The Shifter's Choice Read online

  The water. She listened and could hear the sound of the running stream. She blew out a breath and then headed toward the sound. It was farther than she expected and on the way it began to rain, a soft patter on the leaves above that didn’t reach her. She crept under vines and between wide palm leaves that were stiff and sharp as razor blades. The rain fell harder, dripping off the greenery and plopping down on her hat with giant droplets. The patter turned to a drenching. Her teeth began to chatter. She glanced up at the sky and spotted a lovely white orchid growing from the notch of a tree, bobbing in the falling rain as if it was laughing at her.

  “That’s why they call it a rain forest,” she muttered and eased over a mossy log.

  One moment she was standing and the next she was falling. Her hands went up as her butt struck the ground with a jolt that rattled her teeth. She landed on a dangerous angle and slid on her backside as the world blurred into a sea of green. Vines and leaves slashed across her face and she lifted her hands to protect herself from this new assault. She stopped abruptly by striking something solid and folded over a log losing all the air in her lungs. At least she wasn’t still moving, but she was dizzy. Had she struck her head? Sonia opened her eyes to see she was lying with her legs on one side of a slippery, moss covered log and her torso dangling over the other side with nothing underneath her but treetops and hot tropical air. She stared at the cliff’s edge where the steep incline fell away. The tree trunk, that had saved her life, grew perpendicular from the cliff.

  Sonia tried to scream, but the fall had knocked the wind out of her and breathing took all her energy. The dizziness increased and she knew if she passed out she’d fall and if she fell, she’d die.

  Below her, silvery sheets of rain fell from the black clouds sweeping up the mountain.

  Instinct took over and she grabbed her knees, holding herself about the mossy trunk like a ring on a finger. How long could she hold on?

  Something grabbed her by the back of her jacket collar. She gripped the log tighter but was torn loose. A moment later she was thrown over a broad shoulder. Her hands braced on the man’s back only to discover it was covered with soft thick fur. Sergeant Lam! He’d rescued her.

  She groaned and relaxed, falling limp against the sable-soft hair that covered him. He gripped her legs and easily swung her before him, carrying her like a bride over the threshold.

  Sonia trembled as rain streaked down her face. She was scared, but not of Lam. She’d almost fallen to her death. If not for him, she would have. She threw her arms about his neck and clung to Lam as the relief shuttered through her. Sonia nestled her face into his chest and tried not to let him see that she was crying as he climbed the incline that had nearly killed her. He moved with slow steady steps as if in no hurry to be rid of her. She was grateful because she needed a moment to pull herself together and here in his arms she was warm and safe.

  The beating rain ceased as if someone had turned a tap off, leaving only the steady dripping of water through the canopy. The sunlight streamed down in bright ribbons through the gaps. The Sergeant stooped, bringing her back to her feet and she lifted her head from his shoulder forcing herself to release his sturdy neck. Sonia shielded her eyes against the glare and looked around. She was back on the opposite side of the stream where she had made the cosmically stupid move of trying to follow a werewolf into the forest.

  Lam stepped away. When her gaze met his, he just looked her up and down as if searching for injury. He lifted a hand toward her. She glanced at it but did not flinch. If he meant her bodily harm he had only to wait for her to drop off that log. Instead he had rescued her. His attention moved to her head as he pulled a stick complete with leaves from her hair. Her neat bun was now a tangled mess of tendrils that frizzed in all directions around her face and neck. She touched her head, realizing she’d lost her hat.

  She lifted her hands and began to sign as she spoke. “Thank you for saving my life, Sergeant Lam.”

  He nodded his acknowledgment.

  “I owe you one,” she said while signing.

  He nodded his agreement that, yes, she did. Johnny dipped a finger in the stream. He used the water to write on the flat gray stone, “Sorry.”

  She made a fist and then moved it in a circle over her heart. “Sorry,” she repeated as she made the sign again.

  He mimicked the sign perfectly. Sorry.

  Johnny cupped a handful of water and used his opposite hand to gently tug her down to her knees beside the stream. He dabbed cold water on her cheek and she felt the sting of a cut. His touch was warm and tender. It made her throat ache even more so she took over using both hands to splash water on her stinging, scratched face.

  A Jeep horn blared. Sonia shot to her feet, her face hot. She spun toward the drive, obscured by the house.

  “Fucking motherfucking fuck!” she said, still signing out of habit. She glanced at Johnny. “That’s the captain and just look at me!” She held out her arms to show him the whole muddy, bloody catastrophe. “And he’s going to want to see your progress! I’m screwed.”

  The captain called. “Johnny? Private Touma?”

  Johnny headed for the Jeep. Sonia looked back to the jungle staunching the irrational urge to turn and run the opposite way. She glanced down at her soaked clothing, torn muddy trousers and the scrapes that covered her hands.

  “There you are,” said the captain clearly speaking to Johnny. “Hour’s up.”

  Sonia wiped her face and realized she’d likely just smeared more blood on it. She trailed around the house lifting one foot after the other. She couldn’t manage to raise her chin until she cleared the house. She looked to Johnny as if for another rescue but he stood still as stone, his jaw locked, his big hairy arms motionless.

  “How did it go?” asked the captain. His smile died a moment later as he stared at her, his eyes going wide as his gaze swept the entirety of her appearance.

  Demerits she thought and then giggled. She slapped a hand over her mouth to stop the sound. Johnny looked at her and raised one tufted brow. He had long hairs growing from his eyebrows, like a sheepdog’s.

  “Not so well, I guess,” said the captain, scowling now. “What happened to you?”

  Sonia signed as she spoke. “I slipped.”

  “Are you all right?”

  She nodded, although every muscle in her body ached. She hadn’t felt this bad since basic training.

  “Did Johnny have a lesson?” he asked.

  Sonia’s heart sank. For just one instant she thought her injuries might have caused a delay in sentencing but this judge had no mercy in his heart. She drew a breath to answer the question honestly when Johnny began to sign, perfectly and in quick succession. He signed, Slipped. Sorry. I’m screwed. Fuck.

  The captain blinked. Sonia braced for the explosion. Then the captain smiled, a grin really. Wide and bright and some of the tension eased from Sonia’s neck. She looked from the sergeant to the captain.

  “Well, well,” said Captain MacConnelly. “Looks like you learned a lot.” His expression seemed to glimmer with relief. That’s when she realized he had fully expected her to fail. “Good work, Private. I’d say you’ve had enough for today.”

  He waited for her to deny it and, to her shame, she didn’t.

  “Okay. Let’s get you checked out and cleaned up back at base.” He walked her to the Jeep with Johnny skulking along behind them as if he knew he wasn’t welcome. But he was. She’d rather stay here with him than go with the captain and that realization made her gasp. Johnny noticed it. The captain didn’t.

  Johnny pointed at her and then lifted his brows and made the okay sign.

  A question, she realized and smiled. His first question. She nodded then signed back without speaking, Yes. I’m okay. Thank you.

  Johnny nodded and the captain had not even noticed the exchange as he swept into the Jeep and started the engine. “I’ll bring her back tomorrow afternoon at thirteen hundred.”

  Sonia held her bre
ath. Johnny gave her a long stare and then a single curt nod.

  Sonia released her breath in a long sigh. She was coming back. Thank God. She had gotten another reprieve.

  * * *

  Sonia reported to the medical unit for a check. Nothing was broken but the bruises were everywhere. They’d let her shower there and got her a new uniform. She was discharged and returned to quarters to find her footlocker had been placed at the end of one bunk.

  Progress, she thought.

  She glanced at the concrete bunkerlike room. Her new home, courtesy of the U.S. Government. It didn’t look a lot different than a prison cell. She glanced at the windows. No bars, she realized. That was one important difference. Still, leave it to the government to make a tropical paradise look like a group home. Sonia unpacked her belongings that were not really hers. Everything she now owned had been requisitioned. She reached the bottom of her bag and her fingers grazed the one personal item she still possessed. A photograph of her and her sister, Marianna, when she was six and Marianna four. Her sister’s hearing aid looked gigantic back then and made her ears stick out. The image was made worse by the short pixie cut that matched her own, a result of the lice they had both had. Her mother had been told they had to stay home until the medication killed all the lice. Instead her mom had shaved their heads and sent them to school. Marianna had earned the name Dumbo that year and it had stuck until middle school.

  Sonia stared down at the two skinny kids they had been, with arms looped over each other’s shoulders like two vines growing together. Marianna had gotten out, though. Gallaudet University on a full ride. A whole college for the deaf. It was just amazing. And with Marianna taken care of, Sonia didn’t have to steal anymore to keep them in that crappy apartment. Her mother came and went like the tide. Back in jail, back on the streets, back in her bedroom with money in her pocket that she’d spend on booze. She wasn’t dependable. Marianna needed dependable. Maybe Sonia could get through the next four years, be honorably discharged and go live near Marianna. Maybe even with her sister. Get their own place. She’d find a job to help Marianna again, if she even needed help anymore.

  Sonia kissed her index finger and then pressed it to her sister’s image. Then she tucked the picture frame back in her empty bag. Someday, she’d have a bedside table or a mantle or a bureau of her own.

  Something.

  Someday.

  She sat down to write Marianna a letter and then realized that she could not include anything about Johnny and that her letter would be inspected by strangers. So she described the scenery and all the annoying habits of her bunkmates. She didn’t like sharing a room with a group of strangers any more than she liked sharing her private letters with censors. But then who would?

  The following morning she tried to take a run before breakfast, but her muscles were too damned sore so she opted for a long hot shower and lunch with the perkiest and most irritating member of her quarters before reporting to the captain for transport to Johnny’s home.

  All the way up the mountain she told herself how immature and childish she had been. She couldn’t call him furball or swear at him. It was so unprofessional. Today she’d do better. She’d set the guidelines and her expectations. They’d begin with the basics. Who. What. Where. When. She’d teach him the signs for time. Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

  The captain did not get out of the Jeep this time. “I’ll send Zeno up to get you in ninety minutes.”

  “Ninety?” she stammered. The sheer number of minutes between then and now stretched to the horizon. “I thought... I thought...”

  But he already had the Jeep in Reverse.

  She stood rooted to the spot as the vehicle disappeared. Sometime after the Jeep had vanished down the road she snapped herself out of her daze and turned toward the adorable house that happened to belong to a werewolf.

  She called for Sergeant Lam repeatedly but got no response. Belatedly, she realized that he might not appreciate being summoned like a dog. If he were not a monster, how would she approach him? Sonia decided on the front door, climbed the steep steps and knocked.

  Johnny opened the door. His dark visage filled the frame and this time she did not back up at the sight of him. Instead she snapped a salute which he returned and then stepped out onto the porch. It seemed she would not see the inside of Sergeant Lam’s home today. Sonia found herself disappointed. She was curious about him and about how he lived.

  He motioned her to the porch as she remembered how he had carried her to safety while she’d wept like a child in his arms. She followed him across the spotless wide planking that had been stained a natural color. The railings were also wood.

  He motioned to a table under the wide roof. Who had hung wind chimes from the beam above the rail? she wondered.

  He sat on a long bench before a coffee table that fit him much better than the two adjoining chairs and made the sign for her to sit. She removed her cap and placed it on a chair and then sat beside him on the bench. He instantly moved away as his eyebrows lifted.

  Sonia spotted the bag she’d left yesterday and busied herself removing the small dry-erase boards and markers of various colors and lining them up on the table. By the time she placed the eraser Johnny groaned. She was losing her audience.

  Sonia was determined to keep control today. No swearing. No temper. Just cool professionalism and a lesson that she’d stayed up half the night going over. She tried to channel Mrs. Kappenhaur, her seventh grade music teacher, the only one she’d ever liked.

  “Today’s lesson is ninety minutes. We will be covering time and some words to express needs. For example, ‘What time is the meeting?’” she signed.

  Johnny signed more obscenities.

  “Yes. I’m sorry I showed you that one. Let’s begin with these.” She signed as she spoke. “Who? What? Where? When?”

  Johnny grabbed a board and uncapped the green marker. She sat fidgeting with her own board as he wrote with an unsteady hand. It was painful to watch and when he finished she could barely make out what he had written.

  “Y R U here?”

  Off topic already, she realized, hurrying along. “To teach you.”

  “Y U stay?”

  Sonia scowled. “We aren’t talking about me. I’m here to teach you to sign. That’s all you need to know.”

  Sergeant Lam threw his dry-erase board off the porch.

  They scowled at each other.

  “You do not have the right to poke around in my private life. I’m your teacher.” There. She’d been decisive without swearing at him and she hadn’t lost her temper. But she could feel her pulse throbbing in her temples and Johnny was baring his teeth. She dug in her heels. This would only work if he kept his nose out of her business.

  He lifted a blue marker and wrote “Trust me.”

  She laughed. “Trust? Why should I? Listen, Lam. You are not my therapist. I’m here to teach you sign. That’s it. You don’t get a free pass to all my secrets. Got it? So take it or leave it.”

  He gave her a hard look. She didn’t care. This was nonnegotiable.

  “I’ll keep coming back and I’ll teach you. But no personal questions.” She signed as she spoke. “Understand?” She then lifted her eyebrows to indicate it was a question, repeating the sign. “Understand?”

  He nodded, stood and then jumped off the porch. By the time she reached the rail he had disappeared into the green curtain beyond the yard.

  She watched him go. “Well, that went well.”

  Sonia descended the steep stairs and crossed the yard, staring down at the jungle below her. She was not going back in there again.

  “Sergeant Lam!” she called. She tried again and received no response. After several minutes she gave up.

  “I’m going to keep it professional,” she muttered in a mocking tone. “I’m going to set ground rules.” She gave a mirthless laugh and began signing as she spoke. She threw her hat and felt no better.

  Sonia waited twenty minutes. He didn�
�t come back. She returned to the porch and replaced the caps on the markers.

  She stared at Johnny’s board. Trust me.

  It was impossible. She didn’t trust anyone but her sister. That’s how she’d survived. It wasn’t a fair request.

  She walked to the edge of the clearing realizing that he didn’t have to be fair. Life hadn’t been fair to him. Besides who could he tell? And what secrets did she have that weren’t already in that damned two-inch thick file the captain had? But it was different saying them aloud. So different. Besides it was a sucky story. Depressing and humiliating. She’d be sparing him by keeping her mouth shut.

  Or she could tell him whatever he wanted to know and get his furry butt back in that chair.

  She could keep her secrets or her freedom.

  She gave a cry of frustration. This overgrown furball was going to get her locked up. If she didn’t get him back here then the captain would find out and... Sonia marched to the porch rail and gripped it tight as she leaned out toward the yard and filled her lungs with air.

  “All right!” she shouted to the jungle valley. “I give up! I’m here because if I don’t teach you sign, I go back to jail. Do you hear me? I’m an ex-con and you learning sign is all that’s keeping me from going in for six. Johnny! Damn it, do you hear me?”

  Johnny opened his front door. She whirled to face him as he fixed her with a long steady look. He’d been in there all along, she realized. From his place in the door frame, he lifted his hands as if gripping bars and then lifted his brows.

  “Yeah. Breaking and entering. Stupid. I tripped a silent alarm. Cops got me and locked me up. If you don’t learn sign I go back there.”

  And there it was, the reason he couldn’t run her off and the reason she’d come back.

  “Can we start over?” she said, signing in synchronization.

  Lam placed one fist on top of the other and lifted them as if preparing to swing an invisible bat. He made a smooth strike, his big, gnarled hands sweeping in a wide graceful arch from one shoulder to the other. Then he held up two fingers. She understood.