Gifted To The Red Dragon - The Dark Shifter Series - Book Two

Georgie

I stare at the walls of the small room, which I have made into my office. They’re covered in newspaper cuttings and a large map with different coloured pins. They mark the places of potential shifter sightings. The government would have us believe that the werewolves or wolf-shifters, as they like to be called, only inhabit designated areas. Areas approved by the government. Where normal humans are advised not to go, but I know different. Some people laugh at me. They call me a crazy conspiracy theorist, but over the years I’ve collected evidence. Evidence that these shifters walk among us. It could be your neighbour or the guy you see at the gym, maybe even a work colleague or your boss. When they’re not in their animal form, they wouldn’t look any different to regular people. Do the government know this? If so, what else do they know? What else aren’t they telling us? Are these shifters just limited to wolves, or can they shift into other animals? Bears perhaps, or big cats? Why else would they refer to themselves as shifters rather than werewolves? Why have they revealed themselves to us now, and what are they planning? Or is this more government collusion? Have the governments of the world always known of their existence?

The more I discover, the more questions I have. Questions that no one in the government is going to answer, so I have to find out the answers for myself. If the government won’t tell the general public what’s going on, then I sure as hell will.

Rumour has it that they can’t be killed. Hunters who thought they had bagged themselves a regular wolf would turn tail and run when the mortally wounded animal got to its feet without a wound, and a menacing look in its eye ready to take their revenge. But animals, true animals, don’t take revenge. That’s an entirely human emotion, and the hunters swore blind that their aim had been true and that the animal should have been dead.

I look at my watch. Today might be the day I find out. I’m meeting a contact who says they have evidence that shifters don’t just come in wolf form. Evidence that will change everything.

It could, of course, be a wild goose chase; I’ve had those before, but I have a good feeling about this. Especially considering that the contact I’m going to meet doesn’t want payment in cash. No, they have asked for payment with a plant, or at least the flowers from the plant; Aconitum, more commonly known as Monkshood or Wolfsbane.

It’s strange because they could quite easily have picked the flowers themselves. They’re not exactly rare, and they can be found in any woodland area. Why would a poisonous plant be more valuable than cold hard cash?

I push the thought from my mind as I grab my laptop and voice recorder and head out towards the arranged meeting place.

The place I have arranged to meet my contact is a small café. It’s small and out of the way, so there will be no prying eyes or government officials trying to stop me from learning the truth.

There are several tables in the middle and booths down the side, so I slide into a booth. The booth will give me more privacy when my contact turns up.

I can see the door from where I’m sitting, so I wait.

I don’t have to wait long for the door to open, but I’m a little surprised at the person who walks through the door.

She’s gorgeous and looks like she just stepped off a catwalk. She’s tall, and her body is perfectly toned. It looks like she spends a lot of time in the gym. Her long black hair hangs loosely on her shoulders and has almost an unnatural sheen to it. She’s wearing a pair of large sunglasses which cover half of her face. It’s probably because she doesn’t want to be recognised. She removes them as she walks in. I guess it would look a little strange to wear sunglasses inside.

It’s then that I realise they probably aren’t part of a disguise because she’s sporting a large bruise on her left cheekbone.

I frown. I hope she didn’t get herself hurt by agreeing to meet me.

I wave her over, and she nods when she sees me, recognising my face from the blog that I publish or my YouTube channel. Chasing down government secrets doesn’t make much money, but I make enough from my subscribers to pay the bills.

I stand up as she approaches and offer her my hand.

“You must be Rhae.”

She glances at my hand and nods. She sits down in the opposite seat without shaking my hand, which I feel is a little strange.

“Did you bring it?” She scowls.

Before I get the chance to answer, the waitress comes over, notepad in hand. We both look at her suspiciously, but she ignores the looks; she’s probably had worse than that.

“What can I get you, ladies?”

I glance over at Rhae, but she doesn’t respond, so I order for the both of us.

“Two coffees, please.”

The waitress leaves, and Rhae looks at me and frowns.

“I don’t drink coffee.”

I lean forward.

“Well, it would look a bit suspicious if you sat here with nothing.”

I tilt my head to one side when she doesn’t answer. As pretty as she is, she seems a little strange, and then it dawns on me.

“Are you one of…”

“Yes,” she quickly interrupts.

My eyes glisten excitedly. I’ve hit the jackpot. Apart from not really knowing how to interact as other people do, there would be no way to tell that she was a shifter. Except perhaps for her build and her looks. I wonder if they are all like that.

Before I can ask another question, the waitress returns with our coffee. She places it on the table and leaves the bill.

Once she’s gone and out of earshot, Rhae speaks again. There’s an edge to her voice, and she’s clearly agitated.

“Did you bring it?”

I nod and pull a zip-lock bag from my pocket.

As I hold it up, she moves to snatch it from my hand, but I pull it back.

“I have some questions first.”

She sighs, but nods her head.

I gesture towards the bruise on her face.

“I thought shifters had some sort of ultra healing ability?”

Rhae touches the bruise with the tip of her fingers.

“Our beasts heal us...”

“But yours isn’t?”

She shakes her head.

“She’s unstable right now, so she needs to be suppressed.”

Rhae looks towards the zip-lock bag.

“Which is why I need that.”

I swallow nervously. Perhaps meeting with a werewolf was a bad idea; they are partly animals, after all, but it’s too late to worry about that now. There’s bound to be an element of risk when you’re investigating the truth.

“Is your wolf dangerous?”

Rhae chuckles darkly.

“You really have no idea, do you?”

She slowly shakes her head and lowers her voice.

“I’m no werewolf... I’m a bear-shifter, and the only person I’m a danger to is myself.”

I slowly slide the sachet of wolfsbane towards her, my eyes drawn to the bruise on her face.

“Did someone hurt you?”

She rolls her eyes.

“My alpha doesn’t take kindly to his pack members taking wolfsbane. But better that than my beast running headlong into certain death.”

I can’t help but frown. I know about shifter hierarchy. Well, at least wolf shifter hierarchy. When the government decided to reveal their existence, they offered a few nuggets of information, but not much. I know that they live in packs with an alpha in charge. I assume that other beasts live in the same way, but to have a leader use violence seems like an abuse of power. Is that why she faces certain death?

She looks at me and sighs before reaching into her pocket. She pulls out a pen drive and hands it to me.

“Look at this, and I’ll explain everything.”

I pull my laptop from its bag, but before I have a chance to turn it on, her hand covers mine.

I look up to see her shaking her head.

“Not here. Is there somewhere we can go?”

I nod my head, sliding the laptop back into its case.

I don’t normally bring people back to my apartment, but this is different. This could be the lead that I’ve been looking for.