Chapter 5. And then there were two
In her dream she was eight years old and her mother had just made her breakfast. Steaming scrambled eggs piled high on her plate alongside toast scraped with butter. Her mother Annie had shaped the toast into love hearts. Her favorite. She happily took a bite, smiling at her mother who was doing the washing up.
Someone else entered the room, and a shrill chirp sounded behind her. Sam twisted in her seat curiously. Steve, Annie's current boyfriend, was standing in the kitchen doorway, beaming. He was holding up a big gold cage with a gorgeous, blue budgerigar in it. Sam's heart skipped a beat, a huge smile forming on her still innocent face.
"What do you think, Sammy?" Steve asked with a laugh as he came and placed the gold cage on the table beside her. Annie clasped her hands together in pleasure, a big smile on her face as she watched her daughter's reaction. Sam's eyes never left the pretty blue bird sitting inside the cage, chirping happily. She turned her big green globes onto Steve.
"What kind of bird is it?" she asked tremulously. She'd never, ever had a pet before. Steve squatted beside her, ruffling her hair gently with one hand, his brown eyes twinkling at her.
"He's a budgie, Sammy. He's yours - you can name him anything you like. Happy birthday."
Disbelief flooded her young mind, even at that age, Sam had never felt she ever really deserved anything nice. She knew her eyes were shining with tears. She looked back at the blue budgie. So blue. Blue as the sky on a clear day. "Sky. Can we call him Sky?"
Fast forward two weeks later.
Samantha ran screaming from her room, away from Steve. He tried to touch her while she slept. She'd woken with one of his hands up her night shirt. He stumbled blearily after her; drunk. "Come back, Sammy! Don't you know how much I love you? Don't run away from me, sweetie."
Annie had woken to find the man missing from her bed and ran out of her room. She took in the unbelievable scene unfolding in front of her, her own green eyes staring in shock at the man she had allowed into her home.
Sammy dove into her arms, sobbing, but her mother told her to run down the stairs. And so Sammy had run, even as she heard crashing sounds coming from upstairs. The first thing she saw as she ran into the living room was Sky. In his golden prison. Racing towards him, she flung his door open, and gently scooped him out like she always did.
The bird had gently cooed at her, rubbing his head on her hand, bobbing up and down happily at the attention. Not really thinking, she took Sky over to the back door and opened it. Raising her hand high, she sobbed heavily as the bird sensed freedom and took off.
She watched him fly away into the night, wishing that she could too. That was where her mother had found her, frantically sobbing in the doorway; then she was pulling her child into the car, hands trembling.
Sam finally sunk into shock and she watched with emotionless detachment as her mother hysterically backed the car out, knocking over the trash cans that the neighbours had neatly stacked the evening before. Tears drying and streaked across her face, she just continued looking upwards, the street lights blinding her. She never saw Sky again.
************
The sky was so blue. The bird flying above her was so high, she couldn't tell what it was. She wished she could join it. She dozed fitfully, half asleep, half awake, toying with the idea of shifting into the budgie she'd set free so many years ago. It was the only bird she'd ever touched, but she knew that the blue budgerigar would never make any distance.
It was too conspicuous, too out of character for a forest, and too small to make it far. God, if only she'd had the opportunity to touch an eagle or a falcon. Even just a seagull. She mumbled lightly her disappointment, stretching her limbs carefully, enjoying the sunshine and heat warming her body.
She rolled over and snuggled back into a firm, warm chest. She stilled immediately.
What the-?
Instantly wide awake, Sam leapt out of her dreamy thoughts and snapped her eyes wide open. They were looking at a strong chin dusted with stubble. Her hands were resting on a hard stomach coated lightly with a sprinkling of hair, her breasts pressed into a lean rib cage.
Oh God
, she whimpered as she realized that she'd actually thrown a leg over his.
Shit, shit, shit
, she cursed frantically as she refused to look lower than his stomach. She refused to even think where her suddenly aching pussy was pressed against, her traitorous leg draped over his, forcing her close. Her eyes whipped straight back up to his face, relief washing through her when she realized he was still soundly asleep.
Gently now, with extreme care, Sam extracted her leg from over his. Her eyes warily watched his for any sign of him awakening. Every flutter of his eyelashes sent mortification crashing through her. Her heart was thudding in her veins, she was sure it would wake him up.
Easing her upper body away from his side, she had successfully removed all contact with him, when his eyes suddenly flickered open.
Fuck!
In an instant she had shifted.
Jake was pleasantly warm, he was snuggled against something soft and sweet smelling, but it had gone. He opened his eyes and blindly reached for it and was greeted with a handful of fur. Fur? Confused, he sat up on his elbows and realized that he'd inadvertently grabbed Sam. Only she was a wolf. Damn, had she never once shifted back from that form? Had she been awake all night?
Groaning, he started to sit up, then realized he was buck naked. And he had an embarrassing morning condition. More worried about her than himself, he immediately stood up with his back to her without saying a word, and walked off behind a tree to relieve himself. Plenty of time for good mornings when he wasn't so, well, indisposed. His muscles ached from the blinding run last night.
