Big Bad Beast (Werescape) Read online

  BIG BAD BEAST

  Werescape Book 6

  (1st edition)

  by

  Skhye Moncrief

  ***

  KINDLE EDITION

  ***

  Blurb:

  Each wants the other, but neither can stand to be in the same room.

  One day in the Big Woods, Normal Josie wakes up and helplessly watches a Shifter virus kill her immediate family in their remote wilderness homestead. Josie has no choice but to carry on. She's forced to brave the forested Wild alone, leading a string of pack horses with all the supplies she can manage to her uncle's Shifter outpost--back to where she became known as a little Normal female who could kick butt with the best Shifters, back to where she fell in love with the only Shifter she could ever mate. Thank goodness he isn't there. But when living among a pack of Shifters, a girl has to obey the alpha. And her alpha has secret plans for her, plans that involve the only Shifter she loves--the Shifter who now irritates the hell out of her.

  Stationed at an isolated agricultural outpost with nothing but teenage hormones for company, Shifter Hostillian doesn't mind monotonous day-to-day schedules where he rules the roost. And then his inner Wolf's favorite wild cat screeches at his door. He has no desire to mate the only person who challenges everything he utters. But his Wolf makes demands the minute it catches Josie's scent.

  Stand back and watch the fireworks light up the Minnesota sky because the BIG BAD BEAST can't help but to huff and puff and blow Josie's house in…

  ****

  Big Bad Beast

  Copyright © 2012 by Skhye Moncrief

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author or publisher except for the use of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

  ****

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.

  ****

  Cover Art by Erin Dameron-Hill

  Publishing History

  1st edition released by author, 2012

  Published in the United States of America

  Dedication

  To Sheree who loves a kick-arse heroine and big sexy growling werewolves.

  Chapter One

  The southern Big Woods, Minnesota Territory, after alien invasion, AEI, Earth, 2065 AD

  Life has gone to Hell in two generations. Extraterrestrials altered the human genome, splitting humanity into two subspecies of humans, Shifters and Normals. Sometimes Shifters and Normals work together for survival in cities or remote villages. Other times they war for dominance. Regardless of the outcome, they must survive and fight against human enslavement. Hunted by aliens for breeding stock, Shifters understand this the most. Especially, Wolf males…

  ****

  They could all toss their pity to the Minnesota Territory's wind and leave me to the memories of death and dying. How could they nag me to get back to normalcy when I'd watched four Shifters die? My relatives. Everyone I had left on this Gods-forsaken planet, except my sister. And now she behaved like the enemy. To hell with all of this. I tucked the thick leathery end of the cinch strap through the cold hard buckle's steel, dropped the stirrup into place, and patted my stallion Marine's warm black-night neck.

  He shook his equally jet-black mane and turned bright brown eyes my direction.

  Probably knew we were leaving for good. And if a question danced in those brown orbs, I didn't have an answer for his inquiry. I have no idea where we're headed.

  Why is destination: nowhere so me? So Josie?

  Not such a hard question to answer. I'd learned all sorts of self dense growing up even though I was expected to behave like an attractive appealing female. But my heart had set itself on Hostillian. And he'd refused me no matter how much I tried to prove to him I was tough and intelligent enough to survive without his constant supervision. So tough that he wouldn't have to worry about me.

  Here I stand. Alone. Saddle loaded down with weapons like I'm going to war.

  The lone warrior.

  What a joke I've become. Damned fucked-up world. Time for a little payback. I'd just ride until I find a place where I somehow fit in. Somewhere I'd be accepted for what this alien world made of my life. No matter how foreign the place. I stepped into the saddle and steered my rocking horse's strength toward the sunlit world beyond the open barn door.

  Oh. Yes. This is it for Josie mating. A rocking saddle between my legs. Talk about ridiculous. Doesn't this screwed-up planet realize I need to reproduce like all the other females? Alas, the warming morning promised enough heat later during the day, enough to make me sweat. Better to deal with the sun than a heated confrontation with anyone who thought I'd best unsaddle my stallion and step down from facing my future. That's so not happening. Especially based on Marine's steadfast focus.

  He strode casually to the corral's winding corner and turned to walk the length of it.

  Good boy. He was probably as sick as I am of the smothering condescension everyone showered me with under the guise of caring and compassion. At least he didn't balk at my plan. That's how a mate should be. Who said you had to actually mate to mate?

  We cleared the corral and began crossing the final stretch between two log lodges that housed single adult Shifters and headed to the outpost's open gate.

  Quiet. Nice. Gotta love a day when everybody slept in. Two more steps and we'd clear the rough-hewn log edge of the cabins to walk the final steps in the open area out front of my cousin, the clan leader's, personal cabin. Hopefully, he slept in as well and has no idea I'm departing.

  Marine trudged into the empty courtyard with nary a concern though. It might behoove a girl to have a human mate. Especially one with enough sense to be on edge from time to time.

  We stepped right into the waiting clan leader who conveniently stood, arms crossed over his massive chest, slightly out of sight to the left in front of his lodge. Classic Augustus. Even in his human skin, my cousin waited, the only hurdle I dared defy in departure.

  "Morning, Josie," Augustus casually called, dropping his arms.

  In a more submissive stance. Why the alpha-male Shifter assuming such a position?

  "Going somewhere?" he asked.

  Always calm. Cool. Augustus could work a group of anxious keyed-up un-mated Shifters two miles downwind of an ovulating female with the smooth finesse of a knife cutting through butter and avoid unavoidable conflict. Well, he won't be working me. "Heading out."

  "Sorry to hear that. Your sister will be in tears for days with nothing more than the news."

  That's not going to work on me. Maybe my sister Drea. But she mated him. I had enough sense not to even ponder that potential arrangement. Besides, Drea was just more agreeable and had enough sense to keep her thoughts to herself until she was behind closed doors with an alpha-male mate. That's nothing but imprisonment. Well, with anyone but Hostillian. I locked my gaze on the freedom the forest laying beyond the gaping gateway and kept Marine plodding onward.

  "Can you do something for me on your way out?" he asked.

  At least that isn't a command to stop. But I'm not looking away from the still leaves in the awaiting forest.

  "We'll call it a subtle way of allowing you to slip off," he added. "As if you disappeared doing me a favor."

  What then? Stop? Risk my chance to escape
? But the Shifter could shape shift so quickly and catch me. I had to appear to listen. Cooperate. Humor him. I pulled up on the reins and turned Marine to face the man in his camouflage pants and black leather vest.

  His warm smile was beyond ridiculous. Nothing he could say would convince me this isn't a game he played with me to keep me here longer. To delay the inevitable. And I'm just not fond of anything lumped into the category of inevitable.

  "I was going to send ammunition to the Western Fields. But you'd think I sent one of my men out to follow you. So, you could drop the ammo off on your way and slip away in the process. I'll tell Drea I sent you on an errand." He winked. "She'll be none the wiser."

  Damn the sinister man and his winks. Always trying to get the best of people. But he had a point. I could use his little errand as a means of escape. And the whole process would be easier for him because Drea would be expecting me home in four days from these fields, whatever he's talking about. And that's four days to get the Gods-be-damned hell out of here. Now, that's a really nice head start if Drea insists Augustus send a pack of Shifters out to hunt me down and drag me back. "Alright. Where in the Gods-be-damned hell is this place?"

  He grinned, his gaze gleaming. "Two days' ride to the southwest. A patch of wheat field so large, you can't miss it."

  This waving grain isn't the only thing I won't be missing. Goodbye Cousin Busybody.

  ****

  The sweltering sunlight tried to bake me beneath the heavy denim button down shirt nature forced me to don to keep my exposed skin from burning early this morning in this insane errand of Cousin Augustus'. Alas, the July sun is always too scorching for wearing a tank top with my pale skin. But somewhere, in this prairie nightmare of a grassy ocean, lurked a cool place to rest. I just can't see that resting spot on the line of the horizon. I scanned the line where the sky's blue line and prairie until my gaze spotted green wheat plants.

  And a few lanky males dressed in military or hunting camouflage.

  Shifters and grain.

  Who decided to leave a pack of young Shifter males at an even more remote outpost than the community back in The Big Woods? That alpha male couldn't possibly still be leading a clan because a Shifter that senile would have been ousted not long after making such a ridiculous decision. Only Augustus could get away with something that ludicrous. And just how long has this wheat field been around? I don't recall hearing anything about this place the ten years I spent attending my cousin's little scientific academy. Nor did my sire speak of this place. Just who had the bright idea to arrange this insane venture fueled by raging teenage male testosterone? Hell, all the males swarmed the fields like an angry mob of bees.

  Or am I just being a pessimist because they aren't actually swarming? Rather, two manned what had to be a sluice mechanism along the river.

  Wow. Some teen had the forethought to build an irrigation system. Leave it to a Shifter. There probably isn't a Normal alive with that much sense.

  Another Shifter teen rode a bay horse toward me from the farthest limit of my periphery.

  Almost in a covert manner. Why? I'm female. Surely they've pulled their Wolf into their eyes and noses to detect I carry eggs. But the rider's olive-drab hat is one of those military bush hats. Camouflage in that it matched the color of the rest of his clothing. Maybe that's why his actions feel sneaky.

  To my right, two more teens watched me, standing where they'd been jacking with something hidden in the vegetation. I don't want to even begin to imagine what they were jacking with. In the end, young males are all alike. Even Shifters. They're all male. Predictable. Albeit, the ones of mating age had learned to control their urges because Shifter urges come packed with a whole lot of power. Werewolf strength and desires. A man's beast could overwhelm and consume a Shifter if he didn't master self-control.

  And now the truth behind my dear cousin's last grin shows itself. I've been sent to this testosterone snake pit. Literally filled with writhing snakes. Good thing my cousin had the wherewithal to send me with a good forty pounds of bullets. The lead deterrents better work with one of my firearms. Or the fact the ammunition didn't would be the biggest joke of the century. Augustus' last laugh. I'd be stranded here with a horde of sharp antsy fangs.

  "Hello," a male voice called from behind me.

  Shit. So much for outsmarting them.

  Marine's ears perked upright, his body tensing, and he turned in a nanosecond.

  The male stood a good six foot. Maybe two or three inches over. Lanky. Still filling out. Young. But nearing twenty. He'd be allowed to mate in a year or two. Once Cousin Busybody decided who he was allowed to show interest in.

  "Are you lost?" he asked with a voice as smooth as homemade whiskey.

  Sure could use a sip. Not of him. But haven't had a drink of Forget It All since winter. And something made me feel a little more than edgy. "Is this the Western Fields?" Like I'd bump into more than one agricultural patch of civilization out here in The Wilderness.

  He nodded, respectfully keeping his gaze where it should stay if he wanted to keep his nose clean. "Who sent you?"

  So, this place is really top secret. "Augustus."

  His black eyebrows pinched with question. "He sent a female?"

  Leave it to Augustus to surprise us all. "Don't tell me you think females need males to look after them too?"

  His brow arched with either surprise at being called a chauvinist or concern for my well-being. "No, ma'am."

  He's kidding. Right? "Now, don't be ma'aming me." I leaned against the hard flat surface of my saddle's pommel. "I'm not much older than you." I'd let him wonder how old I was. Or he'd insist on calling me ma'am because I would be twenty-five in the fall.

  "I'm sorry."

  Such an apologetic tone more than sufficiently made up for his deadly insult. "It's alright. I eased back to sit in the hard welcoming saddle and scanned the field. "Where would you like me to leave these forty pounds of lead? That is if Augustus had the foresight to provide you lads with a roof to sleep under." I met the young man's blue gaze.

  Paler than Augustus' bright blue eyes. This one wasn't his relative. Maybe one of the Shifter's sons sent to Augustus to learn how to do lab work in the underground community built by the US government before the alien invasion.

  He waved a palm to my left. "If you'll follow me, I'll guide you to the path. It'll take you to the lodge."

  Okay. Cousin Busybody at least took care of these excommunicated teens. I suppose their sires would be mighty pissed to learn Augustus hadn't left his charges with the normal protection of a building and a palisade. Even Shifters needed a secure outpost to lock away inside after sunset or spend the night fighting off alien creatures left to prey upon humans. Who wanted to do that when he could be snoozing the night away?

  The young Shifter silently led Marine to the well-trodden path through a stretch of prairie. Since I couldn't think of anything else to ask, silence proved more than adequate. But where is this lodge? "Do you boys live in a sod house?"

  He halted beside the leather of my knee-high brown deer-hide boots, his pale blue eyes studying mine.

  Maybe he isn't certain what he should disclose? But, damn, how would anybody find a place that blends into the prairie so well? Camouflage. Shifters had mastered camouflage…

  "You'll follow the trail for a good five miles. Augustus had the outpost constructed under trees in a forest for camouflage."

  Oh, there's the magic word again.

  "The distance from this field is to prevent alien spacecraft from stopping overhead and blasting the lodge as it projects its extermination beam," he kept talking. "You know. Just in case aliens think our field is too domestic for The Wild." He winked.

  Just like Augustus right before he decided who I'd mate or when he set me up for other kinds of disaster.

  My skin crawled.

  He thrust a t
humb down the trail. "Follow the trail. You'll find the lodge at the end. If you run across any Normals along the way, forget everything I've told you."

  Crazy. But what can you expect from a teen? Even one about to enter the mating market.

  A horse can walk about sixty miles a day. Since the summer days are long, about twelve hours, it would take about an hour to walk the path. Not that I could test the calculation without a watch. But the young man didn't lie. The outpost's on-end tree-trunk palisade made a patch of forest appear so dense a rider couldn't miss it once hearing about the fortress' location.

  Marine's steady rocking motion never altered as if he hadn't noticed we'd almost reached our destination.

  He probably just isn't tired, hungry, or thirsty yet. We'd stopped for a midday break at a dilapidated windmill that still had a working faucet. Marine sucked down more water than one would expect a camel to fill two humps and snacked on tall prairie grass while I took care of my sore tail end by stretching my legs.

  A few weeks out of the saddle sure could lay a girl up for a day or two. Especially when her cousin decided she needed supervision.

  Like I would commit suicide? If I wanted to die, I would have stayed with the bodies back at the Chippewa sanctuary. Normals never caught wind of the place. And I'd have just frozen to death in the winter. Alone. Peacefully. Without my nagging older sister. But no. I had to pack up as many supplies as possible and check myself into the asylum run by my sister's mate. Right where I should be. With the rest of the lunatics.

  Marine snorted as if insulted by being lumped into the rest of the cuckoo's nest with my thoughts. I bet Augustus would take that lovely novel off the required reading list for his students if he knew I compared the story to his sanctuary's ambiance.

  Marine snorted.

  Probably an admonishment. I swear he can read my mind. I bet it has to do with our implied mating. What a thought! Since he isn't snorting, I don't have to worry about him reading that thought. Thank the stars.