Shifters Pen

13

I needed a plan. My mate was having nightmares every night since being bit by Nostradamus. Che was teaching her to be frogs and lizards. She was having a hard time with it. She was exhausted by lunchtime and still had a bunch to do. It was the only time I had seen her struggle with becoming an animal.
  She was tear stained at lunch every day. All of the skinwalkers felt bad for her. One confessed that she should still be working towards animals that were a bit bigger than a rabbit, and smaller than a large dog. Che was driving her harder than any of them ever had been in their training.
  I caught him alone one day and asked him why. He licked his lips, and said, “Vampires do not like cold blooded creatures. They also like the blood to pump hard and fast into their mouths. However, there are certain animals that are cold blooded, and who appear all but dead at times. I am trying to get her to shift into one of these animals so the vampires can't have her.” He explained this.
  It made sense, logically, but, “She's spending 2 or 3 hours every night trying to shift into a lizard or frog. She is exhausted, but keeps trying until she has done it. Then she has nightmares for the 3 or 4 hours that she is a lizard or frog. When she turns back into a human she's crying in my arms the rest of the night. Can she at least turn into a dog or rabbit at bedtime?”
  Che asked me, “How many werewolves are there in this jail?”
  “302.”
  He nodded, “And how many vampires are there?”
  “326.” He was trying to point out that the numbers were skewed, and not in my favor, “But I can really fight.”
  He cleared his throat a bit, “And if Nostradamus joined the fight?”
  We would be fucked. Completely fucked. Even I was no match for him. My head sank. He was doing all he could to protect my mate. Maybe even more than I was. “I worry about her. About the child.”
  Frank nodded, “I monitor her very closely. I do not push her past her physical limits. However, since you are concerned then tomorrow I will let her turn into a dog and desert tortoise.”
  I licked my lips, “It'd be funnier if she was a tortoise and a hare.”
  The old man cracked a small smile. “True. The moon is coming soon. She can be a canine type creature then.”
  In just over a month the parole board would be coming again. I had helped many others see what they did wrong. And others had told me the same thing that Lucy had. Planning to kill Thomas McCain with my wolf was where I went wrong. I wasn’t sure if I was sorry about it. I had a feeling that was going to kick me in the ass soon.
  Lucy thought back to how she'd come to be in Shifters Pen and said, “I never should have returned to the store. I told myself that I would never return to the rez after I graduated high school. Then I did. I don’t regret paying the crew. They earned it. But if I had just locked the doors and walked away then I wouldn’t be here.” She was so miserable, and tired. She was sick of the few things she could eat without puking. And now she regretted coming here.
  “What about us?” I asked her.
  She smiled at that, and leaned her head against my shoulder. “You are the only truly good thing in here. But we are intended. We would have met. Sooner rather than later I think. I would have finished up the school year in New Mexico, and then went traveling.”
  I smiled, “Oh? And where would you have gone?”
  “Well, I would have started with heading to Chicago to see the Natural History Museum there, and listen to some music, and maybe see the Great Lakes. However, I would have gotten sidetracked when I stopped for gas. Someone would have mentioned these amazing sandwichs sold in a bar just two towns over. I would have gotten to the bar, and ordered the sandwich, and some handsome local would have told me to make sure to ask for a few more onions on the sandwich. We would wind up eating lunch together, and then you’d take me on a tour of the little town. I would have found it charming as fuck, and noticed that the school needed a language arts teacher.”
  I smiled, “Boy, you have this all planned out, right down to the sandwich.” I kissed her forehead.
  “Well, how would you picture it happening? Us meeting.”
  I nodded, “I needed a nudge. Losing a quarter of my pack would have done it if not for you being in here. I would be out by Thanksgiving or Christmas. Ella will be mated and have pups of her own by now probably. I wouldn’t want to impose on her too long, and would have found a job that would have let me see as much as possible. Maybe truck driving or construction, or something with the railroad. I would have wound up in Albuquerque, and somehow met you.”
  She smiled, “Probably at the Little Anitas on University and Menaul. You’d be wondering how to answer the question red or green, and I would have helped you.”
  I smiled, “Yeah, and what is the answer to the question?”
  “Christmas for seasoned chili eaters, red for pork, green for chicken and beef, or salsa on the side for people from out of state.” She was very serious about this.
  “I admit that I have no clue what you just said, but it was awfully cute.”
 
  I couldn’t wait to get out of here! I could feel Nostradamus watching me at every meal. He was like a drug addict, looking for heroin. Only I was the heroin. I knew that Luke could never protect me from him. He would die trying, and that thought hurt more than anything. If he died in this place what would I do?
  I had been very upset with my mother for killing herself after dad died. But now that I had found The One I wasn’t so fast to judge. Life without Luke would be unbearable. But I would have our child still. I wouldn’t give up. Would I? Sometimes I could swear I felt a little heartbeat in my belly. A new life. Someone beautiful.
  But life was anything but easy here. I was pregnant, and everyone knew it. Those in my pack were protective of me, mostly. There were a few like Robert who wouldn't mind raping me. However, as news spread about me turning into a mountain lion trickled through our ranks even those men backed off.
  One day the lights flashed orange. 30 seconds to get into a cell or die. Che and I raced to his cell. The doors closed, and silence fell over the jail for a bit.
  “What is it?” I asked.
  Che lifted a finger to his lips and shifted into an owl. He was listening. After a minute he shifted back. “New prisoner on 2B. Not a vampire is all I know.”
  Che frowned. Something was wrong, different. “The doors usually open by now.”
  Just then our door opened, but no one else's. Asterion stood there. He pointed to me, and said nothing, but signaled that I should follow him. Che stayed behind and the door shut again. I walked beside the minotaur. He seemed to be conflicted. But then led me to take a seat in the empty cafeteria. “So, I hear you are in the second test level, and pregnant.”
  “Yeah.”
  “Is Tillerman really the father?” He didn't seem pleased at this.
  “He's my intended mate.”
  Asterion shook his head, snorting his displeasure. “Well, how is your shape-shifting going? I see you have made friends with Frank Begay.”
  I nodded, “So, during the full moon I go all wolf, and everything is really good. I’m the unquestionable Luna, and no one messes with me. It’s very freeing, and feels good.”
  “And the rest of the time?”
  I thought back to the last month, “Well, I do really good with big animals. Bear, elk, mountain lion.”
  He grinned, “That sounds pretty good. I bet no one wants to mess with you as any of those animals.”
  I chuckled, “No, they really don’t. However there is one guy who does.”
  “Tillerman?”
  I shook my head no, “Nostradamus.”
  His eyes closed, and ears lay flat. He did not like that one little bit. “What has he done? I need to know everything.”
  And so I told him everything from when he approached Luke and I till now. “And he just stares at me during every single meal. It is so unnerving.”
  Asterion considered this. “Frank Begay is pretty smart to be teaching you how to turn into reptiles. He’s right that they don’t really like the taste of them. And as much as I hate it, Nostradamus is right that I can’t take you out of here. I would if I could. By any chance have you been doing any practice with weather controlling while you are down here?”
  My eyes lit up, “Yeah. Why?”
  “Let’s just say the weather has been strange. What have you been aiming for?”
  I shrugged, “Usually just light rainshowers. Sometimes a breeze. Frank says it is all emotions based. What are you seeing up there?”
  He blinked, “I don’t think you have it nearly as under control as you need to. It’s been a tropical storm for a few weeks now. Meteorologists are having a field day trying to understand why this place keeps getting pounded.”
  I sighed, “I am pregnant. Do you have any idea how hard it is to control my emotions when my hormones are like this? I will try though to be more sun shiney.”
  He nodded. “As for Nostradamus, you should know something. Hades does not like him, at all. He has had one foot in the River of Styx for far too long. He would love to have any excuse to toss him all the way in. Mention to Hades this little arrangement you have with Nostradamus. That vampire will want more than a taste next time. Tell him that is all he is allowed, and then have Hades supervise. If he takes more than one drop than he is allowed Hades will take him.”
  That was a huge relief. “Thanks.”
  “Is there anything you need as a female here?” He was uncomfortable asking the question. He didn't speak to many females.
  “Well, we are too late for the birth control pills, but day pads wouldn't hurt.”
  His brow drew down, “But you are pregnant. You're not bleeding, are you?”
  I blushed. “Day pads are generally thinner than normal pads. They are, uh, for when you sneeze and pee a little.” Or get wet while daydreaming about your guy. “Aside from that I would like a copy of a book called What to Expect When You're Expecting. Frank used to be a medicine man, and he has a lot of tips, but sometimes I feel like they are a bit antiquated, and I would also like to have a female take on pregnancy.”
  Asterion nodded. “I will send them as soon as possible. Also, if Nostradamus makes one move before the parole board gets here just let me know on Friday. I am overseeing that test because you are in there.”
  I nodded, “Thanks Asterion.”
  He stood, “I have to head out, see you Friday.”
  He faced a wall, one which had a hallway on the other side of it, and walked towards it. The tunnel I had walked through to enter the prison appeared, long and sparsely lit. He entered it, and the wall was there once more.
  “Fucking labyrinth.” It wasn’t just the inmates who shifted here. The building did too.