Alpha's Revenge (Shifter Ops 3)

EPILOGUE

Tabitha

“Come on, come on,” I coax my ancient VW bus up the mountain road. It bounces over the unpaved dirt and rocks.

I check my phone for the thousandth time, but I've still got no service. Luckily I printed off directions to the estate sale. Whoever decided to build their mansion way out here in the Sangre de Cristo mountains was ridiculous, but they’re not the first rich person to want their privacy.

Finally my bus reaches the top of the road and comes into a flat, empty clearing. I circle around it slowly, but it's the end of the road. What the heck? I’m in the middle of nowhere.

I check my directions. Guess I did take a wrong turn. If I’m at the correct address, there's nothing here but a big clearing.

So much for this estate sale. It was a private invite on one of the apps I follow, but I checked it out, and it seemed legit. There were droolworthy pictures of antique jewelry–garnets and agate and turquoise–dating back to the Ottoman Sultans, verified by an auction company and everything. I already had a buyer lined up for one of the brooches.

Oh well. My map service had a satellite view of a fancy Tudor house at this location. Unless that sagebrush is hiding a mansion, the satellite view was wrong.

I get out of the car to stretch my legs. I've been driving for hours, and the last living thing I saw was some buzzards picking at roadkill twenty miles back.

My pink bus is streaked with red dirt. I shake out my skirt and do a few lunges around the clearing. A few more yoga poses to stretch my lower back, and I’ll hit the road. I have just enough gas to get me back onto the highway and to a station.

I’m stretching my arms overhead when my skin prickles. I'm alone here, but my instincts are going nuts, telling me that someone else is here. But where?

I spin in a slow circle. A large shadow creeps over the desert, headed my way. Must be a plane or something but when I look up, I don't see anything. Weird.

The wind picks up, blowing grit into my face. I shade my eyes, but it’s like someone turned a huge fan on above me. My hair whips back in the sudden gust, and my peasant skirt molds to my legs.

The shadow has almost reached me. For a moment, it looks like a pair of outstretched wings. And then a huge shape glides over me, blocking out the sun…