Authors: Harmony Raines
Tags: #General Fiction
“It would be nice to sleep undercover again.” She looked at the sky. “Because it kind of looks as if it might rain later.”
“So you can forecast the weather too?” he said good-naturedly. His old arrogant self had disappeared now his lion was back in his life. It seemed they complimented each other well. In short, he felt like a new man.
“Don’t you look happy?” she asked. “And yes, the weather is another thing my dad taught me to read.”
“Do you think they’ll like me?” Kieran asked.
“That depends,” she said. “If you get me back in one piece.”
“Won’t they be worried about you?” he asked.
“Not yet, I never had a chance to tell them I was coming back early. It all happened so quickly. They are not expecting me home for another couple of weeks at least.” They were walking up a steep incline now. “So that gives us a deadline to get this detour wound up.”
“Okay, then.” He looked up at the darkening sky. “We ought to get going, and walk a bit faster.”
They picked up the pace and she didn’t complain, even though he knew that it was much easier for him. This journey had told him a lot about Misty; he probably learned more in the last couple of days of being with her in the wilderness, than he would have in a whole year, if they were living in a nice safe house, with her herd.
But still it bothered him, that he was putting her in danger. If it wasn’t for him, she could have gone straight home and be living happily with her family. Instead she was out here, a horse, a prey animal, heading into lion territory.
That’s where they would get eventually, lion territory. However, the area they were passing through seemed to be a mishmash of different animals. They had decided, on Dan’s advice, not to travel in the open in daylight as a lion and horse, it would draw too much attention. Attention they didn’t need.
“There is a truck coming,” Misty said. Her hearing was better than his, and she turned around to look behind them. Sure enough, a truck was coming up the road. They stepped off the tarmac and onto the gravel that bordered it, waiting for the truck to pass. However, the driver saw them and pulled over and the two men inside smiled, looking them up and down, studying them as the sky darkened ominously.
“You two look as if you need a lift,” the guy driving said.
“No, we’re just fine, thank you.” But at that moment the first big drop of rain, followed by another in quick succession, splattered onto the truck’s windscreen. They were going to get soaked.
"Get on in,” the driver said, indicating the back of the truck.
Kieran turned to Misty, and saw the tightness in her face. “If we get in the back we should be okay.” He kept his voice low so that the guys didn’t hear. He could see in her face that she wasn’t happy about it, but then the rain came down harder, he reached in his pack and got out the tarpaulin. He was going to make the decision for them. “Come on, we can cover ourselves up with the tarp, it has to be better than being out here in the rain.”
“Where are you heading?” Misty asked the driver, as Kieran began to scramble into the back of the truck, holding out his hand for her to follow.
“We’re heading to Crosslea, but we can drop you off anywhere along the way.” The driver began winding up his window to stop the rain getting in. And after a moment of indecision Misty took hold of Kieran's hand and got in the back of the truck.
“I still think we should have carried on walking. I feel uneasy taking a lift.” Although, as the rain battered down on top of them, she was glad they were at least still moving towards their destination. If they had been walking, they would have had to find shelter, and probably ended up in the middle of nowhere for the night.
“We’ll get a lift to the village. That’s where we we’re headed tonight anyway. It means we won’t have lost any time.” He put his arm around her and they snuggled together under the tarpaulin. Not exactly romantic, but she’d take it.
The truck rumbled along, at a steady pace, and occasionally she lifted the tarp and looked out to see where they were. Right now, they were heading through a mountain pass and she had to admit she would have hated to walk this on foot. Her legs already ached from the increase in physical activity she had experienced since they crossed the border. During her time at the mansion, she had mainly stayed in the house and the grounds; she wasn’t as fit as she used to be.
“We’re not that far away from the village, are we?” she asked him after ten minutes had passed.
“No, I don’t think so. As soon as we see it, I’ll bang on the cab and get them to stop.” Kieran smiled and reassured her, “It will be okay.”
She just hoped he was right, and they hadn’t been kidnapped. But even if they had, at least they weren’t heading back towards the border, the place that she never wanted to go again. She lifted the tarpaulin, the rain splattering across her face as she looked out. They were close now, coming down the other side of the mountain, and in the distance, she could make out a row of cottages.
“We are nearly there.” They sat still for another five minutes, until she impatiently lifted up the tarpaulin and saw that they were passing a barn and then a farmhouse. A mile later, the houses became more frequent and closer together; they were close to their destination.
Kieran moved. Kneeling up, he banged on the window of the cab. The passenger turned around and looked at him and Misty thought for a heart-stopping moment they were not going to stop the truck. They would have to be ready to jump out, it would hurt, and her ankle throbbed in agreement. Yet, they would have no choice if the truck kept moving at a steady pace.
Her heart rate quickened, and she felt sick, would they ever be able to trust anyone again? Before she had a chance to say anything to Kieran, the vehicle began to slow down, the brakes of the old truck squeaking, and a sense of relief covered her as the truck came to a halt.
Kieran was up on his feet, dragging the tarpaulin off them, shaking the water off it before pulling Misty up to stand next to him. He was about to jump over the side of the truck, when he paused and said, “You go first, Misty, I don’t want them to drive off with you still in the back.”
“I thought you might want to get rid of me,” she joked, but she could see he had been worried too, and then she remembered,
this is how Kieran had lived his life until now
. He was used to looking over his shoulder, not trusting anybody, which gave her a strange sense of comfort. Even though it made her sad for him.
When they were both out of the truck, with the rain already soaking through their clothes, they shouted their thanks to the driver and set off towards the village. There must be somewhere they could stay, and then up ahead, they saw a truck stop, and that’s where they headed.
“Truck stop” might be a bit overambitious; it was more like a small diner with a large parking lot, but at least it was somewhere dry for them to go. They ordered coffee and a warm meal and sat in a booth by the window watching the rain come down.
“So what’s the plan?” she asked him. “We have to find somewhere to stay tonight and I don’t really fancy sleeping in the woods.”
“Me neither. Although, there is an alternative, we could just keep on going, we could hide under the shelter of the trees and I could go lion and you could go horse.”
She thought about it for a moment, it would be better than trying to get some sleep out there in the rain. And it would mean they could cover the distance quicker, already her horse liked the idea, which kind of made it settled. “Why not? It would be good to run, we’d go faster than on two feet, and then maybe tomorrow we can find somewhere dry to sleep in the daytime.”
“OK, eat up and let’s get going.” They ate the rest of their meal in silence, drinking their coffee as the rain continued to pour. Afterwards, Misty excused herself and went to the bathroom, pulling a face when she saw her reflection in the mirror. Bedraggled hair clung to her face, which had somehow become smeared with mud, while her bruised chin had begun to turn yellow.
Lucky that they were bonded mates
, she thought, because otherwise, why would he possibly want a woman like her?
Especially when he was just so perfect.
She went back into the diner to find Kieran, with his pack on his back, at the door ready to leave. He picked up the wet tarpaulin, which he had left outside, and folded it up, tucking it under his arm. She hated the idea of spending their nights underneath it.
Which made his plan to travel at night even more appealing. The greater speed with which they could cover the ground meant they would be in the Satoma Pride Lands within a couple of days.
Walking through the village, they kept to the main street, past all the houses with their lights on and smoke rising from the chimneys, as their inhabitants settled down for a nice cosy, dry evening. A sudden wave of homesickness hit her. It would be lovely to have a nice home, a bed to sleep in, and to snuggle down, each night, under the covers with Kieran next to her.
One day
. Hopefully that one day would be soon.
“There’s a path. We can follow it up until we are well hidden, and then we can change.” He headed off the road, along the track, which was steep and slick with wet mud. He offered her his hand and he pulled up, then they together climbed up into the dense trees.
Kieran stopped, looking around. “No one can see us here, let’s change and then move further into the trees, we will be like shadows in the night.”
She changed first, the rain wetting her coat straightaway, but she shook it off and then made her way into the dark forest. If she was in her human form she would have felt afraid, but not as a horse. Her senses were more alert, especially her hearing, and right now, she could hear her lion running towards her. She set off at a trot, not racing, the ground was too wet, but she kept a steady pace.
An hour or two later they’d covered a good distance, and they decided to stop briefly for a rest. Finding a clearing with some fresh grass springing up from the forest floor, her horse couldn’t resist eating it, savouring the rain-soaked leaves.
Next to her, Kieran had changed from his lion back into his human form and he said, “You know the best way we could travel, is if I just rode you.” She turned her head and looked at him and then snorted through her nostrils, covering him with her grassy breath. She was sure he got the message; there was no way he was going to ride her. She wasn’t some kind of pack animal. And he needed to remember that. He laughed. “Touchy subject?”
She changed back into a human form, and said, “Just try it, and I’ll buck you off and then trample all over you.”
“And I thought you loved me.” He stopped, realising what he’d said. “That was just a figure of speech.”
“Was it?” She walked over and sat down next to him on the fallen log. “You might be afraid to say it. But I’m not. I love you, Kieran.”
He turned to her and smiled, placing his hand on her cheek and stroking her skin. “And I love you, Misty.” He looked kind of awkward. “I’ve never said that before, to anyone, not that I remember anyway.”
“I’m sure you’ve said it before. You probably said it to your family, especially your mom, before you left.”
“I don’t know.” He sighed, and then said, “Why didn’t they ever come looking for me? If they are alive, why didn’t anyone come find me?”
“I don’t know, but we’ll find out the answers, Kieran. I promise.”
“What if when we find my family, they don’t remember me?”
“Believe me, Kieran, no one could forget you.”
He stiffened; she felt it in the arm he had wrapped around her, as his whole body tensed. “Someone’s coming.”
“Who, who would find us out here?” It could just be a coincidence, some other shifter passing through, using the trees’ shelter. “Do you know who it is?”
“You forget I don’t know anybody here except you.” He looked into the trees, and she followed his gaze.
And then she saw it, a shadow passing low to the ground. It was definitely another animal. Her heart beat rapidly; in her head, her horse stamped on the ground. It was a predator.
As it grew closer, she could see it was a lion.
Kieran stood up, putting himself in front of Misty as if trying to protect her. “Should I fight it?”
“How do we know if it’s friendly or not?” she said. “We don’t want to start something we can’t finish over a misunderstanding.”
“So what do we do?” And then the choice was taken out of his hands because the lion came towards them, but instead of attacking them, it changed into a man.
The three of them stood there, staring at each other. The man in front of them didn’t look surprised to see them. Kieran looked at him closely; there was something familiar about him, but he couldn’t know him, unless he was from his distant past. Kieran wished that he could change into his lion and use his lion senses to figure it out.
“I know you, don’t I?” the man said, voicing Kieran’s thoughts. “I’ve seen you before.”
“I don’t think so,” Kieran replied, deciding to keep his own thoughts to himself, he was not ready to trust anyone until he knew who they were and what they wanted. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.”
“Then you’re similar to somebody I know. A relation, perhaps. Where do you come from?”
“That’s not something I tell strangers.” Kieran was trying to gauge what exactly he should say. And it wasn’t as if he was lying, he didn’t really know where he came from. They were heading to the Satoma Pride Lands, but they weren’t his pride lands.
“I can understand your wariness. I would be wary too. It’s not always safe to tell people who you are.”
“Maybe you could tell us who you are first,” Misty ventured.
The man laughed. “Good reply.” He came closer, his voice dropping to almost a whisper. “There are many people who would like to know who I am and where I come from. People who would want to hurt me.”
“Why?” Kieran asked.
“Because where I come from, the old pride leader was killed by his brother many years ago. And the pride was taken over by his killer.”