Free Alex: A Rylee Adamson Short Story by Shannon Mayer

M orning light warmed my face, stole across bruises that twinged with every flex of my cheek against the hard dirt below me. My hip was cold and sore from lying on my side all night, and it throbbed something fierce. The smell of fresh cut grass and someone’s breakfast teased my nose. Stomach growling, a groan slipped out of me, and I rolled to my belly. Coughing hard, I tasted blood and spat to one side, my tongue feeling three feet long and wide. Last night… what had happened last night? I’d gone to the club looking for Deidre; someone told me she would be there. There was the club, the heavy music, and a woman with long dark hair and golden eyes; had we kissed? Yeah, we had and it had been amazing—hot, so damn hot—but that wasn’t why I had gone there. I pushed myself up.
    On my hands and knees, head hanging almost to my chest, I stared blankly at what was attached to me, of what I was seeing and my mind couldn’t process.
    Where last night there had been very human arms and legs covered in smooth skin for my entire nineteen years, there was now a thick black pelt of fur tipped in silver covering twisted limbs that weren’t human at all. I ran what had been my hand, and now resembled a monster’s claw-tipped paw over my face. Jutting teeth, jaw, and nose; it felt more like that of a dog than human under the pads of my fingers. My jaw dropped and I scrambled backward, slamming into the edge of a house. Fear boiled up under my skin and I panted heavily, unable to get enough air. Blinking several times, I fought to understand where I was and what I was seeing. What the hell was happening to me? Countryside as far as I could see, corn stalks and open sky. I wasn’t in the city anymore, but that was the least of my worries.
    “Alex scared,” I whimpered and then slapped my giant paws over my muzzle. What was going on? That wasn’t what I’d wanted to say. I hadn’t wanted to say that at all, no matter how true it was. I swallowed hard, bile rising up and coating my tongue; of which there was a hell of a lot more to coat then just yesterday. From the corner of my eye, I could see my tongue hanging out of my mouth, saliva dripping off it every time it flicked.
    Trembling, I sat down and shook my head. This was a dream, that was the only answer. A really, really bad dream induced by too much drinking maybe? But that couldn’t be, I knew I hadn’t touched anything but my water. That, and the woman who’d kissed me. I closed my eyes. Had we gone back to her hotel room? I had a vague recollection of going with her, of getting naked and then… nothing but a blank.
    I squeezed my eyes closed. This was a dream, and when I woke up, things would be back to normal.
    “Nope, Alex stuck.”
    Fear, sharp and piercing, snapped along my nerve endings. I wasn’t stuck. Couldn’t be. This wasn’t real. This was a—
    “Oh, such a pity. I thought perhaps you would be the alpha I was looking for. So cocky last night, so lovely in bed… .” Her voice wrapped around me and pulled me forward before I even saw her. Shaking from nose to feet, I crammed my head into the dirt and rolled onto my back, my tail ( oh hell, I had a tail?) twisting between my legs. A steady stream of whimpering slipped out of my muzzle ( muzzle, fuck this was not happening) . I barely lifted my eyes to stare at the shapely toned calves of a woman in bright red stilettos and matching leather mini dress. Long black hair cascaded down over her bare shoulders and golden eyes met mine for a split second before I closed mine in perfect submission.
    “Alex sorry.” The thing was, guilt rolled through me, and while I vaguely recalled her, I didn’t understand why I was feeling guilty.
    “You disappointed me. Do you feel that in your bones, my wolf?” The shift and squeak of her leather dress as she crouched next to me, and then her hand slid over my face to grip my muzzle.
    I did feel it, right through me. The disappointment of not meeting her