Series: Shifter Ops Series by Renee Rose
Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
Laurie’s folded up next to me. He’s so tall, his knees poke up a foot over the seat. Every chance I get, I lean into his arm. A red flush spreads up his neck, but he never tells me to stop.
Some nights, when Fiona’s whimpering wakes me up, I lie in my sleeping bag and imagine being cradled in white feathers. It always makes me feel safe.
Now I realize who I was fantasizing about.
But there’s no time to dwell on that, not while we’re on the run.
“Get us as high as possible,” Fiona says.
“Working on it,” Parker grits out. There’s a long, low whine coming from under the bus’s carriage. Every now and again, I get a whiff of burnt oil and grinding gears.
“I can call us help,” I say.
“No cell service up here, lass,” Declan says.
“That’s not what she means by calling,” Fiona snaps back.
I tune them out, trying to figure out who I can call. What animal would help us best? Some coyotes, maybe a cougar. But the vampires can kill those animals as quickly as they can kill us, probably easier. It’d be cruel to call them to me and their doom.
The van is practically gasping for breath by the time it reaches an overlook halfway up the mountain.
“Stop here,” Fiona points.
Laurie reaches over me to unlatch the door and push it open.
“Give me a few minutes,” I tell them.
“Hurry, lass.”
“You think this will work?” I hear Parker ask.
“It’s the only idea we’ve got,” Declan replies.
The bus door slams, and Fiona stalks out after me, kicking up gravel with her Doc Martens.
“Think of the biggest, baddest predator you can imagine,” she tells me.
I nod and face the wind. I imagine my energy as a ball of white light, spreading out a few feet around my body. Then I focus it into a beam and cast it onto the wind.
It’s not my voice that does it or my spirit. It’s my scent.
I ask for help, and then I imagine a giant shadow forming out of the air. And then another. And another. Muscular beings churning with power. I imagine them solidifying into a wall around me and Fiona and everyone in the bus.
Tingles spread over my body. Beside me, Fiona sneezes, as she does when my scent gets particularly strong.
I imagine the shadow warriors melting into a strong, shimmering fortress. And I fill the tower with the feeling of safety. Again, I get that wintry scent, that sense of sinking into down pillows, feathers brushing against my face. My favorite feeling.
When I open my eyes, my arms are up, and Fiona is leaning against the bus, her eyes watering. She senses my energy, even if she doesn’t understand it.
Already, the brush a few yards from the road is rustling. There will be birds in there, and mice, and desert rats, jackrabbits. They’ll long to come to me, to answer my call. I send them a message: Stay. Peace.
The rustling subsides. I blow out a breath and turn to my audience.
Declan gives me a thumbs up. “Now that’s sometin’.”
Parker grimaces but bobs his head in agreement.
Fiona hovers at my elbow in case I wobble and fall over. Sometimes I expend too much energy and get dizzy. But today it was easy.
I slide into the backseat. Laurie looks at me with shining eyes. Like I’m his hero. And something in me relaxes. No matter how the others see me: an angel, a woo woo weirdo, Laurie doesn’t think I’m a freak.
Laurie
Fiona slides the back door closed and hops into the front seat. I can’t take my eyes off of Allison. She’s so beautiful with her glowing brown skin and tight curls in a soft halo around her head. Whatever she did out there, I felt it like a warm wave of light rushing over me. I felt something inside me shift. And now, I feel it again, with her here in the backseat beside me, her orange blossom scent surrounding me.
“Now what?” Parker asks.
“Now we drive. And hope this Scooby Doo van can make it over the mountain.”
“Hey, don’t be insultin’ this fine vehicle,” Declan says.
Fiona snorts. The sound is swallowed up by the rattle and clanging of the bus as it lurches back onto the road.
We ride in collective silence, as if talking will add weight that will break the struggling bus and send us rolling back the way we came.
We toil up one switchback and then another and find ourselves on an overlook facing west. The sun is low in the sky.
“Sunset,” Parker says grimly. “Vampire dawn.”
“Just keep driving,” Allison says. Even her voice is soothing. I want to fold her in my arms and secure her fully on my lap. Bury my face in her neck and kiss the scent off her soft skin.
But I don’t dare do any of that. Allison is the most beautiful woman in the world. And she’s smart and kind and powerful. My dream girl… or she would be if my dreams could conjure up someone as perfect as her.