Page 31 of Beware of Hodags

SHEPARD

A length of paracord sails down in front of my face. When I latch onto it with my jaws, Rachel nods to me and disappears from my sight.

After a few tense moments, the paracord goes taut.

Battling for breath, Rachel appears at the edge of the pit, crawling on shaky hands and knees as she gasps, “Okay! Tied to tree! Climb… up…”

At this point I’m out of my mind with worry for her. It’s obvious she can’t fucking breathe.

Teeth clamped over the flexible braided nylon, I have the leverage I need to finally drag my ass out of this hellhole. I start climbing the burrow’s wall.

If Rachel hadn’t come for me, I’d be dead.

Even uninjured, I’m not built for climbing out of Tartarusean abysses.

My claws give me traction, sure, but despite having three good sets to work with I’m heavy as a horse and only a little more successful at scaling walls.

I just kept sliding down. The couple times I managed to get myself to the top, I’d get my injured paw up and catch the ground with it—but as soon as I tried to lift my bracing paw it was game over.

My injured one couldn’t support me, and I got to experience the law of gravity. A lot.

I was sure it was only a matter of time before that Charlotte came back. Or Mirk. Or any one of the overgrown spiders that infest these woods .

Man, I hate this place. When I get out of here, I’m lighting this whole motherfucking forest on fire. Smokey the Bear can kiss my ass.

To borrow Rachel’s analogy, with my family and Mirk’s family being the supernatural version of the Hatfields and McCoys, I was never going to be pals with Mirk or his people—but after being bitten and nearly eaten by one of his kind? I’m very much in scorched earth mode.

But scorched earth will have to wait. Rachel is scaring me shitless with the way she’s fighting to breathe.

My horns crest the top of the burrow. Then my head.

I throw a paw up on the ground, my claws catch in the scratched dirt, and the moment of truth comes: I loosen my other forepaw’s claws in preparation of lifting it over the side—and my body’s weight pulls me back, raking my top foot over the earth.

I hit the edge just like all the times before.

But this time I don’t fall. The rope snaps tight—jolting my teeth, yanking the muscles in my neck, and converting the hinge of my jaw into a load-bearing entity—and with a heave, I get my other foot up and locked on the ground.

Finally! I stab my rear claws up and up and I’m out.

I drag myself a healthy distance from the burrow and raise my gaze to the important thing.

Rachel is holding the front of her throat, watching me, looking worried. Her breathing is all wrong.

I shift to my human form and spit out the rope. “What’s wrong?”

“Asth… ma,” she manages. Then she throws her arms around my neck.

Troubled, I wrap her in an embrace and drag her against my bare chest, pulling her right into my lap. She resists for a second, shy because I’m not wearing a stitch, but her fear overrides her shyness and she lets me hold her. She grips my shoulders and squeaks a distressed, “Shepard. ”

“I’ve got you.” I drag my hand down her back. This isn’t how I pictured things going in any of the fantasies I’ve enjoyed having about her. I’m the only one who’s naked and she’s trembling against me.

And struggling to breathe. Oh fuck. The hospital is so far away. I don’t know what to do.

I pet her hair. “Breathe, Rach. Want to try changing?”

She shakes her head, her cheek brushing my ear. “Need… purse. Inhaler!”

“Fuck!” I snarl into her shoulder, my mouth pressed to her shirt. I raise my head, my eyes darting around the woods. I want to run, get it for her, bring it back as fast as I can. I could. But… “I can’t leave you here. There’s no way. I will not leave you here.”

She shakes her head and hugs me tighter, agreeing with me.

I grip the back of her neck and rock her, trying to think. “Exerting yourself is only going to make it harder for you to breathe, right?” I pull back and look at her, searching her tormented face. “Can I carry you?”

She nods frantically in agreement.

“Okay. Keep hold of my neck,” I tell her, and she clutches me as I rise to my feet, hauling her up with me. Then, as gently as I can, I haul us the hell out of the woods.