Annie Nicholas: Scent of Salvation

She drew closer to Kele as they reached a path and swallowed with a mouth gone dry. A scientist lost in a primitive world. Maybe she could learn to garden? She snorted, and Ahote’s hungry gaze fell on her. He didn’t look like an herbivore.

A thirty-minute walk later, the ground inclined toward the side of a worn mountain with a cave mouth yawning at the base.

Susan’s heart sank even lower into her gut as they headed straight for the cavity. She’d be living the rest of her life in a cave. Kele’s well-made cloak had given her hope that they had some kind of civilization. The shifters should be beyond the Stone Age. At least, she had hoped they were.

Time should run at the same pace no matter what dimension DOUG bridged. She should be in the same historical period, since time travel was not possible within her theories. The only explanation was that technology hadn’t developed at the same rate as in her dimension.

The group stopped, except Ahote, who approached the mouth of the cave. Two unseen guards appeared from the cliff face above, their gray-brown fur camouflaging them well. Words were exchanged but she couldn’t make out what. Then Ahote signaled for them to continue forward.

On Kele’s heels, Susan did her best not to press against the female. Susan had spent her whole life in cities. Hell, her parents had never even sent her to summer camp. The closest she had to wilderness was the park she crossed on her way to work.

Deeper and deeper, they traveled into the tunnel. Darker and darker, the light faded until she couldn’t see her own hand waving in front of her face. She stopped and reached out. “I can’t see.”

Silence answered her.

She pivoted, her heart aflutter. “Hello?” Her voice hit a high pitch. Shame be damned, her dignity had vanished the second she tumbled down that hill.

Kele cleared her throat. “Your kind can’t see in the dark? Or do you have a—defect?”

Breathing a sigh, she followed Kele’s voice. “Humans need some kind of light to see by.” She came in contact with fur. “Oh, sorry.” She jerked her hands away.

A large clawed hand took hold of hers and set it back on the soft fur. “Hold onto me and I’ll guide you.” Ahote spoke close to her ear. His deep, seductive voice could melt iron.

She clutched his silken fur and followed his lead. Blinking didn’t make her sight better yet she couldn’t stop. Every time she stumbled, Ahote caught her. “Do you live in the dark?” Her voice sounded frightened even to her own ears.

A large hand snaked around her waist and pulled her close. “No, these tunnels are part of our defense system. From the time we’re pups, the paths are taught to us.”

“So, they’re like a maze?” And something to prevent her from leaving. Guest, my ass.

“Yes, not much farther until we exit.”

She appreciated Ahote’s comforting words but not the hand stroking her hip. Like she didn’t have enough freaking problems. The darkness constricted around her, tightening its hold until she thought she’d snap in two.

A faint light appeared ahead, and the vise of fear around her chest relaxed. She released the breath she’d been holding and shoved Ahote’s hand off her body. By quickening her steps, she crossed the threshold into the open before the dark shifter.

She panted as if she had run a marathon, and sweat trickled along her spine. Her breathing became easier, and what she stared at finally registered in her mind. Touching her fingertips to her lips, Susan gaped around and above her.

A hollowed-out mountain surrounded them. The sun shone through the open top, warming her skin and feeding the lush forest growing inside. Stone stairs were carved into the rock lining the walls. They stretched from terrace to terrace at least four stories high. Cave entrances with doors dotted the wide, wooden balconies, and rope bridges hung across at each level connecting both sides.

They had built their home in an extinct volcano.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Ahote whispered as he passed.

Susan rubbed her eyes. “Amazing.” If amazing described the small city then extraordinary depicted the people. Not a beast among them. Tall and muscular, they milled around the huge ground floor. Children ran and screeched, racing between the adults. Everyone wore bright-colored dresses or dark leather kilts. No one appeared armed or causing harm. Thank goodness.

From what she could tell, a market of sorts was doing business in the distance, and some females strolled by with baskets of grapes in their arms. They smiled at Kele and one waved to the guards behind her.

Susan glanced back and sensed her eyes growing wider.

They’d changed—shifted—to men. Half-naked men. Half-naked, gorgeous men.

She shook her head to make the thought stop skipping. Locked in her lab the past year, trying to get DOUG to work, had placed a kink in her social life. And her sex life. She eyed the men. Not a fuzzy hair on them now.

A blue-eyed guard with black hair past his shoulders caught her attention. He pulled a leather kilt from his backpack and wrapped it slowly around his well-defined abs. Never breaking her eye contact.

She swallowed. Way out of her comfort zone.

One of the other men tossed a shirt at him. “Stop putting on a show. We all know you like her, Ahote.”

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

Ahote was out-of-her-league handsome. She didn’t mind gawking at men that attractive but nothing more. Whenever she spoke with ultra-sexy men, her brain unhinged. It was a terrible thing to witness.

While he pulled the off-white, long-sleeved shirt over his head, he sauntered toward her.

She brushed the loose strands of hair from her face and found a dried leaf stuck to her head. What the fuck? Her French twist was a tangle.

“I’ll take you for a tour.” He gave her a lazy smile and she sensed her IQ plummeting.

“Don’t you have chores to do?” Kele, though smaller in stature, managed to look down upon him.

He gave her a pointed look. “You were my chore.”

“Well, Sorin is your present chore. He must be presented to my father when he wakes. I’ll tend his injuries after. Store him somewhere while I speak with Susan. My parents will want to meet her.” Kele eyed her and plucked another leaf from her head. “I should prepare her for the ordeal first.” She lifted Susan’s wrist up to Ahote. “Mark her.”

Susan tried to yank her hand away but the pale female’s strength outmatched hers. What kind of marking were they discussing?

Ahote ducked his head. “Very well.” He bowed and took Susan’s hand, rubbing it against his warm cheek by his ear. “I’ve a good place for shifters like Sorin.”

Kele heaved an impatient sigh, rolling her eyes. “We’ll go to my quarters.” She snatched Susan’s hand from Ahote. “Shoo! You’ve made your mark.” Then she led her away from the grinning male, climbing the stairs to the second level.

Something light and oily covered Susan’s wrist. She showed it to Kele. “What is this?”

“Ahote’s mark.”

“I assumed that much, but how does it work?” The scientist in her still existed. Fear hadn’t chased her curiosity away.

“You carry his scent. It tells other shifters he’s willing to fight for you.”

The blood drained from her head, pooling in her heavy feet. “I don’t belong to him now, do I?”

“Dark Moon, of course not.” She laughed. “That would make it too easy for the males to claim a mate. Could you imagine?”

Susan could only stare. Not really .

Sighing, Kele took Susan’s marked hand. “It only tells other males that he’s interested in you. If you want to be approached by others, then just wash it off. I thought it safer for you to bear some sort of mark for the time being.”