Deer Heart [Shifter Crossroads 3] (3 page)

When he staggered back in shock, she ploughed her fist into his jaw and then stood there on the dance floor, breathing heavily while the couples around them stopped and stared.

Her hand throbbed and she winced. Holding her head high, she stalked to the bar and asked, “Can I have some ice in a napkin?” The snake tending bar smiled. “Of course.” He gestured for her to extend her knuckles. “And then go see Lee.”

She turned and he said, “Wait.” He pressed an intercom. “Jim, is Lee with you?” An answering growl was all that came through the speaker.

“Send her down here when you are done. There is the possibility of a broken hand.” Venny could hear, “Damn it, Jim…let me up.” The snake disconnected the line. He smiled. “I am Chuck, by the way.”

“Venny.” She moved to shake hands, but hers was wearing the ice pack.

Chuck looked to the dance floor, and Venny’s gaze followed, but Athon was nowhere to be seen.

She sighed heavily. “Well, that takes care of that.” Chuck polished a glass and lifted it to the light.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Athon is a lone wolf, and he lacks a lot of social graces, but no one has ever said he was easily discouraged.” She blinked. “A lone wolf? What is he doing here?”

Chuck laughed. “The Crossroads is for
any
shifter to find their mate. In or out of their own society. Some races are so rare as to be extinct, so this is where they come to find their mates.” A woman with dark hair and a golden cast to her skin came into the bar through a rear staircase.

Her hair was mussed and she was wearing some very interesting bite marks on her neck. She smiled at Chuck. “Where is my patient?” Venny lifted her good hand. “Hiya again, Lee.” Lee frowned in concern. “What happened?” She gripped Venny’s hand in her own and began an examination before she tugged her to her feet and out the door.

“I objected to public foreplay with a man I had known less than ten minutes. I am fussy that way.” She shrugged and let the lioness lead her down the street. “I am sorry to have broken up intimate time with you and your spouse.” Lee laughed. “For Jim, intimate time is anytime we are out of a direct line of sight. Foreplay can be engaged in in a public venue, however. I am trying to train him, but I keep getting distracted.” Venny smiled despite the pain in her hand.

Lee opened the first-aid station and hauled her inside. A quick x-ray later told them that there was a hairline fracture in her hand.

Lee sat back on her little rolling stool and said, “If you shift, it will heal the break, but you said you weren’t ready for that.”

Venny tried flexing her broken hand and winced. “Well, I can’t do anything with this the way it is. Is there somewhere large and private that I can shift?”

“I have a back room for just this purpose. How tall do you get anyway?” Lee was curious.

“With my rack still full, my total height will be about nine feet. Five and a half feet at the shoulder.” She got to her feet. “Can you help me with the dress and shoes?”

Lee smiled and followed her into the back room where she stripped Venny efficiently. “Anything else?”

“Can you pull my contacts? I do it right handed usually.” She grimaced. Her hair was skating the lower edge of her shoulder blades, and it was currently the only thing she was wearing.

Lee scrubbed her hands and pulled the brown contacts from her eyes with little difficulty. She had obviously done it a few times.

Lee asked, “Can I watch your shift? I have never seen a deer like you before.” Venny nodded. “Stay in the doorway. I react aggressively to predators, and I won’t be able to make it through the door once I shift.” The medic nodded and watched her with wide eyes.

Venezia leaned forward, arched her head up and let her reindeer out. Her hooves stomped the floor, and she shook her head, frustrated that she couldn’t run out of this tiny box. A scraping was heard as she raised her head, and her antlers touched the ceiling.

The lioness made a noise, and Venny turned toward her, pawing the ground in threat. Lee backed up, and Venny calmed down, shifting back into her human form.

She flexed her hand and smiled. “That’s better.” Her hand was still tender, but it wasn’t swollen anymore.

Moving quickly, she got dressed and went out to meet Lee.

Lee was busy with another patient.

Athon was sitting on the table and his head bore the gash from her impact.

“I am so sorry.” Venny winced as Lee put stitches in place.

Athon stared at her. “You look different.” Just half an hour ago, he had been putting the moves on her, and now, he stared warily. “I know. This is what I actually look like, well, minus the clothing and heels.”

He wasn’t wincing as Lee put the stitches in.

Apparently, he didn’t think that shifting was the easier medical option. Venny looked him over in the bright light of the clinic. He had a heavy pelt of black hair liberally threaded with silver. His skin said that the silver was because of what he was, not his age. He was looking at her as if he was engaged in sudden recalculation.

Venny sighed, her shoulders slumped.

“Thanks, Lee.”

“Come back in for a follow-up tomorrow.”

“After my run.” She waved farewell and left the clinic, heading back to her room at the B&B and hopefully some sleep and a fresh, new day.

Dira was sitting and embroidering a napkin with some fanciful designs. “Oh dear. It looks like you had a rough first day.”

Venny fought tears. “Something like that. How many days do I get?”

Dira took her by the hand and hauled her into the dining room, putting out a plate of cookies and a glass of milk. “You get as many as you need. This isn’t love at first sight, this is a mate-for-life situation. You take as long as you need to get it right.”

They sat and talked for half an hour, and just as Venny was getting to her feet, Athon came in through the door. He paused. “You.” She blinked and sat back down. “I am sorry.” Dira looked from one to the other. “You have met?”

Venny touched her forehead, and Dira took the hint. “Athon, cookies?”

He scowled and stalked in, sitting and glaring at Venny. “Albino, huh?”

She blushed scarlet. “You are certainly perceptive. All the power, none of the colouration of a regular one of my herd.”

Athon sneered, “No wonder you had to come here. None of your kind would have you.” Venny paled and got to her feet. “Thank you, Dira. The cookies were wonderful.”

She returned to her room and gave the scent of fresh laundry a watery smile. She showered and looked at herself in the mirror. With the change in colouring, her features went from average to striking.

It didn’t do her any good. She crawled into bed and hoped that tomorrow would be a better day with a fresh start. She could really use one.

* * * *

Dira got to her feet and struck Athon in the shoulder. “What is wrong with you?”

“What? She was a reject. She came here to find someone who didn’t mind that she was a reject.” Athon bristled with irritation.

“She was rejected
today
. She had a mate who had agreed to wait until she finished her work, and he decided that her cousin was a better bet. He didn’t tell her, and she found out today that she has no mate for her next heat. She has been putting them off so long that the next one is going to be violent if she doesn’t have the right partner.” Athon winced. “So her hair?”

“Was to blend in with the humans. They hate albinos just as much as the supernatural races do. She is strong, she is proud and you just called her a reject. Are you trying to stay single for the rest of your life?”

“Why are you so adamant about this?” He tried to frown, but the stitches holding his rapidly healing skin pulled.

Dira shrugged. “I like her. She deserves far better than she has gotten, and in ancient times, she would have been worshiped as a god. She has a power signature that I have not seen in centuries.”

Dira wandered away from him, tidying up and muttering to herself about lost gods and lost opportunities. She watched the thoughtful expression on Athon’s face as he left the dining room, and she sighed in relief. She hated getting in the middle of things, but now and then, fate needed a push.

Athon had the same power signature. They were evenly matched, prey and predator, female and male, light and dark. In the old days, they would have been gods of fertility and wilderness.

Now, they were flailing about searching for the one that would complete them. She was going to have to keep a close eye on how things were shaping up. That much power was volatile and easily changed direction when not tended properly.

J
ust before dawn, Venny was out the door and running through the streets of the Crossroads.

There were still people around from last night, but aside from curious glances, they did not interfere.

Her hair was up in a ponytail, and she let her legs stretch as she sprinted past the meditation centre, the clinic and, gradually, the rest of the town that made up the Crossroads. When she had run one lap, she ran another and was on her third when a strange phenomenon occurred. Three males were following her, trying to keep up with her long-legged stride.

The reindeer in her did not like being followed.

It grew more restless when their scent came to her.

Wolves. She stopped in her tracks. “What are you doing?”

She glared at them with eyes that—she had been assured by family and friends—were unnerving.

The most forward of the pack came toward her and stroked a finger along her sweaty bicep. “We were just out and scented a deer. What could be more natural than a pack of wolves following a deer?”

She smacked his hand away. “You can follow if you like, but don’t touch. Natural or not, this deer is not up for being hunted.”

He gave her an astonished look, “Then, why have you come to the Crossroads?” Venny put into words what she was just starting to understand. “I want a mate who runs beside me, not after me.”

The men were confused, so she turned and ran off, gritting her teeth as the sound of pursuing footsteps followed.

She put up with it for half a block and then stopped again. They weren’t as fast as she was, and they collided with her, setting a slight problem in motion. The impact sent her stumbling backward, and one of them reached out to grab her arm. It was no doubt intended to steady her, but he wrenched her arm, and she screamed in pain and heard the tearing of fabric.

Instinct took over, and her deer defended her.

She got to her feet and instinct sent her chasing those who had so recently chased her. She caught one of the wolves on her antlers, and she flicked him off to one side, sending him into a building wall.

The other two ran, and she thundered after them. One by one, she hooked them and flicked them into the dirt. With her pursuers dealt with, she rose up on her rear legs and pawed the air.

A black and silver wolf padded up to her and looked at her with pale grey eyes. She shook her head and stamped her foot, but he stayed in place.

With a smooth move, he started to trot down the street. Curious, she followed him.

The dark wolf led her past dozens of curious folk, some of whom were wearing their pyjamas.

She followed him until he took her to an irresistible meadow that begged her to run through it.

She pawed the air again and took off at a full gallop.

Running as a reindeer was a rare luxury, and she took full advantage of the open space with no hunters.

After hours of engaging in bursts of speed, she walked back to the dark wolf and touched his nose with hers in gratitude.

He licked her cheek and walked with her to the Open Heart. In the front yard, she shifted back to a naked human and staggered slightly. Her legs were all wobbly after the workout she had given them.

Arms came around her and helped her into the building.

Dira was standing by with two blankets. She shook her head. “I felt you would need these.” Athon wrapped a blanket around Venny before putting one on himself. “Thank you, Dira. You were right about many things.” Venny looked at the exchange between them but was too tired to do much more than say, “They shouldn’t have chased me.” Dira tut-tutted. “No, they should not. I am guessing that they know better now.” Athon frowned at Dira and helped Venny up the stairs. “I waited until you ran yourself out. If it is as long between shifts as I guess, you must be exhausted.”

She nodded and leaned against him. “I am sorry for the head butt.”

“I deserved it.” He helped her open her door and settled her on the neatly made bed. “I am just lucky you didn’t use your horns.” She smiled, and he tucked her into the sheets. “I am glad you came to get me. Thank you.” He stroked her forehead and frowned. “I know what it is like when the beast takes over. You have to tire it out and sooth it so that it doesn’t feel neglected. You are a very impressive reindeer, Venezia.”

She yawned. “They say one of my grandparents was a moose, and it affected my size. No one can figure out the albinism.”

He chuckled. “You are the image of Christmas. You only need a green wreath to complete the look.”

She blinked, waking up slightly. “What?”

“When you wake up, we will discuss this sort of thing.” He yawned. “I will be getting my own nap right away.”

Venny bit her lip. “Stay here?” It took all of her courage to ask that simple question.

He grinned. “Are you sure? I believe I am a bit of a bed hog.”

She blinked and took a deep breath. “I will chance it. I can always shift and flip you over.” Athon chuckled and crawled into bed next to her, tucking her against his aroused body. He didn’t seem inclined to act on it, so she settled and matched her breathing to his, slipping into sleep.

Venny woke with a start. Her body was trying to tell her something, and it was a heavy pulse that started between her thighs and moved outward from there. She was going into heat.

The timing sucked. The last time she had gone through a heat, she had been prepared. Plenty of batteries and worn-out sex toys later, she had come out the other side sore but sane. Here, she didn’t have any of the supplies she would normally have laid in. The trip to the Crossroads was all too sudden.