Beasts Within

Chapter 1: Running




It was getting hard to breathe, and Camilla cursed herself for not planning this better. The night was pitch black, the inky darkness seeming to close in around her. The heavy clouds in the sky obscured any light from the moon or stars that might have lit her path as she ran, so she had to trust her balance and her memory in order to keep moving. She knew these woods well enough, having spent her whole life that she could remember in this area, but the darkness twisted trees and roots into things that seemed to lurk, waiting to trip her up and send her sprawling. It was at least six miles from the large manor like house the pride lived in to the main road, and she had no way of knowing how many of those miles she had already gone.

If she had been smart, she would have stopped to at least get her keys before bolting from the house in the dead of night. She could have driven this distance in a matter of minutes, avoided the woods all together, and been in another state by morning. But she hadn't wanted to risk the sound of her ancient car starting alerting anyone to the fact that she was sneaking out because things would have been so much worse than they already were if they found out that she had plans to leave. It was safer to travel the woods anyway. Anyone could have seen her on the road, but very few actually made their way through the woods at night, especially when the air was heavy with the smell of an approaching rainstorm. So this was the best plan.

It had taken months for her to save up enough money to be able to escape since the leader of the pride didn't allow her to work more than a couple of hours a day. He got antsy when she was too far from him and even made her call in sick a few times a month just because he didn't want her to leave. Honestly it was a wonder she'd kept the job for as long as she had.

All of that was going to be a thing of the past now, though. She would get away. She would go somewhere where people weren't as aware of shifters as they were here, somewhere where she could hide what she was, blend into the background and not be used like a tool anymore. Camilla didn't really know how she was going to make that happen, but there had to be a way.

All she knew was that once she reached the river, she would be safe.

The Abrams River divided the smaller, outlying part of the city from the main part where she could buy a train ticket or a bus ticket and get further away. Once she was across the bridge, she could make her way to the nearest station, but it seemed like that was going to be easier said than done. Overhead, thunder rolled and a fork of lightning flashed, illuminating the area around her for one breath catching moment that made her heart race. She knew that there was no way that any of the members of her pride were lurking nearby; none of them would risk getting caught out in this, and it was late enough that they were all heading to sleep anyway, but in the dark, she couldn't be sure that she was safe.

“Hate the dark. Really hate the dark,” she huffed, panting as she kept running. It would have been so much easier to do this if she could just shift, spilt her skin and let the lioness out to run wild through these woods, but she was carrying a bag with all the things she couldn't bear to leave behind in it, and that would mean taking her clothes off, which would only be a hindrance in this case. Although, when the sky opened up and it started to rain on her, she was seriously considering it all the same. And didn't it just figure that it would start raining now? She had the worst fucking luck.

The night seemed to get darker as she moved through the trees, and she had to slow down, both because her heart was pounding dangerously fast in her chest and because the ground was getting wet and muddy, leaves growing slick underfoot and wet earth threatening to suck her shoes from her feet. She would have expected the trees to delay the rain soaking things so fast, but apparently there were enough gaps that the water found its way through. The last thing she needed was to slip and hurt herself, end up with a twisted ankle or something that would just slow her down or get her caught, so she had to be careful as she picked her way over roots and past branches that scratched at her cheeks as she continued on. She was getting soaked as she moved, and Camilla knew she was going to be a muddy mess when she finally made it to town. It would be abundantly clear that she was running from something, and she could only hope that if someone found her, they would be kind enough to let her keep moving.

Just keep going, she urged herself silently. You can do this. You have to do this. Shifter or not, Camilla was not built for this kind of thing with her short, chubby legs and full figure. She managed to run faster and get tired less easily when she shifted, but exercise didn't come naturally to her in her human form. But the thought of being caught and dragged back to Paul made her keep going as fast as she dared.

Paul.

He was the leader of their makeshift pride, put together from other lion shifters who had made their way into the town, some of them cast off from other prides for various offenses, and given their allegiance to Paul. He was in his early forties, tall, handsome, perpetually charming. Paul had a way of making sure that you were going to be loyal to him, subtly manipulating you until you did what he wanted and sometimes even thought it was what you wanted all along. And of course, he’d had her.

Camilla had been a member of the pride for as long as she could remember, and no one had ever told her how she had come to be there. She was twenty-one now, and all she knew was the pride. All she knew was standing next to the throne-like chair that Paul had set up for himself in the room that served as the pride's meeting place when they needed to have discussions or when someone new wanted to join the pride.

It was her hands. There was something about them that made her unique, made her able to see things that people wouldn't want her to see. And she had been trained to whisper those things into Paul's ear so that he could use them to his advantage.

Camilla was sick of it. People had gotten hurt because of what she could do. People had been killed for thinking disloyal thoughts about Paul. They had been silenced before they could tell whatever secrets they knew, and it was all her fault. Sometimes she woke in the middle of the night, a scream trying to fight its way free of her from the images of the people she had wronged that flickered behind her eyes.

“Never again,” she huffed as she ran. “No. Fucking. More.”

She could see light ahead of her, the trees growing sparser on either side as she followed a makeshift path, feet slipping slightly. Camilla had never been this deep into the woods before, so she could only hope that she was heading in the right direction. The lights she was seeing could have been streetlights or the lights on the bridge, and a heady anxiety filled her at the thought that her freedom could be so close.

She'd never been across the river. Sometimes members of the pride went out to get things since most of the stores were on that side, but they never took her. They never let her go anywhere other than to school when she was younger and to work now. And even then there was always someone nearby watching, making sure she didn't get any ideas about her own freedom.

A branch or something snapped to her left, and it broke her concentration, making her snap her head to the side, heart racing. Nothing moved except the trees, branches pushed this way and that by the wind that was starting to pick up. Shadows moved in the distance, and Camilla forced herself not to stand there staring. If she had to, she would just shift. It would be awkward as all hell when she had to shift back later and didn't have her clothes or anything, but she would rather deal with that than be dragged back to the house.

No, she had to keep moving.

Unfortunately for her, not knowing this terrain well was more than just a minor hindrance, and the rain didn't help. The bridge was wide, made to be traversable by car or on foot, but she was coming at it from the wrong angle. As the trees thinned out more, she could see that she was meant to have veered left more. There was no way to reach the bridge from where she was standing, and the ground seemed to arch downwards at an angle that led straight to the river.

The Abrams wasn’t particularly dirty or deep, but she didn't really want to end up pitching headfirst into it either way. Her clothing was already soaked to her skin, and with each rumble of thunder overhead, the rain only seemed to come down harder. A flash of lightning blinded her momentarily, and she moved her foot to step back, to turn around so she could head in the other direction and make it to the bridge, but the ground was too slippery and before she even had time to brace herself she found herself losing her footing.

Camilla couldn't help the scream that burst from her as she fell, slipping and sliding down the muddy slope, headed straight for the water. It was all she could do to hold onto her bag because she knew she was going in, and the last thing she wanted was to lose her belongings when she did. She was already winded and terrified, fear pulsing cold through her body as the water loomed closer. Please don't let me drown. Please. I just want to be free. Please! She didn't know who she was pleading with, since religion had never been her thing, but it seemed like the thing to do, and she kept it going in her head as the mud and leaves expedited her plunge into the river.

It was summer time, but the water still felt cold as she crashed into it, shock lacing through her system for a moment. Camilla was frozen as she sank a little, weighed down by her clothes and her bag, and it took her a good few seconds to get her head back on and start kicking for the surface. Her lungs were burning, and she sucked in greedy gasps of air when her head broke the surface, grateful that her hair was pulled back in a bun instead of plastered to her face and keeping her from being able to see. She was a little ways away from the other side of the river, and that side ran right along the road. All Camilla would have to do was swim over and haul herself out, avoiding getting hit by any cars in the process.

She was grateful for the streetlights that illuminated the way, otherwise she would have been splashing around in the pitch darkness. A bolt of lightning overhead made her get her butt in gear, and she started paddling her way towards the other side, keeping her head above water as best she could and trying to avoid getting splashed in the face when the wind and rain made the river more turbulent than it would have been ordinarily.

Her arms felt like lead weights, and her legs were so tired. She had no idea how long she had been on the move, but all she wanted was a break. “Just a little farther,” Camilla chanted to herself, teeth chattering in the wind and body trembling with exhaustion. “Just a little farther. C'mon. C'mon.”





Chapter 2: An Act of Kindness




“Karic Jacobs, are you still here?”

Karic lifted his head from where he had been examining the chart of one of his patients. Allie, one of the nurses was standing in front of him with her hands on her hips, looking stern.

“Uh…yes?” he replied, smiling sheepishly at her.

“Do you have any idea what time it is, young man? You've been here for hours already. Go home before I drag you out to your car and take you there myself.”

He laughed at her threat, but the gleam in her eye told Karic that she might have been serious about that. “Okay, okay,” he said, putting down the chart and raising his hands in a gesture of peace. He checked his watch and grimaced when he saw it was closing in on midnight. He hadn't meant to stay this long. “I was on my way out anyway. Mrs. Kaplan's coming in tomorrow morning, so I just wanted to make sure that she—”

“Mrs. Kaplan will be fine,” Allie said, shooing him away from the desk and towards the back where his things were. “Dr. Dearborn has been treating her since before you knew which way to hold a stethoscope, and you're not working in the morning anyway.”

“I really don't think either of them are that old, Allie, but I take your point.”

“Good. Then get out of here.”

Karic didn't need to be told again.

“Alright, I'll see you guys tomorrow night,” he said as he made his way out of the office, waving over his shoulder. He stretched languidly, popping the bones in his back and shoulders as he made his way to his car. It had been a long shift, one of the all too frequent ones that ended up lasting more than twelve hours, and all he wanted was to get home and get in the bed as soon as possible. His body ached from being on his feet all day, tending to patients and helping Dr. Dearborn with the various needs of the people who came in. Apparently there was some kind of bug going around the elementary school, and they'd seen no fewer than six kids all complaining of stomach pains and nausea, so that had been a job and a half in itself.

Karic was just an assistant at the office, the equivalent to a student doing his residency, really, but ever since he had proven that he had a way with people and didn't mind doing hard work, Dr. Dearborn had been giving him more and more responsibility.

“It'll look good on your resume,” she always said with a warm smile lighting up her dark eyes. “For when you finally get out of this town.”

And Karic always laughed at that and took whatever chart or paper she was holding out for him, even though he knew that there was a very high chance that he would be here for much longer than she expected. He didn't have a problem with that, either. Carterstown was small enough that most people on this side of the river knew each other, but large enough that you never really had to leave it to get the things you needed.

All the nurses and receptionists at the office knew him, and they all took it upon themselves to look after him, to make sure he ate enough and that he wasn't overworked. To be honest, after coming from a family that usually seemed to barely give a shit about him, this tight-knit kind of thing was definitely something he enjoyed.

A roll of thunder made him look up, and he made a face when a raindrop splattered onto his glasses. “Well, that's just fucking awesome,” he said under his breath, walking faster to get to his car before it really started to come down. The air had been hot and heavy all day, humidity lingering in the air and pressing down on everyone like it only seemed to in the south, so he knew that this was going to be a major rainstorm. The last thing he wanted was to be caught out in it.

He chewed on his bottom lip for a moment when he got into his car, shutting the door firmly to keep the pattering rain outside and starting the engine so he could turn on his wipers. The road that ran along the river sometimes flooded when it started raining, but it was the fastest way back to his house, and if he hurried, he could make it before it really started to pour. There was left over Chinese food in his refrigerator that was calling his name, and since he didn't have to be in to the office until five to work the late shift, he could make up for this long day by sleeping in and doing nothing for a while.

“Alright, plan,” he said under his breath as he backed out of his parking spot and then turned his car in the direction of Abrams Road. Karic tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the tune of the song that was playing as he drove, but he made sure to keep his eyes open. Sometimes deer would leap out of the woods that ran along one side of the river, darting over the bridge and into the road, and the last thing he wanted to do was hit one. With the way the rain was starting to fall in sheets, he'd be lucky if he saw it before he hit it.

His wipers were beating back and forth quickly, the sound adding to the rhythmic lull of driving, and Karic started wishing that he'd had another cup of coffee before he'd left the office. He smothered a yawn with one hand, and managed to focus just in time to slam on his brakes, sending his car skidding to the side a bit on the slick street.

Adrenaline pounded through him as he squinted through the darkness and the rain to see if he could make out what it was that he'd seen. It was too small to be a deer, and from what he could tell, the figure had climbed over the guardrail from the river and was proceeding to collapse on the side of the road. Karic checked the rearview mirror to make sure no one was coming, and then slowly eased his car closer to the guardrail. It would have been better to just ignore whatever or whoever this was because anyone who came out of the river in a storm like this was probably more trouble than there were worth. But there was a reason why Karic was working to become a doctor and why he had been the one everyone had brought their sick animals to when he was younger. There was something about seeing something or someone wounded that just refused to let him ignore it.

So he sighed and took his seatbelt off, groaning at the deluge of rain. He counted to five in his head and then opened the car door, darting out into the night. He could only hope that his headlights would illuminate the person (he was just going to assume that it was a person) enough for him to be able to see them and them to see him.

When he got close enough, he could tell that it was a woman. She was lying on her back in the space next to the guardrail, and her clothes were plastered to her body. All he could tell was that she was a short little thing with generous curves, and Karic mentally slapped himself for noticing things like that when she was clearly in trouble and worn out from the way her chest was heaving as she fought to breathe.

“Excuse me, ma'am?” he said, raising his voice to be heard over the pounding rain and the wind that had picked up. “Ma'am?”

The woman sat up quickly, eyes squinting as she tried to focus on him. “Who are you? What do you want?” she asked, and her voice seemed to tremble. Well, that made sense. It was a warm night, but after taking a plunge into the river, she was probably cold anyway, and she was clearly winded.

“My name is Karic,” he replied. “Do you need help? Only it's raining, and you're on the side of the road.”

A dry laugh was her response. “Yeah, I'd noticed that. You…are you from this side of the river?”

That was an odd question, but Karic nodded, pushing sodden hair out of his face. The longer he stood there, the wetter he was getting, and the remaining drive back to his house was going to be highly unpleasant at this rate, but he couldn't just leave her there. “Look, it's probably going to be coming down like this for the rest of the night at least, and if you need a ride or something, I can help you. Or a place to stay for the night, even? Just…you can't stay out here.”

He watched as she chewed on her lip, and he couldn't help but smile at seeing the familiar action on another face. Karic didn't know what was hard to decide about getting out of the rain or not, but he supposed he was a stranger to her, so it made sense. This was clearly a woman who had something to be afraid of. Who had something to hide. Or maybe she was being chased, he didn't know.

Just as he was about to ask again, the woman stretched out one hand in his direction. “Oh,” Karic said, and he could have slapped himself. “Right. Let me help you up there.” He hurried over to her and took her hand, brows furrowing when it was warmer that it should have been. He looked at her face, seeing that she had closed her eyes and seemed to be gathering herself together. “Are…you hurt?” he asked. “I can probably carry you.” Shifters, especially those of the canine persuasion, were gifted with strength, and her ample curves aside, this woman was probably easily lifted.

Her eyes were on him a second later, and she nodded. “Please,” she said, voice soft. “I think I twisted my ankle when I fell.”

Karic nodded in return and was careful not to jostle her too much as he knelt and got his arms under her. He rose onto one knee and then the other, holding her close to his chest as he made his way back to the car. The woman was soaked through, and he could feel the frantic thrum of her pulse as he held her. “It's okay,” he said. “I'm not going to hurt you.”

“I know,” she murmured back, and her voice sounded weaker than it had before. “I don't think you've ever hurt another living thing. Not on purpose.”

Karic's mouth opened to ask her how she could possibly figure that, but when he looked down, he saw that she was unconscious. “Hell,” he swore under his breath. He'd been planning to have her ride in the front with him, but instead he got her settled across the back seat. His upholstery would dry, and he was almost as wet as she was at this point anyway.

It wasn't a long drive back to his place, and Karic couldn't help but glance in the rearview mirror at his unexpected passenger every few minutes. She was pretty for a girl who had climbed out of the river, her face sweet and cherubic and framed by dark hair that was escaping from the bun it had been pulled into. There was a bag slung over her shoulder, which definitely supported the theory that she was running from something, and Karic found himself wondering what it was or if she needed help. She looked young, definitely younger than him, and he could smell the musky scent of lion under the water and fear that otherwise clung to her. A shifter, then. He knew there was a pride nearby, on the other side of the river, which definitely went a long way towards explaining why she had wanted to know which side of the river he was from.

Karic didn't know anything about the pride at all, but he had seen members of it out and about in town. He didn’t do packs or groups, preferring to be alone most of the time, and if this woman was running from her pride, then it seemed like he had the right idea. He'd never had time for the dynamics that went along with packs and similar groups. Karic liked to be able to do what he wanted when he wanted to, and he generally preferred the company of humans to other shifters when at all possible. That was one of the reasons he loved this town so much. People knew about shifters and were more than tolerant of them, but humans outnumbered them five to one, and it was much more comfortable in Karic's mind by being surrounded by other shifters all the time. Shifters were unpredictable, territorial, and brash, and he got stressed out just thinking about it.

Luckily, he was pulling into his driveway before long, sighing at the fact that it was still pouring down rain outside. It would be warm and dry inside his house, but he had to get himself and this mystery woman out of the car and into the house before he could take advantage of that.

“Shouldn't be too hard,” he mumbled as he turned the car off and glanced back at the woman once again. He couldn't help but smile at how much more peaceful she looked when she was out cold and not shivering in the rain, but he shook himself and headed back out into the rain to get her out of the car.

Ten minutes and much muted swearing later, and Karic had them both inside. He had dripped an impressive puddle onto the floor of his entryway, and he sighed and added that to his list of things to take care of tomorrow before his shift. It was looking less and less like he was going to get to have the nice relaxing morning in bed that he wanted, but he couldn't deny that he had brought this on himself. “As per usual.” He put the sleeping woman down in one of the chairs in the living room and then spread a few towels on the couch, moving her once it was ready so that she could lie flat.

His plan to go to sleep when he got home was clearly foiled. It wouldn't do for her to wake up in a strange house with him off in the bed, so he sighed and went to go change into something clean and dry and then heat up the Chinese food in his refrigerator, planning to settle in until the woman woke up.

Either the beeping of the microwave or the smell of warm noodles and chicken was enough to wake her, and when Karic came back into the living room, carrying two bowls of General Tso's over chow mein, he was surprised to see amber eyes trained on him.

“Oh,” he said, and then rolled his eyes at how very stupid that sounded. “I mean, hi. It's good to see you're awake. Do you remember me?”

She hesitated and then nodded. “This is your house?”

“Yeah. I didn't know where you were going, and since you passed out and I wasn't about to leave you on the side of the road to be found by some crazy stranger, it seemed like the best thing to just bring you here.”

“Thank you,” she said softly, wincing as she went to sit up. “Fuck, what an awful night.”

“Coulda been worse,” Karic pointed out. “You could have drowned.”

She shot him a pointed look. “I feel like I did.”

His cheeks colored as he realized that she was still soaking wet and he hadn't offered to do anything about that yet. “Right. God, I'm sorry. It's late, and I was at work forever, so my brain isn't…right. Um…” What was the matter with him? He dealt with people all day and didn't get flustered like this, but he was just going to chalk it up to exhaustion. Not to say that she wasn't pretty because she was. Her dark hair was curling around her face where it had escaped from the bun, and in the light of the living room, Karic could see that she had creamy skin and a smattering of freckles that went across her nose and cheeks. She looked so young, and the compulsion to ask her what she was running from was strong. Instead he got himself together and focused on the matter at hand. “I'll show you to the bathroom. You can have a shower and get the river water off, and I'll set some of my things out for you to wear.”

“They…might not fit,” she offered, wrinkling her nose.

Karic grinned. “No, I've got just the thing. C'mon.” He set the food down on the coffee table and watched as she got up from the couch, making a face when she stumbled, favoring her right leg. “Your ankle?”

“Yeah, I really think I messed it up when I slipped into the river.”

“Well, let's work on getting you dry, and then I'll take a look at it, okay? For now…” He went over and offered her his arm, bracing her as they made their way up the stairs. “I'm Karic, by the way. I don't know if you remember me mentioning that.”

She nodded. “I do. I'm…Camilla. I…thank you. For not just leaving me there on the side of the road. And for being so nice to some girl you don't know.”

Karic shrugged. “It's no problem, really. Apparently I've got a white-knight complex, and I can't say no to a damsel in distress. Or anything in distress, really.”

“That's not a bad quality to have,” Camilla pointed out.

“Yeah, well. It's gotten me into trouble sometimes.” He flipped the light on in the bathroom and stepped back from her. “Can you manage from here, do you think?”

Camilla nodded, looking around. “I think so. If you hear something crash, then it's me, falling over.”

“I'll be sure to come save you before you drown in the shower,” Karic said with an easy smile. “You go ahead and get in. I'll leave some clothes outside the door. Feel free to use anything you find in there, too. There'll be some food waiting when you get out.” From the way Camilla's stomach growled at that, she approved.

“Thank you. Really,” she said again, meeting his eyes.

“You're welcome. Really. Just holler if you need something.” And he went into his room, leaving her to it while he hunted down clothes for her.





It was getting hard to breathe, and Camilla cursed herself for not planning this better. The night was pitch black, the inky darkness seeming to close in around her. The heavy clouds in the sky obscured any light from the moon or stars that might have lit her path as she ran, so she had to trust her balance and her memory in order to keep moving. She knew these woods well enough, having spent her whole life that she could remember in this area, but the darkness twisted trees and roots into things that seemed to lurk, waiting to trip her up and send her sprawling. It was at least six miles from the large manor like house the pride lived in to the main road, and she had no way of knowing how many of those miles she had already gone.

If she had been smart, she would have stopped to at least get her keys before bolting from the house in the dead of night. She could have driven this distance in a matter of minutes, avoided the woods all together, and been in another state by morning. But she hadn't wanted to risk the sound of her ancient car starting alerting anyone to the fact that she was sneaking out because things would have been so much worse than they already were if they found out that she had plans to leave. It was safer to travel the woods anyway. Anyone could have seen her on the road, but very few actually made their way through the woods at night, especially when the air was heavy with the smell of an approaching rainstorm. So this was the best plan.

It had taken months for her to save up enough money to be able to escape since the leader of the pride didn't allow her to work more than a couple of hours a day. He got antsy when she was too far from him and even made her call in sick a few times a month just because he didn't want her to leave. Honestly it was a wonder she'd kept the job for as long as she had.

All of that was going to be a thing of the past now, though. She would get away. She would go somewhere where people weren't as aware of shifters as they were here, somewhere where she could hide what she was, blend into the background and not be used like a tool anymore. Camilla didn't really know how she was going to make that happen, but there had to be a way.

All she knew was that once she reached the river, she would be safe.

The Abrams River divided the smaller, outlying part of the city from the main part where she could buy a train ticket or a bus ticket and get further away. Once she was across the bridge, she could make her way to the nearest station, but it seemed like that was going to be easier said than done. Overhead, thunder rolled and a fork of lightning flashed, illuminating the area around her for one breath catching moment that made her heart race. She knew that there was no way that any of the members of her pride were lurking nearby; none of them would risk getting caught out in this, and it was late enough that they were all heading to sleep anyway, but in the dark, she couldn't be sure that she was safe.

“Hate the dark. Really hate the dark,” she huffed, panting as she kept running. It would have been so much easier to do this if she could just shift, spilt her skin and let the lioness out to run wild through these woods, but she was carrying a bag with all the things she couldn't bear to leave behind in it, and that would mean taking her clothes off, which would only be a hindrance in this case. Although, when the sky opened up and it started to rain on her, she was seriously considering it all the same. And didn't it just figure that it would start raining now? She had the worst fucking luck.

The night seemed to get darker as she moved through the trees, and she had to slow down, both because her heart was pounding dangerously fast in her chest and because the ground was getting wet and muddy, leaves growing slick underfoot and wet earth threatening to suck her shoes from her feet. She would have expected the trees to delay the rain soaking things so fast, but apparently there were enough gaps that the water found its way through. The last thing she needed was to slip and hurt herself, end up with a twisted ankle or something that would just slow her down or get her caught, so she had to be careful as she picked her way over roots and past branches that scratched at her cheeks as she continued on. She was getting soaked as she moved, and Camilla knew she was going to be a muddy mess when she finally made it to town. It would be abundantly clear that she was running from something, and she could only hope that if someone found her, they would be kind enough to let her keep moving.

Just keep going, she urged herself silently. You can do this. You have to do this. Shifter or not, Camilla was not built for this kind of thing with her short, chubby legs and full figure. She managed to run faster and get tired less easily when she shifted, but exercise didn't come naturally to her in her human form. But the thought of being caught and dragged back to Paul made her keep going as fast as she dared.

Paul.

He was the leader of their makeshift pride, put together from other lion shifters who had made their way into the town, some of them cast off from other prides for various offenses, and given their allegiance to Paul. He was in his early forties, tall, handsome, perpetually charming. Paul had a way of making sure that you were going to be loyal to him, subtly manipulating you until you did what he wanted and sometimes even thought it was what you wanted all along. And of course, he’d had her.

Camilla had been a member of the pride for as long as she could remember, and no one had ever told her how she had come to be there. She was twenty-one now, and all she knew was the pride. All she knew was standing next to the throne-like chair that Paul had set up for himself in the room that served as the pride's meeting place when they needed to have discussions or when someone new wanted to join the pride.

It was her hands. There was something about them that made her unique, made her able to see things that people wouldn't want her to see. And she had been trained to whisper those things into Paul's ear so that he could use them to his advantage.

Camilla was sick of it. People had gotten hurt because of what she could do. People had been killed for thinking disloyal thoughts about Paul. They had been silenced before they could tell whatever secrets they knew, and it was all her fault. Sometimes she woke in the middle of the night, a scream trying to fight its way free of her from the images of the people she had wronged that flickered behind her eyes.

“Never again,” she huffed as she ran. “No. Fucking. More.”

She could see light ahead of her, the trees growing sparser on either side as she followed a makeshift path, feet slipping slightly. Camilla had never been this deep into the woods before, so she could only hope that she was heading in the right direction. The lights she was seeing could have been streetlights or the lights on the bridge, and a heady anxiety filled her at the thought that her freedom could be so close.

She'd never been across the river. Sometimes members of the pride went out to get things since most of the stores were on that side, but they never took her. They never let her go anywhere other than to school when she was younger and to work now. And even then there was always someone nearby watching, making sure she didn't get any ideas about her own freedom.

A branch or something snapped to her left, and it broke her concentration, making her snap her head to the side, heart racing. Nothing moved except the trees, branches pushed this way and that by the wind that was starting to pick up. Shadows moved in the distance, and Camilla forced herself not to stand there staring. If she had to, she would just shift. It would be awkward as all hell when she had to shift back later and didn't have her clothes or anything, but she would rather deal with that than be dragged back to the house.

No, she had to keep moving.

Unfortunately for her, not knowing this terrain well was more than just a minor hindrance, and the rain didn't help. The bridge was wide, made to be traversable by car or on foot, but she was coming at it from the wrong angle. As the trees thinned out more, she could see that she was meant to have veered left more. There was no way to reach the bridge from where she was standing, and the ground seemed to arch downwards at an angle that led straight to the river.

The Abrams wasn’t particularly dirty or deep, but she didn't really want to end up pitching headfirst into it either way. Her clothing was already soaked to her skin, and with each rumble of thunder overhead, the rain only seemed to come down harder. A flash of lightning blinded her momentarily, and she moved her foot to step back, to turn around so she could head in the other direction and make it to the bridge, but the ground was too slippery and before she even had time to brace herself she found herself losing her footing.

Camilla couldn't help the scream that burst from her as she fell, slipping and sliding down the muddy slope, headed straight for the water. It was all she could do to hold onto her bag because she knew she was going in, and the last thing she wanted was to lose her belongings when she did. She was already winded and terrified, fear pulsing cold through her body as the water loomed closer. Please don't let me drown. Please. I just want to be free. Please! She didn't know who she was pleading with, since religion had never been her thing, but it seemed like the thing to do, and she kept it going in her head as the mud and leaves expedited her plunge into the river.

It was summer time, but the water still felt cold as she crashed into it, shock lacing through her system for a moment. Camilla was frozen as she sank a little, weighed down by her clothes and her bag, and it took her a good few seconds to get her head back on and start kicking for the surface. Her lungs were burning, and she sucked in greedy gasps of air when her head broke the surface, grateful that her hair was pulled back in a bun instead of plastered to her face and keeping her from being able to see. She was a little ways away from the other side of the river, and that side ran right along the road. All Camilla would have to do was swim over and haul herself out, avoiding getting hit by any cars in the process.

She was grateful for the streetlights that illuminated the way, otherwise she would have been splashing around in the pitch darkness. A bolt of lightning overhead made her get her butt in gear, and she started paddling her way towards the other side, keeping her head above water as best she could and trying to avoid getting splashed in the face when the wind and rain made the river more turbulent than it would have been ordinarily.

Her arms felt like lead weights, and her legs were so tired. She had no idea how long she had been on the move, but all she wanted was a break. “Just a little farther,” Camilla chanted to herself, teeth chattering in the wind and body trembling with exhaustion. “Just a little farther. C'mon. C'mon.”





Chapter 3: First Night




“Karic Jacobs, are you still here?”

Karic lifted his head from where he had been examining the chart of one of his patients. Allie, one of the nurses was standing in front of him with her hands on her hips, looking stern.

“Uh…yes?” he replied, smiling sheepishly at her.

“Do you have any idea what time it is, young man? You've been here for hours already. Go home before I drag you out to your car and take you there myself.”

He laughed at her threat, but the gleam in her eye told Karic that she might have been serious about that. “Okay, okay,” he said, putting down the chart and raising his hands in a gesture of peace. He checked his watch and grimaced when he saw it was closing in on midnight. He hadn't meant to stay this long. “I was on my way out anyway. Mrs. Kaplan's coming in tomorrow morning, so I just wanted to make sure that she—”

“Mrs. Kaplan will be fine,” Allie said, shooing him away from the desk and towards the back where his things were. “Dr. Dearborn has been treating her since before you knew which way to hold a stethoscope, and you're not working in the morning anyway.”

“I really don't think either of them are that old, Allie, but I take your point.”

“Good. Then get out of here.”

Karic didn't need to be told again.

“Alright, I'll see you guys tomorrow night,” he said as he made his way out of the office, waving over his shoulder. He stretched languidly, popping the bones in his back and shoulders as he made his way to his car. It had been a long shift, one of the all too frequent ones that ended up lasting more than twelve hours, and all he wanted was to get home and get in the bed as soon as possible. His body ached from being on his feet all day, tending to patients and helping Dr. Dearborn with the various needs of the people who came in. Apparently there was some kind of bug going around the elementary school, and they'd seen no fewer than six kids all complaining of stomach pains and nausea, so that had been a job and a half in itself.

Karic was just an assistant at the office, the equivalent to a student doing his residency, really, but ever since he had proven that he had a way with people and didn't mind doing hard work, Dr. Dearborn had been giving him more and more responsibility.

“It'll look good on your resume,” she always said with a warm smile lighting up her dark eyes. “For when you finally get out of this town.”

And Karic always laughed at that and took whatever chart or paper she was holding out for him, even though he knew that there was a very high chance that he would be here for much longer than she expected. He didn't have a problem with that, either. Carterstown was small enough that most people on this side of the river knew each other, but large enough that you never really had to leave it to get the things you needed.

All the nurses and receptionists at the office knew him, and they all took it upon themselves to look after him, to make sure he ate enough and that he wasn't overworked. To be honest, after coming from a family that usually seemed to barely give a shit about him, this tight-knit kind of thing was definitely something he enjoyed.

A roll of thunder made him look up, and he made a face when a raindrop splattered onto his glasses. “Well, that's just fucking awesome,” he said under his breath, walking faster to get to his car before it really started to come down. The air had been hot and heavy all day, humidity lingering in the air and pressing down on everyone like it only seemed to in the south, so he knew that this was going to be a major rainstorm. The last thing he wanted was to be caught out in it.

He chewed on his bottom lip for a moment when he got into his car, shutting the door firmly to keep the pattering rain outside and starting the engine so he could turn on his wipers. The road that ran along the river sometimes flooded when it started raining, but it was the fastest way back to his house, and if he hurried, he could make it before it really started to pour. There was left over Chinese food in his refrigerator that was calling his name, and since he didn't have to be in to the office until five to work the late shift, he could make up for this long day by sleeping in and doing nothing for a while.

“Alright, plan,” he said under his breath as he backed out of his parking spot and then turned his car in the direction of Abrams Road. Karic tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the tune of the song that was playing as he drove, but he made sure to keep his eyes open. Sometimes deer would leap out of the woods that ran along one side of the river, darting over the bridge and into the road, and the last thing he wanted to do was hit one. With the way the rain was starting to fall in sheets, he'd be lucky if he saw it before he hit it.

His wipers were beating back and forth quickly, the sound adding to the rhythmic lull of driving, and Karic started wishing that he'd had another cup of coffee before he'd left the office. He smothered a yawn with one hand, and managed to focus just in time to slam on his brakes, sending his car skidding to the side a bit on the slick street.

Adrenaline pounded through him as he squinted through the darkness and the rain to see if he could make out what it was that he'd seen. It was too small to be a deer, and from what he could tell, the figure had climbed over the guardrail from the river and was proceeding to collapse on the side of the road. Karic checked the rearview mirror to make sure no one was coming, and then slowly eased his car closer to the guardrail. It would have been better to just ignore whatever or whoever this was because anyone who came out of the river in a storm like this was probably more trouble than there were worth. But there was a reason why Karic was working to become a doctor and why he had been the one everyone had brought their sick animals to when he was younger. There was something about seeing something or someone wounded that just refused to let him ignore it.

So he sighed and took his seatbelt off, groaning at the deluge of rain. He counted to five in his head and then opened the car door, darting out into the night. He could only hope that his headlights would illuminate the person (he was just going to assume that it was a person) enough for him to be able to see them and them to see him.

When he got close enough, he could tell that it was a woman. She was lying on her back in the space next to the guardrail, and her clothes were plastered to her body. All he could tell was that she was a short little thing with generous curves, and Karic mentally slapped himself for noticing things like that when she was clearly in trouble and worn out from the way her chest was heaving as she fought to breathe.

“Excuse me, ma'am?” he said, raising his voice to be heard over the pounding rain and the wind that had picked up. “Ma'am?”

The woman sat up quickly, eyes squinting as she tried to focus on him. “Who are you? What do you want?” she asked, and her voice seemed to tremble. Well, that made sense. It was a warm night, but after taking a plunge into the river, she was probably cold anyway, and she was clearly winded.

“My name is Karic,” he replied. “Do you need help? Only it's raining, and you're on the side of the road.”

A dry laugh was her response. “Yeah, I'd noticed that. You…are you from this side of the river?”

That was an odd question, but Karic nodded, pushing sodden hair out of his face. The longer he stood there, the wetter he was getting, and the remaining drive back to his house was going to be highly unpleasant at this rate, but he couldn't just leave her there. “Look, it's probably going to be coming down like this for the rest of the night at least, and if you need a ride or something, I can help you. Or a place to stay for the night, even? Just…you can't stay out here.”

He watched as she chewed on her lip, and he couldn't help but smile at seeing the familiar action on another face. Karic didn't know what was hard to decide about getting out of the rain or not, but he supposed he was a stranger to her, so it made sense. This was clearly a woman who had something to be afraid of. Who had something to hide. Or maybe she was being chased, he didn't know.

Just as he was about to ask again, the woman stretched out one hand in his direction. “Oh,” Karic said, and he could have slapped himself. “Right. Let me help you up there.” He hurried over to her and took her hand, brows furrowing when it was warmer that it should have been. He looked at her face, seeing that she had closed her eyes and seemed to be gathering herself together. “Are…you hurt?” he asked. “I can probably carry you.” Shifters, especially those of the canine persuasion, were gifted with strength, and her ample curves aside, this woman was probably easily lifted.

Her eyes were on him a second later, and she nodded. “Please,” she said, voice soft. “I think I twisted my ankle when I fell.”

Karic nodded in return and was careful not to jostle her too much as he knelt and got his arms under her. He rose onto one knee and then the other, holding her close to his chest as he made his way back to the car. The woman was soaked through, and he could feel the frantic thrum of her pulse as he held her. “It's okay,” he said. “I'm not going to hurt you.”

“I know,” she murmured back, and her voice sounded weaker than it had before. “I don't think you've ever hurt another living thing. Not on purpose.”

Karic's mouth opened to ask her how she could possibly figure that, but when he looked down, he saw that she was unconscious. “Hell,” he swore under his breath. He'd been planning to have her ride in the front with him, but instead he got her settled across the back seat. His upholstery would dry, and he was almost as wet as she was at this point anyway.

It wasn't a long drive back to his place, and Karic couldn't help but glance in the rearview mirror at his unexpected passenger every few minutes. She was pretty for a girl who had climbed out of the river, her face sweet and cherubic and framed by dark hair that was escaping from the bun it had been pulled into. There was a bag slung over her shoulder, which definitely supported the theory that she was running from something, and Karic found himself wondering what it was or if she needed help. She looked young, definitely younger than him, and he could smell the musky scent of lion under the water and fear that otherwise clung to her. A shifter, then. He knew there was a pride nearby, on the other side of the river, which definitely went a long way towards explaining why she had wanted to know which side of the river he was from.

Karic didn't know anything about the pride at all, but he had seen members of it out and about in town. He didn’t do packs or groups, preferring to be alone most of the time, and if this woman was running from her pride, then it seemed like he had the right idea. He'd never had time for the dynamics that went along with packs and similar groups. Karic liked to be able to do what he wanted when he wanted to, and he generally preferred the company of humans to other shifters when at all possible. That was one of the reasons he loved this town so much. People knew about shifters and were more than tolerant of them, but humans outnumbered them five to one, and it was much more comfortable in Karic's mind by being surrounded by other shifters all the time. Shifters were unpredictable, territorial, and brash, and he got stressed out just thinking about it.

Luckily, he was pulling into his driveway before long, sighing at the fact that it was still pouring down rain outside. It would be warm and dry inside his house, but he had to get himself and this mystery woman out of the car and into the house before he could take advantage of that.

“Shouldn't be too hard,” he mumbled as he turned the car off and glanced back at the woman once again. He couldn't help but smile at how much more peaceful she looked when she was out cold and not shivering in the rain, but he shook himself and headed back out into the rain to get her out of the car.

Ten minutes and much muted swearing later, and Karic had them both inside. He had dripped an impressive puddle onto the floor of his entryway, and he sighed and added that to his list of things to take care of tomorrow before his shift. It was looking less and less like he was going to get to have the nice relaxing morning in bed that he wanted, but he couldn't deny that he had brought this on himself. “As per usual.” He put the sleeping woman down in one of the chairs in the living room and then spread a few towels on the couch, moving her once it was ready so that she could lie flat.

His plan to go to sleep when he got home was clearly foiled. It wouldn't do for her to wake up in a strange house with him off in the bed, so he sighed and went to go change into something clean and dry and then heat up the Chinese food in his refrigerator, planning to settle in until the woman woke up.

Either the beeping of the microwave or the smell of warm noodles and chicken was enough to wake her, and when Karic came back into the living room, carrying two bowls of General Tso's over chow mein, he was surprised to see amber eyes trained on him.

“Oh,” he said, and then rolled his eyes at how very stupid that sounded. “I mean, hi. It's good to see you're awake. Do you remember me?”

She hesitated and then nodded. “This is your house?”

“Yeah. I didn't know where you were going, and since you passed out and I wasn't about to leave you on the side of the road to be found by some crazy stranger, it seemed like the best thing to just bring you here.”

“Thank you,” she said softly, wincing as she went to sit up. “Fuck, what an awful night.”

“Coulda been worse,” Karic pointed out. “You could have drowned.”

She shot him a pointed look. “I feel like I did.”

His cheeks colored as he realized that she was still soaking wet and he hadn't offered to do anything about that yet. “Right. God, I'm sorry. It's late, and I was at work forever, so my brain isn't…right. Um…” What was the matter with him? He dealt with people all day and didn't get flustered like this, but he was just going to chalk it up to exhaustion. Not to say that she wasn't pretty because she was. Her dark hair was curling around her face where it had escaped from the bun, and in the light of the living room, Karic could see that she had creamy skin and a smattering of freckles that went across her nose and cheeks. She looked so young, and the compulsion to ask her what she was running from was strong. Instead he got himself together and focused on the matter at hand. “I'll show you to the bathroom. You can have a shower and get the river water off, and I'll set some of my things out for you to wear.”

“They…might not fit,” she offered, wrinkling her nose.

Karic grinned. “No, I've got just the thing. C'mon.” He set the food down on the coffee table and watched as she got up from the couch, making a face when she stumbled, favoring her right leg. “Your ankle?”

“Yeah, I really think I messed it up when I slipped into the river.”

“Well, let's work on getting you dry, and then I'll take a look at it, okay? For now…” He went over and offered her his arm, bracing her as they made their way up the stairs. “I'm Karic, by the way. I don't know if you remember me mentioning that.”

She nodded. “I do. I'm…Camilla. I…thank you. For not just leaving me there on the side of the road. And for being so nice to some girl you don't know.”

Karic shrugged. “It's no problem, really. Apparently I've got a white-knight complex, and I can't say no to a damsel in distress. Or anything in distress, really.”

“That's not a bad quality to have,” Camilla pointed out.

“Yeah, well. It's gotten me into trouble sometimes.” He flipped the light on in the bathroom and stepped back from her. “Can you manage from here, do you think?”

Camilla nodded, looking around. “I think so. If you hear something crash, then it's me, falling over.”

“I'll be sure to come save you before you drown in the shower,” Karic said with an easy smile. “You go ahead and get in. I'll leave some clothes outside the door. Feel free to use anything you find in there, too. There'll be some food waiting when you get out.” From the way Camilla's stomach growled at that, she approved.

“Thank you. Really,” she said again, meeting his eyes.

“You're welcome. Really. Just holler if you need something.” And he went into his room, leaving her to it while he hunted down clothes for her.





Chapter 4: Bonding




Karic awoke to the smell of food cooking, and he frowned in confusion. He was the only one who lived here, and his cooking skills were mediocre at best, so he mostly lived on take out and things that could be microwaved. Certainly he'd never been woken up on a Wednesday morning to the smell of—he inhaled deeply—bacon and blueberries? What the hell was going on?

It took several minutes for his brain to wake up enough to catch up to his body, and memories of the night before came flooding back to him in a rush. Finding Camilla on the side of the road, bringing her home. It was perfectly plausible that she was the one in his kitchen making food that smelled like heaven and made his mouth water. He couldn't even be upset at the thought of her going through his refrigerator and cabinets to find things to make, especially when he looked at the clock at his bedside and realized it was closing in on noon. He had really not meant to sleep that late, but he'd been worn out from his shift and everything that had happened after, so it made sense that he had slept in.

When the smell proved to be just too intoxicating to ignore, he hauled himself out of bed, pulling a pair of sweatpants on over his boxers before he headed down the stairs, scratching at his head. “Wow, it smells amazing in here,” he said as he walked into the kitchen, and he had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing when Camilla jumped, startled. “Sorry,” he said quickly once she had turned to look at him. “I thought you would have heard me coming.”

She gave him a small smile. “I was…kind of in the zone, I guess. It's been a while since I cooked anything.”

He wouldn't have known if she hadn't told him because the way she moved, flipping and plating and garnishing, it seemed like she had been doing this forever. “Wow,” Karic breathed. “I don't think my kitchen's been used like this in all the time I've had it. Are you sure you're not a professional?” He hadn’t seen anyone cook like this since he was a little kid, sitting at the kitchen table and watching his mother make breakfast for the family.

Camilla's cheeks went a fetching shade of pink at the compliment, but she shook her head quickly. “I'm sure. I…they used to have me cook a lot…back home. But then someone else joined the pride that was better at it, and…” she trailed off, and Karic didn't push her to finish the sentence. It was obvious that she had real issues and bad experiences where her pride was concerned, and he didn't want to repay her for making him breakfast (or was it brunch at this point?) by making her sad.

“Well, it looks awesome,” he said firmly. “Can I do anything to help? I feel kinda useless standing in my own kitchen doing nothing.”

He was relieved when that got her to smile. “You could set the table? And pour juice? I'm going to have my hands full in a minute getting all this to the table.”

“Can do,” Karic replied with a wink and went to it, getting down more plates and glasses and bringing everything over to the table.

Camilla brought the food over, setting it in the middle of the table, and they both sat down to dig in.

Breakfast was a mostly quiet affair, and Karic would have asked Camilla if she was alright if not for the fact that she was on the run, so clearly not alright. Also the food was just too good to ruin by talking. She had prepared fluffy blueberry pancakes with a massive pile of perfectly done bacon on the side, and there had even been syrup and jam left in his fridge to make the breakfast perfect. Usually he just had coffee and grabbed a doughnut or something to have with it, and he honestly didn't think he had ever sat at the table like this and had breakfast. It was actually really nice. Having company was nice. Karic had gotten so used to being alone that he didn't even notice how quiet his house was when it was just him, but the warmth and easiness of Camilla's company made him think.

“So…” he said as he was helping himself to a fourth pancake from the stack in the middle of the table. “Do you think you'll try to head out today?”

She glanced up at him, amber eyes anxious. “Am I in the way? I'm sorry. I was definitely planning on leaving today. I have to, really, so it's fine.”

Karic held up a hand, cringing at the way he had worded that. “No! I mean, no. You're not in the way. You can stay as long as you'd like, really. I was just curious. I have to go into work later, and you're more than welcome to stay here or come with me and hang out in the office. The nurses are nice to talk to and they might be able to point you in the right direction of somewhere safe to go. I mean, if you want. It's up to you, obviously.” Fuck. There was a very good reason why all the women he talked to were either sick or middle aged. They found him charming. Otherwise he was just nervous and tripped over his words.

“I…” Camilla licked a bit of syrup from her fingers and seemed to think about it. In Karic's mind there were plenty of reasons for her to stay. Her things were probably still wet; she didn't seem to have much of a plan beyond just getting away, not to mention she still had a sprained ankle. But he could imagine that her reasons for leaving seemed much bigger than any of that. “You really wouldn't mind?” she asked finally.

“I really wouldn't. It's nice to have company, and I can't cook for shit, so maybe it's a little selfish. But either way, we can get your ankle looked at and get your clothes and stuff dried off so you'll be in better shape when you do leave.”

That seemed to cheer her up, and when she smiled at him, Karic couldn't help but smile back. He didn't know what it was about her, but there was definitely some kind of draw there, and it was more than just because she was pretty.

An hour later and Karic was doing the dishes and all of Camilla’s wet things were in the dryer. Every few minutes her eyes would shift to a window, and he knew that she was concerned and worried that the rest of her pride was going to show up. He didn’t know if it would help if he told her that he wouldn’t let anything happen to her (after all, it was just him, and he didn’t know what use he could be against a whole pride of lion shifters), but he felt the need to keep her safe. It had always pained him to see someone in trouble, and from the fear lurking in those otherwise bright eyes, Karic could tell that nothing good would happen if the pride got Camilla back.

“What time do you have to go to the office?” Camilla asked from the living room, pitching her voice just loud enough to be heard.

“Not for another few hours. I’m on the late shift tonight. But if you come in with me, I can bring you back here on my break.”

“N-no. I…I’d rather stay with you, if that’s alright.”

He could understand that. Being left alone in a strange place didn’t sound particularly appealing to him either. “Yeah, that’s fine. I’m sure Allie and the others will find something to keep you entertained.”

“Thank you.”

It was funny how different Camilla could be from moment to moment. Sometimes she seemed to be more snarky and a bit sarcastic, but as soon as something troublesome got brought up, she seemed to retreat into herself. Karic found himself wondering what she would be like if she didn’t have to be afraid. Probably bright, funny, those full lips quirking in a smile at some joke she had made. He bet that she would be a joy to be around, and his heart went out to her that she had to live her life in fear.

Mentally he scolded himself for thinking like that about someone he barely knew. It was things like that that made people call him a bleeding heart and had gotten him taken advantage of. He fell for every sob story in the book, and it had only led him to trouble before. But somehow he could tell that if was different with Camilla. The fear in her eyes, the quiver in her voice…all of that was real. Karic knew enough about fear to know that.

“Is there anyone you’d like to call?” he asked, wiping his hands on a dish cloth and cleaning the counters with it. “Your family maybe? A friend?” It was probably a dumb question, and the silence that followed it told him he was right. If she’d had someone to call, she probably would have done it already and not been in this predicament. Why did he even open his mouth?

“I don’t know where my family is,” Camilla said, and her voice was so soft that Karic barely heard it, even with his enhanced hearing. “It’s been me and the pride for as long as I can remember.”

“Oh. I…I’m sorry,” he replied. And then because it seemed only fair that he offer something in return, he sighed and continued. “I know my family, but we don’t talk. It’s been ages since I’ve seen either of my parents or my older brother.”

“Why? Don’t you miss them?”

“We never saw eye to eye,” Karic explained. “My dad and brother are both shifters, and they have that whole…we’re better than everyone else because of what we can do mentality and it drives me crazy. I don’t know how many fights we got into because I dated human girls all through high school and college.”

Camilla sighed, and Karic went into the living room so that he could see her while they talked. “Yeah,” she said. “Paul, the leader of our pride, he’s like that. He thinks of himself as the king, and everyone is below him. Especially humans. I’ve never understood that way of thinking, though. I mean, yeah, they don’t have any special abilities, and they can’t change their forms, but they go about their lives the same as we do. Most of the time we look just like them. What makes us any better than they are?”

Karic’s eyes widened because those were the exact things he had said to his father when he’d walked out, insisting that he couldn’t live the way his father wanted so he would go live on his own. Since then he hadn’t really had the time to talk to many other shifters, and so he felt a lurch in his stomach when he heard Camilla’s words. “That’s…pretty much how I feel about it. If anything humans are better than we are for coping with life without any special powers.”

“Yes.” Camilla granted him a small smile. “I can see why you are alone.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? And how do you know? I could have a pack.” Way to sound like a petulant child there, Karic. He sighed. What was it about this woman that turned him into a babbling idiot?

“Nothing bad,” she said quickly, holding her hands up. “Just that you don’t seem like you would get along with other shifters very well. Most of them have the same views as you family from what I’ve seen. And I can tell because you only smell like you. Pack bonding leaves a different scent.”

“Well, you only smell like you, too. But you have a pride,” he pointed out.

Camilla smiled sadly. “There isn’t really a bond there. Which is why I had to leave.” And then she was abruptly changing the subject. “Is your mother a human?”

“She was,” Karic replied. “She was killed when I was really young. My father got on the wrong side of another pack, and… They knew what his weakness was.”

“Oh. I’m…so sorry. That’s terrible.”

“Yeah, it was. I think…well. She was the only human my dad really respected. And when she was killed, he tried to blame it on her fragile human nature instead of himself for getting mixed up in stuff he shouldn’t have been messing with. I don’t think I’ve ever really forgiven him for that, and it’s just another reason why I don’t want to get mixed up with packs and pack dynamics.”

Camilla nodded. “I think you’re smart for that. But…you shouldn’t isolate yourself because none of that was your fault.” She laughed bitterly. “I know how it feels to be singled out for special powers and how it feels to want so badly to be normal and to belong at the same time. Being along doesn’t make it any better.”

Her words were gentle, but they hit Karic somewhere deep. He had never really bothered to think about how alone he really was, filling his hours with work and sleeping for the most part. He told himself that he spent his time helping people, which was more worthwhile than anything else he could be doing. But sometimes, coming home to an empty, dark house was more depressing than he liked to admit to himself.

“I’m fine,” he said softly, tossing her a smile. “Being alone has never really bothered me, and I’m usually too busy to notice anyway.”

Before Camilla could reply, the drier buzzed, and Karic was pushing off from where he had been leaning against the wall. “Your clothes are dry. I’m just going to go…get them. So you can change. And yeah.”

It was disconcerting how well Camilla could read him, and he found himself wondering if he was really that transparent or if she was just observant. Allie and the other nurses were always telling him that he needed a nice young lady (“or young man if you prefer, Karic, dear”) to look after him, that he was getting closer to thirty and needed to settle down, but he’d always brushed that off because he could take care of himself, and he usually was the one who did the looking after anyway. But there was a part of him that really did want companionship, and he warned himself not to get too attached to the strange lion girl who he’d found. She would be leaving as soon as she could, and he would be alone again. Which was fine. Yes. Perfectly fine with him. The way he preferred it, really.

When he returned with her clothes, Camilla looked regretful. “I’m sorry if I said too much,” she said as soon as he walked back in. “I’m bad sometimes at knowing when to stop talking, and I didn’t mean to upset you. Or imply that your life isn’t good enough. What do I know, right?”

Karic snorted, but shook his head. “No, you’re fine. I’m just not used to people being able to read me so well. It’s…disconcerting. But I’m sure you know a lot more than you give yourself credit for.”

A shadow seemed to pass over Camilla’s face, and she hung her head a little, letting her curls hide her face. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…I’m sorry.”

She sounded truly remorseful, and once again, Karic got the feeling that there was something he was missing in all of this. “Hey. It’s really okay. Some people are just perceptive, right? Or maybe I’m just an open book, who knows? Either way, I’m not upset about it, so don’t beat yourself up.” He cast around for something else to talk about. “Here. Why don’t you get dressed and we’ll go get ice cream or something?”

Camilla looked at him bemusedly. “But we just had breakfast less than two hours ago.”

“So? Is there ever a bad time for ice cream?”

“Well, no…”

“Good. Then get dressed, and we’ll go. No use sitting around here all day, right?”

“…I guess.” Her eyes darted to the window again, and Karic finally had to say something.

“I know you’re probably worried about them finding you, but this is a pretty big place for all it doesn’t look it. And even if they do, I wouldn’t let them have you. If they’re smart at all, they wouldn’t try to grab you in broad daylight, either.”

“You don’t know the lengths they would go to,” she mumbled back, but she was getting up, collecting the bundle of her clean, dry clothes and taking them and her bag up to the bathroom to change.

Karic let out a sigh once she was gone. It probably wasn’t hard for her to identify with being alone, even if she had come from a pride. Camilla had said that she didn’t have any bonds there, and Karic couldn’t imagine what it would be like to live with a group like that and not have anyone to call a friend or family or something. And to have been there for as long as she said he had… He shuddered and was suddenly even more determined to make sure that she got out of town safely and didn’t have to go back to those assholes she had been with before.

Nodding resolutely, he climbed the stairs and went to go get dressed himself, ready to go out and do something with someone else for the first time in quite a while.





Chapter 5: Experiences




Camilla felt like her head was spinning.

It had been such a strange day, but strange in a much better way than the day before it. Karic was sweet and kind, and she felt a little bad for how much of him she had read when she’d taken his hand the night before. She hadn’t really had another option. Not if she’d wanted to really know that who she was going with wasn’t someone who was just going to deliver her right back to Paul, but the more she talked to Karic, the more the pieces of his life seemed to mesh with what she had seen, and she just wanted to hug him and make him be happy.

Oh, sure, he played at being happy well, but Camilla could tell. She knew that there was a sadness in him that he couldn’t fix on his own. He didn’t know how.

But that wasn’t her place, so she didn’t bring it up. Instead she enjoyed talking with him about things that were less emotionally demanding than her pride or his family. They went for ice cream in the afternoon and sat outside, enjoying the clean, crisp smell of the world after a rain storm. Things were still damp, but the sun was shining, and the pistachio ice cream cone she had went a long way towards making things a bit more okay.

It was sort of hard to believe that she had never done anything like this before, just sat out with someone and enjoyed the day. So much of her life had been missed out on because of what Paul had demanded of her, and it made her even more determined that she was going to make herself a good life without him.

They had gone grocery shopping after that, and Karic had told her to pick out foods that she liked and put them in the cart. “You’re going to be here for at least a couple more days, and trust me when I say you’re not going to want to come to work with me every day. You might as well have something to eat while you’re there,” he’d said, and Camilla had promised that she would have a hot meal waiting for him when he got home from work.

The smile that lit his face was oddly endearing, and Camilla had to work to push back another pang. It wasn’t right that someone like him thought he had to isolate himself from others just because of what he was or the things he believed.

She liked him, that much was obvious, but after the story he had told her about his mother, she knew she had to get out of his life as soon as possible. Her pride would find her if she stayed, it was only a matter of how soon they would do it, and there was no way she was going to drag him into that. Not when he had already lost so much because of group dynamics. It would have been a terrible way to pay him back for all he had done for her so far.

Once they had gone back to the house and put all the groceries away, there had been just enough time for Karic to hop in the shower and change into his scrubs before they had to leave for the doctor’s office. Karic filled her in about the ladies he worked with as they drove, already warning her that they were going to be unnaturally interested to see that he had brought a girl with him.

“You can tell them as much or as little about how I met you as you want,” he’d told her. “In fact, you can pretend to be someone I know from back home, if you’d like. They’re all really sweet women, but they’re nosy and very mother hen-ish. And I’m sure as soon as I walk in with you, they’re going to be hearing wedding bells. It’s just how they are.”

Camilla had to laugh at that description. Karic said it like it was a common thing, women who were nosy and wanted young men to settle down, and yeah, in some of the books she had read and the shows she’d watched on television they were, but it was sort of amazing to her that people were actually like that. Man, she really needed to get out more, it seemed. People were all so varied and diverse, and Camilla wanted to submerge herself in that and find out what kind of person she was finally. Twenty-one years old and all she knew was what Paul had made her.

The doctor’s office was smaller than Camilla had expected, but it seemed large enough to suit the needs of the town. It was nearing twilight when she and Karic walked in, and instantly Karic was swept into a hug by an older woman wearing pink scrubs.

“Carmen!” Karic certainly did look happy to see her. “When did you get back from vacation?”

“Vacation?” the woman scoffed. “Is that what you’re calling it?”

“Well, you did get to go to Florida. That’s a vacation spot.”

“If you’re a child or someone on the way to the grave, maybe,” Carmen said back. “And my daughter is neither, so I don’t know why she chose there to settle down. Hot as all hell and so damned wet.”

Karic laughed delightedly. “Oh, it’s good to have you back. How’s the new baby?”

“Cute as anything. My family has good genes, and the man my daughter married, he’s a looker if there ever was one.”

“I think I’m offended.”

Carmen cackled and patted his cheek. “You’re a looker, too, doll, never worry. And one day some…” she trailed off when she seemed to finally catch sight of Camilla. “Oh, excuse me. Did you need something, dear?”

“No, I…” Camilla flushed and looked at Karic who grinned at her.

“She’s with me, Carmen. Camilla this is Carmen Greene, she’s one of the nurses here. Carmen, this is my friend Camilla. She’s staying with me for a couple of days.”

“Oh, really?” Carmen said, and her dark eyes seemed to light up. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Camilla. And what a lovely name that is. Certainly suits as you’re a lovely young lady.”

“And here we go,” Karic sighed.

Camilla flushed at the sudden attention, not at all sure how to take it, even though she had been warned beforehand that this could and probably would happen. “Oh, um. Thank you very much. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise, likewise. So you’re a friend of our dear Karic, hm? That’s good. We were beginning to wonder if he had any friends at all. Spends all his time around us old ladies, and that’s not good for a man that handsome,” Carmen said, grinning and moving closer to her. “Don’t you think he’s handsome, dear?”

“Um…I…”

“Carmen,” Karic said sharply, saving Camilla from having to answer and make an even bigger idiot of herself than she probably already was. “Leave her alone. She’s not here to get wrapped up in your matchmaking game. Come on, Camilla. Let’s get you to an exam room, and we’ll take a look at that ankle, okay?”

Camilla nodded eagerly, uncomfortable and embarrassed. The truth was she did think Karic was handsome. She had seen plenty of men, the ones in her pride and the ones who came to do business with Paul, and some of them had been attractive. But there was just something about Karic that made her like him. Something about the way he smiled at her and the way those green eyes sparkled when he was actually happy. She hadn’t known him for long at all, but the more time she spent with him, the more the things she had seen when she touched his hand made sense to her.

The exam room was just down the hall, and her ankle had been feeling better all day, so she didn’t have to limp much before they got there. Karic closed the door behind them and motioned for her to get up on the table, which she did, boosting herself up easily.

“I’m really sorry about that,” he said softly. “I didn’t know Carmen was going to be here today, and she’s the worst of the lot. Her daughter got married to this rich, handsome dude that she introduced her to, so now she thinks she’s the consummate matchmaker. I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Camilla replied with a little smile. “It seemed like that’s just…how she is.” Of course, her cheeks were still burning from the way the woman had scrutinized her and put her on the spot, but she wasn’t going to make a fuss about it.

Karic sighed and drug over a machine that Camilla assumed was for the x-ray. “Yeah, it is. And right now she’s probably telling Allie and Pat all about you. We’ll just make it clear that there’s nothing like that going on between us and hopefully they’ll get the message. I mean, it’s really silly for them to assume we’re together anyway.”

“Right,” Camilla said, lowering her eyes and watching Karic fiddle with the machine. She couldn’t decide if that hurt or not. It was hard not having a good idea of whether or not she was attractive. No one had ever really complimented her appearance before, and Paul called her pretty but Camilla had always known that he meant it in that way that people called their boats or cars pretty. She was something to use, not something to admire. To her knowledge, no one had ever been interested in her that way anyway, so she supposed it didn’t really matter. Maybe wherever she ended up at the end of this, she would get asked out or something. That would be nice.

When she looked back up, Karic was gazing at her with something she couldn’t decipher in his eyes. “What?”

“I…didn’t mean it like that, you know,” he answered.

“Um…like what?”

“Like it would be ridiculous for me to be with you. I meant that it was ridiculous for them to jump to that conclusion based on no other evidence than the fact that I’m a guy and you’re a lady and we walked in together. But that doesn’t mean that you’re not…that I don’t think you’re…” he trailed off, cheeks going pink. “You’re beautiful, so that’s not the issue at all.”

For some reason, that boosted her mood instantly. That was as good as him saying that he did think he was attractive, and she shot him a smile. “You’re kind of silly,” she said, wanting to reach out and pat his hand, but refraining for obvious reasons. She didn’t need to pry any more than she already had. “But thank you for that. No one’s ever…said things like that to me.”

Karic frowned. “Really? That’s dumb. People should tell you stuff like that all the time because it’s true.” He gave her a smile and then turned his attention back to the machine, firing it up. “Prop your ankle up for me?”

“Huh?” Camilla had gotten stuck on the first part of his words and had to shake herself when he gave his instruction. “Oh. Right. Sorry.” She pulled her leg up onto the table, and held still while Karic worked the machine over it. She couldn’t help but watch the way he worked, how intense his focus was as he moved part of the machine over her ankle and tapped keys on the computer part. It wasn’t hard to see why all the ladies thought that he should have a girlfriend or something. Karic was unlike anyone she had ever met, and he seemed like he would definitely make someone happy one day.

Out of nowhere there was a pang in her chest when she remembered that it wouldn’t be her. She had to leave, and even if he did think she was attractive, there was no guarantee that…

No. It was silly to think about it anyway.

She’d had enough disappointment in her life, and now it was time to look forward to bigger and better things. And to get out of here before she got attached and found it even harder to leave.

“Well,” Karic said, squinting at the monitor on the machine. “Everything looks good. Definitely nothing broken and the swelling’s way down, so I’d say you’ll be good as new in a day or so. We probably should have iced it last night, but I didn’t even think about that.”

“It was really late,” Camilla pointed out. “And it’s fine, really. I was walking on it today and everything. Just a little sore.”

He smiled at her. “That’s good. Just to be safe, I’ll give you a wrap for it, and you can stay off of it tonight for the most part. We’ll see what it looks like tomorrow and how it feels, and then I can probably declare you fully healed.”

Camilla grinned, her face lighting up. “That sounds really good. Thank you.” And she tried to make sure that he knew that she wasn’t just saying thank you for this, but for everything he had done for her so far. There was no way she could ever repay him for all of this.

“Don’t mention it. It’s my job, you know?”

“Really?” she teased. “Is that why you wanna be a doctor? To help girls you think are pretty?”

His eyes widened, and she flushed lightly. She hadn’t meant for that to come out sounding as flirty as it had. “No,” Karic answered slowly. “I mean, to help people, yeah, but the pretty girls are just a perk. And not one I get to enjoy all that often. I mean, most of the ladies who come in here to be treated are old enough to be my mother.”

“Some people are into that sort of thing. Cougars, you know.” She had seen a lot of that on television when she’d been able to watch it.

Karic snorted and shook his head. “I think I much prefer lions.”

Their eyes met when he said that, both seeming shocked that those words had come out of his mouth. Camilla opened hers to say something and then closed it again, unsure. Because that was definitely flirting, wasn’t it? And it felt right to want to respond, but it was also wrong because she was leaving, and… It was all so complicated.

Before she could figure out what to say, Karic was clearing his throat and getting up, wheeling the x-ray machine away. “Um…yes. Well. You’re all done here, and I’ll just…go get the wrap for your ankle and get that in place and then I need to go check in with the doctor. So. Yes. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” Camilla replied, voice barely above a whisper. “I’ll just wait here, then.” Her heart was racing, and it was good that Karic had left the small room because she was pretty sure that he would have been able to hear it had he stayed. It was so random and so…dumb to be feeling like this about someone she had known for less than twenty four hours. He was nice and kind and handsome, yes, but that shouldn’t have been enough to have her acting like a teenager around him. But it didn’t help at all that she had seen inside his head a bit and knew what kind of person he was. That sort of derailed a lot of the mental arguments she wanted to have with herself.

She tried anyway, though. When he came back in the room and took her ankle, wrapping it up with the utmost care, she tried to convince herself that he would have done the same for any patient, that she was the same as he old women he treated. But the look in those green eyes when he finished and patted her knee definitely said that she was wrong about that.

He helped her to her feet and down the hall to the office in the back. “This is where I usually hide out when I’m on my breaks,” he said. “There’s stuff in the mini-fridge and a little cot back there if you want to take a nap or something. I’m gonna be here until at least midnight, but let me know if you want to get out of here before that, and I’ll take you back to my place when I go on break, okay?”

The office did seem stocked with things she could use to entertain herself; there was even a small television on top of the bookshelf. “I’m sure I’ll be fine,” she said. “I’m probably just going to sleep anyway. I’m still worn out from yesterday. You go take care of sick people.”

His smile was bright. “Will do. I’ll come back and check on you when I can.” And then he was gone, heading off in the direction of the other rooms in the building.

Camilla let out a sigh of relief and went to sit on the cot. She wasn’t used to spending her days like this, and she hoped that wherever she ended up, she found a place like this one with people she could call her friends and places she could hang out in without being worried. Habit had her looking around, making sure the place was secure. Of course, Paul or whoever he sent would have to get through the rest of the building to get to her, and she’d hear the commotion and be able to…well, probably not hide, but do something.

She had already made up in her mind that she wasn’t going back with him or anyone else for that matter, and she wasn’t going to be swayed or taken or anything like that.

“So there,” she muttered under her breath and could barely stifle a yawn when she stretched and leaned back on the cot. She really was still drained from her escape the night before, and a nap sounded amazing. With a quiet sigh, she made herself comfortable and then closed her eyes.





Chapter 6: Interlude




Paul Westin was very, very unhappy. In fact, unhappy was putting it mildly to an absurd degree. It would have been more accurate to say that he was livid, anxious, and downright pissed off. He did so hate it when things that belonged to him went missing. It was bad when they got stolen, but it was even worse when they got up and walked away. Or fled in the middle of the night like the little rat the she was.

He took a deep breath and made himself focus. Getting angrier wasn’t going to fix anything. It wasn’t going to get the traitorous little bitch found any faster, for certain, and that was the only thing that mattered right then. Later, of course, there would be the matter of punishing his wayward charge. Making sure that she knew better than to ever try to leave his side again. He would put a collar around that pretty neck of hers and keep her chained to him at all times if he had to, but she would learn.

The door to the spacious room he has designated for his audiences banged open, and Paul looked up impatiently. “Well?”

Thomas and Adam, two of the older members of the pride exchanged wary glances. “There’s no sign of her, sir,” Adam said. “We followed her scent out of the house, but then…”

“But then what?”

No one liked giving him bad news when he used that tone of voice. It was the same tone that he used on people who weren’t going to be living much longer, and it was clear that neither of the two wanted to answer that question. Paul was not above having one of them killed to make the other work harder if it would send the right message. They were the best trackers in the pride, and if they hadn’t been able to find her then they were going to have to come up with a different plan.

“…but her scent disappears just short of the woods, sir. It rained heavily last night, so that makes sense,” Thomas continued. “We searched the area, but there weren’t any footprints or anything close by.”

“So, what you’re telling me is that she has disappeared?” Paul asked, voice deceptively calm. “How could that happen? Someone is always supposed to be watching her! She’s not supposed to be able to slip out and run off like this!” And alright, maybe he was losing his calm just a little, but things like this were not supposed to happen. Camilla knew too much to be allowed to roam lose in the world. She had seen too many of his dealings, had been witness to too many of the less than legal trades that kept the pride going and living in this manor. If she went to the police, there would be no stopping them from coming to investigate, especially since all crimes involving shifters were taken very seriously.

He hoped that he had instilled enough fear in her over the years that she wouldn’t talk to anyone about the pride and instead go straight for trying to get as far away as possible. Eventually, he would find her, but if he had to deal with a police investigation first, then it would take longer for him to be able to search for her.

“We don’t know what happened, sir!” Thomas insisted. “She was here for dinner, but then she was just…gone.”

“She was not just gone. People do not just vanish, Thomas. They sneak and hide like rats, and then they are found and caged. And we will find her, do you hear me?”

They both nodded immediately.

“Good. Search the entirety of the woods. Leave nothing unchecked. More than likely she went across the bridge into the town proper, and we can only hope that the rain delayed her escape. She is likely still there, and I want her found and dragged back here, is that understood?”

“Yes, sir,” the said in unison and then turned to leave quickly. Good. They should be afraid. If Camilla got away, then there would be hell to pay. It had been annoying when Chris, one of the former members of the pride had gotten a strange woman pregnant and then run off with her, but when he’d turned up three years later with a toddler with amber eyes and a strange power, it had been a blessing.

Of course, he’d had to be killed. Paul had known that Chris wouldn’t have allowed them to use his daughter like a tool, but with him gone, Camilla had then had no one but the pride to look after her, and Paul had been able to manipulate her into all sorts of things from a young age. She knew nothing else but them and the things he made her do, and he was going to get her back before she could get any more ridiculous ideas about freedom in her head. He needed her, and he was going to have her back no matter what it took to make sure that happened.

There were only so many places she could hide in the town, and someone would have seen her, surely. She’d gotten that infernal job, so she had a little money, he knew (and that was going to be nipped right in the fucking bud when she was returned to him), but she couldn’t have gotten far.

“You will regret this, Camilla,” he murmured under his breath as he looked out the window, watching Thomas and Adam and a few other members of the pride head for the tree line. “You will regret it and you will never get this chance again, so I do hope you enjoy your little adventure, my pet.”





Chapter 7: A Feeling of Belonging




Karic had never had so much trouble concentrating before when it came to his job. Usually he was focused and charming, making sure older women and even the men took their medicines on time and followed whatever treatments had been outlined for them. But tonight his mind was thoroughly with the girl he had left in the back office, wondering if she was doing alright, if she was worried about her pride finding her here, and what he would do if they did.

“Are you alright, Karic?” Dr. Dearborn’s voice cut through his thoughts, making him look up in surprise.

“Oh. Yeah. Definitely. Why do you ask?”

She smiled at him mildly. “Because you just filled out Mr. Hampton’s prescription for two hundred and fifty ten milligram tablets instead of the other way around?”

Karic looked down at his pad and then sighed. Yep. He was definitely losing his mind. He tore off the prescription and balled it up, tossing it with impressive accuracy into the nearest trash can.

“Is this about the young lady?” Dr. Dearborn asked him.

His face got hot, and Karic just knew he was blushing. Awesome. “I…don’t know what you mean.”

“Well, Carmen has been informing everyone that there is a pretty young lady asleep in the back office and that she came in with you, so I just assumed.”

Karic couldn’t help but groan at that. He wanted them all to leave Camilla alone, and there was Carmen, sticking her nose where it didn’t belong at all. She’d probably hoped to catch Camilla awake so she could extol his virtues and try to find out what they were to each other and how Camilla felt about him. “If it’s about anything, it’s about how your nurses can’t mind their own business,” he muttered.

Dr. Dearborn cracked a smile. “Yes, they do seem to have a problem with boundaries, don’t they? When I first came and took over here, I was single, and they went out of their way to try and talk me up to every attractive male patient we had, even if they were your age. Of course, then they found out that I wasn’t attracted to men, and that set them back for a good two weeks.”

“And then what happened?”

Her smile grew. “And then Lydia walked in for a physical.”

Lydia was the doctor’s girlfriend, who she had been with for as long as Karic had known her pretty much. He couldn’t help but smile at the thought that the nurses had actually managed to successfully do the matchmaker thing. “Well, I’m pretty sure that’s not going to be the end of this story for me, so I wish they would butt out.”

“It’s only because they care about you, Karic, you know that. We all just want you to be happy.”

“I am happy,” he insisted, wondering why nobody ever believed him when he said that.

The rest of his shift had passed quickly enough, and miracle of miracles, he’d been able to call it a night before midnight rolled around. Apparently it was a quiet night for accidents in the town or something because at eleven p.m. Dr. Dearborn was telling him he was free to go for the night.

“Take your young lady home,” she said with a smile lurking in the corners of her mouth.

“She’s not mine,” he insisted.

“She’s your friend and clearly your responsibility for whatever reason right now. That’s enough to make her yours for the moment.”

Karic just sighed because apparently it literally did not matter what he said to these women. They were going to have their own ideas of what was going on, and they were going to stick to them. So instead of arguing, he went to collect Camilla so they could leave. He was starving, and there were the fixings for the massive sandwiches that were the only thing he really knew how to make back at his house.

He tapped on the door to the back office and then pushed it open when there was no response, peering in to see Camilla curled up on the cot just like Dr. Dearborn had said she was. It felt a little creepy to be watching her sleep like this, but he couldn’t really help it, considering he had to go wake her up.

Her face was peaceful as she slept, one hand curled up next to her face as she lay on her side, and the other hanging over the edge. Karic crept closer and smoothed an errant brown curl out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. “Hey,” he said, shaking her shoulder a bit. “Wake up, sleepy head.”

She groaned and then opened her eyes, peering up at him. “Oh, s’just you,” she said. “What time is it?”

“Yep, just me. No need to alarm or excitement.” Karic checked his watch. “Just after eleven and I’m done for the night. You ready to go?”

Camilla smiled and sat up, rubbing at her eyes in a way that was too damned cute. It made her look younger than she was, but when she stretched, her curves were on display and it was impossible for Karic to forget that she was a woman. “Mm, yes. I didn’t mean to sleep so long, but I guess I was just worn out.”

“Makes sense after all you’ve been through.” He held a hand out to her. “C’mon. Let’s get out of here. I’m making messy sandwiches when we get back to the house.”

She beamed at him but didn’t take his hand, instead sliding off of the couch on her own, putting her weight on her wrapped ankle slowly. “Alright, let’s go,” she said, and the two of them headed out to the car.

It was a clear night, and Karic tipped his head back to look at the stars, breathing in the warm summer air. He glanced over at Camilla to see her looking around at everything.

“This place is really nice when it’s not pouring down rain,” Karic remarked. “Not a lot to see, but it’s friendly and a good place to make a home.”

“Is that why you stay here?”

He nodded. “I like being settled. Dr. Dearborn wants me to go on some grand adventure to be a doctor in New York or something before I get too old to enjoy something like that, but I don’t want that. I’m happy here.”

“Happy is good,” she replied. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-six.”

“So not too old, yet.”

Karic grinned at the teasing tone of her voice. “Older than you, whippersnapper.”

Her laugh was clear and bright, and suddenly Karic couldn’t be in denial anymore. They had known each other for an absurdly short length of time, but he was interested. She made him feel like he had known her for ages, and he’d never had a reaction to anyone that was as strong as this. When he looked over at her again, she was looking back at him, those amber eyes big and open in her pretty face.

“I’d like to find a place like this to end up in,” she said with a little smile. “You’d think that with how I grew up I’d want adventure and to travel and stuff, but really…all I want is somewhere to belong, you know? Where I’m not a tool, but a person and people like me and want me around. That’s all I want.”

“You’ll get it,” Karic told her. “I mean, I can’t see anyone not liking you, no matter where you end up, and there are places like this all over. You just have to find them.”

The conversation stilled for the drive back to the house, the radio providing the only sounds in the car. Camilla was looking out the window as the night zipped past, and Karic focused on the road. It was better to do that than to focus on how good she smelled and how soft her hair and skin looked and how much he wanted to tell her that she could belong here. Even if nothing ever came of the strange attraction he had to her, she would be accepted and wanted here; he was sure of it.

But he couldn’t say that to her. It wouldn’t be fair. She needed to get away to feel safe, and as long as her pride was just across the river, that wasn’t going to happen. He could tell from the way her eyes darted to the side every so often that she still wasn’t completely comfortable, and that more than anything kept him quiet until they were back at the house.

He put on more music and went into the kitchen to pull out all the things he had bought for sandwiches: thick sliced ham and thin cut roast beef, lettuce, pickles, chipotle mayo, tomatoes, honey mustard, potato chips.

Camilla was leaning against the opposite counter, one hand pressed over her mouth, seemingly to hold in her giggles as she watched him construct the sandwiches.

“What is so funny?” he demanded as he spread mayo on one half of the thick French bread he had purchased just for this.

“Nothing, nothing. Just…if I were going to imagine the sandwich a werewolf would make, it would definitely be something like this. Messy, sort of every kind of food thrown together on a piece of bread.”

He snorted at her. “And what, you’re too good to eat it because you’re a cat?” he teased.

“Oh, no, I plan to eat one. I’m starving, and it looks good.”

Karic grinned and quickly constructed two sandwiches, plating them and sliding them onto the table along with massive glasses of root beer. “This is my favorite thing to do after a late shift,” he explained. “Just eat way too much food and then pass out in a stupor. Plus, I have the next two days off, so I get to relax and not have to worry about setting an alarm.”

“That does sound nice,” Camilla agreed, turning her sandwich this way and that. “How am I supposed to get this in my mouth?”

“You just have to go for it,” he replied. “Don’t over think it or you’ll never be able to manage.”

“I feel like this sort of thing should come with a warning label,” she said, but she lifted the sandwich and took a large bite, pickles and mayo splatting onto the plate where they had been displaced. “Mm,” Camilla hummed, grinning at him.

“See, I told you.” Karic took his own messy bite and then washed it down with a swig of root beer, sighing happily as he leaned back in the chair. “This is nicer with company,” he said.

Camilla licked mustard from her fingers. “Yeah? I’ve never done anything like this before.”

“You should do it more often,” Karic pointed out. “It’s fun, right?”

“Right.” She smiled at him, and he noticed that she had a smear of mayo right on her cheek that led from the corner of her mouth. His heart beat faster, and he was suddenly seized with the need to lean over and kiss it away. He could imagine that she would taste like root beer, that her lips would be pillowy soft and warm, and that her hair would feel good under his fingers.

She was shorter than him by a good eight or so inches, so she’d have to go up on her toes to kiss him properly if they were standing up, her arms around his neck and those glorious curves pressed against his front. He wondered if she would breathe little sighs into his mouth as they kissed, if she would yield to him or if she would give back as good as she got. If she would let him set her on the counter and slide his hands…

“Uh…Karic?” From the amused tone of Camilla’s voice, this was not the first time she had said his name. “Is there something on my face? Because you’re staring?” Her cheeks were flushed a bit, and Karic wanted it all so desperately. “Um…yeah. You’ve got some mayo, just there.” He pointed to her cheek with a finger that shook.

“Are you alright?” she asked him, brow furrowed.

“Yep. Just um…tired, you know. Long day and all. I…I’m fine.” He would have put his head in his hands if he could.

“Karic,” Camilla said, and her voice was quiet in the kitchen. “I…give me your hand.”

He frowned. “Why?”

“Just…please.”

“Okay,” he said slowly. Karic wiped his fingers on a paper towel and stretched out a hand to her. Her fingers were warm when they touched his, and she clasped his hand in a firm grip and closed her eyes. There was something so familiar about the gesture, and he tried to think of where he had seen this before. “This…you did this when we first met,” he said. “When I found you beside the road.”

“Yes,” she replied. “I did. I had to know.”

“Know what?”

She opened her eyes and looked at him. “If I could trust you. I didn’t know if Paul had people looking for me already or if you were just a friendly person that I could trust, and I had to know.”

“Okay, that makes sense, but…how does this help you know you can trust me?”

There was a look of sadness in those eyes, and Karic didn’t like it. He wanted to pull her to him and wrap her in his arms and blankets and make sure nothing could ever hurt her again. “This…I can sort of…get impressions of people when I touch their hands. Not read their thoughts, really, but see glimpses of what kind of person they are, the things they’ve done. How they feel. I don’t know why I can do it, but that’s why Paul doesn’t want me to leave. He makes me find out people’s secrets and then he uses them against them. That’s why…you shouldn’t feel things for me. Because I have to leave, and it’s not fair for me to know things that you haven’t told me. It’s prying, and I hate it, and I’m sorry.”

Karic was definitely having a hard time wrapping his mind around what she was saying. It wasn’t unheard of for shifters to have other powers to go along with their shifting, but he had never heard of someone being able to do what Camilla was saying she could. He supposed he should have felt like his privacy had been compromised, but really, he could completely understand why she had done it.

Now, he was just embarrassed that she seemed to know how he felt about her without him having to say anything. He didn’t know what to say about any of it, really.

“I’m really sorry,” she said again, and her eyes were so filled with regret. “I…if you want me to leave, you should just say so. I can go. I mean, I’m sure there’s a train I can catch, and I should be leaving anyway so you don’t get dragged any more into this mess than you already have been, you know? Because that’s not fair either, and I’m probably the worst thing that’s ever happened to you, and—”

“You’re not,” Karic said finally, cutting into her stream of babble. “Not by a long shot.”

“But—”

“No. No buts, Camilla. You’re…this is so stupid because we barely even know each other, but I feel like, I feel like I was sleepwalking before, going through the motions, and then you climbed out of a river, and…and now I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel. But I feel something, and you know that now, so I’m not even going to pretend like I don’t anymore. Because I’m not sorry for it. I don’t care what you know about me. I’m an open fucking book to anyone who looks hard enough, and I know you’re not going to use what you know against me. You’re not like that.”

“How do you know?” Camilla asked sharply. “You don’t really know anything about me.”

Karic shook his head. “I know that it hurts you to hurt other people. I know that you hate being afraid and that all you want is to live and be accepted and not be used. I know that you look beautiful in the morning when the sunlight comes in through the window and hits your hair. I know that there are a million things I don’t know about you, and I know that I never believed in that whole mating and imprinting thing before you came along, but now I think that maybe…maybe I was supposed to find you. And I know that sounds insanely stupid, but there it is.”

Deer in the headlights was an understatement for the look of pure gobsmacked shock that was on Camilla’s face. Her eyes were wide, mouth slightly agape, and there was still that streak of mayo on her face. He reached out and wiped it away gently, letting his fingers linger just a bit before he pulled away and wiped his hand, suddenly not hungry anymore.

“I should go to bed,” he said, pushing his chair back from the table and taking the plate over to the drawer where he kept the plastic wrap. No use wasting a good sandwich, he guessed, and he wrapped it up and stuck it in the refrigerator. “Um…feel free to use the shower or whatever. I’ll see you in the morning.”

He was halfway out the door when she stopped him. “Wait…Karic, please.”

He stopped, but he didn’t turn around. “Yeah?”

“No one’s ever seen me before. Not just me. They see my power and what I can do for them. Or they see that I look weak or…I don’t know. But you’re different. And I don’t believe in mates or any of that either, but…”

“But?”

“But I think sometimes there are people that you know you’re supposed to be with even if it's just for a short time. People who just fit for whatever reason.”

"So, what are you saying, Camilla?" Karic wanted to know. He didn't want to jump to conclusions and he didn't want to get his hopes up. This didn't change the fact that their situation was a hard one. A ridiculous one when it came to this kind of thing.

Camilla got up from the table, and she looked so nervous, wringing her hands in front of her, but there was also a determined light in those amber eyes. "I'm saying that I feel it, too. Whatever this draw is. It's not just in your heard or whatever, and there's a part of me that wants to..."

"That wants to try?" Karic asked her, tilting his head, and there was no real way to disguise the hope in his voice.

"Yeah," Camilla replied, and she was right up on him now. "At least...while we can, you know? Because I feel like... I feel like if I leave here and have never even tried this with you I'm going to regret it."

Karic tried hard to ignore than pang of longing that seemed destined to always start in his heart when she started talking about leaving. Nothing had changed in that regard, and he knew it. She was still on the run, and he would never ask her to compromise her safety and peace of mind just to try this with him. If it worked, then...there were ways. He could visit. He could try to get the police to look into her pride so that she could come back. He could...he could leave if it came down to it.

Soft fingers stroked over the furrow in his brow, and Karic blinked and looked down at her. "You're thinking very hard."

He smiled. "Can you blame me? There's a lot to think about. I...will you say it? What it is you want from this?"

She nodded and let out a low breath. "I want to try. I want to spend my last couple of days here not being afraid and learning things about myself. I to see what it feels like to be with someone that I like."

"And after that? When you have to leave?"

She looked torn. "I guess we'll see what happens? I don't want to make you any promises..."

It shouldn't have been, considering all he wanted, but Karic decided that it was enough. It was enough that she wanted to be with him at all and that she would feel the pang of separation and longing, too. It wasn't just him. So he nodded, quirking a lopsided smile at her. "That's enough." Her grin was brilliant and infectious, and Karic couldn't help himself. He smoothed one hand through her hair, touching those soft curls. "Can I kiss you?"

Her eyes were so wide as she looked up at him, and it was painfully obvious when she blushed and looked away that she had never done this before with anyone. That gave Karic a little thrill to think that he would be the one to show her the ropes of this, the first one to find out what she tasted like. But at the same time, it made him hesitate. "Are you sure?" he asked her, fingers tipping her chin up to make her look at him again. "We don't have to, you know. Only if you want it."

"Don't you want it?" Her voice was vulnerable and a little shaky.

"Didn't you see how much I want to kiss you?" Karic wanted to know. "But I don't want to push you into anything you're not ready for. That would be a shitty thing to do."

Her answering smile was grateful, and Karic definitely thought that she was going to say that she didn't want to do it. Which was fine. Totally fine. She had every right to refuse him considering all the things that made this a bad idea. But she surprised him by blushing a bit darker and licking her lips.

"I want it. I...I want to know what it feels like to be wanted. Even if it's just for a little while."

That was all he needed to hear. With both hands he cupped her face, his thumbs smoothing over her cheeks. Her skin was warm and still flushed, and she just looked so pretty like this. He was close enough to see the flecks of darker brown in her eyes, to see how she licked her lips, tongue darting over the little bow in the middle of the upper one. He wanted to follow that trail she was setting, chase that tongue back into her mouth and discover what her unique flavor was. But he started slowly. If he wanted this to continue for any length of time then he couldn't scare her away by being too eager. "Just...tell me if you want me to stop," he breathed and then pressed forward.

Her lips were just as warm as her skin, soft and yielding as he pressed his own against them. It was cliché as fuck, but he could feel the way they fit together. The way they were supposed to be doing this. The soft sigh she released was music to his ears, proof that she felt this as well, and he kissed her a bit more insistently, coaxing her lips into moving with his in a slow, delicious rhythm.

His hands slid down her face and then lower, smoothing over her waist to linger at her hips and pull her in closer. She wound her arms around his neck, going up onto her toes to keep the contact between their lips. Karic chuckled into it, nipping her bottom lip lightly and delighting in the answering sharp inhale of breath. It was even better than he had expected it to be, and he knew it was going to be hard to let this go now that he had it, but he told himself that Camilla still had at least another day, maybe two, left here, and he could be content with that amount of time. He didn't have to work, and there was no reason why they couldn't spend the time getting to know each other and figuring out where this could go. Because he wanted to know what their options were. Because this couldn't be the end of it.





Chapter 8: A Joining




Kissing was brilliant.

That was pretty much all Camilla had to say on the subject. There hadn't been anyone in her pride that she had really wanted to kiss, and sometimes she wondered if there were something wrong with her because she had made it to twenty-one and had never kissed anyone, but this...this made all the waiting worth it. Not that the waiting had been conscious. It wasn't like she had ever had a bevy of people waiting to kiss her lined up, and even if she had, she doubted that Paul would have told her about it, just for the purposes of keeping her even further under his thumb. He had told her time and time again that there was no one else out there who wanted her. Her parents were gone, and he had said that he was sure she didn't have any other family, and even if she did, why would they want an orphaned or abandoned little shifter girl to come along and mess up the families they already had.

And at the time it had made a lot of sense. She had been a little girl, confused about her place in the world, and Paul had come along and showed her that she only belonged with him, which had of course really meant that she belonged to him.

But Karic was showing her something different now. He was showing her that she could belong with him if she wanted to, and fuck it was getting hard to remember all the reasons why she shouldn't want it. She didn't have any other kisses to compare it to, but the way his lips moved against hers, the way he occasionally bit down on her lip and tugged, it was all lighting a path of liquid fire down her spine.

A soft whimper echoed in the kitchen, and it took her a minute to realize that it had come from her and that she was pressed shamelessly against Karic's front, like she wanted more and didn't know how else to show it. Which...wasn't wholly inaccurate, she supposed.

Karic pulled back, and his lips were red and his eyes were darker. The way he looked at her made her shiver a bit, and she pulled her arms back down from around his neck and dropped back down to her feet. "Did you...did you like that?" he asked, and he sounded almost as nervous as she had felt when they started this.

"Yeah," she breathed, nodding. "I liked it a lot. It was...you're good at that."

He chuckled. "Had a little bit of practice. Nothing serious, but." Karic shrugged. "Enough, I guess."

"Yeah. I...sorry. That I don't know what I'm doing here at all."

"Don't be sorry," Karic said quickly, shaking his head. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. I mean, from what you've told me, your life hasn't exactly lent itself to having time to kiss random people, and I'm sure you didn't really want to kiss any of the people in your pride for obvious reasons. It makes sense that you're new to all this. And to be honest...I kinda like it."

That made her smile warmly at him. "You do?"

"Yeah." And his cheeks flushed. "I mean. It's kinda nice that I'm the first person to show you how good kissing can be. Especially when it's with someone you like and not just someone you met when you were drunk at a party."

She gave him an amused look. That was something she had heard and read about, but definitely not something she had ever been in a position to experience for herself. "Did you do that a lot?"

"No!" Karic said quickly, and Camilla couldn't even help the laugh that tumbled out of her. "I mean, no. It...Sometimes you get drunk, and things happen, but it wasn't like...a daily thing."

"Weekly? Monthly? Bi-Monthly?" Camilla asked, and her bright grin made it clear that she was just teasing him. And she never knew how good it could feel to just be relaxed like this. There was no one who wanted anything from her other than just...her, and she didn't have anyone breathing down her neck, telling her that she was going to be useful or she would regret it, and it was just so nice.

She didn't want to leave.

It was a thought that had taken up residence in the back of her mind. She liked it here. Even the ladies at the doctor's office had seemed like people she could grow to like if she stuck around, and she wanted to. She wanted to wake up and make breakfast for Karic and then have him make her giant, messy sandwiches when he came home from work. She wanted to see what could happen if she stayed here. Maybe there was a bookstore or something she could work in, somewhere that she could figure out what she really wanted to do. Maybe she could go back to school.

But the looming and ever present fear of Paul and his revenge for her leaving kept her from latching on to that dream. He would find her if she stayed, and he would make sure that she paid the price for running from him. And even worse, he would probably drag Karic into it. Camilla knew what he did to people who got in his way, and she couldn't let that happen. Not to Karic. Not to anyone else, for that matter.

“Hey,” Karic said, pushing an errant curl behind her ear. “Now who’s thinking too hard?”

She smiled up at him and shook her head. “Sorry. I just…a lot is happening in a short time, and I’m the girl who has never had anything happen to her, really. It’s all kind of hard to take in.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I can see that. You can tell me to back off if you want to, you know. I’m not going to be mad or hold it against you or anything. I want you to feel comfortable with me.”

“I do!” Camilla rushed to say. “I do, I promise. You’re like the only person I know outside of my pride and the few people I met at school or work, and I felt comfortable with you from the minute I took your hand. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Okay. Good. It’s getting kind of late. We should probably think about going to bed.”

Camilla sighed. Due to her nap at the office and how riled up she was from the kissing, sleeping was the last thing on her mind right then. All she would probably do is lie on the couch and keep herself up all night with her thinking and worrying and constant ‘what if’ scenarios. She bit her lip and looked up at Karic with questioning eyes. “What if…what if we kept going?” It was an insane idea. She had only known him for a day, but who knew when her next chance to experience these sorts of things would be? The fact was that she knew she could trust him and she didn’t want to stop.

“What do you mean, kept going?” Karic asked her, frowning in confusion. “Kept kissing?”

“That. And…the stuff that happens after the kissing, you know. The…other stuff.”

He looked at her in surprise. “Other stuff? You mean like…sex and stuff?”

“Y-yeah. Is that okay? Should I not have asked about that?” She didn’t know what the protocol for this kind of thing was, and Karic seemed a little freaked out. “Never mind, then. I’ll just go to the couch, and you can go to sleep, and we’ll pretend like I never asked that question, okay? Okay.”

His look shifted from confused to amused, and he shook his head. “None of that. Do you…do you really want to do that? Most people prefer to wait longer than a day after meeting someone to want to sleep with them, but I guess these are unusual circumstances. I just want to make sure you know what you’re asking for.”

“Do you not want to?” She couldn’t help but ask, repeating her earlier question. Camilla didn’t want to try to rush him into something he didn’t want just because she was new to everything and over eager. “Because like I said, we can just forget I even asked that.”

“Look, Camilla, I’m probably going to want to do everything you want to do, so you really don’t need to worry about me not wanting to do something. You’re gorgeous and I like you, and it’s not every day that I get offers like this, okay?”

“Okay,” she said, nodding and shifting from foot to foot. “So is that a yes or…”

Karic laughed, shaking his head at her. “Yes, it’s a yes. As long as you know what you’re asking for. And uh…what you’re getting yourself into? How much do you know about shifters and sex?”

“About as much as I know about humans and sex,” she replied, shrugging a shoulder. “Not terribly much.”

“Well, I suppose you gotta learn sometime. C’mon.” He took her hand and guided her up the stairs, leading her to his bedroom. It smelled more strongly like him in here than in any other room of the house, and his bed looked nice and comfortable. Before she could really look around, Karic grabbed her hips and pulled her into another kiss, sitting down on the bed and bringing her to stand in between his legs. He was so much taller than her that she barely had to lower her head to kiss him back, and she was definitely starting to get the rhythm of kissing down.

She really loved the way his lips felt against hers, the way his tongue teased at her lips, encouraging her to part them and let him in. And oh, that was different. Camilla would have expected it to be unpleasant, but it was good, and it sent a flare of heat down through her that was honestly a little shocking.

It wasn’t the first time she had felt it, but it had been a while. When she was younger, she’d experimented with touching herself and seeing what felt good, and the pure ferocity of the flame that had burned inside of her had taken her by surprise. She figured it was normal enough, but simply bringing herself off with her fingers and then later her electric toothbrush, did nothing to really settle those flames inside of her, and she had refrained from getting herself worked up like that because the resolution was never satisfying.

But she knew it could be different with this. Karic had said that sex with shifters was different, and maybe that was what he meant. Maybe he had an equal ferocity to fan those flames inside of her and then put them out in a satisfying way. Just the thought was thrilling, and she moaned into his mouth, sliding her tongue with his.

The growl she got in response was incredibly alluring, and she shivered, pressing closer to him and trying it again.

“Camilla,” Karic broke away to say, and his green eyes were dark. “If you keep that up…”

“I want it,” she told him, and she could feel that heat inside of her. “Please.” That much she did know. She didn’t know how this was going to go, or how it was going to feel, but she knew that she wanted it. It was something she wanted to experience, and she couldn’t think of anyone better to experience it with than him.

“Alright,” he said. “But just…I mean it, Camilla. If you want to stop then stop me, okay?”

She huffed at him and bit his lower lip teasingly. “Okay, okay. I get it.”

“In that case…”

In a blindingly fast flurry of movement, Karic used his grip on her hips to lift her up and change their positions so that she ended up flat on her back on the bed with him on top of her, hands braced against the mattress on either side of her head. There was an almost feral gleam in his eyes as he looked down at her, and she couldn’t help but swallow hard. This was happening. And oh god, he looked like he wanted to devour her. In the back of her mind she wondered if there was something wrong with her that made that seem like something she wanted to happen.

Karic lowered his head and licked at her neck before kissing and nipping his way down to the place where her neck and shoulder joined, and Camilla couldn’t help the moan that spilled out of her when he bit down there.

“Oh fuck,” she breathed in a messy rush, and her hips pushed up as that heat burned brighter. “Oh god, I want you.”

His answering grin couldn’t be described as anything other than wolfish when he lifted his head, and he pressed his hips down, letting her feel the bulge in his pants. “I want you, too.”

Oh. No one had ever said that to her before, especially not with that look in their eyes, and Camilla reacted to it instantly, shuddering and giving a little moan at how it made her feel. Karic was smoothing one hand over her side and down to her hip, and then warm fingers were slipping under the hem of her shirt.

No one had touched her like this either, and her heart was pounding in her chest. What if he didn’t think she was attractive? What if he thought she was too fat, too inexperienced?

“Stop thinking,” Karic said, and he kissed her, bringing her attention right back to him. “It’s going to be fine. Do you trust me?”

Camilla nodded.

“Then I’ll take care of you.”

It was sort of amazing how those few little words were enough to calm her nearly instantly. She did trust him, more than she had ever trusted any of the members of her pride, which wasn’t saying much, she knew, but it meant something to her. So when he started taking her clothes off, urging her to raise her arms over her head and spread her legs and arch her hips, she let him, helping where she could. She could see the tension in Karic’s body, where he was holding himself back from just letting himself have her, and she appreciated that, but she didn’t want to be coddled.

Camilla had no idea what she was doing, but she grinned at him and reached one hand down to touch him through his pants, rubbing the bulge she found there.

“Fuck,” he gasped out. “Camilla.”

“Let me have it,” she breathed. “All of it.”

And from there the gentleness was gone. He was still careful with her, made sure not hurt her, but he pounced. Growls spilling from his lips as he pinned her wrists overhead and took his time kissing his way down her body, leaving bites as he went. When he got one of her nipples in his mouth and bit down on it, Camilla arched and moaned loudly, and she found that she’d had enough of being passive in this.

It didn’t take much for her to free her hands, and she grinned at him when he looked surprised. Her instincts gave her some idea of what she was meant to be doing, and she reached up, fairly yanking Karic’s shirt over his head. She wanted to see him and touch him, and when his leanly muscled chest was revealed to her, she moaned again. Damn, but he was good looking.

With a quick movement of her own, she flipped their positions, ending up on top of him, straddling his waist.

“You learn fast,” he teased her breathlessly.

“Of course I do. I’m a cat.”

He grinned at that and reached up to tweak one nipple. “And what are you going to now, Miss Kitty?”

Camilla growled playfully and leaned down to leave a few bites of her own along his neck and chest, smoothing her hands down his lightly hairy chest and scraping her nails along his abs. His reactions only stoked her fire, and soon she was undoing the button and zipper on his pants, freeing his erection when she dragged his jeans and boxers down and off.

Her eyes were wide as she looked at it, and she licked her lips before taking it in her hand and stroking lightly.

“Fuck,” Karic gasped, and he flipped them again.

From there, it was just a matter of finding the right position. Camilla knew she was going to be tight and that it might hurt a bit, but she was so wet for him, so wanting, and when she felt the head of his length pressing into her, she arched and spread her legs wider for him. “Karic. Karic, fuck.”

“Hold on,” he murmured, and she wrapped her hand around his biceps, fingers digging into his skin. It hurt when he pushed all the way in, but the discomfort was only temporary, washed away by the rush of heat and pleasure that sped through her body. It felt good to have him inside of her, and when he drew back and thrust back in, she couldn’t help but arch her body to meet his, her legs going around his waist to drag him in deeper.

“You feel so fucking good,” Karic growled. “Fuck. I gotta…Camilla, I need…”

“Do it,” she urged. “Fuck, please do it.”

Apparently that was all the urging he needed. He set a fast, hard pace from there, a pace worthy of two shifters, two top predators locked together by their bodies. She had been concerned that she wouldn’t be able to take it since it was her first time, but her body adjusted easily, adding slickness where it was needed, and she met each thrust head on, gasping and crying out at each jarring stab of pleasure.

The bed was shaking, the headboard slamming into the wall each time Karic buried himself in her, and the sound of their flesh meeting, coupled with the raw, dirty scent of sex filled the air.

Camilla’s arms went around Karic’s back, and she could feel her nails tearing through his skin as she scraped them down his back, the sensations roaring through her as he brought her closer and closer to her release. She couldn’t form coherent words, barely could get a full breath. All she could do was hold on as the beast they were creating between them built and then crashed over her, making her scream out when she finally came.

Karic wasn’t far behind her, and he bit down on her neck again, smothering the snarl of pleasure that ripped its way out of him when he finished.

It took several long minutes for her to catch her breath and finally realize that Karic was heavy and she was sore.

But he took care of her. He cleaned them both up and got her tucked into the side of his bed before getting in himself and wrapping his arms around her. “You okay?” he whispered from where he was spooned against her back.

“Yeah,” she breathed back. “Yeah. That was…really good.”

She could feel his smile in the darkness. “We’ve got a whole two more days to do it again if you want.”

And oh, did she want.





Chapter 9: Leaving




Well, at least you got two days. Three, if you count the day before we started… Karic sighed, but tried to keep it internal as he drove to the train station. Camilla was quiet in the car beside him, and he glanced at her every few seconds out of the corner of his eye, wondering what she was thinking. The two of them hadn’t really said much since they’d woken that morning, anticipation heavy in the air. Both of them had known, it seemed that it was going to be the day that their little vacation from everything had to end. It had been fun while it lasted. Two whole days spent in bed, learning each other’s bodies, leaving scratches and bruises behind. Things that would make them remember. He’d gone to shower that morning and come back to the sight of Camilla, still naked, hair in a messy halo around her head, looking up times for the train on his laptop.

Her eyes had been guilty when she looked up at him, but he’d just smiled and walked over to kiss the top of her head. “I know.” And what else could he say? They’d already talked about this. About how it couldn’t last right now. How she had to get away. He wanted her to be safe and to feel safe, so he wasn’t going to try to convince her to change her plans. She’d picked a place in Ohio. A little town he had never heard of that she thought would be the last place they’d look for her. It was a fifteen hour train ride away, and she said she felt good about the decision. Karic had smiled and avoided letting her touch his hands for the rest of the morning. She didn’t need to know how it made him feel.

Her train was at four, so they’d left the house at three. He could tell she was nervous, and he wanted her to have plenty of time to get situated.

“I made you some sandwiches,” he said after they’d been driving for a bit. “In your bag. Fifteen hours is a long time, and I didn’t want you to get hungry. There’s four in there so maybe you can trade one for dessert or something.”

She smiled at that. “Thank you. I…I wish…”

“I know. You don’t have to say it.” They were both probably thinking the same thing anyway, so he really didn’t see the point of hashing it out and making things awkward.

They made it to the station in fifteen minutes, and Karic killed the engine, not moving to get out just yet. “Camilla, I…” Fuck. What was he even supposed to say to her now? There was a chance that they would never see each other again after this, though the very thought of it made his stomach twist into knots. “I’m really glad I met you,” he finished. “I’m glad that we had even a little time together because I feel like…like it was something that I needed, you know? And not just because of what happened with us. I mean. I mean I’d never met another shifter with the same attitudes about life as I have. I was beginning to think that there weren’t any and I was just…some kind of weirdo for how I felt about things. But then you came along and…everything was better.”

When he looked over at her she had her eyes closed, and she was twisting her hands together in her lap. “I feel the same way, you know,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. “I didn’t think that there was anyone out there who could make me feel like I wasn’t some kind of freak or like I belonged. And then you saved me, and…and nothing ever felt the same again.” She opened her eyes and smiled at him, and he could tell that she was trying not to cry. “And now I hate Paul even more because I have to leave.”

“Hey,” Karic said, reaching out to cup her face. “No one said it had to be forever, right? You could come back one day. When things are safe.”

From the way Camilla shook her head at that, Karic could tell that she didn’t really believe that was something that was going to happen, and he didn’t know how to reassure her, since he didn’t know either. He planned to go down to the police station after this and have a word with someone about the pride and what could be going on over there, but he had no idea what would happen with that. If the pride had been literally getting away with murder for years, Karic didn’t know what he could do to change that. But he knew that he was sure as hell going to try to do something.”

Sitting in the car was getting them nowhere, so he opened his door and got out, watching Camilla do the same. No amount of stalling was going to delay this permanently.

The station wasn’t too busy, and it took no time at all for Camilla to get her train ticket and figure out where she was supposed to be. “No transfer,” she murmured as she looked down at her ticket. “That’s lucky.”

“I guess. Just means you have to be on a train for fifteen straight hours.”

“There’s enough room to walk around and stuff, though.” And even though he could tell she was sad, there was a gleam of excitement in her eyes. “I’ve never been on a train before, you know? I’ve never even been this close to one. I’ve never been anywhere other than here.” She looked up at him and smiled. “It’s an adventure.”

And right then and there he shook his head at himself for being so stupid, so selfish as to make this all about him and what he was losing. Camilla hadn’t ever seen more than this town and the river and her pride, and there he was trying to keep her chained to it for his own selfish reasons. Karic snorted a soft laugh at himself for that. “It’s going to be great,” he told her. “I hope you get to see a lot of stuff and just…I hope everything goes well.”

Camilla beamed at him. “Thanks. Can…can I call you sometimes? Once I get settled, I mean. I don’t want you to forget about me, and just hearing your voice is enough to make me smile most of the time, and…” she trailed off a shrugged.

“Of course you can, dummy,” Karic said, laughing a little. He pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her and leaning his cheek on the top of her head. “Call me all the time. And I’ll call you. And if you get a computer and stuff, we can chat or email or whatever. I don’t want to lose you.”

He could feel her relieved sigh against him, and he didn’t even care that they were standing in the middle of a crowded train station with people rushing by on either side of them. He blocked out the harsh scents of other people and exhaust and smoke and focused on Camilla, clean, bright Camilla, and how she made him feel.

“I’m really going to miss you,” she said into his shirt, sniffing a little.

“I’m not going anywhere, you know?” he murmured. “I’ll be here and whenever you want to talk to me, I’ll be happy. But you deserve to see the world if you want to.”

She snorted. “I don’t think Fredericktown, Ohio counts as the world, but thank you for the sentiment.” The sharp trill of the train whistle had them pulling apart, and Camilla wiped her eyes. “I should go find a seat and get settled. I…” She smiled and leaned up, and Karic cupped her face for one last kiss, putting all of his feeling into it, hoping she could taste how much he had come to care about her in such a short time.

“Go,” he breathed when it was done, stepping back and releasing her.

“Well, well,” a voice broke in, and they both turned. Karic didn’t recognize the large man standing in front of them, but from the way Camilla’s face blanched, he could tell that she did. “Took you long enough, but we knew you’d be heading this way eventually, Cammy. Looks like you found yourself a little boyfriend in the process, too.”

“No,” Camilla whispered, taking a step back, and Karic could smell her fear even over the scents of everything else. “I’m not…please, Adam. I can’t go back there. You know what he’ll do to me. Please. Just pretend you never saw me.”

The man—Adam—laughed shortly. “And you know what he’ll do to us if we don’t bring you back.”

Karic had just enough time to register the use of the word ‘us’ before he heard someone coming up behind him and whirled to see another man standing there, hand in his pocket where there was clearly a gun or something hidden. “Let’s not make this difficult, okay?” he said, and Karic noted how worn out he sounded. “We just want the girl. No one needs to get hurt here today.”

Camilla looked like a cornered animal, her teeth bared and her hands tight around the strap of her bag. “No. No. I can’t go back there.”

“You can and you will if you don’t want anything to happen to dog boy here,” the man behind him said. “You know what Paul will have us do to him if he gets in the way.”

From the horrified look on her face, she did know. Karic watched as the fight drained out of her and resignation filled the space the fear had been. “Camilla,” he breathed, and she turned dull eyes to look at him.

“They’re right,” she said. “He’ll…Paul will kill you if you get in the way. He doesn’t care about anything but having me back. I…I have to go with them.”

“Camilla, no you don’t!” Karic said, reaching for her only to feel the man get close up behind him.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.”

“I have to, Karic,” Camilla said, and tears were welling in her eyes and then spilling down her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I never should have…I’m so sorry.”

Adam took her wrist in a firm grip, and all Karic could do was watch as the two men led her away.





Chapter 10: Captivity




Camilla couldn’t breathe. The familiar smell of the pride house was thick in her nose, though the cold dampness of the cellar and the musty smell of mildew and mold was layered over that. Her heart was racing so fast she could taste her pulse and she couldn’t sit still. She had been so close. So damned close. All she’d had to do was get on the train and she would have been home free. But Paul had anticipated her method of leaving, and now she was right back in his clutches.

She still hadn’t seen him yet, either. Adam and Thomas had dragged her to their car at the train station and then put her in the back seat, locking the doors and driving her back to the pride house. Before she could so much as think of getting away from them, they’d each grabbed one of her arms in a tight grip and tossed her into the cellar. “Paul will be back soon,” Adam had said before he’d slammed the door closed. “He’s handling some business.” The lock turning had been loud in the otherwise silent cellar, and Camilla’s stomach had dropped. Paul hated handling business without her, and she could only imagine the kind of mood he was going to be in when he got back.

They’d neglected to take her bag from her, so she still had her money, the flashlight she’d tucked in there when she’d run away, a change of clothes, and the sandwiches from Karic.

Karic.

It had broken her heart a little bit to make him watch as she was led away, knowing there was nothing he could do to save her. It was better this way if the only other option was for him to get hurt. She wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if something had happened to him because of her.

“Alright, Camilla,” she said to herself, trying to calm down. “You don’t have to panic. You can figure a way out of this.” She dug in her bag and found the flashlight, shining it around to get a better view of her prison. In all of her time living in the house, she had never set foot in the cellar, knowing the kind of things that Paul used it for.

The floor was hard, cold earth, and the walls were damp and moldy. There was a little window in the door that led to the outside, but she knew that it was useless. It was too high up for her to get the door unlocked if she broke it and much too small for her to try to climb through. There were no other openings anywhere in the small room, and she sighed. Apparently the only way she was getting out was through the door, and that wasn’t going to happen until Paul showed up. A confrontation was inevitable.

Good. It was time for one. She might not have been away from him for very long, but she had learned a thing or two about herself in the time she had been gone. She was tired of being a pawn, a tool. This was going to end, one way or another.

First the bastard just had to show up.

Hours passed, and Camilla could tell it was dark outside from the way the cellar went from being gloomy to being pitch black. She could feel the darkness pressing in around her, and she had to remind herself several times that there was nothing in it that could hurt her. All the enemies were outside, and really, in here was the safest place for her to be.

Her skin felt itchy and too small, so after taking a few deep breaths and making sure she couldn’t hear anything outside, she began to strip out of her clothes. Camilla didn’t know if not being human for this would be an advantage, but it was better than being defenseless. Instead of trying to calm down, she focused on the anxiety and tangle of emotions inside of her, letting it build and stretch until she felt like it was going to burst out of her. She channeled the wildness that rode in her blood and closed her eyes, willing her body to remake itself.

Her bones changed shape, and she gritted her teeth against the grinding pain of it, focusing on the balance and power of her animal, calling the lioness to her and willing it into being. As the animal pushed past the human in her, golden fur spread and the cellar got clearer as her highly superior night vision kicked in. Camilla folded down onto all fours, paws and claws taking the place of her hands and fingers, feet and toes, and she stretched, flicking her tail and grinning to bare her teeth. Already she felt more powerful, more in control. Paul could come and do his worst; she wasn’t afraid of him like this.

Being penned in made things worse because she wanted to roam and most of all to hunt. She wanted to sink her teeth into her prey and rip and tear until it was no longer an issue. But enough of Camilla’s mind remained that she kept herself still and quiet. If she played this right, she could catch them by surprise when they opened the door. This could be her chance. It would take them at least a few minutes to change and chase after her, and she could put plenty of distance between them in that time.

Pacing the room wasn’t going to help anything, so Camilla settled down with her head on her paws, facing the door. Anything or anyone that opened it would have to deal with her, and she contented herself with forming plans in her mind, ways to escape and get help. Maybe if she went to the police they could do something to help. And then once Paul and his people were out of the way, she could stay in the town with Karic and be happy. It would be fine. All she had to do was…

What was that? Her ears perked up at the sound of footsteps outside the door. She couldn’t smell anything with all the damp and mold in the cellar, but she could tell that there was someone out there, so she got to her feet warily flexing her claws and getting ready to pounce. The sound of a key being turned in the lock sent a jolt of anxiety through her, but she pushed it down. That wasn’t going to help either. Nothing happened for several seconds, and then the door was pulled open and a brilliant light blinded her instantly.

After being in the dark for so long, she couldn’t see in the light, and she shrank back, shaking her head to try and clear the spots from her vision. Dammit, there went her plan.

A cruel laugh cut through her disorientation, and Camilla’s heart sank. As long as she lived, she would never forget that laugh, having heard it too many times to count already. Paul. He always had been too clever for his own good, and this was just proof that nothing had changed. He still knew how to keep her at a disadvantage.

“Well, well,” he said, and Camilla could hear the smirk in his voice. “My little flower is home again. Did you think you were going to get away from me that easily, Camilla, my pet? Did you think that I wouldn’t find you?”

She growled low in her throat, snapping her teeth at him. The light dimmed, and her vision cleared enough that she could see him standing there. On either side of him were Adam and Thomas, both shifted into their lion forms and standing guard. She was outnumbered and cornered, and she was starting to panic all over again.

“What did you think you were going to accomplish by shifting, my dear?” he asked her. “Were you going to overpower me? Tear my throat out and escape into the night?” He laughed again. “I really don’t think so. Let me tell you what is going to happen. I am going to outfit this cellar with a lovely pallet and perhaps a blanket or two and I will lock you in here every night if I have to. When you come in the house, you will be at my side at all times. I even have a nice new collar and lead to make sure that you can’t run away from me.”

There was no doubt in her mind that he would do what he was threatening to, either. He had to be upset with her for being gone. Even just three days without her was enough to make him lose business more than likely, and if there was one thing Paul hated, it was losing business. He was terrible at reading people without her help, and it didn’t help matters that there were enough rumors about what went on in this place that people didn’t really trust him. And who could blame them, really? Paul was a crook through and through. He didn’t even do his own dirty work, just pulled the strings from his chair and made other people handle the things he was too weak to handle. Sure, he had a stunning capacity for cruelty, but if they all banded against him, he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

But that wouldn’t happen. People were too afraid of him. Even if Thomas and Adam were the ones who usually ended up handling the people Paul wanted to disappear, the credit went to their leader.

Camilla dropped her head, mind racing as she tried to think of some way out of this. She had to get out of the cellar first and foremost. It would be much easier to get out of the house than the cellar, and she was sure that Paul wanted to flaunt the fact that he had her back. Her heart clenched at the thought of giving up the only thing that seemed to be an advantage, but she didn’t know what else to do. Swallowing hard, she concentrated on willing herself back into her human skin, shifting everything in reverse until she was huddled on the cold ground, arms wrapped around herself.

“There’s a good girl,” Paul praised in a sickly sweet voice. “I knew you would see reason eventually. I really am the only one who can care for you properly, you know. Even your own parents went off and left you. Any friends you might have made when you ran off from me like a bad girl would have found out how much blood is on your hands and run from you, too. You belong here, isn’t that right?”

It wasn’t the first time he had said things like that to her, and usually a pit opened up in her stomach because she’d always assumed that he was right. But now…now she knew that he wasn’t. It wasn’t her fault what had happened to those people. True, she had helped, but Paul would have found a way to hurt them with or without her because that’s the way he was. She knew that there were people out there who would accept her, and an image of Karic’s face, those bright green eyes gleaming as he smiled at her flashed in her head. He knew better. He knew that she wasn’t a tool or a monster or a killer. And that was enough to keep her going and help her through this.

“I…I’m sorry I ran away,” she said, keeping her voice low and shaky. Most of the fear was real, but there was surely no harm in playing it up just a bit. Paul wouldn’t be able to detect a lie if she did this right. “I was just…I only wanted to…”

“There, there,” Paul said, and he snapped his fingers and turned back to the door. “One of you got get a robe or something for her cover up in.” The sound of retreating paws distracted them both for a moment, and then Paul was crouching down next to her. “You’re a very bad girl, and you will have to be punished for defying me, but you home now, and that’s what matters.”

Camilla just nodded, working hard not to let her disgust show on her face. He had always talked to her like this, like she was no better than a child and a stupid one at that, and she was sick of it. The anger building in her made her want to shift again, but she kept it down. Not yet. She had to bide her time.

One of the other women in the pride, Shelly, came in holding a silky robe. “Oh, you poor thing,” she said, covering her mouth with one hand when she saw Camilla. Shelly had always been kind to her, and Camilla had a moment to feel terrible about the fact that even if she left there would still be good people who were stuck with Paul. He made it so that they couldn’t see any other way to live, and then they stayed with him, even though he was awful.

“She’s fine,” Paul snapped, taking the robe and holding it out to Camilla. “Cover up and then we will go inside. I have a few people lined up to speak with. Some of them want to get protection from the pride, and I’m not sure I can trust their motives. You’ll help me, won’t you, my pet?”

Shelly cringed and looked away, and Camilla didn’t blame her. She had to swallow down the urge to vomit, but she nodded. “Yes. I’ll help.”

“Good girl. I knew you could be good if you wanted to be. Come. Let’s get you out of this nasty cellar for right now.” He turned away to walk back to the door, grabbing Shelly by the arm and towing her out as well. When it was relatively private, Camilla uncurled herself and wrapped the robe around her, tying it tight. Paul had never shown any interest in her body or anything other than her power and what he could use it for, but she didn’t want to give him any ideas. No matter how sweet he was talking to her now, she knew that there was something nasty being planned as a punishment.

When she was as decent as she was going to get, she stepped out, coming to stand at Paul’s side. He’d released Shelly, and his hand bit into her arm when he grabbed it. There was no way she was going to get free from him as they walked back to the house, so she didn’t even try. Instead she just let him haul her back to the house that had been her prison for her entire life. It felt like such a step backwards, being dragged back there, but she comforted herself with the knowledge that this would be the last time. She was going to make sure of it.





Chapter 11: The Hunt




Karic’s paws pounded the earth hard as he ran. It would have been faster to take his car, but haste wasn’t what he needed on his side right now. He needed power and stealth, and his wolf form was going to have to be the best thing for that. He had never been in the woods on this side of the bridge before, but he could smell lion through and through it, so he knew he was heading in the right direction.

It wasn’t the smartest thing he had ever done, chasing after Camilla and her captors on all fours like this, but he hadn’t known what else to do. He wasn’t just going to leave her with them. Not when the smell of her fear had been so strong and the look in her eyes had been pure misery as they were leading her away. The first thing he had done was go to the police. There was no way that he was just going to accept that it was over and she had to stay with them, not like that. And the police could offer him back up in case something went down, which there was obviously a very high possibility of. From what Camilla had told him, her pride wasn’t made up of good people, and while he was pretty sure that they weren’t going to do anything too bad to Camilla, since the leader obviously wanted her back, other people would probably get hurt once Paul went back to making her use her talent to help him.

At first, the police hadn’t wanted to hear him out.

“We’ve been sniffing around that pride for years,” the sheriff had said, shaking his head and drinking his coffee. “Never can get anything that sticks. So either they’re a damn sight smarter than us, or there’s not much going on.”

Karic glared. “That’s the lazy answer and you know it, Sheriff Parks. There is something going on out there. People are disappearing. They say they want to make a deal with Paul, the leader, and then they’re never heard from again. There’s enough there to work with, to at least get a search warrant.”

“We’ve searched,” the sheriff insisted. “Took the dogs in and everything. Nothing solid enough to count as real evidence. Now, I’m sorry. I don’t know what kind of grudge you have against them, but—”

“They kidnapped my…friend.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Karic said, thinking fast. “They kidnapped her. She was a member of the pride, and she got away. She told me about the things that Paul used to make her do to manipulate people, and if we get her out of there, then she can give you all the damned evidence you need.”

Parks seemed to be considering it, scratching his fingers through his close cropped beard and thinking hard. “She’ll talk, if we get her?”

“Yes. She wants to be free of them.” At least he was pretty sure she would if it meant that she didn’t have to go back to the pride ever again. “Look. I only stopped here because it would be nice to have some help. I’m going in either way. So you can come with me, or send a team or whatever and get credit for this, for finally taking them down. I’m not looking for credit; I just want my friend back.”

“Friend, huh?” Parks asked mildly, looking skeptical. “Alright, alright. We’ll put a team together. But I told you, the dogs didn’t find anything worth looking for the last time.”

Karic’s answering grin had been sharp. “Don’t bring dogs to do a wolf’s job, Sheriff.”

He had waited until nightfall to make a move, even though it had been a struggle to do so. But with his dusky grey and black fur, he blended in much better in the darkness than he would have the afternoon sun. It had been months since Karic had shifted. He had gotten very good at ignoring that itch under his skin that told him he wanted to be on all fours, tearing through the trees and seeking prey. He prided himself on his control. On the ability to see a full moon and have no compulsion to slip his human skin and howl at it. But control was not going to get Camilla found and safe. Control wasn’t going to bring down the bastards who had dared to take away what was his.

The anger was both surprising and not. Obviously, his beast felt just as strong a pull to Camilla as Karic himself did, and the fact that anger and possessiveness were the results of her being taken, just proved that there was something more than ordinary attraction going on here. His wolf wanted to rend the flesh of whoever dared stand between him and the woman he had chosen, and Karic was unmotivated to hold himself back.

The more powerful the lion smell got, the quieter we was. He already knew that it was going to be impossible to completely take them by surprise, especially if any of them were shifted. They would smell him coming, and from the strength of their scents, it was a wonder they hadn’t already discovered him. All he could hope was that they were secure enough in the fact that they had what they wanted back that they wouldn’t be on their guards and he could at least find Camilla.

The sheriff had agreed to wait at least an hour before he and the team showed up. That was plenty of time for him to get in, find Camilla, and try to get the pride on the offensive. That would be the easiest thing.

He paused behind a cluster of trees, dropping his nose to the ground and inhaling. A sharp burst of recognition went through him when he picked up Camilla’s scent, laced with sadness and fear, and he had to clamp down on the growl that wanted to rip its way out of his throat. Keep it together, Karic scolded himself. He needed to have at least some of his wits about him if he was going to do this right.

The trees started to clear out and become less dense the further Karic ran along the trail, and the pride house loomed large and impressive in the distance. He had heard the stories about this place. It had been an old plantation house some people said, a holdover from a different time. Paul had paid to have it renovated and restored and then had moved his pride in, but that was before Karic had come to live around here. To him, this had always been the pride house, even though he had never seen it.

It was all dark brick and wood, large glass windows with light spilling out to illuminate the grass of the lawn and the curving gravel driveway. There were three cars parked outside the house, and judging by the scent, Camilla had come out of one of them and ended up somewhere in that monstrosity of a house. It seemed quiet, and he couldn’t hear any sounds of a fight going on inside, which soothed his worries even as it made new ones pop into his head. Karic liked to think that Camilla would be fighting this captivity; that she wasn’t just going to allow them to have her again without a fight. He also hoped that it wasn’t too late and he had already missed the fight. From what he could tell about the way this situation worked, Paul would rather see Camilla dead than away from him. But thinking about that wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He had to focus on something more productive than his fear for her.

The question was how was he going to find her and not be seen? He wasn’t so idiotic as to think that they wouldn’t notice a wolf just roaming around their house. Someone would see or smell him before he had the chance to do anything, and he had to hold out until the sheriff arrived. If it came down to a fight, human police officers at least had guns. There were special measures in place when it came to dealing with shifters since there were so many of them these days, and Karic could only hope that they would be enough to make a difference in this case.

Thinking about his options, he crept back into the woods a bit. So far, no one had noticed him, and there wasn’t much movement from inside the house. He didn’t know what that meant, but it was clearly not the time to act. He needed some kind of signal, some hint as to where to even start looking, and he didn’t dare get close enough to the house to follow Camilla’s scent. Not yet, anyway. For now he was going to have to wait and watch and hope this was the right plan of action.

The night was still young, but he couldn’t tell how much time had gone by since he’d arrived on the property and still nothing was going on. He’d dug his claws into the earth to hold back the urge to bound closer and try to find Camilla right away. Just when he was really starting to get antsy, one of the side doors to the large house swung open and Karic watched as a tall man with dark hair, flanked by two male lions came out. He slung back as far as he could and still see, not wanting his scent to be picked up.

It was easy to see from the way he carried himself that the tall man was the leader. Paul. The one who had caused Camilla so much pain and suffering. There was something determined about the way he was walking around to what had to be the cellar, and Karic’s stomach clenched at the thought of Camilla being in there. It was dark and probably cold, and she was no doubt alone. But she was tough, and Karic had to trust that she was alright.

From his spot in the darkness he watched it all play out. Watched Paul shine a bright light into the dark cellar, watching him step further in. He could barely make out the words he was saying, and he couldn’t hear Camilla at all, though her scent and the scent of lion was stronger suddenly. Had she shifted to give herself a better chance of running away? Clearly that plan had not worked out all that well, and there was no way she was going to get past the other two lions and escape.

He watched one of the lions break off and come back with a woman carrying a robe, and Karic growled a little in the back of his throat at the thought of them seeing Camilla undressed. She must have shifted back, then. Mine, his inner beast raged, and Karic sucked in a deep breath and focused on control. This was not the time.

It took a supreme act of will power to keep him stationary when he saw her. Camilla was wrapped in a purple robe and being half dragged across the short section of lawn that separated the little cellar from the house. He couldn’t really see her face from this distance, but somehow he could sense her distress. Paul was saying something to her, and Karic could see Camilla drop her head and nod, and there was just something so dejected about her posture that it made his heart ache. What was Paul planning to do when they got into the house? There was no doubt in Karic’s mind that the leader was going to punish her or do something awful as a warning that she should never try for freedom again, and he wanted so badly to rush in there and protect her before that could happen. It would be smarter to wait for the police. It had to be close to the appointed time that they were going to arrive, didn’t it? It had taken him a while to get here, and then he’d spent time hiding in the trees and waiting.

Time was harder to calculate when he was in his wolf form, and Karic gave up on it, instead trying to think of a plan. The door had already closed behind Paul, Camilla, and the other two pride members, but there had to be another way into that house. If there was a window low enough then he might be able to get through that way…

Shifting back wasn’t really an option since he didn’t have a change of clothes with him, and he didn’t really think anyone was going to take him seriously if he burst in naked.

Debating it over and over wasn’t going to get him anywhere though, that was for sure, and he exhaled and padded forward cautiously. The scent of lion was sort of overwhelming, and he put his nose to the ground, trying to figure out if it was safe. He could move fast, keep to the shadows… Once he was in, it would only be a matter of time before the police showed up. Even if they caught him, he’d just have to stall for a bit until they came. Simple enough.

With that decided, he darted out from the trees, running as fast as he dared to the long shadows at the side of the house. A quick look around proved that there was no one nearby, and Karic set to looking for a way in. Doors were no good since he couldn’t open them, but if there was one left slightly ajar somewhere then he might be working with something.

He made his way around the house slowly, trying to be careful to stay out of sigh, and fuck how big was this place? He had no idea how many members the pride had, but this manor had to have a lot of rooms if they all stayed here. There had to be some kind of central room where they all gathered, otherwise he had no idea how he was going to find Camilla before someone booted him out.

The sound of footsteps nearby made him pause, though, ears twitching as he tried to pick up the direction of the sound. Unfortunately, he had hesitated for too long, and whoever it was walked up behind him. Karic turned around and found himself staring down the barrel of a gun. It was held by a wiry looking young woman with red hair and hard eyes, and from the way she held it, Karic could tell that she knew what she was doing with it.

“We don’t take kindly to trespassers around here,” she said, and her voice was light but firm. “Or dogs, for that matter. I’d ask you what your business here is, but it seems like you’d have some trouble answering.”

Fuck. This was not going according to plan. The two of them were locked in some kind of staring match for the moment, and Karic’s mind raced as he tried to think past the animalistic urge to defend himself. She had a gun, and he didn’t want to hurt her. There were very few ways this would come out in his favor. Especially considering the fact that she looked like she wouldn’t hesitate to shoot him if he breathed the wrong way.

Fighting her wouldn’t lead to anything productive, but maybe… Karic took a gamble. He lowered his head in a sign of surrender, sitting back on his haunches to make it clear that he had no plans to attack her. If she brought him inside then there would be a much better chance for his plan to still work.

Karic peeked up at her and saw that she was hesitating, clearly trying to decide the best course of action. Come on, he urged silently. You don’t want to shoot me. You want to take me to Paul. He has to decide what to do with me.

“It’s your lucky day, dog,” she said with a sharp grin. “Or unlucky, depending on how you look at it, I guess. Either way, it means you’re not gonna die out here. Instead, I’m going to take you in to see our leader. He can decide what to do with you from there. I’m just security.”

Perfect.

She motioned him to his feet with the gun, keeping it trained on him as she backed up a bit. “Don’t even think about running away or trying anything funny, either. I can take you out before you make it to the trees. Now let’s go.”

Karic didn’t doubt that was true. If the things that he’d heard from Camilla and the rumors were true, then there were several members of this pride who were deadly and could harm him before he managed to do anything. Since dying was definitely not a part of his plan, he decided to play it safe and follow her.

They didn’t go far, just around a corner and then down for a few feet until they reached another side door. There were more cars parked on this side of the house, and a few humans milling about, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense to him. Why would humans be so close…?

Before he really had time to puzzle through it, he was being led inside.

The inside of the manor was actually quite beautiful. All of the outdated furnishings and what not had been replaced with newer looking things, but it still had an overall elegant feel to it. The ceilings were high and the floors looked like marble of some sort, and his claws clicked as he walked along. Everything was done in pale golds and dark woods, and there were people walking around as they passed, shooting curious and somewhat fearful looks at him.

It was probably a first to have a wolf in a den of cats, and Karic laughed mentally at the way they were reacting. He kept his guard up, though. It was impossible to tell how many of them were in the house, but he knew he was more than outnumbered. He wasn’t going to attack unless he had to, and even then, he didn’t really want to hurt anyone.

Well. That was what he thought, anyway. At least until he was led into a large, circular room. It was done in the same colors as everything else he had seen, and there were plush couches and chairs along the sides of the room, a carpet running up the middle that led to a high backed chair that resembled a throne. And of course, on the ‘throne’ was Paul. But that wasn’t what riled him up. At his feet, curled up on a cushion was Camilla. She was still wearing the robe, and her eyes were closed, though as soon as they got closer, her eyes shot open and she stared at him. Anger burned through him at the sight of her at Paul’s feet like she was some kind of prize pet to be displayed, and he had to hold himself in check. This was not the place to lose his cool.

Camilla had never seen him as a wolf before, but from the look on her face, she had already worked out that it was him. Something like horror flared in those amber eyes, and Paul looked down at her curiously, most likely at the change in her scent, and then up at the woman who was leading him along the carpet to stand in front of the chair.

“Danielle, what is that?” he asked, and his voice was just as commanding as his presence. It was obviously something he had worked on for a while, and every person in the room was paying attention.

“Something I found sneaking around the house,” Danielle replied. “Figured I’d let you decide what to do with him.”

Karic glanced at Paul and then looked back at Camilla who was twisting her hands together nervously. She dropped her eyes, clearly trying not to make eye contact with him, but it seemed that Paul had already figured something out.

“Do you know this mongrel, my pet?” he asked her, arching an eyebrow.

“I…” Camilla was obviously fighting to keep her composure. “What makes you think that?”

Paul sighed and leaned down, gripping her face between his fingers and turning her head to make her look at him. “It won’t do for you to lie to me, little one. I expect an honest answer.”

One of the men in the room frowned and stepped up closer, and Karic recognized him as one of the two who had come to take Camilla away the first time. Bastard. “Wasn’t there a dog with her at the station?” he asked, looking to a lion who Karic could only assume was the other one.

The lion nodded its head, and Paul frowned. Camilla gave a soft cry, and Karic looked back to see that Paul’s fingers were digging into her chin. “So you went and found yourself a pet did you?” he asked, and there was nothing about his deadly calm voice that didn’t put Karic on edge. “What did I tell you about mingling with others, my dear? I am the only one who knows how to look after you properly.”

A growl echoed around the room, and it took Karic a few seconds to realize that it had come from him. His hackles were up and his lips were pulled back, teeth bared in a snarl. No one spoke to Camilla that way. No one treated her like she was just some common pet. Not in front of him, and not ever. She was one of the brightest, kindest, best people that Karic had ever had the pleasure of meeting, and even if it had only been less than a week, there was a part of him that was always going to be drawn to her. He knew that now. And it was that same part that seemed to be reacting now, pushing past his human consciousness and making him more feral.

Paul laughed, but looked uneasy, and Karic remembered the humans outside and the fact that Paul sometimes made deals with humans and other shifters, using Camilla as a tool for his advantage. Clearly he didn’t want there to be a scene here right now, not with them outside. Well, too damned bad. He should have thought about that before he tried to treat someone Karic cared about like she was something to be used.

Another growl ripped out of him, and a few of the lion shifters actually were starting to look alarmed. Clearly no one fought back around here, but it was time for that to change. Paul looked bored, but there was something wide about his eyes that gave Karic a smug sense of satisfaction.

“Danielle, shoot him. It will be a mess to clean up, but better that than having a rabid dog acting like he can threaten us,” the leader said, making a lazy motion with his hand.

“No!” Camilla had wrenched herself free from Paul’s grip and was on her feet. “Don’t you dare. Danielle, please!”

Clearly there was some kind of bond between the two women because Danielle hesitated just long enough for Camilla to move and put herself in front of Karic. “No. You can’t shoot him. Just let him go. You have what you want, Paul. I’m here; I’m not going anywhere. Just let him go.”

“You try my patience, Camilla. There have to be consequences. Perhaps your punishment for running away in the first place should be having to watch your precious puppy die in a pool of his own blood in front of you. Does that sound fair?”

“How is that fair!?” Camilla demanded. “For my whole life, I’ve done nothing but what you asked of me. I’ve never complained or refused up until now. I’ve never asked you for anything.”

“And I gave you a roof over your head and a place to call home,” Paul countered. “Food to eat, clothes to wear. Were it not for me, then you would have been left to die in the streets when your parents abandoned you. And this is the thanks I get for my kindness? Perhaps this is my fault. I have spoiled you for far too long.”

Camilla’s hands clenched into fists, and Karic could see that she was shaking. Carefully he inched forward and pressed his nose against one of her hands, silently offering her his support. As much as he wanted to rip Paul’s throat out, this was her fight, her score to settle, and all he could do was be there for her while she did it and jump in if she needed help. Until then he would watch and wait, and keep anyone who tried to interrupt at bay.

“Spoiled me? You used me. Every single day, forcing me to rip secrets from people’s heads so you could use them against them. You made me feel like I was a…a freak! Like I wasn’t good for anything other than doing your bidding. Well, I’m finished, Paul. I’m done. You’re not getting anything else out of me, and I’m not going to let you hurt the one person who has shown me true kindness regardless of who or what I am. So if you want to shoot someone, you’re going to have to shoot me.”

The silence in the room was stifling once Camilla was done with her rant. No one moved, and it seemed like no one breathed either. All eyes were on Paul and Camilla, though a few darted to Danielle who was standing off to the side with the gun held loosely in her hand. No one seemed to know what to do.

Camilla was shaking and staring Paul down, and Paul looked like the picture of composure, but Karic could smell the sour scent of fear coming from him. He obviously wasn’t used to being challenged, and he didn’t seem to know how to react to it. But there was one constant thing with men like him, and that was that they never stayed off guard for long. In some ways, he reminded Karic of his father and the way he would never back down from something even if he was definitely on the wrong side of it.

“You dare to speak to me like that?” Paul demanded, and he rose from his chair, stalking towards them. “You ungrateful little bitch! I’ve put up with your nonsense for long enough!” His dark eyes were intent, and Karic could already tell that this wasn’t going to end well for someone. He needed to get Camilla out of here, but she wasn’t even paying attention to him anymore.

Her eyes were locked on Paul, and as soon as he was close enough, her hand shot out, grabbing his arm. For a moment, nothing happened, but then there was a sharp inhale from Camilla, and a low growl burst from her throat. “You bastard!” she screeched. “You said they abandoned me! You said my father left me here because he didn’t want me! You killed him!”

And now Paul did look frightened. He jerked his arm back, but it was clear that the damage had already been done. Apparently Camilla’s strange talent only got stronger when she was feeling threatened. And what a horrible thing to have learned.

There was a swirl of energy in the air, and everyone in the room seemed to be reacting to it. Growls and hisses echoed through the room, and Karic took a step back, unsure of what was happening. It all seemed to be coming from Camilla, and one minute she was standing there in her robe looking livid, and the next she was exploding out of her skin with a scream and lunging at Paul in full lion mode.

Karic had never seen anyone transform that fast, but with the way Camilla was feeling it made sense. Shifters were creatures of emotion after all, and there was no telling how many conflicting feelings were warring in Camilla right now.

Paul seemed to be trying to fight her off, but while he was in human form there was little he could do.

“Get off of me!” he cried, trying to get his hands around Camilla’s neck, but she snapped her teeth down on one of his hands before he could even get a grip, causing him to howl in pain. “Shoot her!” he ordered breathlessly. “Shoot her and be done with it.”

No one in the room moved. It was plain to see that the loyalty that Paul enjoyed only really extended to fear, and now that it seemed like there might be a chance that someone else was going to come out on top, most of them weren’t so keen to throw their lives on the line for their leader. Which was yet another reason why packs were a waste of time in Karic’s opinion.

His eyes followed the movements of the two on the floor, Camilla trying to get her jaws around Paul’s throat while he fended her off. He managed to get a foot under her body to kick her away for a bit and then he too was shifting, snarling as dark golden fur took the place of skin and a thick mane sprouted around his head. He was much bigger than Camilla, and he bared his teeth at her, roaring loudly.

Even though Karic wasn’t a lion, he could tell that was the roar of a king, the roar of a leader, and from the way the others in the room were slinking around and trying to leave, it was hard for them to disobey such command. Camilla didn’t seem to have noticed, though. She was still standing her ground, her own teeth bared. There was nothing conscious in those amber eyes, instead feral wildness drowned out any traces of the person she had been mere minutes ago. All Karic could hope was that it wasn’t going to be hard to get her back.

Well, that and that they both made it out of this alive.

Camilla and Paul were circling each other, but Camilla was lunging again and getting clawed across the belly for her trouble. Karic growled and leapt in front of her, eyes trained on the larger animal, everything in his posture and snarls was telling Paul to back the fuck down before he got hurt.

He could smell Camilla’s blood, and he wanted to get her out of here to make sure she wasn’t badly hurt, but they had to take care of Paul first. They had to make sure that he wasn’t going to be free to come after them. Even if that meant that he had to be removed from the picture all together.

There was some kind of commotion going on at the door, but Karic wasn’t bothered with that. He kept his gaze locked on Paul, waiting for him to make a move. The lion stepped forward and then it was Karic’s turn to lunge. Paul was favoring the paw that corresponded with the hand that Camilla had bitten, and Karic lunged for that leg, biting down hard enough that he tasted blood. An anguished roar ripped through the room, and Karic let go, blood staining his teeth. He’d do it again if he had to.

A quick glance behind him told him that Camilla was breathing hard and half curled on the floor around her belly which was bleeding profusely onto the marble floor. Something tightened in Karic’s stomach, clearing away most of the rage and replacing it with worry. If she was badly hurt then he didn’t know what to do.

“Everybody freeze!” The order was loud and enough to get everyone remaining in the room to follow it. Karic looked up and saw that the sheriff had finally arrived. A gun was trained on him and Paul, and really, Karic had definitely had enough of that for one night. Summoning the last dregs of his control and strength, he shifted back to his human form, exhausted.

“Please don’t shoot me,” he said weakly. After this he just wanted to sleep for a week and not leave his house.

“Jacobs!” the sheriff looked relieved. “I thought maybe you’d gotten eaten.”

“No such luck. Can you do anything here? I haven’t had a chance to sniff anything out.”

The man nodded. “We got a confession. There was a group of people outside, angry because they’d come here to talk to the leader of the pride and they hadn’t been able to see him yet. Apparently they were going to make a deal about protection, and then a,” he paused to check his note. “Danielle Spivey came and confessed what had been going on and asked us to help.”

Karic let out a low sigh. “She’s not going to get into trouble, is she? She was just following orders. That’s all any of them have been doing, it seems.”

“Depends on how involved she’s been. We’re gonna have to question all of them before we can make any real arrests, although this one,” he nodded at Paul who was trying to limp away. “He’s gonna see some jail time if even a fraction of the reports are true.” The sheriff motioned three men forward. “Inject him and get him in the van.”

He’d heard about the serum that had been created to turn shifters back into their human selves, and with his leg and paw hurt, Paul couldn’t run away when the cops stuck the syringe in him. And when he shifted back, it was easy to see Paul for what he was. A twisted man who was nothing more than a coward. He was bleeding profusely, and someone brought forward a blanket to wrap around him so they could take him away.

“How’s your friend?” Parks asked, and Karic sucked in a breath and moved over to Camilla’s side. She was still a lioness, and he stroked a hand through her fur, even though it was matted with blood. “That doesn’t look good. We’ve got an ambulance outside. Can you get her to shift back, or should we inject her, too.”

“No, don’t. I…I’ll handle it.” Karic knelt beside her on the cold floor, stroking her head. “Camilla? Can you hear me?” A low whine was the only response, but that was a damned sight better than nothing. Her breathing wasn’t shallow, and he figured she was just worn out and hurting. A lot had happened to her, after all. “It’s gonna be okay now,” he said. “They’re taking Paul away, and I don’t think he’s going to be coming back any time soon. You’re safe. Can you shift back for me, Cam? Please? We need to see how bad you’re hurt.”

Her eyes blinked open, and Karic watched the wildness recede. Pain and weariness eclipsed the anger that had been there before, and in a rush of energy the fur turned back to skin and bones shifted and Camilla lay on the floor in a small pool of her own blood.

“Ow,” she rasped, looking up at him. “That hurts.”

Karic examined the wounds, deeper now that she was a human again, but not life threatening. “You’ll be okay. These will need stitches, but they’ll heal.”

“Is it…it’s over?” she asked, her eyes large in her face. “He’s going to be gone?”

“Yeah. The police are probably going to ask you a lot of questions, but I’ll make sure they wait until after you’ve been cleaned up and dressed. The more you tell them, the more time Paul will be in jail for.”

Camilla nodded and winced as she pulled herself into a sitting position. “He killed my father. He never knew my mother, but he killed my father so that he could use me once he figured out what I could do. All my life he told me…told me that no one else would ever want me. That I was just a freak and that even my own parents had been horrified by my talent and had left me here rather than take care of me. But it wasn’t true.”

“No. It wasn’t. And, Camilla, there’s nothing wrong with you. You have a little bit more of a gift than the rest of us, but that doesn’t make you a freak, and it doesn’t mean that no one’s going to want you. I want you.”

She smiled and him. “You came to save me.”

“Of course I did. I wasn’t just going to let them take you away without putting up a fight. I want you to have your freedom. You deserve it. Even if you decide that you want to leave here once this is all said and done and go traveling, I’m still going to want you when you get back.”

The police officers were making their way over to them carrying blankets. Karic took them and wrapped Camilla up first and then himself, helping her to her feet.

From there it was a blur of being checked over in the ambulance and answering questions. He held Camilla’s hand on the ride back into town and then when Dr. Dearborn helped set her stitches. They would have to go back to the police station before morning, but hopefully only after they’d gotten a little sleep, and there was still a lot to be accounted for. Camilla was going to have to answer all kinds of questions about her power and what she had done to help Paul, but Karic didn’t think she was going to be in too much trouble. She hadn’t killed anyone; she hadn’t been the one pulling the strings. He hoped that some of the other lions got off as well. Following a bad leader shouldn’t be a crime.

For the most part, Karic would be more than happy for his life to return to whatever semblance of normalcy had existed before all of this. He’d had enough excitement to last him for a good long while.

Well, he thought as he watched Camilla sleep some time later. Maybe a little more wouldn’t hurt.