Page 25 of Riding A Cock-Horse
“That’s a terrible way to live life.”
I shrug.
“If we wantto live, it's how we have to be.”
“I wish I could changeeverything—Iamgoing to change everything!” she murmurs with conviction.
The certitude in her voice makes me smile. There's not a doubt in my mind if this woman says she's going to do something that she's going to succeed.
Suddenly, Belle bends forward and clutches her stomach.
“Ooooh!” she moans. “It burns! There's a terrible burning in my stomach!”
I quickly jump up and yell, “I'll get someone for help.”
“I'm not horny! It's not horniness. Usually, if I feel a burn, I think I'm horny.”
She's muttering this to herself, and I dash off to get the others. I burst back into Laird's house, where the others are still conversing after Graham’s death.
“Help!” I shout. “Something's wrong with Belle. She says she's burning in her stomach!” Immediately, Jude and Jack push past me and rush out. I chase after them, followed by Arthur, Harry, Sian, Elise, Dageus, Alastair, and Phineas—I'm sure the elders are hobbling along, but we're much faster and arrive back to Belle before them.
The sight that greets me when I get back down to the lake is one I will never forget until my dying day. Belle is running and screaming, the sound so shrill and high it freezes the blood in my veins. She's sprinting in circles, making a mad dash to escape the black mamba that has shifted on her body.
“Oh, god!” Elise gasps. “She spliced!”
My stomach drops as the mamba nearly bites her. All of us stand frozen, not sure what to do. The snake strikes again, and I can't hold myself back. I sprint forward, without a plan of attack, intent on saving Belle. The lovely Yank comes to a halt upon seeing me—the mamba does, too, and instantly poses to strike. It rears back to bite me just as Belle slams her hands on her hips.
“Oh, no, you fucking don't!” she snaps at it. “If you bite my friend, I don't care how much pain it'll cause me—I will cut you off and feed you to the sharks!” Belle pauses in her tirade. “Anyone here a shark shifter?”
My mouth hangs open, and nobody answers her because I know that they're all in the same type of shock I’m in.Splicing is dangerous and painful.It's when a shifter’s stuck between their animal form and their human form. More often than not, they can’t find a way to shift back completely to one form or another and have to be put down like animals—the pain is so great they usually beg for it.
Of all the terrible things that can happen to my kind, I think this is the one I fear the most.
Yet I realize Belle wasn’t screeching from pain, but her fear of the snake biting her—a snake that she now has complete and total control of. I watch in wonder as it shrinks down and coils docilely behind her. She starts to flap an agitated hand at it before I quickly command her to quit.
“Stop!” I hiss in a hushed voice, making everyone look at me now like I’m a radge1. “You're going to rile the mamba back up—you're in control of it right now,” I explain.
“I have a hole in my jeans!” Belle cries.
I chuckle.
“It's ok, love, we'll get you new pants. For now, we need to figure out a way to retract your snake.”
“I don't even know how it came out!” she exclaims before another look of terror washes over her expressive face. “Oh, my god, is it, like, comingout of my ass?! I mean, I don't think so…but I don't know. Is like the tail end in there? I don't feel anything…I mean, I walk around with butt plugs a lot, though; so, I'm kind of desensitized back there.”
“Jesus,” I hear Jude mutter.
“My kind of girl there,” Harry grins.
“She'snotyour girl,” Jack mutters.
“What's abutt plug?” one of the elders asks, and I just put my face in my hand.
I don't know if the shifter world is ready for Belle.
Ok,I think,don't panic—this isn't the first time you've had something long, black, and scary in your ass.
My mental pep talk does little to alleviate the fear of having a snake coiled against me. Nothing is scarier than having one of the most venomous creatures on Earth attached to you—literally. At least the things not attached to me via its fangs, right?
