Shifted by Lily Cahill Read Free Book Online

bulky dragonfly with its large cabin and long tail. 
    The spotlight fixed on the asphalt as the helicopter lowered. Briar was amazed that such a large machine could make such a delicate landing. She thought she could make out the letters “UH-40” painted on the tail. When the massive blades came to a stop, the only sound Briar could hear was the short breathing of the terrified citizens of Independence Falls. 
    The door of the helicopter unlatched and slid open. A tall man ducked through the door, dressed in military fatigues and highly polished boots. 
    “Colonel Deacon, United States Army,” he said, his voice carrying in the still air. “I’m here to help.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER SIX
    Charlie
     
    Charlie cursed with frustration for most of the drive back to Independence Falls. It hadn’t taken him long to get to his truck, but after he’d transformed he had a hell of a time getting back into his clothes. Haste made him careless, and he’d fallen painfully while trying to put on his pants. The humiliation burned in his belly, even though no one was around to see. 
    He needed both hands and his good leg to negotiate the big truck around the hairpin turns of the road back to town. He counted himself lucky that his truck had been parked on the town side of the rockslide. Otherwise he would have had to run back through town as a mountain lion, which, given the number of gun owners in Independence Falls, probably wouldn’t have worked out so well for him. 
    Most likely, Briar was somewhere ahead of him, since it had taken him so long to dress. He hoped so. Whoever had been driving that sedan needed help. 
    The closer he got to town, the more anxious he became. He didn’t recognize the car he’d seen crushed under the rocks, but he had to tell someone he had seen it. Whoever was in that car, he wasn’t going to leave them alone any longer than absolutely necessary. They could be hurt, bleeding, even ….
     He gripped the wheel tighter to keep his hands from shaking. He tried to remind himself that it wasn’t like his accident, out on the empty road leading to Angela’s house during a snowstorm. Not like the hours he had spent with his leg trapped under a crushed dashboard, listening to his girlfriend scream until she died.
    He inhaled and exhaled, just to remind himself he was still breathing. 
    Suddenly he saw a truck coming around the bend toward him. It was nearly dark now, but he could see enough to recognize Ivan Sokolov behind the wheel and, sharing the cab with him, an anxious-looking Dr. Porter. 
    Relief surged through him. The doctor was here; whatever could be done, would be done. Tension drained out of his neck and shoulders as he realized that the task he had set for himself was already done. 
    More cars were following behind Ivan’s truck. Charlie had never seen anything like traffic in Independence Falls, but he was seeing it now—a long line of trucks and sedans stretching back toward town. 
    He beeped his horn as a car swung out of the line and pulled over to the side of the road. He recognized his Uncle Rick’s truck and raised a hand in acknowledgment. 
    Rick hopped out of the truck and strode toward Charlie’s window. His slightly-bowed legs and leathery skin attested to the fact that Rick spent most of his time outside on a horse, tending to his acres on the southeast side of town. Up until the accident, Charlie had spent every summer of his life working with Rick on the ranch, learning to run fence and shoe horses.
    Now it had been months since he’d set foot in Rick’s house. He sometimes drove across the property, in search of a place high in the hills to transform, but with his injuries, helping Rick with the chores was completely beyond him. 
    “You’re facing the wrong way,” Rick said as he approached Charlie’s open window.
    “I was headed back to town to tell everyone there’d been a rockslide,” Charlie said.
    “Looks like somebody beat you to