Page 6 of Shifter Mate Magic
Kotoyeesinay was west, behind him, high in the Rocky Mountains near the Wyoming border with Colorado. He’d been there several times, but not for a few years. He remembered the sharply winding canyon road that seemed to take far longer than it should for the distance shown on the map. Elven glade magic, he guessed.
The call he’d been hoping for came through thirty minutes later, though not the way he expected.
“Is this Mr. Hammond?” an older man’s voice queried.
“Yes.” Dispatchers didn’t usually call at nine-thirty at night.
“The wife and I have a young lady here at the house. She took a bad tumble on her motorbike. Won’t let me call the police or an ambulance, but she said I could call you.”
* * *
Trevor dawdled in closing up the back of his trailer, to make sure the old rancher made it safely down the driveway to his front yard. Only the moon lit the landscape, and humans didn’t have good night vision. Trevor pretended he needed the man’s help lifting the bike into the trailer, because while he could have done it easily, it was too heavy for a normal man, even one of Trevor’s human size and build.
He climbed into the cab and shut the door, then slid the saddlebags he’d taken off her bike into the storage area behind her seat. “How are you holding up?”
He’d bundled her into the passenger seat first, as carefully as he could. The whole left side of her was one big bruise, and her knee had swollen to twice its normal size.
He’d parked on the farm road where she’d dumped her bike and gotten pinned under it. She’d been lucky the rancher found her. It was probably bad of Trevor to enjoy carrying her from the rancher’s house to his truck. His anxious, angry bear was easier to soothe when taking in her scent with every breath.
Jackie gave him a crooked smile. “I’ve had better days.”
“I’ll bet.” He wanted to take her to the nearest hospital. His bear wanted to take her to a cave and protect her while she healed. “What do you want to do?”
“Is my motorcycle drivable?”
“I don’t know much about bikes.” Inspired, he added, “But I know someone who does. He lives in a small town called Kotoyeesinay, in south Wyoming.” Trevor was pretty sure Shepherd, some type of ogre mix, and seven feet tall, would still be there. He didn’t fit in with the outside modern world very well.
She shook her head. “That’s the wrong direction. I need to get to Chicago.”
He waited to see if she’d explain, but she didn’t. “By when?”
“Today. Yesterday.” She moved her leg and winced. “Do you know how to get in touch with the Shifter Tribunal?”
That was the last question he’d expected. “No, sorry.” Her trouble must be worse than he’d thought. “I could make some calls. A couple of my customers are big packs and prides—”
“No,” she said, cutting him off. “No shifters.”
That stung a little. A lot, actually.
“I’m sorry,” she said in a low, breathy tone. “That was incredibly rude.” She looked away, toward the moonlit field of half-grown corn to her right. “You’ve been nothing but kind to me, and I’m lashing out at you because of my shitty choices.” She sniffled and wiped at her face. “I’m the last person to hate someone for the color of their, uh, fur. Had enough of that growing up in Weirtree, where they still resent losing the Civil War and think magic is the devil’s work. It’s just that outside of you, my experiences with actual shifters haven’t been good.”
He desperately wanted to hear her story, comfort her, make things better for her, but they couldn’t stay parked on a deserted farm road in the Nebraska hinterland. “We should get moving, or your rescuer will be back out here with questions.” He started the engine. “I could take you to a motel.”
Her head snapped around to give him a wide-eyed look. He added hastily, “I can sleep here in the truck, but you need a real bed.”
The tension in her expression eased, and she put her hand over her rounded stomach. “And a real bathroom.” She snorted. “I think I’ve used every damn one of them between here and Pagosa Springs.”
“That’s in southern Colorado, isn’t it? Near the mountains?” He inched the truck forward until he was sure the wheels were on the road before accelerating. He didn’t know what else to do but just drive. All the way to Chicago, if that’s what it took.
She was silent for long moments. “If I tell you what’s going on…” She trailed off, then started again. “I just met you, but I already know you’ll want to help, and I want to let you, because you’re the first person who’s made me feel safe in the last six months. Longer than that, actually. Which is crazy, but it’s true.” She blew out a loud breath. “But it’s a fucking mess and could get you hurt or killed.”
He tightened his hands on the steering wheel to help control the part of him that wanted to make a threat display at whoever made her sound so disconsolate. “Tell you what. You tell me the situation, and I promise not to go off half-cocked or get us in worse trouble. Deal?”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her cast a couple of sidelong glances at him. “It’s weird that you know what I’m thinking.” She used her hands to lift her sore leg, wincing as she did. “Or maybe not weird. Are you using your magic on me? I felt it, in the alley, but I couldn’t tell what it was doing. I’ve only been around witches and fairies.”
“No,” he said. “Most of my magic is bound up in my shifting. Maybe you felt when I commanded the coyotes to shift to human?” He shrugged one shoulder. “That’s an alpha thing.” He felt guilty for not mentioning the gossamer-thin mate bond between them, which was already giving him hints, but he had the feeling she wasn’t ready for that part. He wasn’t sure he was, either. Not if the woman his bear wanted to claim couldn’t get over her hate for shifters.
“I didn’t know shifters had free magic. I thought it was all for shifting.” Her tone blended curiosity with caution.
