Shifter Planet: The Return Page 13

  Rachel gritted her jaw. Arrogant asshole. “I appreciate the advice,” she ground out, not bothering to remind him that he hadn’t actually given her any advice, just dire warnings. She already knew the facts of her predicament. She was in the middle of a wild and deadly forest that covered a full third of a planet where none of her usual navigating tech would work, where she wasn’t familiar enough with the night skies to navigate by the stars—assuming she could even see the stars through the heavy canopy cover—and where her only weapons were a knife and crossbow. “Unfortunately, I don’t have a choice. I have to get to the city.”

  He studied her. “I get that. But you have to listen to—”

  They both turned as a wild yowl broke the morning quiet, followed by a deep, hollow thumping noise. Aidan didn’t hesitate, didn’t say a word. He turned to the nearest tree and, with a grace and speed Rachel had never seen in a human before, scaled the trunk so quickly that he was high among the branches only seconds after she’d registered he’d moved.

  Wanting to know what was going on, she turned to the huge tree behind her, prepared to do her own climbing, but Aidan stopped her. “Don’t,” he whispered, his voice drifting down. Not a suggestion, but a command. Rachel narrowed her eyes, but she obeyed because he knew the Green and she didn’t. She could think of ten reasons off the top of her head why she shouldn’t climb, from poison to animal nests to bad guys lying in wait. She eased over to Aidan’s tree and stared up into the branches, trying to find him. He had to be there, but she couldn’t see any sign of him. It was as if he’d literally disappeared.

  A moment later, she caught a flash of movement from the corner of her eye. She pulled her knife and spun around, only to find Aidan jumping down from a different tree, off a branch that was at least twelve feet from the ground. He landed in a graceful crouch and was immediately on his feet. Grabbing her pack, he crossed to her in three long strides and said, “We have to go.”

  “What? Wait.” She caught the pack he threw at her and slung it over her back, settling it on her hips and fastening straps while hurrying to follow him. “Where are we going?” she demanded.

  He stopped and grabbed the shoulder strap on her pack, yanking her close. “The female pongo you killed last night had a mate. He’s just discovered the body, but it won’t be long before he picks up our trail.”

  “But the one I killed was too big to be… I’d swear—”

  “Don’t swear, sweetheart. This is Harp. A mature female pongo is the size of a full-grown man and weighs over two-hundred pounds. A male is bigger than I am—easily three-hundred pounds and well over six feet tall on his hind legs. That thumping noise you heard was him pounding his chest in a dominance display. When we go after one that big, we do it in a pack of at least five hunters, usually more. As good as I am—and I’m a damned good hunter—I won’t take him on by myself, especially not with your life in the mix. I’ve muddied our trail enough to slow him down, but it won’t stop him.”

  Fuck.” She frowned. “Maybe we should take a stand. Together we—”

  “Stop arguing and start walking.” He started off ahead of her.

  “You don’t have to be a dick about it,” she grumbled, hurrying after him.

  His soft laugh drifted back to her. “Sometimes it takes a dick to get the job done.”

  …

  They’d been traveling fast and steady for a long time—Rachel could only guess at how long it had been. She hadn’t thought to include a mechanical watch in her gear. But she could tell from the sun’s progress through the deep tree cover, and even more by the strain on her body. She’d hydrated on the run, sharing the water in her canteen with Aidan, but her legs were beginning to tire, and she was feeling the absence of real food. The pongo she’d managed to kill had interrupted her plans to eat one of her MRE rations, and even before that, she’d been running on empty.

  Aidan, of course, seemed completely unaffected by anything so pedestrian as hunger or exhaustion. He’d set a steady pace and hadn’t said a word since.

  Finally, she simply had to stop. “Aidan.”

  He turned at once, going preternaturally still as he studied first her and then the forest all around her. “What?” he said finally, sounding puzzled.

  “I need a break. Just long enough to eat something, okay?” she added immediately.

  He looked like he wanted to protest, but then his mouth closed and he gave her a sharp nod. “We’re nearly at the downslope for the swamp. I’ll scout ahead. Try to stay alive until I get back.” And just like that, he was gone.

  Rachel didn’t waste time glaring at his departing back. Figuring her time was limited, she studied the ground carefully, then stomped a small area with her boots just to be sure no beasties were waiting to bite her on the butt. Unfastening her backpack, she dropped it to the ground with a stifled groan then sat down next to it. Normally, she’d have taken a lot more precautions, but she figured Aidan would have warned her if there was something specific to be worried about. He might be surly, but he seemed to want her alive if for no other reason than for her knowledge of Wolfrum’s scheme. Fucking Guy Wolfr—

  She opened her pack, intending to gulp down an energy bar, but her hand froze mid-reach at the soft scratch of claws on bark. Hoping this might be her cat, she lifted only her eyes first—so as not to spook it—and then tipped her head back slowly. A giant pale-furred cat was crouched right above her, his eyes fixed on hers, unblinking and unmoving.

  “Hey,” she said softly. “Is that you, big guy?”

  The cat’s head tilted to study her curiously, and she could have sworn she saw a glint of humor in those golden eyes. But that was just her doing what she always warned her clients against, attributing human characteristics where they didn’t belong.

  “I guess you’re all recovered, huh?” she said, still speaking softly. “I’m so glad.”

  The cat yawned abruptly, his mouth going wide to display an impressive set of teeth.

  Rachel laughed. “Yes, you’re very scary. And handsome, too.”

  The cat’s mouth closed with an audible snap, his eyes narrowing as he studied her. Apparently, he had no sense of humor. Without warning, he stood and leaped to a higher branch, and from there to the next, and kept going. Rachel rose to lean in against the tree trunk, following his progress as far as she could before he disappeared into the forest’s thick canopy. She sighed and went back to digging in her pack. She still needed to eat something before Aidan got back. She was on her second energy bar when he appeared just as silently as the cat had, dropping from branch to branch with speed and agility that shouldn’t have surprised her.

  He lived in this forest. It made sense that his people would have learned how to move through it quickly. There might even be some physical changes to make it possible. It was impressive—and beautiful, in its own way. Aidan was certainly beautiful. Watching him drop from branch to branch, the interplay of muscle and bone, the sheen of sweat on golden skin—

  Her thoughts screeched to a halt. Where were his clothes?

  “Everything all right?” he asked, studying her curiously as he tugged some pants from a drawstring bag around his neck that hadn’t been there before, pulled them on, and then yanked a similarly made tunic over his head.

  She didn’t want to ask but she had to. “What happened to your clothes?”

  “Ran into a Venus Vitis—a toxic vine that only grows near the swamp. It’s a sure sign we’re nearly there. They’re clingy as hell and burn twice as badly. The only way to get rid of the spores is to strip down and start over.”

  “Where’d you get the fresh set?”

  “Oh, we maintain emergency caches of food, clothes, and a few other supplies throughout the Green.”

  “Who’s we? That other man who was with you when the cats attacked the ship?”

  “Clansmen. And yeah, he’s one of us.” He produced a pair of soft boots from the same bag and put them on, too. The bag he folded into a small square, then reached
out and, without asking, unzipped the side pocket on her backpack and tucked it inside, neatly zipping the pocket back up. He caught her watching. “Problem?”

  “No,” she said and quickly reached for her canteen, wishing she could pour it on her face to cool the heated reaction to seeing Aidan naked. She took a long drink, instead, then lowered it and said, “The cat visited me.”

  “Which cat?”

  “My cat. The one I rescued from the ship.”

  He tilted his head, and his blue eyes crinkled in amusement. She hadn’t noticed before, but he had gold flecks in his eyes that glinted in the scattered sunlight. She wondered if that accounted for what she’d thought was a retinal abnormality the other night. Moonlight on those gold flecks. Except there hadn’t been any moonlight.

  “You sure it was the same cat?” he asked. “We’ve got quite a few of them in the Green.”

  Rachel shook her head. “No, this was my cat. He knew me. In fact, I’m fairly sure you chased him away when you came back.”

  His humor seemed to grow. “What makes you think that?”

  “Well, he and I were having a nice chat, then suddenly he ran off without warning, and you showed up. You do the math.”

  “Maybe your math doesn’t work on Harp. Nothing else does.”

  “Math is math,” she said confidently. “It’s a universal constant.” She began rearranging the few things she’d pulled from her backpack, then handed him the map and said, “Would you like an energy bar? I have more than enough.”

  “No, thanks. Is that all you’re going to eat the entire trip?”

  “I sure as hell hope not. But they’re good on the run, like when people, and wild animals, are trying to kill you,” she added dryly.

  “No one’s going to kill either one of us,” he said darkly. He was quiet for a moment, then spoke slowly, as if thinking about his words. “Going around the swamp isn’t an option anymore. That pongo won’t give up. Our best chance is to head directly down. He won’t follow us there, which should tell you just how dangerous the swamp dwellers are.”

  “You’ll get no argument from me. I never wanted to go around anyway. It adds too much time to the trip, and I need to reach the city.”

  He gave her a narrow-eyed look. “It won’t be easy or fast. We’ll have to go down one side, traverse the depths, then climb back out the other side, which is a lot harder than it sounds. It’s hot and humid, it stinks to high heaven, and it breeds deadly creatures that live nowhere else on the planet.”

  She tilted her head back against the tree, staring up through the canopy and thinking. “Have you ever tried going up instead of down?”

  She’d half expected him to laugh, but he didn’t. “You mean take to the trees?”

  She nodded. “I don’t know about Harp, but I’ve visited other rainforests where certain animal species never touch the ground until they die. The canopy here seems fairly dense, and several of your tree varieties are way sturdier than the typical rainforest. Their branches must—”

  “You ever climb a tree before, Rachel?” he interrupted to ask. “Not the one in your childhood yard. I’m talking about a monster of a tree that soars hundreds of feet into the air.”

  “As a matter of fact, I have,” she said mildly. Did he think Harp was the only planet in the universe that had giant-size trees? She was so going to enjoy shoving that superior attitude of his right back in his face. But for now, she had to stay on track. “Are you saying you haven’t?” she asked in the same unruffled tone, mostly to irritate him. Because she’d seen him move through the trees, so obviously he could climb.

  He laughed, which she hadn’t expected. “I’ve climbed a tree or two,” he said smugly. “But here’s the problem. All those animals you’re talking about who live in the trees and use the tree road to get around? They have four legs. Sometimes with four sets of digits and four opposable thumbs, with claws all around. And they almost always have a prehensile tail. You have any of those?”

  “No,” she said quietly, then flashed him a challenging look. “Do you?”

  He gave her a funny look, holding her gaze for a beat too long before looking back at the map. “We’ll take on the downslope today, but just enough to dissuade our furry friend. We’ll stop early after that. I don’t want to go any farther than we have to after sundown. It’s dark enough in there. We don’t need to add to it. Tomorrow morning, we’ll hit the serious downslope. It’s going to be rough going,” he said, folding the map and handing it back to her. “I hope you’re as good as you say you are.”

  Rachel was readying a snappy comeback as she put away the map, when the trees above them were suddenly filled with a wave of screeching monkey-like creatures. She knew what that meant. Instantly alert, she glanced at Aidan for a decision. This was his world, his monkeys.

  “Let’s move,” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. “You go ahead, a straight line on this heading. I’ll hang back—”

  “Hell, no,” she snapped. “We both go, or we both stay and fight.”

  For a moment, she thought his temper was going to blow. He was clearly accustomed to being obeyed. But for all that she accepted his greater experience with this planet, she had her own experience with surviving as a team. And she was tired of being treated like some silly woman he needed to protect. Fuck that. He’d told her no one was dying on this trip, and she was going to do her part to make sure that was true.

  Aidan glared at her, and she could almost hear the argument going on his head. He finally made the smart decision, but she could tell what it cost him. “Fine,” he growled. “Run. I’ll be right behind you.”

  She hesitated only a moment, not trusting his word. But, in the final analysis, she had no choice. It wasn’t as if she could knock him over the head and carry him on her shoulders. She was strong, but not that strong. She might have laughed at the image that conjured if she hadn’t already turned to run.

  …

  Aidan let Rachel get a few strides ahead, enough that if the pongo caught up to them, he’d be the creature’s only target. He’d lied when he told her he’d never taken down a big pongo on his own. He had, of course. Most of the patrols he did in and around Clanhome were solitary. When he encountered a threat, he didn’t have time to race home, gather a hunting party, and race back. He was Rhodry’s second in the clans, a seasoned member of the shifters’ Guild, and one of the best hunters on Harp. When he encountered a threat, he dealt with it.

  But he didn’t bring fragile females with him on patrol. Especially not an Earther female with lickable golden skin and black curls that tumbled like a shining wave over her shoulders. He didn’t doubt she could be fierce. Her stubbornness alone would drive most men mad. And her courage was unquestionable. She’d risked everything to free him from that damn cage. But the only ones equipped to do battle with Harp’s predators were its bigger predators. And when it came to pongos, that meant shifters.

  He would survive a confrontation with a pongo, but he didn’t know if Rachel would. Pongos were smart enough to recognize the weakest member of their prey and take advantage. The creature wouldn’t attack Aidan. It would go after Rachel and possibly hurt her badly before Aidan managed to force it to deal with him instead. And he wasn’t willing to take that risk.

  Rachel glanced over her shoulder, scowling when she saw he’d dropped back, slowing her own pace, until he caught up. Fine, then, he thought. She’d simply have to go faster. “Pick up the pace, sweetheart. I’m rather fond of my ass.”

  She did something unexpected then. She laughed and started running faster.

  Aidan lost a piece of his heart at that moment. He’d been with many women in his life. Harp had few sexual restrictions, and shifters were always sought after as lovers. He’d also been blessed with an abundant charm that women seemed to enjoy, unlike Rhodry who leaned more toward a gloomy disposition. It was amazing, really, that his cousin had managed to persuade a beautiful and strong woman like Amanda to marry him. He chuck
led to himself because, as unlikely as it might seem, what with Amanda being an Earther, those two had been made for each other.

  But despite Aidan’s vast experience and charm, he’d never trekked the Green with any woman, much less one who wore her courage as boldly as her weapons. Rachel hadn’t been afraid of the Green, and she hadn’t underestimated the dangers, no matter how much he accused her of it. She’d recognized her own ignorance when it came to Harp’s wildlife, but she’d been willing to risk it anyway. Not for money or profit, but because someone she’d trusted had betrayed everything she believed in, and she was determined to make him pay. It was a matter of personal honor, and that was something Aidan understood.

  And so he ran with her, only a few steps behind, his senses tuned to every twist of the pongo’s body as it crashed through the trees in pursuit. Oddly enough, by running on the ground, they had the slight advantage in this area. The trees overhead were far more tangled with vines than in other parts of the Green. Vines that started their lives on the warm, moist slopes leading down to the swamp, but quickly spread to the sturdy trees in the higher parts of the Green where sunlight was more plentiful and there were plenty of small animals to trap in their webs. Because the vines that grew out of the swamp—the Venus Vitis he’d lied to Rachel about encountering, when, in fact, he’d been playing cat with her—were more akin to spider webs. They trapped unwary prey and sucked them dry.

  All of that meant the pongo was encountering far more resistance in the trees then he and Rachel were on the ground.

  “Slow down a bit, lass,” he called. “The ground drops fast and with little warning,” he explained, when he came up beside her. They walked a few paces with Rachel still in the lead, checking every step before putting her weight on it but making good time for all that. He was beginning to believe her claims of survival experience. Not that he’d ever admit to doubting them.

  She stopped abruptly. He felt more than saw her put a testing foot down and immediately shift her weight to her back foot. “Aidan.”