, she had recorded all of her most intimate feelings in it, including her feelings about the Knights.  One line from her writings back then still resounded in her mind at times like these:

 

They’re everything I want to be.

 

Leanne knew that she had never fully, deeply explored the meaning of those words and the reasons why she wrote them.  She had not even discussed it in its fullest depth with her counselors, though perhaps they suspected what it really meant.  It cut all the way down to the heart of what she thought of herself as a person, her identity, her place in the universe.  Leanne had set out to be one thing, and she had succeeded—because it was the nearest thing to what she really wanted to be, something she could scarcely dare to admit because of everything that it

implied and everything it could mean.

 

It was there, and it was a part of her.  And every time she was in the company of a Knight or a Corpsman or anyone from Lacerta, every time she lay with a dragon male, and every time she remembered the dragon man who’d saved her, the feeling returned to her. 

 

Now, she was going to Lacerta, and that feeling would be with her every minute.  She must not let it distract her—but it would be there.

 

Feeling the need to return to the here and now, to look forward instead of back, Leanne called, “Display Sir Coram Dunne.”

 

The hologram in the air parted like a swarm of fireflies, then settled down into another image scan, this one of a Knight very different from the one who had saved Leanne’s life and set her on a path to where she was today and would be tomorrow.  Concentrating on the image, she turned her mind toward the days before her, the tasks they would bring—and this one, who would be at her side at a time that might decide the fate of every human-inhabited planet.

_______________

 

The shiny towers and dome of the Spires, where the Knights of Lacerta were trained and headquartered, were surrounded by immaculately groomed fields and trees and rows of hedges, with dragon men and women strolling along them and swooping and circling above them, making the Spires seem almost a magical place.

 

And in one of the meadows, bordered by trees and hedges with a stone footpath running along one side, a group of excited and shouting young weredragons, some in their human shape and some in their reptile bodies, cheered and bellowed and hissed at what was happening in a raised arena of stone that sat at the center of the field.  In the arena, resting atop a platform of stones half a meter high, two young male Lacertans in dragon form busied themselves at trying to thrash and flail each other within an inch of their young lives.

 

The rule of their competition was that no blood was to be drawn.  Body slams, blows of fists, slaps of wings, and whips and slashes of tails were permitted.  Fangs, claws, and horns were not.  Whoever drew blood defaulted the victory to his opponent.  On their honor to pummel into submission but not to wound, the two young combatants had at it, each blow drawing a chorus of mixed human and reptilian whoops and shouts from the spectators forming a ring around the arena.

 

The first dragon was of a green hue that tinted and faded into bands of blue up and down his body and a tint of turquoise on his chest and stomach plates.  The second was green with stripes and swaths of tan and gold and bluish tints on his plates.  Neither was prepared to give the slightest quarter.  Now, they circled one another, hissing, tails twitching threateningly. 

 

Then, they lunged, slamming into each other like a scaly Scylla and Charybdis, locking arms and pressing chest against chest.  They broke their hold, only for one to come swinging at the other with a mighty whoosh of his tail, sending the opponent tumbling back to the edge of the arena.  There lay the other term of defeat:  whichever opponent allowed himself to be knocked from the stone platform onto the grass was the loser. 

 

The green and gold dragon skidded almost to the edge and stopped himself with claws dug deep into the stone.  Indeed, around the entire circumference of the arena were the long gouges of other combatants who had stopped themselves going over in the very same way.  The dragon with the gold swaths pulled himself back to his feet and lunged at his foe.  Again, they crashed together, pushing back and forth with the strength of scale-jacketed sinews.  And the whooping of the crowd went on.

 

The two dragons flailed furiously at each other, slamming neck against neck, one

colliding his chest with the other, tails beating at each other’s legs and hind parts.  Their wings beat at the air with the same fury as they beat at one another’s reptile body.  As neither gained the upper hand—or claw—once again, they broke off and returned to circling each other.  They opened their dragon jaws wide and bared their claws, not as a threat of harm but as an attempt to sharp intimidation, purely from instinct. 

 

Neither of them was daunted at the display.  The blue-tinted dragon threw himself forward at his gilded foe.  The gilded dragon made a feint and a spin to one side, sending the other careening through the space where he had been and spilling onto the stone floor of the arena.  At once, the fallen dragon pulled himself up to a crouch and wheeled about to face his opponent, but the

gilded dragon was ready for him. 

 

He moved in, brandishing his tail, and swiped it through the air, connecting with the blue-tinted dragon’s jaw and toppling him to one side.  The toppled dragon righted himself and prepared to lunge again.  And again, the gilded one brought forth his tail, this time catching the bluish one on the side of the neck.  Once more, he spilled over to one side.  This time, the gilded dragon leaped onto him, and the two of them locked talons together and thrashed on the floor as they had thrashed standing up.

 

The crowd roared at the ferocity of their display.  With a mighty shove, the blue-tinted one forced the two of them into a roll that put the green and gold one now on his back.  Blue-tint spread his wings while pressing the other onto the stone, but green-and-gold snaked his tail up between them and wrapped it around blue-tint’s neck.  The bluish one shrieked loudly and threw himself to one side, pulling his foe into another roll.  They thrashed about on the floor of the stone arena, the golden one coming up to his knees and starting to batter his tail up and down his opponent’s jaws, neck, and chest.  It became a torrential rain of savage blows.  The golden one screeched, and his opponent roared out his defiance…

 

And in the midst of the noises of combat from the arena and the shouts of the crowd

surrounding it came the whirring of a hovercar over the grass.

 

The spectators looked in the direction of the approaching vehicle and saw that it had one occupant, a human female wearing an Interstar Fleet uniform and a serious expression.  She stopped the hovercar and let it float a couple of meters from the spectators as she climbed out.

 

“One side,” the human female called.  “Official Fleet business; one side, please.”

 

The young Knights, trained from first initiation that official Fleet business was one of the things that took precedence over sport, parted to let the woman pass by them and walk up to the edge of the arena.  She looked onto the stone platform to see the gilded dragon still flailing away at his adversary, oblivious to everything else until the ebbing of the shouts from the crowd made him curious.  He pulled himself away from the dazed but still defiant blue-tinted dragon lying under him, and turned his attention behind him.  There he saw Lieutenant Leanne Shire standing with her hands on her hips, her businesslike expression unchanged from when she’d arrived.

 

The crowd was quiet enough now for everyone to hear her say, “Lieutenant Leanne Shire of the Interstar Fleet.  I’m looking for Sir Coram Dunne.”  She looked directly at the gilded dragon whom she had found winning the bout.  “That’s you, correct?”  She recognized him from his scans in his dragon form.

 

“Yes,” said the one dragon male, stepping forward while the other pulled himself up from the stone floor and assumed a respectful attitude.  “I’m Sir Coram Dunne.  I’ve been expecting you, Lieutenant.”

 

“Have you?” Leanne responded, arching an eyebrow and looking beyond Coram’s folding wings to the compatriot he had been busily pummeling.

 

Coram looked over his shoulder at his opponent, who bowed his dragon head slightly, as if to say the two of them were not finished and their competition would resume another day from where they left off.

 

“Don’t mind our little exhibition,” said Coram.  “We engage in these little sports all the time.  It keeps spirits up and skills sharp.”  With that, he relaxed and let his dragon body go.  Wings and tail retracted and disappeared.  His neck shrank; his head morphed from horned reptile to human.  Scales disappeared; taloned hands and feet returned to human shape. 

 

Where a bipedal dragon had been, now there stood a dazzlingly handsome human male of Leanne’s age.  Long, wavy golden-brown hair wreathed his princely head and just touched his shoulders.  A dreamy-handsome face with deep blue eyes gazed out at her.  A short growth of unshaven hair hugged the contours of his jawline and shadowed his upper lip.

 

The naked frame of his body was made of perfectly formed, lean muscles up and down; the chest, abs, and legs were dusted with bristling hair.  An uncircumcised serpent of flesh was suspended from the golden-brown bush at his crotch.  He stood with the typical casual and insouciant nakedness of a weredragon just morphed from reptile form.  Whether one happened to be friend or foe, the sight of Sir Coram Dunne was arresting, especially at a moment like this.

 

The other dragon male behind Coram also released his reptile form, becoming a strapping, dark-haired specimen.  One of his friends who had been watching the bout in the arena handed him his cast-off uniform, and he began to dress himself.  Meanwhile Coram continued to address Leanne.  “I’m sure you’re familiar with these little sparring matches we have, Lieutenant Shire.  We fight hard, but it’s all bloodless.  We save the bloodletting for actual

 battle.”

 

“I know all about it,” said Leanne.  “I’ve seen it many times.  I’d like to get right to work on the Chimerian problem.”

 

Another Knight came up to the edge of the arena by Coram and handed him his uniform.  Coram took the pieces of his armor skin but did not put them on directly, opting instead to continue his talk with Leanne.  “Isn’t there the matter of your field promotion first?” he asked.

 

“Yes, there’s a Fleet Officer waiting at the Spires to take care of that now.  I frankly wish Captain Hillman had done it on the way here, but the Spires has its own regulations and procedures, and I’d like to get through them as quickly as possible.  If you wouldn’t mind getting dressed now…”

 

Keeping himself still naked as the crowd of spectators parted, Coram stepped down onto the grass next to Leanne and smiled at her in a manner not disrespectful but in marked contrast to her no-nonsense demeanor.  “I’m not accustomed to females being in a hurry to see me with my uniform on,” he remarked.  “You’re quite ‘all business,’ aren’t you?”

 

“Knowing what’s at stake, Sir Knight, you should be ‘all business’ too,” Leanne replied.  “Now, if you please…”  She gestured at the parts of his uniform hanging from his hand.

 

“Of course, Lieutenant,” said Coram, “I’ll only be a moment.  And yes, I know exactly what’s at stake, and I mean to protect our worlds as much as you.  But if the Chimerians take away our ability to live in the moment, as far as I’m concerned, we’re as good as dead anyway.” 

 

Leanne said nothing further, standing by and watching him slip into the metallic fabric of his suit.  This Knight came with the highest recommendations of the Spires.  His record was impressive and impeccable.  He knew the gravity of their situation and the danger that every planet in the quadrant could be facing.  Why then did he seem to have such a nonchalant air about him?  What kind of Knight was Sir Coram Dunne, really?

 

Watching him cover up that body—or at least his legs, abs, and chest, leaving his arms bare except for his armbands and his back exposed to let out his wings and tail when he morphed—Leanne conceded that whatever kind of Knight this Coram was in terms of duty and

discipline, there was no denying that he was a beautiful man.  The Knighthood and the Corps were full of beautiful men.  She had known her share of them, in bed and out.

 

Still, Sir Coram was said to be exceptional.  No doubt she would know how exceptional he was soon enough.

 

 

 

 

 

Leanne and Coram went directly to the great Main Auditorium of the Spires, where Dr. Jacques Phifer and the treacherous Sewall Sabian first presented Sir Rawn Ullery for the demonstration of his newly acquired powers.  In front of a much smaller assemblage of people than had been present for that event—just the gathered Mentors of the Knighthood—Leanne received her new commission from Fleet Admiral Ahmed Hamilton. 

 

The Admiral, a robust but dignified black man who was fortuitously passing through the Catalan system on the way to another appointment and had volunteered to detour to Lacerta to promote Leanne, let her be on her way, as he was anxious to be on his.  Hamilton congratulated her and said he looked forward to hearing of the success of her endeavors, and they and the Mentors quickly dispersed. 

 

Coram had watched Leanne from the time they’d left the field where the arena was to their arrival at the auditorium and through the brief ceremony in which Hamilton swore Leanne in to her new post, adding a third bar to the top of her uniform.  His general impression of her was that she was as focused, purpose-oriented, and duty-driven an officer as had ever served in the Interstar Fleet, just as he’d expected her to be. 

 

His personal impression was that she was quite attractive in her way, as attractive as any human female with whom he had ever served and any with whom he had ever slept—and like any handsome heterosexual male Knight, he’d been to bed with his share of human females.  Coram

expected that this Leanne Shire might even be the most attractive human female he’d yet seen. 

 

But he could not be sure because he had yet to see her smile.  It was perhaps an archaic and even patronizing way of judging a woman’s beauty, but to Coram, a humanoid female was always at her most beautiful when she smiled.  He wondered what it might take to coax a smile out of Leanne Shire.  He wondered, too, whether the gravity of their shared assignment would even present any opportunity to find out.  It was a critical and paramount duty for which they had been chosen and put together, and Leanne Shire did not seem to be the type to be anything but deadly serious until it was done.

Every city and settlement on Lacerta had a Fabrication Center.  These were large structures with cavernous interiors, but not at all the kind of grungy and colorless places typical of factories on Earth hundreds of years ago.  The Fabrication Center for Silverwing was a large complex of shiny white walls and polished windows.  Inside, where the machines and personnel went about their work, was an open and brightly lit space where things were made by different methods. 

 

There were large vats and pools of nanotechnology-rich liquid in which some things were grown from molecules to finished objects.  Parts of spacecraft and vehicles, and sometimes even entire ships, were grown in vats, as were other devices including the weaponry used by the Knighthood and the Corps. 

 

And there were manufacturing stations where other things were drawn and brushed into the air by airbrush-like devices that produced lines and shapes made from whatever material or

materials a given object required.  The devices drew the vectors and contours of objects and layered the masses, “painting” things into three-dimensional reality.  These 3D pens and brushes were mounted on engines and armatures that either descended from the ceiling or were mounted into the floor.

 

Their “canvases” were surfaces built into the floor, on which the pre-designed and programmed object took shape.  The whole place had more of the effect of an art studio than a factory, and miniature versions of it existed in homes, offices, and studios all over the planet and everywhere else that people lived and worked, creating everything that people needed.

 

Visiting the Fabrication Center, Coram brought Leanne through the busy space where workers and robots oversaw things being made, unloaded them from their platforms, and lifted them from their vats to be dried.  At one end of the sprawling interior lay a manufacturing station where two object painters mounted on the floor were painstakingly drawing and filling in a large polymer-ceramic gargoyle in the shape of a dragon.  The dragon’s head with still-hollow eyes, neck, upper body, and forelimbs were already done; the lines for the structure of its wings, rear body, legs, and tail were already in place and waiting for their shape and mass to be finished.

 

A male human monitor happened to be standing by, watching the devices go about their work and noting their process on a holographic tablet on his shirtsleeve.  He looked up and acknowledged the Knight and the Fleet officer as they approached.  “Hello, Sir Coram,” he called.  “This,” he referred to Leanne, “is the Lieutenant Commander you were telling me about?”

 

Coming up to the man, Coram said, “Yes, this is Lieutenant Commander Leanne Shire, my liaison with the Interstar Fleet.  Commander, this is Jeffrey Fairstein, one of the monitors here.”

 

“How do you do?” Leanne said.  Referring to the gargoyle-in-progress, she asked, “And this is going to be one of the Chimerian Protocol devices?”

 

“Yes, it is,” said Fairstein.  “It will be kept hollow, and the technology will be installed inside it.  The eyes, when it’s finished, will be a sensor-transmitter combination that the interior tech will work through.  We’re making them in the shape of dragon gargoyles because I’m sure you’ve seen that Lacertan cities have gargoyles like this in buildings all over.

 

They’ll blend in with the natural architecture of the cities this way.  Silverwing will have five of these, one in the center of the city and the others at equidistant points across the city, creating a sensor network that will be coordinated with the Protocol satellite that’s being fabricated in orbit right now.”

 

“Yes,” Leanne said, remembering the specifics of the project.  “The satellite will coordinate all the operating data from all the cities and settlements, and the sensor network will cover the whole planet.  Every city will have five sensor gargoyles, just like Lacerta.  The network will pick up any Chimerian or any Chimerian-controlled creature in any populated area, and the Protocol tech will go to work. 

Protecting the populated parts of the planet is the first step.  The bigger part of the job will be covering the unpopulated areas, where the Chimerians might be working in secret.  That’ll be our long-term work.”

 

“That means you’ll be having a good, long stay with us,” said Coram, looking not at the partially fabricated gargoyle but at Leanne, and smiling subtly at her.

 

Leanne gave Coram a sidelong glance, courteously but without the smile.  “It’s a big 

project.  As it goes along and things get installed, you and your fellow Knights and the Corps will become more involved.” 

 

His smile unwavering, Coram replied, “I’ll look forward to that.”

 

Leanne chose not to pick up on Coram’s warm geniality but remained just as courteous.  “There’ll be plenty to look forward to.”

 

“I’m sure there will,” said Coram with a hint of a twinkle in his eye.

 

Returning her attention to Fairstein, Leanne asked, “How far along are you with the

fabrication?”

 

Fairstein replied, “This is the second of the five.  The first one is having its tech installed in the machine shop right now.  We’re working round the clock on these; we expect to have all five done and all the tech installed first thing in the morning.”

 

Leanne nodded.  “That’ll be right on schedule; that’s good.  Before noon tomorrow, I expect to have Silverwing online and ready to establish the connection with the satellite, and all the other places ready by the end of the day.  You have my code; you can link me in the morning when you’re ready.”

 

“Yes, we do, Commander,” said Fairstein.  “And we will be ready for you promptly.”

 

“Thank you,” said Leanne.  “Carry on, Mr. Fairstein.  Sir Coram, let’s be going.”  And without another word, she turned and started back across the Fabrication Center in the direction she’d come.

 

Coram lingered just long enough to give Fairstein a parting glance.  “Knows her business, that one,” the monitor said softly.

 

“That she does,” replied Coram in a similarly hushed tone.  “Can’t say I blame her; the Chimerians are a real danger.”

 

“There won’t be much relaxing with her, I’d say.”

 

“It’s not a relaxing time.  The whole quadrant’s on edge, especially here.  Still, the more we work together, the better I’ll get to know her.  She’ll warm up when it’s appropriate.”

 

Fairstein looked knowingly at Coram, who had a reputation for his ways of warming people up.  They both snapped to attention at Leanne’s voice, calling from a few meters away: “Are you with me, Sir Coram?”

 

Coram called to her, “Coming!”  Then, with a nod and a wink to Fairstein, he dashed off to catch up with Leanne.

 

Fairstein watched the two of them walk quickly away across the vast roomful of devices and objects, and guessed at how long it would take for Coram to “warm up” the Lieutenant Commander in the midst of the serious business of protecting the planet and, by extension, the quadrant.  “You’ve got your work cut out for you, I think,” he said, knowing they were both out of earshot, before turning back to the work at hand.

_______________

 

On the wide, manicured lawn outside the Fabrication Center, Leanne walked briskly back to the hovercar while Coram kept pace—until she saw the small, green forms leaping and scampering about.  She paused to look at them, squinted and frowned at them.  They looked completely innocent.  But if example and experience, especially recent experience, were any indication, not everything could be trusted to be the way it looked.  Not even the little grass dragons that were such a common sight all over Lacerta.  They were holdovers from the time, ages before human colonists first came to the planet, when much larger dragons, some as big as terrestrial elephants, ruled and roamed the world. 

 

Now, these little cousins of the giant flying reptiles were all that remained of their line, and they were everywhere.  In the cities and other colonial settlements of Lacerta, the grass dragons were like pigeons and squirrels on Earth.  They congregated in fields and parks and scampered along the roofs and ledges of buildings.  They made their homes in the trees.  Leanne took a moment to watch the little reptiles catching insects, digging up worms, hunting for little furry rodent-like things.  She watched them leap into the air and fly about, sometimes playing and tumbling with each other.  Coram stopped to watch both them and Leanne.

 

“You’re thinking of the grass dragon that the spy controlled, the one he used to help him gather intel,” Coram guessed.

 

“I am,” said Leanne.  “I was just thinking, if I were going to weaponize one species on Lacerta…”  She didn’t finish the thought.  A glance over at Coram told her she didn’t need to finish it; his mind was going right to where hers was.

 

“That’s what our work is going to prevent,” Coram said.  “Or what we’re going to stop.”

 

“I’d like to get over to my quarters back at the Spires now,” said Leanne.  “I need to make my first report to the Fleet.”  She started back for the hovercar, Coram keeping up with her now.  The dragons on the lawn scarcely paid them any attention, being well accustomed to

humanoids.  They behaved mostly as squirrels and pigeons, warily drawing near when there might be food to be had, flitting away only when one came too close. 

 

“And have a look at where you’ll be staying for the duration of your time here,” Coram added.

 

“I’m sure everything’s already in order there.  My baggage will already have been delivered.”  She came up to the pilot’s side of the car and climbed in.  Coram went around to the passenger’s side and did likewise.  Hitting the starting surface, she said, “And I’ll want to look at a link up to the satellite fabrication, make sure that’s going smoothly.”

 

The car peeled out of its parking hover and skimmed its way along the road into town.  Coram suggested, “Perhaps we can look at the link to the satellite over dinner.  I know a place…”

 

“That’s against procedure; you know that, Sir Knight,” said Leanne, keeping her eyes on the controls and the road.  “All official communications involving data pertaining to Fleet operations…”

 

“…are to be conducted in private or official spaces,” Coram finished for her.  “I’m sorry; the breach of procedure wasn’t intended.  But the place I had in mind doesn’t get much traffic from civilians.  It’s mostly Knights and Corps who go there.  It’s dark and has plenty of booths for people to keep to themselves…”

 

Now, Leanne did glance over at him, her brow wrinkling at the suggestion.  “It’s still a public space, and even if it is all Knights and Corps, they’d still be unauthorized personnel.  I’m surprised at your attitude on this, Sir Knight.”

 

“I apologize for my ‘attitude,’ Commander,” said Coram.  “I’d never suggest or do anything that would compromise security.  And I assure you, the people where we’d be going would not constitute a risk.  I know them and trust them.”

 

Eyes back on the road, Leanne said, “Procedure is procedure.”

 

“And everything is by the book,” Coram said.

 

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Leanne replied.  “I expect a Knight of your reputation to 

understand that.  It shouldn’t even be a subject.”

 

“It won’t happen again,” Coram said.  Well, that wraps it up for that idea…

 

They skimmed along over the road in silence for a while.  Then, Coram ventured, “What about after your report and your satellite link?  What about the rest of the evening?”

 

“I’d planned to turn in early and be ready to get started early tomorrow,” Leanne replied.

 

Coram frowned, not in annoyance so much as consideration.  “You could retire early, yes,” he said, thinking out loud.  “Or…”

 

“Or what?”

 

“Or you could join me for dinner at the place I mentioned.  The cuisine is as excellent as the company.”

 

“I thought I’d just have dinner in my quarters,” said Leanne.

 

“It’s your first night on Lacerta,” Coram said, “and you’re going to be very busy starting tomorrow.  Wouldn’t you like to spend at least your first evening unfurling your wings, as we say, before getting to business?”

 

“It’s not my first night on Lacerta,” Leanne said.  “I’ve been here before.”

 

“I mean it’s the first night before our assignment begins in earnest.  Wouldn’t you like to spend it getting accustomed to our world again?”

 

“I know my way around,” she said.  “I know Silverwing well enough.”

 

“You may not have been to the place I have in mind,” said Coram.

 

“I haven’t come here to socialize, Sir Knight,” she said.

 

“I’m not suggesting we have a ball,” he argued.  “But Silverwing is not just a city; it’s the people who live in it.  The places you’ve come to protect, they’re not just places; they mean something to the people who live here.  You should know something, I think, about what you’ve come here to protect.  And wouldn’t you like to call me something other than ‘Sir Coram’ or ‘Sir Knight?’  It wouldn’t be a breach of protocol if you addressed me as just Coram.”

 

“We have our ranks, Sir Knight,” she argued back.  “We ought to respect them.”

 

“I promise you I will not feel disrespected if you address me by my given name.  We’re going to be working closely together.  Just that little bit of familiarity might be good for our working relationship…Leanne.  What do you say?”

 

She looked over at him again, and Coram had the distinct feeling that she was trying to look into him, not just at him.  For her part, Leanne tried to take the measure of this weredragon with whom the Spires had paired her.  For a Knight of his sterling reputation, he seemed so…casual.  It was almost as if he were not a warrior at all.  If he was this way now, what was he like in battle?

 

Finally, she relented.  “All right…Coram.  And you can call me Leanne.  But only when it’s just us and no one else, understand?”

 

“We’ll see how that goes, Leanne,” he said.

 

Leanne rolled her eyes and kept steering.

 

After another beat of silence, Coram pressed again, “So, what about dinner…?”

_______________

 

Leanne’s quarters at the Spires were as she’d expected them to be, the standard rooms of a Knight, just spacious enough to let an adult male in dragon form stretch out his wings and tail first thing in the morning.  There was a table and chairs, a comfortable divan, a closet, a couple of large windows, a bath area, a bed…

 

Coram was with her as she came to her accommodations for the first time and checked her valises, which had been efficiently delivered and left there as she’d expected.  The living space that the Spires had provided for her was much like his own.  While her attention was on her bags, he cast a wry look at the bed and imagined what kind of action it had seen from the room’s

former occupant.  If these walls could talk, I’m sure they’d moan, he thought, knowing full well the things he’d done in his own quarters and all the females with whom he’d done them.

 

The presence of Leanne and her very serious mind made him dismiss all thoughts other than

duty—even at the sight of her crouching next to one of her valises to inspect its contents.  She looked awfully nice when crouching, her uniformed bottom looking so perfectly round.  If only the potential threat of the Chimerians were not hanging over their heads.  If only Leanne were just visiting Lacerta on shore leave or on a layover between one mission and another.  He’d be only too happy to show this human what a “layover” really was.

 

When she straightened up, Coram pointedly ignored what else had gotten very straight and very stiff under the waist of his armor skin.  “I’ll be just a moment,” she said, stepping over to the table, “then we can talk about dinner.  I just wanted to make sure I had these with me.”

She held up the small, clear container of what resembled sticks of old Earth chewing gum made of colored jelly, which she had retrieved from her bag.  “I took one already before I left the

Renault today, but I’ll need another one before I turn in for the night.  Excuse me.”

“By all means,” Coram said, mentally adding, you’ll be just a moment.  Under other circumstances, I’d be more than a moment.  We’d turn in for the night together, and I’d be half an hour to forty-five minutes on the average, and you’d feel every stroke of it.  The little container she had retrieved was a supply of mutagenic inhibitors, which all humans on Lacerta took to

remain human and not become weredragons from ingesting food and drink while on the planet.  The first human colonists on Lacerta, from whom all Lacertans were descended, had learned that their new world had unexpected properties when they found themselves mutated into flying

reptile shape-shifters.  Since then, human visitors to and residents on the planet had learned to take biochemical precautions.

He stood silently by while Leanne sat down at the table and signed onto the closed-channel Fleet Stellarnet and Interconnect to file her first status report, which would go out through secured interstellar channels to Fleet Command.  There was not much to report at this juncture, but procedure required it, and Leanne gave her report with the appropriate conciseness and detail.  Next, she requested a motion scan of the progress on the Protocol satellite. 

 

A view of what was happening at a set of coordinates in orbit of the planet appeared over the

table.  The satellite being generated up there was not like the sensor-monitor devices that were being installed on city buildings.  It was not in the shape of a gargoyle.  It was spherical and had an outer texture like that of a sand dollar from a terrestrial beach, studded with the jewel-like lights of its sensor-transceiver array.

 

It was about half-finished already, a hollow, half-closed sphere that looked like a geode encrusted with jewels on the inside, except that the “jewels” were arranged in patterns like the neural net of a computer.  Leanne was pleased at the progress that had been made.  Coram stepped closer to look and admire with her.  Things were going briskly, they were both happy to see.  Coram kept to himself the hope that other things might go just as well during the course of this assignment.  He was pleased to see Leanne pleased.

 

When she was done, she looked over at Coram and said, “All right, then.  What is this place you’re so interested in taking me to?”

 

Coram said, “It’s called The Curling Horn, and I promise you it’s not what Earth people call a ‘dive.’  It’s clean, it has a very experienced and reputable staff—and most of the

patrons…”

 

“…are Knights and Corps, like you said,” Leanne finished.

 

“You’ll fit in fine, as a member of the Fleet,” Coram promised.  “One armed, uniformed service is much like another, after all, and we’re not clannish.  Knights and Corps get the same treatment, and they’ll welcome you—especially when they see you with me.”

 

“It sounds like more than just a place to eat,” Leanne guessed, getting up from the chair and stepping away from the table.  Coram stepped back to give her room.

 

“Places where Knights go always become something more than just the places they were originally meant to be,” said Coram.  “Our being there and our coming back and being regulars there makes them special.  You know there are humans who deliberately seek out our places just to be where we are.”

 

“I know,” Leanne said.  “I’ve been in my share of ‘your places.’”

 

Coram could not suppress a smile at that, though he noted that she returned only a half-smile.  “Then you know what to expect already!  Perfect!  Come along, then, Leanne; I’m hungry enough to swallow a steer and drink a lake!”  He extended one arm towards the door, beckoning her to join him.

 

“Now you mention it, I haven’t had that much to eat today myself.  Okay, let’s go.” 

 

He followed her out, still wondering what it would take to see another side of her, a side that was not “all duty.”

 

“So they know you in this place,” said Leanne as they crossed the threshold and the door slid shut behind them.

 

“They know me so well, the staff doesn’t even call me Sir,” Coram said.

 

“Wonderful,” said Leanne once they were out in the corridor.  “And I suppose no one else there uses ranks or formalities either.”

 

Coram looked over at her, showing her the little twinkle in his eye again.  “Sometimes, they do.  Sometimes, they don’t.  It depends who’s there and what’s happening.” 

 

Leanne pursed her lips at this.  “And I suppose they won’t call me by my rank, then.”

 

“If you want them to, they will,” Coram answered.  “But you might find it a bit more

enjoyable if you had the same understanding with them as you have with me.”

 

“It sounds like you and your…friends…do a lot more at this Curling Horn than just eat and drink,” she pondered.

 

“There is a good deal more to do there,” Coram said.  “It’s not just a place for food.  There are certain places where Knights and Corps go that are for camaraderie and friendship.  They’re places we go to tell our stories of adventures and battles and triumphs…and sometimes, losses.  We toast to the memory of old friends.  We sing, we laugh.  Sometimes, we cry.  Some of us have even fallen in love.  I’ve seen plenty of dragons—and humans—enter the Curling Horn as strangers and leave as lovers.”

 

“And probably some who left as just bedmates,” Leanne guessed.

 

“Definitely,” said Coram.

 

“And how many have you left with?” she asked.

 

“As a gentleman, a Knight, and a dragon, I don’t tell,” Coram replied.  But the look on his face hinted at the answer.

 

“So, we can expect some of your friends to be there tonight,” Leanne guessed again.

 

“Some of my friends are there most nights,” said Coram.  “And for all we know, some of them might get to be your friends.”

 

Leanne rolled her eyes at that.  “We’ll see.  I hope the food is as good as the company.”

 

“You won’t be disappointed—with anything,” Coram assured her.

 

Leanne did not look fully at him this time; she just glanced over at him from the corner of her eye.  But even so, she could see that twinkle of his.  She did not know yet whether to tolerate it or hate it.

 

 

 

          A tree-lined road led both to and from the Spires.  At the end of the road, opposite the Spires, lay Fafnir Boulevard, the widest thoroughfare in Silverwing.  Down the Spires Road, after it crossed Fafnir Boulevard, sat an inviting structure of stone and wood that one might almost miss unless one happened to be looking for it.  That was the Curling Horn Tavern, situated in a prime spot to welcome all but cater to one very particular clientele.

 

Inside, the Curling Horn was everything that Coram’s descriptions of the place had taught Leanne to expect and more.  It was dark and even cozier than she’d thought it would be.  It was immaculately clean, and the dark-stained wood furniture was kept in prime condition.  And there were booths all along both sides of the place, just as Coram had said.  Glowing golden orbs that gave the effect of a candle-lit interior floated all about, playing music just loud enough to be heard but not so loud as to drown out conversation. 

 

And just as Coram had told her, men and women in the armor skins of the Knighthood and the Corps were the majority of the people she saw at the tables, in the booths, and at the bar.  She noted that the strapping male bartenders were shirtless except for the sashes that they wore across their chests, which were of the same material as the armor skins of the customers and striped with red, blue, and silver.  The bartenders looked as though they could have been Knights themselves but were content with simply entertaining them.

 

One of the golden orbs floated over to Coram and Leanne as they entered.  Instead of playing music, it spoke in a congenial male AI voice, “Sir Coram, welcome back.  Table or booth for two?”

 

“Booth,” replied Coram, and the device floated on ahead of them, leading them to an empty booth.  Holographic menus flickered into view once they seated themselves.  “Take your time,” said the electronic host, “and signal when you’re ready.”  The gadget floated off, leaving them alone.

 

“So, where are your friends?” asked Leanne.

 

“We’ll see them; don’t worry.  They’ll spot us,” Coram said.

 

Soon, they had drinks in front of them and food on the way.  Coram lifted his glass and proposed, “To a successful project and the future of the Commonwealth.”

 

A smile of acceptance, the nearest thing to a smile of warmth that Coram had yet seen from her, lit Leanne’s face, and they clinked glasses and drank. 

 

“How many times have you been to Silverwing?” Coram asked.

 

“I thought you’d have looked that up in my record,” Leanne replied.  “You did brief yourself about me when you were assigned to be my liaison, didn’t you?”

 

“I did,” Coram said.  “The question was meant as a conversation starter.  If you’ve been here before and worked with the Knighthood, I’d have expected someone would have brought you here before.”

 

Leanne said, “My other visits were short, and there was even less time to be sociable than there is now.”

 

“But you like our planet, though,” he said.  “And our people.”

 

“There’s nothing to dislike,” said Leanne.

 

“True,” he agreed.  “But since you mentioned it, I did look up your record and your past service with us…and one particular time, you crossed paths with the Knighthood when it wasn’t only in the line of duty.  When you were sixteen…”  He trailed off at that point, watching for her reaction.

 

Leanne sighed a bit.  Thoughtfully, she replied, “Yes, when I was sixteen, on Dorian III.  The time Sir Hagen rescued me.  That’s on my record.”

 

“And that,” said Coram, “was what interested you in joining the Interstar Fleet, the fact that sometimes the Fleet works with us.”

 

“What made me want to be in the Fleet,” said Leanne, “was the chance to see the quadrant and do something useful and helpful for others at the same time.”

 

“The same as we do,” said Coram.

 

“All right, yes, the same as you do,” she allowed.  “It’s a life that I like, and it’s something worthwhile to do with it.” 

 

“I don’t mean to pry or make you uncomfortable,” said Coram gently.  “I only want to know you better.  If we’re to be working closely as liaisons during this assignment, we should know one another on at least a slightly more personal level.  Knowing each other, understanding each other, helps with trust, doesn’t it?”

 

“Yes…yes, it does,” she allowed further.

 

“You know that we Knights are very high-spirited,” said Coram.  “From traveling with us, working with us, you know that we put all of ourselves into everything we do.  And being both humans and Knights, we virtually have two selves to give.  We work hard, we battle hard, and we have a large appetite for everything.  Our spirits are very high, even when we’re not flying.”

 

“I know that,” she replied simply.  But as she answered, she met his eyes, and in his eyes, she saw something of every other male Knight she had ever met.  She had to admit to herself, she preferred the company of the male members of the Knighthood to the females—not out of any bias against her own sex, and not only because of her girlhood admiration of Sir Hagen.

 

The male Knights of Lacerta seemed to Leanne to be the most thoroughly male creatures she had ever known in all her travels through space.  The straight ones and the gay ones alike were all the strength, beauty, and nobility of maleness blown up to the largest proportions.  In fact, the thing about them that was most definitively male was always of the largest proportions, and from what she had seen of Sir Coram out of his armor skin, he was no exception.  To go to bed with a Lacertan Knight was to be taken and penetrated by a paragon of masculinity.  It was an experience no human could ever forget. 

 

“Leanne?  Leanne?”  The sound of his voice snapped her mind abruptly out of wandering.

 

“Yes?” she said, blinking.

 

“Where were you just now?” he asked.

 

“I’m sorry,” she said.  “I don’t get distracted very easily or very often.  I guess it was because you brought up Sir Hagen.”  She felt a little guilty inside for the little lie she’d just told and for using Sir Hagen to tell it. 

 

“There’s no need to be embarrassed,” said Coram.  “When you have a higher purpose in your life, there’s always a first inspiration somewhere.”

 

Fascinated now, Leanne asked, “And what was yours?  What inspired you?”

 

“I grew up not far from here,” said Coram.  “And when I was a very young dragon, I would look up over my house and see the Knights in training, flying over.  I would watch them learn how to fly in formation for demonstrations and ceremonies.  Have you ever seen the Knights fly in formation?”

 

Leanne pondered, searching her memory.  “I must have, at some time, a long time ago, I think.  I’m sure I saw a holo of it once, when I was a cadet training for the Fleet.”

 

“It’s something you should see in person, the way they fly in groups of twelve in a V formation, seven in front, five behind, making a chevron shape in the air, and keeping themselves in perfect sync through every swoop and every turn.  It may sound somewhat pompous to say, but as a little dragon, I found them majestic.”

 

“No, it doesn’t sound pompous at all,” said Leanne.  “I remember now, watching that holo.  I’d never paid much attention to the Knights before…,” she trailed off for a moment, remembering, then resumed, “…before the day I met Sir Hagen.”  She fell silent again from all the memories attached to that day.  “Then, I wanted to know everything about them.  And you’re right, when they fly in formation, majestic is exactly what it is.”

 

The tone of approval in her voice and the approving look in her eyes encouraged Coram.  He definitely liked seeing her that way.  “Yes,” he went on, “I wanted to know everything about them as well.  And when I was old enough that my parents would let me fly by myself, I started trying to fly as they did, pretending I was the lead dragon in the chevron of twelve.  I would try to copy their maneuvers, the way they banked and turned, and I pretended another eleven were flying with me in sync.  I think that was when I first knew that I wanted to be one of them.  Except…” 

 

Now Coram trailed off with a different feeling than Leanne had had.  She could have sworn he seemed…embarrassed.  What could possibly make him feel that way?

 

“Except what?” she asked.

 

With a smile more sheepish than dragon-like, Coram answered, “Except that trying to fly that way at that age, I sometimes had a difficult time avoiding the treetops.”

 

Leanne’s eyes widened, understanding.  In spite of all her earlier attempts at keeping things formal, she smiled, her largest smile yet.  “Oh no!  You don’t mean…”

 

“More than once, my parents would have to come and get me.  They’d have to untangle my wings and tail from the branches.  I wasn’t exactly the picture of Knightly dignity at that age, as you can guess.”

 

Leanne looked off, unable to stifle her smile, another reaction welling up inside her.

 

“What is this?” Coram asked teasingly.  “Don’t tell me the very proper, by-the-book Lieutenant Commander is tempted to laugh at an awkward little dragon boy’s plight.”

 

She looked back at him, forcing the smile to leave her face but leaving behind it a telltale glow in her expression that said she could not completely contain her amusement.  “Of course not,” she protested.

 

“Yes,” Coram teased further, “that was almost a laugh at my expense.”

 

Leanne cleared her throat and straightened up in her seat, almost succeeding in putting on her serious look again, but her eyes still gave her away.  “Finish your story,” she said.

 

“The end of my story is that I would tell my parents what I was doing, out flying that way, and they would warn me that I was neither Knight nor Corps, that I was still a little dragon and I should be more careful.  But every time, I went out to pretend again, and I got better—mostly.”

 

“Mostly?” she asked.

 

“One more time, I flew into a tree—and this time, it actually was a member of the Knighthood and not my father or mother who came to untangle me.  And the Knight flew with me back home and introduced himself to my parents. He told them how he had found me, and he said to them, ‘As you can’t have his wings cut off, you may want to consider enrolling him at the Spires.’  My parents were properly mortified, as you can guess…”

 

“Yes, I can guess very well,” said Leanne.

 

“…but a few years later, when I was a little older, they did not object when I actually did enroll at the Spires.  They took me there themselves and handed me off to the Mentors.  And my father actually told my trainer, ‘Try to keep my son out of the trees.’”

 

And at this, Leanne could not help herself.  She sputtered out a laugh that she simply could not maintain; this last part was just too rich.  She caught the laugh as soon as it started, and forced it back, struggling to restore her composure, but it was too late. 

 

“There,” said Coram.  “Now I know what it takes to break you out of your shell:  abject humiliation.” 

 

“It’s not the way I’m used to thinking about Knights, that’s all,” said Leanne.

 

“But it was worth it,” Coram said.  “Now we know where each other started.”

 

A wistful look came over Leanne, now that she’d relaxed a little.  “It seems we were both rescued by Knights when we were younger.  Except what I was rescued from…was very different.”

 

Coram frowned slightly.  This was not what he had wanted.  He had inadvertently taken her back to her parents’ death, and the feelings from that day that he could see had never left her in spite of how far she had come since then.  “I know it was, Leanne,” he offered.  “I didn’t mean to remind you…”

 

She raised a hand to stop him.  “You don’t have to apologize.  It’s where I come from and how I got here.  I don’t deny it.  I try to use it.  I try to make it my…motivation, I guess.”

 

“I understand,” said Coram.  “We won’t talk of this anymore.  Are you ready to order food now?”

 

“I think I’d like to, yes.”

 

So, they ordered dinner, which was quick in coming, and as they ate, they kept the mood light by talking about planets they had visited and things they had seen there.  And sometime between the end of their meal and the prospect of dessert, they both snapped to attention at a

resounding female voice from across the tavern:

 

“Coram!  What cave have you been hiding yourself in?”

 

From the direction of the voice, three Knights came striding over, and Coram smiled a beaming smile and beckoned to them.  From their greeting and Coram’s reaction to them, it was obvious to Leanne that these were the friends that Coram said they could expect.  There was a black-haired female of about Leanne’s height, with very cut muscles; she looked as if she could snap a human over her knee like kindling.

 

At one side of her walked a muscular, dark-haired Knight of swoon-inducing handsomeness to match Coram’s.  At her other side, a short-bearded male Knight with curly black hair and swarthy complexion appeared to be a descendant of different Asian groups from old Earth.

 

The trio came up to Leanne and Coram’s table, and the swoon-inducer warmly clapped Coram’s bare back in greeting.  “We haven’t seen skin or scale of you the last few days, Mate.  Where have you been keeping yourself?”

 

“I’ve been about,” said Coram.  “I just had a friendly spar this afternoon; I’m surprised I didn’t see you there.”

 

“And this,” said the swarthy Knight, eyeing Leanne, “must be the Lieutenant Commander we’re assisting.”

 

“We’re…?” Leanne wondered aloud.

 

“These three and I keep up with each other,” said Coram.  “When my friends learned I was going to be your primary contact for the Chimerian Protocols project, they volunteered to help.  They’ll be assisting with the installations around Silverwing.”  Indicating the female, he said, “Leanne Shire, I’d like you to meet Dame Kesta.”  Of the heartbreaker to Kesta’s right: “This is Sir Willem.”  And the swarthy one: “And Sir Tarik.”  And back to Leanne: “The three of us were initiated into the Knighthood and trained together.  We would trust each other with our lives, and have done so more than once.”

 

“That’s a fact,” said Kesta. 

 

“Why have you tucked yourselves away over here?” asked Tarik.  “This is hardly the place to plan the downfall of the Chimerians.”

 

“This is the place,” said Coram, “for new comrades to get acquainted, which is all we’re about right now.  We’ll bring down the Chimerians or stop them in their tracks soon enough.”

 

“We absolutely will,” said Kesta.  “We’d never let you undertake anything so important without us.”

 

“I never do anything important without you,” Coram grinned.

 

“Oh, I think there are at least some important things you do on your own,” said Willem wickedly, his eyes darting suggestively between Coram and Leanne in a way that made Leanne sit back with an uncomfortable tingle down her spine.

 

“That’ll be enough from you,” Coram said in mock irritation.  Willem just chuckled.

 

To Leanne, Kesta said, “The best place to get to know this one is with his comrades.  Come out from this stuffy booth; let’s get a table.”

 

Before Leanne could say anything, Coram cut her off: “And no, they’re not going to take ‘no’ for an answer.  Remember, we’re Knights.”

 

“As if I could forget,” said Leanne with a shake of her head and a shrug.  Outnumbered by dragons, she resigned herself to coming out of her booth.  In a shake of a reptilian tail, Kesta commandeered a table out on the main floor of the tavern, and the five of them were sitting around it with drinks.

 

And in the way of warriors and comrades since the days when paladins rode horseback and Vikings sailed the seas on ancient Earth, the four Knights of Lacerta regaled the Earth woman with stories.  They told of adventures they’d had and the worlds on which they’d had them, villains they had bested, monsters they had battled, dangers they had survived together.

 

They discreetly did not speak of lovers and partners they had bedded, but some of the looks that passed between them told those stories without a word being said.  Leanne listened to their tales, and in listening, her mood subtly changed.  Her sense of duty, her purpose for being here, was still as present in her mind as ever.  But now, having taken the oath of her new rank and satisfied herself that her mission was taking shape as planned, Leanne allowed herself the small luxury of living in this moment, of just being in the presence of these people she had so admired since she was a girl. 

 

The Knights of Lacerta were without question among the most admired beings in known space.  Many sought to know them in one way or another.  Many sought their company in bed, and those who knew the pleasure of a Knight’s body were never disappointed.  But a thing like this was special:  to be in their company, in one of their places, and to hear them talk as they were doing with her now, as if she were one of them, as if she were accepted.  Though she had only one shape in which she had neither wings, scales, talons, nor tail, it was at times like this when Leanne felt almost as if she were a dragon herself.

 

Through all the stories and amid all the Knightly laughter, time and time again, Leanne returned to watching Coram, seeing him laugh or nod or frown, seeing him wink or give a pretense of scolding or mockery at one of his friends.  On occasion, he would nudge her and point to one of them to bring up something that he knew about one of them, whether it be brave or noble or scandalous, and Leanne would bask in their laughter and their camaraderie as if she were a dragon sunning herself on a warm afternoon.

 

Times like these were one reason she so often requested to be assigned to missions in which she would be with them.  The Fleet was as respected as the Knighthood and had a similar esprit du corps.  But even the Fleet were not dragons.  There was no one else in the galaxy like the Knights of Lacerta.  Leanne knew that very well.  Being with them—listening to them, talking with them, drinking with them, sleeping with them—was to her the most special thing in the galaxy. 

 

At length, Kesta fixed Leanne with a look as if to drill her eyes right into her and said, “So, Leanne.  You’ve heard plenty about us.  I’d like to know something about you.”

 

A leaden silence followed the question.  Leanne stared at the four armor-skinned weredragons sitting around the table with her, passing her eyes from one to the other.  She lingered on the

subtly smiling features of Coram.  She felt distinctly challenged and wondered exactly what kind of challenge she might now be facing.  She found no hint of it in Coram’s face.

 

Deciding that the dragons, whatever their motives just now, had no reason to try to intimidate her, Leanne steadied her nerves and asked, “What is it you’d like to know?”

 

Kesta answered, “As a member of the Fleet, you’ve been trained to handle yourself in all kinds of situations in all kinds of places with all kinds of beings, haven’t you?”

 

Now, Leanne was actually curious to see where the Dame across the table from her was going with all this.  “Of course, I have,” she replied.

 

“And you’ve been on missions with members of the Knighthood.  You’ve traveled alongside us, battled alongside us when called upon, correct?”

 

“That’s right,” Leanne said.

 

“And I presume you’ve spent time with us the way you are now—outside of a mission, outside of duty, not in battle or combat.  You’ve known us when we’re in our own company and camaraderie, seen the way we are and the things we do.  You’ve shown yourself to be fit company for dragons, have you not?”

 

Oh, here it was.  Here was that challenge she was looking for.  Leanne met Kesta’s eyes with an eye-drilling look of her own and turned up the corner of her mouth.  “Yes,” she said.  “I definitely have.”

 

“Well, then, show me what you have, Lieutenant Commander.  Show me your steel—right here on this table.”  And Kesta put forth her arm and bent her elbow, planting it on the surface of the table with palm open in one of the clearest gestures of challenge that one humanoid could offer another.  “Show us—and show Coram—what a worthy ally you are.  Hand in hand, muscle against muscle, right now.”

 

Leanne drew a breath and again moved her eyes among Coram and his male comrades, then back to the smiling Kesta, then back to Coram.  “Really?” she asked.

 

Coram replied, “Really.  Go ahead.”

 

Kesta said, “Your hand, Leanne.  Try to put me down.”

 

Leanne pondered the nature of the challenge and the nature of her opponent.  She considered again the tight and well-defined muscles etched lean and hard on the dragon Dame’s body.  This female was Coram’s friend; they were all his friends, and they were taking the measure of the human female with whom Coram would possibly be entrusting his life.

 

She could not refuse the challenge -- and in her heart, she did not want to refuse it.  Called upon to show her worthiness to walk among dragons and stand beside their friend, she would do

exactly that.  She bent her elbow and planted it on the table, presenting her hand.  “You try to put me down,” she said, returning the challenge.

 

The human woman and the Lacertan female slapped hands together and locked their grips.  And the test of mettle began.  Their arms vibrated with the first strain of muscles against muscles.  Coram, Willem, and Tarik hunched over the table, watching raptly, smiling in anticipation of who the victor would be, none of them naming a favorite.  This would be anyone’s bout.

 

Leanne narrowed her eyes and furrowed her brow.  Kesta clenched her teeth.  And each of them pressed hard against the other until the skin on Leanne’s face and on the features and bare sinews of Kesta turned red with the effort.  Leanne watched the muscles bulge on Kesta’s arm and half-believed they might pop the Dame’s armband.  Their hands, clenched together, trembled and shuddered with the effort that the two females exerted against each other. 

 

The three males with them stayed silent and looked on as if this competition were the only thing happening in the galaxy.  All of them were only dimly aware that the wrestling match of the two females had started to attract attention.  From across the tavern, people in both human and

dragon form were beginning to watch.  Dragon necks rose up from tables.  Bodies leaned, and eyes turned in their direction. 

 

Some people actually got up and left their tables or booths to have a look at the human woman arm wrestling with the Lacertan dame.  Even the bartenders had paused in serving patrons to watch, as did the people at the bar.  The only sound in the place was the music coming from the glowing drone orbs.

 

That silence did not last.  It was soon joined by the sounds of grunts and groans of the two opponents, sounds that matched the expressions of growing strain on their faces and the sheen of perspiration on each of them.  Leanne half-expected the grunts of Kesta to become dragon roars in spite of the Dame being still in human form.  She pressed ever harder against Kesta’s hand, and Kesta pressed ever harder against hers.  She began to lurch Kesta’s hand down toward the table, until, with what sounded like a snarl of defiance, Kesta forced her hand back up and began to press Leanne’s hand downward. 

 

Now, from around the tavern, a small, anxious hubbub began to well up, and Leanne kept her

attention focused on the test of sinews and tuned out any words that anyone might be saying.  She did not care who was the favorite, though she expected they’d all be rooting for Kesta.  It was only right they would.  She was the Dame, the lady Knight.  Leanne was only human. 

Perhaps that made Leanne all the more determined to prevail.  She pressed harder still, and Kesta’s hand once again started to shudder downward. 

 

Centimeter by centimeter, Leanne brought Kesta’s hand lower, ever lower, and the two of them each gripped the edge of the table with her free hand to increase their leverage.  I’m doing it, Leanne allowed herself to think.  I’m taking her.  I’ve got her…

 

And then, from some unknown reservoir of strength, Kesta began once again to bring her hand up against the force that Leanne exerted against her.  She brought her hand up, and up, and up, resisting the power of the human woman’s muscles.  Up and over…

 

Leanne released a sound that was both a gasp and a shout as, with one final, irresistible effort, Kesta forced her hand down onto the table with a thump!  Leanne looked up, both shocked and exhausted, into Kesta’s face, then down onto the table where Kesta’s hand rested atop hers.  They kept their hands clenched that way, as if their fingers had been welded together, and their full awareness of their surroundings returned with the WHOOP! that welled up all around them and the resounding cheer that burst from Coram, Willem, and Tarik.

 

Panting and puffing, Leanne managed to pull her hand from Kesta’s and back across the table.  Coram reached over and gently touched her on the arm, smiling and nodding.  His expression suggested that he was proud of her, and she found herself hoping that was actually the case, as if his approval somehow mattered.

 

Kesta leaned back in her seat and clenched and unclenched her fingers and flexed her arms.  As the whooping from around the tavern subsided, Kesta said, “Well fought, Commander.  The Fleet did well, choosing you for this mission.  You and Coram will be successful, I know.”

 

Leanne nodded back to Kesta, her hunch about the Dame’s motives confirmed.  Kesta was indeed testing whether Leanne had the scales, figuratively speaking, to stand alongside her friend.  Breathlessly, she answered, “I’m glad you approve.”  And in fact, she was glad, even grateful.  Somehow, the opinion of Coram’s friends actually seemed to matter.

 

The next thing they knew, a bartender arrived, presenting five full glasses on a tray.  Setting the tray down before them, the shirtless dragon man said, “Courtesy of the house.  A reward for giving us a bit of sport tonight.”

 

Each of the five hoisted a glass, raising their glasses to the bartender in thanks.  The man collected the tray and headed off to serve others at the bar.

 

It would be the last drink of the evening for Leanne and Coram.  As the other

patrons of the Curling Horn returned to their places, the Fleet Commander and her Knightly liaison eyed each other over their drinks and silently acknowledged that it was time to retire for the night, to be ready for the tasks that awaited them tomorrow, on which this planet and so much more depended.

 

 

 

At the end of the evening, Leanne, Coram, and his friends stepped out of The Curling Horn and into another typically perfect, weather-controlled night on Lacerta.  Kesta, Willem, and Tarik all expressed how honored they were to be working with Leanne on the vital Chimerian Protocol project.

 

Leanne thanked them, not letting on that she was nursing a mild ache in her arm from the wrestling match with Kesta, and hoping that Kesta did not pick up on the fact.  Then, Coram’s three comrades morphed to dragon form and flew off back in the direction of the Spires, and Leanne and Coram climbed back into the hovercar to make for the same place.

 

Like a gallant Knight, Coram saw Leanne back to the door of her quarters.  They paused there to say their good-nights.

 

“Leanne,” said Coram, “I hope you didn’t find this evening terribly inappropriate.  I understand what we’re trying to accomplish here and what it means not only to this planet but also the quadrant.  But you know, I’m sure there are precedents for knights and heroes sitting down

together and lifting a glass or two and toasting the quest they’re about to begin or the battle they’re about to face.

 

It’s a way for comrades to bond, to express their confidence in each other and the importance of what they’re about to do.  You see, I do have as serious a mind about this as you do.  I suppose I just express it differently.”

 

“I understand, Coram.  And frankly…I think you’re right,” said Leanne.

 

“I’m glad you understand.  And…I hope you understand about Kesta as well.”

 

At the mention of Kesta’s name, Leanne wanted to rub her arm and her shoulder, but she refrained.  She could do that once she was alone in her room.  “What about her?” she simply asked.

 

“What I mean is, I hope you understand what she intended.  She respects you, and she honestly wants to be a part of what we’re doing.  In a way, I suppose she wanted to take the measure of you, to see for herself that you’re everything she expected you to be.  I think she knows for certain that you are, now.”

 

Leanne nodded.  “She wanted to see how much of a dragon I am at heart.”

 

“You could put it that way, yes,” said Coram. 

 

“Well,” said Leanne, “I’m glad she approves.”

 

“We all do,” Coram assured her.  “Though this is our planet and we are the Knights, the Knighthood accepts that Earth and the Fleet initiated these measures against the Chimerians, and we’re ready to do everything to help them along for the good of everyone.  Which means that even though we’re Knights and dragons…we’re prepared to follow your lead.  You have the full support of the Knighthood, Leanne.  From the start to the end of it, you’ll have dragons at your back every step.”

 

“I know,” she replied, allowing herself a bit of a smile.  “And…I’m glad.  There’s no one I’d want more at my back or at my side than the Knights.”

 

“Then I’m glad too,” said Coram, smiling back.  And for a moment, they stood at the door to Leanne’s quarters, not saying anything—or wanting to say any number of things but not finding the words for them.  Leanne had been in Coram’s company all day and had found his handsomeness distracting from the moment they introduced themselves—but his looks were never more distracting than they were right now.

 

Finally, Leanne spoke up: “We’d better say good night.  We’re getting an early start

tomorrow.”

 

“True,” said Coram.  “Good night then…Leanne.”

 

“Good night, Coram.”

 

With a nod, he turned and started away down the corridor, showing the open back of his armor skin and the musculature of his shoulders and back.  Leanne allowed herself just a

moment to watch the way those muscles rippled when he moved.  Then, she pressed the release to slide open the door and stepped into her quarters.

 

Alone in the room, Leanne let out a long exhale, feeling everything she had done that day catching up with her.  Now, she allowed herself to feel the way her arm was nagging at her.  She was surprised at herself, that she would feel that way after her tabletop bout with Kesta.  As a member of the Fleet, Leanne kept herself in shape as regulations required.  The way her arm felt now was not something she expected of herself.  Frowning, she went to her baggage and picked out a tube of muscle balm that she hardly ever used but was glad that she had packed, in her compulsive and trained way of not overlooking details and always being prepared.

 

She sat down on the edge of the bed and stripped off the top of her uniform, applying the balm to her shoulder, bicep, and wrist.  Rubbing in the warming and cooling mousse and letting her skin absorb it and pass it into her muscles, Leanne contemplated the day just past.  She felt a bit guilty that her feelings about being with the Knights—and being with Coram—were as strong as her feelings about the duty that had brought her here.

 

It was natural that Coram’s support and Kesta’s approval would mean something to her.  After all, she had come on a mission to protect the entire quadrant and Commonwealth, but it was their planet.  If she were honest, though, it was about more than just whose planet Lacerta happened to be.  It was about the Knights.

 

Her own words came back to her:  She wanted to see how much of a dragon I am at heart.  Leanne wondered if Coram had sensed any other meaning in those words than just what lay on the surface.  There was another level of meaning, and there were times when Leanne felt that meaning very keenly.  Today, tonight, was one of those times.

 

When she’d gone into counseling and therapy after the death of her parents, there had been one thing she put in her journals that she had never expressed to her counselors.  She had always wondered if they had guessed it, but then if they had guessed it, they would have mentioned it to her and made her examine it.

 

Leanne had kept this in her journal, and in all the years since she’d lived on Dorian III, she had never mentioned it to anyone, not even the psychologist who examined her as a condition of her acceptance for Fleet training.  It had stayed with her through all these years since Sir Hagen Maxon rescued her and the Knights took care of her, taken up its own little space in a corner of her mind.  And whenever she was with the Knights—on duty or socially, or when one of them took her to bed—it always loomed a bit larger in her thoughts, the way it did now.

 

Leanne reached into the pocket of her uniform top which lay on the bed beside her and took out the container of inhibitors.  She opened it, took out one of the little jellies, and popped it into her mouth.  She then went to the fountain near the bed and dispensed a glass of cold water for herself.  The inhibitor melted on her tongue, and she took a swallow of water to wash it down, thinking about what the inhibitor would do in her body to counteract the minerals in the water. 

 

All she had to do was stop taking the inhibitors, and a process would begin that could not be

reversed, a process that would change her life and everything about it forever.  At the end of the process, she would still be the same Leanne Shire that she had always been—but she would be something more as well.  And in her heart of hearts, Leanne sometimes thought she should very much like to be something more.

 

The ramifications of it were huge, one of the most enormous things that any human could ever face.  It meant becoming two species in one, or one being with two distinct shapes.  And her body having another shape meant that her mind, her very being—her soul, if one wanted to be spiritual about it—would have another shape as well. 

 

There were people who deliberately sought this out, who came to Lacerta for this very reason.  They were not always successful.  The Lacertan government imposed rigorous regulations and psychological standards on it, as not just any human was deemed mentally and spiritually fit for it.  This went back to the earliest days of the colony, when lost humans stranded on a strange world discovered that mutagenic minerals and traces of fossil dragon DNA in the water on the planet were having profound-life changing effects on them, effects that they would pass on to their children.

 

In the midst of the trauma of being lost and cut off from Earth came this other trauma, the trauma of becoming something more or other than human.  When Lacerta reestablished contact with Earth and more humans began to visit the planet, it was resolved that no other humans would

ever be allowed to face the shock and trauma of metamorphic powers for which they were not prepared.  When people from Earth came deliberately seeking the Lacertan mutation, they were accepted only after the most stringent screening of their mental and emotional fitness.  One did not simply, casually become a weredragon.  The laws of the colony expressly forbade it, and Earth agreed.

 

Leanne had never acted on the unspoken desires she had written in her journals.  She had passed through the tough and rigorous training to enter the Fleet and stopped at that.  But she had also requested any duty that would put her near or in contact with the Lacertan Corps or Knighthood.  If she could not be a dragon, at least she could be in the company of dragons.

 

She found that in her reflections on her feelings about the Knights, she had wandered back to the bed.  Leanne put the glass of water on the nightstand and sat there looking at it, contemplating the invisible strands of molecules in it that could work such a profound change on her if she and the colonial government allowed it. 

 

The ache in her arm was gone, and now she was tired.  She lay down across the bed and shut her eyes.  In a little while, she would get up again and finish undressing, slipping between the covers to go to sleep.  For now, she just wanted to lie here and think.  And in the dark behind her eyelids, she saw the handsome face of Sir Coram Dunne. 

 

Leanne found she envied Coram, as she envied all the Lacertans.  He never had to make a conscious choice about being both a man and a dragon, never had to go through the process of being accepted for the mutation and the physical, mental, and emotional disciplines that were required once the change was made, to acclimate to his powers.

 

He was simply born that way.  It was as natural for him as being only human was for her.  She thought she should feel guilty for the way she felt, and in fact, expressing that kind of guilt and learning to live with it and with the possible reactions of other humans was a part of the discipline.  Few humans ever made it through even the beginnings of the screening and vetting

process.  There were times, Leanne admitted, when she dearly wanted to try. 

 

To be a dragon.  To have scales and talons and horns and wings and a tail.  To fly without a ship or a vehicle.  Just to be a dragon.  How glorious that must be, to be what had once rescued a terrified girl who would never see her mother and father again. 

 

Coram knew what that was.  He was born to it.  They all were.

 

There were times when Leanne thought she would give anything to know it as well.

_______________

 

The colonial government that legislated for the entire planet Lacerta was located at the Ruling Aerie.  But the local government that administered to the capital city of Silverwing lay at the center of the city, in what was now called the Ullery Tower.

 

It was the tallest building in the city outside of the Spires, a tall, elegantly tapering, four-sided structure with a dome at the top and at each corner of the roof a dragon-shaped gargoyle.  Today, an addition was being made to the top of the Ullery Tower dome, which would preside over the entire city:  a new rotating dragon gargoyle, equipped with the Chimerian Protocol tech whose sensors would sweep the entire city with every rotation. 

 

The dome had already been prepared; an opening had been drilled in the top, and the engine to provide the rotation had been installed.  All that remained now was to attach the new gargoyle.  And that was the task that fell to Sir Coram Dunne and Lieutenant Commander Leanne Shire this morning.

 

Similar installations were being done in each corner of the city at the same time.  In the southwest, Kesta and Willem would place another of the Protocol gargoyles atop the tallest structure.  In the northeast, Tarik and another Knight would busy themselves with the placement of another.  In the two other corners of Silverwing, two other pairs of Knights were even now readying themselves to place two other gargoyles at the appropriate locations. 

 

The five teams had left the Spires at the same time, first thing in the morning.  Once their work was done here in the city, the five gargoyles would be brought online and synced with each other and with the master satellite in orbit, and Silverwing would have its invisible blanket of protection against the shape-changing encroachers.

 

The large transport hover van, piloted by Coram with Leanne riding shotgun, glided over the rooftops of Silverwing towards the center of the city.  During the ride, Coram noticed Leanne’s silence and inquired, “Anxious about the job?  I’m sure it will go smoothly.”

 

“I’m sure it will too,” said Leanne.  “It’s not that.  I was just thinking…the capital administrative building was just renamed the Ullery Tower recently, wasn’t it?”

 

“Yes,” answered Coram.  “What of it?”

 

“It made me think about Sir Rawn Ullery,” Leanne said.  “I followed the story about his return from being lost and presumed dead, all the celebration of his homecoming, the parties and the parade and all that.  I was wondering how I would have felt in his position.”

 

“I’m sure he was grateful to be home,” said Coram.

 

“Of course, he was, as anyone would be.  That’s not what I mean.  I was thinking of the usual psychological profile of someone like that.  Sir Rawn knows he’s considered a great hero.  He knows what kind of a place in history he has, being the only genetically augmented Knight with enhanced strength and the power to breathe fire.  And the part that he played in stopping the Chimerians the last time, no one will ever forget that or his sacrifice, and everyone will always love him for it.

 

 But someone like that…there aren’t many like him.  Every Knight has a special devotion.  But Sir Rawn has an extra special devotion.  And someone like him…they don’t usually see themselves as others see them.  They know how great everyone thinks they are, but they don’t really think of themselves that way.”

 

“You think Sir Rawn isn’t proud?”

 

“Oh, I’m sure he’s proud.  But put yourself in his place.  All you ever hear, all the time, is how proud everyone else is of you.  And all you ever did it for was to have a chance to serve in the highest possible way.  It was always about the service, always the duty, always…I don’t know if I’m saying this well enough; it must sound as if I’m saying the other Knights are lesser than Sir Rawn…”

 

“The highest possible calling,” offered Coram.

 

“Yes,” said Leanne.  “That’s what I mean.  The calling to do something that only you can, even in the most elite group of people.  The thing that you’ve been singled out for.  Well, to Sir Rawn, something like that comes naturally.  He wants to be appreciated for it, certainly.  But in the end, when it all comes down to everything, what’s most important to someone like him isn’t to be celebrated for doing it.  It’s all finally about just doing it.”

 

“That’s true,” Coram agreed.

 

“So, he’s not really that interested in celebrations and parades, and he’s not that impressed with having things named after him.  They’ve taken the tallest building in the city and named it after Sir Rawn.  And that’s not the only thing with his name on it.  I wonder what it’s like, when you’re not vain but there’s always something around you reminding you of yourself.”

 

“To a personality who is not narcissistic,” Coram guessed, “it must be a bit unsettling.”

 

“A bit, yes,” said Leanne.

 

“May I ask you something?” Coram ventured.

 

“Yes, what?”

 

“Would you like to be in the place of someone like Sir Rawn?”

 

“You mean, would I like to be celebrated as the greatest hero of my people?”

 

“Yes.  Would a thing like that be attractive to you?”

 

“Oh, I don’t know.  I think, maybe…,” she considered.  “I think I’d like to know that the ones I admired the most admired me back.  I think I’d like to have the respect of the ones I

appreciated the most.  Yes, that would be what I’d like.  The celebrations and everything, I think I’d be happiest when they all just went away and all I had left was the respect.  And I don’t know if I’d want to live in a place where everything was named after me.”

 

Coram looked over at her from the controls with a subtly teasing smile.  “Then you are not a narcissist.”

 

Leanne looked back at him, rolling her eyes.  “No, I’m not.  And keep your eyes on where you’re flying, please.”

 

Coram returned his attention to his flying.  “You know, when this project is finished and it succeeds as admirably as we both know it will, you’ll get at least the highest citation and commendation out of it.”

 

“I suppose so,” said Leanne.

 

“And likely another promotion,” he guessed.  “Perhaps even the command of a ship.  Is that something you’d like?”

 

Leanne furrowed her brow at the question.  “I’d never thought about that.  I thought when this project was finished, I’d just go on to other assignments, maybe supervise the installation of the Protocols on other planets.  Commanding a ship isn’t something I ever thought about.” 

 

She considered further.  “No, command of a ship…I don’t think that’s something I’d want, necessarily.  My specialization is security.  That’s what I am, a security officer.  Commanding a division of a crew, I’ve done that.  I’d be fine with that.  But a whole ship…?  No, I don’t think that would be for me.”  She gazed at him again.  “Are you interested in my future for some reason?”

 

“I was only curious,” answered Coram.  “What people think of their future says a great deal about what they think of themselves.  It was only really another way of getting to know each other.”

 

“What about you, then?” Leanne asked.  “What do you see in your own future?  Would you be happiest just staying a Knight or would you want to move up in the Knighthood and

become a Mentor?”

 

“Training young initiates into the Knighthood.”  Coram smiled at the thought of it.  “Many of us consider that as a future path.  It’s a possibility, yes,” he said.  “But there are other possibilities as well.”

 

“Other possibilities?  For you?”  This made Leanne more than a little curious.  “What else could you possibly want to be besides a Knight?”

 

Keeping his eyes on his flying, Coram wore a faraway smile that suggested his mind was somewhere else.  “Leanne,” he asked, “you’re aware, aren’t you, that sometimes someone comes to Lacerta with…a very specific interest?”

 

“What kind of ‘specific interest?’”

 

“Well,” he said, “sometimes one comes to our planet as a human…but is not interested in remaining one.”

 

Leanne blinked, startled and profoundly surprised to hear him saying this.  “What do you mean?”

 

“I’m sure you’ve heard about such people,” he said.  “Sometimes, the fascination that a human has with Lacertans, with weredragons, is more than just a fascination.  Sometimes, it’s a feeling that perhaps one is really a dragon at heart.  And sometimes, one comes to our planet with an interest in…joining us.”

 

Now, Leanne felt distinctly uncomfortable, as if she could start squirming in her seat at any second.  But he was damned if she would let him see the way she felt.  “Joining you?  You mean…becoming a weredragon.”

 

“Yes,” he said.  “Sometimes, a human comes to us wanting to be one of us.  And when that happens, someone born on Lacerta, born to the dragon shape as well as the human shape, takes on the task of guiding that person, helping him or her to discover whether it’s really the right and appropriate life, and then helping that person through the transition if both the human and Lacerta agree that it’s right.”

 

Leanne let out a long, heavy breath, as if to expel her nerves at Coram bringing up such a thing.  “I know all about this,” she said.  “And I think it’s…really very interesting.  But we’re getting close to the Ullery Tower now; I see it right ahead.  I think we’d do best to think about duty for now and take this up some other time.”  Or never again, she mentally added, feeling suddenly very exposed and vulnerable.

 

“You’re right,” said Coram.  “We can discuss this when there’s something less pressing to think about.  I’m taking us up to the dome of the Tower.”

 

Leanne nodded.  “Up we go.”

 

Coram worked the controls to make the hover van go into a steady, swooping climb to a higher altitude as they drew closer to the tower.  Leanne steadied her breathing and heartbeat and was grateful to have the silence back.

 

Coram glided the van to a stationary position hovering alongside the edge of the rooftop, having the passenger’s side let out onto the roof so that Leanne could climb out.  He morphed to dragon form and flew out the pilot’s side to join Leanne at the rear compartment, which she opened.  They worked quickly and efficiently.  Coram removed the

gargoyle from the rear of the van and flew up with it to the top of the dome to attach it, while Leanne stayed on the level surface of the roof, monitoring the attachment with her uniform’s comm system. 

 

A hologram of the status of the device flashed into the air before her, showing her the Protocol tech coming online and establishing communications with the satellite, and also displaying the expected smooth progress of the other installations.  Coram flew back down to join her, and she showed him how well everything was going. 

 

Watching the indicators, Leanne nodded, looking pleased.  “Everything’s connecting,” she said.  “We’re getting optimal readings from the other positions in the city.  All the sensors are coming online, and it’s all going into sync.”  She allowed herself a little smile.  “This is

beautiful.”

 

“Agreed,” said Coram.  “It should go as well in all the other cities and settlements.  You’ll have a very good report for Fleet Command today.”

 

Leanne nodded.  “It really is going very well.  Not the slightest problem; it’s all perfect.  It’s just…perfect…”

 

Coram leaned his dragon head down towards her slightly.  “You sound slightly disappointed at how well it’s proceeding.  Did you want to have a problem?”

 

“No, it’s not that.  I’m satisfied with how it’s coming together.  It’s just…maybe it’s only the way my mind works.  I look for perfection, or at least for the best, but I always expect it to come with a little effort or at least a slight flaw, a minor complication, a little something to shake out before it’s all exactly just so.” 

 

“Be grateful that it’s coming together as well as it is,” said Coram.  “It shows how right you were to be so confident about the Protocols.  It validates the way you advocated for them all those years ago.”

 

“Yes,” said Leanne.  “It certainly does.”  She looked up into his dragon eyes.  “After all these years, when no one listened when I was one of the ones who recommended this, now,

finally…”  She trailed off at something that suddenly caught her attention.  She wrinkled her brow and squinted slightly at something in the distance.  “What is that?”

 

“What?” Coram asked.  “What do you…?”  He swiveled his dragon neck in the direction she was looking.  When he caught sight of what Leanne saw, he reared his head slightly back, feeling as mystified as she.

 

“What is that?” Coram wondered aloud in his dragon voice.

 

From a direction beyond the edge of Silverwing, out past where the city turned to countryside and the countryside turned to forest, from the place where the mountains bristling with trees reared up at the horizon, there appeared what looked like a growing, spreading cloud.  It welled up from there and began to creep across the sky in the direction of Silverwing.  It gave Leanne and Coram a churning feeling of unease.

 

“Coram,” said Leanne, “your dragon eyes are sharper than mine.  Can you tell what that is out there?  It doesn’t look like the smoke from a forest fire.  But what is it?”

 

Looking ever more intently at what was approaching the city, Coram replied, not with uncertainty but with stunned awareness.  “Leanne,” he said, “if your uniform or your equipment has a magnifier, use it.  You have to see this for yourself.”

 

Apprehensively, Leanne reached into a pouch on her uniform and drew out a pair of

special lenses which she clipped to the bridge of her nose.  She looked again at the strange formation and could not stifle a gasp.  “I’ve never seen anything like that!  I’ve never seen them that way before…” 

 

The words were barely out of her mouth when both her wrist comm unit and Coram’s badge sounded multiple incoming messages.  They both activated their personal comm systems, and the air around them came alive with holograms of Kesta, Tarik, and Willem in their own dragon forms.  Kesta was the first to speak up: “Coram, are you seeing something unusual

coming in from outside the city?”

 

“Yes,” said Coram, “Leanne and I both spotted it.  We’re at a complete loss.  They’ve made flocks before but never this large.  It looks like some kind of mass migration.”

 

“But they don’t migrate,” Willem chimed in.  “With the planetary weather controls in place, they haven’t had any need to migrate for generations.  They’ve adapted to city conditions where we keep the weather perfect.”

 

“Okay, never mind the reason they’re doing it; they’re doing it just the same.  And they’re coming this way, getting closer every second.  They’re going to reach the northeast corner first, and from the looks of it, they’re heading right for the center of the city.  Tarik, are you seeing any change in their behavior?”

 

Tarik answered, “They look as if they’re spreading out wider.  Some of them are still heading right for us, and their course will take them right to you.  But I can see the others turning, heading for the southwest.  Kesta, they’ll be coming your way.”

 

“Confirmed,” said Kesta.  “The flock is getting bigger and spreading out wider.  What’s making them do this?”

 

Suddenly, there was a spike of greater alarm in Tarik’s voice.  “Coram!  Leanne!  They’re here!  They’re right on top of us!  They’re…they’re…  Bane and damn!  Damn, what are they…?  How…?”

 

There was a sudden shock of light on Tarik’s hologram, and just as suddenly, it disappeared, the transmission cut off.  Willem and Kesta both called out, “Tarik!  Tarik, are you still there?  Come in, Tarik!”  Then, Willem spoke to Coram and Leanne: “We’ve lost Tarik.”

 

“What was that light?  Any idea?” asked Leanne.

 

“I don’t know,” said Willem.  “But…”  He trailed off, something new catching his eye.  “Look at that!”

 

Leanne and Coram turned their attention from the holograms of their colleagues to what they could see of the event at the northeast corner.  Disbelief lashed at them like a dragon’s tail when, at the top of one tall building, bursts of an orange-red-yellow glow appeared amid a flurry of small, flying shapes.  Leanne blurted, “Are they doing what I think they’re doing?”

 

Gravely, Coram replied, “Yes, they are.  And they’re still coming quickly this way—breathing fire.”

 

Leanne half-shouted, “But HOW?”

 

“I don’t know, Leanne,” Coram answered.  “But you have to take cover.  We’ve only a few more seconds before…”

 

Coram did not have a chance to finish the warning.  At once, the sky over them turned perceptibly darker from the flying, swooping forms of hundreds of grass dragons, all soaring directly for the Ullery Tower.  In some little nook of her mind, Leanne felt foolish for even considering the question she had just posed.  The answer was all too obvious.

 

And that was when the first jets of flame began to shoot down onto the Tower roof around her and Coram, making sparks leap on the rooftop all about them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            Tendrils of flame raked across the roof, hitting near Leanne, who leaped and reared back while sparks erupted from the roofing surface around her.  She drew her beam gun and tried to take aim at the winged shapes flapping and wheeling all about her, spitting long tongues of fire everywhere.  At the same time, she sensed Coram at her back with wings outspread and power blade drawn and activated.  She could no longer afford to indulge in her disbelief.  The grass dragons, which so many visitors to Lacerta had found charming at best and a borderline-vermin nuisance at worst, had become a swarm of fire-spitting monsters, and they now had Leanne and Coram surrounded.

 

Hearing whooshing and popping sounds from her flank, Leanne took just a second to peer over her shoulder to see Coram slashing his power blade through the air. The energy sword connected with the bolts of flame coming from the mutated little dragons.  Everywhere his blade swung and flashed, it hit a jet of fire and deflected it, creating a miniature upheaval in the air.  Leanne then looked overhead and saw how many grass dragons were upon them: hundreds, flying around everywhere.  Coram seemed to be drawing their fire—for the moment.  She feared he would not hold their attention for much longer.

 

“Leanne!” called Coram.  “I’ll cover you, but I can’t promise for how long!”  He was

only confirming what she already knew.  “You have to get back into the transport!  It will protect you!”

 

Just then, a bolt of fire came shooting by, moving dreadfully close to her face before it hit the roof.  Leanne first recoiled, then recovered, having no time for any other reaction.  She lifted her pistol and started to fire at anything that moved, which gave her plenty of options.  Her beams sliced the air upwards even as the dragon’s fire sliced down.  She thought she hit a couple of them in the wings.  She thought she saw them fall.  There were scores of menacing little

reptiles to take their place.  She called back to Coram, “What about you?” 

 

“I’m a little more durable than you!” he cried.  “I have scales and armor, remember?  I’ll be behind you, but you have to go first!”  And he swiped his blade through the air, this time connecting not with a jet of fire but with a dragon who flew in too close.  It gave out a little shriek before tumbling onto the rooftop a few meters away.  “Now, Leanne!” he shouted.

 

Still shooting in an arc over her head, Leanne got the sight of the open hatch of the transport in the corner of her eye.  They had left it hovering there with the passenger’s side open to the rooftop.  All she had to do was get across the roof and through the hatch, and she would be in relative safety.  She could tell it would not be as easy to do as it was to think.  The space between her and where she needed to be was alive with strikes of fire and bursts of sparks. 

 

Bracing herself, Leanne called, “Count of three!  One…two…three!”  And she moved, lunging forward, swerving out of the way of a fire jet and blasting her weapon up into the air in mid-stride.  A grass dragon hit the roof near her, and she guessed it was the victim of her

weapon.  She half-ran and half-leaped around the creatures’ fire.  It would take only a couple of seconds.  I can make it, she determined and kept moving.

 

Leanne only wished she could see what was happening behind her.  She could hear the fire bolts striking Coram on his armored legs and chest and gauntlets.  She could hear his weapon whooshing and searing through the air, and the sound of grass dragons screeching when the crackling blade struck or slashed them.

 

Amid that, she heard Coram roaring at them, challenging them to do their worst, and imagined the rooftop around him littered with dying little scaly bodies.  All of that galloped through her mind even as she herself bound step by step towards that hatch and shot down as many of their little assailants as she could…

 

…And then all at once, her body erupted in a sudden, shocking rudeness of pain.  She went into a spasm and crumpled onto all-fours, still clutching her own weapon, stifling a scream from the searing, smoking spot on her left thigh where a jet of flame had hit her.  She crouched, trembling, perspiring with the effort of suppressing her pain.  Everything began to spin around her, and she gasped at her injury.  Leanne refused to fall.  Not now…not now…

 

Then, just as abruptly, she was swept up in two strong reptilian arms and slung over a broad reptilian shoulder.  She found her head tucked between the shoulder and a wing and one of the arms that had hoisted her up now grasping her just under her bottom.  Leanne groaned a bit at the feeling of Coram carrying her the rest of the way across the rooftop and felt the flex and strain of his muscles as he slashed his weapon through the air with his free hand.

 

A second later, she felt herself being unceremoniously dumped onto the passenger’s seat of the transport, and she allowed herself just that much opportunity to catch her breath.  She was in pain, but she felt an obligation to resist it.  Now that she was inside the transport and momentarily out of the line of fire, there was something she had to do.

 

Outside, Coram’s task was now even more daunting than getting Leanne into the transport.  Now, he had to get himself to the pilot’s side and through the other hatch, and he had to do it with the air over him thick with dragons and fire.  Giving out a roar that sounded like a curse, he flapped his wings and launched himself into the air right into the midst of the swarm of little flying, fire-spitting beasts.  He needed only fly a few meters—but they would be among the most dangerous meters he had ever flown.

 

Once in the air, Coram was surrounded even worse than he’d been on the rooftop.  He saw some of the little bastards swooping around the central gargoyle with which he and Leanne had just fitted the Chimerian Protocol mechanism.  They shot their fire onto it, scarring the surface of the sculpture with burns.  If they penetrated the gargoyle, a portion of Silverwing’s

defense would be compromised. 

 

A more immediate danger faced Coram himself.  A dragon came soaring in directly at him, mouth agape and glowing.  In an instant, the creature would discharge its fire right in Coram’s face—but Coram slashed the air in front of him with his power blade and connected with the animal’s jaws, sending it spiraling and smoking away. 

 

Coram’s situation was now dire.  Soaring above the roof of the transport, he had dragons all around him, hemming him in with fire bolts from every direction.  He spun in the air, deflecting some but not all of their fire.  Multiple jets of fire punctured his wings and struck his tail, making hot and agonizing welts.  He went into a dive for the other side of the transport, knowing Leanne would have the hatch open for him.  All he had to do was leap through it—as long as he could concentrate through the pain…

 

And a second later, Leanne watched the open hatch, and Coram’s body spinning and falling down past it, disappearing from view.

 

Eyes wide, Leanne cried out his name even as she moved, wincing, her senses reeling from her burned leg.  She could see the eruptions of fire against the forward viewport and hear the bursts against the roof of the vessel and was grateful that the hover van, the property of the Knighthood, was built to withstand direct strikes from power blades and, thus, able to hold off such fire as she and Coram were now facing. 

 

But she and Coram themselves were not fortified quite so well.  Fighting the pain, Leanne got herself across the forward seating from the passenger’s side to the pilot’s side and engaged the engines.  She set the craft on a downward course and clenched her teeth.

 

Outside, the wounded Coram used what presence of mind he still had to set himself on a spiraling path to the street, using the spread of his injured wings and the guidance of his injured tail to brake his speed downwards.  If luck were with him, he would find a comparatively soft grassy spot in which to crash, or perhaps…

 

Visions of his childhood flooded his mind at the sight of the treetop that rushed up to greet him.  In a second, his world became a blur of snapping tree limbs, violently churning, rustling leaves, and the impacts of his own limbs against branches and boughs.  He came to rest hard against a limb just strong enough to stop him, and lay there, dazed and pained, nestled and crumpled in the foliage.  Somewhere in his mind, he could hear his parent’s mortified voices, reacting to his having “done it again.”

 

The sound of his memory gave way to a whirring of engines.  He managed to lift his head up and see the transport coming in for a hover and the passenger’s hatch opening for him.  Leanne’s voice called out, “Coram, how badly are you hurt?  Can you get in?”

 

Coram struggled both against the tangle of tree limbs and leaves in which he lay and the pain in which the little devils overhead had put him.  “I can manage,” he called back.  “Just stay there.”  And with a hiss of defiance against the indignity of how he’d been saved, he lurched himself free and carefully negotiated the branches until, with a leap, he managed to clear the tree and latch onto the bottom of the hatch with one gauntleted hand.  He pulled himself laboriously into the transport, morphed back to human, and got himself into the passenger’s seat, leaning his head back against it and muttering very human curses.

 

“I dropped my blade,” he grunted between obscenities.  “I’ll have to retrieve it.”

 

“There’s more we have to worry about,” Leanne said.  “I’m going to find a spot to land, then I’m linking the Fleet Headquarters.  There’s something we need from them.” 

 

Leanne got their craft down to the ground and landed on the front lawn of the Ullery Tower.  Outside the viewport, she and Coram could see that the calamity and conflagration they had left overhead was reaching down to ground level.  Bolts of fire were hitting the grass and the ground everywhere, and people were screaming, shouting, and running—or, in dragon form,

taking off into the air—in every direction.  Here and there, a jet of fire would strike someone, cutting a weredragon out of the air or cutting down a fleeing human. 

 

For just an instant, Leanne and Coram felt helpless dread closing in around them.  But it didn’t last.  Just as quickly, from around a corner came three silver-white flying cars, the vehicles of the Lacertan Dragon Corps, and with them at least a dozen armored members of the Corps flying in dragon form on their own. 

 

They watched the Corps vessels get struck by fire from above and watched their flying dragon compatriots return the attack with laser rifles trained towards the rooftops.  They saw grass dragons falling out of the air onto pavement and grass, while Corps personnel leaned out of the flying cars’ windows to join in shooting at the beasts.  Some of the Corps members landed and started to help the wounded and assist people in taking cover. 

 

“Willem and Tarik and Kesta—they must all be going through this same thing too,” Coram realized aloud.

 

“And we’re going to do something about that right now,” said Leanne.  Tapping her wrist comm, she said, “This is Lieutenant Commander Leanne Shire to Fleet Headquarters.  Mobilize reinforcements armed with anti-Chimerian retrovirus; recommend Retroviral Protocol Beta, maximum coverage.  Implement at once.  And bring a couple of extra jet guns; we’re going to need them.”

 

A voice from the tech on her sleeve responded instantly, “Acknowledged, Commander.  Reinforcements scrambling, Retroviral Protocol Beta.  Bringing additional material.  Headquarters out.”

 

Once Leanne was finished, Coram said to her, “Morphing back to human has started healing me up.  I’m getting back out there.  I still have to find my blade.”

 

“I’m going too,” Leanne said.

 

“You can’t,” Coram said sharply.  “Not with that leg.  Not without First Aid.  Stay here in the transport and patch yourself up.  Then, get back out if you really feel you must.”

 

“Do I need to remind you who’s in command here?” asked Leanne.

 

“Do I need to remind you who your liaison and advisor is and what the procedures are for wounded personnel?  Do as I say…Commander.”

 

Leanne flared her nostrils and narrowed her eyes at him for that.  He had actually given her an order.  She would be furious with him—if he weren’t correct.

 

Her mood abruptly changed when he reached over and took her by the hand.  She was startled, caught completely unprepared for the gesture.  He gave her hand a squeeze, and she felt the strength and softness of his human flesh, which felt better than it had any business feeling at a moment like this.  Coram said, “And by the way, now that I have the chance to say it: thank you for the save up there.”

 

“Falling back into your old habits, I see,” said Leanne, “getting yourself into trouble and flying into trees.  What would your parents say?”

 

“They’d give me a proper reading out,” he replied.

 

There was a beat of silence that under other circumstances might have been filled with more banter.  Instead, they sat there quietly, and the exchange of banter was understood.  Then, Coram said, “Let me get the First Aid kit for you before I go back out.”

 

“All right,” said Leanne, nodding.

 

Coram climbed into the compartment behind the seats in which they had brought in the gargoyle.  Leanne watched the madness continuing to unspool outside the front viewport.  A group of humans ran down the street with a pair of Corps members flying over them, escorting them to safety as fire streaked down around them.

 

Other Corps members stood or crouched beside fallen civilians, protecting them from the rain of fiery bolts, taking fire on their armor or their skin and fending off attacks with swings of their power blades.  Grass dragons swooped low for a closer attack and were struck down as soon as they appeared.  Leanne frowned at the way these creatures, who normally were so small and innocuous, had become such dangerous living weapons.  The more she saw, the more anxious she was to get back out there.

 

In a couple of seconds, Coram returned with the sealed hard-case of emergency medical supplies.  He sat himself back down and handed it to her.  “This should hold you until your Fleet reinforcements get here, which I know won’t be long,” he said.  “Now, I’m on my way.”

 

“I’ll be right out once they get here and get us what we need,” replied Leanne.  “Take care of yourself out there.”

 

With a cocky smile, not entirely appropriate to their situation, Coram gave her a quick, brisk nod, then opened the passenger’s side hatch and bounded out onto the street, sealing the hatch behind him.

 

“Come on, Fleet,” whispered Leanne once he was gone.

 

Outside, Coram took in the surreal scene of battle against the small, swooping creatures until one came diving in and shot forth a jet of fire right at him.  He moved instantly, ducking and rolling from the pavement onto the grass, then leaped up just as quickly and broke into a run.  With a few long, fast strides, he was across the lawn of the Ullery Tower and under a tree.  The branches and boughs strewn on the grass told him that it was the selfsame tree in which he had broken his fall; now, he was sheltering himself under it.

 

Taking no time to ponder that any further, he tapped his badge and said, “Locate my power blade.”  In an instant, the badge produced a holographic map of the surrounding street and buildings with a flashpoint of light on what appeared to be a ledge directly across the way.  Coram peered out from under the tree, spotted the building, and identified the ledge as being a roof garden three stories off the walkway, part of a larger tower.  All right then, he thought.  Across the street and up to the roof, collect your weapon, and get back into play.

 

Coram released his human body into his dragon form, bolted out from under the tree, and leaped into the air with wings spread wide and tail thrashing.  With luck, the little devils would be too occupied with the personnel of the Corps protecting civilians to have at one lone Knight—until he rejoined the battle and had at them. 

 

And luck was with him.  He soared safely across the distance separating the tree where he’d ducked from the roof garden where he needed to be, and came in for a landing amid potted trees, hedges, and beds of flowers.  Folding his wings, he again touched his badge: “Ping on the exact coordinates of my power blade.”  At once, a sharp and persistent pinging sound issued from one of the hedgerows.  Coram made for there and crouched between two shrubs, reached into the soil beneath them, and drew back the hilt of his weapon, none the worse for the fall it had taken.  “All right, my friend,” he whispered to it, inspecting it to make doubly sure it was undamaged, “we’ve more work to do now.”

 

The Knight bounded back out into the middle of the roof garden, and as soon as he was a fully exposed target again, several opponents came in from above.  They flew in circles and arcs around him, shooting fire as they came, and Coram was ready for them.  He projected the glowing blade of his weapon and flashed it through the air as fast as his foes could fly, blocking and parrying their attacks, sending blazing arcs in every direction.  The deflected attacks started fires in the bushes and flowers, and some part of Coram, deep down inside, took offense at such

destruction occurring in such beauty.

 

As quickly as the thought had crossed his mind, safety systems in the rooftop reacted, and the arcs of fire were met with arcs of sprinkling water that, under normal circumstances, would be for watering the garden.  They served just as well to inhibit and quench the fires and filled the garden with hissing sounds and curls of smoke and plumes of water vapor in which the attacking dragons flew about, confused.

 

“Very good,” Coram quietly said with a wicked grin.  The sprinkler system could not affect his blade as it did the fires, giving him all the advantage he needed.  With blade held high, Coram advanced on the nearest swooping dragon and slashed the creature from the air with a single stroke, sending it to sprawl lifelessly atop a bed of flowers.

 

Coram moved quickly through the garden with the water sprinkling against him, slashing his tail and swinging his blade in every direction, attracting the small dragons to him.  He kept himself in the arcs of water to hold them at bay, leaping from sprinkler to sprinkler, swooshing his blade and cutting down a dragon or two everywhere he went.  The hissing sounds of extinguished fire were replaced with the death shrieks of falling grass dragons until Coram was alone on the roof again.

 

He let out a satisfied dragon hiss of his own as he swiveled his dragon neck from side to side, surveying the scene of his triumph and the litter of dead, scaly green bodies in the garden.  Then, he returned his attention to the street, where he had left Leanne.

 

He leaped from the roof and flew down into the main part of the carnage. Just a few meters

beyond the transport in which he knew Leanne would be busily patching up her leg, a Dragon Corps member came tumbling out of the air and onto the grass of the Ullery Tower.  Coram was horrified to see that five grass dragons had jumped onto the Corpsman’s back and were both burning and clawing at the exposed scaly skin of his shoulders, between his wings, and his lower back and the base of his tail.

 

The Corpsman thrashed about on the grass, flailing his tail, but admirably not emitting any more sound than a furious reptile hiss.  Coram touched down on the grass and said, though whether the Corpsman could hear him was anyone’s guess, “Steady on, friend, I’ve got your tail.”  He lifted his blade at the dragons on the Corpsman’s back and shouted, “Ha, there!  Ha, you lot!  Fresh meat, come and get me!”

 

The dragons attacking the Corpsman at once abandoned him and leapt at Coram.  With a slash of his blade, Coram took down two of them, while two more circled around him—and the third came right for him.  Somehow dodging Coram’s blade, the little dragon leaped onto the Knight’s chest.  Startled, Coram fell back onto the grass, and now he was in trouble; his little assailant, holding on tight, was leaning in at Coram’s throat and opening a mouth full of flames.  At the same time, its remaining two companions were also coming in for the kill.  Brandishing his blade, Coram thought, this one is going to be tricky…

 

Coram wielded his blade like a dagger.  At the second that the dragon on his chest was ready to exhale fire onto the Knight’s throat, he plunged his dagger into the little beast’s side and impaled it with a noisome hissing sound.  The dying animal screeched in protest as Coram regained his footing and swung his blade in the air with the dragon still impaled on it to fend off the other two.  It would take expert timing to disencumber his weapon of the animal he had impaled and still deal with its fellows.  Coram braced himself for yet another dangerous moment.

 

Even as he did, there came a whooshing of engines down the street, and two Interfleet transport vessels, each one twice the size of the ones in which Coram and Leanne and the Corps members arrived, came hovering in.  Their hatches slid open, and two dozen helmeted human members of the Interstar Fleet came flying out, taking to the air with jet harnesses on their backs.  Each of them was armed with what appeared to be a long silver rifle with a large, bulbous stock—but it wasn’t blaster fire they discharged.

 

Flying across the scene of battle and up into the air above, they released grey-white clouds of mist that billowed and spread all about.  Two of the Fleet members flew directly for Coram, while a third soared over his head and flew past and behind him.  The two Fleet members coming for the embattled Knight discharged more clouds of mist at the two dragons attacking Coram.  The mist enveloped the little beasts, and the reaction came instantly.  The pair of grass dragons fell in mid-flight like stricken birds and dropped unmoving onto the turf.

 

Coram’s two rescuers landed on the grass next to him.  One of them, a tan-skinned female, reached over her shoulder to a nook between the two jets of her pack and drew out another of the silver rifle-like weapons and handed it to the Knight.  “We were informed you and your liaison would be needing these,” she said.

 

Taking the rifle from her, Coram shut off his blade and let the skewered dragon on it fall onto the lawn.  He slipped the hilt of the weapon into its holster pouch at his side and examined his new weapon.  “A jet gun armed with Anti-Chimerian Retrovirus in mist form,” he acknowledged.

 

“This will get them,” the female soldier said.

 

“I’m going to enjoy this,” said Coram, looking up and over at the scene around the Ullery Tower, now clouded with pockets of mist above which the sounds of battle still carried on.

 

“So am I,” came a voice from behind him.

 

Coram spun around to find Leanne approaching him.  At her side was the male Fleet member who had flown past him.  She was limping but undaunted; a large patch of her uniform trousers was missing, replaced with a protein patch.  Her shoulders and back were now rigged with a jet harness identical to those of her fellow officers, and in her hands, now clad in control gloves, was another of the jet guns.  Coram guessed that she had taken pain inhibitors along with the protein patch; she looked determined and positively happy to be back on her feet and ready for business.

 

“You’re set to go, then,” said Coram.

 

“Absolutely,” Leanne replied.  “Let’s do this.”  Touching the wrist of one of her gloves, she rose quickly into the misty air without another word.  In the same manner, Coram and the other officers rose after her. 

 

Once they were aloft in the air space around the Ullery Tower, a new view of the battle presented itself.  The members of the Corps fell back and continued fighting the fire breathers with laser rifles, while the Fleet went to work.  Now, the air was filled with weredragon and

human figures taking the offensive. 

 

Wherever he saw a grass dragon on the wing, Coram took aim with his jet gun and sprayed forth the bio-weapon it contained.  The vapors spread out and did their work quickly, enveloping the small dragons whether they flew in for the attack or swerved and darted away in an attempt to escape.  Wherever they touched one of the little fire breathers, the creature’s wings were stilled in mid-beat, and it went arcing or spiraling for the ground, not to rise again.  Every one that dropped gave Coram a swelling of satisfaction inside.  But even that was not as pleasing as what he felt watching Leanne from the corners of his eyes.

 

She was magnificent.  Leanne made herself a guided human missile, shooting and looping through the flock of flying reptiles, moving right side up and upside down, discharging her clouds of weaponized retrovirus as she went.  She dove fearlessly into oncoming swarms of dragons, defying their fire and smothering it in the billows of mist that she sprayed before her. 

 

She cut through the space in which they flew, and as she passed, their little green scaly forms fluttered helplessly down in her wake.  When the dragons pressed their attack by flying at her from different directions, Leanne spun around like a top, making a ring of mist around herself into which the dragons flew, and from which they dropped, their flames sputtering out. 

 

And as Leanne engaged the enemy in the air, Coram could have sworn he saw an expression on her face that startled him.  It was an expression of genuine pleasure—not exactly bloodthirsty, but thrilled at what she was doing.  That was the word for it: thrilled.  She seemed to be actually enjoying the act of cutting down the beasts, sending them plummeting through the mists to the ground.  And it made him wonder.  There was something he had begun to suspect about this Leanne Shire.  Was he right?  Was his suspicion true? 

 

The tide of battle quickly turned, and the Fleet and the Corps had the grass dragons on the run.  The animals that were not yet immobilized stopped breathing fire and began to fly away, back in the direction outside the city from which they had come.  The tactic of the Corps and Fleet turned from engagement to pursuit.  With Leanne and the other Fleet officers in the lead, the uniformed defenders of Lacerta streaked after the animals, spraying their weapons ahead of them and continuing to catch the air dragons in mid-flight and knock them from the air. 

 

The humans flew ahead, their harnesses giving them a greater speed than the weredragons’ wings, but Coram kept his eye on the female figure that he knew was Leanne.  Though he now flew behind her, he well imagined that she still wore that same look of thrill and pleasure at every dragon they dropped.  In the back of his mind, he began to reach for the words of careful questions he meant to ask her when this was done.  There were things he now definitely wanted to know about Leanne.

 

The ranks of the grass dragons which had come to attack the Ullery Tower quickly thinned until only a paltry few remained to fly away from the city, fortunate to have narrowly escaped the anti-mutagenic mists deployed against them.  The pursuing humans and weredragons slowed down their chase, knowing the beasts likely would not get far, as others of the Fleet flying elsewhere in the city were liable to catch them. 

 

The danger was passing.  In the four corners of the city, the same thing that had taken place at the city center was surely playing itself out, sending other masses of fire breathers to ground or retreat.  Slowly and surely, the city of Silverwing was being made safe again.  Leanne led the group back in the direction of the tower.  Standing down their weapons, they flew back in silent triumph.

 

Leanne, Coram, and their compatriots regrouped back on the Ullery Tower lawn, where medical units had arrived to tend to the injured, and members of the Corps were collecting the unconscious and dead bodies of fallen grass dragons.  The Lacertan and human personnel let the emergency personnel go about their work.  One of the first responders checked and examined the protein seal that Leanne had applied to herself, while Coram stood nearby, back in human form, watching her intently.

 

Her expression was calmer now as she communicated with Headquarters and with the other teams at other positions around the city.  Coram was pleased to learn that Kesta, Willem, and Tarik had come through the attack as unharmed as he was.  But even more than this, he was interested in watching Leanne’s reaction to this whole ordeal that they had just faced.  More and more, he thought there was a spirit about this human female, a spirit that he recognized. 

A kindred spirit.

 

Coram nodded suddenly as he quietly watched her congratulate her fellow members of the Fleet and compliment them on a job well done.  Without question, this was a human female, trained and skilled and competent, well versed in her job and well able to carry it out.  But there was something else about her, something subtle but unmistakable. 

 

It was a look he had seen so many times on the faces of his fellow Knights in training and after the successful completion of a mission.  It was a look he had seen on his own face in the mirror when coming back victorious from battle.  He compared the memory of that look to the expression that Leanne Shire now wore.  It was something in the eyes, a special gleam, a particular glint. 

 

It was a look that he had seldom seen—on a human.  But it was real, and it was there in the eyes of Leanne Shire even now.  And Coram wanted very much to know what it was that had put that look there.

 

 

 

The stone walls rose up all around him inside the vast cavern.  It would have been pitch dark in there if not for the torches that he had placed all around—and the immense luminous jewel that stood in the center of this place somewhere deep underground.  The gem was twice as tall and half as wide as a man.  Attached to it were long, tentacle-like rock formations that penetrated the faceted surface and extended downward into a pit several meters away.  The pit, a geothermal vent, issued a nimbus of steam that heated the cave.  The energy from inside the vent radiated up through the weird boughs of rock and into the jewel.

 

There, inside the crystal, stood a figure, immobile, obscured to a silhouette by the radiance emanating from the jewel and the translucency of the crystal itself.  The figure in the jewel had been at rest these many weeks inside its glowing mineral cocoon, as it had been from the time it first formed.  The jewel was its womb, in which it waited to be born.

 

The being in the cavern had waited patiently for the day when the being in the crystal would emerge.  He had tended both the crystal and the one inside it, awaiting those moments when the figure would enter a waking state, and the two of them would commune together.  At those fateful moments, the being who tended the jewel would express his thoughts to his charge and tell him of the progress he had made on their plan, and how close they were to the glorious day before them, the day when the crystal womb would yield up the one inside, who would be ready at last for the future promised so long ago.

 

The caretaker of the jewel was a tall, slender being, his moist and slippery skin mottled in shades of brown, with a hard and ridged shell partially enclosing the skull.  His yellow eyes were twice the size of those of a man.  He had nostrils but not a nose, and a mouth without lips.  His hands had only four fingers each, with a sucker at the end of each digit.  This member of a species of sentient mollusks had hardly minded taking up residence in a cave.

 

It was quiet, and outside of this chamber, it was cool, the kind of place where he would have lived on his home planet, had he not taken leave of the distant world of Visan for a higher calling, something that he held to be the greatest of all possible destinies.  There could be no more monumental purpose for the life of any being than the purpose to which Cadoq had committed himself: for it would be Cadoq who would restore and fulfill the greatest dream that anyone had ever dreamed in all the galaxy.  Safe inside the jewel, under Cadoq’s careful watch, lay the dreamer.

 

A sound of fluttering came from the mouth of the cavern, a small sound at first, but it grew quickly louder until it poured into the space where Cadoq stood with his precious dreamer and became a rising din.  Right behind the sound of hundreds of beating wings came its flapping and flurrying source.  The grass dragons came flying in, a cloud of winged and tailed green bodies filling the cavern space above Cadoq and the jewel.

 

Cadoq raised his shelled head and quietly watched the dragons fly in circles over him.  He extended his arms and offered his hands, and two dragons came down from the circling and fluttering mass, one of them landing on each hand.  Cadoq drew them closer, and the dragons settled down, eyeing the mollusk being, tilting their heads at him.  Curls of smoke wafted from the little reptiles’ nostrils. 

 

Raising his head again, Cadoq called, “Enough!  Time to rest!”  The thought behind the spoken words rippled out across the space of the cavern, and the grass dragons responded as it passed over them.  They dispersed and flew to the walls, coming to rest in crevices, on outcroppings and ledges.  And as they settled themselves down, the sounds of their flapping ebbed, and silence slowly descended on the cave.

 

Cadoq looked again at the two reptiles on his hands.  “You’ve done your work, then, little ones,” he said.  “You and all the others, your task is done.  We’ve lost many, but our cause has gone forward, and the sacrifices will be rewarded.  The chaos just past has been among the last chaos that the galaxy will ever know.  Very soon, there will be order.  There will be no chaos ever again. 

 

The galaxy will come to everlasting calm and peace.  No strife, no conflict—only peace.”  He held up the dragons to the jewel, and as if bidden to do so, the little reptiles stared into the glow issuing from it.  “When he is reborn,” said Cadoq, “his promise for all life will be fulfilled.  Go now.  Rest.  You’ve done well.”

 

Lifting his hands, Cadoq let the last two dragons take off into the ledges of the cavern.  Alone now with only the crystal and its dormant occupant for company, he gazed at the opaqued figure inside it.  “I await your next awakening,” said the Visanian to the one in the jewel.  “I await the chance to tell you of the success we had today.  The mammals and the dragon people think they’ve won, and we will allow them to believe so.  But this has only been a preamble,

 only a prologue.  Your day is coming.  The day for which we’ve both been waiting.”

 

And Cadoq stood still and quiet, watching over the entity in the glowing prism, and saw the promised day unfolding in his imagination.  Soon, everything that he imagined would come to reality. 

_______________

 

In the aftermath of the dragon fight, the Fleet, the Corps, and the Knighthood moved quickly, tending to their injured personnel and giving assistance to the city of Silverwing in helping to repair damages and give aid to wounded civilians.  Fleet scientists rounded up specimens of the mutated reptiles at the Ullery Tower and elsewhere, taking care to give more anesthesia to the ones that were still alive but unconscious to keep them manageable after their exposure to the anti-Chimerian mist weapon.

 

The specimens were quickly taken to the research labs at the Fleet Headquarters in Silverwing for study, and the scientists went directly to work examining the genome of the fallen beasts.  By the following morning, they were to coordinate and collate their findings and transmit them to Leanne for presentation to Fleet Command.  A hyperspace communications relay had been cleared between Lacerta and Earth for rapid communication with Command at any time, day or night, in the event that she needed to do more than record and file a report.  Leanne expected that tomorrow morning would be one of those times.

 

But first, in accordance with regulations, Leanne was required to report to Fleet Medical for an examination.  She had treated her wound well enough for the field, but she had also gone back into battle with it, and under regulations, she needed to be examined prior to resuming duty.  Coram went to the Fleet Infirmary with her and stayed in the waiting area during her exam.

 

Of course, Coram knew there was no cause for alarm.  He had seen how expertly she had applied the protein seal to her injury.  And he had certainly seen that in the aerial strike against the dragons, she had handled herself as if there had been no injury at all.  In the maneuvers following the battle, Leanne had taken charge of the scene around the Ullery Tower, giving precise orders to the personnel, organizing the entire effort, and making sure the area was secured.  She could not have done a better job of it if she had been a dragon Knight herself.

 

And that latter comparison was what now caught in Coram’s mind.  He kept returning to the spirit that she had shown throughout the entire crisis and after.  He kept replaying in his mind the way Leanne had handled herself.  Human as she was, Leanne might as well have had scales, horns, wings, and a tail of her own.  And that was what he could not help but go over and over.

 

He kept hearing the conversation they’d had during the flight from the Spires to the

Tower.  Or to be exact, the last part of the conversation, when he’d said, Sometimes, a human comes to us wanting to be one of us.  In those last moments before their approach to the tower, a tension had risen between them in the transport, as if he had touched on something that she had not wanted to talk about, as if he had gone to a place where she was not prepared to go.

 

Or perhaps, he had opened a door that Leanne had only been waiting to have opened.  The more he thought about it, the more he suspected it was a possibility.  Leanne Shire, he guessed, might be the kind of human with a calling and an ambition beyond just humanity.  There could be a motive underlying her lifelong interest in Lacerta and its people that surpassed her girlhood

admiration of—and likely her girlhood crush on—the Knight who had rescued her on Dorian III. 

 

How could he broach the subject again?  How could he encourage her to talk about what was

really on her mind, perhaps what she had never before discussed with anyone, not even her

counselors all those years ago?  How…?

 

“I said, are you ready to go?”

 

Suddenly, Coram realized he had been standing at the wall of windows in the waiting

area, staring out into the city and the thinning clouds of smoke from extinguished fires that hung over and between the buildings, but not really seeing them because in his mind he was back in the transport with Leanne.  He whipped himself around and saw her standing there, looking

curiously at him and walking with a polished metal cane. 

 

“Oh, of course,” Coram half-sputtered, a little surprised to see her again because he had so lost track of time.  “I gather your examination went well.”

 

“It went fine,” Leanne replied.  “I’ll have to walk with this,” she said, tilting the cane, “for maybe a day, maybe less.”  She rolled her eyes, looking inconvenienced.  “I’m going for less.”  And she made a little half-grin at that.

 

“You’ll definitely want to go for less, I’m sure,” Coram said.

 

“And right now, I’d like to get out of here.  The Knighthood and the Corps have got the city secured, and the Fleet is at work studying the dragons.  Though to be honest, everyone already knows what they’re going to find.”

 

Coram sighed heavily, knowingly.  “The Chimerians.  They’re here already.  They did something to the grass dragons, no doubt about that.  And there’s no guessing what else they’ve done or what else they’re going to do.  And there’s no way this story isn’t getting out.  It’s

already all over Lacerta, and by the morning, the whole quadrant will know.  The tension is going to get thick enough for a dragon to slash with his tail.”

 

Leanne frowned.  “True enough.  And until Fleet Research makes its official report, we’re going to have to do the one thing I appreciate the least.”

 

“What would that be?”

 

“Wait,” she replied.  “Wait to make our own report.  Wait for further orders from Fleet Command.  Wait to come up with a plan for what to do next.  I know it doesn’t sound that disciplined, but…”

 

“But you prefer action to waiting in any event,” Coram finished for her.  “And sometimes, there’s nothing else to do but wait.”

 

“Exactly,” she said.

 

“And I’ll wager there’s something else you already know.”

 

“What’s that?” Leanne asked, her curiosity piqued.

 

“We may not like to admit it, but every Knight, deep down, feels exactly as you do.”

 

Silence followed this.  Leanne rolled her eyes to one side, and Coram watched for her

reaction, harking back again to that moment when he’d pointed out the motives of some humans for coming to Lacerta.  He’d wanted to see what she thought of what he’d just said.

 

Returning her eyes to his, Leanne said, “I’m under doctor’s orders to go back to my

quarters and stay there ‘til tomorrow morning—waiting.”

 

“Would you care for some company?” Coram asked.

 

“Right now, no,” she replied.  “It’ll distract me from doing nothing.”

 

“We’ll distract ourselves with a dinner that we’ve more than earned,” he said.

 

“All right,” said Leanne.  “But we might as well get cleaned up first.  Go back to your quarters and have a bath, and I’ll go back to mine and do likewise, and meet me at my quarters later.  Deal?”

 

Coram grinned, acknowledging.  “Deal.”

_______________

 

It was a custom of the planet Lacerta that its inhabitants preferred baths to showers, which they owed to the reptile side of their nature.  Homes, bathing facilities, and dwelling

places that were built primarily for the use of Lacertans did not usually have showers.  There was not a shower stall to be found anywhere in the spires.  So, to clean up after everything she had been through today, Leanne’s only choice was to settle into the sunken bathtub for a long, warm soak. 

 

The water could not penetrate the protein seal on her leg, so that was not a concern.  And truth be told, a little time by herself soaking in a warm bath might at least distract her for a while from her impatience.  Upon returning to her quarters, she took another mutagenic inhibitor and undressed for the bath.

 

Setting herself down in the water, leaning back, and shutting her eyes, Leanne pondered what it really was, beyond just the inaction of waiting, that was making her impatient.  It was the uncertainty of wondering and of not being able to plan for the unexpected, so that everything she did would be reactive rather than proactive.  That was what really nagged at her now: having been completely unprepared for the swarm of mutated grass dragons, and now being in a reactive position.  She much preferred taking the initiative.  She would have to find a way to turn this around, and soon.

 

Leanne was mildly surprised at how quickly a mood of calm came over her.  Why should she be calm now?  She guessed that it was only the lull that one experiences in the eye of a storm.  Soon enough, she expected, the eye would pass over, and the other side of the storm would hit.  Well, let it come, she thought.  Whatever it is, whatever they do, we’ll meet it just like we met the…

 

She snapped her eyes open again.  She had thought we.  Not I, but we.  As in us.  As in Coram and I.

 

Well, of course she should think of it that way.  She was not alone in this, after all. 

Coram had been assigned to work and, when necessary, do battle at her side.  The Fleet and the Knighthood had designated them partners in the effort of securing Lacerta.  They were a team. Leanne was well accustomed to working with and leading teams.  This mission was no different from any other.

 

Except it was different.  This time, she was protecting the planet Lacerta, a place that had loomed even larger in her imagination and her heart than Earth, the planet from which her family came.  This time, she was protecting the people of Lacerta, who had taken up as much of a space in her heart and her spirit as the human race to which she belonged.  She was defending Lacerta alongside a Lacertan.  He was her partner, to whom she would trust her life, even as she had trusted another like him to save her life on that awful day when she was just sixteen.  This time, it could not help but be different.

 

After a while of relaxing in the water—and ignoring the little gnawing pang of guilt that she felt over relaxing while some unknown jeopardy was out there somewhere waiting to catch her unawares—it occurred to Leanne that Coram would be arriving soon, and she ought to get ready for him.  She got herself out of the bath and over to the bench nearby to towel herself off.  The seal on her leg was beginning to absorb into her skin; she guessed that by morning it would be a squarish patch, barely distinguishable from her flesh.  It would take with it any trace of the wound she’d received. 

 

It would be as if she were a weredragon herself and had erased the injury by morphing from her scaled form to her human self.  At this, she raised her head and stared out, seemingly into space but really into her most private, personal imagination.  How many times had she unfurled in her mind the vision of herself in one of those other bodies, of being able to stretch wings of leather and lash a tail of scale-jacketed sinews?  How many times in the private space of her daydreams had she raised a horned head on a serpentine neck and hurled a shriek or a roar up to the clouds?  And how many times had she dismissed the idea?  Indeed, why had she always dismissed it?

 

Leanne shook her head, dispelling the vision once more.  She had no time for it now.  He should be on his way, and she was not ready.  She hardly wanted to greet him wearing nothing but a towel when he came to the door, even though at her first sight of him in person, he had been wearing nothing at all.  Yes, nothing at all—gloriously nothing.  She had seen every centimeter of him—and every centimeter of what he had below the waist.  At this, Leanne could not help but slip back into the memory of that moment as she had slipped into her fantasy of being what he was. 

 

Unbidden from her memory came flashes of all the times she had seen men of Coram’s kind the way she first saw Coram—seen them, and been kissed by them, and touched them, and lain

under them, and taken their maleness into herself.  Why was she remembering these things now?  It was out of place.  It wasn’t fitting—not now.  She chased the memories of the other dragon men, and of Coram’s nakedness, from her mind.  She needed to concentrate.

 

She refocused her thoughts:  I need to get dressed.  Leanne wrapped a towel around herself and walked back to the bedroom of her quarters, realizing further that all she had packed in the way of clothing was a set of uniforms.  Well, what of it?  She shouldn’t need any other

clothing but her uniforms during her stay on Lacerta.  She had come to do a job, and a vital one at that.  She was here in her official capacity as a member of the Fleet.  And though Coram was coming to dinner, it would be a dinner with her partner. 

 

That was, after all, what they were to each other—partners, assigned and designated by the Fleet and the Knighthood.  Mission partners, set to perform a task vital to the security and well-being of Lacerta and, ultimately, hundreds of other planets.  That was their relationship.  Coram was her mission partner.

 

Yes—her mission partner, with a face of swoon-inducing handsomeness; a body hotter than the fires of any dragon, real or imagined; and something suspended at his loins that was a weapon more potent than any power blade. 

 

Stop it! Leanne admonished herself and went to her closet to find a fresh uniform.  She had it on and had her hair combed just in time for the door to sound.  When she hit the control to slide it open, there he was on the other side of it, wearing a fresh armor skin without gauntlets, and a smile—and carrying a bottle of wine.

 

“Evening, Commander Shire,” said Coram.

 

“Good evening,” replied Leanne, eyeing the bottle in his hand.  “That really wasn’t

necessary…”

 

He stepped inside, and the door slid shut behind him.  “Of course, it’s necessary,” he said back.  “We earned this today.  You earned this today.  This is my favorite Lacertan vintage.”  He held up the ornately labeled bottle to show her.  “I always keep a bottle on hand for the most memorable occasions.  This day qualifies.  Today, we came through a battle together and were triumphant.  That…earns this.”

 

She wrinkled her brow at him slightly.  Of all the Knights that Leanne had ever known—some as intimately as it was possible to know anyone—she had never met one quite as Devil-may-care as Coram Dunne.  He was a Knight, through and through: strong, brave, valiant, fearless, fearsome.  But there was another quality about him.  He was so unaffected, so insouciant, so seemingly casual about everything he did.  In a way, she realized, Coram confused her.  Was he always so casual, so relaxed and unaffected? 

 

Leanne could guess well enough that he was more than casual about one particular thing—and yet also as ferocious about it when he got down to business as he was in the face of an adversary.  When all was said and done, Coram was a Knight, and there was one thing that every male of the Knighthood had in common.

 

“I’ll get some glasses,” she said.  “What do you want for dinner?”

 

They quickly decided to have the food fabricator prepare a couple of Lacertan steaks with potatoes and vegetables, and while waiting for their meals to process, they sat down at the table, and Coram opened and poured the wine.  It was strong, sweet, and delicious.  In spite of her wanting to maintain at least an air of seriousness, the first taste of it made Leanne smile.

 

“You see why it’s my favorite?” Coram grinned at her over his glass.

 

“It is very good,” Leanne replied.

 

“I knew you’d enjoy it,” he said.  “Would you allow me an observation?”

 

“What?”

 

“You fit in very well on our planet.”

 

“I do?”

 

“Yes,” Coram said.  “You do.  You seem very much at home here.”

 

“You know I’ve always been fond of your people,” Leanne said.

 

“Very fond, I know,” Coram replied.  “But there’s something about you that’s very

natural in our company.”

 

“A lot of that just goes with being a member of the Fleet,” said Leanne.  “Visiting other planets, circulating in other cultures, dealing with other species—you get used to it.”

 

“You could stay on Earth and be just as used to it,” he pointed out.  “Everyone goes

everywhere, whether they’re in the Fleet or not.”

 

“Then what’s your point?” Leanne asked.

 

“My point,” said Coram, “is that I’ve watched you since you’ve been here.  There’s something very natural and instinctive about the way you are with us.  I watched you in the aerial maneuver against the mutant dragons.  You flew with us as if you’d been born to do it.”

 

Leanne shrugged.  “I’ve been trained for that kind of maneuver, Coram, the same as any officer.  There’s nothing special about it.”

 

“Isn’t there?”

 

The question hung in the air, and a world of meaning hung there with it.  Their eyes locked together across the table until the ping of the food replicator broke the moment.

 

“I’ll get dinner out now,” she said.

 

Leanne stood up from the table, and Coram, the Knightly gentleman in spite of his rakish ways, stood up with her.

 

They began dinner in silence.  There was a gratifying and sensuous pleasure in biting into hot beef after everything they’d endured today.  But Coram did not care for the quietude, not when there were things he wanted to know, and once again, he had made her withdraw into

herself, which was not where he wanted her.  He would have to do something about that straight away.  He started the conversation again.

 

“Tell me about Dorian III,” he said.

 

Leanne looked up at him over a forkful of steak.  “Dorian III?  What about it?  You

already know about that; it’s in my files.”

 

“The flat facts are in your files,” he said.  “I want to hear about it from you, not the Fleet records.  Tell me about it.”

 

“It’s an old story,” said Leanne.

 

“It’s important to you,” Coram said.  “And…I really want to know.  Tell me about the day that Sir Hagen Maxon rescued you.”

 

She looked away from him, troubled at his curiosity.  “There’s no need to go into that.”

 

“Why?” Coram asked.  “We’re going to be working together, Leanne, working together closely.  We should be able to talk to each other, trust each other.  We should be able to know things about each other.  You do trust me, don’t you?”

 

Now, she returned her eyes to him, and he was pleased to see in her eyes the answer to his question.  “Yes, I trust you.”

 

“Then you can tell me.  I want to hear about that day.”

 

“I lost my parents that day, Coram.”

 

“I know,” said Coram softly.  “I want to hear about it.”

 

She paused a bit, gathering her thoughts.  Coram waited for her to go on.  Then, she asked, “What do you know about Dorian III?  Did you look it up?”

 

“Only what happened to it,” said Coram.  “That is, only the reason you left.”

 

“Where my parents and I lived, New Massachusetts, was the oldest settlement on the planet.  In the center of town, they put up the first Earth ships that landed there as a permanent exhibit.  That area, near the old ships, was a beautiful place.  It was all tall trees and vines and flowers.  The buildings were all shaped like different kinds of mushrooms, and there were bridges between the tops of them.  You would go out and walk over the bridges and look out on the whole city.

 

And there were places where the bridges crossed, where they had little parks.  People would go up and have picnics there.  That was our favorite place to go, my parents and I.  We went up there one day, and some friends of mine were supposed to join us.  It was supposed to be a perfect day.  It was supposed to be fun.  My friends never made it.  They were late.  We wondered where they were.  That was when we heard the noises.  And then, we looked out and saw what was happening.”

 

Coram leaned forward a bit, listening intently.  This was going to be the part that he knew, the thing that was in the official record.  Now, he was going to hear it first-hand.

 

“Everyone knew what was going on with the Chimerians.  Not a day went by without you hearing something about it.  The stories were scary; it seemed like half the time people were trying to distract themselves from knowing about it.  But on Dorian III, we thought we were okay.  We thought we were far enough from where the main part of the conflict was.  We thought it wouldn’t get out as far as we were.  And we had Lacertan Knights stationed on the planet to help out in case anything happened.  And then…something happened.

 

“We heard something—people screaming, things breaking and crashing.  And we looked out at the city, and we could see them growing everywhere.  They were growing so fast we could see them grow.  They climbed and crawled, wrapped around things, grabbed things.  And from the sounds we were hearing, they were grabbing people.  Have you ever seen a Coradan predator plant?”

 

“Not personally,” said Coram.  “I’ve seen vids of them.”

 

“They’re carnivorous plants—big ones.  They’re like pythons.  Big, hungry pythons or giant squids on land with hundreds of tentacles.  They’re carnivorous plants.  And they’re

dangerous.  There are places on Corinda II where you don’t want to go because of them.  And suddenly, there they were on Dorian III—our planet, our home.  In their natural form, they’re ambush predators.  They lie in wait or they sneak up on their prey.  These were different.  They were fast-growing, and they could chase things down.  And they were there, on Dorian III, on our planet.  And my parents and I knew how they’d gotten there.”

 

“The Chimerians had taken on some of their genes and were using them to attack your planet,” Coram pointed out, obviously.

 

“Coradan predator plants, mutated by the Chimerians and turned loose on our home.  And they were everywhere, all around, and they were coming after people.  My parents and I looked, and we could see them wrapping around buildings and fixtures.  They were whipping and snapping into the air, grabbing vehicles in flight and making them crash.  And they were catching people.  We saw people lifted up off the ground by vines coiled around them; the vines were dragging them off. 

 

And windows were being torn out of buildings, and the things were reaching in and snatching people.  They were snapping trees and pulling them down, and smashing things.  People ran

everywhere, and the vines or things that had been broken or pulled down cut off their escape, and the vines would strike like snakes and coil around them and drag them away.  My father said we had to get out of there.  We left our picnic where it was and started running out of the park, headed for the bridge.  We’d left our car at the landing lot not far away; it was a short walk, but now, we knew it was going to be a dangerous one because the plants were everywhere.  But Dad said not to think about it; just keep moving, keep moving.”

 

Coram gulped a bit to hear Leanne describe what he knew was the worst day of her life.  From the haunted look in her eyes, he could tell that a part of her was becoming a terrified sixteen-year-old girl again.  He felt a little pang of guilt at making her go back there, but all the same, he had to know.  It was important.

 

Leanne continued, too caught up in the memory to stop talking now.  “We got as far as the edge of the park, and then right where it let out onto the bridge, we saw them coming up over the rails: huge vines, as big around as my wrist or bigger.  They climbed up, and they started spreading everywhere.  They looked like cobras, reared up, except they had other snakes branching off them and doing the same.  They were sensing.  That’s the thing about Coradan predator plants; they can sense body heat, carbon dioxide, perspiration, and they grow in that direction. 

 

We were cut off; my mother clamped her hand over my mouth to muffle my screaming, but she must have wanted to scream too.  My father threw himself in front of us and said we had to run for the other side of the park and try to get out that way.  I think we all knew how hopeless it was; there’d be no getting away.  But Dad hustled us off anyway, and we started running in the other direction. 

 

“By the time we got back to the park where we’d left our picnic, the place was full of them, slithering and crawling all over, and this time, Mom couldn’t stop me from screaming

because she was screaming too.  She just held me.  Dad kept himself in front of us.  Mom and I knew he’d be the first to go.  And then, one of them lunged out and got him.  It wrapped itself around him, pulled him off the grass, and lifted him up into the air, carrying him off.  Mom and I both screamed for him, and I broke away from Mom and reached for him.

 

 I started running after him, and Mom screamed for me to stop—and that’s when one of them got me, right around the legs, and suddenly, I was off the ground too, and Dad and I were both being pulled away.  The next thing I saw was the park under me, and Mom being grabbed and carried.  Now, the plants had all of us.  We were done for.”

 

Leanne shut her eyes, and Coram could see in her expression that her mind’s ear was hearing the sounds of her sixteen-year-old self, her mother, and likely her father as well, all screaming and shouting out what would be the last breaths of their lives.  Reflexively, Coram reached across the table and touched her hand.  She opened her eyes again at the sensation and found her voice once more.

 

“The heart of the plant had rooted itself into the ground near the landing lot.  Its fronds had wrapped themselves around our car and the others there, and we could hear some of the cars being crushed.  And there it was, this huge, gaping maw growing out of the pavement.  The leaves were all green and purple and red, and it looked like a bottomless pit with vines coming out all around it, and it was full of thorns, huge thorns growing inward so nothing that went in could get out without being cut to pieces. 

 

And that was where the vines were taking us, down into that mouth full of thorns.  I could hear Mom crying and screaming, telling me not to look.  And I shut my eyes hard, and I was crying too.  The last thing I saw was Dad being pulled down into the mouth, and Mom and I were next.  With my eyes closed, I heard Dad scream.  I opened my eyes again and saw Dad just disappear into the leaves and the thorns. 

 

I reached out for him, but he was just gone.  And I looked up and reached for Mom, and she was trying to reach out for me, and I felt myself being pulled down.  I was next.  My mother was about to see me go before her, just like Dad did, and I called out to her…”

 

Coram gave her hand a little encouraging squeeze, reassuring her that it was all right to go on.  After another breath, she did.

 

“And the next thing I knew,” said Leanne, “there was this sudden heat.  I felt this heat, and there was a flash of light from behind me.  I looked back over my shoulder in the direction it was coming from, and I saw something bright and hot slicing through the vine that was holding me.  And there was this shape, a big shape, with wings flapping.  I saw an arm reaching out and felt a hand grab me, and all of a sudden, the vine around me was falling off and coiling and twisting in the air, and I was being pulled away.

 

I didn’t understand what was happening; there was just this big arm around me and this sound of wings beating.  But I looked for Mom, and I saw her being pulled down into the thing’s mouth, and I screamed for her one last time, but she was gone.

 

And I was going up higher in the air now, and I could see there were all these shapes, dragon shapes, coming down around the heart of the plant, and there were these flashes of light all over, and the vines kept falling wherever there was a flash.  And after that, I don’t remember too much, except that I was flying, flying away.  I tried looking down again and saw that I was back over the park where we’d been having our picnic, and it was full of vines, and there were all these shapes with wings and tails everywhere, flying all around, and the lights kept slashing in the air and cutting down the vines.  And then, everything just got hazy.”

 

“Anyone would have reacted the way you did,” Coram said softly.

 

Leanne said, “Anyone not trained how to deal with a crisis.”

 

“You were young.  You were sixteen.  And your parents were civilians.  There was

nothing they could do.”

 

“That’s what the counselors said, later.  All I knew was that they were gone and I was

almost gone with them.  I ended up on this floating platform over the city, too high for the plants to reach.  The dragon who rescued me landed with me on one of the outer strips of the platform.  I was in shock.  I’d screamed and cried so much, I couldn’t make another sound.  He touched down with me and put me down on the strip, and I just crumpled there, flat on my bottom.

 

I looked up at him, and I couldn’t say a word.  And he was tall and scaly, and his horns curled up over his head, and he looked down at me with these big gold and brown eyes, and he had these stripes of gold and bronze on his skin.  It was the first time I’d seen a dragon Knight close up, and at first, I thought he was the most awesome thing I’d ever seen. 

 

Some of the other Knights came out of the platform and helped get me inside.  They took me to this emergency triage place they had in there, and the ones in there were in human form; they gave me something for the shock, and my mind cleared a bit.  And the one who’d saved me came in to check on me, and he turned human—and something inside me just seemed to snap.”

 

“Snap?” Coram asked.

 

“Yes, snap.  Somehow, seeing him human in his armor, I don’t know what happened, but I just…snapped.  All that fear and terror and grief came pouring out of me, and it turned into

anger.  I went into a rage.  I was furious.  I jumped down from the table where the dragon medics had me, and I went at him, yelling, screaming at him.  Why did he only save me?  Why didn’t he get my mother and my father out of there?  Why did he come for me and let them die?  I blamed him for letting that damn thing get them.

 

And I screamed at him and cursed him and beat at him with my fists, and I started crying again.  And he just stood there, not saying a word, and took it, took it all, until the medics pulled me off him and gave me something else that settled me down—obviously a sedative, because that’s the last thing I can remember for a few hours.”

 

“And that,” said Coram, “was how you met Sir Hagen Maxon.”

 

With a sigh, Leanne replied, “That was how I first met him.  The Knights took me and others they’d saved back to one of their ships up in orbit, where I’d be safe.  And while I was on board, Sir Hagen came to see me again.  And I felt so awful…so awful…for attacking the Knight who’d saved my life.  I was so guilty.  But I was so full of grief and rage over my parents, I’d made him the target.  He said he understood and didn’t blame me.  He said the way I’d reacted was natural; it was the shock and the terror and the loss.  He didn’t hold it against me.”

 

“Of course, he didn’t.  He wouldn’t.  When we go out on rescue missions, we see people terrified and in pain, and we learned how to deal with it—just like you did later, when you joined the Fleet.”

 

“I wasn’t thinking about any of that then,” said Leanne.  “All I was thinking about was that my mother and father were gone, and those damn plants had probably destroyed my home, and I didn’t know how I was supposed to go on from there.  And I was guilty about how I’d

attacked Sir Hagen—and I was guilty about still being alive.  I didn’t think I should be alive then.  And Sir Hagen understood.  He sat with me and talked to me for I don’t know how long.  I told him all about how Mom and Dad and I had left Earth to join the Dorian III colony, and how I’d thought it was going to be this big, great adventure.

 

And I didn’t know really what kind of adventure it would turn out to be.  And Sir Hagen

listened to me, talked to me, and told me about how he had come up through training to

become a Knight to help people and protect them, and he told me I was the reason he did everything he did.  It didn’t really make anything better, and it didn’t really make everything all right.  But it was good just to have him there to listen to me.  I didn’t see Sir Hagen after that; he had other duties and had to go.  But I stayed with the Knights until they could get me into

counseling.  And I never forgot him.”

 

There was a pause of silence after that.  Leanne breathed out heavily, as if to breathe out the last of the memories she had called up.  And Coram took away his hand, but he stayed leaning over the table, reassuringly, reminding her with his closeness that there was someone here who cared now.

 

“So,” she continued, “you wanted to know the story of Dorian III.  And there it was.  That was it; that’s what happened.”

 

“The story of a brave young girl,” Coram said.

 

“The story of a terrified, traumatized, hurt girl,” she corrected him.

 

“A girl who got better and stronger and more capable,” he corrected her back.  “Strong enough to be an officer, a leader, and a warrior.  That was the woman I saw out there today.  She’s a formidable woman—one I’m proud to know.  One I’m pleased to be serving with.”

 

“Thank you,” said Leanne.

 

“You’re welcome,” said Coram, sitting up straight again, his insouciant smile returning.  He reached for the wine bottle.  “I’d say another glass is in order, wouldn’t you?”

 

Leanne held up her mostly empty glass to him.  “I’d say so.”  And she let him pour her and himself some more wine, and they finished their meal.

 

At the end of dinner, they sat calmly and drank down some more of the wine.  Leanne noticed they had almost emptied the bottle.  Time and wine had both flown by. 

 

“So,” said Coram, “perhaps I could ask you one other thing.”

 

Slightly buzzed from the wine, Leanne asked, “What now?  What else could you want to know after that whole story?”

 

“Just one thing,” replied Coram.

 

“Okay…what?”

 

After a measured, thoughtful beat, Coram posed his next question.  It was one that made Leanne’s heart jump a bit.  She blinked when she heard it, wondering if she had heard him correctly.

 

Coram said, “I can see how your experience on Dorian III, and the way you met Sir

Hagen Maxon, made you think of joining the Fleet.  I understand all that.  What I’d really like to know is…when did you decide you wanted to become a weredragon?”

 

Leanne’s mouth fell open, but no sound came out.  She imagined herself turning pale at the question.  If she’d still had her fork in her hand, she would have dropped it clattering onto her plate.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, Leanne blurted the question, “What makes you say that?  What makes you ask a thing like that?”

 

Coram was careful in answering, knowing he had hit a very tender spot with Leanne, and not at all the tender spot that most interested him.  "I'm sorry.  I apologize if the question shocks you.  I didn't know any other way to ask except to ask it directly."

 

“It’s direct, but it’s out of line,” Leanne frowned.  “I’m a human woman.  Human.”

 

“A human woman…who has an affinity for my people,” he replied.

 

She balked.  "Meaning that I want to be one of you?  Coram, the galaxy is full of people who have an 'affinity' for this group or that group of this person or that person.  It doesn't mean they want to be them."

 

“Do you imagine being one of us?” he asked.  “Do you have fantasies about it?”

 

"What if I do?  What does that prove?  Coram, it's natural for people to fantasize.  People have fantasies about being something they're not all the time.  We've always looked at other people--and other creatures--and wondered what it would be like to be them.  People have been like that since we were living in caves. 

 

The first time a man saw a bird flying, he wondered, what if I could do that?  What if I could fly?  Flying is one of humans' oldest dreams.  Flying like a bird, breathing water like a fish, doing all kinds of things other creatures do.  Doing all kinds of things other people can do that we can't.  I don't think we'd be human if we didn't have those kinds of thoughts."

 

“That’s true,” he agreed.  “That’s a perfectly human thing.”

 

“Absolutely it is,” said Leanne.  “And we look at you, and we see you can change into this other creature that we've always had myths about, and naturally we wonder, what if we could do that?  Coram, you know every human culture that ever existed has had myths and stories about dragons.  You're strong, you're powerful, you have wings, you can fly...  You know, in some of our old religions, our old tribal customs, they had rituals about becoming other things--animal spirits, totems.  It's an old, old thing.  I think it's a kind of envy.  We envy anyone who can do what we can't.  Or any creature."

 

“So…,” he ventured, “do you envy weredragons?”

 

“I don’t know if it’s so much envy,” she said.  “We admire you.  We envy other beings, other creatures—but we admire them too.”

 

"Yes.  You do admire us, I'm sure.  You've admired us since Sir Hagen rescued you, saved you from the Chimerians."

 

“And why wouldn’t I?”

 

“Of course, you do.  There’s every reason for you to feel that way.”

 

“Then I don’t understand why you’d ask me about becoming one of you.”

 

Coram replied, "Well, you see, you pointed out what human tribal customs used to do, the rituals where they would act out becoming their totem animals.  They could put on masks and costumes.  They could paint their bodies and put on skins and feathers and sometimes even wear animal body parts.  They could do everything but physically become the totem.  I think that's where the fascination with us comes from.  We can do the one thing those old tribes couldn't.  We can complete the change, go all the way with it.  We can be the totem, the other thing.

 

There's a line that a human can never cross.  We cross it.  That's a powerful thing.  It has a power over humans' imagination.  That's why humans are interested in us.  On Lacerta, we see this all the time, humans coming to our planet to be with us, live with us--even be intimate with us.  They do it to be a little closer to doing something that a human can't do.  And sometimes...they want it all.  Sometimes, they want the whole thing.  You know, Leanne, that some of you come here because you want something more than just to be near us.  I didn't tell you about my mother and father, did I?"

 

Leanne shrugged.  “You told me some things.”

 

“What I didn’t tell you,” he said, “is that my parents worked for the Lacertan Morphological Society.  They were counselors with the Bureau of Morphology.  Their work was about helping humans who had a very strong affinity for Lacertans.  They would talk with them, counsel and help them.  When a human came to them with very deep, very powerful feelings about weredragons--and there are more people like that than you know--my parents would help them deal with the way they identified with us, help them understand and sort out their feelings.

 

Mother and father would tell me sometimes about some of the people they helped.  They

wouldn't mention them by name, of course, but they'd talk to me about the things their clients said or the things they said they felt.  I heard all kinds of stories about their feelings and their dreams surrounding us. 

 

And sometimes, they'd tell me about some of the people who had the strongest feelings, the

people who felt they were dragons inside, dragons in human bodies.  And when my parents found that these people weren't just dreaming, that they had a real need, a need to identify physically, not just emotionally, my parents would help them...assimilate."

 

She repeated the word. “‘Assimilate’…as in, become a part of something.”

 

"Yes.  They'd help these people take on the Lacertan mutation, and then, they'd help them learn how to live with two bodies, two physical selves.  Assimilating is a transition from one form to two forms.  It's a process that the first Lacertans had to learn how to do on their own, and it was very traumatic for them, coming to this planet as just humans and then becoming dragon shifters because of the mutagenic properties of the water here.  It was a physical and emotional shock.  It was terrifying for them, and it led to violence and death.  The colony almost didn't

survive.  My parents' work, in the most extreme cases, was about helping people learn to go from being one thing to being two things.  We're born assimilated, you might say.  Humans, if they make the transition, have to learn it.  I know from listening to my parents what all that means."

 

“And you think I’m like your parents’ clients, is that it?”

 

“Honestly,” said Coram, “you remind me of some of the stories they told me.”

 

Leanne leaned back in her chair and breathed out.  “And you know this from just knowing me for a couple of days.  We've been assigned to work together, we've been in battle together, and you think I'm like the people your parents worked with, who 'identified' with Lacertans."

 

“Please don't be hurt or embarrassed,” Coram said in an appeasing tone.  “There’s no

reason to be embarrassed.”

 

"'Embarrassed?'  Coram, it's a pretty big judgement you're making, don't you think?  You're making a lot of assumptions about me here.  You're seeing people that your parents talked about in me, and you don't know..."

 

"I know the signs, Leanne.  The signs are never the same for two different people, but there are things we can recognize from what we've seen many times; things people who identify with us have in common.  Sometimes, it's a traumatic incident that happens when a person is young that involves weredragons.  It's usually something that was always there, deep inside someone, maybe so deep that the person didn't even know about it consciously. 

 

Sometimes, it takes a traumatic event to bring it out.  Leanne, you went through one of the most traumatic things that can happen to someone, and it involved us.  There could have been something deep down inside you that came to the surface when Sir Hagen saved..."

 

She balked worse, throwing up her hands.  "Stop it!  Please just stop!  You're supposed to be my duty liaison, and you're sitting there psychologizing me, analyzing me!  I'm not here to be analyzed, Coram.  I have a mission; that's what I came for.  A mission!"

 

"Yes, I know.  A mission.  Your latest mission that deals with us.  There have been many.  And I'm sure there have been not just missions but...relationships."

 

"Sleeping with Lacertans doesn't mean anything either.  Coram, a million other humans have been to bed with Lacertans; that proves nothing."

 

“No, it doesn’t,” he conceded.  “But there are patterns you learn to see.”

 

“What, because I request duty assignments with Knights?  Because I’ve had relationships with them?”

 

"Because you've had so many assignments with us--and relationships with us--after what happened on Dorian III."

 

She put her hands on the edge of the table as if she wanted to snap it off.  "So what, Coram?  So what?  Everything else you've said is true.  I've always admired your people, maybe even

envied them a bit.  Maybe even I've had a kind of hero worship for you because of Sir Hagen.  But none of that has to mean what you're implying!"

 

“You don’t have to be ashamed of it, Leanne.”

 

“I am not ashamed!”

 

“I'm sorry; perhaps, 'ashamed' isn't the right word.  But answer me just this one thing.  Was there ever a time when you thought that maybe, perhaps, if you and your parents had been like us, able to become dragons, able to fly away from that attack on Dorian III, that perhaps things would have been different?  That perhaps you could have saved yourselves?  That just maybe you would not have lost your parents that day?  If you had been like us, you might still have your family right now.  Didn't you ever think of that?”

 

Now, she got up from the table, and as she stood, her voice began to rise with her.  “That is enough, Coram!  I'm not having this conversation anymore!  I don't want to talk about this!  You talk about me as if I'm still a sixteen-year-old girl!  You talk as if I'm still confused and scared and grieving!  I'm not!  I've had sixteen more years to live with this since it happened.  I am a grown woman.  I'm an officer.  I have training, I have experience.  I'm not a teenage girl; I'm an adult.  And I don't need you to analyze me and tell me why I do things!”

 

He stood up as well, speaking more softly.  “I’m sorry, Leanne.  I didn’t mean to offend you.  I only know what I see.”

 

“Are you a Morphology counselor, then, like your parents?”

 

“No,” he said.  “I only know some of what they knew.”

 

“Well, until you’re a counselor like them,” she said with a bitter edge, “you shouldn’t go analyzing people and reading into the things they do.”

 

A moment passed in silence, with Leanne fuming and Coram still trying to be

conciliatory.  With the same soft, even tone, he said, “You never answered the question, though.”

 

“What question?”

 

“Did you ever think that if you and your parents had been weredragons, that day would have turned out differently?”

 

She sounded more sad than angry now.  “I never had to think that,” she said.  “I knew it would come out differently.  It would all have been different…if we could have just flown out of there.  If we could have just flown…just…”

 

Leanne did not finish the thought.  Across the room was a tall window with a ledge large enough for sitting and a cushion for comfort.  Instead of finishing her thought, she went to the window and sat there.  Outside, the night was beginning to fall, along with her mood.

 

Coram went to join her, sitting on the ledge beside her.  He said nothing else for the

moment.  He only looked out with her at the cityscape of Silverwing, which was starting to light up with the approach of the evening.  Against the purple and gold cast of the sky, Lacertans in dragon form flew over the buildings, making arcs in the light of the moons.

 

At length, she spoke again, and she sounded neither angry nor sad but just a little dreamy.  “I wonder where it comes from.” 

 

“What?”

 

“This wish we have, deep down, to be…something else.”

 

“I don’t know,” Coram replied.  “Where do you think it comes from?”

 

“I’m not sure,” she said, considering.  “I think maybe because we spend so much of our lives trying to get over our limitations.  Did you ever notice that?  So much of life seems to be about trying to overcome something, or get something we don't have, or make ourselves better, or reach for something more.

 

 Life is so full of limits, always limits.  Always something more to have or something more to want.  I think maybe being a dragon, being able to do the things a dragon does, especially fly...  I think flying or wanting to fly is about not having any more limits.  It's about everything being possible.  Do you think that's what it is?”

 

“I think that's a great part of it, yes.  Perhaps, to you, it does mean something like that.  But perhaps, there's something else.”

 

“What?”

 

“We were talking about it before, but it seemed to hurt your feelings.  I don’t want to hurt your feelings again.  I’d never want to do anything to hurt you.”

 

And again, there was a pause, but this time, it was a pause with a look passing between them.  There was a word of other meaning in Coram’s expressed desire never to hurt Leanne, and in spite of everything else that had passed between them, they both felt it.

 

“My parents, you mean,” said Leanne.  “You think I want to be…one of you…to try to make up for what happened to my parents, for the way I lost them.”

 

“Do you think there’s any truth in that?”

 

She shook her head.  “I don't know.  I was angry at Sir Hagen at first.  I was angry at

everyone and everything at first, and I took it all out on him.  And I think it's because he saved me...but he couldn't save them.  Because he went for me first and got me out, and he didn't get to Mom and Dad, and none of the other Knights got to them either.  Because I lived...and they

didn't.”

 

“They wouldn't have wanted you to feel guilty for living.  They would have wanted you to live and go on.”

 

“I know that.  I do.  But after I got over the anger and the grief...there was still Sir

Hagen.  Maybe he wasn't personally in my life, but he and the other Knights were still out there, serving, helping, saving.  They couldn't save my parents, but they were still saving others.  And...I wanted to be like them.”

 

“And you did become everything you set out to be.”

 

“Did I?”

 

“That comes back to my original question,” Coram said.  “Leanne…do you want to be a weredragon?”

 

Again, she shook her head, trying to shake out the conflicting emotions.  “I don’t know.”

 

“How does the question really make you feel?” Coram asked.  “How does that idea make you feel, the idea of becoming one of us?  Does it fascinate you?  Excite you?”

 

She looked at him with an expression more helpless than he ever thought he would see from her.  “If you really want to know…it scares me a little.”

 

“Why?  What about it scares you?”

 

“I think maybe the idea of becoming one of you...  I think it would be gaining something, gaining a power, gaining another body--gaining another life, in a way.  But you know the way life is.  For everything you get, you have to let something go.”

 

“What do you think you’d have to let go?”

 

“Them,” Leanne said flatly.

 

“Who?” Coram asked.  “Your parents?”

 

Hesitantly, she answered, “Yes.”

 

“Why would it mean letting go of your parents?”

 

“Because,” she said, “when they died, it was the start of the life I have now.  Because even with everything I've done with my life, I've still held on to that day, to them.  Because they were human--just human.  And if I became one of you, I wouldn't be just human any more.  And I'd have to let go of the last piece of who I was--and let go of them, finally.”

 

“They wouldn’t want you to hold on to them forever,” Coram said.  “Remember them, yes, but not hold on forever.  And you know, Leanne, every parent hopes their children will

become something more than they were.  Or at least, they should.  Your parents, I think, would have wanted you to be everything you possibly can be.”

 

Leanne slumped a bit and hugged herself, looking lost.  “All these things...these are things I should have gotten over and gotten past so long ago.  Why am I still a sixteen-year-old girl?”

 

Coram smiled warmly at her and said, “I could ask why I’m still a dragon boy who goes flying into trees.”

 

To her complete astonishment, to her utter bewilderment, Leanne broke out into

spontaneous, sputtering laughter.  The tumble of emotions that she’d had roiling inside her came suddenly spilling out in a laugh.  And Coram, warmed ever more by the surprise of her laughter, laughed with her.

 

And as the laughter slowly ebbed, another spontaneous thing happened.  Coram leaned forward, angled his almost inhumanly handsome features over hers, and met her lips with a kiss.

 

 

 

As startled by Coram’s kiss as she was by her own laughter, Leanne pulled back from the moist warmth of it and stared at him, blinking, mildly stunned.

 

“Why did you do that?” Leanne asked.

 

“Because I wanted to,” Coram answered candidly.  “I think I’ve wanted to do that all along.  That, and more.”

 

She shook her head at him and waved a hand between them. “You shouldn’t have done that.  That’s not…  You shouldn’t have done that.”

 

Before Coram could say anything else, Leanne stood up and started to walk away—only to stop in mid-stride when she caught sight of the bed in the corner of her eye.  At this moment, with him only a few steps in one direction and the bed a few steps in the other, Leanne did not want to look at either him or it.

 

“Why shouldn’t I have done that?” Coram asked.

 

Now, she did look at him, sternly.  “Because of who we are, Coram!”

 

“We’re two people learning to understand each other.  Learning to like each other.”

 

"I'm a member of the Fleet, and you're a Knight.  We've been assigned to serve together.  We have duty.  We have a mission.”

 

“We’re flesh and blood people,” he argued.  “We’re not just our orders and our duty.”

 

“How can you say that?  You Knights—you’re all about your duty.”

 

Now, Coram stood up.  What he had to say now, he wanted to say standing.  “You’ve known us long enough and well enough to know we don’t live only by duty.  Just knowing me in the way that you have should tell you that.  There's one thing--one thing--we love even better than we love being Knights.  And you know very well what it is.”

 

“There’s no place for that now, Coram,” she said.

 

“Why not?” Coram asked, seriously.  “Leanne, we have an opportunity.  We have this moment, right now, when our duty together is in recess until we have more information about what we're facing.  Nothing else will happen until the morning, when the data from Fleet

Research comes in.  There's something else that can happen right now.  Right now, just between us.  I want it, Leanne.  I want to do it.  And I think, judging by that kiss, you want me too.”

 

“There you go again, thinking you know something about me.”

 

“What I thought I knew before was true.  And this is just as true.  Would you actually tell me you didn't enjoy that kiss?  Would you actually say you don't want more?”

 

“We can’t have more, Coram.  We shouldn’t have had even that.”

 

“Why?  And don't use duty as an excuse again.  Until the morning, there is no duty.  There's only you and I--and what we both want.”

 

“And after?  What happens after?”

 

“What happens after is that everything goes on.  The mission -- and us.  There's no reason both things can't go on.”

 

“You can really keep those two things separate?  You really think one thing wouldn’t

interfere with the other?”

 

Coram walked nearer to her, put himself in her space, almost as close as they both wanted to be.  “For us,” he said, “there's a place where one thing in our life leaves off and the other

 begins.  I don't believe that would complicate anything at all.  You only have to let it be.  Just do that much--let it be.”

 

“It’s not right,” she said.

 

“Then why are you standing your ground?  Why aren't you moving away?  You'd move away if you were afraid.  You're not afraid of me.  And I don't believe you're really afraid of yourself.  You're not sixteen, Leanne.  You're strong, you're confident, you're in command.  You know what you want, and you can make it what you want it to be.  Don't let it pass.  Let it be.”

 

He had called her strong and confident, but at this of all moments, Leanne felt more

powerless than she had ever felt in her life.  She put her hands on his shoulders—his broad,

incredibly perfect male shoulders.  “This is you, isn't it?  I’ve known so many of you and been with so many of you; I know this is the way you are.  It's what you do.”

 

“Yes,” he said.  “It’s what we love.  It’s what we do.”  And he seized the moment and leaned down and into her again, and pressed his lips to hers in another kiss of rising heat and growing desire.  He held their mouths together, stoking the flame, wrapping his arms around her and not letting her pull away—as if she wanted to pull away.  As if she wanted to be anywhere but right there, doing just what they were doing at that moment.  Leanne gave in and kissed him back.  He kissed her harder, and she let him.

 

It was a little agony to break the kiss, but it was necessary for what Coram did next.  He reached to the back of his neck, then down to the small of his back, undoing the top of his armor skin, and let it fall to the floor at their feet.  Again, she saw the achingly exquisite plates of flesh that were his pecs and abs fully exposed, but this time from much, much closer, and it stoked the fire for her as much as if they were still kissing.

 

“I want us in that bed over there,” said Coram.  “Now.”

 

As much as he had said she was in command, Leanne knew that, in this moment, she was outranked by her own heart and her desire to know the body standing half naked and so close to her.  He took her by the hand and led her to the bed.

 

At the bedside, her uniform and boots, and the bottom of his armor skin and his boots, lay on the carpet.  Leanne and Coram sat on their knees facing one another, naked and eager, their hands and mouths everywhere on each other’s body.

 

“You know the way we are,” he said, raining kisses on her mouth, her neck, her shoulders.  “You know the way we feel.”  His hands cupped and squeezed her breasts and made her tremble with released arousal.  He took one hand from her breast and used it to lead her own hand down between his legs to grasp the most wondrous weapon that a Knight had at his command.  It was hard and long and hot, and it pulsated in her fingers, thrilling her.  “You know the way we screw,” he said, continuing his torrent of kisses on her neck and shoulders.  “Feel how hard I am for you, how much I want to put it in you.  I’m going to eat and screw you like a

dragon, Leanne; the way only a dragon can do it.”

 

She fell back onto the bed.  He fell onto her, and began.

 

There were reasons why Lacertan men, and especially Knights and Corpsmen, were the most sought-after bed partners in known space.  Not only were they spectacularly beautiful in face and body, not only were they hung like charger torpedoes, but they were utterly, fearsomely carnal beings, creatures of soul-searing desire and all-consuming lust.  From her memories of all the other times she’d lain with Lacertan Knights, Leanne knew that Coram’s stated intentions were no idle boast.

 

She was about to be subjected to a mind-shattering onslaught of raw, plundering sex.  Not in words but in feelings, the knowledge of what was now going to happen to her enveloped her mind as surely as Coram’s mouth now claimed her wet and turgid womanhood.  And yet, with the sucking of his lips at her folds and the lapping of his tongue at her passion bud, there came the awareness that this was going to be something more.

 

After the things they had shared and the things she had revealed to him, this was about to be a physical intimacy to match the emotional intimacy that had come before it.  Leanne gave herself into the sensations of his licking and sucking of her lady parts and the probing of his tongue into her channel, knowing that this melding of their bodies would be a joining of their beings. 

 

Coram French-kissed Leanne’s sex and pulled at the petals of her woman flower as

expertly and as lasciviously as any other Knight who had ever bedded her in the past—and yet, his eating her out felt unlike any other oral sexing in her memory.  The way he pulled wetly at her fleshy blossom and licked lustily at her pulpy bud, it was as if he were drawing out her soul through her loins. 

 

She had her eyes shut against the pleasure, to shut out the world and let the feeling of his mouth upon her most intimate places fill her entire consciousness.  He alternated taking her entire sex in his mouth and sucking long and hard, licking up and down her opening and over her folds, lapping at her mound, and licking and sucking at the little love handle tucked in her groove.

 

She rubbed her feet along his muscles, urging him on, begging him for more with her strokes and with her moans.  And he obliged her, sucking her womanhood and driving her to rapture.  Soon, his fingers followed his lips and tongue, strumming at her folds, teasing her moistened nub.  She writhed and cooed at the feeling of finger sex accompanying his oral sex, and then he

concentrated his tongue on her bud while sending first one finger, then two, then three at a time through her curtains and into her passage.

 

The thickness of his three fingers was the equal of the thickness of the member between his own legs, and made her wail in a shock of pleasure.  It was a pleasure not only of this moment, but of anticipation of what she knew he would want to do next—the ultimate of all pleasures.

 

He kept at her sex with his mouth and his fingers, sending Leanne flying and whirling away into a storm of ecstasy.  She flexed her entire body with the waves of bliss that he sent through her.  Nothing was hidden now; they were saying everything they could possibly need to say with his claiming of the treasure between her legs and her response to what he was doing to her.  Leanne tossed her head and gave out long, low moans at the joy that was happening down there.  It was beyond her comprehension.  All she could understand, or care to understand, was how completely euphoric it felt.

 

Coram gave her a few more long, deep, lasting kisses down there.  He licked broadly at the tender flesh surrounding her opening, and licked and nuzzled at her pubic hair, savoring everything that lay between her thighs.  Then, he began to kiss his way up her abdomen and over her bosom, stopping to pull at her pebbly, hardened nipples with the mouth that had so sensuously consumed her down below. 

He returned his face to hers and took her mouth in a wet, steamy kiss in which she could taste herself.  His erection pressed against her stomach.  It was a long, thick, hot and pulsating cable of desire.  Leanne wrapped her arms around his neck as he lay upon her, and she received his kisses and the probing of his tongue into her mouth until he broke the kiss with a slurping at her lips and said, “Are you ready for me to stick my piece in you?  Tell me you want me to screw you, right now.”

 

Her voice trembled with her answer.  “Yes…yes…”  She trailed off into another moan, wrapped up in rapture.

 

He cursed lustily, the word that meant what he was about to do.  In a daze of desire, Leanne watched him come up on his knees and take hold of the weapon of his passion, which felt hotter than a power blade.  He moved it from her stomach to the wetness that he had just devoured.  He slipped it all the way into her, penetrating her from his tip to his ample balls with one sure stroke, and cried out the word again.  She half-shrieked and half-moaned from the sudden seizure of ecstasy at being filled with Coram’s awesome tool.  Then, he lowered himself back onto her, captured her mouth in a kiss that muffled out the sounds of her euphoric outcries, and began to pump himself hard inside her.

 

The blows of Coram’s thrusting were a thunder of sexual release.  His crotch hammered at her mound, and his shaft went all the way into her again and again.  Her wet tunnel quivered and tightened rhythmically against the pumping of his long, thick cylinder of hardened flesh, and he became a humping, pumping machine, drilling her with his pounding, demanding tool.  He took his mouth from her lips and hovered his face over hers, exhaling hot breath against her as the two of them panted and moaned and grunted in unison, keeping time with the beats of his tremendous hard-on in and out of her.

 

Coram was merciless—breathtakingly, wonderfully merciless.  Her grunts turned to whimpers with the delicious, unspeakably beautiful force of his banging inside her.  Leanne’s senses were filled with his muscles pressing down on her, his titanic tool plunging into her, his voice cursing huskily with his mad thrusting.  Her hands grasped at him, clutching his pecs and his shoulders and his arms, the flexing muscles of his back, the clenching firmness of his buttocks.

 

She thrust herself up against his downstroke, giving herself every centimeter of his thick and throbbing pole.  Leanne gave herself completely into it, feeling herself not only being screwed by Coram but fusing with him.  The pounding of his meat against her mound and into her depths turned the two of them into a combustible reaction of sensuality.

 

Coram’s thrusts were not only plundering her to the womb, they were striking at Leanne’s love bud in a way that heightened the pleasure and made it build in her more and more.  He was driving her to the top and over; he could feel it in the way she now tightened her thighs around him and her cries of joy turned almost to sobs.  He cursed over and over with the rhythm of his thrusts and strokes, and spurred her on by grinding himself against her with every penetration, rubbing roughly on the one most sensitive part of her femininity and making her think she would scream each time he did.

 

The feeling finally overcame her.  Leanne’s entire body clenched beneath and around him, and a warm and tingly explosion raged through her entire body.  Now, she let out a wail that was the closest thing yet to a scream, and her climax burst in a way that felt like an upheaval of joy in every cell of her body.  Coram sensed that he had made her come, and he could not hold back. 

 

Roaring out the curse for what he was doing to her, he rammed his meat all the way into her, and the explosion of his own climax ripped its way through him.  Spurts and gobs of thick seed poured out from the head of his piece and swamped the depths of Leanne’s sex.  He held himself in her and ground his crotch against her mound, making her whimper in helpless elation.

 

He grunted long and lustily and kept the two of them fused together until he gave her every last drop of what his throbbing rod produced.  Only when it softened too much for him to go on did Coram slowly settle down on top of Leanne, burying his head at the juncture of her neck and shoulder, and they became a still and smoldering heap of satisfaction.

 

He stayed on top of her with his arms and legs wrapped around her for a long time.  The two of them were barely aware of it when Coram rolled off her and gathered her up in his arms.  They were wrapped up not only in each other’s body but in an invisible blanket of sex from which they wanted never to rise again.  It had been too good, too perfect for both of them; the thought of untangling their bodies after what Coram had just done to her was unbearable.

 

So, they stayed that way, Leanne resting her head against his pecs, and they savored together what they had just shared.  In the savoring was an unspoken knowledge that neither of them had ever had so magnificent a lay until now—and after this, they might never be done with each

other.

 

Somewhere in the afterglow, Leanne sighed against Coram’s chest.

 

“Are you all right?” he asked.

 

“I’m fine,” she half-whispered.

 

“What are you thinking about?  Having my piece inside you again? I hope that’s what you’re thinking about, because I am going to put it in you again—a few times.”

 

“That much I know,” she answered.

 

“See?  You do know us.”  And he lifted her face to his and kissed her with both a tenderness and a lust.

 

“If you really want to know,” she said after the kiss, “I’m thinking about everything we talked about before…”

 

“…before I gave you a lay that’s still making your body hum and making you want more,” he finished in his own lusty words.

 

She could not help but smile at that.  For all the ego of it, Coram’s words were more than true.  “I wasn't going to put it that way.  But I was thinking about the things we talked about, the things I told you...about me.  Coram, tonight, I told you things I've never told anyone else, things I've never talked about openly before, not with anyone.  Things I halfway didn't even want to admit.  I talked about those things for the first time...with you.”

 

“And you know you can trust me.  You know that, don't you, that you can trust me? 

Because you can.”

 

“Yes, I know I can.  I know the things we said won't leave this room.”

 

“No, they won't.  And the things I did to you in this bed, and the things I promise we're going to keep doing to each other tonight--that's between us too, until you decide they're not.”

 

“Right,” said Leanne.  “As if the other Knights won’t know just by looking at us.”

 

“That’s true,” said Coram.  “They’ll know. 

 

“But they'll say nothing, because of something else you know: We're all of us not just Knights and dragons, but gentlemen and ladies--until we are in bed.”

 

“I know that too.”

 

In a solemn tone that belied the abandon of what he had done to her and would presently do again, Coram said, “Then, there's something else you can trust, Leanne.  In our duty, we may be called upon to put ourselves in the way of danger, to risk our lives.  We may face jeopardy at any time.  Our duty is not about playing it safe.  But between us, in our own relationship, it will always be a safe space, the safest space there is. 

 

You were concerned before about our sex complicating our relationship, our performance of our duty.  I don't believe it will.  I believe it will give us a bond.  I think sex together will make us stronger together--closer and stronger.  The two of us in bed, our bodies together, me inside you, coming in you, making you come--it will be our strength, Leanne.  Do you believe that?"

 

She touched his face, his achingly beautiful face.  “I believe that.”

 

He took the hand that touched his face and moved it down to his returning erection.  “Touch me there,” he said.  “Never hesitate to touch it and feel how much I want to put it in you.”  He pulled her close into a fiery kiss.  “Just let me in, all the way.”

 

Coram moved himself back on top of her.  Leanne aimed his renewed hardness into her wetness where they both wanted it.  He took her mouth in a torrid kiss, let himself slip into her once more, and began to pump again, hard and deep.

 

 

 

For the rest of the night, Leanne made good on her promise to hold nothing back from him.  And Coram rewarded her with sex to surpass any other she had ever had.

 

He asked her to go down on him, and she happily obliged.  Leanne found herself as

hungry for his mouth-filling root and round, plump berries as she had been for dinner earlier.  She made him give out long, low animals groans with the way she took him over her tongue and pulled at him with her sucking mouth while teasing the full and sensitive plumpness at his base with her fingers.

 

She gave the same treatment to his sac, taking each of his man-nuggets into her mouth in turn and swirling her tongue around them, making him squirm with pleasure.  She returned her

attention to his prodigious prong, licking up and down it and swirling her tongue over the head, and probing the eye at the tip of his bluntness with the tip of her tongue.  Her ministrations brought forth a dollop of salty sap from his tip, which she gingerly licked up before swallowing the whole shaft again. 

 

Her prior times in bed with Knights had taught her how to handle them without gagging, and she had gone down on them enough that their size did not give her an ache in the jaw afterward, so she consumed Coram’s massive hardness eagerly and skillfully.  She felt his back arch and his muscles clench from the influx of oral bliss that she was giving him, and she could well imagine the flexing and curling of his toes at the same time.  Coram was huge and delicious, and Leanne relished every second of devouring his maleness.

 

Coram had Leanne lie back down beside him, and she opened her thighs in readiness for him to plunge what she had been so delighted to suck back into her waiting pink passage.  But he surprised her by instead straddling her rib cage and bringing his wondrous wood to the cleft between her breasts.  Realizing what he meant to do, she cooed again at the moist, slick sensation of his pole sliding in the groove of her bosom, and she helped him by squeezing her breasts together, giving him a tight passage to remind him of what so wetly awaited him further down her body.

 

He rocked and bucked on top of Leanne, slipping his shaft up and down, back and forth, in the soft tightness of her clenched bosom, and groaned sweet, sexy, profane things at her about it feeling almost as good as where he wanted to slide it next.  He talked “dirty” to her, saying things that a Knight would never say in any other situation, and made her want desperately for him to do the “nasty” things he promised her. 

 

Soon, he slipped his wood from between her breasts and moved down her body.  He hoisted her thighs up around his hips and plunged that blunt and beautiful log all the way into her.  With a curse and a grunt, Coram practically fell on top of Leanne in a fit of ecstasy and screwed her

furiously into a shattering, shared orgasm that left them breathless and gasping. 

 

They ended up in a tangle of limbs in which they kissed wet, sucking kisses.  Their hands found each other’s privates and played with them.  “You feel so good,” Leanne said around the slurping of his lips and his tongue on her mouth.  “So good.”

 

“You’re so wet down there,” he said, nibbling at her chin.  “So nice to slip into.  I want you to ride me.”  He shifted onto his back, letting his prong slide from her fingers and present itself to her, standing at attention at his crotch.  “Climb on.  Ride me.”

 

And she did.  Leanne straddled him as he had done her, but below the waist, bringing her pubis to his standing prong.  She sat there on him and took it in her hand, and played it back and forth on her pubic hair, making it strain in her grasp.  A look of sweet torture came over him.  “Put it in you,” he groaned.  “I want to do it from under you.”

 

Leanne granted Coram’s request again, lifting herself up and angling his log to point into her slick, wet opening, then descending on him and sheathing his cylinder inside her.  They moaned together at this rejoining of their bodies.  “Come down here,” he grunted feverishly.  “Give me your boobs.”  She leaned down onto him, and he groped her breasts, while at the same time, he put the soles of his feet together and formed a bow with his legs, and with that bow, he aimed the mighty weapon of his maleness up into her and thrust hard.

 

Coram slammed his piece up into her with such passionate force that she swore she could feel it in her bones.  She whimpered on top of him, letting him squeeze her breasts and pinch the stones of her nipples, while rocketing his shaft up into her, screwing away from beneath and making her body and the bed both shudder.  Their moans mingled in the air from his rocking and bucking under her and the relentless upward thrust of his piston in her wetness.  As his pleasure built up, Coram took a hand from one of her breasts and sent it to find the little handle of her ecstasy down where he was pumping.

 

The feeling of his fingers playing at her joy bud sent Leanne over the top of ecstasy even as her body sat over the top of him.  She threw back her head and exulted in yet another orgasm.  The pulsing of her inner walls did the job for Coram as well.  His rocket shot its slick and copious payload up into her.  In a second, his shaft and her mound were coated with the flow of his seed out of her passage.

 

He bucked on beneath her and kept driving himself up into her until he softened again and slipped out, and Leanne collapsed atop him.  For a while, they were still again, Leanne lying on him and Coram wrapping his arms around her and holding her there.  Their breathing slowed, and they became a warm unity of flesh.

 

Stroking her buttocks, squeezing them as he had done her breasts, Coram said, “Let’s climb under the covers.  I want to screw you under the sheets for the rest of the night.”  Leanne called to the room computer to dim the lights, and in a post-coital daze, they pulled down the bedspread and sheets and slipped into bed.

 

With the lights reduced to just enough of a golden glow to make out each other’s face, they drew together beneath the sheets, and Coram kissed her, his long, hot kisses feeding his tongue into her mouth.  He did it to her twice more that night.  Once, he climbed on top of her and banged her urgently that way, and pumped her full of a further load of his cream.  Next, as they lay with her back to his front like spoons, he lifted her thigh and moved his hard-on into her from behind, and the bed shook with the drilling and pounding of his meat inside her while he reached around and played again with the pulpy little toy in her folds.

 

One more orgasm blossomed inside Leanne, and one more long, thick burst of white custard poured from Coram’s long spigot into her womb.  At some point, he grew soft and slipped out of her, and a sleep of infinite satisfaction wrapped itself around them. 

 

When Leanne stirred awake, lying on her side with Coram on his side facing her, the

subtle change of the lighting in the room told her that dawn was coming.  One corner of her mouth turned up in a smile at the thought of anything else beside the two of them “coming.”  She looked at Coram’s slumbering handsomeness, the tousle of the thick waves of his hair over his face, the shadow of stubble that now appeared over his upper lip and jaw. 

 

She took him in and remembered every kiss from those lips and every lap of his tongue, every second of the experience of his rapturous body and the more than ample maleness he had under the sheets.  She lifted the covers and peered down into the dimness, and could just make out the contours of his body and the swelling of his beautiful, perfect wood.  Were dreams of being

inside her as he had been so many times during the night making that erection wake up down there while the rest of him was asleep?  She hoped that was the case. 

 

It was then she noticed the scent in the sheets, on their skin, in the air all around them.  Everything smelled of Coram’s semen.  She was delightfully sticky between her legs, and the sheet under her was moist from everything that had gone on in this bed.  She softly murmured, “Mmm…” 

 

Soon, they would have to awaken.  Would they have time for more sex, which Coram would

certainly want and Leanne would certainly want to give him, before it was time to resume their mission?  How ironic was it that she had at first tried to use duty to hold him off?  Duty had been all but forgotten in the hours of sucking and mounting, thrashing and humping, that they’d had before they’d fallen asleep.  In a little while, they would not be able to forget the actual reason that Leanne was on Lacerta and they were together.

 

In the fullness of the morning, they would likely be pressed for time; they would likely have to forgo a full bath and sponge and towel each other off to freshen up.  No doubt that would make Coram furiously hard again, and they might even have to steal a quickie before returning to duty.  Leanne knew letting him have sex with her would be a distraction.  And yet, she was not sorry for it.

 

Coram’s eyes lifted open and focused on her; his face lit up with a truly lascivious expression.  “Were you watching me sleep?” he asked huskily.

 

Leanne did not answer.  She only grinned back at him.

 

“I cannot believe you’d lie there watching me sleep instead of waking me for another round.”  He slid closer to her and pulled her to him at the same time, planting his mouth firmly and wetly on hers.  She thrilled at the feeling of his hand moving down her body and his fingers passing through her pubic hair to find her womanly folds once more.  “You know I want this,” he said with pure, delightful lust, referring to what his fingers were teasing in a way that made her tingle electrically.  “Let me have some more of this.”

 

He wrested Leanne onto her back and eased his morning wood into her, and she reflexively tightened her inner womanhood, her arms, and her legs around him to greet him.  With

another round of hard, brisk thrusting and another shuddering climax, Coram got the day started early. 

_____________

 

There was a sudden sound of stone cracking in the cavern.  Cadoq was transfixed.  He watched incredulously as the crumbling began.  A tingle of disbelief crawled through his body at the feeling of the subtle shaking in the walls around him and the floor beneath him.  The thick stone filaments attaching to the cocoon jewel and arching into the geothermal pit were breaking up with a snapping and crackling of rock, their fragments raining down onto the floor and into the pit.

 

Accompanying this was the sound of what was happening to the jewel itself.  Long, deep cracks began to creep and gouge their way up and down the mass of the crystal.  In minutes, the gem he had tended would go the way of the columns of stone that had fed power into it from deep inside the pit.  Cadoq blinked slowly, but his heartbeat quickened and his mollusk skin grew ever moister.  He could not move.  He braced himself.

 

The cracks in the jewel became splits.  Pieces of translucent crystal broke off from the huge mineral shape, some falling and rolling onto the floor, some flying and spinning away as if catapulted by some awful force within.  The gem broke open from top to bottom, shedding its pieces and exposing the figure that it had enclosed.

 

Cadoq clasped a hand to his neck as a human might have put a hand to his heart.  Breathlessly he said, “Mighty one…it is time.  It is time…”

 

Enough of the crystal broke and fell away to expose fully the being that it contained.  The entity stood two and a half meters tall.  It was humanoid, but not at all human.  Its leathery skin was a dull, waxy yellow-grey color, and its body was grooved and striated as if it wore its

muscles on the outside.  It had blackish eyes with yellowish pupils.

 

The being was tall and gaunt and had a face on which a smile would have looked unnatural.  It stood still for a moment in the rear and side parts that were all that remained of the jewel that had contained it, and gazed out with its dark, dark eyes on its surroundings—until its gaze came to rest on Cadoq.

 

The smaller being who had tended the gem crossed his arms, putting one hand on each opposite shoulder, and said aloud, “O’ Highest One, you are born once again.  You are reborn to unite the galaxy in your supreme consciousness.  Welcome to life, o’ High Chimerian.”

 

Not in words but in thoughts that blew their way like a stiff, hot breeze into Cadoq’s mind, the High Chimerian responded, Reborn…?

 

“Yes, o’ Highest One,” replied Cadoq.  “Your predecessor fell at the moment of the

fulfillment of his vision for all life in the galaxy, struck down by aggressors and unbelievers.  His plan against the possibility of his destruction went into effect, and has progressed from that time to now—the moment of your emergence.”

 

The High Chimerian thought in answer, The plan.  His plan…preceded.

 

“His plan, now your plan,” said Cadoq.  “His glory, now your glory.  It all begins again.”

 

Where is this place?

 

“A cavern, Milord.  A cavern in the very bosom of the enemies who struck down the

original High Chimerian and undid his works.  We are beneath the surface of the planet Lacerta.

 

The entity boomed forth a thought that sounded like thunder in Cadoq’s mind and almost made the Visanian shrink and recoil—but he dared not flinch from the presence of his master.  Lacerta—planet of the dragon Knights.  Planet of Sir Rawn Ullery.

 

“Yes, Milord.  Lacerta, the planet of the ones who desecrated and destroyed the vision of the Chimerians, the murderers of him from whom your cells were taken.  There was a plan against his destruction.  It was encoded in those cells.  You have only to remember.”

 

The regenerating cells of the original High Chimerian were kept hidden on a remote planet, outside the space of the Lacertans and their allies.  They were cared for…by Sabian.  The High Chimerian’s Prime Servant, the human Sewall Sabian. 

 

“Yes, Milord—Sabian, who had followers.  It was his task to watch over your cells, to prepare them for your regeneration in a place with sufficient energy to power their accelerated growth and maturation.  Sabian trusted them to his follower, a metamorph who took the guise of a young Lacertan Knight.  He brought your cells here, grew the hollow jewel around them, and began the process of your rebirth.”

 

Where is Sabian?  Again, that gale-like blast of thought against which Cadoq stood his ground and resisted the urge to flinch and tremble.

 

“He was prepared to follow the plan to its completion.  But he learned that after the final battle in which the original High Chimerian perished, somehow, Sir Rawn Ullery survived.  And he set out for revenge.”

 

He sought revenge—before his service to me?

 

Cadoq bowed his head slightly.  “He did, Milord.  And in his confrontation with Ullery, he perished.  His follower was exposed, and dissolved himself.  With them gone, the role of your Prime Servant fell to me.  I am Cadoq of Visan, and I hail you as my Lord.”

 

And the fate of the Chimerians…?

 

“The Chimerians have gone the way of nature, Milord.  Natural evolution drives living things to seek their own niche in the environment.  Without your predecessor’s unifying thoughts, the Chimerians followed their own paths once more.  They left this space and retreated to distant corners of the galaxy to find niches without competition for food and resources.  They reverted to what they were before your predecessor’s sublime thoughts brought them together. 

 

But the plan for the return of the Chimerians was always in place.  This moment is its fulfillment.  Now, you live in place of the Highest One who came before you.  And on this planet of the ones who destroyed him, you may begin a new unity against which nothing will stand.”

 

I see in your thoughts what you have done, Cadoq.  You have roused the dragon beings and their human allies against us.

 

Cadoq explained, “Milord must see in my thoughts that I have maneuvered them into

position for conquest.  By striking at them with Chimerian-mutated beasts, I have brought them to alert, made them ready to strike.  They will find this cavern, and they will come in force.  But they will not be prepared for you.  They will not be prepared to face your power.  And when they face you, they will be yours.”

 

The cavern fell silent.  Cadoq faced his Lord, feeling the touch of the alien giant’s mind in his own—awaiting the High Chimerian’s approval, dreading his displeasure and wrath.  Then, the High Chimerian boomed forth his thoughts again:

 

It is fitting that the planet of the ones who defied the Unity should be the place of its rebirth.  It is fitting that the ones who defied and slew the High Chimerian should be the first to join the Unity.  We will add the might of the Lacertan Knights to our own.  All the galaxy will fall beneath their wings.  And they will unite all that lives…under my supreme will.

 

“That is your glory, Milord.  The Unity shall rise again.”  The fervor in Cadoq’s voice was almost as palpable as the stone walls around him.

 

Leave me now, thought the new High Chimerian.  I must gather strength for the glory that is soon to be. 

 

Cadoq uncrossed his arms and bowed humbly.  He started on his way out of the cavern and into an adjoining, smaller cave.  The High Chimerian stepped down and forward from the remnants of the regenerating jewel and walked through shards of crystal and rock to the rim of the geothermal pit.  He raised his hands over the pit, and a glow from red-hot to white-hot arose from it with thicker clouds of steam.  The glow cast itself on the leathery flesh of the cloned

being, who absorbed the heat and power of the pit into himself in increasing amounts, until a reddish hue came over his skin. 

 

At the mouth of the cavern, Cadoq turned and looked over his shoulder at his Lord assimilating the energy from the depths of the planet, and knew that the power of the one he had brought to life grew greater with every passing minute.  Soon, perhaps by the end of this day, the planet Lacerta would belong to the High Chimerian.  And with the pleasure of that knowledge, Cadoq of Visan withdrew and left his Lord alone to build his might.

 

 

 

The mood in the city of Silverwing might aptly have been described as one of complete shell-shock.  This latest upheaval came right in the wake of the incursion of other alien forces, the armada of the mad Scodax, who had spread destruction and terror not only across Silverwing but over the entire planet Lacerta.  The attack of the mutated grass dragons had not caused the kind of wholesale carnage and devastation, nor resulted in anything like the kind of death toll, that the Scodax had brought. 

 

But it was a shocking, mind-reeling horror nonetheless, and the reactions to it spread in a matter of hours across the planet and began to make their way out into space and into the quadrant at large.  Some feared there would be no end to the nightmares plaguing the proud world of the weredragons.

 

The conference through special hyperspace channels with the heads of the Interstar Fleet on Earth was held in a large room at the Fleet Headquarters on Lacerta.  The room had a broad, massive round table over which holograms of the faces of the Fleet leaders hovered.  Around it sat Leanne, Coram, Kesta, Willem, Tarik, the other Fleet personnel and Knights who had taken part in the installation of the sensor gargoyles, and other high-ranking Fleet members and

Mentors of the Knights.  The findings of the research on the mutated grass dragons were not in dispute; the presentation of them seemed almost a formality. 

 

Someone had genetically altered thousands of grass dragons by switching on dormant genes in the animals, genes held over from prehistoric times when dragons on Lacerta were huge and breathed fire.  These were the same genes that had been used to empower Sir Rawn Ullery and might have been used to create other super Knights like him if the Mythos Project had not been sabotaged and destroyed and Dr. Jacques Phifer, its originator, murdered.  Which raised the ominous question of who had performed the modifications.

 

Prior dealings with the Chimerians were noted, as a pattern had been detected.  The

Chimerians had previously worked with individuals who were not fully assimilated into their

genetic collective but had just enough autonomy to work for the interstellar Commonwealth while secretly serving the High Chimerian.  These agents, whoever or whatever they may be, were selectively mutated with powers to serve their master.  The human Dr. Sewall Sabian was secretly a shape-changer with the power to assume a number of different non-human traits.

 

The treacherous young Knight who helped Sabian abduct Sir Rawn’s lover, Joanna Way, was an interspecies telepath who could control grass dragons and tap their memories.  Somewhere out there, Leanne and the others attending the conference reasoned, there must be another altered Chimerian agent, human or otherwise, who had mutated the grass dragons and was even now plotting some further assault on Lacerta.  To identify and neutralize that agent was agreed upon as a top priority.

 

The status of the detection devices in Silverwing was checked.  The attack of the fire breathers had done them only minimal damage that could be swiftly repaired, and the detection satellite in orbit had not been attacked—yet.  The conference quickly arrived at a plan to track down the Chimerian agent through the grass dragons.  Basic knowledge of the wildlife of Lacerta had it that some grass dragons, adapted for urban life, kept nests in cities and parks in settled

areas, where they were accepted as part of the developed environment.  Other, wilder grass

dragons kept to the fields and forests and made their homes in caves like bats on Earth.

 

They were often seen swarming out of the caves on feeding and mating flights.  It was resolved to train the detection satellite on the wilderness areas surrounding Silverwing and use them to probe the caves for the genetic signatures of the mutated animals.  It stood to reason that any other

anomaly the satellite found would lead the Fleet and the Knighthood to the agent they were

seeking.  Once they determined the location and species of their foe, they could move swiftly against him and quell this assault by the Chimerians, and with luck, they could catch the enemy before the assault went any further.

 

No sooner was the plan agreed upon than the conference room rang with the shocking sound of a combined Fleet, Corps, and Spires alert signal.  Something was happening outside the city: an enormous discharge of energy, emanating from deep inside a forest in an area known for its geothermal vents.  Whatever was happening, it was tapping power from the interior of the planet Lacerta itself—and it was getting stronger by the minute.  Fleet, Corps, and Knightly

personnel were scrambled for action, Leanne and Coram among them.

 

The air over Silverwing came alive with the vehicles of human and Lacertan personnel, and the flying dragon forms of Knights and Corps, swarming above the buildings as the grass dragons had done only a day ago, all of them converging in a single direction: towards the

glaring glow of a fountain of energy rising up from a tree-covered mountain and casting an

ominous light into the sky.  Whatever was in that mountain, it was gathering power from deep within the planet for some dreaded purpose. 

 

At the controls of a Fleet hovercar, with Coram piloting, Leanne and Coram faced the harsh radiance of the fountain of power pouring up from the green mountain ahead of them.  For a moment, they looked over at each other.  Into Leanne’s mind came Coram’s words from when they’d lain in bed together just hours ago, about what the things they had done in bed would do for them.  I believe it will give us a bond.  I think sex together will make us stronger together--closer and stronger.  The two of us in bed, our bodies together, me inside you, coming in you, making you come--it will be our strength, Leanne. 

 

From the look in Coram’s eyes, Leanne could tell that the memory of his words was as much with him as it was with her.  She saw it in his eyes and in the tiny smile that curled one corner of the lips that had kissed her so many times with such dragon-like passion.  They were in this together, as one, and together, they would see it through.  Whatever awaited them inside that mountain would prove no match for Leanne Shire and Sir Coram Dunne. 

 

They returned their attention to that mountain and that pillar of energy.  Coram pressed the accelerator, and the hovercar sliced the air faster, heading out of Silverwing with the swarm of Lacerta’s defenders.

 

On the western slope of the mountain lay the gaping entrance to the caves inside, a broad and dark maw into which individual Knights and Corps members were already flying when Leanne and Coram’s hovercar came swooping in.  The cave entrance was large enough for

vessels of the size that Coram was piloting to fly inside, and other hovercars were doing just that when Coram and Leanne arrived. 

 

Some larger vehicles were coming in to a hovering position and letting out teams of human

personnel with jet harnesses and Lacertans flying under their own power, while others sought landing space in clearings in the forest from which they would discharge their own troops.  Whether on foot, aboard hovercars, or on jets or wings, the defenders of Lacerta made their way speedily into the mountain.  Coram hovered their craft only for a moment to let some who reached the cave entrance ahead of them plunge in first.  Then, he sent their craft surging

forward, its forward beacons blazing to light their path into the stony darkness.

 

No sooner were they across the threshold of the cave than the dim space was lit by more than just the beacons of craft flying in.  Rushing towards the oncoming vessels were bursts, streaks, and flashes of hot, yellow-orange brilliance, accompanied by sounds of shrieking that echoed off the stone walls and the reverberating sound of thousands of wing beats. 

 

“Grass dragons!” cried Leanne.  “Incoming!”  And at once, she picked up her mist rifle, already locked and loaded.

 

Leanne did not even need to hear Coram say, “I pilot, you shoot!”  The moment she saw the oncoming fires, she was already taking aim.

 

In an instant, the scaly, flying creatures were all around them and all around the other hovercars and flying combatants as well.  The little animals breathed and sprayed fire everywhere.  Flames and sparks danced on the windshield and body of the hovercar.  Leanne pulled her trigger and released her own jets of hissing mist, swerving about in the passenger seat and discharging clouds in every direction, forward, sides, and aft.  Wherever her clouds of anti-mutagen billowed out, they swallowed either a portion of the swarm of dragons or a bolt or billow of their fire. 

 

Confused and stricken, the little beasts started to hit the windshield and forward hull and go spinning by overhead.  The air was filled not only with anti-Chimerian mist but with the skirling cries of its targets as they pinwheeled and plummeted down to the floor of the cave passage. 

 

The mists cleared as quickly as they acted, and Coram and Leanne looked ahead to see their fellow craft and the other winged and jet-packed troops discharging more mists ahead of them, and the swarm of grass dragons either parting or dropping away, clearing a path into an inner space that was already lit with a pulsating glow.  Belying the glow, the heart of darkness still lay before them.

 

The forces of Lacerta and the Fleet poured into a vast inner cavern and swerved and turned around in the air inside the space.  The sounds of whooshing engines and beating wings made a cacophony inside the cavern, and yet dwarfing them all was the sight that greeted them in the middle of the huge, stony space.  In the cavern floor lay the crater-like opening of what

Coram and Leanne both recognized as a geothermal vent.  From deep within the vent rose a throbbing pillar of energy whose radiance was almost blinding at this close proximity.  The enormous jet of power shot clear up to and through the roof of the cavern, penetrating the rock strata of the mountain and letting out into the air above, where it was visible for miles around.  The energy surged upward and out, undiminished, unstoppable, intense and pulsating, summoned by the one sight that was even more shocking than the tower of radiance itself.

 

Near the edge of the crater stood a little alien with smooth and mottled brownish skin and a shell-like cranium.  Coram squinted at the being in the glare of the energy fountain and recognized him as a Visanian, a member of a species that had little traffic outside of its home planet and had been known to the Commonwealth for less than a decade.  His memory of interplanetary studies told him that Visanians were naturally telepathic and not widely trusted in the greater quadrant, which was why they were so reclusive. 

 

And yet, a telepath would make a most natural and convenient agent for a greater enemy.  The moment this occurred to Coram, he spotted something else—something inside the energy geyser, right over the mouth of the geothermal crater.  There was another figure suspended in the outpouring of energy, a figure much larger than the Visanian.  Coram could not make out the

features of this other being—until it stepped forward as if coming through a curtain, and stepped out onto the cavern floor beside the little mollusk being.

 

Even through the din in the cavern, Coram could imagine Leanne gasping when the other entity stepped into view.  He could hardly blame her.  They were seeing a creature that should not exist.  Coram had seen holograms and vids of this creature from long-ago battles.  Every member of the Knighthood, the Corps, and the Fleet had seen them.  Everyone pledged to defend the Commonwealth, its worlds, and its citizens had seen them and knew this entity when they saw it.  The horror was they should not be seeing it.

 

 The shock was that the being who stepped forward from the energy pillar was known to be dead.  Dead—slain in a battle with the Knights of Lacerta on the same day that Sir Rawn Ullery disappeared in the destruction of the Chimerian warp nexus, the mission that had stopped the Chimerians spreading across the quadrant.  This being now towering over the Visanian at the crater had no business among the living.

 

And yet, there it stood:  the High Chimerian.  The sense of shock and disbelief among the protectors of Lacerta now storming the cavern was itself like a living thing.  It wasn’t possible for this enemy of all life to be here on the very planet they called home.  Setting down the hovercar on the cavern floor with other craft and other Knights and Fleet members doing the same all around, Coram set his jaw into a hard frown at the magnitude of the evil they faced—and his resolve that this evil would not stand. 

 

Leanne, her rifle still in hand and ready to fire at the slightest sign of aggression from

either of the beings at the edge of the crater, climbed out of the craft and onto the floor of the cavern.  Coram did likewise and could either see or feel dozens upon dozens of other weapons all around them already trained on the two aliens.  His nostrils flared.  Right about now, he would have liked to be able to breathe fire like Sir Rawn.

 

The worst thing she could do, thought Leanne, was to show the slightest trepidation at this moment.  The Visanian, she knew, could already sense at least her surface thoughts.  It would be better not to communicate any emotion to him along with those thoughts.  She knew full well whom and what she was facing.  This was the most life-or-death moment she had faced since Dorian III.  After a few paces, she raised her voice: “In the name of the Commonwealth of Worlds, the Interstar Fleet, and the planet Lacerta, we order you to surrender.”

 

At once, Leanne and all the uniformed and armor-skinned defenders around her winced and nearly staggered at what felt like a wave of hot pressure entering their skulls.  It was a voice, coming not in sounds but in thoughts, a massive telepathic transmission.  It took an effort to keep her weapon raised as her mind “heard” the response. 

 

You are in the presence of the regenerated High Chimerian.  As of this moment, you belong to me.  Your minds will be my mind.  Your flesh will be my flesh.  Your biology, your physicality, and your being shall all become a part of the Chimerian Unity.  Through you, I shall begin the extension and spread of my power across this planet, and from this planet to the galaxy beyond.  All life will be united in my will.

 

The Visanian said, “I am Cadoq, Prime Servant of the High Chimerian.  ‘Tis I who have brought the second generation of the greatest life form in existence.  Life as we have known it is chaos.  It searches out its niche without direction, without order, without plan.  Where there is intelligence, where there is sentience, that intelligence serves no purpose but its own. 

 

Many planets have perished in wars between unfettered intelligence, or succumbed to the depredations of industry that have raped and despoiled the natural world.  The planet Earth itself once nearly came to such a fate.  All living worlds are precious.  Under the High Chimerian, no such planet need suffer.  The randomness and chaos of natural selection will at last be brought to

order.  There will be no wars, no conflict, no despoiling of nature anywhere that life exists.  All that lives will serve a unifying vision.  The new order begins with you.”

 

Leanne stood her ground.  “Those are all the same things the original High Chimerian and its followers said.  Life was meant for freedom.  Every living thing deserves to be free. 

Every intelligent being deserves to become whatever it wants to be.  We demand your surrender.” 

 

With an eerie calm in the face of the defiance of so many, and the defiance of an entire world outside the cave, Cadoq simply replied, “‘Tis you who must surrender.  You will be the beginning of the new Unity as my master has ordained.  The energy inside this cavern has magnified the telepathic powers of the master a thousand-fold.  You will now submit and join us.”

 

The deathly dark eyes of the High Chimerian flashed red like glowing coals.  Another force, like the telepathy of its “voice,” struck out in all directions like an invisible tsunami, like the mightiest hurricane ever known on any planet, an immense, brutal, bludgeoning storm of pure thought.  Where Leanne and the myriad of others in the cavern were almost staggered a

moment ago, now their legs buckled and they reeled about, stricken and stunned.  Leanne looked dizzily over at Coram and saw him lurch in place, then slump against the side of the hovercar, clutching at his head with one hand.  That was the last thing she saw before her vision grew

blurry, and she began to hear bodies and weapons falling all around her.  She dropped to one knee and gasped, desperate to keep her awareness, to remain conscious, against the hammering inside her head.

 

The “voice” of the High Chimerian rumbled cruelly in her head, in Coram’s, in the heads of the entire attack force.  My thoughts are becoming your thoughts.  Your consciousness, your will, is dissolving into my own.  You will think as you are directed to think.  You will feel as you are commanded to feel.  You will act as you are commanded to act.  Each of you present will

receive a portion of the Chimerian genome.  It will bind you forever to one another, and to me. 

 

You will go forth from this place and seek others of your kind, to whom you will impart the

genome.  They will seek out still others and spread the genome unto them.  Every sentient being upon the planet will thus become a part of the great Unity.  And all will spread forth from this planet to bring the Unity to every other world.  And the vision of life under the mind of the High Chimerian will be fulfilled.  The ultimate order will come to pass.  Submit.  Submit…

 

Now on two knees, her rifle on the ground in front of her, Leanne clutched desperately at her temples as if to hold her entire body in one piece that way.  Through clenched teeth, she half-screamed, “No…NO…!”  She looked over at Coram and saw him writhing helplessly on the ground, waging the same battle in his own mind.  She crawled over to him, resting on her elbows next to him, staring down into the agonized look on the handsome face of the man who had

given her such pleasure—perhaps, she now feared, the last pleasure she would ever know.  Through the roaring storm in her mind, she heard the cries of so many others, fallen and consumed by the same force that now gripped the two of them.

 

“Coram…,” Leanne moaned.  “Fight it.  Fight them.  Fight…”

 

He reached up and gripped her arm.  She managed to bring her hand to his and clutch it tightly.  They lay there together, hand in hand, trembling against the dissolution of their thoughts.

 

“Leanne,” Coram gasped.  “We…are…stronger…together…”

 

Those were the last words he uttered.  One last time, Leanne summoned the words he had said to her in the night, about the two of them having a bond, being closer and stronger.

 

Then, there was nothing.  Leanne did not even feel herself sinking down on top of him on the cavern floor.

 

When awareness returned, it was unlike anything else that Leanne had ever experienced. 

 

She was awake.  She was fully conscious and aware of her surroundings.  Coram was standing at her side, and standing with them, all around them, were all the other members of the Fleet, Corps, and Knighthood who had stormed the cavern with them.  They were standing silent, motionless, at attention, as if in a training drill. 

 

Not only were they motionless, but they actually could not move.  She sensed that in herself and in all of them.  They were utterly unable to move—unless bidden to do so by the High Chimerian who stood before them with Cadoq at his side, in front of the fountain of energy rising from the geothermal vent. 

 

Leanne felt no pain.  She felt nothing at all except for a dullness in her mind and a numbness in her body and limbs.  Though she was flesh and blood, she felt like a statue.  And, most disconcertingly and unnervingly of all, she felt somehow as though her very thoughts were wrapped up in a cocoon—and what they were wrapped in were other thoughts, not her own. 

 

With a sudden dread that she could not express, she realized that the thoughts imposed upon her mind were all identical—and she was sensing them in Coram’s mind and in the minds of every uniformed man and woman around her, as an endless throbbing of echoes.  She wanted to panic at the knowledge that in a very real sense, her mind was no longer her own.  Her mind had

become a part of all the other human and Lacertan minds around her—and all their minds in turn were now a part of the mind of the alien creature who had them at attention.

 

Inside her own head, she wanted to scream, but her own feelings, her own thoughts, were muffled and muted by the enwrapping thoughts and feelings of Coram and the others.  It might not have been so horrifying if it were only Coram, but it was all of them.  And enfolding them all, she felt the intruding, clutching, all-possessing will of the High Chimerian.

 

A sick sensation of absolute revulsion welled up inside her, but even this was beyond her ability to express or even to feel completely.  She knew that Coram was feeling the same thing, and she desperately wanted to reach out and take his hand, to draw strength from him and lend him her own strength, to pull them both out of the mental and physical morass in which they now found themselves.

 

But she could do nothing.  Her body was not her own.  Her very mind was not her own.  It was a violation, as deep and savage as any other violation that any other woman or any other being had ever experienced.  And she was forbidden full access even to the feelings of shock and rage and horror that it caused her.  Leanne’s feelings were wrapped and smothered.  She was truly powerless.

 

With the vestiges of free thought that were left to her, Leanne knew that this was the way it would be for every intelligent mind in the galaxy if the High Chimerian had its way.  Every thinking, feeling being on every planet in space would be mentally, emotionally enwrapped and smothered the way she now was.  And it would go far beyond intelligent life.  All animal life—every mammal and reptile and bird and fish and insect, everything that knew any emotion or

existed by any primal instinct—would lie in the clutches of the evil that now possessed her.  It would be the end of the freedom of life itself.  And she and all the champions of Lacerta and the Commonwealth who had come to this cavern with her would be the beginning of it.  The High Chimerian would use them to attack the capital of Lacerta.  They would seize the Fleet Headquarters.  They would seize the Spires.  They would attack the rest of the planet.  They would move out into space, taking this evil with them.  And Leanne and her compatriots had flown right into it, right into this most terrible, heinous trap.

 

Leanne wanted so much to look over at Coram, to see his handsome face.  But she knew that if she did, what she would see would be a reflection of the powerlessness, the helplessness, that she herself felt.  They had battled together, lain together, and loved together.  They had flown into danger together.  And now, they would serve the ultimate evil in all of space together. 

 

And knowing that, Leanne despaired.  She would likely never feel Coram’s touch, his kiss, his penetration again.  They would now be only living tools of the High Chimerian.  Anything else between them was dead, and she could not even summon the tears to mourn what they had shared for just a few precious hours.  It was all gone now.  Their feelings and their future, gone forever, taken in the hands of the monster that now held their minds and bodies in its heinous, inhuman grasp.

 

The voice of the High Chimerian rumbled into Leanne’s mind and the minds of all present.  We are now as a single being, a single mind, a single soul, a single purpose.  My sublime and eternal genes now live in the cells of each and every one of you.  As of this moment, you

belong to me.  We are the beginning of a new tree of life which will take root across time and space.  You will spread the seed of this tree across this planet, across all planets.  You and those you gather into our embrace will bring all life into the Unity.  It is inevitable, and it is glorious. 

 

Go now.  Go forth and bring the Unity to Lacerta.  Leave no being untouched.  Gather them all and make us strong and triumphant.  In your thoughts, I have planted the way.  Go forth and use what you have been given.  You are as the cells of my own body.  Go from here, and unite this planet.  Go…go…GO…

 

On some implanted instinct, Leanne lifted her hand before her face.  In her palm, she could see a spread of reddish purple veins that she did not have before.  They tingled with a power that she did not previously have; she could feel it.  All she needed to do was simply touch the palm of her hand to the skin of any other being who had not been gathered into the Unity.  By touch alone, she would spread the unifying, mind-and-soul-smothering genes of the High

Chimerian into her victim.

 

Her power to claim others was unlimited.  She could touch one, or a hundred, or a thousand, or a million, and each and every one would be unified.  She multiplied her new power by all the other personnel in the cavern with her, and multiplied them by the entire population of Lacerta, and multiplied that by the population of every other planet in known space, all the way to Earth itself.  No one would be spared.  They would unify, or they would perish.  And knowing that, Leanne despaired all the more.  She could do nothing now but obey her alien master. 

 

As one, the troops in the cavern began to move.

_______________

 

In minutes, they were in the air over the forest and flying back in the direction of Silverwing.  Coram and Leanne were in their hovercar just as they had been before.  In the air around them were all the other craft that had flown in with them, and all the others in dragon form or wearing jet harnesses who had flown in with them.

 

The forest canopy rolled beneath them, and the towers of Silverwing gleamed before them, looming larger at their approach.  And as they drew nearer, other shapes appeared in the air, coming in from the farther distance.  The oncoming shapes quickly resolved into view and became a swarm of other armor-skinned weredragons, other Fleet flying craft, other jet-harnessed fleet troops.  One swarm of fighters flew directly at the other.  They would meet right over the city limits of Silverwing.

 

The inbound personnel came within range, and it began.  Laser fire sliced the air from the ones who had come from the cavern.  It struck individuals and ships alike, and the air over the city limits of Silverwing came alive with flashes of light and showers of sparks.  The flying craft were built to withstand the punishment, but where the lasers struck an individual in flight, there was a moment of shock and then the sick horror of a dragon or a human plummeting from the air to the rooftops and streets below.

 

The feeling of a nightmare erupting into reality was palpable.  The inbound fighters who expected to be joining their fellows swerved and spun and banked away in total confusion.  The air became a chaos of forms and vessels flying in every direction.  And those now possessed by the High Chimerian pressed their attack.  More laser bolts seared out.  More vehicles were struck, and more bodies fell out of the sky.  The inbound strike force scrambled to regroup and respond to this sudden, savage assault by their own brethren.  One massively built weredragon, flying under his own power, immediately took the lead.

 

Using his badge to patch in with the comm systems of his comrades, the lead Knight called, “Something’s happened to them!  They can’t be in control of themselves; they must have been taken over somehow!  Form on me and set all weapons to heavy stun!  Bring down as many as you can!  Hold the line; don’t let them further into the city!  Move, move, move!”

 

The inbound troops responded instantly, and the lead Knight was now the point man in a retaliating assault, all of his fellows forming a wedge of resistance behind him.  They charged through the air, weapons firing.  They gave as good as they had gotten.  In the time it took to say it, they began to pick off individual members of the force coming from the mountain.

 

Bodies on the other side started to fall from the sky, going the way of the victims they had claimed only seconds ago.  And now, it was the pawns of the High Chimerian who swerved and scrambled for defense, starting to fan out over a larger area to make themselves less of a concentrated target.  But the lead Knight of the opposing side was ready for them.

 

“Don’t let them spread out!” the leader called.  “Surround them and contain them!  Move in and start using the anti-mutagen when you’re in range!  They may be infected; if they are, that will stop them!  Move now!”

 

Again, the troops formed on the lead Knight acted.  As the possessed forces spread out for evasive maneuvers, the free Lacertans and Fleet members spread out wider and began to hem them in.  And as they swooped and dove closer to their quarry, they deployed their other weapon.  In a moment, the air over Silverwing was thick with clouds of anti-mutagen vapor.

 

The possessed flew into the mists, and the results followed.  Weredragons and Fleet members began to drop from the air like insects engulfed in a toxic spray.  Their hovercars and flying craft started to spiral downward away from the retaliation, their pilots and passengers barely able to work the controls.  The sounds of crashing vehicles striking buildings and pavement tore mercilessly at the air.  The sounds of screams rose up from the city below.

 

Coram and Leanne saw a bank of anti-mutagenic mist billowing and spreading in their direction.  Coram leaned into the controls and sent their craft into a swift, steep dive for the rooftops.  The sky and city blurred in their sight; the wind whooshed loudly in their ears.  In the nick of time, Coram pulled out of their dive and began to shoot over the city until a voice came through his badge: “Sir Coram, Commander Shire, stand down at once!  Stand down!”

 

The sound of the voice on the badge felt to Leanne as if twin spikes were being driven into her head and her heart.  Her pulse had slowed slightly after being accelerated in the dive; the sound of that voice pumped it up again.  Something in the deepest part of herself felt as if it were struggling with all its might, trying to tear itself free.  She looked over at Coram and could tell the same thing was happening to him.  His nobly handsome face had gone into a clench; his teeth were on edge.  He slowed the hovercar and came in for a landing on the nearest roof.

 

Together, Coram and Leanne bounded out of the hovercar.  Coram drew his powerblade and readied himself for a confrontation.  One of his gauntlets was off; he was ready to end any battle with a touch, adding any opponents to the forces of the High Chimerian.  Leanne was likewise ready, her laser pistol drawn, her free hand tingling and prepared to take down and take over any foe. 

 

Swooping and hurtling their way down came two armor-skinned weredragons, one with a powerblade glowing in the morning air, the other brandishing his mist rifle.  They landed on the roof and raised their weapons.  From one of them, the one wielding the rifle, came the same voice that had come over Coram’s badge: “Repeat: Stand down.  We don’t want to engage you.  We want to help.” 

 

Again, the voice of this dragon Knight struck at something deep inside the two of them.  Leanne and Coram both felt their muscles tighten, both at the anticipation of personal combat and at the very sound of that voice.  The thing that struggled in the depths of their hearts now thrashed and strained for release.  The insidious power of the High Chimerian worked inside them, forcing them to hold their ground, bracing them to charge ahead and add their adversaries to the legion of the possessed.  As if detached from her own body, Leanne heard herself say, “You will join the Unity.  We will take this planet for the Chimerians.”

 

“No,” said the dragon man with the rifle.  “You don’t want to do this, Commander Shire.  You’re a human being.  You serve Earth and the Fleet.  Do not resist.”  And he aimed his rifle directly at Leanne and Coram.

 

Frowning as grimly as it was possible to frown with so angelically handsome a face,

Coram raised his powerblade.  But something continued to stir inside him.  The very mention of resistance made that deep thing in him want to resist.  Leanne trained her weapon on the two Knights, swaying the business end of the laser menacingly from one to the other.  With one shot, she would end this standoff—though in that dark corner of her being, something still protested.

 

The leader of the two opposing Knights cried, “Now!”  All four beings on the rooftop blurred into action.  The enemy dragon with the power blade leapt into the air, tucked his wings, went into a spin, and came down in front of Coram.  He swung his energy sword hard, and Coram slashed his own blade forward. 

 

The two blades of power connected with a blast of sparks.  The two Knights, Coram in human form and his foe in dragon form, swung, stabbed, and thrust at each other, going into a dance of aggression and defense, wheeling about on the rooftop, lunging and parrying, each one vying for an opening.  Just one connection of a blade with its target would end the standoff.

 

The Knight leader closed in on Leanne.  “Don’t move,” he said, “and this will be over.”  Leanne aimed her weapon and fired.  Somehow, something made her twitch the hand holding the laser just enough that when she pulled the trigger, the bolt of energy seared the air just past the horned head of the oncoming dragon man.  She knit her brow, clenched her teeth, and

prepared to fire again.  “You had me point blank,” said the Knight, “and you missed.  Don’t try again.  Just surrender.” 

 

Again, Leanne fired.  This time, her shot grazed the edge of the dragon man’s wing.  He reared back with a hiss, but did not stand down.  He got her in the sights of his rifle and said, “You missed again.  I repeat: Don’t move.  Don’t resist, and this will be over.”

 

Leanne made a sound like a stifled bellow of rage.  She poised her finger at her trigger once again.  This time, she would not miss.  This time, she would drop the Knight and leave him vulnerable and ready for her touch.  Just as she was ready to squeeze off her shot, the Knight spread his wings, leapt up, tucked his wings again, went into a somersault, and went hurtling over Leanne’s head.

 

Everything that happened next came almost too fast to follow.  The Knight hit the roof directly behind her.  Leanne spun, swinging her weapon around to fire another shot.  In the instant that her balance was shifted, the Knight lashed out with his tail and grabbed her by the wrist that held her laser.  His tail wrenched her hand upward.  The shot stabbed upward into the air, striking nothing.

 

Leanne struggled in the grip of the dragon’s tail to pull her hand free and shoot at him again.  It was futile.  The Knight aimed his mist rifle and squeezed off a shot of his own.  Instantly, Leanne was engulfed in a billowing, tingling whiteness.  She coughed, staggered, went limp, and sank to her knees on the roof.

 

Only a few meters away, Coram and his opponent still vied at each other.  The Knight opposing him closed in for the attack, parrying Coram’s thrust with his blade while swinging his tail forward to grab the wrist of the hand holding the blade.  Leering fiendishly, Coram brought his free, un-gauntleted hand up and clenched it around the Knight’s clutching tail.  The dragon man’s body went into a spasm, lurching and thrashing at the mutating touch of the possessed

Coram.  He hissed and roared at the feeling of the alien influence seeping into his body, coiling about his mind and smothering his will.  Coram held his opponent tightly, letting the genes of the High Chimerian do their work…

And suddenly, his whole world turned white, and he tingled all over as if static electricity were crawling up and down his body.  He went limp and dropped onto the roof, sensing his foe doing the same.  They lay still until the mist enveloping them cleared.  Then, Coram blinked, opened his eyes and found himself staring up into the dragon face of the Knight leader who had shot him—and set him free.

 

The Knight reached down a gauntleted hand.  Inhaling his first free breath since leaving the cavern, Coram took the hand and let the Knight help him up.  Regaining his feet, he blurted out, “Leanne…?”

 

“Over there, Sir Knight,” said his liberator.

 

Coram turned in the direction that the leader Knight was pointing, and saw Leanne also rising to her feet, literally and figuratively coming out of a fog.  He bolted over to her and took her by the shoulders.  She looked up at him, and he could see her mind clearing.  “Leanne,” he said, “talk to me.  Say something.”

 

All she could say was his name.   “Coram…”  She was immensely relieved, the

relief of knowing she was thinking with her own mind, speaking with her own voice.

 

For a moment, Leanne allowed herself the small luxury of being pulled tightly into

Coram’s arms.  Then, they broke their momentary embrace at the call of the Knight leader who stepped towards them.  “That will have to wait until all is done.  We’re not out of danger yet.”

 

Leanne and Coram watched their liberator stride forward, releasing his dragon form to his human form as he moved.  With one step, he was a dragon man.  Two steps later, he was a human Knight.  And Leanne and Coram gazed and blinked at the warm brown skin and noble features of Sir Hagen Maxon. 

 

 

Leanne was speechless.  After so many years, he had come to her rescue—again.

 

“You’ll have to recover your equilibrium quickly,” Sir Hagen said to her and Coram as they both felt as if they were coming out of a deep fog.  “Our forces have taken heavy casualties from being made to battle each other.  Many have fallen and will not join this battle any further.  Some…,” a look of rue and sorrow came over him, which he quickly chased away, “…will not rise again.  And we still have an enemy to defeat.”

 

Somehow, Leanne managed to breathe out his name: “Sir Hagen…”  She felt Coram’s hands tighten on her shoulders as if to steady her.  He knew full well what this of all Knights meant to her.  Leanne felt almost embarrassed.  She was a trained, proficient, highly competent officer of the Interstar Fleet.  She was capable of handling any number of crises or danger situations in a skilled, mindful, and totally unflappable manner.  And yet, at this moment, she was

almost transformed into a sixteen-year-old girl all over again.

 

Hagen addressed her.  “Yes, Commander Shire…?”

 

Suddenly, feeling the passage of the years again, Leanne withdrew from Coram’s arms—but he stayed right where he was at her side—and straightened up.  “It’s…nothing, Sir Knight.  Thank you for getting Sir Coram and me out of…that.”

 

“I’m thankful that so many of us have been saved for all who have fallen,” Hagen replied.  He looked at the cityscape around them, and Leanne and Coram did the same.  The rooftops were dotted and littered with uniformed and armor-skinned figures, now at rest for the moment after the ordeal of Chimerian takeover and the battle of Lacerta’s defenders against each other.  “Fleet Headquarters and the Spires anticipated the need for reinforcements in this crisis. 

 

They sent in everyone available from communities neighboring Silverwing.  And there were plenty of volunteers.  We were prepared for practically anything—except battling our own people.  That caught us off-guard—and it cost us.  It could have been worse, but we’ve taken a loss of casualties and injured that we won’t soon forget.”

 

“The forces that went into that mountain were caught off-guard even worse than you were,” said Leanne.  She could not keep the look of pain and abject loathing from her face.  “To have the will of that…creature…taking us over, filling up our minds…”  She could hardly say another word.  The disgust of it was too great to express.

 

“That ‘creature?’” Hagen wondered aloud.

 

Coram answered for Leanne, “It’s dire, Sir Hagen.  That energy fountain is tapping power from inside the planet.  The power is being assimilated, used by a clone of…”

 

A rising of voices from the surrounding rooftops and streets made Coram cut himself off in mid-sentence.  Instinctively, the three of them looked in the direction of the mountain.  As

impossibly as it had appeared, the gusher of energy rising from the peak was now flickering and strobing as if it were a giant candle fire with a great invisible hand passing and waving over it.  The sight was as eerie and disquieting as the phenomenon itself.

 

The Knight who had come with Sir Hagen had picked himself up from where he had

fallen.  He composed himself and came over to join the three of them.  Morphing to dragon, he called out, “Sir Hagen—there!  See there!”

 

Leanne blurted the obvious question: “What’s happening over there now?”

 

“Let’s have a better look,” said Hagen.  “Sir Coram…?”

 

Coram immediately knew what the older Knight meant.  In unison, they both shifted to dragon form and trained their eyes, with sight more acute and powerful than human sight, on the

strobing column of energy.  “Incredible,” Coram reacted.

 

“What is it?” Leanne asked, her tone as dire as the situation itself.

 

“There’s a figure rising up in the energy column,” replied Coram.  “Rising right out of the mountain.”

 

“Not just a figure,” Leanne said.  “We know who—what—that is.”

 

“What?” Hagen asked, the moment feeling as ominous to him as it did to them.

 

The three dragon men watched the figure rise up in the fountain of energy until, high over the mountaintop, it emerged and began to levitate itself in the direction of Silverwing, trailing a wake of glowing power behind it like the tail of a comet.  As it moved out towards the city, the energy column behind it flickered like a ghost or a candle in a breeze, and shrank down, retracting and disappearing back into the mountain.

 

Hagen focused his dragon eyes on the figure.  He blinked and looked again, recognizing it and not wanting to believe.

 

“No…,” he whispered.

 

In the middle of a broad thoroughfare at the edge of the city, civilians had fled or taken shelter.  Only people in uniforms and armor skins were present, in human or dragon forms.  The way had been cleared; the wounded were being tended to, and the dead were being taken away.  The throbbing and pulsating of a glow from above turned all eyes upward.

 

Something was descending, a mass of light that looked almost like a miniature sun, with what appeared to be a figure suspended inside it.  Figures quickly scattered across the street, moving away from the point where the object was set to touch down.  The energy nimbus descended and lit on the ground.  The glow around the inner figure parted, dimmed, and dissipated, leaving only the figure itself, now fully revealed.  Audible gasps and expressions of shock reverberated up and down the street.  Those who had weapons drew them, fighting the horror that clutched at them, preparing for battle anew.

 

The voice of the creature throbbed in their minds.  Cast aside your resistance.  Unto you is the High Chimerian.  I bring you the union of your beings, the Unity of all that lives.  Join with me and do not resist. 

 

Only a second passed between the telepathic demand and the response.  A second later, the street came alive with the flying, searing bolts of laser weapons and the billowing jets of mist, all directed at the alien figure standing in the street and raising a terrifying din.  The High Chimerian became the eye of an enclosing storm of fire and vapor.  The alien stood still,

unmoved, unfaltering, seemingly unaffected.

 

From the rooftop where they had seen the High Chimerian emerge, Coram, Leanne,

Hagen, and the other Knight assessed the situation.

 

“Only one thing will stop that creature now,” said Coram.

 

“I know,” Leanne replied.  “We have to get over there and be ready.”

 

Coram put his hands on her shoulders and looked at her gravely.  “Are you prepared to face…that…again?”

 

Leanne shook her head.  There was nothing else to do now, and they both knew it.  “It isn’t about being ‘prepared.’  It’s about getting the job done, no matter what.”

 

“You’re absolutely right,” said Hagen.  “We spend our lives becoming prepared, being ready.  You know that.”

 

A look passed between Leanne and Hagen, a look of the deepest understanding.  Leanne saw in Hagen’s eyes a look of understanding and acceptance that bridged the gap between the girl she had been so long ago and the woman she was now.  It was a silent acknowledgement of how far she had come and who she had become in the process.  What Leanne saw from Hagen now was absolute respect, implicit acceptance. 

 

“I remember a young girl who would be very proud if she could look ahead and see you right now,” said Sir Hagen Maxon.  “We have a job to finish.”

 

Leanne tapped her sleeve twice and spoke aloud: “This is Lieutenant Commander Leanne Shire to Fleet Headquarters.  Mark the following coordinates…”

 

At the same time, Sir Hagen spoke into his badge, “This is Sir Hagen Maxon to Spires Command and Fleet Headquarters.  I’m requesting all available reinforcements, every Knight at the Spires and throughout the city.  Converge on the area of…”

 

Coram listened to Leanne and Hagen issuing their commands.  His dragon heart beat faster.  His dragon soul knew that the moment of truth for Lacerta and the galaxy beyond was soon at hand.

THE FINAL

 

The outskirts of Silverwing had quickly become a tableau of terror, a surreal and

impossible scene of weredragons and human troops swarming like hornets around a single tall, gaunt, inhuman figure.

 

The forces of the Spires and the Fleet flew in and out, spraying plumes of vapor at the unmoving and unmoved foe that simply stood its ground.  The vapors expanded, swirled, and parted around the High Chimerian, and the alien did nothing but watch the futile attacks.  The attackers stood and crouched at every point along the thoroughfare, hurling a barrage of laser fire that was enough to destroy any other foe a thousand times over.  The energy of their attack screamed in the air with a blistering, punishing, obliterating power.

 

Every beam thus far unfettered did nothing to the High Chimerian except to disappear into its body as a spring rain into dry and parched soil.  The High Chimerian stood on the pavement and glowed with ever-increasing power.  It was becoming clear with every passing second of the

battle that the enemy could not be stopped.

 

The entity’s telepathic voice rippled out infernally in all directions: The end is inevitable.  You cannot resist.  You belong to me.  It is the immutable destiny of all life to belong to me.  Take up your arms not against me—but for me.  Wield your weapons and your power in my service.  Do battle in my name.  There is nothing else.  You are mine, for I am the High Chimerian.

 

At the far end of the battle scene, Leanne, Coram, Hagen, and Hagen’s comrade, the three Knights in dragon form, had quietly arrived and slipped in to crouch behind a Fleet transport hover van.  Leanne and Coram took up a vantage point behind the front of the vehicle, the others at the rear, and together, they all looked out on the scene of battle, taking a strategic position just outside of it and watching things grow more desperate by the minute.

 

His voice almost drowned in the din, Coram cried, “They’re not doing a damned bit of good!  The bloody thing is soaking up their attack the same as it did the energy from the geothermal vent!”

 

Leanne shouted back, “The anti-mutagen doesn’t work on it!  It’s too powerful!  This isn’t a mutation of another life form with Chimerian genes; this is a clone of the source of the mutation!  There’s no mutation to reverse; this is the Chimerian!  We’ve only got one defense now!” 

 

Coram replied and pointed, “No one’s giving up yet!  Look!”

 

They both looked up over the rooftops of the buildings on the side towards the center of the city.  From there came another wave of the Corps, the Knights, and the Fleet, hurtling in on wings and in hovercars, transport vans coming to a hover and letting out still more. In moments,   there were scores of them, numbers that seemed as if they would darken the sky, and they all came soaring and screaming in at the one figure that stood at the eye of the storm of

carnage.

 

The inbound troops unleashed their battery of laser beams and biochemical clouds,

doubling and tripling the assault of the ones they were joining.  The sound and fury of their

attack grew deafening.  The air was thick with bodies and beams and vapors, in some places obscuring the flying bodies of the ones attacking. 

 

And still, the High Chimerian stood, unmoved, undeterred, undaunted, supreme in its

confidence of its growing power.  That was when a new shadow fell across its gaunt and malevolent form, another shadow with a dragon’s broad wings and a dragon’s mighty tail.  The alien’s attackers parted on all sides to make way for the newcomer.  The sounds of battle dwindled and almost became a hush.  All eyes turned upward.  The High Chimerian looked where its assailants were looking…

 

…At once, it was engulfed in a colossal torrent of fire, a downpour of flames into which its form completely disappeared.  And the defenders of Lacerta sent up a great whoop and cheer at the massively built weredragon circling overhead, breathing down a Niagara of fire onto the enemy of all life.

 

From behind the van, Coram watched with his own dragon jaws dropping open, and Leanne and the others gaped along with him.  As awestruck as they were, it was only natural that he should appear now, of all times.

 

Coram blurted out, “It’s Sir Rawn!  It’s Sir Rawn Ullery!”

 

The forces in the battle continued to give the alien a wide berth, and continued to watch the mightiest of all the weredragons breathe down a deluge of fire onto their foe.  He poured forth every gout of flame he had to give until a broad circle of scorched and red-hot pavement appeared, and at its center stood the High Chimerian, its skin looking almost molten as the last flames parted.  He had not fallen.  He sent a look of contempt up at the circling Sir Rawn.

 

“It didn’t do any good.  I was afraid of this,” said Leanne.  “The Chimerian just soaked up Sir Rawn’s fire the way it did the geothermal power in the cavern.”

 

“Sir Rawn isn’t done yet,” replied Coram.  “Watch.”

 

As if he had heard Coram, Sir Rawn came in for a landing on the thoroughfare, and troops moved aside at his approach to a lighting post.  With an almost casual gesture, the augmented Knight sank his gauntleted man-dragon fingers into the metal-ceramic composite of the post—and ripped it from the ground with a sound of brittle tearing.  The other forces of Lacerta moved aside once again as Sir Rawn, hissing and growling, wielded the post, which was a story tall, and charged directly at the High Chimerian. 

 

For the first time, the alien expressed something resembling shock and surprise, which registered only for a moment: for in the space of a heartbeat, the end of the light post came ramming directly into him with a horrid crashing, crunching sound.  The tyrant from space, knocked from where he stood with a force that could cave in the face of a building, was sent flying half a block down the thoroughfare.

 

The High Chimerian lay still on the ground in the distance.  At the second that it landed, Sir Rawn Ullery cried out, “All at once—SMASH IT!”

 

Those in uniform and armor skin moved like lightning down the street, Sir Rawn among them, all charging or flying at the suddenly stricken enemy.  They saw the High Chimerian stir and rise up on one knee, still smoking and partly reddened from Sir Rawn’s earlier attack.  And the High Chimerian cast out its thoughts yet again: Defy me no more.  No more!  You are mine.  You battle for me.  For ME…

 

The response was immediate and shocking.  Half of the forces that had stood against the High Chimerian moved as one.  They raised their lasers and brandished their powerblades—and with a will not their own, they attacked their comrades.  Bodies flew everywhere, on the attack and on the defense, dragon against dragon, human against human, friend and comrade against their fellows.  Rawn stood in a roiling sea of bodies, fearing to bring his full strength and power against his fellow Knights and allies.  He swatted them aside with wings and tail, bringing just enough of his strength to knock them senseless without doing them harm.

 

Some fell to the ground in an appalling litter of uniformed and armor-skinned figures.  Some landed on the ground and set about defending themselves from the thrusts and swings of energy blades and the blasts of lasers, and returning the attacks.  The High Chimerian now stood at the threshold of a dreadful and horrifying civil war of its own making.

 

At their vantage point, Leanne, Coram, and their comrades had been physically knocked to the ground by the expanding wave of the alien’s mental command.  They thrashed about on pavement and grass, desperately clinging to their own will against being taken over—or taken over again.

 

“Fight it!” Coram said through a grimace.  “Don’t give in now!  There’s too much at stake!  Fight it!”

 

Leanne gasped, “It hasn’t got me yet.  It hasn’t got any of us back here.  I don’t think it can.  I think it’s reaching the limits of its power.  Even with all the power it took from the cavern and the power it took on just now, it’s got to have a limit.  It has to do too many things at one time: absorb the attacks against it, take control of more troops, try to extend its power to even more of them.  I think it’s doing all it can do right now.”

 

Hagen and his comrade crawled over beside them.  Hagen growled, “If we’re going to do what we must, it has to be now, Commander Shire.  Now!”

 

Leanne nodded.  She dragged herself up to her knees, still feeling wobbly from the waves of mental force emanating from the alien.  The others pulled themselves up near her.  She touched her sleeve and called, “Shire to Fleet Headquarters.  Status of Southwest Corner Protocol Devices.”

 

A voice from her comm system answered, “Southwest Corner Protocol Devices online.”

 

In a hard and decisive tone, Leanne barked, “Maximum power!  Fire at will!”

 

Barely a second passed.  From somewhere among the rooftops, a beam of power, huge and blinding, came stabbing down through the melee of battling forms, cutting the air and striking dead on target.  The defenders whose minds he had seized and those whom they had been battling only a second ago all fell back.  The High Chimerian was at once enveloped in a churning excrescence of power.  The beam maintained its focus and did not let up.  The figure of the High Chimerian at the center of the upheaval of force turned to a gaunt silhouette—and began to stagger and waver.

 

The bludgeoning waves of telepathic power from the alien ceased at once.  The battling troops on and over the thoroughfare, having broken off their struggle, stopped completely—and then, all eyes turned to the silhouetted figure of the alien staggering from side to side in the envelope of power delivered from the Protocol beam.

 

It was then that the High Chimerian’s malevolent mind spoke again, but this time, it was

different than before.  It was a telepathic howl of fury that cut to the heart and soul of everyone in view.  Cease this attack!  Cease this assault upon your lord and master!  You belong to me!  YOU BELONG TO ME…!

 

By this time, Leanne and her companions had found their footing again.  They were virtually transfixed at the struggle of their ultimate foe.  If it had been any other creature, they might almost have pitied it.

 

“It’s not enough,” said Coram.  “It’s resisting.  It’s fighting back.  It must be trying to

absorb this energy the same as it did all the other power that it took on.”

 

“It can’t do it,” said Leanne.  “Not with this power.  Not with this.”

 

“We still need more,” Coram said.

 

Leanne called into her comm system again, “Fleet Headquarters:  Status of Anti-Chimerian Protocol Satellite.”

 

The same voice returned, “Satellite at full power, locked on the given coordinates.”

 

As decisively as before, Leanne commanded, “Fire NOW!”

 

It took only a second.  From beyond the clouds and the blue of the sky, a screaming bolt of blinding power as huge as the geyser of energy from the mountain stabbed down like the finger of an angry god and hit the spot where the High Chimerian thrashed and staggered in the original beam from the rooftops.  Now, the creature was caught in two power beams, one twice as great as the other. 

 

It turned to a crackling silhouette, pitching and writhing inside a corona of light that cast a terrifying glow up and down the street.  The champions of the planet Lacerta continued to fall back lest they be caught at the edge of the inconceivable power that rained down before them.  Eyes were clenched.  Hands were raised before faces.  The cascade of power went on and on until everyone present feared it would grow to tear the place down around them.

 

And in their minds, the High Chimerian screamed:  You cannot destroy me!  You cannot slay me!  I am the great unifier of all life!  I am the living vision of the future of existence!  All things will live in me, and I will live in all things!  You cannot destroy me!  You cannot destroy me!  I AM THE HIGH CHIMERIAN!  I COMMAND YOU, STOP!  STOP!  STOP…!

 

The rain of power did not stop.  The mental scream of the High Chimerian disappeared into a deafening whine of released energy—and then, everything turned white, a harsh and

horrific whiteness like the ignition of an old nuclear weapon.  Everyone on the thoroughfare

recoiled from the shock.  The whine of energy gave way to a sound like a sonic boom.  Some were knocked off their feet, others were knocked from the air—and as the sound ebbed away and the light faded, a stillness like death settled over the scene. 

 

When the troops gathered on the outskirts of Silverwing recovered enough of their sight to look, they found the entire width of the street where the High Chimerian had stood now transformed to a hot and smoking surface like fused and cracked glass.  In the center of it lay a heap of hot, churning, noisome slime; a boiling mass of protoplasm that would never again form a

living cell, from which the High Chimerian would never rise again.

 

And another whoop went up at the edge of town, an exultation even greater than the one that greeted Sir Rawn.  Everyone present, Knight and Fleet and Corps, raised arms and spread wings and thrashed tails, hurling up their voices in victory after a battle hard fought and hard won.  The planet Lacerta and the quadrant of space beyond were truly saved.

 

Leanne, Coram, Hagen, and Hagen’s comrade came out from behind the transport van and ran down the thoroughfare to join the whooping, cheering throng.  They were greeted with cheers and laughs and embraces—and tears for those who had fallen, those who would never rise again but would be remembered and mourned.  They would be counted among the honored dead and would be praised in ceremonies in days to come.  But for now, sounds of desperate battle turned to cries of relief, and Leanne and her companions added their voices to the cheering mass.

 

Somewhere in the din, Coram heard a voice shout to him: “Coram!  You bedraggled old dragon, come here!”

 

Coram turned his dragon head and saw Willem, Tarik, and Kesta coming in for a landing and shifting to human near him.  Coram shouted back, “Willem, you shedding, old serpent!”  He returned to human form and ran to them.  The four Knights gathered themselves into a group embrace. 

 

Leanne, accepting the praises and congratulations of the throng around her, noticed that Coram was gone and craned her neck around to look for him.  She found him with his friends and smiled at the lot of them, gesturing them over.  The four of them joined her.  Willem and Tarik at once pulled her into a shared hug.  Kesta hung back at first, until they stepped aside for her.  The dragon Dame eyed Leanne appreciatively and clapped her hands on Leanne’s shoulders, then drew her in for a hug of her own.

 

In a moment, Sir Hagen and Sir Rawn, both in human form, drew near them.  The look on Rawn’s face told Leanne that he knew all about her and was proud to know her.  For Leanne, it was a moment of total amazement.  The most legendary of all the dragon Knights was proud—of her.  It felt like the proudest moment of her life…until she met the smiling eyes of Sir Hagen Maxon, with whom it could rightly be said that her journey to this moment had begun.  The gleam in his eyes and the approval that lit his face said everything for Leanne.  This was the day, the moment, for which she had been born.

 

Only one thing could possibly have made this moment more perfect, and all at once, it came when Leanne found herself swept from the ground and off her feet and into the arms of Sir Coram Dunne.  In full view of his comrades and the gathered champions of Lacerta, Coram lifted Leanne up and spun her around and around and into a kiss with the full passion of dragon and man.

 

And a new cheer burst loudly and boisterously into the air.

 

*

The dragon Corps quickly tracked down Cadoq, whose telepathic powers were nowhere near as formidable as those of his fallen master.  He could not fend them off when they surrounded him and closed in en masse, and he was soon apprehended.  The mollusk was being faced with deportation to the planet Visan until the authorities of Lacerta had another idea.

 

A bargain was struck in which Cadoq would willingly participate in a project by the leading doctors of neurology, neurochemistry, and parapsychology to find new ways to inhibit or block telepathy.  The little alien submitted and was kept under arrest with drugs, and would likely remain confined and subdued for the rest of his life.

 

The successful Anti-Chimerian Protocol technology, having scored so resounding a victory in Silverwing, was immediately in every settled part of the planet Lacerta, and plans were at once put forward to install the technology and bring it online in every part of the Commonwealth of Worlds.  It was fully expected that somewhere in space, outside of the quadrant, the Chimerians still lurked and skulked about in secret.  But if they ever dared move against Earth, its colonies, or its allies, they would be found out and brought to a decisive rout. 

 

Leanne Shire was naturally retained as head of the project, coordinating the efforts across the many planets to which the technology would be applied.  It was the validation of all her motives for joining the Fleet and all the work she had put into the initiative, and she looked forward to the satisfaction of seeing it completed.  In fact, there was only one thing that satisfied her more.

 

As soon as night fell on the day of the fateful victory against the clone of the High Chimerian, Leanne and Coram flung themselves back into bed.  Greedy with a frenzied, frantic desire for each other’s body and what lay at their loins, they sent their uniforms flying every which way across Leanne’s quarters, kissing and groping all the way, and Coram hurled her naked across the bed and hurled himself naked and lividly erect on top of her. 

 

What followed was the most rough, intense, and utterly cathartic sex that either of them had ever had.  They did not even bother with foreplay.  Neither of them wanted it this time.  Coram simply plunged the hot and throbbing totem of his maleness all the way into her and hammered inside her with the most desperate and ferocious lust that either one of them had ever experienced.

 

They both screamed and wailed with the hard and furious force of his thrusting, Leanne squeezing his body in her limbs like a python claiming her prey.  Coram bellowed out the most profane sexy curses while banging her mound with all his strength and driving his man-weapon in and out of her wetness like a piledriver.

 

She dug her fingernails into his shoulders and buttocks like the talon of a dragon, making him curse all the more loudly and bang her all the more furiously. They kissed wet, greedy kisses while he hammered on top of her, driving them to an orgasm that Leanne could swear was felt clean on the other side of the planet.  She could well imagine that the outpouring of his climax turned her inner womanhood into a lake of wet, white stickiness.

 

It was the sex that both of them needed most after the ordeal through which they had both passed, with their own fate and the fate of so much more at stake.  After being subsumed into the power of the High Chimerian, Leanne and Coram were both overtaken with the need to reconnect with what they had discovered in each other’s body and the bond it had formed between them. 

 

It reaffirmed that their sex was a power they had found, a power that they shared.  The monster they had battled had boasted of a unity of all life.  The real unity was what they created when Coram was atop Leanne, between her thighs and deep inside her.  It was force of nature that empowered them both.  And they sensed it would go on until they both drew their last breath.

 

 After a long time on top of her, Coram eventually softened and slipped out of her, and they rolled, perspiring and panting, into position lying side by side with lingering kisses and hands roaming up and down each other’s body.  Now, they melted into tenderness.  Coram took his time with afterplay, sucking her nipples with long pulls of his mouth, stroking the wet and slippery petals beneath her pubes, and going down to lick and suck her sex and bring her to a second

climax that made her push her wetness ecstatically into his devouring mouth.

 

Having satisfied her a second time but still wanting more of her, Coram ended up lying with his head on her stomach while playing with her lady parts, looking forward to his next erection which would stiffen up soon.

 

When he was ready, he mounted her again and screwed her more slowly, more deliberately, with slow, deep strokes that told her how much she had come to mean to him.  Leanne returned his strokes with up-thrusts that said back to him that she had found her perfect partner.  They were both amazed that after everything they had been through, they had the energy to give and take so much screwing.  But the events of this day had created a need in the two of them that surpassed the fatigue of battle.

 

Coram’s inner being was again lit up with the fire of orgasm, and he filled her with another wet, sticky rush from his balls.  He kissed her deeply and tenderly and relaxed on top of her, and Leanne caressed his shoulders and butt cheeks, telling him with her touch that she was there for him and would have him as much as he would ever want.  And without a doubt, he would want plenty.

 

All was quiet and still after this second coupling, until Leanne said, “You know, after all the times I’ve been with Lacertans—in and out of bed—I’ve never felt as close to you as I did today.”

 

Fingering her lips down below and pecking her lips up above, Coram replied, “I don’t think there’s anyone closer in the whole quadrant than the two of us right now.”

 

Kissing him back, she said, “You’ll come with me, of course, when I have to leave Lacerta and supervise the other installations.  It’ll be a long project.”

 

Wickedly, he answered, “I’ll ‘come’ with you everywhere and anywhere, any time.”

 

“You know what I mean,” she said. 

 

“Yes, I know,” he replied.  “I’ll put in for transfer or reassignment or even a leave of

absence.  Whatever it takes to keep us together—and keep us in bed every night from now on.”  And he kissed her harder to underscore how much he meant it.  “I’ll be with you through everything.”

 

“Even afterwards?” Leanne asked.

 

“‘Afterwards?’  What comes ‘afterwards’ is that you’ll probably have your pick of any assignment or command in your entire Fleet, I assume.”

 

“Or…,” she said, “I could go on to something else.”

 

“What else would there be?”

 

She gazed deep into his eyes and ran her fingers across the hair-dusted plates of his pecs.  “Coram, you were right about me,” Leanne said.  “There was something in me that I was never really facing head-on until you made me look at it and be completely honest about it.  After the project is over…I want to come back here to Lacerta.  I want to become a Lacertan.  I want to be one of you in every way.”

 

His brow arched.  He blinked in pleasant surprise.  “You really want to join us?”

 

“Yes, Coram,” she said, kissing him tenderly.  “And I want you to help me.”

 

He smiled at her, a smile of adoration and ever-growing desire.  “I have never wanted

anyone so much in my life,” he said.  “And you will make a magnificent dragon.  You practically are one already.”

 

They laughed, folded their arms and legs around each other and drew deeply into a kiss.  And Coram rolled Leanne onto her back and slipped his erection into her again, and with his impassioned thrusting inside her, they celebrated their unity once more. 

 

 

THANKS FOR READING!

 

I really hope you enjoyed CORAM. Remember, the other books in the Dragons Of The Universe series are:

Book 1 – THRAX

AWN

ORAM

 

Go check them out and collect the whole series!

 

Otherwise, add your email to the to be the first to know when it is released!

 

Bonnie x x

 

P.S Turn the page to UNLOCK a hidden complete novel that I threw in extra for you as a way of saying thanks. (It is a previous bestseller!)

 

RUNNING

WITH THE TIGER 

A PARANORMAL SHAPESHIFTER ROMANCE

 

 

BONNIE BURROWS

 

 

Copyright ©2016 by Bonnie Burrows

All rights reserved.

About This Book

 

Cambria thought that she knew everything there was to know about the world and its secret community of shape-shifting tigers. But she was about to discover that what she knew did not even scratch the surface of reality.

Having been trained to fight the battle for the “good guys” against the Tiger shifters, Cambria believes they are all evil and must be stopped.

Her beliefs begin to change when a kind hearted WereTiger named Egan James steps out of the shadows and rescues her from a dangerous situation. Something he didn't have to do for her at all.

Now Cambria must run with this handsome stranger or risk dying. But what was the true motive behind Egan's rescuing of her?  Can she really trust a man who is meant to be so evil?

PROLOGUE

 

Cambria hurriedly packed her rucksack as the bedroom door groaned on its hinges.  Angry words worked their way through the door, but thirteen-year-old Cambria was done being scared.  And she was done being beaten. 

She shoved the last of her clothes into the bag and threw it over her shoulder.  The pounding continued and both her parents screamed through the door at her, calling her every foul name imaginable.  A single tear slid down her cheek and she swiped it away before quietly unlatching her window and sliding it open. 

She climbed onto her bed and perched on the window sill for a moment.  It was a long drop from the second story window, but her door was beginning to crack under the force of their banging and she was running out of time.

She slid out slowly until she lowered herself as far as she could, clinging to the sill with tiny fingers barely strong enough to hold her weight.  Taking a deep breath, she counted to three and let go, letting her body go limp to absorb as much of the landing as she could in her loose joints.

The ground came fast, and her feet hit the rain softened ground for an instant before she fell back onto her backpack and began tumbling down the steep hill behind her house.

She wouldn’t call it home.  Home was a place filled with love and free from fear.

She let herself fall for a moment before trying to work her way out of it.  But she hadn’t counted on the steep hill being so hard to fight when she’d first had the brilliant idea to jump from her bedroom window.

After what seemed like forever, she finally moved just right, adjusting herself from somersaults to merely sliding down the grassy, wet hill.  She reached the bottom and her momentum finally ceased.  The sound of her bedroom door crashing down echoed through the air, and Cambria sprang into action. 

She crouched low, using the moonless night to her advantage as she quickly worked her way to the tree line.  Her father bellowed her name into the night, but she was already in the woods and would be long gone before they circled back through the house and made their way down the impossibly steep hill.

That was, if they cared to go after her at all.

Panting, and trying to get her bearings, she placed her hand on a tree and bent double.  She moved her body, paying attention to her joints and checking for any injuries.  Surprisingly, she was unscathed with the exception of a nasty scrape on her elbow she’d gotten when she made contact with the wall on the way down.

A shotgun blast pulled her out of her musings, and spurred her into action.  They were coming after her alright, and it looked like they didn’t care whether she lived or died, as long as she didn’t get away from them.

She stumbled in the dark, trying to keep her feet under her and be quiet.  Listening behind her, she couldn’t hear them coming, yet, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.  Her parents were accustomed to living in the country and were avid hunters. 

Cambria’s heart raced, and it was hard to hear anything over the pounding of her own heart.  But her life depended on her flight, so she pressed on, convinced that she would hear another shotgun blast and feel a searing pain in her back at any moment.

The packed trail beneath her feet softened before giving way to sand.  Cambria knew what this meant, and took a hard left, skirting around the large swamp beyond the trees.  She’d spent the last year memorizing the trails in hopes of one day escaping the hell that was her life.

It would do her no good to escape her parents’ clutches only to find herself in the jaws of a hungry gator. 

She stopped for a moment, listening intently.  It was late fall, and the ground was covered with dead leaves.  If they were following her, she would be able to hear them even though most of the leaves had been soaked soft by the recent rains.

But she heard nothing.  She started walking, watching the path in front of her.  There was little light for her to see, but the light sand that mixed in with the dirt on this part of the trail made traveling a little easier. 

It was late when she’d last looked at her clock, nearly ten p.m.  She had nearly five miles to cover before she hit the route 90, which led directly into Sanderson.  From there, she would hop on a train if she had to and get as far away from Florida as she could.

Her breathing slowed and her heartbeat softened as she walked.  The rush of adrenaline after locking herself in her room and jumping from her window, was finally starting to decline.  Gone was the frantic feeling she’d had when she first hit the forest, replacing it was a sort of calm that Cambria hadn’t felt once in her short life. 

She was free. 

Not wanting to celebrate too soon and risk losing sight of her goal, she admonished herself that she was not free until she was as far from here as she could get.  And that was going to take some doing.  Her parents were both raging alcoholics, so she’d managed to steal and stash a large sum of money since she first planned her escape a few months after her twelfth birthday.  But six hundred dollars wouldn’t get her very far, and at thirteen, she couldn’t drive a car.  Her options were limited, putting one more roadblock between her and freedom.

Cambria heard a noise in the bushes, and she stepped to the side to put more distance between herself and the edge of the trail closest to the swamp.  It didn’t sound like a gator, and no one had seen a bear in these woods for a long while.  If it was anything, Cambria knew it would be a wild boar.

She slipped her hand into her pocket, wrapping her tiny fingers around the large switch blade she had stolen from her father’s things.  Whatever it was, she wasn’t going down without a fight.

The rustle came again, and a large shadow bounded out of the trees and directly onto her path.  Cambria screamed before she could stop herself, frightening the young deer standing a few feet from her and directly in her path.

Cambria let out the breath she’d been holding and slipped the knife back into her pocket.  She stomped her feet in the dirt, trying to shoo the deer out of her way so she could keep moving.  But the deer didn’t budge.  It just stood there, staring at her.

The hair on the back of her neck stood when she realized that the deer wasn’t staring at her, but over her shoulder.  Terrified to find herself face to face with a bear-or worse yet, her father, Cambria turned.  She was ready to fight to the death for her freedom.  She was done being a victim.

She wasn’t prepared for what stood before her, and she barely registered the silver cost and the large head before she passed out cold.  She heard her body hit the ground but felt nothing.  And her final thought was that she was going to be ripped apart and eaten alive by a tiger.

Cambria jumped awake, startled to find herself in a neat cabin, daylight streaming through a nearby window.  The bed she rested on was soft and comfortable, the heavy quilt tucked lovingly around her shoulders.   

She threw back the quilt and looked down at her clothes.  They were still dirty from her tumble down the hill and her run through the forest.  Her boots had been removed, but otherwise she was exactly how she had been in the woods, before she’d come face to face with a tiger.

Footsteps fell heavily in the next room, and Cambria gauged the distance from the bed to the tiny window cut into the outer wall. 

It was too far.  The door opened slowly and a tall, slender man with a long face peeked into the room.

“I see you’re awake.  How are you feeling?” He asked, walking towards the bed with a steaming mug in his hand.

“I’m fine, I guess.”  Her voice sounded weird.  It had been so long since someone had spoken to her instead of at her.  She didn’t quite know how to react.

“You had quite a scare and you passed out.  You’ve a nasty bump on your head, but I think you’ll be fine.  Would you like to call your parents so they know you’re safe?”

At the mention of her parents, Cambria’s breath caught.  What was she going to say to convince this man that she couldn’t go back to them without him alerting the authorities?  If the police were called, she’d end up right back where she started.  She couldn’t take that risk.

She looked him straight in the eye and told him that her parents were dead.

“In that case,” he said, “welcome to the family.”

 

HAPTER ONE

 

 

The air rushed out of Cambria when she hit the ground, but she kept moving.  She army-crawled under the barbwire, careful to keep her entire body as low to the ground as possible.  More than once, her curly brown locks got tangled in the wire, but she pressed forward.  She had a time to beat, and stopping to worry about her hair wasn’t going to help her beat her best time. 

When she was able to stand, she ran to the vertical wall and grabbed the knotted rope that hung from the top.  She shimmied up the rope, smiling to herself as she reached the top and flipped over and onto the ground.  She dashed through the knee deep water hazard and back onto the dry ground to a table. 

On the table lay a dismantled assault rifle.  This is where Cambria had choked before, and she wasn’t about to screw it up this time.  She put it together, reminding herself to go slow and keep her hands steady.  It would do her no good to move too fast and drop pieces as she went.

The last piece clicked in and she ran to the next station, laying down on her belly and putting the rifle on the short tripod before lining up the sights.  She squeezed the trigger and knew in that instant that she had pulled it too soon.

She forgot to check the wind before firing.  Her shot went wide and missed the center of the target, lodging itself in the outer edge of the wooden board. 

And just like that she’d failed again.

A whistle blew and she laid her rifle down and stood to address her instructor.  Gary, an older, portly man with thinning gray hair and horrible oral hygiene, waddled up to Cambria.  His lips pulled into a snarl and he looked her over.  She squirmed under his gaze.  Not because she was ashamed of her run today, but because Gary was obviously undressing her with his eyes.  Again.

At nineteen, she’d lived with the men from the brotherhood for the last six years of their lives.  Most treated her like an annoying kid sister, but only Gary, who was old enough to be her grandfather, looked at her like a man who was starved.

It made her ill.  After her uncle Laskin had rescued her from the woods, Gary was one of the first people she’d met.  At thirteen and so scared, she’d latched onto anyone that showed her any love.  She’d been so starved for any kind of affection from her parents that every hug, every smile had felt like a million bucks.

As soon as Cambria turned eighteen, Gary’s attitude towards her changed.  It had gotten worse and worse over the last year and a half, but Cambria wasn’t sure how to broach the subject with Laskin.  Gary was his right-hand man, and the two were super close.  Cambria was special to Laskin, but she wasn’t so sure that would extend beyond his friendship with Gary.  This place was her home, and as much as she hated Gary, she wasn’t going to jeopardize that by complaining about his attentions.

Gary pointed to the rifle, asking her to get into firing position again.  Cambria wanted to protest, but her instructions had been clear; if she wanted to fight with the resistance against the shifters, she had to pass the course.  Failing the rifle challenge wasn’t going to cut it.

She laid flat on her belly, wrinkling her nose against Gary’s stench when he crawled onto his massive belly beside her and flopped around until they were hip to hip.

She looked through the sights just as Gary put his arm around her, guiding her hand and looking over her shoulder into the scope.  He was practically on top of her, and Cambria wanted so badly to let herself gag at the smell of him, but she fought it.  Opening her mouth, she breathed softly, trying not to stir the air around him.

His hand covered hers, curling over her trigger finger and guiding her ever so slowly.  He adjusted the rifle and pulled the trigger.  A large hole appeared exactly where the heart was on the target, and Gary rolled away to examine his handiwork.

“Your turn.”

Cambria focused on the scope, trying to ignore the way Gary’s stench hung in the air around her, even though he was now five feet away.  She took her time, breathing slowly and focusing on the steps she’d been taught, over and over again. 

Smoothly, she pulled the trigger.  To the right of the heart, but still in the lethal range, a giant hole appeared.  Gary jumped up in the air, whooping with delight.

“Great job!” He hollered and Cambria couldn’t help but grin.  She had earned her place making rounds with the other foot-soldiers.

She jumped up after securing the weapon, and smiled.

“Finally.” She said, her voice heavy with relief.  It wasn’t just about foot-patrol, though that was her main motivation for training.  She was tired of being left alone with Gary to guard the house.  At least in plain sight, his behavior was somewhat tolerable.  In the house, out of the sight of anyone who might be patrolling the perimeter, he was even more pushy and inappropriate.

“Finally?” He asked, and Cambria’s heart sank.

“I finished.  I passed.”

“No.  You failed.  You have to hit the target on the first try.  The enemy isn’t going to stand there and wait for you to get your shit together.  You have to do it right on the first try.”

“I can do it.  Let me run the course again and-”

“You know the rules.  You have to train for another week before you can test again.  We can’t have a bunch of newbies screwing everything up for us.  We have the bigger picture to look at.”

His smirk was too much, and Cambria was angry.  He was happy that she’d failed, and he didn’t bother hiding it.  The more they were in the house together, the more often he would “accidentally” rub her as they passed in the hallways.  Or he would slap her ass “affectionately” and claim she was just one of the guys like she always wanted to be.  She might be young, but she wasn’t an idiot.

Shoulders slumped, she turned and stormed away.  Gary called after her, reminding her that she was to clean the gun for the next runner.  But there wouldn’t be a next runner.  Of all the younger recruits, she was the only one who hadn’t passed.  Even Tom, who had been recruited just one short year ago, had passed her up in rank and skill.

Defeated, she practically stomped back to the house, wanting nothing more than to go to her room and hide from the world.  She was an absolute failure, and Uncle Laskin wouldn’t be happy when he returned later in the week to find she’d let him down again.

He had such high hopes for her.

She removed her boots by the door and banged the mud off of them before walking into the house and going straight for her room.  It wasn’t so much a house as a glorified cabin in the woods, but it had been her home for the past six years.

Since she was the only girl, she was the only one with her own bathroom and shower in her bedroom.  Everyone else had to use the shower cabin, which was behind the main cabin and afforded little privacy.  Cambria had taken a lot of crap from the younger recruits, but Laskin had shut them up right away.  They could be jealous and act like fools all they wanted, but Cambria had been there longer than most, and she was Laskin’s sweet little angel.

Cambria shoved her door open and slammed it behind her.  She wasn’t a delicate little angel, and she’d wanted to prove to Laskin that she was more than just a girl.  But she’d failed, as she always had.  She was starting to wonder if she would ever be good enough.  Maybe this time would be the time when Laskin decided that she wasn’t his sweet niece anymore and he would send her packing.

There was no way she could live in the city among the shifters like some sort of ignorant barbarian.  They were too dangerous, and the humans who thought otherwise were just deluding themselves.  No, Cambria would work until she succeeded, proving that she deserved to be here just as much as any man in the compound.  She would earn her spot fair and square, or die trying.

Cambria locked the door behind her and stripped off her clothes.  She’d finished her chores for the day and she had some free time before dinner.  She was going to clean up and take a nap while she could.  Once she felt clean and refreshed, things wouldn’t seem as bad as they did now.  It was all a matter of perspective.

The spray from the shower was pitiful at best, but she didn’t really have room to complain.  She’d lived on the compound since Laskin had rescued her at thirteen without paying for anything, including food and clothing.  She’d take the mist-like spray coming out of the tiny showerhead over living with her parents and being beaten any day.

She stepped into the water, sucking in her breath when the ice cold water hit her.  Grabbing a bar of homemade soap, she started lathering her olive skin, letting the fragrant peppermint foam slide leisurely down her skin while she worked.  Her skin tingled wherever the soap touched, one of her favorite sensations. 

When she felt squeaky-clean, she reached for the bottle of shampoo and poured some in her hand before working it into her chocolate curls.  Her shampoo and conditioner were the only things she owned that weren’t made on the compound.  The one and only time she’d washed her bouncy curls in the homemade shampoo she’d been given it had been a disaster.  Uncle Laskin had taken one look at the rat’s nest atop her head and wiped the tears from her eyes before leaving to buy her proper shampoo and conditioner for her hair type.

It was the one luxury she was afforded, and Laskin always seemed to know when to replenish her supply without asking.  That one small gesture had meant so much, and was more kindness than her parents had ever showed her.

Cambria couldn’t place the scent, but the shampoo was wonderfully fragrant as the high-end ones tended to be. 

She rinsed her hair and worked in the conditioner, and the goosebumps on her arms and legs faded.  She was accustomed to the cold temperature now, and the spray felt almost warm by contrast, even though nothing had actually changed.

Cambria waited a minute before rinsing her hair and stepping out of the shower.  She dried herself with a threadbare towel after carefully squeezing most of the water from her hair.  Brushing her teeth, she regarded herself in the small mirror over the sink.  Her startling hazel eyes stared back at her as she lost herself in thought. 

Memories of her childhood flashed before her, the night she ran away, the tiger in the woods.  When she woke up to find that Laskin had saved her, she would have done anything to repay him.  Instead, he’d welcomed her with open arms, even turning away her offer of the money she’d stolen from her parents when she tried to pay him for her keep after living on the compound for over a year.

Laskin was the best thing that had ever happened to her in her short life, and she would never be able to repay him.

A soft knock at the door pulled her from her musings.  She padded, barefoot, to the door and leaned against the doorframe to speak through the gap around the door.

“Yes?”

“Cammy, it’s Tom.  Are you decent?”

Her body flushed and she started to stammer before she even spoke.  She stopped and collected herself and tried again.

“I can be in a moment, do you need me?”

“I do.”

He didn’t elaborate, and Cambria was left wondering what he could possibly want from her.  She hurried to her closet, pulling her nicest camo pants and black shirt from their hangers and slipping them on quickly.  She tossed the ragged towel into the bathroom and ran her fingers through her curls, trying to tame the wild mass of hair as best as she could.

She didn’t bother with panties or a bra, and when she opened the door, she immediately regretted it. 

Tom’s eyes raked over her slender body, taking in the way the fabric clung to her curves and arching his eyebrow slightly when his gaze fell on her chest.  With great effort, he pulled his gaze to her eyes so he could speak to her directly.

“Your help is needed in the kitchen today.”

“I was on rotation last week.”

“I know, but Gary took a few of the young recruits out for extra training and we don’t have enough people in the kitchen to feed everyone.”

Cambria sighed.  She didn’t want to believe that Gary had done it on purpose, but Cambria knew better.  He was upset that she’d rejected him, again.  She’d been rejecting him since the day she’d turned eighteen, yet he persisted.  Taking the other recruits and treating them to extra training was his way of punishing her for hurting his feelings.

Tom smiled at her, and Cambria melted.  He was different than most of the men.  Handsome with light blond hair and perfectly straight teeth, it was no secret that Tom had grown up with rich parents.  Where the majority of the other men had dropped out of school by eighth grade and had grown up in poverty, Tom was college-educated and well-mannered.

He reached out, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and letting his hand linger against her cheek.  She closed her eyes, trying to control the heat that flooded through her entire body at the simplest touch.  Tom was sexy, single, and way out of her league.  Cambria felt plain in comparison.  With her brown hair, tan skin and hazel eyes, she didn’t think she was much to look at, and she doubted that Tom thought more of her than any other man in the compound.  He was simply moving her hair out of her face and she was overreacting.

At least, that’s what she tried to convince herself. 

“I like cooking with you.  I know it’s frustrating, but maybe we can make the best of it.”

He squeezed her shoulder and beamed at her.  She couldn’t say no to him, and she wondered briefly if he knew that.  She melted under the heat of his charm, her head nodding yes before she was even aware. 

“Good.  I’m going to start cooking in a few minutes after I catch a quick shower.  Maybe you can start peeling potatoes until I get there?”

Coming from anyone else, Cambria would have been annoyed.  She smiled at him and nodded again, not trusting herself to speak around him.  She had a handle on her speech impediment, but when she got nervous, it came back full-force.  More than once, someone had suggested it sounded like an accent, but she was born and raised in Florida.  There was no accent to be had.

As her mother was fond of reminding her, she was simply daft.  She hadn’t even been smart enough for school, and they had homeschooled her from an early age.  As far back as she could remember, about seven years of age, she had either been in her home or in the woods. 

“Penny for your thoughts?”  Cambria closed her eyes, trying to hide the flush that creeped up her neck

She’d been daydreaming again, and Tom had still been standing there.

“I’m just tired.  I’ll get right on those potatoes and I’ll see you soon.”

She moved passed him, trying to slide between him and the wall without touching him, but she failed.  Her breasts slid along his torso and she found herself wishing that she could melt into the wall and disappear forever. 

Practically fleeing down the hall, she headed for the mess cabin and sweet solitude.  She would peel one hundred pounds of potatoes if it meant putting distance between herself and Tom before she made a complete and utter fool of herself.

Too late for that, she thought. 

She’d already made a fool of herself and then some.

 

HAPTER TWO

 

Cambria was clearing her dishes when Laskin walked into the hall.  Everyone stopped what they were doing and stood, greeting him with a reverence that stopped just short of actually saluting the man.

Laskin nodded and smiled, and the young men returned to their seats.  Cambria set her dishes down and ran to greet her uncle, smiling shyly when he hugged her warmly before pulling away from her.

His face darkened and she knew that Gary had already spoken to him.  Tears threatened, and she ducked her head in shame.

“Don’t worry, my child.  You’ll pass another time.”  Laskin said, and Cambria felt even worse than she had before.  She would have understood if he’d yelled at her, called her stupid like her parents always had.  But his pity and understanding undid her and made her feel that much worse about her shortcomings.  Laskin was so patient with her and she failed time and time again.

“I need to speak with you,” he said in a hushed tone.  “Not about your failure, but about something of great importance.  Can you finish up here and meet me in my office?”

Cambria nodded.  She returned to the table and cleared her dishes, leaving them in the sink for the after dinner crew to clean up.  The compound ran like a well-oiled machine as long as everyone did their part.  She left the mess hall through the back door, hoping that no one saw her leave. 

Quite a few of the others were jealous of her relationship, not understanding that Laskin was more like a father to her than a leader.  Many of the recruits had joined up in the last year or two, but Cambria had lived here for six years.  She had watched with envy as boys just slightly older than her had worked towards the cause, training to fight against the growing shifter population that lived boldly amongst the humans.  She had wanted so badly to contribute, but she’d been such a liability then.

The moon lit the gravel path before her as she hurried to the main house and Laskin’s office.  She heard gravel crunching behind her and she turned quickly, ready for a fight.

Tom held up his hands, “It’s only me.  I saw you leave and wanted to make sure that you didn’t walk back alone.”

It was too dark to see his expression, and Cambria wondered why he was suddenly interested in her safety.  She walked around the compound at night all the time and not once had anyone offered to walk her home.  Yet suddenly, Tom was so interested in her safety?  Why?

“What do you want?” she asked, preferring directness. 

“I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine, thank you.  I just want some time alone.”  Her voice was harsh and she felt bad.  But Laskin had been clear.  Their meeting was between Cambria and Laskin, and not for the others to know about it.  She suspected that Tom was jealous or just being nosey.  She wasn’t sure which.

“Sorry.  I was just trying to be nice.”  He closed the distance between them in two easy steps and Cambria braced herself for the blow. 

She closed her eyes, but the pain never came. Instead, Tom placed a soft kiss on her cheek, as gentle as a butterfly landing on a flower.  Before she could open her eyes, he’d turned and headed back towards the mess hall without another word.

Cambria watched him go, wondering what the kiss had meant.  Surely, she was reading too much into it.

She turned back towards the main cabin and walked briskly towards her destination.  Laskin wouldn’t be waiting on her yet, but she didn’t want to keep him.  Something important was on his mind, and she didn’t want him to regret trusting her.

Jogging up the steps, she took one last look around before opening the door and heading straight down the hall that led to his office.  Only a few of the brotherhood lived in the main house, including herself, Tom and Gary.  The rest of them lived on the other side of the mess hall in small two to three room cabins that didn’t have running water and were without bathrooms. 

Cambria didn’t envy those men at all.  She couldn’t imagine having to drag herself to the cabin near the mess hall to do something as simple as brush her teeth or use the bathroom in the middle of the night.  But the others didn’t seem to mind.

She walked into the office and sat down, beating Laskin into the house by less than five minutes.

He strode in, pleased to see that she wasn’t going to keep him wanting on her.  He went around the large desk and sat down behind it.

He was quiet for a moment, and Cambria was starting to feel anxious.  She thought she’d been called her to discuss something of great importance to the anti-shifter movement.  Maybe she’d misread the situation.

Laskin smiled, his long, narrow face spreading around the expression, but not really embracing it.  His smile never touched his eyes and she always felt like something about him wasn’t quite genuine.  The huge, jagged scar that covered most of his face fought against him as his face stretched to accommodate what passed for a smile.

He’d returned after an extended trip when Cambria was just fourteen, near death and scarred from an almost deadly encounter with an angry shifter.  His injuries had caused a great deal of protests locally, and had eventually lead to the state of the area now.  The curfews and the strict laws imposed on shifters had been started because of the horrors of the injuries that Laskin had suffered.  He had never gone into detail with her about what had happened, but she knew enough to know that shifters weren’t to be trusted.  She loved Laskin like family, and any enemy of his was also her enemy.  

Laskin had saved her from a tiger-shifter; a monster that most certainly would have eaten her for dinner if Laskin hadn’t bravely stepped in and saved her that night.  The details were fuzzy because she’d passed out from the fear of coming face to face with a tiger of all things, but she knew that he’d saved her life that night and that was all that mattered.

When Laskin finally spoke, he got right to the point.

“Cambria, I’m starting to wonder if what we’re doing to combat the shifters is enough.  Sure, we’ve shown the world what kind of monsters they really are, revealing the truth of their existence.  But I’m wondering if there’s more that we can do to show the world the truth.”

Cambria nodded to show that she was listening, but she hadn’t yet figured out what he was getting at. 

“I’m sorry I failed the test again today.  I was so close.  Next time I’ll-”

He held her hand up to silence her and she stopped, feeling badly for interrupting.

“There’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing.  In fact, it made me realize that we are failing to use certain skills that you already possess to our advantage.  Things have begun changing, but the issue is clear.  There are still humans who think that the shifters are good and that the fault lies with ignorance and politicians who pander to the unwashed masses.  You and I know that this is false, but the average Joe Blow on the street doesn’t know the truth.”

He stopped, taking a delicate sip of the piping hot tea that he’d carried in with him and weighing his words carefully before he continued.

“I may need you to infiltrate the shifters.  To gain their trust and to put yourself in a position to gather intelligence for a long time.”

“How long?”

Laskin shrugged, completely unconcerned.  “Could be six months, could be six years.  You never know with people what it will take to make them see the truth.”

Cambria was surprised.  This was a big undertaking, one that she was sure Laskin didn’t take lightly.  There were so many of the recruits that were probably better suited to the task.  She couldn’t figure out why Laskin would choose her.

“What skills could I possibly have that would help me do this?”  She was puzzled.

“It’s not skills so much as natural talent.  You’re a woman, and as such, more easily trusted than a man would be.  They’ll be suspicious of men, but you’re young and attractive, and you look completely harmless.  No one will ever suspect you of being anything but an enamored young woman in love with a man of a different species.”

Cambria opened her mouth to protest then closed it.  Her first reaction was to say no, but who was she to deny Laskin’s request?  He’d fed her, clothed her and cared for her for six years, and this was the only thing he’d ever asked of her.  How dare she even consider saying no?  It didn’t matter how she felt about it.  The only thing that mattered was the greater good.  If she would die for the cause, there was no reason that she shouldn’t seduce a shifter for the cause.

Laskin waited patiently for her to absorb all that he’d said.  He was putting a lot on her, and she was so young.  When she finally accepted that there really was no other alternative, she smiled weakly.  She would do what he asked and she would thank him for the opportunity.

“I’ll do it.  When do I start?”

“Be patient, little one.  I have another plan to put into action first.  If that fails, I’ll need you to jump in and do your part. For now, just keep doing what you’re doing and I’ll call on you when the time is right.  Understood?”

“Of course, Laskin.  Thank you for trusting me with this.”

Laskin smiled and for once, the expression made it all the way to his eyes.  He was happy with her, and Cambria felt herself swell with pride.

“I can do this,” she declared, feeling confident for the first time since she’d failed this morning’s training test

“Of course you can.  I never doubted you.”

He stood quickly and motioned to the door, dismissing her and closing the door behind her.  He listened as her footsteps faded down the hall and the thin door that separated her room from the others closed and locked.

Gary stepped out of the recess between the back door and the outer hallway.  Cambria had been completely unaware of his presence in the room during their conversation.

Gary smiled, yellow, jagged teeth bared as he spoke.

“You think she’ll survive the mission?” He asked, barely containing his giddiness.

“Let’s hope not.  It won’t do us any good if our poster child for shifter violence survives their love affair.”

Gary chuckled under his breath, completely unconcerned for Cambria.  She’d sealed her fate when she’d rejected him time and again.  If she had proven herself worthy of Gary, he would have argued with Laskin over the mission.

Instead, Gary had steered their conversation from a vague idea to one that assured that Cambria wouldn’t survive.  Or, if she did, she would be scarred for life as Laskin had been with his encounter with a violent shifter.  Either way, she was paying for letting Gary down one too many times.

At least that’s how Gary saw it.

The two men left via the outer door; Laskin left to return to his home in the city and Gary left to check on the young recruits in the mess hall.  Left to their own devices, they often dissolved into petty arguments and sometimes full-blown fights.  He needed to make sure that the men saved that energy for the real fight.  The time was drawing near and he needed them to be ready.

Cambria slipped into her room and looked around at the mess she’d left earlier.  Dirty clothes were strewn about and her wet towel had colored the wooden floor beneath it as it dried.  The wood would recover and eventually return to its natural color, but she frowned at the dark spot on the floor regardless.  If she was going to convince a shifter that she was lover material, she was going to have to learn to keep house better.

She moved about the room, straightening everything and putting away what she’d left out.  It only took her a few minutes, and the room already looked much better.  Maybe she wasn’t that far out of her league after all.

Someone knocked on the door, but Cambria didn’t have to look to know it was Tom again.  He knocked the same way every time, and the now familiar sound had started setting off the butterflies in her stomach long before the sight of him would.

She opened the door, surprised when he pushed his way inside, albeit gently.  His smile was so radiant, and she could smell the fresh, minty scent that said that Tom had already brushed his teeth after eating dinner.

He closed and locked the door behind him, smiling at Cambria again and pulling a chair out from under her desk in the corner.  Rather than sit in it as it was meant to be used, he flipped it around.  He rested his elbows on the straight back of the chair and laid his head on his arms.  His expression was slightly dreaming, tearing down all of Cambria’s defenses.

“So, what did Laskin want?”  His voice was soft, almost shy. 

“He just wanted to talk to me about training and stuff.”  Cambria mentally slapped herself in the head.  Stuff?  That was really eloquent.

“Was there anything else?”

“No.  We talk sometimes, but Laskin raised me, so it’s mostly about how I need to pull my weight around here so no one thinks I’m getting special treatment.”

Tom smiled, his blue eyes twinkling merrily.

“You deserve special treatment.  At least I think you do.”

She was taken aback by his tone.  Was she reading him right?  Maybe he was just trying to be nice.  Cambria didn’t know, but she kept talking anyway, hoping to distract him and buy herself a little time to figure out her next move.

“Thank you.  What I need is to pass that test so everyone can see I’m not a burden.”  Her voice caught and she got flustered, angry at the emotion that was creeping its way into the conversation.  She hadn’t meant to let her emotions get the best of her, and she was embarrassed at being caught being decidedly female. 

“Maybe I can help you,” he offered, and she could tell he was being genuine. 

“That would be nice, but you have so much on your plate already.”

“It doesn’t matter.  This fight isn’t about me, it’s about the greater good.  If I can’t spend my free-time helping a fellow freedom fighter then what good am I?”

His words rang true and Cambria felt herself falling even more for him.  Tom was handsome, smart and passionate about the cause.  Where most of the men seemed like they were only interested in the guns and the potential for violence that came with the battle, Tom was dedicated to the movement to put shifters back where they belonged.

He believed wholeheartedly that the only place shifters belonged was serving the needs of the human race or six feet under.  He made no apologies for his beliefs and he had an endless amount of ammunition to back up his claims.  He fought his battle with words, choosing guns as a last resort.

Cambria found this to be tremendously sexy.

“What part are you struggling with?”

“The assault rifle.  I always miss the target, or I fumble and I drop a piece while I’m putting it together and run out of time.  I’m good at everything else, but the rifle gets me in the end.”

“That’s easily fixed.  You just need to practice doing it over and over again until the gun feels like a part of you when you hold it in your hands.  I can help you with that tonight if you want.”

“Are you sure?  It’s late.”

“Of course I’m sure.  Then you can take the test again, and this time I know you’ll pass.”

His smile was contagious, and Cambria found herself beaming in return.  She was going to pass this next time.  She felt sure of it for the first time ever. 

She pulled out her personal rifle, which was unloaded.  Taking it apart, she laid it out on the bed in much the same way that Gary typically did. 

She knelt beside the low bed, assembling it and disassembling it over and over again until she felt comfortable.  Tom timed each assembly, making sure to note when she went to slow, or when she was rushing, which caused her to drop pieces and fumble.

Tom moved close, kneeling beside her and leaning against her to make her nervous.  More than once, his elbow brushed her breast, causing her to lose her train of thought and make stupid mistakes.  Tom chided her for it, pointing out that, because she was a woman, she had more to prove than most.

If she couldn’t put a gun together because someone brushed up against her, she was weak and was no good to them anyway.

She focused, angry at herself for letting her emotions get in the way of her success.

This time, when Tom brushed against her, she kept her focus.  He encouraged her, calling out her time when she completely the assembly before making her do it again.

Over and over, Tom did his level best to distract her.  When she was able to push through the assembly when he roughly grabbed her breast and squeezed it painfully, he declared her ready for anything. 

He kissed her on the cheek while she knelt there, unloaded gun in hand sitting in front of her bed.  She didn’t move, and she didn’t react when his hand slid down her back and over her ass.  He boldly slipped his hand between her legs and stroked her roughly through her khakis before standing up and walking out the door.

He didn’t say a word, didn’t even stop at the door to smile at her before he walked out.  He just left her there, confused, lost, and panting like a dog in heat.

 

 

HAPTER THREE

 

         Cambria awoke the next morning ready to face the day.  She was going to take the test again, but when she headed to the training field, Gary was nowhere to be found.  In his place, Tom was already running recruits through the paces and scrutinizing their every move.  None of these recruits were anywhere near ready to test, so Tom was both observing and instructing as they went.

When he saw Cambria walking towards them, he motioned to her to hurry up.  She jogged over to him, excited to see his face so early in the morning.  His warm smile sent shivers down her spine.

He turned towards the course, laughing as one of the younger guys tried unsuccessfully to scale the vertical wall.  Cambria kept her face blank, but she too was trying not to laugh.  This particular recruit was a loudmouth, constantly boasting about his prowess both on and off the battle field.  It was obvious from his lackluster performance that he was all talk. 

“Recruits, fall in!” Tom yelled, indicating that they should leave the course immediately.  When he turned and smiled at her, Cambria got a sinking feeling in her stomach.

Tom paced back and forth in front of the single line of recruits.  This was the largest group yet, with ten members recruited from one area at once.  Cambria was pleased with the progress the movement was making, and she could only guess that it would continue to get better with time.  More and more people would see the light and want to help return things to the way they once were.

“As you know, you have just one short month of practice on this course before you’re expected to take the challenge test.  Those of you who are already proficient on the course,” he looked pointedly at the graceless loudmouth, who turned beet-red and stared down at the toe of his boot, “can take the test any time between now and then.  But you must finish the course at the end of the month.  Those that don’t will be put on kitchen duty indefinitely until you can complete the course.  I that clear recruits?”

“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.

 

HAPTER 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 before 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.

“Panties too.”

Cambria didn’t know why she blushed, but she did, stepping out of the thin fabric and leaving them to fall in a puddle on the floor.

While she undressed, Tom unzipped his own pants from where he lay on her bed, shoving them down just enough to expose his rigid member.  Cambria’s eyes widened and Tom’s smile was one of self-satisfaction.  She was surprised when he donned a condom, but she didn’t question why he had it.

She would be lying to herself if she said she wasn’t secretly hoping to make love to him when she’d first knocked on his door.  At least one of them had been prepared.

He motioned to her to come to him, grabbing her wrist and pulling her towards him.  She moved to straddle him and he grasped her breasts roughly again, pinching her hard nipples between his fingers before releasing them and moving his large hands over her body and onto her hips.

Tom dug his fingers into the flesh of her backside, pulling her onto him before sliding into her heat.  She moaned, her face pinched slightly as her body stretched around him.  He threw his head back, eyes closed.

She was tight and hot, and she felt wonderful around him.  He began to move beneath her, holding her hips and matching her movement to his.  She sank down further onto him before leaning forward to rest her hands on either side of his head.

He lifted his head slightly, catching one nipple in his mouth and sucking hard.  He let his head fall back onto the pillow, but he didn’t release her.  She leaned even closer to him, angling herself to accommodate him.

He thrust deeper inside her, letting go of her hips with both hands at once and slapping both of her ass cheeks hard as she continued rocking with him.  Her body was on fire, simultaneously screaming for him to stop and never to stop. 

The sound of his hands repeatedly making contact with her tight ass filled the room.  He released her breast, holding her nipple until the last possible moment.

“The other one,” he ordered, and Cambria shifted herself to offer her other breast for his attentions.

His hands continued to punish her backside as his thrusts got quicker and deeper, alternately pinching and slapping, sometimes rubbing tenderly for a moment before he grabbed her to give himself leverage beneath her.

Cambria’s head was spinning, her heartbeat pounding loudly in her ears.  Tom’s hands roamed up her back until her found her thick curls.  He threaded his fingers into her hair and pulled her closer. 

All at once, he released her from his mouth, burying his face in her neck and holding onto her hair roughly.  He thrust into her roughly and quickly, biting down on her shoulder when his orgasm overtook him.

She felt the heat of him through the thin material and held on as he took his pleasure from her body. 

She could tell the moment that the passion consumed and then released him.  His hands slowly released her hair and his thrusting slowed until he stopped altogether.

Cambria’s body was begging for more, and she flexed herself around him.  He smiled at her.

“That was great.  Your turn.”

Cambria was relieved.  She was starting to think that Tom was a selfish lover. 

He remained inside her, sliding his hand down the front of her and reaching between her legs to find the tiny nub nestled in the folds of her heat.

He stroked roughly, the sensation growing in her rapidly as her body trembled around him.  Moving his fingers expertly, he worked her into a frenzy until the tension built so forcefully that her orgasm surprised her.  She threw her head back, stifling her screams of pleasure as he worked her ceaselessly.

She tried to move away from his touch, but he held her with his free hand, locking her in place and forcing her to endure the pleasure until he was through.

When she was spent, she fell forward onto his chest.  She started to feel the heavy pull of sleep the instant before his voice pulled her from the fog.

“Oh no, sweetheart.  We both have things we need to be doing.”

Cambria was startled by his crass words.  She’d just bared her soul to him and he was admonishing her for resting on him?

She sat up, feeling exposed and wondering if sleeping with Tom had been the right move.  Feeling embarrassed, she moved to cover her naked breasts, but Tom stopped her.

“Don’t even think about it.”  He grabbed one breast in each hand, squeezing them roughly.  “These are mine.  Never hide them from me.”

He thrust his hand into her hair and pulled her down for a kiss, rolling her so she was beneath him and standing up.

He used her bathroom to clean himself up quickly, zipping up his pants and tucking his shirt back in neatly.  He was so quick that she didn’t even have a chance to get off the bed before he was telling her goodbye.

She sat there, feeling slightly dejected as he walked by.  He grabbed both her hands and pulled her up to stand before him. 

He admired her naked body, motioning for her to spin so he could take in all of her.  His hand shot out and he gave her a quick swat on her ass before walking away.

He paused at the door, giving her a wink.

“I like that you didn’t try to hide yourself from me again,” he said.  She managed a weak smile from her place beside the bed, wishing he would leave so she could shower and get dressed.  “You’re more fun than I thought you’d be, but next time, we’re going to do it my way.  I’ll be back in an hour for rounds.  You’re my partner tonight.”

He blew her a kiss and slipped through the door.  Cambria moved to lock the door behind him, rolling her eyes at his last remark.  The sex had been fun and enjoyable, but Tom was more arrogant than she’d realized. 

She gathered her dirty clothes and deposited them in the hamper before stepping into the shower to wash away the day. 

When she finished her shower, she stood before the bathroom mirror, staring at her reflection.  She was still thinking Laskin’s plan, wondering how to reconcile something that felt so wrong with an outcome that was so right.

Her parents had both said more than once that if the end was what you wanted, how you got there wasn’t important.  This statement was generally to justify something horrible they’d done to get something they wanted. 

Her parents had been horrible people, but they’d never done anything as awful as Laskin was proposing.  Not only was he going to kidnap and possibly torture a human woman in order to trap two shifters, he wanted to kill a young child as well.

The entire plan made her feel more than just a little uncomfortable. 

She checked her watch.  She needed to get moving.  Tom would be knocking on her door in a few minutes so they could start rounds.

She was pulling a pair of black cargo pants on when Tom’s soft knock sounded at the door.

“Just a minute,” she called out, quickly pulling her long-sleeve black shirt over her head while she walked to the door.

She released the flimsy lock and Tom let himself in.  Cambria braced herself for an awkward encounter, but Tom was all business.

“Can I do anything to help you get ready faster?”

“No, I just need to put my boots on and I’m ready.”

She sat down on her bed, pulling her black, combat-style boots on and tightening the laces.

Cambria stood quickly and followed Tom out the door and into the dark night.

They walked in silence for some time before Tom started talking. 

“There was a meeting earlier today.”

Cambria suppressed a groan.  She couldn’t count the number of times there had been a meeting and she hadn’t been invited.  Even though she’d been at the compound longer than any of the other recruits, there were times that she was kept in the dark simply because she was a woman.

“What was it about?”  She tried to keep her voice level so he didn’t know how annoyed she was at being left out.

“Things are getting intense and people are starting to take notice.  Shifters are being removed from political offices and other positions of power and placed where they belong.  But there are those that resist the inevitable, and they’re a danger to us, to all humans really.”

Cambria got a sick feeling in her stomach, but she said nothing.  She knew where he was going with this.

“We need to flush them out, and Laskin has given me a special mission.  I leave before dawn so I can carry out the plan.”

She could feel the excitement in his voice, and she wondered how he could feel that way. “Do you really think that it is right to kidnap an innocent woman?”

“She’s far from innocent.  Grace is just as culpable as her friend and those shifters.”  He said the last word as if the very taste of it filled him with disgust. 

“But what about the child?  A child isn’t responsible for the sins of their parents.”

Tom stopped, pulling her to face him, even though she couldn’t see him in the darkness.  “That child will soon be a full-grown shifter.  Already, that child is certainly being trained to shift into the most vicious tiger that ever walked this earth.  No matter what you want to believe, those shifters and their child will show humans no mercy.  We can’t leave them free to hurt more innocent humans.  Look what they did to Laskin.  Had it not been for Gary, Laskin would surely be dead.”

“I understand that, but I still don’t think that kidnapping the woman and torturing her is the right thing to do.”

“Perhaps that’s why they didn’t ask you to help.  It’s an important job and they can’t entrust it to someone who isn’t completely loyal.”  He words were harsh and he walked away abruptly when he was finished, leaving her to stand there in the dark or follow him.

His words stung, but Cambria realized that he was right.  Laskin had done nothing but provide a safe place for her.  He’d nurtured her and helped turn her into the woman she was today.  And how did she repay him?  By giving in to her doubt and allowing herself to question the very man who had gotten them this far.

She raced to catch up with Tom, who was all but stomping through the forest.  He was mad, that much was obvious.  How could she blame him?

“I’m sorry.  You’re right.  We have to do what needs to be done, even if we don’t like it.”  She reached out and grabbed his hand.  “Tom, please don’t be mad at me.  I get it.  You’re right.”

He sighed, slowing his pace slightly so she could keep up and gently working his hand out of her grip.

“I’m glad you’re alright with it,” he sneered, “because I’m the one who’s been chosen to bring her here.  We will give her every opportunity to work with us.  Whether she is tortured or not will be entirely up to her.  As for you, just be thankful that I don’t tell Laskin the things you’ve said.”

Cambria lowered her head, but she said nothing.  She’d already told Laskin how she felt, but Tom wouldn’t understand and he wouldn’t believe her anyway. 

The light from his watch face glowed softly as he checked the time. 

“Time to head back.  I have bigger things to do than walk the perimeter with a coward.”

He strode away, cutting a path straight towards the cabin and leaving her standing in the darkness, alone. 

She stood there, defeated by his anger and her failure.  Hot tears streamed down her face but she remained silent. 

Cambria took her time walking back, trying to get her thoughts together.  But all she could think about was how foolish she’d been to say aloud what was in her head.  Her one job was to be loyal to the cause, and she’d failed miserably.  Tom had every right to be angry with her.  She was angry at herself. 

She walked quietly into the cabin, going straight for her room and sweet solitude.  It was early, just before midnight, and the grounds were still a flurry of activity.  But all Cambria wanted to do was get into her bed and sleep the hurt away.

Her door was unlocked, and Cambria scolded herself for being so careless.  She didn’t remember locking the door because she hadn’t.

She opened the door and turned on the light, nearly jumping at the sight of Tom sitting on her bed.  She quickly closed the door behind her.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.  She was surprised to see him at all, let alone in her room waiting for her.

“I was hard on you and I feel awful.”  He patted the bed beside himself, but she stood her ground.  “I should have chosen my words more carefully.  You’re wrong to question Laskin, but it wasn’t my place to come down on you like that.”

He looked at her, and his sad eyes weakened her resolve.  She was angry and he’d hurt her, but he was sorry and he’d been right.

She went to sit beside him, letting him pull her in for a hug. 

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered into her ear.

He leaned back, pulling her with him.  She hesitated.

“No sex, I just want to hold you.  I’ll be up and gone before anyone wakes up.”

She sighed, letting him pull her down beside him.  It was only for a few hours.  What harm could it be?

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAPTER FIVE

 

 

  Cambria moved about the little cabin behind the main house.  Like many of the cabins on the other side of the compound, this one only had a few tiny rooms.  As long as Cambria had been there, it had only been used for storage.  But Laskin had asked her to clean it out, securing it for the prisoner. 

She worked tirelessly, moving bulky items into a large storage closet that smelled oddly of old potatoes and something else she couldn’t place.  She’d only realized that the one smell was potatoes because she’d found several when she’d started transferring things from the other rooms into the dark closet.  They were black and nearly liquefied, having been in the dark, damp closet for who knew how many years.

The cabin was covered in years of dust and grime, so Cambria didn’t worry too much about making it homey.  They weren’t bringing the woman here for a spa experience.

The knot in her stomach grew and grew as she worked.  Even after Tom had explained the purpose to her, she still didn’t like it.  Understanding wasn’t the same as accepting it.

Cambria was securing the last of the windows when she heard a car drive up and park beside the old cabin. 

A car door closed and Cambria quietly let herself out the back door of the little building. Tom might be just doing his job, but she wanted no part of it until she was forced to. Several steps from the cabin, she heard a loud thud as something heavy was dropped onto the decrepit wood floor.  The sound was sickening, and Cambria was left wondering if the woman had made it there alive.

It sure didn’t sound like it. 

She spent the day avoiding the shed, working odd jobs around the compound and keeping out of sight.  She wasn’t on duty that night, so she was able to eat dinner and go straight to her room.  Tom didn’t come around and Cambria didn’t see Gary once the entire day.  Cambria went to sleep, the knot in her stomach hadn’t grown, but it was still there.

Cambria lay awake for some time before sleep finally claimed her.  She couldn’t get the sound of dead weight hitting the floor out of her head.               

The next morning, she woke up early and headed out again, tending to the garden and the animals beyond the cabins.  When she ran out of things to do in the garden and with the livestock, she went to the mess hall and started prepping dinner.

Her plan worked and she managed to avoid the old cabin until after dinner had been served.  When she saw Tom pop his head into the cafeteria, she knew he was looking for her.

He smiled when he saw her, his stride eating up the distance between them.  A few of the recruits watched him as they ate, clearly wondering what was going on.  Everyone was on edge and had been the entire meal.  The news had spread like wildfire that the woman had already escaped once. 

She was proving to be more trouble than she was worth.

“Cambria, can you make a plate of food and bring it to the storage shed?”

“Of course,” she said, finishing the final bite of her own food and clearing her plate before going to the kitchen to dish one up for the prisoner.  She grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and hurried out the door.

The shed was dark, and Cambria had to watch the floor as she walked once she got inside.  Gary came out of the room in a huff, giving Cambria an angry look before continuing down the hall.

“I don’t know why we’re feeding the bitch, but she’s all yours for a while.  I wouldn’t untie her if I were you.”

He didn’t offer an explanation, just shoved the door open and let it slam shut behind him.  Cambria opened the rickety door slowly, peeking through the crack to make sure that the woman was where she should be.

The prisoner sat against the wall, propped up awkwardly and tied like a pig being taken for slaughter.  Cambria couldn’t believe what she was seeing and mentally cursed Gary.  Surely he was the one who had left those bruises on her face.  It was clear from her posture that she was in a great deal of pain.

As Cambria approached her, the woman lifted her head and seemed shocked to see her.

“Who are you?”  Her voice cracked.

“I’m Cambria.  You’re Grace, right?”

“Yes.”  Cambria waited for the woman to speak, but she didn’t ask any further questions. 

Cambria sat in front of her on the floor, balancing the plate of food on her lap.

“I’m not supposed to untie you, but you need to eat.” She motioned to the plates that were strewn angrily about the room, the food untouched.

“I’m not hungry.”

“I understand, but you still need to eat something.”  Cambria dipped a spoon into the mashed potatoes and held it to Grace’s mouth.  “Please.  You need your strength.”

Grace gave her a withering look but opened her mouth.  She struggled to get the potatoes down, and Cambria held the ice cold water to her lips to help her swallow.

Cambria fed her slowly, giving Grace a chance to swallow each bite before presenting her with another one.  In no time, the plate was nearly empty and Grace told Cambria she couldn’t eat another bite.

Cambria set the plate down and helped Grace drink the rest of the water.  She stood, fetching a wet cloth from the bathroom and gently washing Grace’s face.  The bruises were darkening and Cambria couldn’t help but feel anger for the woman.  She knew what it was like to be beaten by a man, and it broke her heart. 

How could anyone think this was alright? 

Cambria cautioned herself not to care about the enemy.  As sad as Grace’s predicament was, she had chosen her fate.

“All you have to do is help them find the shifters and they’ll let you go.”

“Is that what you think?” Grace asked.  “They’ve already lured my friends out of hiding.  They’re probably already in Florida right now, looking for me.  Do you really think they’re going to just let me go?”

“Of course they will.”  Cambria wanted to believe it, but she didn’t. 

“I can hear it in your voice.  You know the truth.”  Grace lowered her voice, looking young Cambria directly in the eye when she spoke.  “You can help me get away.  If I can just get away, I can warn them and no one has to die.”

“No, that’s not true.  We can’t let the shifters keep doing what they’re doing.  They’re destroying our nation.”

“Who is telling you these things?  Shifters are good people.  My friends are good people.  They don’t deserve to die.”

“They left you here to fend for yourself.”

“No they didn’t, I didn’t want to leave.  I thought this entire thing would blow over and everything would get back to normal.  They begged me to come with them, but I didn’t want to leave my life here.  When that man kidnapped me I was on my way to the airport because Olivia bought me tickets so that I could go live with them, where it’s safe.”

“It doesn’t matter.  Even if you don’t understand, it’s the right thing to do.  You’ve been brainwashed into believing the shifters are good people.  But they’re not.”

“It’s you who’s been brainwashed.  No one has to tell me how to feel about people I love.  And what about their child?  Their son Morgan is five.  He’s five years old.  You know they’re going to kill him too, right?”

Cambria swallowed the lump in her throat and the knot in her stomach grew.

“He’ll be a full-grown shifter then, and he’ll be just as dangerous as his father.”

Grace gave her a knowing look, but it was clear that she’d given up trying to convince Cambria of the truth.  “You don’t believe that, and you know it.  I hope for your sake that you see the truth before you die fighting for the bad guys.”

Heavy footsteps fell in the hall just outside the door.  Cambria stood abruptly, picking up the empty plate and the water bottle.  Grace watched her as she went, her unwavering stare boring holes into her.

Cambria passed Tom in the hall.

“I see you got her to eat.  I hope you didn’t untie her.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Smart girl.  I’ll see you in a little bit.  You’d best get home, it’s dark out.”

Cambria nodded but said nothing.  She didn’t trust herself to speak.  Jogging the short distance to the main house when a noise caught her attention.  A long-bed pickup had pulled up to the mess hall, and Laskin had stepped out of the passenger seat.

What was going on?

Cambria altered her course, heading for the mess hall and towards all the commotion.  She walked quietly through the back door, surprised to see all the men gathered there.  Once again, she’d been left out of the loop. 

Silence fell as Laskin held up his hand.

“I have it on good authority that the shifters-the ones we’ve been hunting for the last five years-are here, looking for the woman we’re holding captive.”

The men whooped with joy, all of them clearly ready for a fight.  Laskin held up his hand and they stopped immediately.

“Do not celebrate yet.  When they come, it will be a battle of epic proportions.  They will not go down easily.  I need men to spread out and guard the perimeter, and I need men to ride with me to spread out into the forest surrounding us.”

Hands shot up and quickly, Laskin counted off the men he needed and sent them outside. 

“The rest of you, be ready.  We may outnumber them, but don’t underestimate their evil.  They are here to kill us all and take the woman.  If we fail, they will breed an army and destroy our great nation with their spawn.  Do not give up!”

The men roared and Cambria ran up to the front, stopping Laskin as he worked his way back towards the door.

“I want to come.”

“No Cambria, I need you here.  Take care of the woman.”

“Gary is taking care of her.  They don’t need me.  She’s tied up and she’s been beaten so badly she can hardly hold her head up.  I can be helpful, I’ve worked so hard and I want to fight.”

Laskin let out a sigh, his face softening as he regarded her.

“I need you here.  I can’t trust the others the way I trust you and I need to know that everything here is taken care of.”

Cambria could tell she was being blown off, and she forced herself to remain calm.  Laskin turned and started walking out the door and onto the large porch that ran along the front of the building.

Cambria hurried after Laskin. 

“But I can help!”

Laskin paused as he was entering the truck, regarding the young woman with disdain and a touch of amusement. 

“You need to stay behind and be ready.”  Without another word, he drove away, leaving her standing in his dust.  Angrily, she kicked a rock with the toe of her boot, sending it sailing into the air.

She watched the dust settle behind him, doing her best not to cry.  That was it.  All the men were in that truck.  And she was left to babysit a woman who was tied and beaten.  Grace was in no shape to leave on her own, even if Cambria cut her loose right now. 

“This is ridiculous,” she grumbled, kicking at another rock as she walked down the packed trail towards the main house. 

Laskin couldn’t make her watch that woman, and the last she’d seen, both Tom and Gary had been taking turns watching over her.  More like torturing her, Cambria thought.  She was going back to the house to cool down.  Later on, if she wasn’t angry, she might consider checking on the woman.

Cambria heard a soft rustle in the leaves near the edge of the tree line.  She stopped for a moment, listening for the sound to come again, but the leaves remained still.  It was probably just the wind.

She continued walking, letting her mind wander as she did.  She was so angry, and with each step her anger grew.  She was still being treated like a burden, even though she’d worked really hard to get where she was today.  Cambria had run circles around the new recruits less than a week ago, yet Laskin was so willing to let them go out for such an important mission. 

One that could make or break their cause. 

Cambria was starting to question everything she knew about the people she’d come to know as her family.  Maybe Laskin was letting his personal feelings overshadow his good sense.  There wasn’t another explanation that she could come up with that made sounded true.  

And then there was Tom.  Tom, who ran hot one minute and ice-cold the next.  She never knew where she stood with him and that drove her mad.  She couldn’t get past the little voice in her head planting the seeds of doubt against both Tom and Laskin.  Things weren’t the way she thought they’d been, and it was making her question everything.

She heard another quiet noise in the darkness off to her left, but this time, she kept going.  She didn’t have time for her mind to play tricks on her.  She knew as well as any man that there were animals in the woods.  If it had been anything else, the noise would have been much louder.

Being that she was a woman walking alone in the dark, any man hiding in the woods would have made his move long ago. 

This is why they don’t think you can handle a real battle, she thought angrily.

No matter how hard she worked, she was still just a girl.

The main house finally came into view and she was relieved.  With everyone gone, she was free to spend time in the common room, watching television while she sat on the tattered sofa.  It wasn’t what she wanted to be doing right now, but it was better than sulking in her room like a spoiled teenager.

 

 

 

A dark figure moved off to her left, and for an instant, her heart raced.  But the figure held up his hand in a familiar gesture, signaling that he was one of the recruits.  He moved along the shadows, going towards the mess hall in the opposite direction from Cambria.

Further up, a low whistle gave away the position of another recruit, who was letting this one know that he was there so he didn’t get shot.

Cambria rolled her eyes.  With men like that in charge, she had nothing to worry about.

She almost laughed, but she was still too angry.  When tonight was over and she had a moment alone with her uncle, she was going to give him a piece of her mind. 

Cambria was done being pushed to the side and treated like a burden.  She stomped up the steps into the main house, stopping for a moment in the doorway to survey the woods beyond the well-kept yard.  The soft, yellow glow of the light prevented her from seeing much, but it didn’t matter.  She could hear the men at the far end of the field, moving around in the bushes.  She should be out there with them, but as usual, she was left behind like a burden.  She was starting to wonder what the point of taking and passing the stupid combat test was.  It hadn’t changed anything, even though she’d proven herself more than capable of doing what needed to be done.

 She sat on the sofa, arms crossed angrily in front of her as she watched the TV.  The news flashed images of civilians clashing in the street across the screen while the news anchor read the words on the teleprompter with little emotion.  All hell was breaking loose and she was stuck at home, waiting her turn to babysit the prisoner again.  She was so angry she didn’t even notice when a shadow filled the doorway of the darkened room. 

He stood in the doorway for several seconds before his presence registered with Cambria.  When at last she noticed him, she threw him her most angry glance.  If Tom thought she was going to welcome him back after she’d been left behind he had another think coming.  He had dismissed her so easily when she wanted to fight, and she was still pretty upset with the entire situation.  If they were back so soon, it couldn’t have been that dangerous, anyway. 

“I’m not in the mood to talk right now.” She set her mouth, hoping Tom would take the hint and walk away.  As charming as he was, there was nothing he could say that would help right now.  She was just too mad to be placated right now.

The man in the shadows stepped forward and Cambria took in the tall, muscular man standing there so casually, a gentle smile tugging at his lips.  She didn’t recognize him, but she knew he wasn’t one of the recruits.  She didn’t know all of them by name, but she knew that there wasn’t a man like the one standing before her anywhere in the compound.

He took a step towards her, his arm out and his eyes focused on her.  His expression was strange, though Cambria couldn’t quiet place it.  One thing was for sure, she was in trouble, and all the men were gone.  There was no one around to rescue her.         

HAPTER SIX

 

She jumped up on the sofa, sailing over the back of the tattered chair in search of a weapon.  The man lunged at her, diving over the sofa and landing on top of her, nearly knocking the wind from her.  She had her hand outstretched, reaching for a rifle propped up against the wall.  Wrapping his arms around her, he pinned her to the ground.

“Wait, wait.  I’m not here to hurt you.  I just want to talk.”

“That’s what they all say.”  Her voice was strained under his weight. 

“I’m not going to hurt you, please, just listen to me.”  She stopped struggling briefly, and he took that as a sign that she was willing to talk.  He moved off her, close but giving her room to breathe so they could talk.

She pulled up her knee, catching him in the groin and running as he struggled to stand up in spite of the pain.  He hobbled after her as she ran.  She ran with everything she had, not bothering to call out for help.  She was certain that he knew as well as she did that all the men were gone except for the one left to guard Grace.  Cambria was on her own.  Better to save her energy and not give away her position in the dark with pointless screams.

He pushed through the pain, a smile painted on his face as he chased her towards the woods.  He moved with a slight limp, but otherwise looked unscathed.  More than once, Cambria looked over her shoulder to see how far behind he was, but she didn’t stop. 

The man was gaining on her, and Cambria was in a panic.  There was no one to help her, her hand gun was in her room, and she didn’t even have so much as a knife on her.  If he caught her, she was done for.  Fighting this man hand to hand, no matter how good she was, would be a losing battle.

Cambria ducked behind a large tree, bending down to pick up a rock the size of her fist.  She could hear the man coming after her, his steps heavy and his breathing labored with pain.  When he burst through the forest edge and a few steps in front of where she hid, she smacked him in the back of the head with all her might.  He went down to his knees, but he didn’t lose consciousness. 

Cambria ran, trying to put as much distance between them while he was down, but his hand snaked out and grabbed her ankle.  She went down hard, her breath escaping in an audible whoosh.

She rolled away in the dark, kicking every time his hand made contact with her legs.  Cambria was able to roll out of his grasp while he kneeled t on the ground, shaking his head against the encroaching darkness.

She got up and started running again, wishing that she something to fight back with.  Brains over brawn only went so far with a man thrice her size.

 The man stood and went after her, stumbling in the dark.  He shook off the pain in his head, calling out to her as if she was lost and not his intended victim.  His behavior was confusing, but Cambria wasn’t about to stop and ask the man what was going on.  She crashed through the trees and onto a sandy trail, slender legs pumping frantically as she ran.

The man hit the path behind her and picked up speed, calling out to her.

“I just want to talk.”

She flipped him off over her shoulder without breaking stride.  Surprisingly the man laughed at the gesture, as if he found it amusing rather than insulting.  Cambria was in a panic.  Each step he took brought him closer to her, and none of her effort seemed to help her get further ahead of him.  Even after she’d assaulted him twice, he still kept coming.

They ran for a while, with Cambria managing to keep several yards between them the entire time.  Over their strained breathing, she heard a scream in the distance, and a mighty roar.  Her steps faltered as she pulled up short.  The sounds of a fight drifted towards them from directly ahead.  Undeterred, the man closed the distance between them and grabbed her, clapping one hand firmly over her mouth to keep her from screaming. 

She kicked and fought, but he held fast, carrying her in front of him towards the sounds of the fighting.  Several yards ahead, Cambria could finally make out the scene in the darkness.  Laskin was fighting another man who was in the process of shifting as the two pummeled each other.  The men who had piled into the truck stood mere feet away from where Cambria stood trapped, their eyes riveted on Laskin and the shifter.  Cambria attempted to scream through his hand, kicking and twisting in an effort to break free and run to Laskin and his supporters. 

She suddenly stilled when Laskin began to shift, her screams dying abruptly as she and the others noticed Laskin’s transformation.  She started trembling, moaning forlornly through his hand, tears streaming down her face.  She shook her head no, over and over, as she shrieked in rage and heartache.  The man who had saved her, who had trained her to fight the evil shifters was a shifter himself.  She and the others had been fooled. 

Cambria’s knees started to give way as the sobs wracked her body.  Laskin had been like family to her.  For years, she’d only had him to look to for guidance and for love.  And yet, he’d been lying to her for the past six years and she’d had no idea.  She was heartbroken.  And she was angry.

The man leaned close and whispered in her ear.  His voice was surprisingly steady and kind, even as Cambria watched her world crumble before her.

“Things are about to get really bad.  We need to leave, okay?”

She nodded behind his hand, her eyes wide as she watched in horror as Laskin, the man she’d followed for the last few years, turn into the very thing she was fighting against.  The man holding her grabbed her hand and ran away from the fighting, heading for the place where he’d hidden the rental car.  She stumbled behind him, struggling to keep up and trying to yank her hand out of his. 

They burst out of the tree line several hundred yards north of his rental car.  She planted her feet, finally pulling her hand free. 

“I’m not going with you.”

“And where will you go?  To your family?  To those men and Laskin?  The one’s that left you alone to fend for yourself?”               She stared him down, arms crossed, stance defiant.

I don’t have a family.  I only have myself, and I don’t need you.”

“We don’t have time for this.  We’ll talk later.  Right now, we have to get out of here before this place is crawling with police.”  He bent down and threw her over his shoulder, his strong arm locked around her tiny waist.  “The trunk or the passenger seat.  Your choice, but if you haven’t chosen by the time we get to the car, I’ll choose for you.”

“Gah!  I hate you!” 

“Trunk it is.”

“No, no the passenger seat.”

“I thought you’d see it my way.”

He jogged to the car, ignoring her protests as she hung gracelessly upside down over his shoulder, bouncing along with his stride.  He opened the driver door and set the automatic locks before pushing her across the driver’s seat and into the passenger seat.  She didn’t bother trying the lock, she knew it wouldn’t budge when locked from the driver’s side.

The man slid in, and Cambria scooted further away, pressing herself against the door.  He turned over the engine and threw it into gear, growling at her to buckle her seat belt before he did it for her.   

“Where are you taking me?”

“I don’t know yet.  We’ll figure it out when we get there.  Right now, I’m taking you away from this mess.  Somewhere quiet.  We have a lot to talk about.”

She opened her mouth to ask him a question, but thought better of it and closed it., Arms crossed tightly across her body she leaned against the window, still trying to get as far away from him as she could get.

“I’m Egan, what’s your name?”

She stared daggers at him, but said nothing.  Internally, she was a mess.  Egan?  She knew the name.  He was the brother of Sable, and a shifter.  She struggled to maintain her outer calm, but she was flying apart on the inside.  She was in the car with a shifter and they were speeding away from her home to who knew where. 

And no one had seen her leave.  She was completely and utterly alone.

“Suit yourself.  It’s going to be a long trip if you’re going to act like that.”

“Act like what?” she spat out.  “Like someone who’s been kidnapped and held against her will?  How should I act?  It’s not like I was a damsel in distress, just waiting for you to save me.  I was fine where I was.”

She turned and stared out the window, giving him the cold shoulder and making her intentions clear.  Cambria buried her face in her sleeve, pretending she was tired or avoiding speaking to him.  But she was hiding tears.  The moment she’d seen Laskin turning into the very thing that she despised kept playing over and over in her head.  No matter how she tried, she couldn’t push the image from her head.

She felt his hand squeeze her knee, but she was already as far away from him as the compact car allowed. 

“I’m sorry.  I know you don’t believe me, but I wish you didn’t have to go through any of that.  If I could protect you from ever feeling that kind of pain, I would do it.”

“Then let me go.”

“I can’t do that.  I know you don’t understand now, but I’m doing this for you.  For us.”

“You’re delusional.  There is no us.  You don’t even know me.”

“I do know you, but not in a way that will make sense to you right now.  Just give me a chance to prove to you that we’re meant to be.”

Cambria laughed, but the sound was humorless.  This man was ridiculous, but Cambria was also a little frightened.  There was so much conviction in his words.  Even if what he said was unbelievable, it was obvious that he believed it.  And that was a problem.

The miles stretched before them, giving them both plenty of time to think.  She had no family and no one to turn to but him.  He was a complete ass for taking advantage of that.  She would get away from him, it didn’t matter how long it took.

Cambria rested her head against the glass and closed her eyes.  She needed to rest, and she wasn’t about to spend the next few hours of her life making small-talk with a shifter.  She meant to stay awake, feigning sleep to get him to leave her be.  But she was exhausted and it was late.  Within minutes, she was asleep.

Egan continued to drive in silence, glancing at her every few minutes.  Slack-jawed and deep in sleep, Egan reached out more than once to touch her, but changed his mind.  He longed to stroke her soft cheek, and move the chocolate colored tendril of hair out of her eyes.  Her hair was shoulder length and thick, with soft waves framing her tiny face.  Exactly how she’d been in his dream.  Even her voice was the same, higher and melodious, with a slight trace of an accent he couldn’t place. 

In his dreams, she’d been so loving and so free with herself; nothing like she was tonight.  But she was scared, and with good cause.  So much of her world had changed in an instant that he couldn’t blame her for being so overwhelmed by everything.  His heart had torn into pieces when he’d held her in the woods as she’d watched Laskin reveal his true form. 

Even Egan had been surprised that Laskin had taken such a chance in front of all those humans.  But in the end, Laskin had been too wrapped up in himself and his battle with Sable to realize what he had done.  By the time he had, Egan was sure that it had already been too late.   

Looking at the sweet woman of his dreams while she laid there, curled in a ball in an attempt to protect herself caused Egan physical pain.  He wanted to hold her, to touch her.  He knew if she would just listen, he could make all her fear and pain go away and he felt so helpless.

But he knew she wasn’t ready, and he didn’t want to push her.   She was angry enough, not that he blamed her. 

He’d been driving for hours and had no idea where he was going.  He assumed he would figure it out when they got there.  In a few miles, they would cross the border into Alabama.  He had no plan and was just following his instincts.  When they got where they were going, he would know.

She stirred beside him, her face slack with heavy sleep.  Suddenly, her eyes flew open, shock registering on her face as she realized where she was.  Egan prepared himself for the barrage of fists, but she sat quietly in her seat.

“I have to go to the bathroom.”

Egan regarded her suspiciously.  “I can’t risk you getting away.”

“Look, I’m not going to run.  I have nothing to run to.  The rest area at the state line is up ahead.  It’s the middle of the night so there won’t be anyone there and I have nowhere to go.  You can come in the bathroom with me if you want, but I need to go.”

She looked at him, pleadingly.

“Please don’t run.”

“I won’t.  Not this time.  I’m too tired.  I’m going to run eventually, but right now when I’m exhausted, and hungry.”

“How can I trust that you mean what you’re saying?”

“I need to get somewhere more populated before I make a run for it.  Running away here would be stupid.  You could easily catch me and no one would ever see it.  I’m better off running somewhere a lot more populated.  That way, if you catch me, I can scream for help.”

He had to laugh at her honesty.  She was a firecracker, that was for sure.  He didn’t doubt she would run when the opportunity presented itself, but for now, he was the lesser of the two evils.

He exited the highway, pulling into a parking spot and killing the engine. 

“I’m going to use the restroom too.  If you’re not at the car when I finish, I’m coming after you.”

“Geeze, okay.  I’ll hurry.  No pressure or anything.”

He walked briskly to the men’s room, taking care of his business and listening to the water run through the wall the separated the men’s and women’s bathroom.  He washed his hands thoroughly and dried them on his jeans.

He was surprised to see her leaning up against the car when he walked out.  She arched an eyebrow at him, her face rigid and angry, but her posture suggesting that she was slightly amused.

“I will run, but when you least expect it.  If I run every time you stop the car, you’re just going to throw me in the trunk.”

Egan winked at her, drawing another angry look from her cute little face. 

“You’re so right.”

He opened the door and got in, waiting for her to adjust her seat belt and settle in before he started the car.

“I’m hungry too.  Do you think we could run through a drive-thru?  I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

“Of course we can.”  He pulled out of the parking space and merged back onto the highway.  “So, are you going to tell me your name?”

“Don’t push your luck.”

Egan threw his head back and laughed.  He was in over his head with this one, and he was already in love.

 

 

 

 

 

HAPTER SEVEN

 

The sun was starting to rise in Arkansas when Egan pulled into a hotel parking lot.  Egan looked at her, his face showing his exhaustion after driving all night.

“I can’t safely drive another mile, and I’m not about to trust you at the wheel.  Climb over the seat and get in the back.”

Cambria’s eyes grew wide.  What was he planning to do?

“I’m not going to hurt you, just do as you’re told.  Please.”

She climbed over the back, feeling nearly sick to her stomach with fear.  She was exhausted, and she doubted she could run far if she got away.  But he wouldn’t believe her, so she kept her mouth shut.

He buckled her into the middle seat, producing a set of handcuffs.  He cuffed her hands behind her back and used a zip tie to secure her to the lower anchor in the seat.  Satisfied that she couldn’t escape, he covered her with his jacket, hiding her cuffed arms from any nosey passersby.

“I’ll be right back.”

He ran into the office, and was back within minutes, a single key card in his hand.  He drove around to the back of the property, parking in front of the back staircase and looking around before he got out. 

He cut the zip tie and undid Cambria’s cuffs. 

“We both need to get some sleep, and I’m not in the mood to chase you, understand?”

She nodded, walking alongside him as he led her to their room on the second floor at the end of a long hall.  He worked the key card with one hand, never letting her go as he opened the door and pushed her inside.

He hung a “do not disturb” sign on the door and latched the extra lock so that housekeeping couldn’t barge in.

Egan checked the bathroom, happy to see that there was no window. 

“Do what you need to do to get ready for bed,” he said.  “I’ll be right outside the door.”

Cambria hurriedly took care of her business, looking longingly at the shower.  She stepped out of the bathroom and a handcuff slapped around her wrist with an ominous click.  Egan attached the bracelet to the curtain rod just outside the bathroom.

“I’ll be on the other side of this door.  I’ll hear you if you try to break free and leave.  I’m much faster than you.”

She glared at him, but didn’t respond. 

“I’m glad we understand each other.”

He was in and out of the bathroom in minutes, unlocking the cuff from the rod and dragging her to the bed. 

“Get in and get comfortable,” he said, stopping her when she opened her mouth to protest.  “I’m tired and it’s been a long day, almost two.  We can argue about the sleeping arrangements when we wake up.”

“It won’t matter then,” she muttered as she climbed into the bed and scooted all the way to the edge, bracing her back against the wall to get as far away from him as possible.

“Exactly.”

He stripped out of his clothes and slid between the sheets completely naked before she could protest.  Grabbing the free cuff, Egan slapped it onto his wrist and turned out the bedside lamp.

Cambria didn’t say a word, but she couldn’t stop the tears that flowed.  She was trapped in a nightmare with no end in sight.  As she drifted off to sleep, one hand cuffed to a shifter lying naked in bed with her, she vowed that she would get away from him at the next opportunity.

Or die trying.

She woke up, the later afternoon sun brightening the room with a cheeriness that Cambria didn’t feel.

She was cuffed to a decorative cut out in the massive headboard.  She yanked a few times, but her heart wasn’t in it.  She knew that there was no way to break the headboard and she knew the cuff wasn’t going to break.

Cambria pulled herself up into a sitting position, straining to hear any sign of Egan.  But the room was silent.

She was starting to get worried when the door to the room opened and Egan walked in.  The aroma of hot food made her mouth water as Egan emptied the bags and spread his offerings on the small table beside the television.

“I didn’t know what you wanted, so I got a bit of everything.”

He wasn’t exaggerating.  There was enough food in front of them to feed a small army.  Cambria was suddenly starving, but she wasn’t going to eat while tied up like an animal.  She gestured towards her hand and gave him a withering look.

Egan released the cuff from the bed, but left it dangling from her wrist.

“Please?”

He sighed, unlocking the other bracelet and stuffing the cuffs in his back pocket.

“You’d better not run.”

“I won’t.”  Not right now, anyway, she thought to herself.

She sat down in one of the two chairs, looking through her options before choosing a grilled chicken sandwich and a large salad.  She grabbed the large bottle of chocolate milk and drank greedily from it.

“Hey.  That was mine,” he said, his voice light and teasing.

“Not anymore.  I haven’t chocolate milk in ages.”  She flashed him a devilish grin and finished off the milk before turning her sights on the food before her.

They ate in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.  Egan smiled at Cambria every now and again, and Cambria returned the gesture.  She wanted his defenses down.

It would be easier to get away if he thought she was starting to like him.

“So, explain this fated mate thing to me.”

Egan took a bite of his sandwich, chewing slowly while he carefully considered his next words.  He wasn’t ready to tell her that he was a shifter yet, but otherwise, explaining the fated mate concept was harmless.  She would either believe it or not, and that wouldn’t change anything for Egan.

“It starts around puberty.  You start having dreams about the person you’re meant to be with.  They’re vague at first, but then they get more and more detailed.”

“Do you remember your first one?”

“I do, but it’s a little hazy.  I see a beach, and a plane, but not much else.  I was eleven years, so it’s been twelve years since the first dream.”

“What about after that?”

“They get more and more clear.”  He continued talking between bites, explaining how the dreams had progressed over the years, his need growing stronger with each stage. 

Cambria listened carefully, trying to keep him talking while she ate.  More than once, she had to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

Did he really believe all of this nonsense?  A look at his face said that he believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was real. 

She sat there, chewing on her food as he talked.  She tried to ignore him, but the more he talked, the more she heard things that paralleled her life.  But those things were easily explained; until he got to the dream he’d had six years before.

“It was you.  You were running in the dark with a deer.  The deer disappeared, and in its place was a silver fur and teeth, then darkness.”

Cambria perked up a little bit.  Could it be that the silver light was the silver tiger she’d seen in the woods?  But she dismissed it. His dreams were ambiguous enough that they could apply to anyone’s life, really.  Like a so-called psychic stumbling around a room full of people with open-ended observations until someone took the bait, he could present these dreams to any woman and she might find something similar to her real life. 

That didn’t make his dreams prophetic.

Egan stopped talking and watched her face. 

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

“Not really.  But you believe it, so that’s all that matters.”

“How do you explain that I knew where to find you?”

“Dumb luck?”

“I traveled all the way from Canada’s west coast directly here.  I didn’t have any missteps, and I not once did I look for you somewhere you weren’t.  I looked one place for you, and that’s exactly where you were.  How can you shrug that off as if it means nothing?”

Cambria shrugged again.  “I guess I need more proof than just dreams.”

“I know your name.”

“Impossible.”

“It’s Elise.”

Cambria laughed.  “Wrong.  It’s Cambria.”

She clapped her hands over her mouth, but it was too late.  She’d already let the cat out of the bag.  She expected him to gloat, to point out that he had fooled her.  Instead, he looked confused. 

“You really thought my name was Elise, didn’t you?”

“I did.  But getting one thing wrong when I got so many right doesn’t really mean anything.  I was in physical pain while I looked for you.  The pull that led me to find you felt as if it was pulling me to pieces.  The closer I got, the more the pain eased.  It wasn’t until I had you in my arms in the forest that I finally felt like myself again.  How do you explain that?”

“Maybe you took a blow to the head or something.”

Egan threw back his head and laughed. 

“It doesn’t matter if I knew your name or not.  I knew from the very first dream that you were a handful.  Trust me, you have not disappointed.”

*

Egan pulled the car into the parking space, killing the engine and turning in his seat to look at Cambria.

“I need you to promise me that you won’t try to run.  We need supplies and you need clothes. You can come in with me and act right or I can drive around and find a place to hogtie you and toss you in the trunk.  Your call.”

She let out an exasperated sigh, blowing some stray locks out of her face as she did.

“I promise not to tell anyone that you’ve kidnapped me and are holding me against my will.”  Her tone was sarcastic, almost playful, and Egan couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Smart ass,” he muttered.

He got out of the car and she slid out behind him.  Cambria slipped her hand into his, looking away when he smiled at her.

“You know, so people don’t know you kidnapped me.”

“Of course.”

They walked hand in hand to the store and Egan led her straight to the outdoor department.

Her concern mounted as Egan piled an armful of camping MREs into the basket.  He asked her to pick from the many meal options available, but none of them looked palatable.  No matter what you did to it, she doubted that scrambled eggs would ever come back from freeze-dried even remotely resembling edible.  She grabbed a few packages of “ice cream” and beef jerky, but she didn’t touch the packages that were meant to be complete meals.

Egan worked his way down the aisle, grabbing things as he went and placing them in the basket.  She was surprised when he bypassed the matches entirely, and she wondered how he intended to stay warm without a fire. 

A television hung from the ceiling suddenly flash breaking news across the screen.  Cambria and Egan both stopped, watching the news anchor as he interrupted whatever programing was piped through the store’s television.

The close caption was on and the sound down.  Cambria watched in horror as the details of the massacre at the compound flashed across the screen, followed by her name and a vague description.  There was no picture, and no last name, but the rest of the information was correct.

Cambria leaned close to Egan

“What do we do?” she whispered.

“Nothing.  No one knows who you are or what you look like.  As long as you don’t tell anyone your name you’ll be fine.”

He was so blasé about the entire thing.  Cambria was wanted for questioning in the death of seven men in the compound.  Which meant that someone had implicated her.               

Egan continued shopping as if the newscast had never taken place.  He grabbed a narrow black tent and two tarps-one black one camouflaged-and put them in the cart along with two winter-weight sleeping bags.  Cambria got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach but she didn’t say a word.  Whatever Egan had planned, he meant to be gone for a long time.

Cambria was starting to get antsy when they finally finished shopping and headed out the door.  She’d picked a few changes of clothes and a light-weight hiking pack.  Egan had purchased a much larger pack, which would hold all his supplies as well as the things they would share.               

Egan popped the trunk and started to unload the cart.  Cambria wanted to change out of her clothes, but Egan had worried about letting her out of his sight for so long, so she waited.

He left the trunk open while he returned the cart to the cart corral, leaving Cambria beside the car, digging through the bags to pull out her new hiking boots, lined hiking pants and a long sleeved thermal shirt and fleece jacket.  Searching through the bags in the dim light of the trunk light, her hand brushed across something in the corner of the trunk. 

She pulled on it, holding it closer to the light so she could see it.  Gasping, she quickly shoved the money into the inner pocket of her fleece jacket.  She didn’t have time to count it, but the stack was thick, with a band like she’d seen on the movies. 

Egan returned moments later, pulling her boots out of the trunk for her and digging out the extra thick socks she’d bought.  She didn’t have anything with her and had been wearing the same clothes for two days.  He didn’t blame her for wanting to change. 

She crawled into the back seat and changed quickly, stuffing her dirty clothes into a bag and letting Egan put them in the trunk while she laced her boots up.

“Are you going to ride in the front with me?” he asked.

“No.  I’m tired.  I’d like to lay in the back seat if that’s okay.”

“Sure, I’ll wake you when I stop for a bathroom break.”

“Sounds good.”

Cambria crumpled the jacket under her head, careful to keep her hand on the money. 

She waited until he got on the road, using the passing light from the street lamps to check the stack of money hidden in her jacket.  The bundle held fifty dollar bills.  The paper band read $5000.00 on the side. 

Cambria couldn’t believe her luck.  She had dark, warm clothes that would hide and protect her in the night, and now she had five thousand dollars for a fresh start. 

Now she couldn’t wait to get away from the shifter and out on her own.  She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, resting up for her big escape.

The car stopped hours later and Cambria was instantly awake, though she feigned sleep until Egan opened the car door behind her head and gently shook her away.

“Cambria?”

“Huh, where are we?”  She was convincing, and Egan smiled at her as she seemed to struggle to grasp where they were.

“Last stop for a while if you want to use the restroom.”

Cambria blinked at him a few times before sitting up.

“That sounds good.”

Egan closed the door and went around to open the door at her feet so she could get out more easily.  While he was out of sight for a moment, Cambria looked over her surroundings.

They were at a remote rest stop, with picnic benches several yards away from a dense, wooded area.  The rest center was large, featuring a miniature convenience store and pay per use showers. 

Egan walked with her inside the store and she grabbed a bottle of water.

“Can I get this now?” she asked.  “I’m really thirsty.”

“Of course.”  He reached into his pocket, paying the cashier and asking where the restrooms were.  The woman pointed to the right, back behind the massive beer display. 

Cambria started to follow Egan when the cashier spoke up.

“Men only.  The women’s is this way.”

Cambria hesitated a moment, looking to Egan for direction.  He shrugged as if to say that it would be alright and walked away.  The cashier gave her a knowing look and Cambria wanted to wipe the smirk off the older woman’s face.

If she only knew the reality of the situation.

Cambria hurried towards the bathrooms, which were down a narrow hallway.  She was shocked to see that the end of the hallway featured a glass exit door, and there was no sign warning that the door was armed.

Looking behind her, Cambria carefully pushed the handle on the door, ready to duck into the bathroom if an alarm sounded.  When nothing happened she pushed the door open a little further, squeezing through the door and running straight for the woods beyond. 

She expected to hear shouting behind her, but there was only silence and the sound of the water bottle in her deep jacket pocket banging against her hip. 

She burst into the darkness, running as fast as she could with her arms stretched out before her.  The moon was out, but the tall trees kept most of the light from reaching the forest floor.  Without a flashlight, she was basically running blind.

She heard Egan shout her name then, the panic in his voice evident. 

“Shit!” she muttered under her breath.  She was hoping to get at least a five minute lead on him, closer to ten. 

But he wasn’t easily fooled.  He’d probably realized she was gone within a minute of her reaching the tree line.

She pressed on, trying to put as much distance between herself and the shifter.  If she could just get through the trees, maybe there was another interstate on the other side.  Or a house.  Any sign of hope that she could outrun him and find her way out of her situation.

Cambria heard Egan call out again.  He wasn’t much closer but he was at the edge of the tree line, which meant he knew where she was.  She pressed on, looking over her shoulder to make sure he wasn’t gaining on her.

She ran headlong into a chain link fence, sinking into the fence before it snapped back and flung her onto the ground.  She stood up, feeling along the fence line with her hands as her heart sank.

There was a fence between her and freedom.  She tried to climb it, but she soon realized that the top was covered with barbed wire, and she had nothing to throw on top of that to protect herself.

She was stuck.

Cambria kicked at the dirt in anger, but it wouldn’t do her any good.  She could hear Egan working his way towards her and she had nowhere to run.

Egan called out to her, but she didn’t answer back.  She might be trapped, but she wasn’t going to make it easy on her.

“Fine, if you won’t talk just listen.  I can feel you out there.  I can’t fight the draw I feel to you, any more than I can stop my heart from beating.  I know you don’t believe me, but someday you’ll understand that I love you.”

Cambria scoffed silently.  He couldn’t love her, he didn’t know her name until today.  He was a fool, and he was bent on dragging her into his fantasy world.  Well she wasn’t going to fall for it.

“Cambria, I know you’re scared, but if you’ll give me a chance, you’ll see that we were meant to be.”

He’s crazy, Cambria thought.

“Please.  Just come out so we can talk.  I promise you, I’ll listen.  I’m not who you think I am, who you’ve been led to believe I am.”

He was closer now, almost on top of her.  Cambria pulled herself into the shadow, but she could see him a short distance away.  She was sure he could see her too.

“So you’re not a shifter then?  You’re just some average guy who happened to show up at my home and take me away from the only family I have?”

Her voice was angry, unsteady.

“I am a shifter.  I don’t know how you knew that, but it’s the truth.  It doesn’t change who I am, it’s just a part of me.  I would never hurt you, and we’re not the monsters that Laskin told you we were.  Look at Laskin, he cared for you and protected you for years, yet he was a shifter.”

“And he turned out to be bad.”

“There are good and bad people in every species and shifters are no different.  Just as humans have good and bad people.”

Cambria waited for him to move closer, but he didn’t.

“Look, Cambria.  I’m not leaving here without you.  I don’t want to stuff you in the trunk or keep you shackled to make you stay with me.  That’s the last thing I want.  But I will have you, and I will not stop until you are mine.”

He moved forward slowly, eyes looking directly at the shadows where Cambria crouched, hidden from view.

“If you just give me a chance, I can show you things you never imagined and give you a life you’ve never dreamed of.”

“I dream of a life lived in a world that is free of shifters!” she was furious. 

She’d been so close to freedom, yet here they were, yards from each other with her back against the wall and nowhere to go.

“So you would kill me?  My brother, and my sweet nephew?”

“Yes,” Cambria called out, but her voice faltered. 

She wasn’t a murderer, and Laskin’s death had turned her world upside down.  She didn’t know who she could trust anymore.  Cambria knew the one and only person she could rely on was herself.

Egan took another step forward and Cambria was tempted to run, but she stopped.  It was pointless to fight.  He was bigger and stronger.  If she did manage to get away, he could shift and be on her in seconds, and she’d be right back where she started.

Her shoulders slumped and she slid down the tree and onto the ground, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her head on her legs.

She sat there like that, huddled in a ball and wishing she could disappear.

Egan moved forward in the shadows, sitting beside her but careful not to touch her.  He waited in silence for a long time while she was lost inside herself, struggling with her life and her current situation.

She spoke suddenly.

“If I give you a chance -- a real chance -- and I still decide I don’t want you, will you leave me alone?”

“I would be willing to try.  How long do you mean?”

“At least a month.  If, after a month, you decide that you’ll never love me, I can live with that.”

“Really?”

“No, but I’m doing my best to compromise.”

“And what about the people that are after me?”

“What about them?  They’ll eventually give up and stop looking.  You’re wanted for questioning, you’re not actually suspected of anything.”             

“I just wonder if it was that woman Grace who gave my name to the police.”

“It’s likely.  Your people did kidnap her, tie her up and torture her for information.”

“I didn’t.  I was nothing but nice to her.  I can’t believe that this is how she would repay my kindness.”

“You mean you don’t understand why she couldn’t see the good in you, even though you were one of her captors?  You can’t believe that she would hate you for being nice, but not freeing her and helping her escape?”

His voice was incredulous and it took a moment for Cambria to figure out what he was getting out.

“Our situation is different.  You just came into my home and kidnapped me for no reason.”

“I had a reason.”

“A stupid one.

“It is just as valid to me as the reason your people thought that Grace deserved to be held and tortured.  The ends justify the means.”

Cambria wanted to argue, but he was right.   Their current situation was no different than what Cambria had done to Grace.  Except, Egan was unfailingly nice and willing  to negotiate with her.

It was more than she’d given Grace.

Egan held out his hand and stood, waiting for Cambria to offer her hand in the dark so he could help her up.

They walked back to the car in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.  Egan opened the door to the passenger side and closed it behind her before getting in himself.  He turned over the engine, driving in silence for nearly thirty minutes before he finally spoke.

“I didn’t know that you knew I was a shifter,” he said softly.

“I knew the minute you told me your name.  Laskin told us all about you and your brother.  It wasn’t hard to figure out who was who.”

Egan chuckled.  “I guess not.”

“I’m sorry I ran.”

“No you’re not.  You’re sorry you got caught.”  He laughed again, the sound open and genuine without any noticeable irritation. 

He was being honest when he said, “You’re quite fun.  I knew you were feisty, but I hadn’t counted on this.  I like it.”

Cambria smiled to herself in the darkness. 

No one had ever told her that her attitude was any less than rude and disdainful.  It was nice to have someone like everything about her for once, instead of trying to bend her to fit a mold that wasn’t meant for her. 

She was starting to think that he wasn’t so bad after all. 

“I’ll come with you, but on my own terms.  I don’t want to be forced into anything against my will.”

“Agreed.  Anything else?”

“Yes.  The handcuffs get trashed here.  From now on, only one of us will ever get tied up, and it’s not going to be me.”

“Fair enough.”

They walked to the car and drove away.  Egan paused by a trashcan at the exit and dumped the cuffs in the bin.

It’s not like she knew he had another pair buried in the bottom of his bag.

HAPTER EIGHT

 

 

Egan pulled into a motel parking lot and Cambria looked at the time.  It was nearly two in the morning and they are not more than an hour’s drive to Wichita Mountain. 

“Why are we stopping?” she asked.

“It’s too dark to hike into the woods tonight and we both need rest before we make that journey.  It’s not an easy one, but I think you can handle it.  There are no motels there, so we’ll have to make do with this one.”

He smiled at her, and she was surprised when she smiled back.  She didn’t know when her feelings towards Egan had started to change, but she couldn’t help herself.  His smile and his warmth were infectious. 

“I’m going to run in and get our room key.  Please don’t leave.  I’m pretty exhausted and I just don’t have the energy for a repeat of earlier.”

Cambria was glad it was dark as the color crept up her neck.  She felt badly about what happened earlier, though she wasn’t quite sure why.  Whether he was a nice man or not, the fact remained that he kidnapped her.  She didn’t know why she felt bad for running away, but she did.

“I’ll wait for you.”

Egan smiled again, this time the smile was bright and almost boyish.  He got out of the car and jogged up the walkway into the office.  Cambria watched him go, marveling at how Egan moved so freely and confidently.  His body was a well-oiled machine and Cambria couldn’t help but think about the night before; his naked body stretched out beside her as he slept so soundly.  He was a handsome man.

He was back within minutes, driving around the back of the motel and parking in front of the last room on the row.  The single-story building was a little rundown, but it wasn’t the worst place Cambria had ever spent the night. 

Egan got out of the car and ran around to open her door.  He offered his hand to her, and though she didn’t need his assistance getting out, she accepted his offer.  His touch sent bolts of lightning through her and she wondered at her body’s reaction to this man.  As much as she’d tried to force herself into hating him, she just couldn’t.  He was much too sweet. 

“What are you thinking about?”

His question startled her, and she realized that she was still holding his hand, even though she’d already stood up from her seat. 

She shook her head, wiping the goofy smile away and hoping that he didn’t realize the effect he was starting to have on her. 

“Nothing.  I’m just really tired, but I need a shower.”

“Me too.” 

He winked at her as he unlocked the door and carried both of their bags into the small room.  In the middle of the room was a single, full-sized bed.  Cambria fought back a groan.  The bed was so small.  The only way they would both fit was if she hung precariously on the edge, or she would have to lie close to him.

Egan latched the chain on the door and tossed their bags on the single desk.  He walked to the bathroom, checking the room first before motioning to it with his head.

“There’s no window, so have at it.”

“You mean you’re not going to watch me?”

“Is that an invitation?”

“Uh, no.”

She walked by him, but he didn’t budge, forcing her to turn sideways to squeeze between him and the door jam.  His scent enveloped her as she moved passed him.  She closed the door behind her and locked the flimsy thumb-latch behind her.

She could hear him laughing through the thin door, but she didn’t care.  She knew the lock wouldn’t keep him out, but that little bit of reassurance made her feel better.  She stripped out of her clothes while the water heated. 

Stepping into the shower, she was delighted when the heavy spray hit her skin.  This was so much better than her shower in the cabin.  Sample-sized shampoo and conditioner sat on the ledge.  She wished she had her expensive brand from her room, but she quickly pushed that wish aside.  Even if she could find the exact brand, she would never again buy something that reminded her of her life with Laskin and the other members of the brotherhood.  That time was behind her, and there was no going back.

This shampoo smelled faintly of coconut and a hint of something else she couldn’t place.  The effect was very pleasant and she dumped half the tiny bottle into her hair and worked it into a rich later.  The scent filled the tiny bathroom, mingling with the steam that was building.

She worked the soap across her skin as the suds from her shampoo slid down her body.  It had been years since she’d had a shower with so much water pressure.  She turned slowly in the spray, letting it work the kinks out of her muscles and wash away the events of the last few days. 

Cambria applied the conditioner and let it sit for a minute before rinsing it out.  She stood in the hot spray for a minute longer, loathe to exit the stall and return to reality. 

She stepped out, pulling a large towel from the rack and set to work drying her hair.  She looked at the pile of dirty clothes on the floor in dismay.  Cambria hadn’t remembered to bring fresh clothes into the bathroom with her. 

Opening the door a crack, she called out to Egan.

“Can you bring me some clean clothes?”

“Of course.”

Egan handed Cambria her clothes and she thanked him before locking the door again.

She shook the pile, expecting to see more than panties fall out of the oversized t-shirt.  But there was nothing else.  Cambria thought about arguing, but decided against it.  The shirt was large and they only had a short while to sleep before they would be up and on the road again.  She could survive a few hours in a large tee and panties.

Stepping out of the bathroom, she hung her wet towel up on a rack and went to the sink.  Egan had already laid out her toothbrush and mouthwash.  He was standing behind her, looking at her reflection in the mirror.

“I’m going to take a shower.  Please don’t leave.  I know you don’t trust me yet, and I understand, but I don’t want to chase you.  But it’s important that you know, that the force that brought me all the way from Canada, that isn’t going to just go away.  If you run, I’m just going to look for you again until I find you.  It’s not something I can control, and I can’t just decide to give up.  It eats away at me.  I can’t fight it.”

“A tiger can’t change its stripes,” she said matter-of-factly. 

Egan was surprised by her words, but she made no other mention about him being a shifter and hadn’t since they’d talked in the woods.  He knew she’d been brainwashed to hate his kind for most of her life and it was going to take some time for her to break the hold that kind of indoctrination had on her.

“I’m not going to tie you up, and I’m not going to sleep with one eye open.  I need some solid sleep tonight and we only have a few hours.  Run or don’t, but know that I will find you, no matter what you do.”

“I gave you my word and I’m not going to break it,” she said. 

“Forgive me if I’m still a little leery of that.  You fooled me once before.”

He didn’t give her a chance to respond, just slipped into the bathroom and turned on the shower.  She quickly brushed her teeth and brushed her hair. 

Cambria turned off the overhead light and left a small lamp on the night stand on.  Hurrying so she could pick her side before he got out of the shower, she slid into bed, careful to leave plenty of room for him on the other side of the bed before curling onto her side and closing her eyes.  She was starting to fall to sleep when she heard the bathroom door open and Egan walked out. 

She cracked one eye open, startled to see that he was naked, walking around the room checking the window locks and the door between their room and the next while he toweled his hair dry. 

Cambria watched his muscles move beneath his bronze skin, admiring the strength of his body.  He was a very handsome man, and Cambria was surprised again that he was so smitten with her, of all people.  His reddish brown hair was short and wavy, his overall appearance well-kept without being fussy.  If they’d met under different circumstances, she never would have worked up the courage to make eye contact with him, let alone speak to him. 

She caught herself before she laughed at the thought.  Being handsome didn’t make him special.  He was human, just like any other man.

Except he wasn’t.  He was everything she’d fought so long against, and she was terrified of what he could become if angered enough.  Everyone had their limits.

If he was pushed too far, would he lose the calm exterior he seemed to have and shift in anger, destroying everything and everyone in his path?  That’s what she’d been taught to believe.  Even with the proof in front of her, she still struggled to let go of the lies that have been fed to her for the last six years.

Or maybe he’s as good at hiding his true self as Laskin was, she thought angrily. 

But she knew that the two were nothing alike.  She’d always felt a little uncomfortable around Laskin, even though he’d never given her any reason to feel that way.  He’d been unfailingly kind to her, but she always suspected that there was an ulterior motive to every interaction.  He’d been grooming her from the very beginning.  For what, she had no idea and probably would never know.  She hadn’t seen much of the scene in the woods, but it was obvious that neither Tom nor Gary had known about Laskin.  Cambria doubted Laskin had told them anything of any substance over the years.

Egan leaned over the sink, spitting mouthwash out before he took a swig of cold water out of the faucet and turned off the tap.  She could see him very clearly in the soft glow of the bedside.  Very clearly. 

Cambria blushed hot red at the sight of him and wondered about his expectations.  He was clearly aroused, and Cambria wasn’t interested in being another man’s little plaything. 

She’d learned that lesson with Tom.  In hind-sight, she knew that he’d never felt anything deeper than physical attraction for her, and that he had played her time and again to get what he wanted from her.  She had been used, but she’d let it happen.  Cambria didn’t ever want to feel that kind of shame again.

He caught her looking and winked at her.  Egan strode to the bed, confident and immodest.  He pulled back the covers, sliding into his side of the bed and rolling onto his side to face her.  His eyes bored into her soul and she felt exposed, even though the blankets were pulled up to her chin and she was clothed.

Egan reached out and touched her cheek, but Cambria retreated to the edge of the bed.  His smile was soft and understanding as he pulled his hand away. 

“I don’t know what’s happened to you over the years, though I can’t imagine that men have treated you kindly, the way you act.  I just want you to know that, no matter how badly I want you, I will never force you.”

“Wasn’t kidnapping me forcing me?” she knew that wasn’t what he meant, but she couldn’t help it.  He could say anything he wanted, but that fact would always remain a source of contention between them.

“Someday, you’ll see it the way I do.  The facts are simple; had I not shown up when I did, you would be dead, or at the very least in prison with the rest of them.  Isn’t this much better?”

Cambria didn’t answer him.  She didn’t know how she felt.  Since she’d watched him from the woods, looking so lost and so forlorn, her perspective had changed.  He had kidnapped her against her will, of that she would always be certain.  But she knew without a doubt that he had done so for reasons that were entirely and completely based on love, however misguided it might seem to her.

And the more she got to know him, the more she wondered if he wasn’t right.  About everything.  It was such a confusing position for her to be in.

“Do you want the light off or on?” he asked. 

“I’d like it off.”

He reached behind him, pulling the chain that hung from the fixture and plunging the room into darkness. 

Cambria held perfectly still, afraid to close the distance between the two of them.  Within minutes, he was snoring softly and Cambria wondered again how he could fall asleep so quickly. 

She hung part way off the bed in her effort to keep from touching him, and already her body was sore from holding herself so rigidly to keep from falling.  If this were a decent hotel, she might consider sleeping on the floor.  But it wasn’t.  It was the best they could do in the area in the middle of the night, but otherwise, it was not the sort of place she would stay in. 

Her only other choice was to move closer to Egan.  He was deeply asleep now, his breathing long and slow.  If she moved a little a time, she wouldn’t wake him and she could move a few inches without touching him.

Taking her time, she eased away from the edge of the bed, moving until her knee was merely an inch from his.  If their knees touched in the night, she could handle that.  Already, the tension was easing out of her body and she was starting to feel sleepy.  She heard him chuckle in his sleep, and fell asleep wondering what he was dreaming about that was so funny.

Cambria woke up a few hours later, the gray light of approaching dawn casting an eerie light throughout the room.  She was warm and well-rested, despite the fact that it couldn’t be later than around five. 

She closed her eyes and dozed for a few more minutes, enjoying the feel of the blankets that wrapped around her with delicious warmth.  When she finally opened her eyes and tried to stretch, she realized that it wasn’t the blankets keeping her warm.

His soft breathing warmed her neck, his heavy arm thrown over her carelessly in his sleep.  At some point, she’d abandoned the edge of the bed in favor of his beckoning warmth.  In sleep, her body had betrayed her.

She was nestled up against him, her backside snuggled against him, his legs beneath hers.  Tom had never spooned with her before, preferring to leave immediately after love-making for his own bed.  And here she was, trapped in the arms of a man who had complete control over her, and he hadn’t once pushed her to do anything sexual. 

Cambria was starting to realize that she had horribly misjudged Tom.  And herself.

His embrace was wonderful, but Cambria had needs that couldn’t wait.  She gently moved his arm, wiggling down in the bed in an attempt to free herself from his grasp without waking him.

But he didn’t budge, and Cambria was firmly stuck.  She would have to wake him if she wanted to get up.

“Egan,” she half whispered.

He didn’t respond.

“Egan,” she was louder this time, gently elbowing him in the ribs to wake him.

“Yes?”  His voice was sleepy, and waking him had the opposite effect.  He pulled her even closer, wrapping his arms more tightly around her and burying his face in her hair before falling back to sleep.  One hand had come to rest over her breast, the other placed lazily on her hip.

Well that’s just great, she thought. 

She elbowed him again, this time a little harder while she said his name.

He finally woke up enough to be coherent, his voice still heavy with sleep.

“I see you came to your senses,” he breathed the words into her neck but didn’t move to let her go.

“I need to get up,” she said, the discomfort building inside of her.

“No you don’t.  This is nice right here.”

He wasn’t understanding, and Cambria wasn’t interested in dancing around the issue any longer.

“I have to go.  I can’t hold it anymore.  Please let me go, Egan.”

Her chuckled as he released her,

“Why didn’t you just say so?” he asked, but she was already vaulting out of the bed and headed for the bathroom.

He rolled out of bed, checking the time before he started packing their things in the back packs.  His was quite a bit bigger and much heavier, while hers only contained her clothes and the money she’d stolen from him. 

Egan was still walking around the room packing, completely nude when she walked out of the bathroom.  She brushed her teeth and started working the brush through her thick curls, but she was fighting a losing battle.  Her hair was a mess and needed more attention than she could provide at the moment.

“Here, let me,” he said, coming up to stand behind her. 

She handed him the brush and looked at him in the mirror.

“Seriously?  Why are you still naked?”

“Do you like it?”

“No.  Put on some clothes.”  She was lying, and they both knew it.  But he was right behind her, and his proximity was making it hard for her to concentrate.

He ignored her, gently working his way from the bottom of her hair until he’d worked the more stubborn tangles out.  His touch was so tender that Cambria could hardly feel it as he pulled the bristles through her hair.  She closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of being cared for with so much affection.

When he finished, he set the brush down on the long counter and leaned over her shoulder to gently kiss her on the cheek before quickly walking away.  He got dressed in a hurry, taking their things to the car while she gathered her wits about her.

She heard the engine start and quickly grabbed her brush, noticing for the first time that he’d grabbed her toothbrush and paste when he’d walked away. 

Cambria made one more sweep of the room, making sure that they hadn’t left anything behind.  She left the room key on the desk and pulled the door shut behind her.

Jogging the final steps to the car, she climbed into the passenger seat and buckled up.  Egan smiled at her and put the car into gear.

“What do you want for breakfast?  It’s going to be the last hot meal for a long while.”

“Pancakes.”

“Pancakes it is.”  He pulled onto the empty road and headed towards their destination, eyes open for a place that would be serving pancakes as the sun rose behind them.

 

 

 

HAPTER NINE

 

A little less than an hour later, Egan stopped the car and put the keys on the dashboard.  A very full Cambria stepped out of the car and admired the mountain before them.  It was beautiful, but it was also rugged.

It wasn’t going to be an easy hike.

Egan walked passed her, nudging her playfully as she stood in awe.

“Time to work off those pancakes,” he quipped, heading directly for the first outcropping of giant boulders.  He began climbing from one to the next, moving quickly from ledge to ledge with ease.

By the time Cambria walked to the base, he was already to the top.

“Toss your bag up.”  He was sitting on the edge, looking like a naughty little boy with his mischievous grin.

She threw the bag as hard as she could and he caught the strap with one leg.  He watched her climb, taking the same path he had.  Cambria was struggling, but she was determined to wipe that smug grin off his face.

The last boulder was the tallest.  As hard as she tried, Cambria couldn’t get up it without help.  She grabbed his outstretched hand and allowed herself to be pulled up. 

They stood on the top of the boulder, side by side, and Cambria was blown away by the beauty before them.  The dusty, bleak boulders had hidden a shallow valley that sloped up through the trees to the mountain top.  The view was breath-taking and more beautiful than she could have imagined.

Just on the other side of the boulders was a short drop to a trickling waterfall that filled a tiny stream.  Egan climbed down, holding his hand out to help Cambria as he went.  When they reached the bottom he turned north, keeping to the edge of a large meadow that ran between the opposite tree lines.

They passed several signs warning them to turn back, but Egan didn’t even slow down.

“It says ‘no hunting, hiking or camping beyond this point’,” she pointed out.

“It does.”  He was unconcerned, continuing on without pause.

“It says that there are dangerous animals in this area.”

“Also true.”

She was starting to get worried.  The signs were clear, listing wild buffalo, mountain lions and wild longhorn as animals that roamed freely in the woods.

She caught up to him, grabbing his arm and forcing him to stop.

“I’m on board with hiding out until all this has blown over and they’re not looking for me anymore, but I don’t want to be a longhorn’s next meal.”

Egan looked at her, his expression incredulous a moment before he burst out laughing.

“Do you know what a longhorn is?”

“No.”

“It’s a cow.  With big horns.  The only thing that might eat you alive in these woods is a bear.”  He paused for a moment, looking her up and down slowly, “Or me.  You’re safe with me.”

“I doubt you’re much help against a mountain lion, to be honest.”  She looked around the nearest trees, feeling a bit paranoid to be out in the open.

“One, they’re not typically spotted in the area we’re headed to, and two, I’m a tiger shifter.  I’ve got this under control.”

She couldn’t argue with his logic.  He grabbed her hand, still carrying her pack on his shoulder over his own pack.

“We have a long way to go and we need to get there before the sun sets so I can set up camp.”

She allowed him to continue holding her hand as they walked, enjoying the feel of it wrapped around hers.

“So, you know all there is to know about me, but I don’t know about you.  How did Laskin even find you?”

“You don’t mince words, do you?” she laughed.  “I guess it’s only fair that I share, since you’ve been so forthcoming.”

Cambria was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out the best place to start.  Coming up empty, she decided to start from her first memory.

“My parents  hated me for as long as I could remember,” she began, “even when I was just seven.  They never let me go to school, convinced that I was too stupid to learn anything with normal kids.”

“What made them say you weren’t normal?”

“I have a speech impediment, and I tripped on my words a lot as a kid.  My parents said I was so dumb I couldn’t learn English.”

Egan took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.  He hadn’t heard even the slightest hint of a speech impediment, nor was she too dumb to go to school.  Egan would lay money that she would have gotten straight A’s if she’d attended school.  He had a feeling her parents had pulled her out of school for selfish reasons. 

“They beat me a lot, blaming me for everything that went wrong.  I did all the chores, hunted for food in the swamp near my house, and I tended the family garden.  When we had visitors, mama made me hide in the woods.  Sometimes, all night.”

Egan sucked in a breath and let it out slowly but he didn’t interrupt her.  He had a feeling no one had ever listened to Cambria tell her story.  In the quiet solitude of the vast wilderness before them, he wasn’t about to take that away from her.

She talked for hours, telling him everything that had ever happened to her in heartbreaking detail.  When she started talking about the night Laskin had found her, he realized that she didn’t understand what had truly happened that night.

“You do know that the tiger you ran into was Laskin, right?”

“I guess a part of me always did.  I couldn’t figure out how Laskin had fought off the tiger, and I didn’t think there was any way that it would just leave me there after I passed out.  But he was so against shifters that I had to believe he was human, I guess.”

Cambria choked on a soft sob that surprised her.  She hadn’t planned on crying about Laskin, and she swiped angrily at the tears that were suddenly streaming down her face. 

Egan stopped her, pulling her into his arms and holding her as she sobbed. 

“It’s okay to cry over him.  He saved you from the hell you were living in.  Even though he was an awful man, he was very kind to you and took you in when you were in desperate need.  It’s okay to mourn that loss.”

Cambria couldn’t believe her ears.  Laskin and Egan were sworn enemies; Egan’s own brother had been the reason that Laskin had revealed himself to the brotherhood and lost his life.  Yet, here he was, showing compassion for Laskin that Laskin would never have shown him.

She breathed deeply, enjoying his embrace a moment longer before pulling away.

“Thank you.  Thank you for letting me love the man I thought he was.”

“Nothing will ever change what he did for you.  If he were here right now, I would thank him myself.  Without him, I probably wouldn’t have you.”

He tilted her chin up, kissing her tears away before dipping down to capture her mouth in his.  His mouth was hot and sweet, gently kissing her pain away.  Cambria leaned into him, deepening the kiss and letting herself live freely in the moment.  For the first time in her life, someone cared more about her feelings than their ulterior motives.  Egan hated Laskin, yet he acknowledged that the man had been instrumental in protecting her life.

Cambria had never known anyone capable of seeing things as clearly as Egan did.

Egan broke away first, wiping away a single, lingering tear with his thumb.

“We’re almost there.  If you see a place you like once we get over that ridge, let me know and we’ll set up camp.”  He kissed the tip of her nose and held his hand out to her. 

She took it, walking up the final incline to their destination.  When they topped the ridge, Cambria was stunned by the untouched beauty of the woods around them and the valley in the distance below. 

The sun was setting steadily behind them in the west, but she could see the wild bison in the distance, grazing on the lush, green grass between the mountains.  To the north, the mountain reached higher, sloping gently for a bit before climbing steeply to the peak.

A narrow stream flowed from the north, winding through the trees before dropping over the edge into a short waterfall.

“Right here,” Cambria said.  “If I’m going to stay somewhere for a long time, I want it to be right here.”  She sat down on a low, flat boulder, stretching her tired legs and taking in the scenery for a moment.

It had been a very long day.

“Excellent choice,” Egan said.  And he began setting up camp before the last of the sun’s rays faded from the sky. 

Cambria watched him work from perch on the rock, enjoying how his body moved as he moved from one task to the next.  The wind was light, but already there was a bite to the air.

“How cold does it get up here?”  She rubbed her arms, trying to warm up a little.  Egan tossed his heavy jacket to her and she gratefully wrapped it around her.

Pulling a narrow tent off his pack, he went to work setting it up while she watched him.  His jacket was warm, and it smelled like him.  Checking to make sure he wasn’t watching, Cambria inhaled the scent of him. 

She looked up and caught him looking at her, a satisfied smirk on his lips.  Cambria rolled her eyes at him, snuggling deeper into the jacket and trying to ignore Egan.

“Can you take a break from enjoying my jacket and help me with this tent?”

He chuckled at his own joke, clearly enjoying himself too much.

She slid down from the rock and began helping him without direction.  She’d pitched a few tents in her short life.  This tent was a little sturdier, made for colder weather and long-term use.  But she’d known when he purchased it that he was planning on staying in the woods for at least a month, maybe more.

They worked closely together, setting the tent up in between trees so they could secure it firmly against the wind.  There was no more than a few inches between each side of the tent and a tree.  More than once, Cambria passed so close to Egan that their bodies touched, sending shock waves of pleasure through her.

If Egan noticed her response, he didn’t mention it.  For that, she was extremely grateful.

The small, camouflage tarp that Egan had purchased was secured above the tent with heavy twine.  Egan put one side higher than the other, making sure that any rain would drain down the hill and not into their tent.  The color would prevent anyone spotting them from the air, letting the rangers know that there were campers inside the big game area where they didn’t belong.

A second tarp was stretched out beneath the tent, sticking out a few feet on the door side so they wouldn’t track dirt in with them.  Cambria was surprised by how prepared Egan really was.  He’d obviously been planning this for some time.

They finished just before dark, and Cambria helped Egan place their sleeping bags in the tent before they arranged the packs and jackets inside.  Cambria looked into the tent and looked at Egan.

“I thought this was a two-person tent.”

“It says ‘one to two-person.”

She nodded.  Cambria wasn’t willing to believe that this was a mistake on his part.

“It’s going to get cold every night, and we can’t build a fire.  You made it pretty clear last night that you don’t mind cuddling.

She elbowed him and he laughed, the rich sound echoing gently in the silence.  If Cambria had been frightened of Egan, the vast emptiness of the mountain would have terrified her.  But the more time she spent with him, the more she realized that he was the sweetest man she’d ever met.

A bright light flashed in the distance, and the following thunderclap was so loud that Cambria was certain that the ground shook beneath her feet.  An instant later, the sky opened, bringing forth a deluge like nothing Cambria had seen in Florida.                In that instant, they were both soaked to the skin.  Cambria was about to climb in the tent when Egan stopped her.

“If we go in like this, we’ll soak all of our stuff and we’ll be miserable all night.”

He didn’t even let it sink in before he started pulling off his clothes, throwing them over a low-hanging branch.  He took his boots off and turned them upside down, jamming them between a pair of branches before peaking his wet jeans off.  Cambria watched him for a beat before she followed suit, though she left her bra and panties on.  Soaked or not, she wasn’t getting into the tent naked with Egan.

Egan laughed at her as he slipped out of his underwear and hung them up with the rest of his clothes.  He stepped into the tent, unzipping his sleeping bag and slipping inside.  He unzipped hers for her, and began rummaging through his bag for dinner. 

Cambria jumped into the sleeping bag and slid down until she was covered to her chin.  She was already quite cold.

They ate in silence, but Egan watched Cambria closely the entire time.  She was shivering now and then, though not as badly as when they’d first come inside.  Her long hair was nearly dry, but wearing wet clothes wasn’t doing her any favors. 

When she finished, Egan opened his sleeping bag.

“Come here.”

Cambria wanted to protest, but she was too cold to care.  She slid out of her sleeping bag and into his.  Egan reached around behind her, unclasping her bra and laying it flat on her sleeping bag to dry.

“Panties too,” he said, not giving her a chance to argue.  Cambria peeled the wet fabric off, laying them beside her bra and zipping herself into Egan’s bag. 

The storm raged on outside but Cambria didn’t care.  Egan was warm, his sleeping bag nice and toasty compared to hers.  He pulled her against him, rubbing his hands over her to chase away the cold.

She moved even closer, slipping her limbs between his until it was impossible to tell when she ended and he began.

Egan lay on his side, facing her.  His arms were wrapped around her, holding her tightly.  Her breasts squished against him and she could feel his arousal pressing against her leg.  Everything in Cambria screamed that he was the enemy, a shifter and not to be trusted, but she pushed those thoughts aside.

Her entire life, she’d been told what to do and what to think.  For once, she was going to follow her heart and think for herself

She ran her hand down his side, slowly stroking his hot skin.  Her hands were still slightly cold, and the sensation caused him goosebumps wherever she touched him.  Cambria heard his breath catch softly, but she ignored him.  He’d been leading them for the last few days, she was ready to take the reins.

Her fingers traced a line to his hip, dipping down between their bodies to tease the flesh around his swelling manhood.  Egan held perfectly still, his body almost rigid as she drew circles with her hands, moving closer but careful not to get too close.

Egan groaned, the need building inside him, even as he fought to control himself.  He’d waited so long to have her, and he wasn’t going to spoil the moment.

She could feel him tense as he struggled to control himself, and she felt so empowered.  He didn’t move to hurry her along, and he didn’t demand that she follow his lead.  He simply let her move at her own pace, at the mercy of her whims.

A girl could get used to this, she thought.

Tiny fingers wrapped around his rigid shaft and he moaned softly in her ear.  Her hands were warmer, but still chilly.  The effect sent shivers through his body and Cambria delighted in the power she had over him.  Slowly she stroked, squeezing and twisting until he started to move against her in spite of himself.

She let go of him, working her way back up his abdomen and chest.  Lightening flashed and the tent lit up like daylight for a moment before plunging them into darkness once more.  Egan caught her lips in his, kissing her slowly and deeply while she explored his taut muscles in the dark. 

Egan stroked her back and shoulders, trying to hold on to his self-control while she leisurely explored every inch of his body.  She moved against him, using her body to tease him as the storm raged around them. 

She was enjoying herself, but she was done playing with him.  Cambria slung her leg over his hip, opening herself to him as she slid down onto him.  She couldn’t see his face in the dark, but she watched him anyway, enjoying the way the lightning illuminated his face at just the right time.  His hold on his self-control was tenuous at best, and taking him inside of her hadn’t helped matters much for him.

He moaned softly, burying his face in her neck and inhaling the sweet scent of her hair as they moved together in the confines of the sleeping bag.  When he began moving too quickly, Cambria backed off, forcing him to slow down. 

She cupped his cheek in her hand and kissed him gently.

“We have all the time in the world,” she whispered the words, teasing him mercilessly.

He didn’t answer, but his trembling breath told her all she needed to know.  He was close, and the slightest movement would surely push him of the edge.  She moved all the way against him, taking the entire length of him inside of her and stopping.  She tightened her muscles around him, running her free hand over his backside and holding him there. 

Egan groaned, the need overwhelming him, but he held fast to his control.  He had given her complete control, even though it took everything he had to maintain it.  His body trembled and his breath was shallow.

She used her leg over his hips for leverage and began rocking against him, drawing out his passion in quick, deep thrusts.  He cried out, his moans drowned out by the thunder and the rain beating its own rhythm on the tarp above them.  Cambria held him tightly as he climaxed, feeling the heat of him empty inside of her a moment before she lost herself. 

The orgasm rocked her body and she writhed against him with wild abandon.  The climax ripped through her body with more force than she’d ever felt before, tear scream after scream of pleasure from her throat. 

The vibrations of the storm around them only intensified her pleasure, and she rode wave after wave of passion as the storm raged on. 

When her climax faded and she could think clearly again, she snuggled up against Egan.  For the first time in her life, she felt completely free.

HAPTER TEN

Blue eyes stared back from the review mirror as Tom sat in a parking lot a few hours south of the Georgia border. He didn’t move to get out at first, waiting for the last of the lunchtime customers to drive away before he got out of the car. The rest stop was expansive, with a sandwich shop, convenience store and a few showers that could be rented.

When the final car pulled away, leaving only employee cars, Tom got out and walked towards the store. He gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain and doing his best to hide the slight limp as he moved. Walking briskly, he opened the door and slipped into the building. He went straight for the convenience section, picking out a set of black pants and a loose shirt as well as a towel and a shower kit. He took his finds to the cash register, making small talk with the pretty woman behind the counter. She smiled shyly and he returned her smile, flirting with her as she rang up his purchases.

“This is neat,” he said, indicating the first-aid kit in a hard leather case.

“It’s our best-seller,” she crooned. “You could go off the grid with that thing. It has everything you would ever need.” She leaned close, her voice just above a whisper. “This guy came in once and he’d been stabbed. He used the stuff in the kit to sew himself up.”

“Did he now? Well, my dear, you’ve just sold another kit.”

He placed the kit on the counter and flashed his warmest smile at her. She flushed prettily, all but batting her eyes at him. As filthy and exhausted as he was, he was still quite handsome and the young woman was not immune to his charms. He paid the rental for a shower and headed back to the back of the building.

He looked around again, but he already knew the place was empty. He stepped into the first shower stall, setting his purchases on the wooden bench across from a full length mirror. Carefully, he removed his shirt, throwing it in the trash. He peeled the bandage off his side, grimacing as the wound oozed. He stripped out of the rest of his clothes, tossing those as well. His wound needed to be cleaned before he could do anything else to it.

Tom opened the first aid kit, his smile wide. The cashier wasn’t lying, it had everything he would need and more. He grabbed the bottle of hexachlorophene detergent and his shower bag and turned on the spray, letting the water heat up before stepping in.

The instant the water hit his wound was excruciating, but Tom kept quiet, steadying his breathing against the pain. Within moments, it had faded to a dull ache, and Tom went to work, pouring the antibiotic into his hand and gritting his teeth as he scrubbed the wound mercilessly. His knees grew weak and he allowed himself to sit on the second wood bench, which was in the shower stall. Slowly, the room stopped spinning and he was able to breathe again.

Tom left the detergent on the wound, letting it do its job while he soaped up the rest of his body and washed his hair. Dirt and grime from the last few days pooled at his feet before rushing down the drain with the rest of the water. Steam filled the tiny space and little by little, Tom started to feel like himself again.

When Laskin had revealed himself to be a shifter and all the fighting started, it was clear to Tom that things were about to get bad. He fled deeper the woods to lay low while things went to hell on the compound. But not before he saw the man in the woods, his hand clasped over Cambria’s mouth as he dragged her past the battle scene and away from where Tom stood.

He was filled with rage, recognizing the man instantly as one of the tiger shifters the group had been hunting for years. But they were already too far away and he had to think of himself. He was in danger, so close to the action. When he turned and ran, he could hear the two tigers slamming each other into the trees and he heard the men shouting. More than one shot was fired, but the fight continued. Tom wasn’t about to get caught up in that mess, and he wasn’t going to die in battle for a shifter.

Laskin had fooled them all for years, and Tom wasn’t about to give up his life for a man who was everything he hated. No. Laskin would die at the hands of another shifter, and good riddance. He didn’t want to be anywhere near when that happened and he sure as hell wasn’t going to go to jail when the police showed up, which was a given, considering that Grace would likely escape in the melee if she hadn’t already.

So he hid deep in the forest, plotting his next move and already dreaming of the moment he would be reunited with Cambria. Once the helicopters and the police showed up to arrest what was left of the brotherhood, Tom knew he’d made the right decision. He bedded down for the night, ready to wait them out until morning or later if he had to, then he would sneak away and go on with his life.

It wasn’t until he woke up the following afternoon with a raging fever that he realized he’d been injured in the battle, caught by a stray bullet. Delirious and dehydrated, he made his way back into the compound, taking what he could from an outlying cabin before fleeing the compound. The antibiotics he’d taken, as well as the pain medicine, had brought his fever down and made the pain bearable. But he was still suffering.

It had taken everything in him to keep pushing forward through the forest, circling wide to avoid the heavy police presence until he came upon an unlucky camper in the woods. The man never knew what hit him, which was good. In his weakened condition, the only way he could have killed a healthy, fit man was to come up behind him and slit his throat as he had done.. The man was dead before he hit the ground.

Rummaging through his pockets, Tom hadn’t been disappointed when he pulled out a set of keys and a parking stub, showing the parking lot where the man had left his car. Tom dragged the man into his tent to hide his body, taking his supplies and heading down the trail to the lot. With any luck, wild animals would find the man before rangers did. Either way. Tom would be long gone.

A loud bang pulled Tom from his musings. He tensed, poised to spring, but the noise was only someone in the hallway loudly banging trash bins around while they emptied them. He smiled to himself. The cashier wasn’t very subtle, and was likely trying to be in the hallway when he emerged so that she had an excuse to talk to him again.

Even filthy, injured and unshaven, Tom was a hit with the ladies and always had been. If she was already that smitten with him when he was unkempt, Tom could only imagine how she would fall all over herself to help him when he was looking his best. He would get what he wanted from the girl. Maybe a little more.

A shaving mirror hung in the shower stall. Tom used it to shave, watching the grizzly stubble melt away, revealing the silky-smooth face he knew and loved. He blew his reflection a kiss, completely oblivious to his narcissistic behavior. He was a beautiful man. Everyone he encountered told him as much. There was no need to hide it from the world and himself. No, Tom embraced everything about himself without shame or guilt.

He was loath to get out of the shower, but he had things to do. He rinsed quickly after washing his wound one more time. This time, it stung a little less. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Tom dried off quickly, wiping the steam off the full length mirror. He studied the wound, twisting and turning to look from every angle. The bullet had grazed him and he didn’t see any shrapnel embedded in his flesh.

He opened the kit again, selecting a long needle and drawing lidocaine into the syringe and injecting it around the wound. It burned, but the blessed numbness was worth the pain. He set the needle and syringe back in the kit, testing the flesh around it before picking up the suture needle and forceps.

Tom had stitched up many recruits over the years, but never himself. He wasn’t surprised when he excelled at it, tying off a neat row of stitches before spreading a thick salve over the wound and bandaging it once more. While he wasn’t very happy that his perfect body had been marred, he knew it would work to his advantage later in life. There was nothing an unsuspecting woman loved more than a bleeding heart story.

He dressed quickly, disposing of his trash and gathering his things into the shopping bag. Looking around to make sure he hadn’t left anything of value or consequence behind, he stepped out of the shower area and to the bathroom door.

The bathroom mirrors that lined the wall followed him as he went, clinging to his beauty when he stepped from mirror to mirror. He was pleased with what he saw. There was no sign of the hell he’d been through in the past several days, nor would anyone suspect that he was part of the bloodbath all over the news.

He walked through the hall, a spring in his step. He felt human again, and ready for his next mission.

But first, lunch.

The same pretty cashier was standing behind the register, clearly bored with her day. When she looked up and saw him, she smiled brightly.

“Are you here all alone?”

“There’s a gas station attendant, but that guy sleeps in the back until I buzz him.”

“Want some lunch?”

The cashier looked around. The sandwich shop was in the same building, but around the corner and out of sight of the register. “I can’t.”

“What if I brought lunch to you and we sat on the bench there? Then no one could come in without you seeing them first.”

She twirled her hair around her finger, clearly considering his proposal. “Okay,” she said, bouncing a little with excitement. He stared at her breasts as they bounced beneath her tight shirt for a moment then smiled at her again and winked.

She gave him her order and he returned within minutes, leading her out to the table and sitting across from her. He handed her a sandwich and bottle of cola, which he opened for her with a flourish. They talked between bites, and the woman told him her name was Britney and she’d just graduated high school.

Tom made small talk with her for some time, polishing off his sandwich and wiping his face. He stared deep into her eyes as she talked, careful to keep his face light. She was boring him to tears and he was fantasizing about taking her right there on the bench and slitting her throat when he was done. The thought warmed him, and his smile softened. Britney mistook the expression for interest, reaching out and squeezing his hand.

“Did you work every day this week?” he asked innocently.

“I did. I have tomorrow off, though.”

Her invitation was clear, but Tom didn’t take the bait. He didn’t have time to deal with the woman, though the image of her life force draining out on the mulch surrounding the bench would live forever in his mind.

He squeezed her hand back, reaching into his wallet with his free hand before releasing hers to open the leather wallet and fish out a folded picture.

“I can’t stay, but I was hoping you could help me, Britney. Have you seen this girl?”

Britney’s expression changed. “Is that your girlfriend?”

“Oh no,” Tom assured her. “She’s my baby sister. She was kidnapped earlier this week and I’m searching for her. I was hoping they came through here and someone saw them.”

Britney grabbed the photo out of his hand and Tom fought the urge to punch her for being so rude. He smiled instead, giving her a moment to look the photo over. He could see the instant that recognition dawned on her. She looked up, watching the car drive away in her mind, trying to remember every detail so she could share her knowledge with Tom.

“I did see her. It was the other morning, really early. I came to work at three in the morning and they were sitting in the car parked right there,” she pointed to the spot a few places down from where they were.

“I was on my break, sitting on that chair by the restrooms. They used the outdoor restrooms, they didn’t even come into the building. I remember them because the girl was waiting for him against the car and he said he was surprised she didn’t run.”

Tom squeezed her hand encouragingly. “Did you see which way they went?”

“I didn’t, but I heard him say they weren’t stopping again until they hit Alabama.”

An odd look came over her face, and she looked at Tom. “What’s happening to me?” She was beginning to panic, and he could tell she wanted to run.

He laughed softly. He’d slipped enough Ketamine into her drink to tranquilize a small horse.             

“Don’t worry. It won’t hurt, but you won’t remember anything when you wake up. If you wake up.”

Britney started to tremble slightly, her words slurring until they became a jumbled mess and then silence. After a few moments, only her eyes moved and her head slumped forward onto the table. Tom arranged her arms under her head, turning it to the side so she looked like she’d fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine.

He sat beside her, his face inches from her so he could look deep into her eyes. It wouldn’t be long before she lost consciousness, but for now, she was still trying to make her lips work and her feet were moving. The movement was small and feeble, but she was giving it her all, fighting against the drug.

“I like your spunk. If I had time, I would enjoy you now. You can’t imagine how much you would love making love to me for hours on end. But I have things to do.” He brushed her hair from her face and chuckled softly as a single tear slid from her eye.  “Don’t cry. Maybe someday I’ll come back and we can have each other. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

She couldn’t answer, and Tom continued stroking her hair as he listened to her feet swishing over the tall grass beneath the table. No matter how hard she fought, she would soon be paralyzed. The light swish sound of the grass beneath her feet as she tried to force her body to get up and run away was music to his ears. People could say what they wanted about pretty girls with vapid personalities, but Britney was a fighter. Tom watched her for a moment longer before getting up to walk away. He could hear her moaning behind him, trying to cry out for help but unable to force her paralyzed muscles to work.

He got into the car and cast one last look at Britney, slumped forward onto the picnic table, looking very much like she’d fallen asleep on her break. By the time the dinner crowd came calling, she would be coming to. Until then, she was at the mercy of any passerby that happened along.

Tom sighed. How he longed to spend some time with the beautiful woman, to watch her suffer and see if she lived through it. But he was on a mission and he had to find Cambria. He couldn’t let the shifter have her, and Britney was nothing to him.

Cambria hadn’t gone willingly, of this he was certain. When he got his hands on that dirty shifter, he would make him pay for what he’d done to Cambria. But even if she’d fallen for his charms, he had to rescue her from the man. Shifters were known to be wily, and even the smartest woman could be fooled.

The more he thought about his sweet Cambria, trapped somewhere with a tiger shifter of all things, the more angry he got. He had no right to take up with a human woman, and Tom hoped the man would fight when Tom finally found the pair. He would kill the tiger, maybe even taking a trophy to remember the experience. Cambria would be grateful to be saved and they would live happily ever after.

But what if the shifter had cast a spell on her, winning her trust and convincing her that he wasn’t bad? Tom shook his head angrily, carrying on an internal dialogue with himself as he pulled away from the rest stop. No, she wouldn’t be fooled. She was too strong for that, he thought. She might trick the shifter into thinking that she’d been fooled, but she would hold fast to her beliefs and she would prevail.

No matter what, he had to find her and take her away from the awful place and bring her back where she belonged. She and Tom were the only members of the resistance left that weren’t dead or in jail. If their anti-shifter movement was to continue, and all the tigers were to be eradicated for good, they were going to have to start rebuilding their army.

Tom got onto the highway, heading northwest and after his woman.

*

Cambria stepped out of the tent, filling her lungs with the fresh scent of the recent rains. It had been raining almost nonstop since they’d arrived nearly a week before, and she was ready for some sunshine. The valley below was cut down the middle by what was left of the runoff, but the bison had already come out to graze, undeterred by the damp earth beneath their feet. Cambria was hoping that this was a sign that the rain was over for a bit.

She sat down on the large boulder overlooking the valley, enjoying the warmth it had soaked up from the sun. Stretching slowly, she watched the bison move lazily below them, wincing from time to time as she worked kinks out of her sore muscles before moving to the next. They’d been trapped in the tent for most of the time they’d been there. As much as she loved snuggling with him, there was a lot to be said for having room to stretch out and breathe after so much time spent in such a confined space.

Footsteps behind her announced Egan was awake. It had rained on and off all morning, and Egan had taken advantage once again, making love to her until the both fell back, too exhausted to move. They’d slept half the day away, and the late-afternoon sun was already starting to dip towards the horizon.

He slid in behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to lean against him. “You were gone when I woke up.”

“The rain stopped. I wanted some fresh air.”

He nuzzled her neck, breathing in her scent and trailing tender kisses from her jaw to her shoulder as he did.

“Are you hungry?” she asked.

“Of course I am.” His lips brushed against her when he spoke, sending shivers up and down her body. She rolled her eyes, wondering how her body could continue to respond to him when she was so sore and so tired.

It was clear that their lovemaking was still on his mind. Not that Cambria was complaining, but they couldn’t spend every day in bed.

“I meant for food. You’re insatiable.”

“Only when you’re involved.”

She doubted that, but she let it slide. Egan had professed his love multiple times, but Cambria had shied away from saying the words. No man had ever actually loved her, and over the years she’d come to find that “I love you” had been used to manipulate her time and time again.

It felt different when Egan said it; like genuine for the first time in her life. But she’d thought that before, so she was trying to guard her heart and stay cautious. Someday, she might say the words, but for now, her actions were going to have to be proof enough.

Egan stood, jogging over to the tree and climbing up a few branches to retrieve their food from the pack secured above. There weren’t any bears in the area, but there were plenty of coyotes and other scavengers, and Egan wasn’t willing to risk their food supply by leaving it in a lower, more accessible place. He rummaged through the food options, pulling out Cambria’s favorite meal replacement bar and tossing it to her before taking their canteens to the quickly moving stream and filling them both.

He returned, handing her one canteen and keeping one for himself. He sat on a rock in front of hers, facing her as they shared a meal. Cambria drank the chilly liquid, enjoying the fresh taste that never got old. The water at the compound had come from a well, but it had an odd taste to it. More than once, she voiced her concern over it, but her words were dismissed, much like everything else she said or did.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Why?”

“You’re scowling again. You get lost in thought all the time, and when you do, you make that face.”

“I’m thinking about you if that’s what you’re worried about.” Her words were a little harsher than she meant them to be, and she immediately felt bad.

But Egan chuckled, leaning forward and squeezing her calf affectionately as he looked into her eyes. “I’m not worried about what you think of me. Your body does an excellent job of letting me know exactly how you feel.” He winked, and Cambria felt her face flush. He was such a tease, constantly bantering back and forth with her, sometimes for seemingly no reason.

At first, she’d found his lighthearted demeanor and constant quipping exhausting. But once she grew accustomed to it, she realized he was just a happy man. His happiness was infectious, and Cambria found herself feeling more relaxed and upbeat around him than she had been for as long as she could remember.

She took a deep breath, wondering how much of her life with Laskin and the others she should reveal. She’d spent most of her life hating shifters, and she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “I was just thinking about how no one ever took me seriously before, and I guess I’m still angry about being brushed off all the time like my opinion was nothing because I’m a woman. I understood why Laskin treated me like a child. At least, I thought I did, but I wonder now if he ever cared for me.”

“He must have, on some level. He saved you and protected you. Laskin was an evil, vile man, but evil isn’t black and white. Bad people have good qualities, no matter how bad they are. Which is why you’re struggling with it so much. If he was just bad, you could write him off and walk away unhurt. But he was like family, and he betrayed you. I understand.”

“Do you? I mean really? How could you understand?”

“I’d known Laskin my entire life. He spent plenty of time in my home for me to get to know him. I didn’t really like him, but I never knew the real him. He was just the harmless man who followed the elders around, taking notes and serving them drinks. I was just as surprised as you when he came after us and I found out that, not only was he the son of a human, but that he was the driving force behind everything that was going wrong in our world, amongst the other tigers.

"When he attacked us five years ago, that’s when we found out. Until he shifted in front of us and he had the silver coat of the mixed breeds, we had no idea that he wasn’t full-blooded shifter. I was only eighteen at the time so it was a lot to absorb. He didn’t raise me though, so I can only imagine that the betrayal you feel is infinitely more painful than what I felt.”

“You’re probably right. I just can’t get over the fact that he left me behind when everyone else went off to fight. After all the training I did, and how hard I worked, he just pushed me aside.”

“If he hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t have been alone when I came to get you. It would have gone completely different.”

Cambria considered that for a moment, smiling at the thought. “You would have had to work harder to catch me.”

“You beat the hell out of me all on your own. You did a damn fine job of protecting yourself.”

“True. But you were relentless.”

“I was driven by love.”

Cambria’s smile faltered.

“I wish those words didn’t freak you out. I love you. I loved you before I met you and I’ll love you the rest of my life. That’s a good thing, not something to fear.”

Cambria didn’t say anything about what he’d said, instead, changing the subject.

“So you’re not silver then? I mean, when you change?”

“No. I’m orange and black. Like a normal tiger.”

“There’s nothing normal about tiger shift—" her hands flew to her mouth to stop herself, but it was too late. “I’m sorry. I don’t know where that came from.”

“It’s alright. It takes a lot to break down prejudices that have been ingrained in you for so long.” He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek tenderly. “I have faith that you’ll move passed it.” He started walking towards the tent, but Cambria called out to him and he stopped.

“Can I see you? I mean you as a tiger?”

He turned, taking a deep breath before he spoke. “Are you sure? It can be,” he searched for the word, “intimidating. We’re much bigger than actual tigers. And I won’t be able to talk to you.”

“I’m sure. I want to see you. If you want me to eventually be able to say those words to you.”

“You mean that you love me?”

“Yes. Those words,” she swallowed down her panic at the very thought, “then shouldn’t they come from the mouth of a woman who has seen you in all your forms?”

Egan shrugged. He couldn’t argue with her logic, though he wondered if she was truly ready for such a thing. “If you think you’re ready, I can. But I’m not sure if it’s a good idea.”

“I’m ready. I promise.”

Egan nodded. He undressed quickly, folding his clothes neatly beside him on the ground and laying his hiking boots on top. Her eyes trailed down his naked body and he caught her gaze, winking at her when he did. She blushed prettily, yanking her eyes back to his face and trying to ignore the bronzed, chiseled chest that beckoned to her. It was a struggle.

Holding his hands in front of him, he watched her face as he shifted. He willed his body to shift slowly, giving her ample time to adjust to each new change before the next one came. The pain this caused was excruciating, but Egan held fast, gritting his teeth and bearing the pain.

Cambria gasped as his hands slowly moved, fashioning themselves into paws while they simultaneously sprouted short, orange and white hair. She watched in awe as the tiger took over the human flesh, the dramatic change inching up his arms slowly.

Cambria noticed that his feet were also changing, tightening and curling beneath themselves until they formed massive paws. When he’d changed all the way to his knees, he dropped down onto all fours. His knee joints reversed, bending back painfully as his legs became rear legs and the direction of the joint changed accordingly.

Egan was breathing hard, the pain evident on his face. He looked at Cambria, trying to keep his expression neutral. “Are you okay?” he asked

“Yes. I’m fine.”

“Good,” he ground out. He was losing control. The effort to lengthen his shift was too much and he finally let go. In an instant, the rest of his body changed, forcing a roar of pain from Egan as cells splits and altered violently.

Still, Cambria held his gaze, watching as the last of Egan’s face disappeared into the visage of a giant tiger. Egan shuddered, shaking himself a bit to cast off the last of the pain. He stood, eyes locked on Cambria as she sat there, arms wrapped tightly around her legs, which were pulled up to her chest.

“Can I touch you?” she asked, but then realized that he could no longer speak.

She stood, her steps slow and hesitant. Egan bowed his head and lowered it to the ground, his mighty paws crossed in front of him.

Cambria closed the space between them slowly, taking deep breaths as she went. Trying to remain calm, she reminded herself over and over that it was Egan, and not some strange animal after her. In the back of her mind, everything that had been drilled into her head was trying to come to the surface. She pushed those thoughts away, rejecting the ignorant things she’d been taught and holding onto what she knew to be fact.

She knew that Egan hadn’t once harmed her.

She knew that he had protected her when the battle had erupted.

And she knew that he loved her, beyond reason and without cause.

One foot in front of the other, she moved forward until she was standing between is front paws. He didn’t move, but she could hear his steady breath and a low, even purring.

Hand trembling slightly, she reached out to him. She grabbed his ear between two fingers, gently rubbing back and forth and taking in the feel of his coat. It was coarser than she’d expected, but it was exactly the color she envisioned it would be.

Her heart pounded so forcefully that her throat ached. She took a calming breath, trying to get herself under control. Repeating her mantra that it was only Egan, she trailed her fingers over the length of his face, smoothing her thumb over his brow bone and using her nails to scratch the hair along his nose. His eyes closed briefly and she made a mental note to ask him if that had felt particularly good.

Cambria touched his nose lightly. It felt odd, almost like a cat’s nose but not quite. She wondered when she’d touched a cat’s nose, but it had been too long ago for her to remember.

She grabbed his face in both hands, resting her forehead on his for a moment, breathing in the scent of him. She couldn’t see or smell the Egan she knew, but somehow, she knew he was in there. That this tiger was the man who had saved her from certain death; the man who had taken her from the compound and opened her eyes to what it was liked to be loved and respected and not treated like a burden or lesser than.

The sky was starting to turn gray and gold, and a chill was creeping into the air. Cambria released Egan’s, stepping to the side and running her hand along his back, over his hip before sliding her hand down to the end of his tail.

He looked back at her, then at his back.

“You want me to ride you?” she asked.

His head lowered and raised, looking very much like he was shaking his head “yes”.

“I can’t do that, I’ll hurt you.”

Egan rolled his eyes visibly and Cambria had to laugh. It was the oddest expression to see on the face of a tiger, but it was proof that he retained his humanness, even when in the shape of a tiger. She relented, scrambling gracelessly onto his back before straddling him. Egan stood, the motion almost unseating Cambria. He turned over his shoulder again and somehow Cambria knew that he meant to hold on tight.

She reached down, grabbing his loose scruff and holding on tightly. Egan turned towards the valley below, still glowing a soft gold as the sun disappeared almost completely. He picked his way down the rocks, careful not to fling Cambria off his back as he went. The bison continued to graze, unaware that he was slinking down the hill towards them. When his paws touched the valley floor, he crouched low and crept towards them. Cambria had never been so close to a bison. She was in awe of their size and the flat, brown color of their coats.

There was a large bull grazing on the edge of the herd, several yards away from the group. He looked up, enormous brown eye looking at them for a split second before he realized that there was a predator among them. When he saw Egan, he bellowed, turning to flee and starting the others running away. Egan gave them a head start before he went after them, startling Cambria in the process. He wasn’t trying to cause a stampede, so he gave them plenty of leeway. Cambria watched the entire scene unfold, in awe of the beauty of the creatures before her, and the one beneath her.

Before long, Egan stopped and turned back the way they’d come. The sky was starting to darken now, and there was a bite to the air that hadn’t been there before. Egan began to run back through the valley towards the campsite, lengthening his stride and picking up speed. The wind whipped through Cambria’s hair, which flew around her face haphazardly. Her breathing sped up, her excitement growing.

When he got to the base of the hill, he leaped onto the first boulder and onto the next, giving no more than a moment’s rest between each boulder before jumping on the next one. The final leap was the largest. Cambria saw what was before them and plastered herself to his back, wrapping her legs and arms around him and holding on for dear life. Powerful back legs propelled them into the air and onto the final boulder.

Egan walked back to where they’d started, lying down once more to let Cambria slide off his back and onto solid ground again. Cambria’s legs were unsteady, so she reached out to put her hand on Egan to hold herself up. When the feeling passed, she stepped away, scratching him behind the ear before returning to her rock. She sat down, chin on her knees while she watched him. It was a lot to absorb and Cambria was a little overcome with all she’d experienced.

Egan changed back to a human, the transformation moving much more quickly than the first. In human form once more, he dressed quickly before going to Cambria, sitting behind her once more and wrapping himself around her. She trembled softly but otherwise gave no indication of how she was feeling.  He kissed the top of her head and held her, letting her sit in silence and waiting for her to speak.

 

HAPTER ELEVEN

 

 

Encircled in his embrace, Cambria finally quit trembling.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “I knew I shouldn’t have done that.”

“No. It’s all right. I just never expected to see you like that, or to be completely unafraid. The only shifter I had ever seen before was in the woods when I first met Laskin. And that was so frightening I passed out.”

She pressed herself against him, her cheek burrowed into his chest, head under his chin. She felt safer in his arms than she ever imagined she would, much safer than any man before him. Cambria chuckled under her breath at the thought.

“What?”

“I was just thinking that I felt safer in your arms than any man before you. But then I realized, no man before you ever held me like this.”

“Never?”

“No. It’s not like I have a lot of experience. But the men I was with would leave shortly after. We were just in it for the sex, there was no talk of love.”

Egan smiled but didn’t point out to her that she’d all but said she loved him just then. Not in so many words, but that was by far the closest she had come.

They talked for a while, with Egan listening intently to both the things she said and those that she’d left out. She is so guarded about her past, driven by years of conditioning to keep as much about herself private as possible. Egan kept his mouth shut, letting her go on as long as she was willing to talk. He’d learned that asking her something when she was opening up was the quickest way to shut her down and send her back into brooding silence.

He was shocked when she brought up Laskin.

“Laskin asked me how far I was willing to go for the cause if kidnapping Grace didn’t flush your brother and his wife out.”

“What do you mean?” He kicked himself mentally for asking, but the statement was disarming.

“He wanted me to use sex to get to the shifters. I think he was talking about you, specifically.” She laughed softly. “Wouldn’t it be funny to see his face now?”

Egan kissed her neck, pulling her closer and holding on for dear life. She might be able to laugh about the things that Laskin had proposed, but one thing was very clear to Egan: there was no danger that was too great for Laskin to send her into without worrying about her safety.

He breathed slowly, not allowing his anger to build. But it was obvious that Laskin had only seen Cambria as an asset and not a person. Egan wasn’t surprised; Laskin had always judged people on what he could gain from them. But on some level, Egan had hoped that he’d cared for Cambria, at least a little.

The fact that Laskin was willing to ask her to use her body to get to Egan spoke volumes for how little Laskin had cared for her. Asking her to do such a thing put her in danger she could never anticipate. And her naiveté put her in even more danger. He doubted Laskin would have put forth any effort to extract her before sending his goons in to kill Egan and his family. She would have likely died in the crossfire. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, so he tried to push it aside. Laskin was dead and that past was behind them. Pretty soon, the fuss over what had happened at the compound would die down and Egan would be able to take her back home with him.

He didn’t know where home was going to be, but he knew all that mattered was that Cambria was with him. Even if he had to leave his brother and their family behind, he would only ever be a plane ride away, and that was nothing. Maybe they would even go back to Canada and live in the family home they’d left behind. It seemed like an eternity ago, when it hadn’t been that long at all. He was certain Cambria would love Canada, but if she didn’t, wherever she wanted to be was good enough for him.

“If you could live anywhere, where would you live?” he asked, suddenly curious about her answer.

“I guess Montana would be nice. I like mountains and wide open spaces and there seems to be both. I don’t really know, though. This is the first time I’ve ever been out of Florida.” She stopped for a second, her silence hanging heavily on the air. “At least I think this is my first time outside of Florida. I don’t remember ever leaving but it feels wrong saying it. I can’t really explain it.”

“Maybe you traveled when you were younger.”

“I doubt it. My parents didn’t even let me out where the neighbors could see me. I don’t think they were the type to take family vacations.”

Egan didn’t know what to say. His heart ached for the little girl that Cambria had been, feeling so hated and abused by her own family. He kissed the top of her head, trying to comfort her while she struggled to come to grips with the shitty life she’d been handed. But, through all of it she’d endured, she had somehow come out nearly unscathed. She had a good heart and she was strong.

“I don’t know how you did it,” he said.

“Did what?”

“Went through all that hell and still came out of it so strong and so sweet.”

“No one has an easy life, Egan. We all struggle.”

“I don’t think most people would have come out of it as well as you. You’ve spent almost nineteen years being been abused and brainwashed and yet you’re able to overcome it. It speaks to how strong you really are.”

Cambria leaned back and looked him in the eye. “You’ve done pretty well for yourself, haven’t you?”

“My parents died in a car accident that turned out not to be an accident at all. They were murdered for standing up for the rights of shifters and humans to love each other and live together in peace. But, they left my brother a large inheritance and he raised me when they died. He’s a good man, always has been. I’ve had it easy compared to you.”

“How old were you when they died?”

“I was twelve. It was rough for a long time. But we moved on and managed to make it on our own.”

“Were they nice?”

Her question tore at his heart. He couldn’t wrap his head around someone even needing to ask such a thing, but he knew that Cambria didn’t know anything different from the hell that had been her life. He longed to hold her again, to hide her away from the pain in the world and protect her. If he could keep her from ever feeling pain again, he would do whatever it took.

“They were the best parents anyone could have asked for. I wish you had met them.”

“Me too.” She sighed heavily, looking up at the sky as the darkness came and the stars began to come out one by one. “I can’t talk about this anymore right now.”

“I understand. Do you want something more to eat? I’m going to have to make a supply run tomorrow morning. If you have anything specific you want, write it down and I’ll make sure to get it.”

“Can’t I go with you?”

“No. You’re safer here. The news will eventually get a hold of a picture of you, and they’ll be looking for you or the two of us. A single man in the woods this time of year is an everyday occurrence and no one will give me a second glance.”

“Okay.” She grimaced at the thought, but she knew he was right. Plus, he’d be faster without her. “I can wash our clothes while you’re gone, maybe clean up a little around here.” She looked around the campsite and laughed at her own joke. It would take her an hour at most to straighten out and clean everything. She’d probably be bored the rest of the day, but she’d manage.

“I’ll grab a book for you if you want.”

“That would be nice, but it won’t do me any good while you’re gone.” She elbowed him in the ribs playfully.

“I know, but it’s something to look forward to.”

“How long will we have to stay here?”

“I don’t know, maybe another week or two. I’ll find a newspaper when I get to town and see if they’re still looking for you. If they’re not, we’ll wait another week and it should be safe by then. If they’re still looking, we might have stay for a few more weeks and come up with a plan to get out of the states until everything has died down.”

“If they only want me for questioning, wouldn’t they just ask me questions over the phone and let me go?”

Egan sighed. She was smart and strong, but she was incredibly naïve.

“They don’t want you just for questioning. Even if that’s what they say, I can guarantee that isn’t the case. I’m sure more than just Laskin died in that fight. It’s possible that many of the men that you lived with are dead, or at the very least in jail. All it takes is for one person to point the finger at you and you’re suddenly wanted.” He grabbed her hands in his and held them tight. “There’s the thing with Grace too. Grace doesn’t know I came to find you, or that you’re not really a bad person. If she fingered you in her kidnapping, you’ll be wanted for an accessory.”

Cambria gasped. She hadn’t considered that. “But I was against it the entire time.”

“It doesn’t matter. They’ll want to know why you didn’t just help her escape. It will be hard to explain your side of it. I have to talk to my brother, but my phone doesn’t have a signal out here. We’ll need to get you a lawyer and clear your name. It might take some time.”

“I can’t afford a lawyer.”

“Money isn’t an issue. It never has been. I just don’t know how things are going right now. It’s possible that we can go back, explain that Laskin took you when you were a child and raised you on the compound and that you didn’t have a choice. With the right judge and the right lawyer, that might work. You might even walk out of the police station being questioned and released. It really depends on so many things. Until I talk to my brother, I don’t really know what we need to do.”

“What if they want to charge me for it and throw me in jail?” Cambria was starting to panic. She couldn’t be locked up somewhere again. She’d escaped her family’s clutches, but jail would be just as bad. The thought of being trapped like that again sent heartbeat soaring. “I didn’t do anything. I didn’t want her there and I sure didn’t kidnap her. That was all Tom and Laskin. And Gary, but he was trying to convince that poor woman to be his wife.”

“I know,” he stroked her cheek. “I know that you weren’t involved. But you weren’t being held prisoner. It’s going to take a lot to convince the jury that you were just as much a victim as Grace was.”

Cambria bowed her head. “No one forced me to live there, though. I wanted to. And I wanted to fight the shifters.”

“I know. But that’s not who you are, and even though no one forced you to live there, they’d been filling your head with these lies since you were a child. And you were abused extensively before that. Anyone with half a brain can see that you’re not responsible for any of this.”

A single tear slid down her cheek. “But you’re right. I could have let Grace go. But they would have just killed her or caught her again.”

“And you would have put your own life in danger in the process. You did what you could, and I’m sure even Grace understands that. We’ll explain it to her and my family and they’ll help you. They’re not going to just throw you to the wolves.”

Cambria nodded, but she was terrified. She wasn’t onboard with the kidnapping and had been very vocal about it. But would that be enough to keep her out of jail? “What if we just run?”

Egan’s expression softened.  “Oh Cambria. I know you’re scared. I promise, I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

“But how can you be sure?”

“You just have to trust me.” He tilted her chin up and looked into her eyes. “Can you trust me?”

She didn’t answer for a moment, and Egan had about given up on a response when she finally said, “I’ll try.”

“Fair enough. Maybe someday it will come a little easier. But considering where you’ve come from, I’ll take it.” Egan took her hand in his, giving her a reassuring squeeze as they walked through the campsite. “Now. Let’s figure out what supplies we need so I can leave at first light.”

“Wouldn’t it be faster if you shifted and went tonight then hiked back tomorrow?”

“It would, but I’m not going to do that. I don’t want to leave you here alone at night. Not many people venture this way, and there aren’t many predators in these woods. But I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you while I was gone.”

“I can take care of myself, you know.”

“That’s why I know I can leave you alone during the day. At night is a completely different story. It’s not just predators I worry about. The temperature plummets at time. It’s always better to have two bodies together than one alone when that happens.”

Her elbow connected with his hip and he laughed. “Not just for the obvious reasons, but for actual warmth.”

“Sure, that’s what you meant.” She cast a sidelong glance at him before she threw back her head and laughed. The sound was music to Egan’s ears. Cambria had opened up so much since the first night. The transformation was amazing. Gone was the suspicious woman who trusted no one. He hadn’t seen her look over her shoulder in a few days. The longer they were out here, the more she seemed to relax.

He knew it would take a while before she felt that way when they left the woods, but for now, everything was exactly as it should be. He rummaged through his sack and pulled out a small pen and paper. He handed it to Cambria. “Write down anything you think you might want and I’ll get as much of it as I can.”

Cambria held the pen in her hand, staring down at the paper for a moment. She didn’t speak and she didn’t write anything down. She bit her lip and Egan knew immediately what the issue was. He wanted to kick himself, he felt like such an ass. She’d all but told him that she’d never been to school, yet it had never occurred to him. That was twice now he’d said something stupid and probably made her feel stupid.

Gently, he took the pen and paper from her. “You tell me what we need and I’ll write it down. I have a horrible memory.”

She smiled at him, knowing full well that he was saving her the embarrassment of admitting that she didn’t know how to read or write. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “I can read a little, but it takes me forever. And I can’t write.”

The shame was evident on her face and Egan ached for her. “You didn’t go to school, so it makes sense and you told me that so no worries. My bad memory isn’t your problem.” He winked at her.

He handed her the lantern and followed close behind her as she listed their needs, using the light from the lantern to see as he wrote. She listed off mostly of food, but also included a few comfort items he wouldn’t have thought to get on his own. When they were done going through everything, they worked to remove their clothes and other supplies from their packs and into the tent. Egan would carry both packs, taking only a canteen of water for himself and eating in town. He stuffed some cash and his cell phone into the smaller bag and then put the smaller bag inside the larger one before zipping it up.

“There. Now I can leave at first light and be back before sunset.”

“Hopefully it will be warm enough to clean some of our clothes in the stream while I wait for you.”

“Or you can relax and just enjoy the day,” Egan said. “Maybe you’ll be too exhausted to do much more than sleep.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her softly. She moaned into his mouth and he deepened their kiss. Fingers threaded through her hair as he pulled her closer.

She pulled away, a brazen expression on her face. “And why would I be that tired?” she asked. Her voice was filled with a lightheartedness that he’d never heard before.

“I don’t know how to tell you, maybe I can just show you.” He led her towards the tent, unzipping it and letting her go in first before following her and zipping it up tight behind them.

*

Cambria lay on the pallet of sleeping bags beneath her, arms encircling his neck and pulling him down with her. She kissed him hungrily, boldly tasting him and exploring the heat of his mouth. He returned her kisses two-fold, hungrily seeking out her warmth over and over again. He rested his weight on his elbows, fingers running through her hair and tugging on her soft tendrils as they kissed.

Egan took his time, drawing out each kiss and making it last. It was early in the evening, with the dark lasting nearly twelve hours this time of year. The sun had just set and they had all night. He didn’t want to leave her alone on the mountain, even for a few hours, but he knew it was the right thing to do. Still, knowing that he wouldn’t see her for half the day made him want to linger, cherishing every touch as if it would be their last.

Cambria moved to pull Egan’s shirt over his head, but he stopped her. “Not yet,” he whispered into her mouth. He broke away, sliding her shirt over her head and smiling when he discovered she wasn’t wearing anything beneath it. She arched an eyebrow at him defiantly.

“Why should I wear a bra when it’s just the two of us?”

“By that logic, why wear clothes at all?” He bent down and kissed her neck, enjoying the feel of her as she held him tightly in her arms.

“You’re right. When you get back, maybe I’ll have thrown away all your clothes and you can be my sex slave.”

Her throat tickled when he laughed heartily into her neck. “Aren’t I already?”

She shrugged. “Probably.”

He grabbed her hands in his, raising her arms above her head and pinning them down onto the floor behind her. He watched her naked breasts heave as she breathed beneath him. Her eyes were soft, her swollen lips slack with longing. He knew if he checked that she would be ready for him, but he wasn’t letting her off the hook that easily. As if to punctuate his thoughts, she arched her back, pressing her hips against his and closing her eyes with the pleasure that simple contact brought her. 

She was more than ready.

Placing both wrists in one of his large hands, Egan kept her hands above her head, using his free hand to stroke from her collar bone, down the valley between her breasts and over her flat belly. She held her breath with anticipation when he neared her breast, but he skirted around the more sensitive areas, leaving her wanting for more.

He dipped his hand into the front waistband of her jeans and grabbed a handful of fabric, pulling her up from the ground to grind against him. She moaned, his fingers mere inches from the heat of her. Their very presence teasing her into a frenzy. He was so close and her body ached for her, but still he made her wait. Unbuttoning her jeans, he slid them down and off, taking her panties with them. She now lay completely naked beneath him, her hands still clutched in his above her head.

He rolled to the side, pinning her legs down with one of his. Over the last week, he’d learned that Cambria was an impatient lover, using her wiles and her body to push him over the edge when he wanted to linger. This time, she wouldn’t wrap her legs around him and beg him to forgo lovemaking. Not tonight. Tonight, she was going to know the strength of an orgasm that was hours in the making. He was going to show her what he was made of.

She struggled a little, drawing his attention away from his plans. But one look at her face told him all he needed to know: she wasn’t afraid, just eager.

“Not tonight. Tonight I’m going to take my sweet time.”

She groaned, eliciting a soft chuckle from Egan. She wasn’t even slightly patient. He stroked her hair, pulling the thick, chocolate strands away from her face and admiring how they shone, even in the dim light of the lantern.

“You’re beautiful.” His voice was breathless, barely above a whisper. He kissed her again, softly taking her lower lip in his teeth and tugging.

“Egan please,” she was already writhing beneath him, her body begging him to give in and take her right then.

“No. I want to show you what you’ve been missing.” His kissed her jaw then moved down her body, planting a tender kiss every few inches as he worked his way through dips and gentle swells.

With his free hand, he moved over her stomach and slid his hand between her legs. She was hot. She opened her legs to him, pushing against his hand in passionate agony. He searched through her folds until he found the tiny nub. Fingertip circling the tiny nub, he gripped it between his thumb and forefinger, pulling softly and letting it slip from his grasp before searching it out again. Cambria choked on her breath, the pleasure of his touch overwhelming.

“Do you like that?” he knew the answer, but he wanted to hear her say it.

“Yes,” she licked her lips and swallowed heavily. “Yes I do.” She kept her eyes closed, her head rolled back to the side. Biting her lip, she moaned softly as he toyed with her.

His own need was pressing insistently against the inside of his jeans. He distracted himself by capturing one pert breast in his mouth, drawing on the nipple roughly with his tongue while his fingers worked between her legs. She was in a frenzy now, pushing frantically against his hand with her hips and whispering his name over and over, pleading for release. Egan could tell she was getting close, so he backed off, letting the tension drift away slightly to keep her from going over the edge before he was ready for her to. He ran his hand across her pelvis and over her hip, squeezing her ass in his hand.

He released her, smiling when her eyes flew open at the abrupt end of contact. “Good night, Cambria,” he teased.

“What? No.”

He threw his shirt over his head and slipped out of his pants, lowering himself on top of her. “Why not?” He arched his eyebrow playfully, but he didn’t relent.

“Egan, I want you. Please.”

“You do?” He was having too much fun. Cambria punched him lightly in the arm.

“Dammit Egan, you know I want you. Please. I’m begging you.” She pushed against him again, smiling wickedly when she felt his erection against her. She surprised him, knocking him off balance and rolling. Pinned beneath her, she moved until she was hovering above him, her body teasing him with her heat.

“Now who’s in control?”

“Don’t fool yourself, my love. I’ve always been under your control. You have absolute power over me.” He sucked in a breath as she slid onto him, willing his body to be patient. She might have the upper-hand, but he still had plans for her.

Cambria lowered herself until she took him fully inside her, giving him an impish look when she did. She began to move, slowly at first. But her body was already too ready, forcing her to increase the speed of her thrusting. Egan grabbed her hips in his large hands, slowing her movements and forcing her to take her time.

Undeterred by him, she continued pushing against him, clenching her muscles around him and watching his face as he struggled to maintain control. She grabbed her own breast, squeezing and squishing them together, letting her head fall back as the pleasures overwhelmed her.

The heat built within him, but he held on. He was enjoying the show as he watched her use him to bring herself closer to orgasm. Gradually he softened his hold on her, letting her move faster and faster on his shaft, working him into a frenzy while she chased her own pleasure.

Without warning she screamed out, her body starting to convulse as the orgasm overtook her quickly. He watched her for a moment, delighting in her wild abandon as she rode him. When he couldn’t hold back anymore, he released himself, his heat spilling into her as it had so many times over the last week. He called out to her and she met him where he lay, kissing his lips hungrily and cutting off his cries with her mouth.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. They held onto each other for dear life, riding wave after wave of pleasure until their bodies finally tired. Cambria collapsed on top of him, her body damp, breath coming in quick gasps as she fought to catch her breath. Egan wrapped his arms tightly around her. She rested her head on his shoulder, tangled up in him. She didn’t bother to move off of him, and Egan delighted in the feel of her heat surrounding him as they both began drifting towards sleep.

Egan reached over and pulled the other sleeping bag on top of them, protecting them both from the cold that would seep into the tent as the night wore on. Cambria nuzzled his neck and her breathing slowed along with her heartbeat. Her voice was soft as she whispered to him an instant before she fell asleep. Egan could’ve sworn she said I love you.

***

The sky was starting to brighten with the first light of day when Egan quietly let himself out of the tent and headed down the trail. Cambria was sleeping peacefully and he didn’t want to wake her. He gave one last look at the campsite as it disappeared behind him. With any luck, he would make good time and be back by midafternoon.

He jogged where he could, enjoying the feel of his muscles as they stretched out beneath him. After so many solid days of rain and spending so much time in the cramped tent, Egan’s body was stiff and a little sore. Each step felt better and the miles passed quickly beneath his feet.

Going into town had the advantage of also being mostly downhill, which made the journey faster. He made it to the road much faster than he thought he would. But he still had almost two miles to go before he got to town. The rental car they’d left behind was gone, either stolen by someone who saw an opportunity or towed away after being abandoned. Egan was pleased that whoever had found it didn’t think to look for them in the woods, instead making the logical assumption that they’d hitchhiked their way back into town.

Egan decided to jog his way into town, saving as much time as possible on the downhill portions of his trek so that he would return to Cambria sooner. Already, he missed her horribly and wished he’d brought her with him.  It was dangerous and there was the possibility that someone would see her, but something in the back of his mind told him it didn’t matter. He should have brought her anyway.

He was tempted to turn around and go back when the town came into view. He was so close, and would be in and out of the convenience store at the edge of town in no time if he just hurried. Then he could get back to Cambria and the anxiety he felt leaving her behind would be gone. The door chimed as Egan opened it, announcing his presence to the loan cashier at the front counter.

They greeted each other and Egan made a beeline for the camping section. As much as Cambria had complained about the MREs, they were the best source of sustenance in their current situation and traveled well. Like her, he couldn’t wait to get home and have a hot meal. But that would have to wait. He dug his cell phone out, turning it on and slipping it into his pocket while it booted up. On the shelf was a solar powered phone charger. Egan put it into his basket, along with the food and the rest of the items on the list.

He strolled to the perishable foods, grabbing a few things to take back to Cambria. He wanted to celebrate with her, though what he wasn’t sure. She’d opened up so much since he’d first found her, and he was looking forward to getting to know her more and more as she shook off the weight of her past and found herself within all of the lies she’d been told over the years.

Grabbing a few chocolate bars and a two premade deli sandwiches wrapped in paper, he looked around to see if there was anything else that caught his eye. The sun was warm today, but the air still held a chill from the night before. If he packed the perishable food at the bottom of his bag it would stay cold until he returned, and they could enjoy a meal that wasn’t freeze-dried.

The phone buzzed in his pocket, signaling that he had multiple missed calls and text messages. He was pulling his phone out of his pocket when the clerk came around the corner of the aisle.

“Have we met before?” the man asked. His brow was furrowed and Egan could tell the man was wracking his brain, trying to figure out how he they might know each other.

“No. I’m not from around here.”

“No, I’m sure of it. I’ve seen your face before.”

Egan almost laughed. He hadn’t shaved in a week and he imagined that most disheveled long-term hikers started looking the same after a while.

The clerk snapped his fingers and his eyes lit up. “I’ve got it! Your brother is looking for you. He was here yesterday afternoon and I saw him showing your picture around at the diner down the road. Oh man, you should call him. He’s really worried.”

Egan didn’t doubt that, but he wondered why Sable would come looking for him. “Was he alone?”

“Yeah. He said you and your sister disappeared and he was looking for you both.”

Egan thought that that was strange, and wondered why Sable would leave his wife and child behind to look for Egan. “I’ll call him now. Thank you.”

Egan pulled out his phone, rolling his eyes at the massive number of texts and voicemails he’d received. Almost all of them were from Sable. He dialed the phone and Sable picked up on the first right.

“Hey it’s Egan.”

“Holy shit Egan, where are you?”

“In the woods. I wanted to tell you, but she was in danger and I needed some time to think. Where are you? I need to explain the situation with Grace. She didn’t have any part in it and I don’t want her going to jail. Is that why you’re here looking for me?”

“Where? I’m at our home in Florida. I haven’t left because I was hoping you would turn up and I didn’t want to leave you behind.”

“No, this guy is telling me that my brother was here looking for me. Did you send someone?”

“Of course not. I knew you were after your fated mate. I wish you’d come to me for help, but I knew that you would figure it out. Where are you?”

“The Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma. Hold on.”

Egan motioned to the clerk, who had gone back to his counter when Egan called his brother. “Did that man tell you his name?”

“Oh yes. Hold on, he gave me his phone number too. I almost didn’t take it, but he was pretty adamant.” The clerk fished his wallet out of his pocket and searched through the jumble of wadded papers and folded business cards. “Here it is.” He handed the card over to Egan, who scanned it for a moment before reality dawned on him. It was Tom.

“Egan what’s going on?” Sable asked in his ear.

“Did any of Laskin’s men escape?”

“Yes, two of them, but we don’t know who they are for certain. Grace said there was a man named Tom that kidnapped her, but she didn’t know if that was his real name.”

“It is. At least it’s the name he gave to the man at this store.”

“Just take the girl and run then. Come home and we’ll fix this.”

“I can’t. I left her in the woods for her own safety. I have to go. I have to figure out where Tom is and stop him.”

“Hold on. Grace wants to talk to you.”

Egan groaned. He apologized to the clerk, leaving the basket behind and heading out the door and back up the road.

Grace’s voice was soft and ragged when she got on the line. “Egan. You have to save her. This man Tom, he’s Satan himself in the flesh. If you don’t get to her before he does, there’s no telling what he’ll do to her.”

“I will. Grace, she’s so sorry for what happened.”

“Tell her not to be. I know she had no choice and she was scared. She’s young, practically a child. I didn’t expect her to stand up to all those people and put her own life in danger. No one blames her. Egan, find her and bring her back home. We’ll figure everything else out together.”

Egan thanked her and hung up. He was nearly to the trailhead, but part of him wondered if it was too late. Tom was in town the day before, looking for them. Could he have found her already? Egan hoped not. The refuge was vast, but only a small portion of it was completely off-limits to the public. It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that this is exactly where Egan and Cambria would have gone.

When Egan reached the tree line, he took off at a fast pace, pushing his body up the hill and onto the outcropping of boulders. Just over a week before, he and Cambria had stood in this very place, but it seemed like an eternity had passed. His body screamed in pain as he shifted, pushing himself to transform as quickly as possible. His clothes tore and fell to the ground beneath him, though his pack remained on his back. As soon as he completed the shift, he took off into the forest at full-speed. His massive paws tore up the distance, bounding up steep hill and over boulders and streams more quickly than his human body could have.

But his progress was still infuriatingly slow and he couldn’t help but think that it was already too late.

 

CHAPTER 12

 

Cambria spread the last of their clothes on a rock, looking around the campsite and admiring her work. She was starting to get the hang of this mountain woman thing, working through supplies and cleaning every scrap of clothing she’d found. Only the clothes she was wearing were left, but she’d only put those on a few hours ago when she’d woken up long after Egan had left for town, and they were still clean.

Still, it had been awhile since the sun was out for so long and so warm against her skin. It could start raining again tonight and who knew when she would get another chance like this. Throwing caution to the wind and feeling a bit giddy, she stripped out of her clothes and set them on an unused rock new the streams edge. The stream moved quickly here, the water rushing down the hill so quickly that Cambria had yet to notice any fish or other wildlife trying to swim in its rapid current.

At only a foot or two in depth, it was enough for her to get clean without worrying about being swept downstream to the waterfall that spilled over the edge and into the valley. She tested the water with the tip of her toes, shivering when the cold crept up her foot and ankle. It was bearable, but Cambria would definitely say it was brisk. She decided to go for it, stepping in and sitting quickly before she changed her mind. The water came up just over her breasts and was much colder than Cambria had first thought. She squealed in delight then laughed at the childlike outburst.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so free.

Cambria dipped her hands into the water, scooping up a small handful of sand and working it over her skin. They hadn’t brought soap of any kind, and Cambria longed for the coconut scented shampoo from their last hotel. But the sand was doing its work, scrubbing the dirt and grime from her work around the campsite away. She dipped her head back, soaking her hair before using the sand again, using it to scrub her scalp clean before dipping her entire head back into the water. She used her fingers to work the tiny granules out of her hair.

Cambria was shocked by how clean she felt already, but she was loath to get out of the water. Her body had grown used to the temperature, and the water rushing around her was invigorating. She found herself lost in thought, amazed by how much her life had changed so quickly. Cambria wouldn’t admit it to Egan, but she was falling in love with him. If she was honest with herself, it had started on the drive from Florida to Oklahoma, though she couldn’t pinpoint the exact time.

At some point, she’d gone from wanting to get away from him as quickly as possible to enjoying his company. Maybe that wasn’t how most people defined love, but for Cambria, it was better than any relationship she’d ever been in.

Her hair was starting to dry and her skin was wrinkling when she finally dragged herself out of the stream and onto the rock where she’d left her cloths. The flat boulder was sun-warmed, the wind crisp but not chilly. Her skin dried quickly and she began dressing slowly. She had just pulled her pants on when she heard a rustling down the trail. Running her fingers through her hair to quickly work out the tangles, she watched the trail with a smile on her face. Egan was back so soon, though she really had no idea what time he’d left. She’d been fast asleep.

When he stepped from the trees she waved. “Hey! I’m glad you’re here already!” she called, jumping up and picking her way around the rocky trail in her bare feet.

He looked up and Cambria froze.

It wasn’t Egan. Her heart stopped and her body screamed at her to run when she looked into Tom’s familiar face. She weighed her options, wondering how quickly she could get down into the valley when she saw the gun in his hand.

“Cambria, it’s so good to see you. I was worried about you.”

He smiled warmly, but the expression never reached his eyes. There was nothing genuine about him in any way, but there was something more. The Tom she knew had been self-centered and egotistical, but Cambria saw something else that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

Tom closed the distance between them and Cambria stood her ground, hoping that Egan was somewhere, lurking in the shadows and ready to spring into action at any moment. Tom kept the gun trained on her even though his smile remained.

Cambria’s mouth was dry and she had to swallow twice before she could speak. “Put the gun away, Tom. He’s not here.”

Tom blinked at her and looked down into his hand. He seemed surprised to see the gun there and quickly put it in the holster. He took in her bare feet, her wet hair and the campsite around them.

“Where are your shoes?” he asked, as if that was the most pressing matter.

“I was bathing. I’m here alone, Tom. I’ve been hiding here all week, trying to lose him so I could get back to the compound.”

Tom nodded, as if that made all the sense in the world. Cambria wracked her brain, trying to remember if Egan had left anything of his behind to give her away. Aside from his clothes, which looked exactly like hers, just bigger, there was nothing that screamed Egan in the campsite.

“He’s close, Cammy. We have to leave.”

Cammy? Cambria shook her head. Tom seemed off, and she wasn’t about to go anywhere with him. “I’m fine on my own. There’s no one here but me. And you, but you’re the first person I’ve seen in a long time.”

He pulled the gun out again, his eyes wide and his expression frantic. “No!” he shouted at her. “We have to leave now. We’re all that’s left and we have to rebuild the army.” He was pointing the gun at her stomach, his hand trembling almost imperceptibly.

Cambria put her hands up. “Okay. It’s okay. Let me get my things and we’ll go.” She plastered a glowing smile on her face and hoped he believed her when she said, “I’m so happy you came for me. I thought I’d been forgotten.”

“You should have known that I would never let you go, Cammy. I’ve been searching for you since the day after the battle. It took so long, but I finally found you.”

“How did you know where to look in the woods?” she asked. She was killing time, hoping that Egan would show up any minute and rescued her.

“It was easy. I checked the roster for campers. When I didn’t see you on there, I knew you would go where no one was allowed. I found a place on the map that looked like a place I would set up a long-term camp and I started hiking.”

Cambria groaned inwardly. Basically, it was dumb luck that had brought him to her. She couldn’t believe that he’d managed to trace them all the way here and somehow found her in the woods. But he was there, gun still held out in front of him, though it was pointing to the ground now.

“If we’re going to leave I need to get my things, put my boots on. I can’t walk all the way out without shoes.”

He nodded. Eyeing her tent he asked, “Is there a canteen in there?”

“Yes. I have one.” Carefully, she walked to the tree beside the tent, standing on her tiptoes and retrieving it from where it hung. “You can fill it while I get my boots on and get my coat.” She tossed it to him and he caught it, dropping the gun in the process. The gun went off with a loud boom that echoed off the rocks before fading; a tree several feet from her splintered when the bullet lodged into a low branch.

“Shit,” Tom said under his breath, engaging the safety before shoving the gun back into the holster.

He unscrewed the cap and took the canteen to the stream. Cambria wanted to make a run for it, but she was outgunned and she knew that she couldn’t outrun him barefoot. Instead, she ducked into the tent and grabbed her jacket. She looked over her shoulder to make sure he wasn’t watching her and reached into a hidden pocket in the tent, pulling out the money she’d stolen from Egan and placing it back in the lining of her jacket. For now, she was going to have to go with Tom to save her life. But if they got off the mountain before Egan rescued her, she would have money to run when the opportunity presented itself.

It wasn’t the best-laid plan, but at the moment, it was all she had.

She pulled the jacket on and zipped it up before pulling her last clean pair of socks out of the bag and putting them on. She called to Tom, who was squatting beside the stream, his head tilted quizzically as he watched the stream rush by.

“Can you hand me my boots, please?”

He stood abruptly, searching the area before his eyes landed on the boots. He hurried to hand them to her, beaming like a proud child when he did. Cambria wondered again what was going on in the man’s head while she laced her sturdy boots. He helped her up, pointing out a trail that ran perpendicular to the one he’d appeared from.

“That trail should lead directly to my car. Well, not my car, but my car now.”

Cambria didn’t know what to make of his statement, but she wasn’t going to ask. The more he talked, the more she realized that his grasp on sanity was tenuous at best. She wasn’t going to push him over the edge by asking the wrong question.

She started down the trail, taking her time and letting Tom follow her. Having him behind her was unnerving, but Egan would likely come from the back when he did. It would be easier for him to deal with Tom if she wasn’t in the way. But a look at the sun’s position confirmed what she’d been denying. Even though it felt like an eternity since she woke up, the truth was that Egan would probably be reaching town right about now, if he’d gotten that far already. It would be hours before he returned to the campsite. By the time he did, they’d be long gone and she’d be in the car with Tom.

She shuddered at the thought. She couldn’t let herself get into the car with Tom, no matter what. She had to think of something, some way to stall him and give Egan a chance to catch up. Cambria looked at the ground ahead of her, carefully picking her way over the tree roots and rocks sticking up in their way. The trail was steep, her steps jarring as she struggled to stay upright. Tom was not far behind her, scanning the trees and waiting for Egan to appear out of the surrounding forest.

Suddenly coming up with a plan, Cambria let her toe catch on a rock, pitching her forward and onto the ground. She slid down the hill a ways before she came to a stop, laying on the ground and gasping as if she couldn’t catch her breath.

Tom ran to her, careful not to tumble down the trail and join her. He ran his hands over her, his face worried and his words frantic. “Are you hurt? Oh my gosh, Cammy, you have to be careful.” His hand ran over her ankle and she sucked in her breath. The ankle wasn’t injured, but she hoped he would fall for it. “Let me see it. Maybe it’s just twisted and you can walk it off.”

“No don’t!” she shouted, then softened her voice, “You should never remove a boot from a sprained ankle when you have to walk out. I’ll be alright, I’ll just have to push through the pain.”

She looked up at him, her expression tough with just a hint of unshed tears. He helped her up and she put on a good show, limping along slowly and wincing now and then. Tom held her hand, steadying her as she went along. Her skin crawled where he touched her, but she gritted her teeth against the revulsion she felt. With his shooting hand helping her along, he wasn’t able to draw his gun. It might not be enough, but at the very least, it would slow them down significantly.

They walked several miles before coming to a clearing. Tom stopped her, indicating that she should rest on the large boulder for a moment. “We’re close. I can hear the highway in the distance. If my calculations are correct, the ranger’s station is about another mile or so ahead, which is where I’ve parked my car. We’re almost there, then we’ll be on our way.”

Cambria forced the bile down that rose in her throat. They were so far from the campsite and she hadn’t been able to leave any clue as to their direction. She hoped that Egan was a good tracker. If he weren't, all the time in the world wouldn’t help him find her. The wilderness was vast and there was so much ground to cover.

Tom looked at Cambria, his expression odd as he watched her. She was afraid he was going to ask her what she was thinking about, and she didn’t know what to say. But Tom, ever the narcissist had never wondered what another person was feeling before in his life and he wasn’t about to start now.

“How did you get away from him?”

“Excuse me?” She pretended not to hear him to buy time so she could come up with a good story.

“How did you get away from the shifter? How is it possible that he hasn’t found you yet?”

Cambria shrugged. “He went to sleep in the hotel room in town. I was handcuffed to him. I picked the lock and handcuffed him to the bed while he was sleeping and I ran.” She wanted to kick herself. It was a horrible story, but it’s the first thing that came to mind. Tom was right, how would she have evaded the man for days in the wilderness?

Tom looked at her again, his expression guarded. When he finally spoke, his words surprised her. “Kiss me.”

He waited expectantly, but didn’t move towards her. Her stomach flip flopped inside her and bile rose again. The last thing she wanted to do was kiss Tom, but she knew her life was at stake. He didn’t believe her, and she was going to have to prove to him that she wasn’t lying. She leaned forward, planting a chaste kiss on his lips before pulling away. He grabbed the back of her head, pulling her in and kissing her roughly. He jammed his tongue into her mouth, causing her to gag reflexively.

He pulled her away by her hair and backhanded her across the face. The force of the blow knocked her off the rock and onto the ground. “You lie!” he declared, his face wild with rage.

“No, I’m not. I promise. I don’t want him. I want you.”

“I don’t believe you, but it doesn’t matter. I will have you as I once did. You will learn to love it or not, I don’t really care which. But you will be mine.” He yanked her roughly to her feet and shoved her down the trail ahead of him. She tried to hold onto the fake limp, but he was pushing her too fast. She either walked normal or risked falling for real.

Tom didn’t mention her miraculous recovery and Cambria wondered for the umpteenth time if he was completely broken from reality. Already, his rage had faded and he was pushing her along with urgency but seemed to have lost sight of his purpose.

Ahead of them a large structure peeked through the treetops. They were almost to the ranger’s station and Tom’s car. With any luck there would be enough people there that she could get away, but she wouldn’t count on it. Her luck so far had been lousy. And Tom was crazy. She wouldn’t put it past him to kill anyone that got in his way, no matter the consequences.

Cambria’s suspicions were confirmed when they crested the small hill and the parking lot came into view. There were several cars, some parked and some just pulling in. A man got out of a minivan, stretching enthusiastically before opening a side door and letting the family dog and his young daughter out of the vehicle.

Holding tight to her elbow, Tom’s voice was low and menacing. “Make a scene and I’ll kill that little girl and her dog. You’ll go with me anyway, and that man will bury his child. You don’t want that, do you?”

Cambria shook her head, too afraid to speak.

“Good girl. Now hurry up. We need to get as far away from this place as possible before your shifter finds out that you’ve gone missing.”

*

Egan’s heart sank when he reached the campsite, but he hadn’t been expecting to find her there. The part of him that felt that pull towards her had been growing with each step he took. She was gone, and from the feel of it, she’d been gone for quite some time.

Egan shifted back to human form quickly, grabbing some clean clothes from the rocks where they lay and pulling them on hastily. He shoved an extra set of clothes into his back pack and headed into the tent, surprised to find the cash that Cambria had stashed missing. He mulled that over while he checked out the rest of the campsite, looking for anything she might have left to give him a clue of the directions they went.

From the looks of it, Cambria had been finishing up laundry when Tom had interrupted her. He didn’t see signs of a struggle, but that didn’t mean much. If Tom were armed, which he likely was, she would have known better than to fight him. Or she left of her own free will and that’s why there was no sign of struggle. Egan roared in anger at the thought, and at himself for doubting her. She’d changed so much in the past few days, and she shared an enormous part of herself with him. He couldn’t believe that the woman she’d been since they came to these woods was all a lie. He wouldn’t believe it. She had transformed under his care and she was exactly the woman he believed her to be.

But how had she had time to grab the money if Tom had forced her out of the campsite? Egan didn’t know, but he suspected that Cambria hadn’t overcome as much of her prejudices as Egan thought. Her entire life, hatred for his kind had been drilled into her. Even the strongest had to fight to overcome the prejudices of their upbringing.

What would make Cambria so different from the rest? The answer was nothing, of course. She was no different and her miraculous transformation over the last week could have been her way of gaining his trust and disarming him. Maybe she’d been playing him this entire time, just buying time until she could escape. He slammed his fist on the ground, angrily denying that this could be the case. He had been there with her, every night. No one could fake that kind of intimacy.

Still, the doubt lingered.

The campsite was clean, with nothing but her canteen missing from the supplies. And the money. Everything else was still where he’d left it that very morning. Wherever they went, they obviously didn’t intend to stay in the wilderness overnight.

Egan pulled out his phone, desperate to find a signal to call Sable for help. But there was none, not even enough to send a text message. Furious, he shoved the phone back in his pocket and moved through the camp until he spotted their tracks leaving the campsite. Maybe bringing her to the wilderness hadn’t been the genius plan he’d thought it was.

Egan traced her steps around the soft dirt, tracking where she and Tom had walked, and following their paths to a narrow trail almost hidden by the low branches across it. He pushed through the trees and the trail opened up. Their prints were clear here, and the prints said that Cambria was leading the way.

Egan tried to push down his hurt and rage. Maybe there was a logical explanation, though he couldn’t come up with one. But Cambria had opened up to him and admitted that she was happier than she’d ever been. Despite what it looked like, he had to believe that she’d been truthful when she said those things.

He headed down the hill, taking the trail as quickly as he could without falling ass over teakettle down the path. He longed to shift and cover the distance faster, but this area of the park was close to the day use section and would be heavily traveled. He couldn’t find Cambria and save her-if she even need saving-if he was busy answering questions and dealing with authorities. Without access to the news since he’d first saved Cambria, he had no idea what the current attitude was towards tiger shifters and he couldn’t chance it.

Frustrated, heartbroken and kicking himself for ever leaving her behind, he pushed on, carefully stepping around obstacles as he went. The ground in front of him was disturbed, and Egan crouched low to investigate. At first glance, it looked like a struggle, but the rock sticking up in the path where the dirt was first disturbed suggested that someone had fallen. Since Cambria was leading the way, Egan had no doubt that it was her.

The footprints beyond showed someone limping heavily. Egan’s hopes were lifted. If she was limping along, that meant that they were moving much slower than they would be otherwise. Maybe he could catch them after all. He pushed faster, sliding down the steep trail at times, but somehow managing to keep his feet beneath him. When he came to a small clearing and saw the roof of the ranger’s station in the distance he breathed a sigh of relief. He was so close.

The trail leveled out somewhat here, and Egan took the opportunity to run through the clearing and up a small slope. He burst out of the woods and saw the parking lot beyond. Several cars were leaving, but many remained. He slowed his pace somewhat, trying not to appear frantic as he came out of the woods and made his way into the parking lot.

A young family milled about outside the visitor center, reading the information plaques displaying the many trails while the young girl clutched her dog’s leash with both hands. Egan approach them first, smiling at the father when the man turned.

“Hi. I was hoping you could help me.”

The man smiled back.

“I’m looking for a woman. About this tall,” he held his hand up, showing about five feet high, “with brown curly hair. She’s with my friend. He’s tall.”

The men shook his head no. “I haven’t seen anyone like that since we’ve been here, but we just arrived about fifteen minute ago-”

“Daddy, I saw her. And the man too.” The little girl turned to Egan. “The lady was really pretty and she smiled at me when I waved. The man was mean and I could hear him saying mean things to her. He pushed her into the car and he slammed the door. You’re not supposed to slam doors. It’s rude.”

Egan nodded to the little girl, his face mirroring the serious expression on hers. “You’re right, you should never slam doors. Did you see which way it went or what color the car was?”

“It went that way,” she pointed to the north entrance for the interstate. “The car was brown. Like mud. It was an ugly car.”

“Carrie, don’t say ugly,” her mother admonished.

The father was staring at Egan, and Egan thanked them before turning to leave.

“Do you need to call someone? Is she going to be all right?” The father was no fool and had seen right through the situation.

“No. I’ve got it under control. Carrie, you’re the best!” The little girl beamed with pride as Egan ran towards the road, pulling out his cellphone and dialing Sable.

“Sable, Tom’s got her. I need your help.”

“Anything.”

“I need a car and I need money. I don’t know where they went, but I know they headed north. They could be going anywhere, but I don’t think they’re going back to Florida.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I don’t know, just a gut feeling.”

“Your gut is what got you to her in the first place. If your gut says north, that’s the way I would go.” He covered the phone, speaking low to someone in the room before coming back on the line.

“Where are you exactly, Egan?”

Egan relayed the address to his brother, who repeated it to whoever was in the room with him.

“Alright, we’ve got it. We’ll send a car over as quickly as we can and I’ll transfer funds for you. Egan?”

“Yeah?” Egan was wound up tight, the minutes ticking in the back of his head as Cambria got further and further away from him.

“Try not to worry. You found her once before and you’ll find her again. Just trust your instincts and be careful. Tom is insane. From what Grace has said, he’s not playing with a full deck of cards.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of. I’m just hoping that Cambria will be safe until I can find her.”

He said goodbye to his brother, hanging up and trying to keep it together while he waited for the car to show up. He made his way to the farthest end of the parking lot, watching the highway and hoping against hope that any moment would find Cambria alone in a mud colored car, racing back to him. She was strong, and Egan wanted to believe that she could take care of herself until he sound them. But Tom was driven by insanity. The way Grace described him, the man had suffered a serious break from reality. Seeing his beloved Laskin was a shifter probably pushed the man completely over the edge. No, Cambria was in grave danger, whether she wanted to believe it or not.

Less than twenty minutes later, two cars pulled into the parking lot. A large man in his forties stepped out of the first car and tossed the keys to Egan.

“Man you look just like your father. Good luck, Egan.” The man handed Egan a gun wrapped in a holster.

“It’s loaded, extra rounds in the glove box. It’s an unregistered .357. If you have to use it, wipe it clean and toss it.” The man hugged Egan quickly, and wishing him well before stepping back. Egan thanked the man and jumped into the car, speeding away and jumping on the interstate as the man got into the second car.

The highway stretched before him, heading north keeping his eyes open for a brown sedan. He slammed his fist into the dashboard, angry at the entire situation. He had missed them by a mere fifteen minutes, and now he was less than forty minutes behind them with no way of knowing if he was on the right track. If he had just pushed a little harder, or if the store clerk had spoken up sooner, he would have had them.

Egan shoved the gas pedal to the floor as he debased himself internally. Over and over he had felt like leaving her was the wrong thing to do, yet he’d gone ahead with it anyway. If he hadn’t been so arrogant, so sure that logic trumped his instincts. He’d been so wrong and now Tom had Cambria. Whether that was entirely against her will or not was yet to be seen, but it didn’t matter. Gone was that contentment he’d felt while Cambria was near. Once again, he was filled with that soul-searing pain that compelled him to find her.

Even if she’d left of her own free will, he couldn’t stop himself from going after her if he’d wanted to. In the back of his mind something nagged at him, some information that might help him find the pair of them. Whatever it was drifted away every time he tried to focus on it. He pushed whatever it was out of his mind, focusing on his inner compass.  He’d found her once before, he knew he could find her again. He just hoped it wasn’t too late when he did.

Egan turned on the radio, trying to distract himself from his thoughts. A breaking news update broke through the music as he drove, catching his interest when he reached to change the station.

“Authorities are searching for a man wanted for questioning in the murder and attempted murder of two rest stop clerks along the Interstate; one in Florida and one in Alabama. Britney Channing was nearly killed when the suspect gave her large doses of horse tranquilizer. James Davis was found murdered and locked in the exterior bathroom at a remote gas station near the Alabama-Mississippi border.

"The man is described as a medium build, Caucasian man in his late thirties, with blond hair and blue eyes. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call their local sheriff’s office or dial 9-1-1.”

Egan cursed under his breath. Not only was she with Tom but he was wanted by the police. If the man decided to go out shooting, Cambria was likely to get caught in the crossfire. He had to find them before the police did.

 

CHAPTER 13

 

Tom clicked off the radio and laughed out loud. The sound filled the car and sent shivers down Cambria’s spine. There was no joy in the sound, which was almost maniacal. Yet he continued laughing as if he’d just heard the most amusing joke.

“Late thirties? Are they insane? I don’t look a day over twenty-five.”

“You killed those people?”

“Only one. You heard the report. That stupid bitch Britney lived. When this is all over, I’ll have to find her and finish the job. I can’t have any witnesses milling about, waiting to lock me up and throw away the key.” Tom’s hand slid across the front seat and wrapped her hand up in his. “We don’t need that kind of negativity following us.”

He squeezed her hand and she smiled weakly, wishing he would just let go. Her skin crawled where he touched her, but she couldn’t pull her hand away. Any indication on her part that she wasn’t interested would surely be a death sentence. If she wanted to get out of this alive, she had to play along with Tom’s crazy game.

Tom started talking nonstop, all nonsense about his plans for world domination and how he was going to singlehandedly rebuild the resistance against the shifters. “Laskin was a fool and made so many mistakes. This time, we’ll be victorious because what we needed all along was a strong leader.”

He didn’t take a breath or give any indication that he expected her to contribute to the conversation at all, so Cambria remained silent. She watched out the window, trying to keep track of their progress and hoping for an opportunity to escape.

But then what? Even if she did escape, where would she go? She didn’t know how to get ahold of Egan and she had no transportation. She was stuck and alone. It was likely that Tom would do the same as Egan, stopping only at the most remote rest stops so that even if she escaped, he was free to hunt her down without an audience.

Cambria fought back tears as they passed the sign welcoming them to Kansas. She had no idea where they were going, but it didn’t matter. The way she was feeling, he might as well kill her now.

“Don’t you think so, Cammy?”

Cambria wanted to rip his eyes out every time he called her that, but she had bigger problems. She had been brooding and had missed his question entirely. But he expected an answer from her, and she knew he would lose it if she answered wrong.

“I think whatever you want to do is best. We’ve all seen what happens when I follow my ideas.” She managed to blush, hoping that what she said fit. “It’s best if you tell me what you want and I’ll follow you.”

For good measure she reached out and squeezed his as she smiled at him. He didn’t speak for an eternity and Cambria braced herself for his anger.

“You’re right. If I’m going to be a good leader, the first thing I need to do is quit asking other people what I should do.” He tweaked her nose affectionately. “Thank you, Sweetheart. You really are my soul mate.”

Cambria managed to nod and smile. “So where are we going?” she ventured.

“I don’t know. I figured I would drive until I figured something out. We can’t go back home, that’s for sure.”

“What about Montana? There’s a lot of wide-open spaces and we can build a compound like our old one. Except it will be bigger and better.”

He seemed to mull it over a bit and Cambria continued, trying to plant the seed. If she could get Tom to take them to Montana, maybe Egan would remember what she’d said.

“Land is cheap there and I’m sure I can hack into the bank account that Laskin had.”

“There was an account? I didn’t know about it.”

“He didn’t tell anyone, but I saw him access it on his computer a few times. He didn’t think I could see him, but I watched him. It will only take me a few tries to get the password right. Once I do that, I’m sure you can take that money and use it to build your army.”

“Our army.”

Cambria nodded. “Of course. Our army.”

Tom seemed content as he drove. His expression softened and he slowed the car down somewhat as he relaxed.

“Montana then?”

“I would love to go to Montana.”

“Then that’s where we’ll head.”

Cambria sat back, wondering what she was going to do now. She’d convinced him to head for Montana, but it was at least three states away. What if Egan didn’t find her soon? What if he forgot about Montana? Then what would she do? “I’m really tired Tom. Maybe I can sleep awhile and I’ll drive when you’re ready to rest.”

“I don’t need sleep,” he indicated a prescription bottle in the cup holder. “I have enough of those babies to get me wherever we need to go.” He playfully punched her thigh, “Besides, if I let a woman drive, what kind of man would I be? You go to sleep. I’ll wake you up when I’m ready to stop.”

Cambria managed a weak smile and leaned against the window. She pulled the hood of her jacket over the side of her face so he couldn’t see her. She didn’t sleep. Careful to keep her body still and her breathing slow, Cambria watched the road go by, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

Tom talked to himself from the driver’s seat as if he and a second Tom were the only two passengers in the car. When he answered himself, Cambria’s stomach turned. She’d missed all the signs over the last year, but there was something really wrong with this man. The more he talked, the more she wanted to shriek at him to shut up, just shut up. But then he would just kill her and be done with it. Or worse. And she would never see Egan again.

She did her level best to focus on Egan and the life they’d shared together recently. Nothing could drown out what was going on a few feet away, but it was a start. She tried to imagine what Egan would do, what he would tell her in a moment like this. She knew that he believed in her and she was going to hold onto that knowledge.

I can do this, she thought, and she believed it. She’d been through so much and she knew she could overcome this.

The motion of the car was starting to lull her to sleep when she sat up suddenly, clasping her hands over her mouth and retching loudly.

“Cammy what’s wrong?” Tom was frantic.

“I’m feeling sick I—" She covered her mouth again and gagged forcefully. “I need to stop, I’m going to—"

Tom didn’t need to hear another word. His face turned green as he turned the car roughly, catching the off-ramp at the last possible second and cutting off a car or two in the process. He pulled into the first gas station, a large travel center that was extremely busy. Cambria was expecting threats of some sort when he unlocked the door.

“Get out! Don’t come back until you’re done. I don’t want vomit in my car.” He threw a wad of dollar bills across the seat. “Buy some mouthwash and something to make you feel better.”

She nodded and fled towards the bathrooms, hands clasped over her mouth as she went. Cambria shoved the door to the women’s restroom open and went inside. As soon as the door closed she stopped, looking around the room to see if anyone else was in the bathrooms.  She was alone. A large mirror stood behind a low row of sinks. Cambria searched the vanity shelf that ran the length of it, hoping to find something to write on the mirror with. There was nothing.

She went to the first trash can, pulling the lid off and digging through the discarded paper towels. She was almost to the bottom of the can when she saw an eyeliner pencil with a broken cap discarded with the rest of the rubbish. She grabbed it, sighing with relief when she twisted the bottom and there was plenty of the soft makeup pen left. She stood on her tiptoes and stopped. What good would leaving the message in the women’s bathroom do? Egan wouldn’t check the women’s bathroom.

Cambria pushed the door open a crack and peered out. The hallway was empty. She left the women’s bathroom, slipping through the door of the men’s bathroom and looking under the stall doors to see if anyone was in there. She was alone, for now.

She went to the mirror, which was smaller and less pristine than the one in the other restroom. Working quickly, she drew two simple mountains. At the base of the mountains she drew a stick-figure woman and a stick-figure man with a tiger-striped shirt. She heard footsteps in the hallway and a man cough. She didn’t have time to make the picture perfect, and even with all the time in the world, she doubted she could do better. She’d never been much of an artist.

Cambria left the men’s bathroom, running headlong into the man she’d heard in the hallway. “Oops. Wrong bathroom. Did you see the door to the lady’s room?”

The bewildered man pointed towards the women’s restroom and she went inside again, heading straight for an empty stall. She used the facilities while she pulled a hundred dollar bill out of the money carefully hidden in the lining of her jacket. She zipped the inner pocket back up and left the stall, washing her hands and splashing water on her face over and over until her hair was somewhat damp, sticking out haphazardly in several places.

She rushed out into the store, grabbing a travel bottle of mouthwash and some pink liquid that claimed to cure any stomach problems. She also grabbed a handful of energy bars that would fit easily in her pockets. They had been on the road for hours and Tom had yet to stop for food or anything to drink. She was starving and whatever he was on was obviously suppressing his appetite. She opened one of the bars and devoured it, saving the wrapper and walking up to get in line at the checkout counter. She shoved the rest of the bars in her pockets while the shelves still blocked her from Tom’s line of sight.

When the last of the customers was done paying for their purchases, Cambria stepped up to the register. The man behind the counter had a kind face. A little older than Cambria, photos of his family were taped up in every possible area behind the counter. He greeted her when she laid her purchases on the counter.

“I have ten of those bars in my pocket and I ate one.”

The man smiled at her and rang up eleven miniature power bars along with the medicine, mouthwash and two bottles of water. Cambria resisted the urge to look out the window to see if Tom was watching. She didn’t want him to get suspicious.

“That will be $10.91,” he said.

Cambria pulled eleven dollars out of the wad of cash that Tom had thrown at her, flattening it and laying it on top of the hundred dollar bill. The man saw the bill and looked at her but she kept her eyes on the counter.

“There’s going to be a man looking for me. It’s very important that he see what’s in the bathroom. Please don’t call the police and don’t watch me leave. The man I’m with will kill me. A man named Egan will come looking for me and he needs to use the men’s room when he does.”

“I understand.” The man handed back her change and held her hand for a split second while he dropped the change into her palm. “Be strong.”

She didn’t say another word, grabbing her bag and pulling first the pink medicine out as she walked. She opened the bottle and stepped outside, stopping to take a big swig out of the bottle before she opened the mouthwash. She threw her trash into the can outside the store and moved towards the car slowly. Tilting her head back, she poured some mouthwash into her mouth and swished it around before spitting into the gravel. She got into the car and smiled at Tom, keeping her movements slow to suggest she was still nauseous.

“You look like shit,” he ground out, his voice angry.

“I’m sorry. I think that shifter fed me something poisonous or something. I’m in a lot of pain.”

Tom’s expression softened and he reached out to brush her damp hair out of her face. The instant his skin touched the wet tendrils he grimaced and pulled away, wiping his hand on his pants while he spoke. “This is why we have to eradicate them. What if I didn’t find you and rescue you? Then you’d be in the forest, sick as a dog and maybe dying. And now you’re going to be fine.”

“I’m still feeling ill. Maybe a hospital would be a good—"

“No!” he screamed at her, and then he stopped. “No. No hospitals. You’re going to be all right. I’m here now and I’ll take care of you; if you feel sick again, tell me and I’ll stop again. Just don’t forget to take your mouthwash with you. I can’t stand the smell of vomit.”

Cambria would have laughed at Tom if the situation weren't so dire. He had to be the worst caretaker in the history of time. But she wasn’t surprised that he refused to take her to the hospital. It had been worth a shot, but Cambria hadn’t believed it would work for a second.  Still, this plan was working better than she anticipated.

Cambria waited several more miles before she began gagging again. This time, Tom pulled towards the off-ramp without being asked, pulling into another gas station and waiting in the vehicle.

The bathroom at this gas station was unisex, which made it a little easier on Cambria. She locked the door behind herself and turned the water on high to drown out the sound of her movements. Pulling the eyeliner pen out, she drew the same picture, hoping that Egan could figure out what she meant. She would give anything to be able to write a simple message, but this would have to do.

Someone pounded on the door and Cambria about jumped out of her skin.

“Cambria. I need to take a piss, hurry up!”

It was Tom. Cambria grabbed a paper towel off the sink and quickly wiped away the picture, leaving large smudges of black across the mirror. She flushed the toilet and splashed water on her face before staggering to the door loudly. She pulled the mouthwash bottle out of her pocket and opened it, putting it to her lips as she opened the door and taking a sip so she didn’t have to make eye contact with Tom. He shoved her into the bathroom and locked the door behind her, leaving her with a mouth full of mint and a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Stay here. I don’t want you running off without me.”

She nodded, swishing the liquid in her mouth before spitting it into the seat. Tom dropped his pants and a steady stream poured out of him when he turned suddenly and grabbed her by the back of her hair. He pulled her to him, kissing her violently while he stood there. Cambria steadied herself on the edge of the sink, trying not to lose her balance as he held her roughly to him. For the first time since that first heave almost an hour ago, she actually felt like throwing up. The smell of hot urine rose up from the toilet and assaulted her senses.

Could he not smell that? She wondered. She gagged a little and Tom shoved her away from him. She tripped on her own feet and fell onto the filthy floor.

“I swear if you throw up on me or in my mouth I’ll shoot you where you stand, you stupid bitch.”

Cambria nodded, picking herself up off the ground and pretending to lean against the wall for support so she could stay as far away from him as the tiny space allowed. Tom put his hands behind his head, pants still around his ankles and shook his hips. He laughed at the expression on her face and bent down to pick his pants up.

“I know you can’t wait to get your hands on it again. He missed you. But not now. Later, when you’re not so foul.” He sneered with the last words and Cambria wondered how she’d ever found this man attractive.

He was repulsive.

Cambria breathed a sigh of relief when Tom finished washing his hands and asked her to do the same before leading her to the car. She might not have gotten her message on this mirror, but at least she hadn’t been raped on the filthy bathroom floor. Had she not feigned sickness, Tom probably wouldn’t have thought anything of taking her right there. She shuddered at the thought. She had to get away from him, and she had to come up with a “plan B”. She couldn’t bank on Egan finding her in time and she didn’t want to end up rotting in a landfill somewhere.

If she wanted out, she was going to have to make a way to get out herself. And she was going to have to start by getting Tom to trust that she wasn’t going to run away.

She slid into the car and buckled her seat belt.

“How are you feeling?” Tom asked, though his voice held no hint of concern.

“I’m starting to feel better. Hopefully, that will last.”

“Well, try to keep your shit under control long enough for us to get out of Kansas. We should have hit the Colorado border by now.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll do my best.”

Tom grunted and threw the car into gear, all but pealing out of the graveled lot and back onto the road. He entered the highway already at the speed limit, pushing the car until it was just under five miles above the posted speed limit. Cambria laid her head against the window, trying to get some rest while she could. Her next opportunity to flee could come at a moment’s notice, and she was exhausted.

 

CHAPTER 14

 

Tom shook Cambria awake roughly. She looked around, blinking her surroundings into focus before her gaze landed on Tom. Cambria nearly jumped in shock, but managed to catch herself in time.

“This our last stop for a while so you need to go to the bathroom and grab a light snack if your stomach can handle it.”

Cambria looked at the clock, shocked to see that it was only four in the afternoon. “Where are we?” She was trying to milk the sleepy passenger bit for all it was worth to give herself ample time to take in her surroundings. Luckily, Tom fell for it.

“We’re at the border of Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska.”

“All three states touch?” Cambria didn’t have to fake surprise. US Geography was on the long list of things that she’d never learned.

“They do here. Get out. We don’t have much time. I want to hit Wyoming by nightfall. We only have a small corner of Colorado to drive through. If you hurry, we can make it.”

Cambria didn’t know what happened at dark, but she didn’t like the sound in his voice. He had a plan; she just didn’t know what it was. She got out of the car, heading straight for the external bathrooms. Tom was on her heels, passing her when she stopped at the women’s door and shouldering his way into the men’s bathroom.

A rest stop employee was in the bathroom cleaning after the lunch time rush. The girl was the same age as Cambria, if not younger. She smiled shyly at Cambria as she finished wiping down the last of the bathroom mirrors. Cambria walked up to her, slipping another hundred dollar bill she’d pulled out of her jacket lining at the last stop out of her pocket. She grabbed the girl’s hand, looking into her eyes.

“There’s going to be a man named Egan asking about me. I’m leaving him a message on the mirror. Please don’t erase it and please stay in the bathroom until I’ve left.” Cambria kept her voice soft, hardly above a whisper the entire time she spoke. “The man who has me won’t hesitate to kill you if he suspects anything so please, wait five minutes after I leave the bathroom before you do. Do you understand?”

The girl nodded, her eyes widening when Cambria removed her hand and she saw the money Cambria had left in her palm. Cambria hurriedly drew the same message on this mirror as the last, hoping that Egan would end up at this rest stop. It was a long shot, but he was drawn to her energy so hopefully that led him part of the way there. Luck would have to do the rest.

She walked out of the bathroom at the same time Tom did and she smiled brightly at him, reaching out for his hand. If Tom was surprised by her affection, he hid it well. He squeezed her hand and led her into the convenience store. He sailed down the aisles quickly, loading her down with snack foods and candies before going to the counter to pay. He threw a wad of bills on the counter and ushered Cambria out without waiting for his change, or for them to ring up his purchases.

The cashier who almost as young as the girl in the bathroom, stood with his mouth open, but didn’t say anything. Cambria held her breath, hoping that they would get out the door and to their car without the foolish boy running after them to give Tom his change. Cambria didn’t relax until the pulled out of the lot and back onto the highway without incident. She thanked her lucky stars that nothing bad had happened even as she watched Tom begin to pack away his second candy bar since they’d entered the car.

Cambria timidly reached for the bag of beef jerky she’d purchased, trying to keep Tom’s attention on his snacks. He was already opening a bag of potato chips, alternating bites between it and the chocolate.

She ate in silence, taking slow bites and chewing thoroughly. She wondered what it was that Tom was taking out of the orange prescription bottle, but she couldn’t see the label without touching the bottle. Even if she could, she wouldn’t be able to read it. She slumped in the chair in frustration, violently ripping at her food and washing it down with some cola she’d picked up.

All at once, Tom stopped binging and took a long swig of his highly caffeinated soda. “That’s much better.” He turned and smiled at her, his face sporting several smudges of chocolate and his shirt littered with potato chip crumbs. “I was so hungry.” He rolled his eyes in ecstasy and went back to driving the car. It was almost as if the last five minutes hadn’t happened.

 Tom continued speeding through traffic, careful to keep the speedometer close to the posted limit so he didn’t attract any unwanted attention. Cambria slumped down in her seat, trying to get a little more rest. The car pitching to and fro as he wove in and out of traffic made it nearly impossible to sleep, so she closed her eyes and tried to calm herself. With every mile, Cambria was feeling more and more panicky. The longer she was with Tom, the more certain she was that she wasn’t going to get out of this alive.

She watched the miles go by, wishing she was back at the campsite with Egan. If only she’d gone with him. A single tear slid from beneath her tightly closed eyelid and down her cheek. For one sweet week, life had been good. And now, now it was hell again. The car slowed to a stop and Cambria looked around in surprise. She hadn’t meant to fall to sleep, but it had happened.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“We just crossed into Wyoming. We’re going to bed down here and start fresh in the morning.” He squeezed her thigh and looked into her eyes, licking his lips and raking his gaze down her body crudely. “I could use a little refreshment to get me through the night, if you know what I mean.”

Cambria smiled at him, trying to push back the urge to scream and run. She was going to have to think of something fast. She bit her lip and looked at the zippered front of his jeans. “Sounds good to me. Do you want me to run in and pay for the room?”

“No. I called in a favor. The room is already paid for.”

He slid the car into park in front of the door and stepped out. A small, bulletproof glass window gave customers access to the cashier when the doors were locked for the night. Cambria was surprised to see that it wasn’t quite dark and the doors were already locked tight.

Apparently this wasn’t the best neighborhood. Maybe someone will kidnap me, she thought and laughed aloud at herself. If only.

Tom jumped back into the car and pulled to the end of a long row of single story hotel rooms. He put the car in park and reached behind the seat to get his overnight bag. “Didn’t you bring anything with you?” he asked.

Cambria stared at him. Was he serious? Had he forgotten that he’d removed her from the woods at gunpoint and had barely allowed her time to put on her shoes? “No. I guess I forgot. Sorry,” she said, stumbling over the words and hoping she’d said the right thing.

“It’s no big deal. When we get home to Montana tomorrow, all your clothes will be there. What’s one night?”

His smile sent a chill up her spine. Any doubt that she’d had before that Tom was completely out of his mind faded right then and there. At some point, their entire story had changed for him. Who knew what he would remember upon waking tomorrow, and if he would wake up blaming her for everything that had happened.

Cambria got out of the car, looking around the parking lot and walking slowly towards the hotel room door. Tom shoved the key roughly in the lock and opened the door. A wave of stale cigarette smoke washed over them, but Tom was oblivious. Cambria on the other hand was overcome with nausea.

“Can we open the windows? I want to let some fresh air in.”

Tom handed her his bag and moved to open the windows, grinning broadly as if he’d done something grand for his love. He took two steps towards her, his hands out to cup her cheeks as he leaned in to kiss her.              

“Wait.”

He pulled back, looking at her quizzically. “What’s wrong, my love?”

“I’m so hungry that I feel nauseous. I really need to eat real food or I may throw up again.”

That did the trick. Tom jumped back a few feet dramatically, his face twisted with disgust. “Do you think eating is the right thing to do?”

“I’m not sure. I need to lay down. Maybe you can get me something to eat and bring it back here? I was thinking I could rest up, then eat so I can be ready for you.” She took a step towards him and grabbed his waistband, pulling him closer. She looked into his eyes, her hazel eyes soft with longing.

“I could try to go to bed with you now, I’m just afraid that I’ll get sick again—"

“No! No, that won’t be necessary. What do you want to eat?”

“I didn’t see any of the restaurants when we got here. Is there a taco place nearby? I think I’d like something along those lines. Or maybe a salad.”

“I think I saw something a few miles back that could’ve been a taco shop.”

Cambria licked her lips slowly, pitching her voice low and moaning seductively. “That sounds so delicious.” She winked at him, “Almost as delicious as you.”

Tom gathered up his keys and grabbed his wallet out of the overnight bag. “Lock the door behind me and don’t answer it for anyone, you got that?”

“Of course I won’t. You have a key and I’ll be asleep.”

Tom kissed her forehead. “Get some rest. You’re going to be busy tonight.”

Without another word he was gone, backing quickly out of the parking space and turning right onto the divided two lane highway that ran in front of the hotel. Cambria pressed her face against the glass and watched his taillights disappear.

Cambria slipped out of the hotel room, closing it casually behind her and walking towards the road as nonchalantly as possible. She was still dressed all in black. She hoped that it provided some measure of cover and that darkness came soon. If not, she was going to be screwed.

She reached the gravel path that ran along the road in place of an actual sidewalk and looked forlornly to the left. Tom had gone right for a reason; most of the businesses were located in that direction heading into town. To her left, there were lights, but they were further away. It didn’t matter, she couldn’t risk going the same way as he did.

She went left, pulling the hood of her coat over her head and taking up a light jog. She kept her eyes on the ground in front of her and tried to keep her pace steady. There were several homes and apartment complexes in this area, so a jogger that was running towards traffic wouldn’t be an odd sight in this neighborhood. She didn’t want to draw any attention to herself if she could help it, at least not before she got somewhere with a lot more people.

Tom had mentioned calling in a favor, but he hadn’t been very specific. She didn’t know how many friends he had in this area, or if a friend of a friend had helped him. Regardless, she couldn’t be too careful.

The lights from the distant business were growing closer and Cambria was starting to feel a glimmer of hope. She wasn’t more than a half mile from the nearest business, a small mom and pop burger shop from what she could tell. She heard tires screech and knew without looking that it was Tom. Across the highway, on the other side of a low, concrete barrier he had slammed on his breaks. His face was incredulous and even in the gray light; she could see his rage.

He floored it, spinning the tires and barreling towards the open turn lane almost a quarter of a mile ahead. Even if she ran, she would never make it to the business before he did. She turned around and ran the other direction, heading for a gated apartment complex she had passed minutes before. If she could get there fast enough, she might be able to hop the wrought iron fence and disappear into the complex.

She was so close, pushing herself as hard as she could. Tires shrieked behind her as Tom took the u turn much too fast. Horns blared and tired locked up in an effort to avoid a collision. An engine revved and Cambria pushed harder, grabbing the top of the fence and pulling herself up with all her might. Tom was coming after her, and he wasn’t letting anything get in his way.

 

THE FINAL HAPTER

 

Egan cursed under his breath when the tire iron slipped, slamming his knuckles into the asphalt. He tightened the last of the lug nuts quickly, tossing the blown tire in the trunk and jumping into the car. He checked the time and cursed his bad luck. He was now at least forty-five minutes behind them, if not more. He pulled back into traffic, shoving the accelerator to the floor and praying that there were no cops on the road.

His car ate up mile after mile, but the feeling that he was nearly out of time ran through his mind. Every minute she was with Tom was a minute too long. He’d already wasted so much time, pulling into a gas station that he’d felt compelled to visit. A quick chat with the cashier confirmed that Cambria had indeed been there. The man had even directed him to a message on the bathroom mirror and had given him a partial license plate and description of the vehicle.

But the picture was smudged and hastily drawn. Egan couldn’t make sense of what she was trying to say. If only he’d given her a cellphone he could trace, or any other way of contacting him. But he’d been so sure of his plan, he hadn’t even considered any other alternative.

He slammed his fist into the steering wheel, furious at himself for every misstep. So many “what ifs” were running through his mind that he couldn’t keep up. But the outcome was the same: Cambria was gone, and he didn’t know where she was headed.

Coming up on the border Kansas shared with Colorado and Nebraska, he faced a dilemma. The interstates split several different ways here. The magnetism he felt for her wasn’t an exact science. More than once, he’d taken the wrong exit for a few minutes before realizing that he didn’t feel the drive anymore that came along with her energy. So he would turn around, wasting valuable time retracing his steps just to pick up her trail again.

A large rest area was up ahead, and Egan hoped that this place would yield more clues. He parked haphazardly and jumped out of the car. A young girl walked around the grassy area, using a bucket and a long stick with a sharp point to pick up litter around the grounds. Egan went directly to her, inexplicably drawn to her.

“Miss, can I ask you a question?”

She nodded.

“My name is Egan. Have you seen a woman here, about this tall, brown hair and-”

“She left you a message in the women’s restroom. I made sure no one cleaned it off.” She set her bucket down, leading the way to the exterior bathrooms. She set an “out of order” sign on the door and let him in.

The same crude drawing was on the mirror, though this one wasn’t smudged.

“Did she talk to you?”

“She did. She said that you would come looking for her.”

“Did she say anything else? Anything at all?”

“Not to me, but she was talking to herself. She kept saying “Wyoming” to herself. She held a pencil over the glass but didn’t write. She just drew that picture and left.”

Egan looked at the picture again, realization suddenly dawning on him. They were going to Montana. He was sure of it. She’d mentioned wanting to live in Montana before. But either direction at the split would eventually lead them to Montana, either by way of South Dakota or Wyoming.

“Are you sure she said Wyoming?”

“Yes sir.”

He thanked the girl and ran from the bathroom. With a renewed sense of hope, he entered the highway and went northwest, heading into Colorado on his way to Wyoming. He flipped the visor down to block the low-hanging sun and rummaged through the center consul for a pair of sunglasses. A sign informed him that he was less than one hundred miles from the Wyoming border. He would be there just before nightfall at this rate.

Egan pushed the car harder, willing the miles to go faster as he went. As the miles flew by, he felt her presence more strongly than before. He was close, closer than he had been in some time. He was going to find her. He just hoped that he wouldn’t be too late.

Egan’s phone rang and he hit the speaker button, his brother’s voice filling the car. “Any news?” Sable asked.

“She’s been leaving a trail of breadcrumbs. They’re heading to Montana via Wyoming.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I think she’s trying to tell me something. The other day she told me she’d always wanted to live in Montana. I’m hoping she somehow convinced Tom that Montana was as good a place as any to go. Or it’s just a coincidence.”

“Why do you think that?”

“I don’t know, Sable. There was no sign of a struggle. It was like she just walked out with him. I want to believe that she didn’t, and that the things she told me before she disappeared were true.” Egan took a deep breath before continuing. “But she admitted that Laskin planned to use her to get to me if his plan with Grace backfired. She all but said he expected her to use her body to manipulate me and to get to you.”

“Do you think that’s what happened?”

“I don’t know what to think. I just don’t.”

“Where are you now?”

“I’m about forty miles from the Wyoming border. Every mile I drive, I feel her more strongly than before. She’s here, Sable.”

“What if she doesn’t want to come with you?”

Egan had considered that, and the possibility broke his heart. “I don’t know. I’m starting to think that kidnapping her wasn’t the right plan.”

“If you hadn’t, she’d be in jail now, or possibly even dead.”

“I know. I get that. I just wonder if what I did makes me any better than Laskin, or Tom. I don’t want to be that man. If she comes with me, I want it to be of her own free will.”

“Then why even go after her?”

“Because. If she’s going to stay with Tom, I want it to be of her own free will. If she looks me in the eye and tells me she wants to be with him, I’ll walk away.”

“Can you really do that?”

“I’ll have to.”

Sable was quiet on the other end. Egan was beginning to wonder if his phone had dropped the call when his brother spoke. “You’ve grown up a lot in these last few weeks, little brother. No matter what happens, I’m here for you.”

Egan thanked him, feeling for the first time like his brother saw him as a man and not the scrawny, awkward teen he’d once been. He hung up, focusing on the road and almost rejoicing aloud when he saw that the Wyoming border was now only twenty minutes away at most. The sun was getting closer to the horizon, and Egan pushed ever faster. When the sign welcoming him to Wyoming was visible in the distance, he breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t know how, but he knew that she was so close.

He got off on the first exit after he crossed the state line, leaving the four lane highway for a smaller two lane one. To his left there were houses, with the occasional break for a lingering cattle farm that hadn’t yet made way for progress. On his right, a large bank of brightly lit signs announcing various food establishments illuminated the twilight.

Tires squealed up ahead and Egan watched in disbelief as a brown sedan took a u turn too fast and nearly caused an accident. Drivers honked at him in anger, but the sedan was oblivious, continuing on as if nothing had happened. Ahead of the out of control car, a shadowy figure in all black ran for a large iron gate at the front of an apartment complex.

Cambria! Egan couldn’t be certain, but he’d bet his life that it was her, with Tom hot on her heels. Egan floored it, jumping a curb to get around the slow-moving traffic and barreling towards Tom and the brown sedan. Tom slammed the sedan into the brick wall beside the gate, leaving the car in gear, engine squealing in protest as he chased after Cambria. She was halfway up the fence when he grabbed her by the ankle, yanking her to the ground and screaming in rage.

Egan stopped his car and jumped out, heading straight for Tom. Cambria screamed as he slapped her over and over again, cussing loudly in her face. He straddled her, pinning her arms against her body. She had no way of fighting back.

Egan heard cars behind him, but he was unaware of his surroundings. Even in the near dark, he could see that Tom wasn’t going to stop until he put her in the hospital or worse. In a rage, Egan shifted in mere moments, his body screaming in pain with effort, his tattered clothes falling to the ground around him. He lunged at Tom, ripping him off of Cambria and throwing him against the concrete wall. Tom hit the wall with a thud. He stood up almost immediately, completely unaffected by the blow. Tom advanced on Egan, a sickening smile across his face.

“So we meet again, shifter. And this time, you think you’re going to take my woman?” Tom laughed, but there was no joy in the sound. Cambria still lay on the ground, moaning softly. Otherwise, she was motionless.

Tom ran at Egan, his hand down by his side. He had a gun, but it was still holstered. Egan lunged forward, meeting Tom in the middle and slamming him away with one mighty sweep of his massive paw. This time, Tom took longer to get up. He pulled his gun out as he stood, but he didn’t point it at Egan. Egan looked over his shoulder to see Cambria, trying to get up from the ground.

“I’ll kill her, shifter. I’ll put a bullet right between her eyes and then neither one of us can have her.”

Egan roared, leaping into the air and descending upon Tom. Tom fired a shot as Egan connected with the man, taking him down to the ground. The bullet when wild, lodging itself into the wall. Egan slapped the gun out of Tom’s hand, sending it flying across the gravel and onto the highway. Tom screamed, the anger in his eyes replaced by fear.

Egan reared back, slamming down onto Tom and sinking his teeth into Tom neck. He ripped the tender flesh and the scream died. Tom went limp beneath him, the light in his eyes dying in an instant as his heart pumped a final beat before giving up.

Egan held him down for a moment, making sure he was dead before walking away. He turned to Cambria, and that’s when he noticed the crowd that had gathered. Already, a man was kneeling beside Cambria, holding his shirt against a gash on her head to slow the bleeding. Egan looked around at the stunned faces. He laid down in the gravel, trying to let them know that he wouldn’t hurt them. They all stood there, motionless and in shocked. It took a moment to realize that not one person was moving to help Tom.

Egan went to his car, using it to shield himself as he shifted back to human form and hastily dressed in his only remaining change of clothes. He went to Cambria and the crowd parted, clearing a path for him. He knelt beside her, running his hands over her, trying to convince himself that she was truly there, and alive.

“Egan, I’m okay. Really. It’s just a few bumps and bruises.”

A paramedic pushed his way through the gathered crowd, sitting on the side opposite of Egan. He pulled out a compact flashlight, examining Cambria while his partner brought a stretcher. Egan was surprised they’d gotten there before the police, but the paramedic explained they’d been on their dinner break across the road when Tom had jumped the curb and attempted to kill Cambria with his car.

Grabbing her hand, Egan pulled it gently to his lips and kissed her tenderly before he spoke, ignoring everyone around him when he did. “I was so afraid. When I saw you’d left I thought I had lost you for good. I thought you’d run off with Tom and I was heartbroken and I’m just so glad-”

“Wait. You thought I left willingly with him?”

“Nothing was disturbed and all that was missing was the money you’d taken and I thought-”

“What? That it had all been an act? That I slept with you so that you would believe I was sticking around just so I could leave once Tom found me?”

“Cambria, I—"

“I shared my deepest secrets with you and you thought I’d played you?” She scoffed. “The only thing that got me through the last few hours is that I knew you were coming. I thought you believed in me. I guess I was a fool to think that I actually mattered to you.”

The second paramedic moved in with the stretcher, guiding it beside Cambria. She tried to sit up, but the movement was too much. One of the men pushed her back, placing her hand on the shirt that was now soaked with blood from the gash on her head and instructing her to hold it in place. The two men gently lifted her onto the stretcher, strapping her in before lifting it up and rolling it towards the waiting ambulance.

Egan followed, his eyes never leaving Cambria’s face. She was furious, and no matter what he did, he couldn’t seem to find the words to fix what he’d said.

“Cambria, I’m sorry. I figured out that you were in trouble. I’m here, aren’t I?”

“For yourself,” she spat back. “For that driving need to have me that keeps you up at night. That’s not concern for me, that all about you.”

The stretcher was loaded into the ambulance, with one man climbing in beside Cambria and the other going around to the driver’s side. Egan stopped the man from closing the door.

“I’m going with her.”

“Like hell you are. I’ve spent my life with men that only cared about me for their own selfish reasons. I don’t need any more of that in my life.”

“Cambria, that’s not what happened and you know it.”

The paramedic held up his hand, “Sir, we need to leave. She needs stitches and she’s been badly beaten. I’m sure this can wait.”

Egan shot Cambria another pleading look, but she wasn’t budging. “Fine. If you change your mind, I’ll be back in Florida.” He eyes bored into her when he said, “It’s no good having you unless you want to be with me anyway. I’ll wait for you until the day I die if I have to. But I’ll never stop loving you.”

The paramedic closed the door and rapped on the wall, signaling the okay for the driver to head out to the hospital. Egan turned, stunned to see the crowd still lingering. Didn’t they know he was a dangerous shifter? That he was a barbarian incapable of fitting in with humans?

A man in the front of the crowd stepped forward and Egan braced himself. The man reached out, taking Egan’s hand and shaking it.

“You did good, Son. That man got what he had coming to him.”

Egan was shocked. After years of being treated like some vicious outcasts, this man was actually congratulating him on a job well done. One by one, each of the bystanders acknowledged his bravery, thanking him protecting one of their own from another human.

Egan waited for the police to arrive, giving his statement and leaving his contact information before getting into the car and heading down the road in the direction the ambulance went. Cambria might not want to see him now, but she couldn’t stop him from renting a hotel room for the night and trying again in the morning.

*

Egan sat at the breakfast table, trying to keep his gloomy mood at bay while he watched his nephew playing with his toy cars on the dining room table. In the short amount of time he’d been gone, Morgan had already grown.

Sable had welcomed him back with open arms, making room in their new home for him as he always had. After a week of going to the hospital daily, Cambria had still refused visitors in the hospital. He tried everything, even leaving her a note reiterating that he would wait for her, but he would no longer attempt to force her. He’d been wrong and he knew it.

Even though kidnapping her had ended up saving her life, he’d been a fool to believe that any relationship started in that way could last through the ups and downs. At the first sign of trouble, he’d been so ready to believe that she’d walked away. His accusations had hurt her, and he didn’t blame her for being angry. Not one bit.

The last day he’d gone to see her, he’d been told she’d been released the night before and had already left, leaving no forwarding address. Egan paid her bill in full, leaving the hospital with a broken heart that would never be whole again. A shifter without his fated mate was just a shell of a man after all.

Egan noticed that Morgan chattered ceaselessly, as he always had, but Egan wasn’t listening. His inattention didn’t deter the little boy at all, and he continued on, talking about the treehouse he and his father, Sable were building.

Egan had been home a month, and he’d heard nothing from Cambria. The private investigator he’d hired to try and locate her had come up empty. Cambria had gone off the grid and there was no way for Egan to track her down. But it was just as well. He’d promised he would never again force her to be with him, and he’d meant it. He just wanted to know that she was safe and happy wherever she was so he could have some type of closure.

Though he’d made that promise to himself and to Cambria, Egan still felt magnetism that pulled him towards her energy. But now, it was different and something was preventing him from using that to track her down on his own. Confused and feeling lost, he’d looked into it, poring g over every internet article about fated mates he could get his hands on.

 The only explanation he had found suggested that they were no longer meant to be. There was no mention of how something like that could happen, and Egan could only guess that it would have to be something major. Like telling the woman you love that you didn’t trust her.

But Egan couldn’t accept that. He had to believe that they would be together one day, even if the waiting tore him up inside. So he pushed through his days, throwing his energy into helping his brother and his wife prepare to welcome another addition to their family. Try as he might, Egan just couldn’t get excited about Sable and Olivia’s happiness. Not while he was dead inside and missing Cambria.

A knock at the door yanked him out of his thoughts, but he didn’t move to get it. Sable and Olivia’s house was like a revolving door. Between old friends and new, there was almost always someone coming or going from the house. Egan got up from the table, heading away from the door and into the hallway. He was in no mood for visitors. The new nursery still needed to be painted, and Egan had volunteered for the job to give himself something to do.

“I’ll get it!” Morgan cried, racing for the door eagerly as Egan disappeared around the corner. He had his hand on the stair rail and his foot on the first step when his heart skipped a beat.

“Do you know a man named Egan?” a familiar voice asked.

“Yes. He’s my uncle. He’s here. You should come in.”

“No. I don’t think that’s a good idea, can you get him for me?”

Egan turned back to the dining room, his large frame filling up the doorway that led to the hall behind him. “Egan, there’s a lady here to see you.”

“Thanks, sport. Can you go play outside for a little bit?”

“Sure can!” He ran past them and down the hallway in a flash, letting the back door slam as he bounded down the steps.

Cambria stood on the porch steps. Egan longed to touch her, but he was afraid if he did, she would disappear and prove to be just a dream. She brushed her hair back, revealing the edge the gash that was almost healed. Egan didn’t say a word, just stood there, waiting for her to speak. The last time he’d said what was on his mind, he’d ruined everything.

“You’re a hard man to find, Egan James.” She smiled softly but didn’t move.

Egan wanted to say something clever, anything to make her stay. But his mind was mush and all he could think about was holding her in his arms and never letting go. He took a step towards her and Cambria held up her hand.

“I’ve thought about what you said, and what you wrote. Is it true? If I want to walk away that you won’t hunt me down, and I’m free to go on without fear of being kidnapped again?” Her words hurt, but he couldn’t fault her for feeling like she’d been kidnapped rather than saved. He kicked himself again for not thinking things through and just reacting.

“I’m sorry. I should have talked to you instead of just taking you like that. I’d intended to talk to you, but things just got crazy and…” He stopped, his shoulders sagging slightly. “No excuses. I should have given you a choice and let you have a say, no matter what the circumstances.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Yes. Yes it’s true. I want you as I’ve never wanted anyone or anything in my entire life but only if it’s your choice to stay with me. I’m not going to force you, and I’m not going to chase you.”

“Just like you’re not going to send a private investigator to try and hunt me down.” She said it deadpan, with no inflection in her voice, but there was a twinkle in her eye that said she was hardly mad about that.

“You knew about that?” Egan chuckled.

“Of course I did. How do you think I found you?”

Egan chuckled. So, the man who was touted as “the best” hadn’t failed to find her, he’d just kept the information to himself at her request. “I’ll have to dock his pay.” Egan was joking, but Cambria was suddenly serious.

“I’d give him a raise if I were you. He’s most of the reason I decided to give you, to give us a second chance.” She looked down at her hands, gathering herself for what she had to say next. “He told me about how you paid all my hospital bills and came back a broken man. We talked a lot when he found me last week, and at some point he opened my eyes.”

She crossed her arms, her face scrunching up in defiance before she said, “That doesn’t mean I’m not still upset about you not trusting me. And it doesn’t mean that I’m going to marry you tomorrow just because you think that we’re soul mates. But it does mean that I’m willing to give this a chance, and to see where we go from here.”

Cambria waited, watching the emotions play across his face. She could tell that he was struggling with so much and her heart ached a little for him.

Egan noticed the bag on the porch beside her for the first time. “What’s that?” he asked, pointing to the bag.

“It’s everything I own. I figured if I was going to give us a chance, I should probably move closer than Oklahoma.”

“Is that where you’ve been?”

“Yes. I’ve been at our campsite. You left everything there. All I had to do was bring the food.”

With everything that had happened, Egan totally forgot that he’d left everything the way it was in the woods. He hadn’t been able to think of anything with her gone.

“I’ll have to go back and take care of that. I wasn’t thinking.”

“I already did.”

Egan imagined her, roughing it in the wilderness for weeks alone, and still having the fortitude to hike out of there with what was left of their gear. He was constantly amazed by this women and her strength.

“You’re something else, Cambria. All my life, I’ve never met a woman like you.”

“So are you going to invite me in, or am I going to stand on this porch all day?”

Her question surprised him, but he was elated. It was a small step, but it was a step. He grabbed her bag and led her inside, offering her a seat in the large family room. The north wall had a large sliding glass door and they could see Morgan running around the yard in the sunshine. Cambria sighed heavily as she sat down on the plush sofa.

Taking a chance that she wouldn’t shy away from him, Egan sat beside Cambria. He longed to pull her into his arms, to hold her tight and tell her over and over how much he’d missed her, but he refrained. Now wasn’t the time. She needed time to adjust, and he wasn’t going to push her too fast. He’d already made that mistake once.

Cambria watched Morgan as he laughed at nothing in particular, just simply enjoying the day and being a kid. “What I wouldn’t give to have had the life this little boy has.”

Egan grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently and bringing her knuckles to his lips. He kissed her hand and lingered.  “I would give you that childhood all over again if I could, but money can’t buy everything.”

The door opened and voices drifted into the family room from the kitchen.  “Hello?” a pleasant, female voice called out.

“We’re in here,” Egan replied.

Olivia walked through the doorway moments later, followed closely behind by Egan’s brother Sable. Olivia’s belly was already swelling, the birth of their second child close. Olivia smiled when she saw Cambria, introducing herself with a friendly hug when Cambria stood. Sable followed suit, whispering something into Cambria’s ear that made her smile.

The adults sat down, chatting comfortably as if they’d been friends their entire life. When Egan mentioned Cambria staying close by, Olivia insisted that Cambria stay with them.

“You’ll be over here all the time anyway, you might as well already be here.”

Cambria tried to turn down their generous offer, but Olivia wasn’t prepared to take no for an answer.

“If you don’t want to share a room with Egan, we have a guest room. You’re welcome to stay as long as you like.”

Cambria was overwhelmed by their generosity. She didn’t feel like she deserved such kindness and she said as much.

Olivia waved away her concerns. “Don’t be ridiculous. Egan is happier than he’s been in weeks. You’re good for him. He needs a woman who keeps him on his toes and doesn’t take any crap from him.” She winked at Cambria and laughed at the expression on Egan’s face.

Sable stood, holding his hand out to his wife and helping her from the chair. “Egan, could you show Cambria to her room and give her the grand tour? I’m taking my wife and son out while we still have a few days without a newborn left.” Sable paused, giving Egan a look that was far from subtle. “We’ll be awhile.”

Cambria blushed. She didn’t need him to spell it out. Olivia elbowed her husband in the ribs before calling out to Morgan and saying their goodbyes.

Egan led her up the stairs, giving her a tour of the house and carrying her heavy bag to the spacious guest room. “My room is just through there, so if you ever need me-”

Cambria didn’t let him finish, kissing him passionately and pulling him towards the bed. He fell on top of her, rolling easily to face her while he laid on his side. Egan stroked her face, looking for all the world like he still couldn’t believe she was there.

“I thought I’d lost you,” he admitted.

“You almost did.”

“I’m so sorry.” He meant it. He would give anything to take back what he said, even though he’d never meant to hurt her.

“I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

She pulled him in for another kiss. He groaned at the sweet taste of her after so long. When she broke the kiss, he held her close, fighting back the tears.

“I can’t believe you’re actually here.” His voice caught and he kissed the top of her head and squeezed her even tighter.

She pulled away, hands on his shoulders and pushing him back down onto the bed. She climbed on top of him, straddling his hips and leaning down for another kiss. She didn’t have to tell him what she was after, her passionate kiss said it all.

Cambria pulled her shirt over her head, letting it fall where it may while she unclasped her bra. Egan was pinned beneath her, breath held, large hands holding her hips while he watched her. Her breasts fell heavily from their trappings and Egan couldn’t stop himself from reaching up and tenderly caressing each one in his hands.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said.

She slipped out of the rest of her clothes, pulling at his pants until he raised his hips from the bed and helped her remove them. She unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders.

“You can’t imagine what torture it is to sleep in that tent night after night and smell you without having you near.” She bent down and trailed tender kisses down his chest. She paused, looking up at him and smiling. “I missed you so much.”

Cambria worked her sweet mouth down his chiseled abs, the heat of her causing him to shiver. She didn’t relent, forcing a moan of pleasure from him when she wrapped her long fingers around him and squeezed. He wanted to be inside her, but she took her sweet time with him. She teased him until he was almost frantic with need when she finally lowered herself onto him.

She moved against him quickly, her arousal already nearly out of control. Egan grabbed her breasts, squeezing them while she worked herself into a frenzy. He watched her face and the way her hair fell around it in large, open curls. He gasped when he realized that this was it. The dream that he’d had of her that had finally pushed him to seek her out.

He watched in amazement as each motion, every expression on her face mirrored his dream so precisely. She writhed above him, taking her pleasure from him with no apologies. Oh, how he loved this woman. He had known from the moment he saw her alone in that cabin that she was “the one”.

The only thing he’d gotten wrong was her name.

When she gave herself over to the pleasure, he let himself ride the climax with her. She called out his name as her heat drew the last of his passion out of him. Exhausted, she fell onto his chest and burrowed into his strong embrace.

Egan fought to catch his breath, loathe to let her go. When she sighed and rolled off Egan to lay beside him on the bed, he cupped her cheek and kissed her softly. Her eyes were growing heavy and she was moments away from sleep. Egan pulled the blankets around them and tucked her in, snuggling against her until they were nose to nose.

He didn’t want to let this moment end, but he had a question that had been pestering him since his brother had left the house earlier.

“So, are you going to tell me what my brother said to you?” he asked, curiosity eating him alive.

Cambria smiled, her eyes bright with emotion even as she fought off sleep. “He said, ‘Welcome to the family.’”

 

Epilogue

Three months later

Cambria sat on the plush chair, trying to focus on the papers in front of her. She wore a soft, blue dress that was tailor-made for her. The fabric was light and airy, almost like a second skin. It was like nothing she’d ever felt before. When Egan had taken her shopping and she’d tried on the first dress, a purple one exactly like the one today, she’d fallen in love with the way the fabric felt against her skin. She’d bought one in every color.

When a seamstress had come from a back room to measure her, Cambria hadn’t understood. Growing up in poverty, she wasn’t accustomed to anyone making a fuss over her, or the clothes she wore. She couldn’t honestly remember ever getting to choose her clothing, and she didn’t think she’d ever worn a dress.

Her clothes were delivered at the end of that same week, with each outfit altered slightly to fit her perfectly. Cambria had never had so much fun getting dressed each morning. Along with the dresses, she had a closet full of sturdy designer jeans, shirts and shoes. So many shoes.

She’d had no idea how much money Egan’s family had. It had been a shock to say the least. Yet Egan was so down to earth, still enjoying the simpler things more than the lavish parties and expensive foods that his peers did.

He’d taken her house hunting, looking at home after home until they’d settled on this one. It was not a mansion by any means, but there was plenty of room to grow, and the house sat on a large property. They didn’t have any neighbors for as far as the eye could see, which was what had drawn them both to the place. Having ten rooms and a large kitchen had been the icing on the cake.

Egan let her decorate the entire place herself, turning away more than one interior decorator in favor of turning Cambria loose with a catalog and a limitless budget. Cambria hadn’t disappointed and was quite proud of the results. The house was huge, but somehow felt very homey and very inviting. She was looking forward to raising a large family in it someday.

Cambria sighed again, tucking her hair behind her ear and going back to her reading exercises the tutor had left for this week. After eight weeks of spending hours a day working, she could finally read simple chapter books. One shelf was filled with children’s classics and some of Egan’s childhood favorites. They made the hour long trip into town once every week or two, and Cambria had made it a habit to pick up at least four or five new books.

From her little office across the hallway, she could see that Egan was still on the phone. Her good news was eating her up inside and she was bursting at the seams to tell him. Running out of patience, Cambria bounded into Egan’s office, marveling as she always did at the spectacular view out the giant bank of floor to ceiling windows. The majestic mountain range in the distance served as the perfect backdrop to the lush green fields surrounding their home.

Several times a day, the scene took her breath away. As she often did, she wondered what she’d done to deserve such a beautiful life after everything she’d been through. Even after three months, she couldn’t believe that this home was theirs. It almost seemed too good to be true.

Egan was listening intently to the person on the other line, responding with the occasional “I understand” but otherwise silent. He waved her in when he saw her, pushing his chair away from his desk so she could sit on his lap while he talked. He slid his hand under her dress, arching an eyebrow at her when he noticed that she wasn’t wearing any panties.

He squeezed her ass, rubbing her smooth skin lovingly and grinning ear to ear as the voice on the other end continued. His hand ventured upwards, and his thumb rubbed across her bare nipples one at a time when he found them resting freely beneath the thing fabric of the dress. Cambria was tempted to take him right then and there, straddling him in his office chair like a naughty secretary, but she was on a mission.

The naughty secretary was going to have to wait.

Egan hung up with the man after thanking him profusely for his help and promising a big bonus was on its way for his efforts. Cambria sat still, letting Egan fondle her breasts for a bit longer before she pushed his hands away.               He smile was wicked as he looked at his sweet Cambria, pushing a loose tendril of hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear. She could tell that something heavy was on his mind, but he was searching for the words to tell her.

She wanted to tell him her news first, but something about the way he was looking at her said that he had to get this off his chest before he would be ready to hear anything else. She was frustrated because she was impatient, but waiting another few minutes wasn’t going to kill her.

It just felt like it would.

Cambria waited still, her apprehension growing as he sat there in silence. When she thought she couldn’t take another second of his silence, he finally spoke.

“Do you remember telling me about how you didn’t remember anything from before seven or eight years old?”

“Yes. But I am twenty now, so I would guess that is normal not to remember all of your childhood.”

“Not exactly. Maybe a few things here and there, but you should have remembered something. Unless something traumatic caused your mind to push out old memories to protect you.” He took a deep breath, still searching for the words to tell her what was on his mind. “I don’t know how to tell you this, so I guess I’ll just spit it out. I hired a private investigator to look into your childhood. It’s the same guy as before. Like I said, he’s the best. At first, I wanted to know who these people were who had destroyed you. But I had a sneaking suspicion that I knew why they kept you away from everyone, and why you couldn’t remember anything from your earlier years.”

He took a deep, shaky breath again, and Cambria’s heart sank. Were her parents dead? She didn’t know what to think if they were, but she was shocked that she felt sadness at the thought. They didn’t deserve her pity, or her love. Yet she couldn’t help but mourn the loss.

Egan cleared his throat and continued, clearly struggling to find the right thing to say. “Those people you thought were your parents never were. You were in America on vacation with your parents when you were six and you were kidnapped.”

“That’s impossible. I would remember that.”

“You do. You just don’t realize it. Some of the things you say, the way you talk, are all remnants of who you were before they took you. The only way to protect yourself was to push those memories away so you could deal with your new reality.”

“Where are my parents? Why did they just leave me?”

“They never stopped looking for you. But with you having no contact with anyone outside where you were held, no one was ever able to find you.” He pulled a paper out of a stack on his desk. “Here’s the age progression from the missing person’s website. I think it’s pretty spot-on.”

Cambria held it in her hand, touching the face of the innocent looking child from nearly fifteen years before. “I looked so happy.” Cambria didn’t know why, but the sweet little smile of the child she’d once been was her undoing. She dissolved into tears, leaning against Egan’s chest and letting the tears flow as he held her close.

He kissed her head tenderly, holding her tightly until her sobbing quieted and she began to stir.

She stood up, looking at Egan with an expression that was filled with determination. “I have to see them. I need to tell them that it’s not their fault and that I’m happy now.”

“Are you? I mean, really, deliriously happy.”

“Yes, Egan. I am.” She held up the picture again, studying the face of the little girl and trying to remember being her.

“What else did you learn?” she asked.

“They were vacationing in Atlanta from Portugal. You have two brothers and one sister. Your parents immigrated about ten years ago, hoping to eventually find you.”

“They’re here?” Cambria was excited.

“Well, not here in Montana, but in Atlanta.”

Cambria couldn’t hold in her enthusiasm. “I want to see them, when can we go?”

“That’s the thing. I didn’t think things through, and I should have asked you first. But they’re flying in this weekend. I thought you might be more comfortable meeting them here than dragging you across the country and so close to where everything happened to you. I really should have asked you.”

Cambria threw her arms around him, kissing him passionately. “Oh Egan, that’s just perfect. I can’t wait to show them our home and see them.”

Egan let out the breath he’d been holding. “That’s good, because I told them we had plenty of room for them here.”

“You would do that?”

He grabbed her hands in his, “Cambria, we’re family. They’re my family now too and will always be welcome in our home.”

Cambria’s eyes filled with tears. She loved this man so, and could never have imagined herself with another. He was her soul mate, though she’d fought the notion for so long.

“What about you? When you came in earlier, you looked like you were about to burst. What did you come in here to tell me?”

Cambria weighed her options, wondering if now was the right time to tell him. Could there be such a thing as too much good news in one day? “Well. I don’t know quite how to tell you this, but I’m pregnant.”

Egan stared at her in shock. “Are you sure?” he asked, but he was already reaching for her, pulling her into his arms and off her feet. He swung her around, laughing merrily and planting a kiss on her lips. He set her down gently on her feet, cupping her cheek in one hand and pulling her in for a long, passionate kiss. “This is the best news I’ve ever gotten.”

Cambria smiled. “It’s been one hell of a day.”

“It has. And now we have to get ready for company. They’ll be here in a few days.”

Egan and Cambria walked out of the office, hand in hand. Egan stopped, looking at the paper she still held in her hand of the little lost girl who had turned into the woman of his dreams.

“Hey Cambria.”

“Yes?” her voice was soft and distant. She was already deep into planning her family’s visit.

“Did you happen to see what the name listed on your missing photo?”

Cambria hadn’t noticed. She stopped, slipping her hand out of his and tracing the name with her finger. She threw her head back and laughed, the sound filling the hallway.

“No way,” she exclaimed in disbelief.

It was written on the paper as plain as day. Her name was, and always had been, Elise.

THE END

 

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This is Bonnie Burrows and I hope you enjoyed my book! If you want to see all the other books have written then just head over and check out :)

 

 

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