Deuce (Swamp Desires Book 1) (4 page)

“Good luck, Deuce,” they both say and walk toward the airboat. They fire it up and head off in the direction of home. I know they have it all under control, but somehow, I feel like I am letting my family down, even when I know that is not the case this time. This is a once in a lifetime kind of opportunity. I would regret it for the rest of my miserable existence if I do not go after her.

Time for me to put my money where my feet are. Time to get moving. If I wasn’t so damned scared, this would be a piece of cake. I need to put my fears aside and get on with it. I run off in the direction the wolf went with the woman. I think she may be leading her to the main road. Usually, my gut instincts are not wrong. In a few miles, I will know if I am right. I continue to follow her scent. Her scent is driving me insane, but in a good way. It is giving me all kinds of dirty thoughts that I should not be having. Her scent seems to go straight to my cock, springing it to life, causing an ache that I fear only she will be able to satisfy.

Chapter Six

Adele

My eyes must be deceiving me. I cannot be seeing what I am seeing. I honestly thought they were a figment of the locals’ imaginations. The legend is real; they do exist. I am in my wolf form, so I know what I am seeing is real as fuck. Damn. There are four of them. They have to be the most magical creatures that I have ever seen. I am just blown away by this find. I could hear the screams of the woman from miles away, so I decided I needed to come see what was going on. I am here to help her in some way, but now I am not so sure what way that is going to be just yet.

Those gators are here for a reason also. I need to wait this out and see what happens. I have a feeling that the guy the woman is with is going to try to kill her. Minutes tick by and the guy teases and taunts her with her death. The poor thing. She has to be scared out of her mind right now.

I watch as the gators inch closer and closer to the bank. One of them is right underneath the water at the bank’s edge. He is waiting patiently. The one that is the furthest away is staring at me.
Merde
! I have been spotted. Oh well. There is nothing I can do about it now. They are not worried about me, because if they were, that one gator would be coming my way and he is not.

The guy goes to the trunk and retrieves an axe and thrashes it right next to the woman on the ground. This guy is asking for it. If the gators do not kill him, then I will rip him to pieces. I cannot stand anyone who comes here to the swamp to carry out their evil deeds. It just fucking pisses me off so badly. Why bring someone to the swamp, just to kill them? Why not kill them somewhere else? Stupid people make no sense to me. I could never kill another human being as long as I live. It goes against everything I believe in. I cannot watch another person suffer at the hands of a sadistic killer. The only exception to that rule is if someone is trying to kill me.

The man raises the axe again, but as he is lowering it down, the gator closest to the bank rises out of the water and lunges for him. The woman stumbles out of the way and hides behind the car. She is watching the massive twenty foot white alligator tear that man to pieces. She is laughing at him. I watch in awe as the two other gators emerge from the water and finish the guy off. I run over to the woman and push up against her in an attempt to get her moving away from here. She needs to get as far away as possible.

When I am in wolf form, my size if different from a regular wolf. I am the size of a tiger. I nudge the woman some more until she realizes that I want her to get on my back so I can get her out of here. I look back toward the bank and see the gators have shifted back into human form. Oh my god. The man I saw this morning eyeing my houseboat is one of them. He is extremely handsome. In fact, they are all very attractive men.

I can tell instantly that they are brothers; they all have that same look in their facial features that gives it away. Wow, just wow. The woman finally gets on my back, and she holds onto my fur at my neck so she does not fall. She wraps her legs around my torso to keep on my back. I know some of the terrain we will be traveling in a few minutes is rough.

I watch as they gather closer together. They are talking amongst themselves. They are talking about what to do with the car. I hear the one mention seeing me, but he does not say anything else. I decide it is time to get the woman out of here before we are discovered by the gator boys. I slowly creep away from the scene. I am being as quiet as I can so they do not hear me. Once I am away from them, I gather up my strength and head in the direction of the main road. The main road is about five miles or so from here. I need to get her there so a passerby can pick her up and take her to safety.

I hope to one day come into contact with that gator boy. I feel that they are on the same mission as me. We could possibly work together. When the man was hitting the woman, I could see the compassion in their eyes. It was killing them just waiting there until the right moment. But, they stopped him from killing her. The things he was telling her were just awful. He was hateful man, and I am glad that the gators ate him up and he is no more. Those gators would be a nice ally. I wonder if they know that supernatural family that lives in that plantation style house up the road from here. I have not met that family yet, but I can feel their power from my houseboat.

Enough dilly dallying; time to get this poor woman to safety. Hopefully, someone can pick her up. She needs a second chance. Everyone deserves one. She met the wrong man, her family was assholes, and she needs a fresh start. A new start, for a new beginning at life. I bet she will be very cautious from now on.

I race in the direction of the main road. I am jumping over rocks and fallen trees with a wounded woman on my back. She holds tight to me, making sure that she does not fall off during our journey. She is silently crying on my back. Her sobs are breaking my heart.

“I cannot believe that I believed everything he ever said to me. All the promises he made, he never kept them. He just used me for my body, and when that did not please him anymore, he resorted to beating me. How could I be so stupid and naïve? To this day, I still cannot believe that my parents sold me to him. What did I ever do so wrong to warrant them to sell me? I am their only child. All I ever wanted from them was their love. But they could not give it to me. I was apparently supposed to be a boy, but instead, I was born a girl. Since then, they have pushed me off onto anyone they could. They never wanted me. I never deserved the treatment I was given growing up. When I turned sixteen, they found the man in charge of the sex trafficking and sold me to him for ten thousand dollars.” She sobs.

I cannot believe humans would treat their only child the way she was treated. No child deserves that. They should have put her up for adoption when she was born. At least then she would have had a chance at a normal, happy life. My heart just breaks for her, and I hope she can overcome all the wrong that has been done to her.

“At first, he was so gentle and patient with me. He treated me like a princess. When I turned eighteen, he took me into his bedroom and seduced me. I would have given him everything he ever wanted. He was my first, although I never loved him. He was almost like a father figure to me for two years until I was a legal adult. But, I was still his. Even though I was an adult, my body was not mine, it belonged to him. Some nights he would have his friends come over and they would take turns fucking me. I was a toy to them and to him. I never truly meant anything to him. I learned that the hard way. I have tried for years to get away from him. I am now twenty five. He caught me every time I tried to escape. That is when the beatings started. After my first attempt to escape, he started beating me senseless. I would not be able to move for a week after the beating. He would go so far as to use a thick leather belt and sometimes a two by four. It all depended on the mood he was in. I am so glad that he is finally dead and gone. Thank the good Lord for small miracles. Now, maybe I can start over and finally put that chapter of my life behind me. I will find a way to go back to school and get my GED and hopefully get a good job. I will finally go to that shelter for abused women and see if they can help me. I will tell the cops about the sex trafficking in this town.”

Now that is the spirit I want to hear. You go get ‘em girl! You can do anything you put your mind to. Of course, she cannot hear me, but I am still thinking it. This woman has tremendous courage and I applaud her. It will take all the courage she has to overcome what has been done to her. We are about a mile from the main road. Her sobs finally stop. I can smell that her fear is finally gone. She smells of confidence now. I am so glad I was in the right place tonight. I do not want to think of what would have happened to her if I was not there. Would the gator boys take her to safety? I would hope they would have done that. It would be the only right thing to do.

We get to the main road and she gets off my back. “I do not know who you are, but thank you for saving me and giving me a second chance at life. I will forever be in your debt. I know you are a shifter of sorts, so I know you can change into a human. But, I do not blame you for not changing and revealing yourself to me. Just know that I am so grateful for what you have done for me this night. If, for whatever reason, you may need my help someday, do not hesitate to come and seek me out. I will come when you call. Thank you so much,” she says.

I nod my head in reaction to her statement. She is truly a unique person. She grabs me and hugs me to her. Then, she rises to her feet and walks toward the road. I can hear a car coming from the left. She walks along the side of the road. The car approaches her and stops on the side of the road. There is a sign on the side of the car. It reads “Shelter for Abused Women”. Well, how very fitting is this. A woman gets out of the car and approaches her. She looks at her and smiles. “Are you in trouble, my dear? Do you need help? We can help you start a new life, if you want it?” the woman from the car says.

“Yes, ma’am, I could really use your help. My boyfriend just tried to kill me and dump my body in the swamp. By the grace of God, I was able to get away.”

She gets into the car with the woman. As she closes the door, she looks back toward me and mouths “Thank you”. The car door closes and they drive off toward town.

I watch them leave before I start to head back home. I want to make sure they are gone and she is truly safe. It is ironic, how the vehicle that stops, is the one she really needed. I love how sometimes things just happen how they are supposed to happen. God has a plan for everyone in this world. He made sure that the woman got what she needed this night. She had two different supernatural creatures help her and the shelter that she needed to go to picked her up along the side of the road. God is good.

I head back home. Once I get to the clearing a couple miles from home, I stop. Someone is following me. I am not sure who it is, but I do not sense any danger from it. Then, suddenly, a lone woman with long blonde hair appears before me. She has the brightest blue-green eyes that I have ever seen. She is not the one following me, but I instantly know that she is not here to harm me. There is no evil at all in her. I can sense it. She kneels down in front of me and looks me in the eyes.

“Hello Adele. My name is Skylar Mackenzie. I am the left hand of God. I actually live down the road from here. I have been sent here to give you a message from God. He wants you to know that you are very special to him. Your family was blessed so long ago with your gift. He is very proud of you and all that you have done in your life. He wants you to know that the time has come for you to have the love that you deserve. Your soul mate is here, in this town. He is closer to you than you realize. You will meet him very soon. I cannot reveal to you who he is or what he looks like. But know this, you will know immediately when you lay eyes upon him. In fact, I do believe that you have already seen him this night,” she says.

I speak to her in her mind, since I am in wolf form. “
Thank you, Skylar. It feels really good knowing that what I am doing is making a difference and is not going unnoticed. I try to help as many people as I can, but I know that I cannot help them all, yet, I do try. I do agree with you about my soul mate. I do feel like I have seen him already. Hopefully, soon I will get to meet him and then I will know for sure. Thank you from bringing me the message from God.”

“You are so very welcome, my dear. You are one of God’s special creatures. He will guide and protect you for as long as you live, which will be a very long time. Now, I have to go, but know that if you ever need assistance, all you have to do is call my name and I will be there.”

As quickly as she appeared, she was gone. Wow, she was really beautiful and very powerful. I can sense the power within her, and it is astounding. I hope to remain an ally with her and never get on her bad side.

I can still feel the presence of the person following me. Oh well, time for me to get home. It has been a very eventful night and I need my rest, for no one knows what tomorrow will bring. The wind is blowing in the wrong direction, because I cannot pick up that person’s scent. I head out of the clearing, but I go at a slow pace. I want to see how long this person is going to follow me. If he or she follows me home, then I will confront him or her there. On my turf, on my terms.

My instincts tell me that I am in no danger from this mystery person. I run off in a slow trot toward home. I finally get to the dirt road that leads to my houseboat. I turn on the road and follow it home. This road will take you to all houses and houseboats on this side of the bayou. It is a long winding road, with many dips and ruts along the way. I avoid the fallen branches from the oak trees that are on the side of the road. I stay on the side of the road in case someone comes down the road in their vehicle. This way, I can jump into the woods and seek cover, so I am not spotted.

Once I get to my houseboat, I hide behind a tree. I shift back into human form and call my clothes to me magically. Once I am clothed and ready to face whoever has followed me, I step out from behind the tree. I stand there waiting for a few minutes. The person following me was a mile or so behind me. They never got too close, but stayed at least a mile behind me, so I would know that they were still there, following me. They must be walking very slowly because they are still not here yet. Then suddenly, a scent drifts to me on the breeze. A scent I recognize from earlier today. A scent that I know belongs to one of the gator boys; the one that was watching me back at the embankment in the swamp. His smell is special. It thrills me to my core. He smelled of swamp. It is a heady smell; so very potent and addicting, to say the least. Will I get to meet him this night?