Shifting Fortunes Ch. 08

Turning around with his back to Jake was the hardest, but he did. Crouching over his sister, he ran his hand over the bobcat's thick fur. He rubbed the head of the cat. "Katie," he called to her gently. "Come out now, we're safe." I think, he thought to himself, but didn't let his sister hear it. She needed to hear confident words to withdraw her out. She was so much gentler than he, her soft, fragile heart not made for this life. He finally felt her stir mentally and physically.

"Connor?" she murmured in his mind. He smiled gratefully down at her as the bobcat's eyes opened and looked at him dully. "What happened? Are we dead?"

He smiled at her perplexed expression, even in cat form. "Come back now Katie, it's safe. The two Weres seem okay and haven't harmed us. They're curious about us. The girl hasn't met others of our kind before, can you believe it?" He could feel the two Weres movements behind him as he communicated silently with his sister. He could tell that the female was really curious about their bond.

He waited until his sister became fully aware of their situation and suddenly tense. She leapt to her bobcat's paws. Suddenly the shimmer that always appeared around them when the change happened wafted in the air and he was instantly thrown a soft dressing gown for his sister to don. He looked instantly to Jake, ready to growl at him to look away from his sister's nudity, but was surprised to already see him turned around. Connor had to grudgingly admit that was pretty good of him, and turned to his sister as she threaded an arm around his waist and pressed herself to him for support. She looked so frightened, her pale blue eyes staring with mistrust and fear, her unkempt brown hair flat and stringy against her cheeks.

"Hi there, I'm Samantha," the blonde girl pressed again, and he watched Katie's eyes shoot to the other female and take in the encouraging smile and friendly position. He felt his sister soften instantly against him. He was heartened by this, Katie had good instincts about people.

"Katie," his sister whispered quietly, unable to offer more than her name at present. She was still so unsure, her whole body radiating with it, despite relaxing a little.

"And I'm Connor, her older brother," he offered grudgingly. His sister elbowed him stubbornly.

"By only three minutes!" she protested, then snapped her mouth shut, the momentary defiance being immediately lost to her uncertainty once more.

He watched Jake and Samantha's mouths quirk up in humour. She noticed his sister's glance at the male Were.

"That's Jake. Don't worry about him, he's always a bit stuffy to begin with," she said happily, and moved into the kitchen to start preparing some food, not even bothered when Jake grumbled an oath and turned away from them. Connor watched as Jake walked to the front door and carefully placed the gun beside it. He felt his sister relax even more, and so did he.

"You hungry Katie?" Samantha asked as she started some bacon sizzling in a pan. Both their stomachs instantly snarled at the scent, not even noticing the looks the two others exchanged.

***

Sam sat and watched as Katie and Connor wolfed down their fifth helping of baked beans, bacon and eggs on toast each. They clearly hadn't eaten well in a while. While Connor looked quite fit and toned, he had deep black marks beneath his eyes, and they had that haunted look of having to be on guard for a very long time. They reminded her of her own beginning, when she was also first brought to another cabin in a forest far from here, by Jake.

Jake was sitting beside her having finished his own meal, his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into him. She wished she could communicate mentally with him like the siblings obviously could. She had so many questions! But it would have to wait until they had at least finished eating. Poor souls. They looked young, about eighteen, but she couldn't be sure. Connor looked older than his sister, but Katie had revealed they were twins.

Sam's eyes switched to the frail-looking girl at his side. Her brother may look strong and fit, but she looked the opposite - skinny, pale and, well, bony. If she had to guess, Sam would bet that it wasn't just lack of food, but stress that had kept the weight off Katie. Her eyes had started off with that dead look in them, but now they were flickering wildly, and only focused on the food in front of her.

Sam exchanged a look with Jake again for probably the twentieth time, and she could tell that Jake was beginning to lose patience. He needed to know the danger that they represented, if any.

***

Jake fumed silently at Sam's side. Was anyone after them? Would they be able to trace them here? It was intolerable that his mate was making him wait to find out. They should have interrogated them immediately, but as usual his beautiful Sam was tempering his protective side and he trusted her on this. She had pulled him aside while the siblings were on their third helping with no sign of stopping and told him she'd thought they'd be more amenable to talking and being truthful if they showed compassion and provided them with nourishment first.

Exasperated, but seeing the wisdom of her words, he'd tucked into his own meal instead and held his tongue. But now this was getting ridiculous. Five helpings? I mean seriously, where was the girl putting it? He was sure he could get both hands around her waist and overlap them she was so slight.

"This isn't your last meal you know," he finally smirked out loud, having had enough watching them eat like animals.

The girl looked up at him suddenly, and he saw recognition hit her eyes and he realised she had been miles away, so completely focused on her hunger and the food, that she had forgotten they were even present. His heart twisted and he felt Sam's hand tighten on his thigh where it rested. To be that hungry...they both knew what that was like, and he felt a kinship for the two Weres sitting across from him. Katie blushed and set down the bit of toast she had been tearing at. She finished chewing her mouthful more thoughtfully, her gaze lowered, obviously thinking hard - or possibly communicating with her brother.

Connor on the other hand, hadn't even noticed - or cared - that he'd spoken and was still shoveling in food like there was no tomorrow. Jake shot a glance at the saucepan in the middle of the table. There were no beans left at least thank God for that. He focused on the girl who was now back in the moment.

"Did anyone follow you here?" he asked the most important question first. This did snap Connor out of his maniacal hunger and the two siblings exchanged looks before the young man set down his own toast and finished chewing as he appeared deep in thought. Jake was just about to snap at him when he felt Sam's fingers flex on his thigh again. Wait, she seemed to be saying. He bit back a sigh.

"No, we have been travelling for three weeks without stopping, there has been no scents and no sounds for days. We tried to hide our tracks where we could," he murmured softly, obviously not sure if this was the right answer or if it would cause trouble.

Jake was surprised. From the way they'd caught the two out in the clearing, he'd assumed they were just plain stupid. Not so. The brother had tried to cover his tracks, had had the sense to scent and listen. He relaxed. He believed him. He wasn't sure why, but he did.

Sam shifted next to him and leaned forward with her hands clasped on the table. "Who are you running from?" she asked curiously. They both watched Connor's eyes flicker with emotions.

"The pack," he said gruffly, and his sister whimpered as he gripped her hand on the table.

Jake was stunned. "What pack?" he demanded. He knew of no pack. He and Sam had been all over the country and they'd not heard a whisper of their kind and now there was a pack?

It was the brother and sister's turn to look stunned. "You don't know of them?" Katie asked, her shock at this reeling her out of her silence.

Jake's attention switched to her, his eyes narrowing. "Should we?"

She blushed and aimed her eyes at her plate again. Connor cleared his throat.

"It's only surprising to us as we have spent two months with them and their pack is large. Their secrecy is their biggest asset, but we didn't know the extent. Most of them are thugs, completely unintelligent. They think of only blood lust, death and power. Their rage is all-consuming." Connor's words were laced with contempt, disgust and rank fear. It was also the longest he'd spoken in their presence. Jake eyed him speculatively.

"You were held against your will in this pack?" he guessed. The girl nodded.

Connor also nodded ascent. "They seek to grow their pack so that they can eventually dominate the rest of the shifter world, even the humans. They found us and threw us in a dark room until their leader appeared. He gave us two options - join them or die." Jake growled and Sam closed her eyes briefly.

"You joined them?" Jake queried, pressing the boy for more information.

"Yes. Only to spare our lives. We looked for escape whenever we could, but they were vigilant, purposeful or not. They found out about our sibling bond and told us how rare it was. They treated us as prized possessions even as they spat on us, denied us food and made us sleep on concrete. We were used for communication against our will - they kept Katie with them as insurance in human form so she could relay instructions to me in animal form. They used us as puppets, knowing I would do nothing to endanger my sister." Connor's voice had become stony. Jake felt Sam flinching at his side, but he motioned for Connor to continue.

"They made me rob or attack innocent people, incapacitate humans they wanted. I tried not to hurt them!" he burst out angrily, guilt and hopelessness clear in his tone. "They were so angry when I couldn't kill. They beat me and then beat Katie too." He went quiet for a while.

"We escaped by using our bobcat. They didn't know about the bobcat - we didn't even think about them ourselves seeing how small and slow it is compared to their much more lethal animals." They watched Connor look Katie in the eyes as he seemed to consider his next words. They blinked at each other and Connor sighed. Jake didn't interrupt. "But one thing that we had kept to ourselves, was that Katie and I can mask our scents."

Sam gasped and Jake tensed beside her. Mask scents? That was new. It explained the single scent of the bobcats.

"We shifted to the bobcats in our concrete room and masked our scents. They came to fetch us and when they opened the door, we made our move. They always used Katie over me, always would grab her first to make me do their bidding, but they had no idea who was who. Our scents were exactly the same. We were on a more even footing. I darted out the door first and while they both turned to go after me, Katie ran out in the opposite direction. They didn't know who to chase and their moment of stupidity gave us our time.

"We dodged and weaved and ran, staying in mental contact the whole time. Eventually we managed to join back up and kept running until Katie couldn't keep going any longer. We moved day and night resting when we could for only short periods, our animals helped us move faster - our skill at masking scents a bonus, they would just think we were coyotes or wolves. We managed water from streams and stole what food we could from the small towns we passed through. By the time we reached your forest we were getting desperate. We needed food, it was freezing and you caught us at our weakest," Connor said grudgingly.

Jake sat back and sifted everything Connor had said, measuring his words quietly as he mulled it all over in his head. He felt Sam doing the same thing. No one said a word for what seemed like an age, and the two battered Weres started eating again. He knew there was obviously a lot more to the story, but without even talking to Sam about it, the decision was clear - he knew she would agree.

"You are now under our protection," he said abruptly, making up his mind. "You may stay with us or you may leave. We will feed you and clothe you, we can even train you to help evade the pack. In return we just ask that you refrain from mentioning us to anyone that you may meet in the future. We have our own battles to fight and we'd rather stay low until we are completely ready." He knew the last little bit was a bit mysterious, but he certainly wasn't prepared to share.

There was however a stirring in Jake at the mention of this pack. Memories of his father's death echoed in his head. He pushed them back down to pull out again when he had time to sift through his thoughts and what it all meant.

The two sibling Weres were staring with utter shock, but remained quiet and exchanged looks with one another. Sam was smiling adoringly up at him, not even caught a bit offbeat by Jake's declaration. He had definitely earned brownie points. Maybe he could claim them in the bedroom later, he thought mischievously. He winked down at her and he caught the laughter in her eyes.

***

Connor didn't know what to think. They'd been plucked out of the snow, brought into the warm, given clothes and food, he'd told them their story, albeit briefly, and now the two Weres were willing just like that to put them up.

It was definitely too much to take in. Was it all a trap? He didn't think so. He was so uncertain. They were being so kind. He touched his sister's mind and was surprised. She felt warmly towards the other two, she was feeling safe and the beginnings of contentment. Her stomach was full, she was warm and sleepy and Sam and Jake felt like the first good people they'd met in years. "Are you sure?" he asked his sister mentally. He could feel her acquiescence but he had to hear it too.

"Yes I'm sure Connor. We have to stop running at some stage. I was so sure we would finally die tonight brother. But instead I find myself full and content and feeling safer than I would have dared I ever would again. What is the harm in trusting them if only for a night? I can't run any longer. If we die here, so be it, but we will only die in the snow anyway. Let's discuss this more tomorrow."

Connor mulled over his sister's words quietly as he pressed more toast into his mouth, hearing only wisdom. He was so protective of her, but he could also see sense. No separate rooms, though. They were used to sleeping side by side for warmth anyway, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to sleep without her there. He was too used to having one eye open, one hand able to reach out and check she was still safe.

Their decision was made. They would stay and see what this new experience would bring. He was finally feeling hopeful, and curious too. Maybe they would learn something from each other. Only time would tell.