Red Run

  Table of Contents

  Red Run

  Sophie Redding is one of the few humans to have dodged the evacuation of the shapeshifting Sethen. She is on a journey to the Northlands, in a ridiculous outfit and on foot, leaving a trail a mile wide.

  Commander T'bir is in charge of cleaning out the towns and villages to let his people's city rise from the ground. When a detachment of trackers is unable to capture the human in the red dress, his interest is piqued and he goes on the hunt. Capturing this human may be the tipping point for his people, and her own.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Red Run

  Copyright © 2011 Viola Grace

  Cover art by Martine Jardin

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by eXtasy Books

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  Red Run

  A Trapezium Exclusive

  By

  Viola Grace

  Sophie Redding carefully darted through the open space between ruined buildings. The Sethen had returned and the planet’s lease was up. The colonists were being evicted by a race that only existed in legend.

  Despite the reports that everyone had been rounded up in the north country, there was still a chance that her grandmother was safe. Sophie was on her way to find out.

  She took a deep breath and cursed the fates that had her in a risqué red party dress that her roommate had nagged her into just before the attacks started. Her body must stand out like a flare in the darkness to anyone who saw it. Hopefully, there wasn’t anyone looking.

  * * * *

  “Oy, T’bir. We have a loose human in sector six.” N’lien chuckled. “Based on these scan results, she is female, fairly young and moving very fast for a woman on foot. Shall I send out a hunting party?”

  “For a woman alone? Send out two men.” Commander T’bir frowned at the screen. It read heat and scent, nothing more. “Have them report to me when they have her.”

  “Jos and M’dal will be happy to track her. Do you want her back here alive?”

  T’bir sighed. “Of course. We are evicting these humans from our prime hunting grounds, not killing them outright. They are to take all precautions.”

  N’lien nodded and relayed the order to the trackers. “And bring her back alive. We don’t want any more accidents.”

  The trackers confirmed the orders and set out. T’bir watched the monitors when he could, in between filing reports and making arrangements for the colonists to either leave Harosh or be confined to a large island in the western hemisphere.

  The Sethen had returned to their hunting world only to find that the humans had ignored the warnings and beacons and colonized anyway. It was a good thing they had only been here a hundred years or so. They had barely had time to make an impact on the eco system.

  The trackers were nearing the runner now. She would be caught and that would be one less human in their territory.

  T’bir sighed, he was getting a premonition that it would not be that simple.

  * * * *

  Sophie gasped and tried to still her breathing as much as she could. She was being followed, hunted. The howls that were following her were unnerving to say the least, chilling at best. The only bonus to her constant movement was the heat her body was generating against the cool of the night.

  The streets were silent, but she knew them. Each nook and cranny, each alleyway and tributary. Only three more blocks and she would be to the river. If it wasn’t too deadly, she just might make it across without disaster striking or getting caught.

  The wolves had a reputation, even after a few days. There were as many who liked to play with their food as there were creatures who simply made humans disappear.

  Out of the nine hidden survivors she had found the day after the landing, only three were left.

  The howls got closer and she shivered. She was going to have to break cover and make a beeline for the river. The time for finesse was gone, if she wanted to reach the north lands, she had to go now.

  Sophie crossed her fingers and ran like the hounds of hell were on her trail. She sprinted down the street and onto the bridge. Their howls turned to growls as they got closer. With her last ounce of speed, she propelled herself off the bridge before she could change her mind.

  The icy water closed over her head and when she surfaced meters downstream, she gave a tired grin at the yipping and barking that her pursuers were engaged in. Apparently, these dogs were not fond of water. With grim determination, she began to pull herself through the water until she was on the north bank. The current had done two hours of walking for her.

  * * * *

  “They lost her.” N’lien announced it with surprise. “She jumped off a bridge and swam away.”

  T’bir couldn’t help a grin from creeping over his features. “Did she now? Do they know which way she was headed?”

  “She seemed to be heading due north. Possibly to one of the settlements there.”

  T’bir nodded. “We cleaned out all of those settlements, didn’t we?”

  “Yes. It was done on the third day, after we cut off communications. She might not know that there is no one in the settlement.” N’lien paused to take a call from one of the security patrols.

  “I would guarantee that she doesn’t. We have done a fairly thorough job of blocking their communications.” T’bir ran his hands through his hair. “I am going after her.”

  “Really, T’bir? She shouldn’t be too hard to catch. From the visual that the trackers got, she is wearing bright red and an open skirt. She doesn’t exactly sound like she is prepared for a long overland hike while dodging patrols.”

  T’bir almost growled at his friend of twenty years. “I will hunt her and bring her in.”

  N’lien finally caught on. “Yes, Commander. Hunt the human female, bring her back. It will do you good to be active.”

  He stifled another snarl and stalked from the control room. His ship was laid out in a wheel and spoke pattern with the central hub being the control area. The spoke he took led him to the ramp which led to the ground below.

  T’bir nodded to the men on duty, shifted into his wolf form and took a northerly path through the blasted city.

  He admired the efficiency of their attack even while he inwardly cringed at the smell of death that dotted some of the rubble. His senses were more acute than that of his subordinates, so he would have to tell them of the living humans hiding beneath the street when he returned. Now was for hunting.

  A scent caught him, light and sweet with an odour of fear and sweat in it. It was blatantly feminine and stood out amongst the rubble like an orchid on a sand dune.

  A low growl started in his throat as his blood heated. This was no ordinary chase. He was on a mate hunt and nothing and no one would get in his way.

  * * * *

  Sophie dodged two patrols by hiding in tall grasses alon
g a stream bed. The damned scarlet clothing she was wearing was going to drive her nuts if she survived this. At this very moment, it did seem doubtful.

  Crouched in the reeds, she saw one of the Sethen up close for the first time. He had been upstream about twenty feet and had shifted from wolf to human looking male in a second of rippling skin. His clothing appeared when he did which caused her mind to scramble around, trying to figure out the how.

  He leaned down, splashed water on his arms and face, then stood and returned to his companions. They were joined by another wolf and as the man stood, Sophie’s limbs locked in place.

  He wasn’t pretty, but he was riveting. A solid jaw was framed by a slithering silk of black and silver hair. It wasn’t silvered with age, it just seemed part of his colouring somehow. His shoulders were massive, waist narrow and there was enough muscle tone on him to cause her to shrug at the manner in which her people had been defeated. If all the men were like him, she didn’t wonder that the humans had just given up.

  The males laughed together and wandered off to share a meal. She crouched at the edge of the stream and very slowly made her way as far away from their little gathering as possible.

  * * * *

  “Does she honestly think we don’t see and smell her there?” one of the patrol members asked casually.

  T’bir nodded. “The humans have very little of their tracking abilities left. They depend almost entirely on their sight.”

  The head of the patrol looked to his companions and then back to T’bir. “Will you capture her, Commander?”

  “I feel I had better. She hasn’t eaten in at least a day so she will no doubt be bad tempered, but she is my target and I must make sure she stays in good health.” T’bir shifted into his wolf form and disappeared into the woods next to the stream. He cut his quarry off and when she was inching toward him, he shifted back into his other form and caught her in his arms. Her scream was ear shattering, making him wonder—with a grin—if she did everything at that decibel level.

  “Quiet. You will not be hurt. I am here to feed you, help you to your destination so you can confirm that the city is empty and then I will escort you to the ship where we will discuss your future.” T’bir was having a hard time concentrating. Her warm weight and her scent of female, his female, was driving him to distraction. The clothing she was wearing was in place due to its construction because the gilded outfit barely covered her essentials. With the flimsy fabric clinging to her every curve, he gritted his teeth at the self-control he suddenly needed. His cock jerked in his trousers as he shifted her and carried her out of the reeds to the small camp made by the patrol.

  They nodded as she was seated in their midst, facing the small fire. “That is quite the outfit you have on, Miss.”

  T’bir scowled at the younger tracker. The young woman was wearing enough to cover breasts and crotch and not a lot else. Her laced boots were the only practical thing she had on.

  Her cheeks turned a blotchy pink and her bluish lips stopped further questions. Her body started to quiver and T’bir nodded to the others. “She is cold, we need to warm her as quickly as we can.”

  Without a word, half of the men shifted into their wolf forms and wound around her, rubbing her flesh with their fur.

  T’bir laid her down on the ground and shifted so that he was in front of her, wrapping her in his bulky fur, nestling his head between her neck and shoulder. Her fingers wound in his fur and burrowed deep.

  The younger trackers covered her back and legs, radiating heat as close to her as they could.

  It seemed like hours until she started stirring on her own, trying to fight her way free of the pile of fur and fangs.

  * * * *

  Sophie was shocked when the man cornered her in the reeds and simply lifted her to the shore without a fight. She was exhausted, cold and disoriented by the shifting between man and wolf that seemed so easy to them.

  He smelled warm, there was no doubt of it, heat was radiating from him in waves. She wanted nothing more at that moment than to snuggle in and absorb every inch of his warmth. His voice was soothing to her ears, a welcome note in the bizarre events of the week.

  When he promised to take her north, she jerked in surprise, and that small motion started a chain reaction of shivers that worked its way out from her core until she was quivering in place. One of the men spoke to her, but she didn’t hear him as her body’s shaking became more violent.

  Her captor spoke and soon men were in wolf form all around her. She was tugged to the ground and they surrounded her on all sides, waves of heat coming to her from all angles.

  When her shivers ceased her sense of self-preservation came roaring forward, she tried to get away from the living fur covering that was all around her.

  “Hold still, Miss. Take in the heat that they offer you.” One of the patrol was standing nearby, he had a cup in his hand. “Drink this, Miss.”

  The hot beverage was tempting and after she worked an arm free, she guided the hand that held the cup to her lips. It was a tea, strange and floral, it rippled through her body with enticing heat. The shivers slowed to a dull chill that evaporated under the ministrations of the wolves and patrol.

  A low growl came from the wolf lying against her torso and she looked down into dark gold eyes.

  As she met his animal gaze his body lengthened and shifted against hers. It was disconcerting to be facing a man lying on his side against her where a wolf had been a moment before. She couldn’t decide which one was more dangerous, the man or the beast. She really didn’t want to find out.

  Despite his origins on a planet far from this one, his body seemed to align itself with hers quite naturally. The body was familiarly male and if his species reacted like hers did, their proximity was causing some interest on his part. Sophie froze as a heated bar of flesh was pressed to her thigh.

  He smiled, but it did not reach his eyes. “Let’s sit up and get some food into you, Miss. Perhaps you would be willing to tell us why you defied the order to evacuate.”

  Her body warmer stood up, hauling her with him and catching her when her spinning head caused her knees to weaken.

  The other wolves shifted into their other forms and began a number of domestic tasks around the camp. It seemed the male holding her was the one in control.

  He sat on a tree stump near the fire and hauled her onto his lap. “Now, you will tell me who you are and what you are doing here and then you will have some lunch.”

  A tugging at her boots made her jump. One of the patrol members was unlacing her boots. “You need to dry your feet, Miss. Only then will you be able to maintain your body temperature.”

  Her living chair nodded. “He’s right. It is a miracle that you managed to make it this far. Now, your name?”

  She looked up into those hypnotic gold eyes and swallowed. “Sophie. Sophie Redding. I am trying to make it to Northton to see if my grandmother survived.”

  A bowl of something hot was pressed into her hands and she started to eat with unladylike speed. “Why isn’t anyone else eating?”

  The man under her laughed. “We eat on the run. These are emergency rations we keep for people in distress.”

  One of the other patrolmen grinned. “Women’s food.”

  If Sophie hadn’t been finished her bowl by then, that description would have stopped her. She looked into the bowl as if she could determine the contents by sight. “What does that mean?”

  Her living chair chuckled. “It means that it is much more of an omnivorous food than the males eat.” His warm breath on her neck made her horribly aware of the hard thighs under her own and the broad chest against her side.

  “So, your women aren’t…like you?” She looked up and was caught in those golden eyes.

  “No, they are similar to human females based on what we have observed. I am Commander T’bir by the way.”

  She swallowed heavily. “Commander of what?”

  “Of the ground clearing force. Th
ese men report to me.”

  The men of the patrol grinned and nodded, then broke down the small camp, washed the dishes and packed up the implements they had used to feed her.

  “Why are you here?” Her voice was plaintive.

  “Why, my dear Sophie, I followed you.” His grin was her only warning as he leaned down and kissed her, holding her head with fingers threaded through her hair and pulling her into him with his free hand.

  Her eyes widened as his mouth came down on hers, his scent enveloped her and the woodsy aroma was mixed with musk and male. He teased her mouth with his and when his fingers tightened against her skull, she parted her lips on a gasp. He teased her open lips with his tongue until she flicked her tongue against his in response.

  He groaned and the hand at her waist flexed as he explored her mouth with quick forays of his tongue. Heat pooled in her belly and it was long moments into the kiss when she remembered that his species was kicking hers off their home. She jerked back hard and he let her go.

  T’bir’s face had a feral look, the skin tight across his cheekbones and his eyes glittering. She remained in his grasp, panting for air. “We are not friends, we are not lovers, we are not even the same species. We shouldn’t do that.”

  A flash of anger ran across his visage and he stood, dumping her to the ground. “Get up and put your boots on. We will go and see your north country and then return you to the holding areas with the rest of your race.”

  She froze at the chill in his tone, but scrambled to get her boots on. The patrols were simply gone. There was no trace of them anywhere. Even the fire they had started for her comfort was gone. If her belly wasn’t full, she would think she had imagined the whole thing.

  The leather had stiffened next to the fire, but it was still damp as she laced the clammy boots back onto her legs.

  When she stood up, T’bir grabbed her by one arm and began to unceremoniously haul her through the woods.

  Sophie stumbled along next to T’bir as they strode through the woods at a frightening speed. She never imagined that the straight line was fastest when there was a forest in the way, but he proved her wrong.