A Shifting Land

Chapter 23

The door slams open, Liz's muffled cry of horror jolting Swift from her sleep. She shivers, curling closer to the creature beside her in bed.

"Hurts." She murmured, the familiar connections back in her mind.

Kiri raised his head, amber eyes nearly glowing from beside her as he stared down the biped in the door. His lips lifted, a terrifying aspect, even in a biped form, before he dropped his chin back over her shoulder.

Liz stepped closer, "Look, I don't know who you are, are you her friend? The one that she was hoping would come to see? I need to see what happened, she was badly injured. There is blood everywhere. Is it yours?"

D'vala stepped up, slipping into Liz's mind with ease. She pulls the words out, trying to figure what they mean. "Kir, I think she wants to know what happened."

Kiri pulled Swift closer, his eyes never flinching from Liz. "Safe now."

Swift wiggled slightly, "Kir! You're crushing me." She leaned her head back to look at Liz,  before tapping Kiri on the head. "Pack."

She tried to shift, failing before she even really got started with a quick cry of pain.

Kiri examined her again before trying to shift himself. His eyebrows furrowed. "I can't shift! Swift, is this normal?"

"No! I was shifting yesterday, no problem." She shivered against him, refusing to move from his side. "I don't like this. I'm really hurting again. Everywhere."

Alpha Jeremy stepped in, closing the door behind him. "What happened?" He asked, his voice as soft as he could make it.

"It looks like someone attacked her... Possibly raped her as well, but neither are coherent enough for a full conversation. I have clarified that that's her trusted friend at least..." Liz shrugged, trying to sneak closer still.

Alpha Jeremy stopped her with a hand. "Inhale." He warns, his voice dropping to a deadly tone.

She sniffs, "Is that Dylan's scent? Is it his blood?! Wh- why was he in here?" She turned to slowly regard the bed.

"And the scent, it's what we use in the prison cells to prevent shifting." Alpha Jeremy pointed out softly, as if he was afraid to voice his concerns out loud.

Swift half sat up, her body leaving no question with the claw marks across it, each one meant to hurt worse then the last one.

Kiri gave a low snarl, pulling her back down. "Swift... Someone attacked you. They left marks all across your body."

She looked down at herself and then to the others. "Dylan in room." She gently touched her head. "No clothes. No memory."

Liz covered her mouth, sharing a look with Alpha Jeremy. He snarled and spun, storming out of the room without a question.

Liz grabbed a fan, aiming it out the window. "The faster the scent goes the sooner you'll be able to sleep. Is the other one awake little cat? The one that speaks our language well?"

Swift cocks her head to the side, letting her chin rest against the bed again as she checks. "No. Sick."

Bladen uncoils from the corner, nuzzling against her with a hard look in his eyes. He steps up into control, "Drugged here? By pack? Thought safe."

Liz shook her head, "So did we... So did we. Alpha Jeremy is going to find the one we think did it, and when we do, he will likely be put to death. Rape is a mark of the rogue. Of someone not right in the head. Once they have hit that point they don't come back, not with therapy or medication. We've tried."