Shifter's Destiny - Anna Leonard

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As her eyes closed, almost against her will, the last sight she had was their rescuer, a pale glimmer in the dusk, standing guard, his head up and alert to any sound or movement beyond the circle.

      Reassured and oddly comforted by the sight, she slept.

      Ever since the first wave of flu deaths hit the Community back in the autumn, Elizabeth’s dreams had been filled with faceless shadows moving around her, the sense of being caught in a whirlpool, spinning her around and pulling her down to some dire fate. It was all silent, as though the sound had been sucked out of the world already, except for her sister’s breath, labored and wet. It was the sound of a flu victim, trying to breathe, and no matter how terrifying the dream, waking to hear that noise in reality terrified Elizabeth more. Even now, when Maggie looked like the picture of health, the slightest hitch in her breath or faintest cough sent Elizabeth into a vague panic.

      She had always dreamed, and always remembered her dreams, even as a small child. When something good was going to happen, or something bad, or merely a change in the air—she had known that her mother was pregnant with Maggie weeks before her mother realized, and had known that the small baby growing there would change her life forever. But she had never had nightmares—not until almost a year ago, when she woke screaming with the sense that something was lurking, just out of sight, waiting to catch her, to rend her apart with its claws. Nothing concrete, no specifics—only with Maggie’s birth had she ever known what change was coming, specifically. Only a sense of dread and distress that she could not shake, and could not prevent.

      When her parents died, Elizabeth expected the nightmares to stop. Instead, they intensified. The night before Cody’s death, the dreams had been even worse: Maggie’s pale face alternating with Cody’s laughing one, and then her parents cold in their coffins, and a sense of menace no longer lurking in the shadows, but in midleap, claws outstretched. She had woken, not screaming but crying, her chest burning as though she’d been running all night, and been unable to go back to sleep. She had lain in bed for hours, waiting for the sun to come up, until the message came that Cody had been found, dead. She had not truly slept since then, unable to relax even in her own bed.

      Tonight, curled up under a roof of trees while armed men searched for them, effectively homeless, guarded by an impossible creature and the future terrifyingly uncertain, Elizabeth slept, and dreamed not of menace, but of joy. In her dream, she stood under an open vista of clear blue skies and white-capped mountains, and felt the presence of peace and love around her, embracing her.

      It was somewhere she had never been, a peace she never felt even in the best of times. Yet even within the embrace of that peace there was an uncertainty inside her, a sense that something would go wrong; that this contentment wasn’t meant for her. Not if she couldn’t take care of Maggie, make sure that Maggie was safe.

      The dream faded, and she felt herself waking up in slow, comfortable stages: the warm crackle of their bedding underneath, the faint dampness of dew on her skin and clothing, the reassuring sound of Maggie’s occasional sleep-snort and the press of her body still curled under Elizabeth’s protective arm. Maggie was still safe. For now.

      The light was dim around them, filtered through the leaves and barely enough to see by. Elizabeth guessed it was a little before dawn. At home, before everything changed, this had been her favorite time of day; before the controlled chaos of opening the bakery and getting the day’s orders started. Libby’s Loaves had been her own domain, her contribution to the Community at large. How proud she had been of it!

      Her mother had taught her how to bake bread, back when she was Maggie’s age. There was another bakery in the Community, but it was Libby’s Loaves that everyone wanted for their table—she left the pastries and cakes to Asha and her husband, who owned the other shop across town.

      She hoped they understood the meaning of the recipes—and the deed—she had left under their door, just before she and Maggie had left.

      Those thoughts led to the awareness that they needed to be up and moving soon, and no time for reminiscences or regrets. Sliding her arm away from Maggie carefully, to keep from waking her just yet, Elizabeth got up from their makeshift mattress and looked around to see if the horse had stayed with them, overnight, or had wandered off as mysteriously as it had appeared. They hadn’t even thought to tether it—not that there had been anything to tether it with, since there had been neither bridle nor lead rope to use. Still…

      The circle they had slept in was horse free. Elizabeth admitted to a sinking feeling of disappointment that didn’t make any sense. Whatever the animal was—horse, deer, fake or real—it wasn’t theirs, and while it had been amazingly, almost miraculously helpful, she couldn’t count on that help continuing.

      “Just you and me again, baby,” she said, turning to wake Maggie and get her ready to walk again, and yelped in shock at the man standing across the clearing from her, watching her with a steady gaze.

       Chapter 3

      Her yelp woke Maggie in a rush, the teenager sitting upright and looking automatically in the direction her sister was staring. Maggie let out a startled noise as well, scooting backward on her knees to where her sister stood, instinctively seeking protection from this stranger. Fleetingly Elizabeth rued the loss of the little girl who was open and friendly to everyone, even as she was putting herself between this unknown man and her sister.

      Better that Maggie be cautious. Better that Maggie be safe.

      “Who the hell are you?” she asked, trying to see if there was anyone creeping up behind them without taking her eyes off the immediate threat. He wasn’t very tall, with broad shoulders and a wide-set stance that made her think of gunslingers in old Western movies, and was dressed in faded black jeans and a dark red pullover. His hair was honey-blond, his skin tanned, as though he spent most of his time outdoors, and his eyes, watching her, were a deep, dark brown that stirred something in her, some sense of familiarity, of long-lost comfort. She distrusted the feeling immediately.

      “Hush,” the stranger said, in a voice that was low and raspy, as though he was recovering from a sore throat, or didn’t speak often. “Those men are in the woods, looking for you again, and your shrieks carry like a siren.”

      Elizabeth felt her jaw drop open, and then closed it again with a snap. The worried look in those eyes softened the harshness of his words, and the fact that he knew what was happening, and seemed intent on helping them…

      Her ability to trust had been severely strained over the past few months, and there was nothing that said this man was any different than Jordan and his cronies, but… she had to make a choice right then and there. She chose to trust him.

      “It’s all right, Maggie,” she said as quietly as she could. “Just be still.”

      The stranger stood there, listening to something, then all of a sudden he seemed to relax, and Elizabeth felt herself breathing more easily, too.

      “They’ve gone back to their cars,” he said, as though talking to himself, not them. “Getting you out of here is going to be tricky, now, but staying isn’t going to work, either.” His already square jaw firmed even more in annoyance. “Damn it, I don’t have time for this. If I get you out of here, you’re on your own.”

      Elizabeth wanted to make a sarcastic retort to that, but she was still too shocked, and afraid to antagonize the one person who had been willing to help them, whatever his reasons.

      “Who are you?” Maggie asked. “Do… do we know you?” Her voice had an expectant quality, as though half hoping for a reassuring response.

      The man hesitated, as though not wanting to answer, and then grinned. It wasn’t a friendly grin, or a reassuring one. “We met last night.”

      “We met…” Elizabeth stared at him blankly, and then Maggie shrieked in excitement, immediately clapping her hands over her mouth when they both looked down, horrified at the noise.

      “You were… Oh, my God, you were the unicorn!”

      “Maggie,

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