As Love Shifts (15 page)

“Oh.” Ever suddenly wondered when it was. The sun had been coming up when she slammed the hatch and if they were all sleeping, then it was probably nighttime. “How long have I been asleep?”

Kris glanced at the wind-up clock on the headboard. “It’s five thirty, so about forty-six hours.”

“I slept for two days?”

“Yes, you did.”

Ever was stunned. She really needed to get up and go heal Julius. “Help me up, please. I have to pee so bad I feel like I’m going to burst.”

He quickly slid off the bed and helped her up. Ever hurried into the bathroom, and came out feeling very relieved. She grabbed her robe from the hook on the wall. “Let’s go heal your father.”

As they walked out into the main bunker, she stopped, inhaling briskly. The air was chilled, but it smelled magnificent. “Is the hatch open?”

“Yes. The water receded and it warmed up enough yesterday to melt most of the ice. We were able to get the hatch open and leave it open. The air quality has been fine, but it’s nice to have fresh air. Gears crew even rigged up a fan to move it around between the tunnel and the two bunkers. The other hatch is still under water, but hopefully in a few days we can open it.”

“After I heal your father, I want to see.”

“Okay.” Kris led her to the room that would have belonged to their children in normal circumstances. Her father and Sherra were in one bed and the other three were filled by people she couldn’t quite make out. She thought that Gear might be one of them. Kris slowly shook his father’s foot and he opened his eyes with a groan of pain.

“Ever, you’re awake. Are you okay?”

“I feel fine, thank you. Tell me what hurts and I will fix it.”

He held up his arm, grimacing badly. Ever immediately walked around the bed and put her hand to it, feeling the badly fractured bone. She bonded it back together and then removed the bandages. He was lucky that she had woken up, because the heat of infection was settling into the broken skin. Ever used her power like a laser to zap the contaminated cells and kill them before closing up the bite marks. “Oh, that feels amazing. The pain just blinked out as if it had never been there in the first place. Thank you.”

“Is Sherra okay?”

“She has a nasty bruise on her hip.” He slowly peeled down the blankets, showing Ever the brutal looking black-and-purple mark that covered her entire hip, spanning up into her waist. Ever checked it carefully, looking for damage that couldn’t be seen, but she found none. It was strictly surface damage and she soothed it, watching as the bruise faded.

“Ever?” a voice said timidly from behind them. “Could you heal Gear also
?
He was bitten quite badly in the leg and it is still oozing blood. I’m quite worried about him.”

Ever turned and walked over to Gear. She had never met his mate, but he had spoken of her a few times. Her name was Hazel. Hazel moved back the blanket and gently slid back the makeshift bandage. As she had indicated, the cloth was dark with blood. Ever put her hand to the wound, and felt that his artery had a tiny pinpoint hole in it. He was lucky that he hadn’t bled to death already. She quickly sealed it up and then followed the teeth marks outward, bonding the damaged skin back together. It was a tedious process, but she finished it easily and then gave Hazel a smile. “That should do it. Anywhere else?”

“No. That’s it. Unless you know how to remove his stubborn streak. I had the worst time trying to get him to stay in bed.”

She chuckled. “There isn’t much I can do about that. Sorry.”

“Thank you, Ever.”

“No problem.”

She turned back to Kris and he held out his hand to her. Ever took it, glad that she could help those who had been injured and glad that Kris didn’t seem to be mad at her. He had certainly been mad before the attack. “Are we okay?” she asked softly as they walked through the main room.”

Kris released her hand and put his arm around her shoulder. “I know that I got mad at you and I probably shouldn’t have. I knew how you were feeling about Willis and I should have said something beforehand. I forget that you didn’t grow up here and that you don’t know all the rules that I learned during my lifetime. I should have taken the time to explain them a bit better, but I didn’t. Just to let you know,
his
remai
ning
family have been locked down in the secondary tunnel for now. A hearing will be held once we get back outside to determine if they are welcome to stay on clan land. So far they haven’t given my guards any trouble and I don’t think they intend to.”

“Weren’t all the adult males involved in the attack?”

“Yes. Those who are left are mates and two female children. There is one younger male, but he is only a month older than our children.”

He removed his arm at the bottom of the ladder that led upward. Ever saw that the fan had been put on a hinge so it could swing downward to allow the hatch to be opened. She climbed each step, with Kris directly behind her. Spinning the latch, she swung the door open and flipped up the safety to keep it in place. Ever took the final two steps and stood with her upper body out in the open.

The sunrise was awe inspiring, the sky a blaze of oranges, pinks, and purples. The horizon, however, was shocking, far beyond what she had seen in the video. There was absolutely nothing but water for as far as the eye could see and she suddenly understood how the human race had once thought that the earth was flat. She turned her body in a half circle. The only thing to mar the horizon was the mountains as they rose upward from the sea around her. It was more likely an oversized lake, but the definition didn’t really matter much. They were surrounded by an amazing amount of water. “Holy shit.”

“Yeah, I know. Shocking, isn’t it? It has gone down about two feet in the last four days, but it’s nowhere near gone.”

“I guess not. Too bad we don’t have a boat. We could go for a ride.”

He chuckled, wrapping his arms around her as he stepped up with his feet to either side of hers. “It’s kind of depressing that everything is gone. Some of the trees have been here since I was a child. They just couldn’t hold fast against the power of the wind.”

“I see that. There is one floating to our left. It is such a sad sight. I was thinking about all the animals in our forests. I wonder if any of them survived?”

“I don’t know.”

The wind blew, moving the large floating tree closer to them. Ever was stunned to see two tiny chipmunks and a squirrel clinging to the branches. “Look, Kris.”

“I see them. I wonder if we can help them without getting bitten? Stay here.”

He grabbed the rungs of the ladder and slid to the floor, taking off out of sight. As the tree drifted closer, Ever grabbed one of the outstretched roots and stopped its movement. She was stunned when the three creatures ran at her, racing up her arm. The two chipmunks climbed into her hair, sitting on top of her head, while the squirrel stopped on her shoulder. She had no idea what to do. If she moved, would they bite her? “Hi, guys,” she said timidly. All three seemed to answer her as they chattered excitedly.

“Don’t bite me.”

Ever began to slowly work her way back down the ladder, sure that she was going to be attacked at any moment. The squirrel readjusted
it
self, but didn’t make any attempt to bite her. None of them were showing even the tiniest display of fear. The two chipmunks on her head were chattering away happily to each other as if they were having a wonderful time and were thrilled to be on dry ground. Even if it was the top of her head.

Kris ran back into the tunnel with a cage that looked as if it should have a bird in it. She had no idea where the bird had gone. “Where did you get that?”

He stopped, frowning at her in complete dismay, and then started to laugh. “You do know that you have two chipmunks on top of your head?”

“Of course I do. I grabbed the tree roots to keep it from floating away and they climbed up onto me. I guess they don’t think of me as a threat.”

“Probably not,” replied Demetri as he walked in behind Kris. “Charity didn’t think of you as a threat either. You may have animal magic.”

“What the hell is that?”

The sound of a hawk above them made Ever look upward. The two chipmunks on her head, scrambled down the side of her hair. They hit her shoulder and scurried around to the back of her head to take refuge under her hair at the base of her neck. The squirrel however, ran down her bathrobe, leapt to the floor, and then looked around in panic. It switched direction, running at her and clawing her leg as it scrambled up her skin, into the leg of her baby-doll shorts and latched onto the strap of her bikini underwear. The hawk flew in through the opening and landed on the floor, immediately morphing into the sinfully handsome form of Charity’s son Chirrot. He was laughing hysterically, even as he tried to apologize. “I’m so sorry,” he began to laugh again. “You have no idea how funny that was.” He was trying to inhale his amusement, but only ended up snorting as he began to snicker again. He took a step toward her, lifting her hair and holding out his hand. The two chipmunks raced up his arm and sat on his shoulder, chirping at him in a scolding tone. He continued to chuckle and then replied to them in chipmunk speech. “They are pretty pissed at me, too. Where the hell did the squirrel go?”

Ever tugged up her robe, revealing the tiny cotton shorts with the lump on her hips that was shivering quite badly. Chirrot made an odd sound and shrugged. He put his finger to the elastic of her shorts. “May I?”

Ever knew that she should say no, but she only shrugged. He daintily tugged the waistband out and shoved his hand into it. A moment later, he withdrew the squirrel with a shit-eating grin on his face. “You have very soft skin.”

He looked at Kris and cringed. “Oops. I shouldn’t say things like that out loud.”

Kris glared at him. “No, you shouldn’t. What are you doing here?”

“Not the greeting I expected. Mother asked me to fly over and let you know that we are still alive. We saw that the hatch was open. We have actually built a boat and have been floating around playing Noah. We have quite a collection of animals in the caves of the upper mountain. The problem is that we have nothing to feed them and everyone is getting a bit hungry. We were hoping that you could help.”

“Do you want to come here, or you want us to send food?”

“I don’t think the animals would fare well in a bunker full of weres. Some of them you eat for food. Could we mooch some food?”

Kris nodded. “Of course. Bring the boat over. Anything in particular that you need?”

He shrugged. “I suppose any kind of grain would be good for most of the animals. We would love some vegetables or any kind of meal food. Also some fresh water if you have any. We captured some during the storm, but most of it has gotten drunk.” He frowned in the most adorable way. “We drank it. Drunk wasn’t the right word, was it?”

He looked at Ever. “You’re bleeding. You should have someone clean up those scratches.”

She looked down and realized that she was still holding her robe up and her leg was bleeding. She sighed and headed toward the bunker. She really needed to get her eyes off of Chirrot. The man was far too enticing and he made no bones about the fact that he liked her. He reminded Ever of a six-foot elf with light blond hair and dark green eyes. He was slim, but had a very muscular body and an ample cock which he made no attempt to conceal when he turned from animal to human. Walking down the hall, she headed into their room and went into the tiny bathroom. Ever took an antiseptic cloth from the cabinet. They were there purely for her because she couldn’t seem to heal herself. It took only a few minutes to wipe off the half-dried blood and then she grabbed a towel, heading back to the tunnel.

Kris, Demetri, and Chirrot intercepted her, rerouting her into the storage area. Chirrot glanced around and whistled. “Wow. You guys have a serious store here.” Ever shoved the towel at him and he grinned sassily before wrapping it around his waist. “Thank you. My mother says that I’m lacking in modesty. I don’t feel I have anything to hide, so I don’t. Do I have anything to hide, Ever?”

“Not that I noticed, but others might not agree.”

He chuckled. “By the way, you are right, Demetri, Ever has animal magic. My mother mentioned it and I can also feel it.”

“What the hell is that?” asked Kris as he tugged a box of dehydrated green beans from the shelf.

“It is magic that allows animals to feel comfortable around Ever. They are not afraid of her. Well…in human form. I think they would fear her in wolf form. Shifters have animal magic in human form, but as you saw, they feared me when I was a hawk.”

“I thought you were going back for the boat?” asked Kris somewhat gruffly.

“I don’t have to. I was being watched and I’m sure they are on their way over her by now.”

Kris added three tubs of oatmeal and another of nut and grain mix to the box of vegetables. “Do you want meat?”

“I guess.”

He pulled down two boxes of prepared meat and put them in a second box. He handed the first one to Chirrot and then pointed to the five-gallon bottles of water. “Demetri, please grab two of those.” He handed Ever the second box and then got two more bottles himself. They walked together back to the tunnel
.
P
eople
were
starting to stir around them.

Chirrot drew quite a bit of attention with the two chipmunks and the squirrel on his naked shoulders as he carried the large box of food. Ever found the sight quite amusing, but Kris obviously didn’t share her enthusiasm as he walked up beside her. He leaned to whisper in her ear. “Enjoying the view?”

“I was actually finding it quite funny. You have to admit that the animals on his shoulders are hanging on flawlessly.”

He threw her a perturbed look.

“I’m serious, Kris.”

“Yeah.”

Great. Now he was mad at her again. She was wrong for looking at Chirrot, but the man was beautiful. It wasn’t like she wanted to fuck him. Well, she did want to fuck him, but she would never tell Kris that. Especially now when he was feeling self-conscious because of his face. She wanted to fuck Kris also. Maybe someday in the near future they would get out of this bunker and have some privacy again. The little tryst under the sheets seemed like ages ago.