Oakly’s
Christmas Present – short
story
(Include
characters from Secret: Of Amber Eyes)
By
DK Davis
“Oakly, you’ll find someone. Don’t look
so down.” Morgan, my twin brother’s soul-mate, patted my shoulder.
Rowan stepped next to her, never leaving
her side for long. His arm went possessively around her waist. He punched my
arm and grinned, and then led his woman toward the kitchen table.
Watching my brother and Morgan instilled
the deep loneliness plaguing my cougar, like a blade stabbing my chest. I
needed the forest, an escape from the crowd of family and friends sitting
around the table and working on Christmas decorations for the fortress we all
called home. The place, for all its space, gave me a fit of claustrophobia.
I snuck out the front door. Brisk air
and tufts of falling snow threw my cougar into an adrenaline rush to run. The
animal scratched against the inside of my skin. I jogged down the porch steps
and into the trees, dropping my clothes next to a giant oak and shifting into
my animal.
Four large paws carried me for miles
away from home. I crossed a couple of
dirt roads and continued through the thick
forest, cutting footprints through the snow. The wind picked up, and gray clouds blanketed the rising moon. The
cougar’s night vision kicked in, and I stopped to sate my thirst at a babbling
brook.
When I raised my head, a force hit my
senses so hard it knocked me on my butt. I shook my head to get a bearing of
what drew my complete mind and body. Then a shriek followed by a snarl, close
by, across the stream. I launched over the water at full speed.
Snapping jaws, growls, and yips, I scented wolves.
A cat screamed and snarled in a way to
scare off a predator or to defend itself. Another scent filled my olfactory,
female cat, not a cougar. I bounded through the dense shrub sounding like an
army and blew through the other side with the effect of distraction.
A bobcat surrounded by three wolves. She stood her
ground, but red colored the snow around her.
All wolves stared my way.
I roared my deepest snarl and charged,
the only thought snapping through my mind, save
her.
Two of the wolves sprang toward me,
leaving one for the she-cat. I caught one by the throat, shook the hell out of
him and tossed him against a tree trunk. The other had jumped on my back and
snapped his jaws over the back of my neck. Its
claws caught my shoulders and my back haunches.
I ran straight at a downed tree,
flipping into it, so the wolf caught the
sharp branch. The teeth piercing the sides of my neck released, and I pulled
away from its claws. It fell to the ground, the branch protruding from its
back, and then it crawled away.
The she-cat held her own, snarling and
clawing, but the wolf clenched his jaws on a front leg. Bones snapped, and the
she-cat went into a biting frenzy across the dog-faced snout. I pounced on the
wolf’s back, sinking my claws around its neck. The she-cat dropped from its
mouth, and I forced the wolf away, and then gave chase until the distance
satisfied me.
When I got back to the Bobcat, she lay
on her side, panting and looking like a bloody mess. Her head lifted as I
stepped closer. I crouched beside her and licked at the wounds. She lapped at the gouges on my neck. After a bit,
we both settled together and slept.
* * *
Someone shook me awake. As I opened my
eyes and yawned, the morning sun created a glistening coat of mini prisms
across the snow.
“What the hell are you doing way out
here? You’re miles from our territory.” Rowan eyed me. “It looks like a bloody
war zone. You’re covered in blood and a
significant amount of another cat’s scent, brother. A shifter. Care to
explain?”
I glanced next to me. An imprint of the
she-cat’s smaller body had colored the snow dark
red. She’d vanished. I jumped onto my
four-paws. Sniffing the air, I noticed the smaller-sized paw prints leading in
the opposite direction of home.
“Come on.
Everyone is worried about you. A lot of them are out looking for you.”
He huffed. “You didn’t let anyone know you went for a run.”
Everything inside me said to follow the
she-cat shifter, but I knew she would come back here
as I would.
Rowan pulled a cell phone from his
pocket. “Dad, I found him. Let everyone know. It’s going to take us a while to
get home.” Then he paused, listening. I heard him explaining where we were and
to use the tracking app to find his phone. It
sounded like someone would be driving a vehicle to a close location.
My attention faded in and out from his
conversation as my head filled with thoughts of the female Bobcat.
“I
will come back to see you tonight like
you want to do,”
a female voice filled the inside of my mind like a loud whisper.
I instantly shifted into human form.
“Hey, tell me why you and Morgan can mind-communicate.”
“Good grief. Your junk’s gonna freeze. I didn’t bring any clothes for
you.” Rowan grinned and pointed.
Yea, parts of me wanted to hide from the
cold, but most of my body remained hot-blooded. “I gotta know about you and
Morgan.”
“Fine, but we gotta jog. Dad’s going to
pick us up on a dirt road a few miles away.” Rowan picked up the pace. “Morgan
and I exchanged blood, and because she’s my soul-mate, we can mind-communicate.
I understand that only happens with a soul-mate.”
“Does your soul-mate need to be the same
kind of shifter?” My head reeled with the thought.
* * *
“You’re not leaving the fortress
tonight. Tomorrow’s Christmas and your mother will have my hide if I allow you
to go for a run like you did yesterday.” Dad’s eyes narrowed, but his focus
wandered. “Unless you drove the truck to
the spot where I picked you up. Then I’d know you’d get back here before
morning.” His intense gaze landed on me. “The only reason I’m considering this
is from the questions you asked Rowan. And you can thank him that he talked
about it to me.”
Dad handed me his keys. I ran out the
front door before he changed his mind.
Darkness had already settled over the
tree line as I parked along a small clearing off the edge of the dirt road.
As I climbed out of the truck, her
presence melded into mine and shivered through my body. “Where are you?”
Her scent drew me farther into the
forest, and then I saw her. Beautiful long platinum-blond hair drifted down her
shoulders. Smoldering blue eyes met mine. She lifted away from the large oak
tree she’d leaned against and ambled toward me in a sleek feline two-legged
prowl.
My breath left me and then came back in
a gasping gulp, leaving me dizzy and drunk on her scent. My legs finally
mobilized, and I strode to her, wrapping
my arms around her.
She slid her hands around the back of my
neck. Her fingers twined into my hair. I
leaned down, and she lifted on her toes,
lips uniting in a crash of cracking whips and stormy lightning. My whole body
blazed in fire for this meek little
woman, but then, nothing about her seemed timid.
Her tongue ran across my lips, sending a
tremor through me. She giggled. Her hands pushed my chest, and we broke apart.
“My name’s Sky. I believe you’re my
Christmas present for life.” Her smile radiated through my chest, stealing my
voice.
“I
believe you’re my life Christmas present also,” my
mind-communication responded.
“Let’s go meet my parents, and then
we’ll meet yours. We have a lot to talk about.” Sky reached for my hand, and
when our fingers wove together, my cougar agreed we’d both found our most
significant other.
I drew her back to me and sealed our
moment with a kiss. Sky’s tender lips
sent my cougar into purr-mode, something I’d never experienced before tonight.
Then, Sky’s bobcat answered with a contented purr. “Merry Christmas,” our mind-communication whispered as one.
Secret: In Wolf Lake
D.K. Davis
Genres: SciFi, PNR
Cover Artist: Michelle Lee
Date of Publication: January 1, 2017
ISBN: 9781772993899
ASIN: B01N7O41FM
Number of pages: 120
Word Count: 41,200
Tagline: Samantha discovers a gifted creature living in Wolf Lake; now his life depends on her saving him.
Book Description:
Samantha’s dealing with a lot of emotional blow-back from her mother’s new marriage. Then she discovers a gifted creature living in Wolf Lake, and life suddenly becomes all about keeping his existence a secret, earning his trust. That is until his life depends on her saving him. But she won’t be able to do it alone…
Secret: At HL Woods
D.K. Davis
Date of Publication: December 15, 2017
ISBN: EPUB 978-1-77362-990-2
ASIN: B077ZT2H5V
Number of pages: 199
Word Count: 60,200 words
Tagline: A high school ghost-seer, an all-star jock, and a bully, cross paths, sparks spew, and lives change…
Book Description:
Bri, a seventeen-year-old ghost-seer, keeps her ability under wraps at the new school until a murdered couple from the 60’s asks for help.
Kyle, a high school jock, realizes the new girl lives next door; she’s crazy cute, goth-odd, and too convenient to ignore.
Max, Kyle’s best friend, only sees Bri as a wicked threat.
Luke, Bri’s gay best friend, moves in for the summer, escaping his abusive father.
Paths cross, sparks spew…will anyone remain the same after?
Secret: Of Amber Eyes
D.K. Davis
Date of Publication: November 2018 Release
Kindle 978-0-2286-0621-5
Amazon Print 978-0-2286-0623-9
ASIN: B07KGGHG3P
Number of pages: 197
Word Count: 58,500
Tagline: Instinct draws Morgan and Rowan together, a human and a shifter, until a wildcard wildcat threatens Morgan’s life, changing her forever.
Book Description:
Morgan Redding, a seventeen-year-old high school graduate, gets sent to her aunt and uncle’s wildlife rescue and preserve, a therapeutic place for not only nature.
Rowan Marcus, an eighteen-year-old cougar shifter, helps at the wildlife refuge. He’s part of a secret society of shifters guarding the preserve lands.
Instinct draws Morgan and Rowan together.
Then one wildcard wildcat within the shifter community kills for the needy, but the killing escalates and threatens Morgan’s life, changing her forever…
Excerpt
from Secret: Of Amber Eyes
Word
Count - 964
“Gotta’ run
honey,” she said over the glass sunroof of the Cadillac. “Our flight leaves in
four hours, and I still have a few things left to pack.”
I immobilized as
Mom dove into the car to retrieve her phone. She tapped the screen and started
the car.
I didn’t wave as
she shifted into gear and drove off with her cell phone stuck to her ear.
She never even
glanced my way.
From my
peripheral, Uncle Charlie and Aunt Becka looked at each other. They weren’t
smiling anymore. Mom had never said a word to either of them. She didn’t say
goodbye to me, either, unless I counted the trail of dust marking her exit.
Good riddance.
Oh, and have a happy life with Jack.
My stomach
fluttered, and the inside of my throat tightened like it might collapse in on
itself. A load of moisture gathered, blurring my vision. Some trickled
alongside my nose. I’m not crying. Extra baggage doesn’t cry; instead, I go to
prison.
My body relaxed
as if a heavy weight shifted and slipped off. Why not make the best of this
crappy situation? I was on the back burner, but not being dumped down the
garbage disposal. I wiped away the water littering my face and picked up my two
duffle bags. Aunt Becka scooped up my backpack; her thick long blond braid slid
over her shoulder.
“This way, dear.
You’ve come at a good time with the weather. We’ve got a warm streak going. It
isn’t normally nice warm temperatures until much later in the summer.” Aunt
Becka led the way into the house. She wore faded denim shorts with a baggy
sky-blue T-shirt, short white socks, and high-top hiking boots. She and Uncle
Charlie were sun-browned and looked the same age as Mom. The muscles in Aunt
Becka’s calves stood out as she climbed the circular stairway.
She continued,
“It’s still pretty cool in the mornings and later in the evenings, which makes
for great sleeping weather.”
At the top of
the stairs, I walked across the open loft to the wall-sized window, dropping my
bags mid-way.
Two bright red
barns stood off to one side. I recognized the green T-shirt and dark blue
baseball cap Uncle Charlie wore. He pushed a wheel-barrow into one of the
barns. Another guy walked behind with a huge bag of something balanced on his
shoulder. The muscles in his arm bulged. He stopped in mid-step and swung
around to look upward, at the window, and then at me.
My stomach
suddenly churned into warm pudding as our gazes collided. The guy’s eyes
glowed, amber, a trick of the sun I was sure. My breath sucked in.
Aunt Becka
stepped beside me and glanced out. “Oh, that’s Rowan Marcus. He’s here pretty
much every day helping with chores and with the other kids that aid us at the
refuge.”
Rowan swung
around and followed Uncle Charlie into the barn. A tremor slid through me, and
then I exhaled, realizing I’d completely stopped my lungs from working. What
the heck? Amber eyes?
Aunt Becka
pointed to the other side of the barn toward tall wire fenced-in areas. “We
keep recovering deer or goats in those.” Then she pointed along the outside of
the barns, to smaller wire pens. “Those hold fawn or other small animals that
need special care.”
I attempted to
stay focused on her words, but the image of Rowan and those eyes. My brain
fogged over with his image burnt on the inside of my eyelids.
She waved a
finger at the dirt paths that connected everything and waited until I looked to
continue, “We have cleared pathways to every area that requires our attention,
and that tree line marks the perimeter into our wildlife preserve. We own a lot
of forest acreage that’s a safe place for our healed wildlife to live.”
A.K.A. my prison
grounds.
She squeezed me
to her. “It’s wonderful here. I know you’ll love it as much as Charlie and I
do.”
I didn’t know
how to respond, other than to go rigid and silent. My aunt acted like this was
going to be a vacation for me, not punishment. Pulling away from her, I paced
the room, taking inventory. Aunt Becka watched me from near the window.
A bed,
nightstand, desk, and dresser, all built of knotty pine or logs. A narrow door
opened to a closet and beside it, another narrow door led into a small
bathroom. Most of the walls and all of the ceilings and floors were knotty
wood. No carpet, no curtains. Like being inside a sterile prison, not that I
frequented the inside of a real prison cell, but this shiny clean room gave me
the impression of ‘no fun, all work.’
I plopped down
on the bed and bounced on it a little. Comfortable.
“So, Kate said
you and your step-dad are kind of on the outs with each other.” Aunt Becka
strolled over and plopped on the bed beside me. “To be honest, Charlie and I
didn’t even know Kate had gotten married.”
“Let’s just say
I’m used to Mom having flings with her escort men, but she’s never married one
of them,” I said, the words slipping from my mouth like a spray of negative
ick.
Aunt Becka
frowned, and then her face softened. “You’ve had it tough, haven’t you?”
I stared at her,
another question I didn’t know how to answer. My nose tingled, an itch
inevitable. So, again, I blurted, “No, I’ve been just fine. Mom and I played
our roles the best we knew how, and then our roles changed. That’s all.” I
rubbed the crap out of my nose, jumped off the bed and unzipped one of the
duffle bags.
About the Author:
DK Davis writes YA sci-fi, supernatural, and fantasy with a good dollop of all the relationships woven in between. When she’s not writing, editing, or reading, she’s hiking, RV’ing, fishing, spending time with grandchildren or her favorite muse (her husband) in Southwest Michigan.
She also writes mainstream supernatural, suspense-thriller romance as S. Peters-Davis.
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