Hell's Gator

-Hellen or ‘Hell’ as she’s known to her family-

Hellen tossed a shovel full of dirt onto the gator’s body. Her breath caught as the animal twitched. Jumping down into the hole where the gator she presumed was dead lay on its back, she pressed her head against the animal’s chest, listening for a heartbeat. Detecting no sound at all, Hellen stood back and looked down at the gator critically. She didn’t want to bury it if it wasn’t dead, but wasn’t sure if he was or not. Suddenly an idea struck. Hellen stood, then dropped her body onto the gator while slamming the back of her elbow into its chest. Then she pressed her head against the animal’s chest and listened. One single beat of its heart answered her effort to get its heart beating. Hellen stood up excitedly, adrenalin pumping through her at the idea that she might manage to save it. Aiming for the gator’s chest again, she dropped her body onto the injured creature’s upper body once more. She pressed her ear to its chest hoping for another heartbeat. But what she heard instead was a deep, threatening growl. “It’s alive!” she exclaimed, jumping quickly out of the would-be grave. Circling around to see its face, she managed to get a good look at its one remaining eye. What she saw sent a chill through her. One very clear, very blue, human eye gazed at her from beneath the gator’s reptilian lid. “You’re a shifter! I’m going to get you out of there, and find somewhere to shelter you. Just hold on!” Hellen teetered precariously on the edge of the would-be grave and grabbed ahold of the gator’s tail. He growled again when she began pulling with all her might to get him out of the hole she’d dumped him in. “And don’t bite me! I’m trying to help you!”

~ Lucien ~

Lucien lay on a pallet in a makeshift shelter the irritating female had built around him. He breathed heavily, his huge body sweating as he fought off the infection from the gunshot wounds. Yes, wounds — three of them. One in the back of his skull, and two in the chest, along with gashes across his body from the propeller of a boat. He’d been lying here for weeks, just barely clinging to life as the female did all she could to keep him breathing. In his opinion it was the least she could do, since she’d tried to bury him alive. Movement from her side of the shelter caught his attention, and he watched her warily as she approached him.
“Hey, are you awake? I have to go. I’m needed at home, and I’ve been putting it off. I can’t wait anymore.”
He hissed at her.
“You’re stable enough to be alone for a few days. I’m leaving my water bottles and what little food I have left. I’ll move it all closer so you can get to it easily. If you can manage to venture out, please don’t. I don’t know if the people that did this to you are still around. I’ll be back in a couple of days.”
He opened his mouth and hissed at her more fiercely than he had before.
“If you keep that up, I won’t come back.”
He closed his mouth, but still glared at her.
Minutes later he lay there listening to her four-wheeler driving away, deserting him during one of the only times in his life he’d ever needed anybody. “How dare she?” he thought. He spent the next three hours dragging himself a few inches at a time toward the slivers of sunshine that fell through the small shelter’s opening. She’d given him no choice but to try to track her — even in his weakened condition. She needed to learn that mates don’t leave one another to die alone.

This book is a work of fiction. All characters, plots, and circumstances are products of the author’s imagination.

Warning: This book is intended for mature readers. This book contains situations, sexual and otherwise, as well as violence both real and implied that may be disturbing for some readers. If you are offended by these subjects, please do not buy this book.