Dead World 1, page 30
The woman’s eyes widened with fear, then she bounded up the steps.
Red watched her go, then continued down. She was halfway to her vehicle, when she spotted Bannon coming up to start his shift.
He stopped when he reached her side. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the great white hunter.” Bannon sneered.
“Do you know who that woman is?” Red ignored his comment and pointed at the crowd of cadets.
Bannon squinted against the sun. “You mean the red-head?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
He shrugged. “Her name is Catherine Meyers. Her fellow cadets call her Chaos. Apparently, she’s almost as weird as you.”
Red had no doubt after sensing the woman’s power. She wondered if Catherine knew the truth. Red debated whether to approach her and decided against it.
It wasn’t her place to out a fellow Other. Eventually, Catherine would come looking for answers and when she did, Red would be there to help her.
“How’s the wild animal chase going?” Bannon asked.
“Better than expected,” Red said. “I bagged one. I’m going back now to get me another.”
Bannon took another step. The move emphasized their height difference.
Red didn’t care. She’d never allowed Bannon’s size to intimidate her before and she wasn’t about to start now. Besides, she didn’t work here anymore.
“Shouldn’t you be reporting for duty?” He glanced at her civilian clothing.
Red shook her head. “Not today. Like I said, I have more animals to catch. You’d be amazed at what I discovered while I was out by the boundary.”
“Yeah, I bet.” Bannon snorted and glanced at something at the bottom of the steps. His smart-ass grin took on an evil light. “I know one thing you found in Nuria.”
Red looked past him. Morgan stood at the foot of the stairs, covered in bandages, propped against a car. She’d never seen anything more appealing in her life. Red’s heart tripped in her chest, then swelled.
Morgan smiled and gave a little wave with his good arm.
“Guess I was wrong about you,” Bannon said.
Red turned to look at him. “How so?”
“You do remember how to spread your legs.” He nodded toward Morgan.
Red gaped.
“If his whipped expression is any indication of what occurred between you two, I’d say he’s been between your thighs at least a few times,” Bannon added.
Anger surged to life inside of Red. Her hands curled into fists. She struck Bannon in the abdomen before she had time to think about it, then followed the blow with a kick to his face. He dropped back onto the steps, holding his broken nose.
“You’re going to be sorry for that.” He spat blood on the step next to him. “An attack against a superior officer can get you kicked off the team.”
“Too late.” Red smiled. “I already quit.” She continued down the stairs without a backwards glance and stopped when she reached Morgan.
“What was that all about?” he asked, nodding in Bannon’s direction.
“Needed to settle an old score before I left.” Red shrugged. “What are you doing here? You should be in the emergency care center.”
“I thought you could use a ride.” He motioned toward the car.
“There’s no way they released you with all those injuries.”
“They aren’t so bad,” Morgan said.
Red’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “How did you get out?”
Morgan grinned. “I snuck. It’s a lot harder to do than I thought.”
Red shook her head. “You’re insane. You know that, right? You nearly died yesterday. I can’t believe you’ve healed this much.”
Morgan tried to shrug, but couldn’t. “That was then, this is now. I’m feeling much better—thanks to Raphael’s gift. And let’s not forget that I’m not wholly human in the first place.”
“Yes, I recall.”
He moved to prove his point, but a muscle ticced in his jaw as Morgan fought back the pain.
“Okay, tough guy, I believe you. Now stop, before you do even more damage.” Red stepped forward and touched his shoulder. “What am I going to do with you?” She pursed her lips, pretending to think.
“I can think of a few things.” Morgan winked. “Do you have anything else you need to do?”
“No, I resigned from the team. Can’t exactly work here, knowing what I know now. And Roark isn’t likely to stop until he succeeds in either killing me, starting a war, or both.”
Morgan leaned forward until their faces were nearly touching. “Then we’ll just have to make sure he doesn’t succeed.”
She laughed. “How are we going to do that?”
“We’ll form our own tactical team. We may not be able to stop him, but with our own team we’ll be ready for him when he finally makes his move,” he said.
“Just like that, eh?” Red snapped her fingers. “You think we can form a team to compete with IPTT and not encounter any problems.”
“I didn’t say it would be easy, but, yes, we could. The major difference is our team will be made up of Others like us.”
Red ducked her head. “I wasn’t sure there was an ‘us’ after everything.”
Morgan brushed his nose against hers. “You didn’t think I’d let you get away that easy. Did you?”
“I’d hoped not.” Red tilted her head and kissed him.
Morgan yelped.
Red jerked away. “Sorry, I forgot for a second that you were hurt.”
“Get back here.” Morgan grabbed her, taking advantage of her surprise to deepen the embrace. He kissed her long and hard, until they were both gasping for breath. “Just so you know, I’m never that injured.” His golden eyes sparkled with mirth.
“Do you really think we can do this?” Red asked, warming to the possibility of having her own tactical team. It would take a lot of work and they would have to clear a lot of hurdles, but it could happen.
“Yes, I do.” Morgan brushed a kiss over her forehead. “Together we can do anything.” He grinned. “Besides, no one is stupid enough to mess with Red and the Big, Bad Wolf.” He laughed, despite the pain and loss that he’d suffered.
Red glanced at the entrance of IPTT. Roark Montgomery was one man who might be fanatical enough to try.
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Bonus Excerpt
Scarlet
* * *
Welcome to the near-future where prejudice is no longer tied to the color of your skin, but the purity of your blood. To be accused of taint is tantamount to a death sentence.
Thrust into a world of creatures Gina ‘Red’ Santiago never knew existed, she does her best to fit in while trying to come to grips with the fact that she’s a werewolf. The transition from International Police Tactical Team officer to unpaid recruiter is not an easy one.
Someone doesn’t want Red to succeed at building a rival tactical team. They will do whatever it takes to stop her, even if that means killing people and framing her for murder. Red will have to embrace the part of herself that she doesn’t understand in order to catch the killer. The hunter will soon learn that if you’re not afraid of the big bad wolf…you should be.
CHAPTER ONE
* * *
Gina ‘Red’ Santiago stood naked in a barren valley near the remnants of a dead forest. The cool desert air brushed her skin, leaving gooseflesh in its wake. She shivered and took a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she curled her toes into the earth and pictured a wolf in her mind.
It took a few minutes, but eventually eyes the color of autumn stared back at her from a shaggy elongated face. Its deadly white teeth glowed in sharp relief next to its velvety black pelt. Not quite animal and definitely not human, the creature looked imposing. And dangerous.
Red sank deeper into her mind. Her stomach spasmed. She felt the wolf’s hunger. Its need for survival. The desire to escape. It took every fiber of Red’s being not to act on the urge to run blindly into the darkness.
She longed to feel the compacted dirt and sand beneath her rough paws. Feel the air flow over her thick pelt. Feel the thrill that came from running down prey.
She mentally reached out, drawing the vision nearer, calling to her Other, beckoning the wolf inside her to come and play. It was time to embrace the thing she feared most.
Close. Closer. Red felt the phantom sensation of soft fur brushing her hands. Almost there.
Pain seared her flesh, causing her spine to contort. Her head jerked back like invisible hands yanked her hair. The night sky blurred before her eyes. Red closed them to keep from throwing up. Tremors wracked her. Her mouth opened in a silent scream.
Carried away by the fire coursing through her veins, Red could no longer control her movements. Her muscles bunched under her skin, twisting and bulging as the beast clawed its way out. The bones in her hand snap. Red shrieked and opened her eyes.
Tonight was the night. She could feel it.
Her body continued to coil, bending into unnatural shapes. Red thought she'd go mad from the agony. She stared out at the barren landscape, trying to breathe through the pain.
Her vision dimmed until she could barely see. She was going to pass out. The moment fear engulfed her, the pain receded, taking the wolf with it.
“No!” she shouted. “Come back!” She lunged for the wolf’s image, but holding onto it was like trying to tether smoke.
Red looked down at her gnarled hand, expecting to see a smattering of fur—or at least a misshapen paw where her fingers should be. One claw protruded through the top of her fingernail.
All that pain for one lousy claw?
Blood dripped onto the thirsty desert floor. The glistening scarlet puddle spotlighted her failure.
She swore under her breath.
It had been weeks since Red had quit the International Police Tactical Team and moved to Nuria in the Republic of Arizona. Weeks since she'd first attempted to shift into her Other form. And she still couldn't control the wolf inside her.
Red stared at her hand, watching the bones pop back into place. She was still amazed by how quickly her body could repair the damage. So amazed that she could almost ignore the excruciating pain that followed. Almost.
The agony was the same every night. Red would've thought that she'd be used to the pain by now, but she wasn't. She glanced to her right and quickly spotted her lover.
Sheriff Morgan Hunter waited quietly in the distance at the edge of the forest. He hid his disappointment well, but not well enough. Red still noticed. Morgan was worried. Everyone was.
How many more times could she fail to shift before the townsfolk decided to run her out of Nuria?
Red sighed.
Others who couldn't control their change were as dangerous to the town as a loaded laser rifle in the hands of a criminal. It wasn’t just the fear that they might harm other people. It was the damage they could do to themselves.
The old government created Super Soldiers via gene splicing human DNA with the top predators in the world. The new species known as Others were the last-ditch effort to end the massive global war.
Others could take several pistol blasts before they even realized that they'd been hit. It would take a lot more than that to finish the job. Not that Red would know firsthand, since she'd spent the majority of her time without fur.
Sleepwalking in her Other form didn’t count.
Morgan's influence as sheriff would only protect her for so long. Soon that would end, then it would be open season and Red would be fair game.
The pressure from that invisible clock only made it harder to concentrate. Morgan hid his worry well, but Red could still sense it. Hard to keep things like that from someone you're sleeping with.
He hadn't come right out and said anything. Morgan never would. It wasn't his way. There'd be enough people in town to do it for him.
Disapproval she could deal with, but disappointment...
Red had spent her whole life trying not to disappoint anyone. She had succeeded with her parents and her grandfather, Commander Robert Santiago. At least Red thought she had, but there was no way to be sure that they hadn’t lied to spare her feelings.
Maybe like Morgan, they'd hid their disappointment and she'd been too young to realize it. Red debated whether to try to shift one more time. She glanced at the night sky. It was getting late.
They'd been out here for three hours already. Three wasted hours with only a claw to show for it. Red picked up a rock and threw it at a tank, half buried under the desert. The rock burst through the rotting reminder of the last world war, leaving a gapping hole behind.
Red picked up another rock and sent it hurling through the air out of sight. She had no doubt that the town would know about her failure come morning.
Morgan wouldn't lie, if someone asked. And someone always asked how it went. Red didn't expect him to lie on her behalf, but sometimes she wished he would. She stared at him.
Scars etched Morgan’s chest and abdomen, carving out a tragic story that started when the military he’d served with honor tried to kill him and ended with his cousin Kane’s betrayal.
The mental scars ran far deeper than the ones marring his skin. Kane Hunter’s obsession with her had tipped him into madness and ultimately drove him to try to kill Morgan.
Kane had conspired with Roark Montgomery, a politician determined to expose the Others. Had their plan succeeded, it would’ve meant genocide for Morgan and his people. Even though their machinations failed, Roark still posed a serious threat.
Red still couldn't believe how close she'd come to losing Morgan. What would she have done then? Gone back to the International Police Tactical Team? Doubtful. Found a new job? Unlikely. She was only qualified to do one job and that was hunt Unknowns.
The unregistered individuals continued to sneak through the boundary fence that separated the Republics from No-Man’s-Land. Seeing their fresh trails galled her, but Red no longer had the authority to stop them—or Roark for that matter.
The wind picked up.
Morgan threw his head back, letting the desert breeze caress his skin and shoulder-length dark hair. The air picked up the sweet musk that covered his body and carried the rich aroma over to her.
Despite his civilized appearance, Morgan’s wolf always lurked just beneath the surface, a barely leashed instinctual being that was impossible to ignore. The aura of dominant power he exuded was second nature to him. Without even trying, Morgan drew her to him.
Red's body tightened in anticipation. She wanted to shift just to be near him. She wanted to feel what it would be like to have their wolves running side-by-side, but that would require her to lose control. Red had never been good at letting herself go.
In the back of her mind, she worried that if she released the beast inside of her that it might kill someone. Red didn’t want the death of a Nurian citizen on her conscience. Or worse yet, Morgan.
He might have years of experience shifting into his Other form and she knew he could fight, but Red wasn’t willing to take the chance. No matter how remote.
If Red accidentally killed someone, Morgan would be forced to put her down. His feelings for her and plans for their burgeoning relationship wouldn’t factor into the decision.
Nuria had survived this long by following a few simple rules: 1. Never tell an outsider that you're an Other. 2. Do not hunt humans. 3. Shape-shifters who live in town must be able to control their changes.
Violation of rule number two garnered an automatic death sentence. Breaking rule number three came with two options: banishment or death. Neither option appealed to Red, but she could live with those rules. At least she hoped she could.
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Related Dead World Titles
Dead World 2: Scarlet
Dead World 3: Crimson
Dead World Prequels: Raphael and Kane
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