Page 9 of Shifted Existence

The idea of willingly offering herself up as a sacrifice hadn’t set well with Bailey.

The man with a whip who had herded them into the truck reached out, taking a lock of her dark silky mane between his fingers and twisting it. “You’ll be picked for sure. They say a female with your coloring is rare.”

Bailey slapped his hand away. “I’m not going.”

“You have no choice. If you are chosen, and there’s no guarantee that you will be, you will leave our reality to return to theirs.”

The woman speaking had been tasked with ensuring all of the women knew what was expected and had been commissioned to teach them how to make themselves more desirable to the wolf-shifters who would come to select from among them as they might a broodmare. Those in power wanted to ensure the wolf-shifters were pleased with what they were offered. One of those who had led the conquering invaders was said to have little regard for the women of this reality, and the fear was that if their conquerors didn’t like what they were offered, they would seize whatever they wanted.

“You will be helping to ensure that our reality is kept safe from other marauders,” droned the woman. “It is an honor to be chosen. The wolf-shifters only select the best.”

“Again, I’m not volunteering. We were all told we had a choice whether to remain here and agree to this bullshit, or live free.”

“You stupid girl,” said the woman who Bailey thought most resembled the Queen of Hearts fromAlice in Wonderland. “Living free means they toss you out into the wilderness with nothing more than the clothes on your back, and if you manage to find a way to survive, twice a year you’ll become prey for some of the wolf-shifters who prefer to hunt and claim their mates in the ways of their ancestors—violently and with no thought whatsoever for the female they will breed. They will drag you back by the roots of your hair or slung over their shoulder with their seed still dripping from you.”

“Better that than to be taught to spread my legs, close my eyes, and think of the Conquered Realm.”

The woman’s slap across her face had been unexpected, but Bailey was good at unexpected. Bailey made a fist, drew it back, and smashed it into the woman’s overly made-up face, causing her to scream.

Needless to say, Bailey had been tossed out at Pictured Rocks the next morning. The woman hadn’t lied. She’d been given nothing—no food, no water, no weapons… nothing. She had not only endured, but she had also thrived and so far, she had survived each of the subsequent Hunts of the Wolf Moon. She’d had a couple of close calls the first two hunts but had found her cave and constructed a bunker of sorts.

Little by little, a plan began to take shape in her mind. Bailey knew there was a pre-approved time that the portal would open. She also knew that each of the wolf-shifters wore something on his wrist with which he could open a passageway between the two realities if he wanted to return earlier. It seemed fairly simple, at least on this side of the Void. She needed to blow her cave to smithereens, assault one of the wolf-shifters and get his wrist band, pass through to the Eclipse Province, and then blow up the portal behind her.

It wouldn’t stop them forever, but perhaps it might inspire others, and at least she’d be away from here. Bad enough to have to keep herself safe from the wolf-shifters, but more and more there were tales of humans preying on the ferals. Terrible tales of women disappearing during times that were not the Wolf Moon. If she could make it to the Eclipse Province, maybe she could find a better way. Maybe there were still tribes of humans who wouldn’t turn her away.

Bailey looked around the place she had called home for the last three years. She could leave it. Maybe another feral would see it as a refuge. During the last two hunts, though, wolf-shifters had come far too close. She worried they would figure out where she was. Besides, it was better to destroy anything that might help them or the non-ferals of this world to find her. No, she was better to utilize a scorched earth policy.

One of her alarms at the base of the cliff had been triggered. She checked the spyglass mirror she had. It wasn’t as good as a camera, but she had no way to charge a camera. She opened up the mirror to look and jumped backward as a large eye peered in, before drawing back as a knowing smile began to spread across his face.

Damn. One of the wolf-shifters had discovered her alarms and would no doubt begin to seriously track her. He backed away as if he knew she had seen him and wanted to give her a better look.

He was tall and broad shouldered like most of the wolf-shifters, but even more so. His muscles were well-defined and abundant. His hair was dark and cut short and the one eye she had seen had been a golden color. His lips were full and set within a jaw covered with dark, close-cropped stubble. He had a lean, trim waist and what she could see of his legs were long and powerful. Even as a human, he had the look of a predator. She could see his wristband, but she had no thought of trying to get it.

Bailey’s initial reaction was to run and try to put as much distance between her and the wolf as possible. The problem was that he might discover her. If she used her time wisely and began to string the explosives she had managed to find, she might be able to catch him inside and deal with him, as well. That was the best-case scenario: get out, blow the cave, and perhaps kill one of the bastards as she was doing so.

There was no doubt in her mind that blowing her lair would alert the other wolf-shifters that there was trouble. That might be the ideal time to try and get to the portal and open a passageway to the Eclipse Province, but she would need one of the wrist bands to get it open.

Hastily, Bailey began putting together what she would need to take with her. She wanted that done first before she started setting up the explosive devices. If she could keep an eye on his progress up the side of the bluff, she would know better when to hightail it down one of her escape routes and blow the cavern behind her. Perhaps he and his confederates would think she had found the idea of becoming the sexual plaything to one of them so abhorrent she had chosen to end her own life.

The possibility of her actually doing that was nil. She would survive, regardless of what they did to her. She would live just to eventually escape and be free.

Bailey changed into her best pair of breeches and a large linen shirt that she belted in at the waist and attached one of her scabbards to for a knife. She pulled on her best pair of boots, lacing them over her breeches, and tucked another knife and scabbard into the top.

She raced back over to her rows of spyholes and kept looking until she spotted him. It wasn’t difficult. He was making no effort whatsoever to hide himself or his progress. He didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry, which gave her time to put together a backpack as well as setting up her explosive charges. Each time she completed one task, she checked on how far he had advanced. He was making steady progress, without appearing to follow any of the false trails she had made.

Once she was ready and had chosen the tunnel she believed would give her the best means of escape, she waited. Finally, the bells she had strung above her bed began to ring. He was at the entrance. She grasped the detonation switch in her hand, grabbed her backpack and ran towards the escape tunnel. It made a sharp right hand turn about five hundred yards from the main room of what had been her home for three years. That should give her adequate protection from the blast.

Bailey launched herself down the tunnel, running for all she was worth. She could hear the wolf-shifter dismantling her door just as she reached the end of the shaft. She flattened herself against the wall and pressed the detonation switch. Take that, she thought to herself. It took a moment for her to realize that all she’d heard was a kind of hollow clicking sound.

Something had gone terribly wrong. Bailey thought briefly about making a run for it, but not blowing the cavern and the other tunnels lessened her chances to get away. The howl of the wolf-shifter reverberated down the hall, rattling her more than anything else had in the past three years. She’d heard the beasts howl many times, but this time it wasn’t just that she heard it; she felt it. The sound raced across her skin, raising goosebumps before burrowing beneath it and infiltrating the very marrow of her bones.

The second time he howled, her heart clutched, and her body trembled violently. The worst part was that she could feel unwanted arousal surging through her system and instead of running away from him, she wanted to run back to him—to seek safety and solace in his embrace.

No! She had not managed to evade capture and endured degradation for the past three years to surrender herself to him without so much as a whimper. She depressed the switch again. And again, just a hollow switch. Something must have gone wrong.Duh!Risking everything she had sacrificed for, everything she believed in, she turned back to run down the tunnel she had thought would be her salvation.

Another howl and she stumbled. It was as if it was some kind of mating call and her body was responding, threatening to drive her to her knees. No. She would not give in. She would always be grateful for that third howl. As Bailey half-fell into the wall, she spotted the short in the wire. Damn mice. She quickly spliced the two wires back together.

“This is tiresome, mate. Come back here and I will forgive your foolishness. Force me to run you to ground and your pretty bottom will come to know my discipline before your pussy learns of the great pleasure to be had in my bed.”

---