Arianna

Warmth.

That was the first thing she noticed as her brain stirred from its sleep-driven fugue. The window had been left open a crack to allow the breeze to circulate. Now she heard the sounds of birds chirping through the small opening, a soothing start to what was going to be a stressful day.

Today they were going to smuggle over a dozen men from the motel out of the city, right under the watchful eyes of an organization that wanted them to do anything but that.

Stressful was an understatement.

All of a sudden the calming effects of the birds was lost on her. The warmth was still there, but its presence turned from a comforting embrace to suffocating claustrophobia. Arianna sat up in a rush, throwing the blankets—and Ajax’s arm—aside as she sought to free herself.

“Whassamatturrr?” Ajax blinked sleepily from beside her.

The moment his eyes focused and saw her expression, he sat up, throwing the blankets away.

“Ari, is something wrong?” he asked cautiously.

What was wrong? She looked around, scrambling from the bed. The sheets fell away completely, revealing her naked form. Ajax, despite his focus on her, couldn’t stop himself from taking in the view.

Breathing hard, she pressed her back against the wall, the wood scraping roughly against her skin.

“I think I’m having a panic attack,” she said, her voice sounding oddly detached as she slipped on the floor. “Or that serum is having some weird side effects,” she added.

The walls around her seemed to pulse as she looked at them, noticing details she never had before. A spider crawled across the wood wall near the floor across from her, the motion easily visible. A breeze wafted through the room, and she could hear the sound of the air brushing over the furniture.

“What does it feel like?” Ajax said, his voice pounding into her ears as he sank down next to her.

“Shhh,” she said, trying to calm the thundering that came with his voice. “Not so loud.”

“Loud?” he said, his voice marginally quieter. “Ari, I was whispering.”

“Not funny,” she said angrily, wincing at the sound of her own voice.

“I wasn’t,” he replied. She looked at him, seeing the truth written in his eyes. It was covering up another emotion, something more powerful.

Fear, she realized. He was scared. Not for himself, but for her. Scared that she was losing it. Was she? Was she going crazy and about to die? She looked down at her arm. Where there had once been a bleeding gash, full of ripped and torn skin, there was now an ugly red, purple, and brown scar, but even the scabbing had faded overnight.

“Look,” she said, instantly regretting the level of her voice. Stars exploded in her head at the sharpness of the noise.

With an internal growl, she shook her head, forcing her ears to return to normal.

All of a sudden the world snapped back to reality around her. The sounds and minutiae that she had been exposed to suddenly faded. The world resumed its normalcy.

“So dull,” she whispered, ignoring the gentle poking of Ajax as he examined her wound.

“What?” he asked quietly, his voice still a whisper.

“Everything,” she replied. “It was so clear, unbelievable. I could... I could hear so much. I could see things.” Arianna shook her head. “Am I going crazy?” she asked with blunt honesty.

“I don’t think so,” he replied.

Once again she sensed he was hiding something. Arianna thought to push, to get him to reveal what he knew, or was thinking. But before she could, another urge overtook her with an insistence that overwhelmed her mind.

“Food,” she said, scrambling to her feet. “Let’s go,” she said, heading toward the door.

“Ari?”

She turned to see Ajax giving her a funny look.

“Yes? What is it?” she asked. “Get dressed, let’s go have some food. I’m starved.”

He barked a laugh. “Don’t you think you’re forgetting something yourself?” he asked, pointing at her.

Arianna looked down.  She was completely naked. There wasn’t even a pair of underwear on to give her any decency.

Suddenly aware of how exposed she was, and the appraising look that Ajax was giving her, she blushed vigorously and clapped her hands over her body. That just brought another guffaw from Ajax. Realizing that covering up in front of him was silly, as he had seen her naked several times now, she let her hands drop and moved back toward him.

“Maybe a shower first as well?” he suggested. “After yesterday…”

Her cheeks still burning, Arianna showered quickly and dressed, flying out of the room as Ajax struggled to keep up. She was hungry.

Flint had stuck by his promise to feed them, and a big buffet was set up in the common room, where several of the other shifters had already gathered. Arianna’s nose went into overdrive.

Bacon.

Pancakes.

Toast.

Sausage.

Syrup.

Eggs.

By the time she managed to select her choices and find a seat, she was salivating so much she thought she would drool all over herself. The food disappeared far faster than she wished.

“Going for seconds?” Ajax teased, sitting down next to her with a plate that had been piled equally as high.

“No,” she said, feeling a sudden rush as the food hit her system. “Going to give it a minute. I don’t normally eat that much, and the last thing I want are any…um, side effects,” she told him.

Ajax nodded, stuffing his mouth with pancakes covered in butter and syrup while she sat back and closed her eyes.

“I have a plan.”

Those same eyes flew open, focusing sharply on Flint, who had approached without her hearing a thing. For a moment, Ari found herself wishing her hearing was as strong as it had been that morning. She hated being surprised like that.

“Why do I get the feeling we’re not going to like it?” she asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.

Ajax had a frown on his face that seemed halfway toward etching itself in place, while Flint looked awkward and unwilling to meet either of their gazes.

“They know we’re here,” Flint said at last, pulling up a chair that was hastily vacated by one of the other shifters. “That’s unavoidable. My watchers, both those here with us and those around us that they hopefully aren’t aware of, have seen them.”

“Right, we knew that,” Arianna said, wondering why he was reiterating that point.

“What Flint’s saying,” Ajax said slowly, addressing her though his gaze never left Flint, “is that we need to draw them off. To make them think that the shifters are going one way, when in fact they’re going in another.”

“Oh,” she said slowly. “You mean we need bait?” she asked, thinking she understood where they were going with that.

“Yes,” Ajax said slowly, still not looking away from Flint.

Arianna looked back and forth between them, wondering what the sudden tension she was feeling was all about.

“Ajax, what is it?” she asked, growing nervous.

Flint licked his lips nervously, glancing over at Ajax.

“Flint can’t afford to reveal his participation in this. Not if we want him to be able to help us in the future. He and his men need to keep a low profile.”

“Okay?” Arianna said, still confused.

Her eyes flew open abruptly as things crystallized. “You mean to use us as bait?!” she exclaimed, looking wide-eyed at Flint.

“He does,” Ajax growled.

Flint didn’t reply, but if anything he grew more fidgety.

“That sounds rather dangerous, Ajax,” she said slowly.

“You’re the only ones who can do it,” Flint said at last.

Ari’s mind worked furiously as she tried to refute that logic. There must be another option! Why was it that Ajax always had to be in danger? She just wanted things to be over and done with, so that they might spend some time together in relative peace. Eventually, with a sigh of defeat, she gave in.

“What’s your plan?” she asked at last. If it had to happen this way, she wanted to know every angle of what was going on, and make sure that they minimized the damage.

Flint told them.