Shifter Mountain Read online

  She was obsessing now. Replaying the kiss in her mind. Reimaging his hands on her body. She could lie there alone in her bed and sweat it out, tossing and turning, or she could dare to go and get what she wanted.

  Then a thought occurred. She could go check her stills! She always worked the stills at night! Hell, that's why they call it moonshine.

  She could go check her two stills out behind the other cabin. No one would question her about that. How she would approach Jordan once she was done with the stills, she didn't know. But now that she had a reason to walk on over there, she felt less foolish.

  Even if it was total pretense!

  Kay got dressed and walked through the dark with a flashlight.

  The stills were actually empty now, and it was time for a new batch. The general store and other buyers would expect to replenish their supplies pretty soon. She had cleaned the stills already, but they had been sitting there for a couple of weeks, so there was no reason she couldn't clean them again.

  The camp outside the cabin was more active than she expected. It had been a long day, and they were doing more shots of Jordan tomorrow so they had to get up early. Kay had the feeling that these folks were pretty hard partiers, though.

  The production company had hired a four-star chef to take a week off to come fire up Kay's father's old barbecue grill. The smoky smell of ribs and roasted veggies wafted around outside the cabin, even this late at night.

  She tried to tiptoe past everyone, and thankfully, no one seemed to question her presence. A poker game was going on by a campfire, and she swore she heard some uncensored moaning coming from one of the tents.

  Around back, she found the stills, and from that angle she could actually see into the living room of the cabin. A light was on, but she didn't see Jordan anywhere. She also didn't see anyone else, even though there were three bedrooms in the cabin. No one seemed to be moving around in there. Maybe Jordan had already gone to sleep, she thought.

  She had no idea what to do, so she picked up a wrench and started banging on the side of one of the stills. It was totally dumb, but it succeeded.

  "What the hell! Who's back there! Bob?!"

  Jordan emerged from the back door wearing jeans, but no shirt. Kay had gotten his attention, that's for sure, but she hadn't expected him to be only half-dressed.

  When Jordan realized it was Kay, he gave her a sleepy smile.

  "Uh — hey," she said.

  "What are you doing?"

  "I gotta clean the stills. I've got to get a fresh batch going after you folks head out."

  "Ah," Jordan said. He leaned up against the door jam, crossing his arms. The affect caused his biceps to bulge a little more than usual, and Kay was half-tempted to just come clean and confess why she was there.

  "I've been thinking about your 'shine, actually," Jordan said.

  "You have?"

  "Ah-yep. How would you feel about going legit? I mean, getting licensed."

  "Can't afford that really. Looked into it once."

  "Sure you can afford it! With the right financial backer. That would be me."

  "You want to be my financial backer? I don't know what to say."

  "Sugar Fire is some mighty fine white whiskey," he said. "And if you go the legal route, you could also take that recipe, alter it to meet official and traditional specs, and probably come up with a pretty competitive bourbon. Age it in some charred oak barrels."

  "You're a bourbon man, Jordan Lawless?"

  "I am indeed," he said. Then he got a serious look on his face. "If you were unattached, you're the kind of woman I might want to take on the Bourbon Trail. We'd road trip up all the way through Kentucky. A lot of distillers along that trail."

  "If I were unattached...That does sound like a lot of fun," Kay admitted.

  "We'd have to take our time, since we get to taste-test bourbon everywhere. I've never driven drunk and I don't intend to start. But I could use a little vacation after all this, and something tells me you could use a vacation yourself."

  Kay's eyes dampened. Suddenly, Jordan moved in on her fast, caught her up in his arms and kissed her deeply until she thought she would faint. She let her arms go around his neck, and his strong hands held her as her lips parted and gave way to an even deeper kiss.

  Jordan tasted Kay, tasted the Sugar Fire still on her tongue, and could not suppress a soft moan. His hand slid up around her waist and over her breast. His mouth then travelled down her neck, heading for the softness of her upper cleavage.

  "I'm yours if you want me," Kay said.

  Jordan stopped and tried to regain his composure. All he wanted to do was haul her off into the cabin and show her how a good man made love to a woman.

  "This may not be a good idea right now," he said. "You told me you just recently had a miscarriage. Have you been checked out by a doctor?"

  Kay shook her head no.

  "There's something I have to tell you," Kay whispered. "The fact is, Cephas beat me in order to make me lose the baby."

  Jordan reeled back in horror. He knew there were bastards who beat their wives, and there were bastards who beat their kids, but this was a whole new angle on sadist. That a man would deliberately beat a pregnant woman. And not in a blind rage, but in a premeditated, calculated attack designed to kill the life inside her.

  He did not want to scare Kay by exploding in anger over what she had just told him. So he kept his calm.

  "When we're done filming here, Kay, I want you to come home with me to Nashville."

  Kay blinked in disbelief.

  "You do?"

  "I'm scheduled to play at Grand Ole Opry this weekend. Have you ever seen it? You'll love it. And with me, you get the VIP treatment."

  Kay shook her head.

  "He won't let me go. We can have tonight — it doesn't matter what happened to me — you don't have to be careful. I want to be with you, but he won't ever let me off this mountain.

  "And when you're in Nashville," Jordan said, ignoring her protests, "you will file for divorce."

  "Wh-what?!"

  "I need to know more about the people on this mountain. The skinwalkers. My own family. But we will come back for that. Right now, I want you away from Scopes Mountain. And don't worry about Cephas. I don't know how I know this, but as long as I'm on this mountain, he and his brothers have to do what I say."

  "Do what you say?"

  "I don't know why — but I've seen that have to obey me when I command them. They don't have to like it. But they backed down the other night. And I think one of them was following me even before that night, and that creature backed down as well. A Hellbender."

  Kay shook her head.

  "That would be Cephas' brother Daryl. You saw him at the general store. He's the only skinwalker I know who would deliberately turn himself into a salamander."

  Jordan kissed Kay again.

  "When things are settled, and when you are truly feeling better," Jordan told her, "I'm going to love you until you can barely stand on your two feet again. And it won't be because I've hurt you."

  Kay felt her face flush hot.

  "Do you want to stay here with me?" Jordan asked her. "We'll just sleep. But it would be nice to wake up with you next to me."

  "Yes," she said. "And I'll go with you back to Nashville and file for divorce like you want."

  "Isn't it what you want, too?"

  "Yes," she said.

  They stared at each other for a moment.

  "How is it possible that you came into my life just yesterday, and in just a day or two you have completely changed my whole world?" she asked him.

  "I certainly wasn't planning on it," Jordan said. "But your world needed changing, and I'm glad that fate or whatever, or whoever, sent me to do what needs to be done."

  He took her inside. Kay borrowed one of his T-shirts in lieu of pajamas, at first feeling embarrassed that was all she would wear to bed. So she hopped under the covers quick and then it didn't take long at all for Ka
y to doze off soundly in his arms. When she woke up the next morning still in his arms, she realized that had been the first night in her life that she could remember ever really getting a truly good night's sleep.

  Jordan had held back the night before, but Kay was irresistible in the morning light.

  "I've been thinking about it," he said, "and I still think we need to be careful. But there's more than one way to make love to someone, and if you will let me, I'd like to show you how good it can really be."

  Kay looked at him sleepily. She gave him a slight smile.

  "What I've been hoping is that you'd make me completely forget my husband altogether, one way or another," she said.

  Jordan couldn't have hoped for a clearer invitation.

  Jordan began by taking his time caressing every inch of her skin that he could reach that technically wasn't officially an erotic zone. Technically, as far he was concerned, every inch of Kay was an erotic zone, but he felt it was important to keep his hand in safer places, like her shoulders and back, her arms and maybe her calves. He wanted to be sure that with whatever he did, he paced things so that she always wanted more, not less, of what he was doing.

  He kissed her forehead and her cheeks, and her shoulder. When he heard her first sigh, then he kissed her on the lips.

  As he kissed her more deeply, Kay felt her back arch slightly, and involuntarily. This Jordan took to be a very good sign that she was comfortable with him, and not feeling resistant.

  He ran his tongue along her clavicle, and then dipped lower, finally venturing into a riskier zone. His tongue traveled down her right breast, easily exposed through the neck of the T-shirt she wore and traced damp circles around her nipple. Kay trembled at this, and he took a momentary break.

  "Everything okay?" he asked softly.

  "Yes," she whispered. "Everything is fine. I don't want you to stop."

  At that, he pulled off the T-shirt she was wearing altogether.

  Some of the body makeup Gina had used to cover up Kay's older bruises had worn off, and Jordan had caught a glimpse of the marks the animal that was her husband had made. He wisely said nothing about it, but being unsure at how physically painful these areas might still be, he resisted gripping her anywhere.

  Going slow was proving to be a bit more difficult than he had expected. His own need was getting impatient. But the results would be worth it, if he could supplant Cephas in Kay's mind as her first and only man.

  Kay had never used the word herself, but Jordan was pretty damn sure that a good part of their marital union had involved rape. He had no degree in psychology, but he had some idea of the trauma that inflicted on a woman, given the little bit that his mother finally had told him when he got older, about what had happened to her with his father.

  His mother had never been able to give herself to another man after her father, and she died a lonely woman. This was a tragedy. He did not want Kay to suffer the same fate, to be a victim twice over in this regard. Kay would not live her life alone and be unavoidably overly self-protective, having separated from Cephas. She would have him by her side from now on, if she wanted him.

  And the language that her body was speaking to him now indicated that, thankfully, she wanted him very much. She had begun to kiss him back with equal intensity, and her skin had become moist from the waves of their body heat.

  He reached between her legs and felt that she was quite wet. He pulled down her panties, and his index finger began to stimulate her. At first, she had no noticeable reaction, but then after about a minute, her back arched again.

  He repositioned himself so that he could easily run his lips down her inner thigh with feathery kisses. And then he went down on her.

  Kay had no idea what she was in for. It did not happen quickly — she had never orgasmed before, and so her body was learning for the first time how to respond to welcome stimuli — but within two-or-three minutes, she felt an unexpected contraction in her pelvis. This was not unpleasant, but it startled her.

  Jordan felt her body suddenly resist, so he stopped.

  "What's going on?" he asked her gently.

  She explained to him the sensation she was feeling.

  "Does it actually hurt, or does it just feel like a normal muscle contraction?"

  Kay blushed a little but with a smile. It seemed strange to be talking so matter-of-factly with a naked man in her bed.

  "It doesn't hurt at all. But it certainly doesn't feel normal."

  "Have you ever come before? Had an orgasm?"

  "I would guess pretty likely not."

  "What you're describing is the start of it. The feeling should increase. And believe me, you'll know when it actually happens."

  Kay lay back down, and Jordan continued with what he was doing, taking his time, changing his rhythm a little bit. When the contractions started coming in waves, Kay trusted it. Suddenly she felt an intense, sensational and euphoric spasm. Her left leg involuntarily stretched out and her toes curled.

  A wave of natural opiates filled her body. Kay would not have known that, but what she felt was that every achy, sore spot of her was suddenly pain free. She felt warm and blissful.

  She had barely made a sound. In this regard, she still had held back from him. But Jordan knew he had been successful that morning. He stretched out beside her, taking a momentary break.

  He laced his fingers through hers.

  "That was amazing," Kay said, breathless.

  "That was just your first time," he said. "Once you get the hang of it, it will get even better."

  "What now?" she asked.

  "Let's just relax here for a second so you can enjoy the after-effect," he told her. "And then I'm going to show you how to do the same for me."

  Chapter 11

  Kay went along with the crew back to the holler. A night watch had kept guard over the equipment, and they had been relieved by sunrise.

  Most of the shoot went fairly smoothly, until Bob set up an angle whereby he wanted Jordan to be sitting and playing his guitar on a ledge. At a certain point, Jordan stopped playing for a second, and then he reached back to change his sitting position. When his hand touched rock, suddenly he began to shift.

  Kay was standing nearby and saw it just as Jordon felt it. His fingers started petrifying.

  The camera's still rolling! Kay thought. So she jumped into view, blocking the camera's view of Jordan.

  She didn't have time question what she thought she was seeing. She obviously had seen shifters change into animal form quite frequently, but she had never seen a man turn to stone before.

  Jordan looked up at her in panic.

  "What the hell is happening, people?!" Bob called out.

  "I saw a rat!" Kay called back.

  "A goddamn rat. Yeah, that's great for scenery. Is it still there?" Bob asked.

  "I can't tell yet."

  She still kept blocking Jordan so that no one could see what was really going on.

  "Can't you move at all?" she whispered.

  Jordan's hand was heavy, but after his initial shock at having this happen when he was not gearing up for a fight, he found he still had free will and control over his hand. When he lifted his hand off the ledge, everything went back to normal.

  "What the hell is happening to me?" he asked her.

  "I have no idea, but I know who does," she told him.

  When that day's shoot was over, Kay took Jordan back to the general store, where they had first met.

  Old Man Cowell was behind the counter, reading the paper per usual. He looked up when the bell over the door jingled as the twosome walked in.

  "I see you're still here," Old Man Cowell said to Jordan. "I hear you've got quite a scene going up there at Slacom's Holler."

  "Yeah, we do. But we should be done soon, and we'll be getting out of everyone's hair."

  "So, what do you need?"

  "We're not here to buy anything, Mr. Cowell," Kay said. "We need to talk to you about something."

>   Old Man Cowell's eyebrows raised with curiosity.

  "He knows about us," Kay told him. "About our kind. But now that he's here, something keeps happening to him that I haven't seen before. And I figured you would have, being the oldest person still alive around here. You know our history better than anyone."

  "So what keeps happening, young man?"

  Jordan took a moment before speaking. Then he looked Old Man Cowell dead straight in the eyes.

  "I'm turning to stone," he said.

  Old Man Cowell looked at him with amusement.

  "Just like your daddy," he said.

  "What?" Jordan said incredulous. "Just like my daddy? You said you didn't know any Lawless! Not that well, anyway!"

  "I said that because I wanted to see what happened to you first," Old Man Cowell said. "Your daddy was the last one, and when he died this whole thing would have passed to you, but you've been away so it never took root in you."

  "Goddamn it, am I a skinwalker?! I'm not turning into some kind of animal, but I'm turning into something! And, is it dangerous? Am I dangerous?!"

  Kay gasped.

  "Jordan, why would you think you're dangerous?"

  "I don't want to turn into my father, Kay. He just said that now I'm just like him, whatever the hell that means!"

  "It means whatever you want it to mean," Old Man Cowell said. "Your daddy was in charge around here, and now you are."

  "In charge. How?"

  "Why, son, you're the mountain."

  "I'm the what?"

  "You...are...the mountain," he told Jordan. "The very mountain itself. You are the Man-in-the-Mountain."

  "How is that even possible? I mean, skinwalking itself is a pretty wild concept to grasp, but a mountain isn't even alive."

  "Sure it is! Everything's alive!" Old Man Cowell said. "You have shifted into the very being — the very life force — of this hunk of rock that rises almost 5,000 feet above sea level called Scopes Mountain."

  Jordan turned to Kay, who was equally in shock. When she looked into Jordan's eyes, she realized he was really scared.

  "What does this mean?" Kay asked. "Will he fully petrify like rock? Is he doomed in some way?"

  "Oh no, girl. He'll be just fine. He and the mountain now are the same, that's why every time he touches a piece of it be turns into it. But he will learn how to control it. "