Holy Goddess of Heaven and Hell.
I approach slowly and see that the woman, despite her fierceness, is clearly freezing. She is shaking, her long wet hair falling limply by her face, water dripping off her and pooling at her feet.
She is screaming out at me, gesturing with her clump of seaweed and stomping her feet. Her eyes are wild and a curious combination of fear and anger radiates off her. There’s something else about her. Something strangely familiar. I cock my head at her, taking her in. A gust of wind blows her forward a few steps and the smell hits me like a ton of bricks.
Shifter. Raven Shifter. Female Raven Shifter.
My eyes widen in recognition and I do what any normal sentry would do when suddenly face to face with another of their kind after many long years: I dive off the ledge in a panic.
Swooping down, I fly the wall until I find the beginning of the stairs. Gage! They sent us a woman! I scream the words into our twin mental link as I circle the small stair alcove and take cover from the storm to collect myself.
Gage is not great at being a Raven Sentry. He doesn’t do protocols, perimeter checks, or even contingency planning. The rigid and lonely life of a guard was never his dream. But one thing Gage always knows how to do: talk to women. Where I get tongue tied and stare awkwardly, Gage is able to make actual conversation. He sets people at ease and they just,trust him. He would know what to do with the woman on our Wall. He wouldn’t just leave her there all by herself on a perilous ledge.
GAGE! WAKE. UP!
The link remains silent and I sigh. Without Gage’s help, I have no idea how to convince her that I mean her no harm. I turn to face the storm again and the feathers on the back of my neck raise up in alarm. Perched just out of reach, she is there watching me. Her feathers are slick with rain and she hops from one foot to the other, as if preparing to take off and fly away if I so much as look at her wrong.
Shit.
Before I could awkwardly bungle this situation any more, the perimeter alarm blares--startling us both and sending me into Sentry mode. All awkwardness is gone as I hurry her out of the alcove and nip her wings, urging her to follow me. We glide together, wings flapping hard against the storm as I race to The Nest, eager to get her safe before we investigate which of our residents got a little out of hand. She is silent, refusing to engage or communicate, but she stays close.
By the time we arrive at the The Nest, she is breathing hard and doesn’t hesitate when I hold the door for her. She flies in like she owns the place. Rain soaked, apprehensive and weary, we both turn to face Gage who is standing in the middle of the room, bare-ass naked and grinning like he just won the lottery. Well, this should be interesting.
Dalia
When the magic forced me to shift into my Raven, a sense of calm flooded my body. No longer fearful, I draw strength from the power of my Raven and I follow her instincts. Instincts that tell me the shifter who ran away from me is my best chance at survival.
There is a certain comfort in encountering your own kind in situations such as this. After all, there’s a code among Ravens. We protect our own and when one of us is in trouble, we are bound to assist.
I take special note of the landscape that we fly over, as we run from the horrible blaring alarm. It’s all shadows and patches of grey. Faded cement towers and buildings with jagged, wicked rocks below. A persistent mist that hangs around, despite the hurricane force winds. This place is eerie and an overtone of evil and malcontent hangs over it. At least the shack that he brings me to has a small sliver of light.
Desperate to get out of the rain, I fly into the building, skidding to a stop before I run beak-first into a very large, very blonde, very naked, very...happy-looking man. Against my will, I feel myself shifting back--the magic of the Island taking over my body again. From the sounds behind me, the magic is forcing my Raven guide to shift too. With an agonized grunt, we both pop back into our human forms and the three of us stand awkwardly in the room. All of us are naked.
With a subtle look at both, I can see that the two men are twins. They are blonde and muscular with the powerful arms of men accustomed to manual labor. The first one is still grinning at me, while the other looks vaguely apologetic. No one speaks and the magic continues to swirl around us and I start to catch a chill.
Before I can open my mouth to speak and break this silence, I can feel the magic build again. My skin begins to crawl as the electricity buzzes across my skin. It feels like an unwanted caress and I shiver, trying to shake it off, steadfastly ignoring the dark chuckle of laughter that sounds on the wind.
As quickly as it appeared, the feeling suddenly stops. Everything stops. The wind, the rain, the storm. It’s as if we are frozen in a bubble, immune to the outside world. A feeling of dread rises in me but it’s too late. The magic has taken hold. My body begins to burn and I see a blue mist begin to swirl around me.
“Help, please help me!” I whisper, looking frantically at the two men in the room. The mist
