Recessive Gifts Read online

  Que stood in front of the door and blocked their way. “Hold it.”

  Yuri snarled at Que. “Que shag. I won’t hesitate to take you by force.”

  “No,” Que stood her ground. “I told you she’s not someone you can play with and be your lady of the night. You two just need to end things so she won’t get emotionally attached to…….”

  “We want to be with her, Que!” Liam shouted. “This isn’t just another one of our short-term things.”

  “And we aren’t going to let her slip away.” Yuri pushed Que out of the way. “Her happiness and trust are the most important things to us.

  Que looked both men in the eyes; she could see a burning fire in them. They wanted to get to Zena and didn’t care who was in the way. They were men in love. For them to look that way for a person in their realm meant something. Que wasn’t wrong about what she was feeling in Vegas. She was able to confirm it now, but she was still a little shocked about how it was happening.

  “No….” Que gasped. “How can…. there is no way two people can...”

  “It can and it will,” Yuri rushed out the door. Liam followed right after him.

  Que ran after the men. “Wait, I need to tell you something!” Once Que caught up to them, she cut right to the chase. “Apep’s men are planning on using a huge storm on the upper Pacific coast. They want to use the storm as a cover to do corrupted things without being detected. That way, if people report a missing person, they could make it seem like they died because of the damage from the storm. And they can take their victims back to their master.”

  “UHHH, Yuri, didn’t you say the last you heard from your men was that Zena was headed northwest?” Liam asked.

  Yuri's face went troubled from the information he just heard. He grabbed his phone to make a call. His heart raced as he waited for an answer. All that was on his mind was that he wanted to bring Zena home and tell her everything. He couldn’t help but have a feeling that if he didn’t hurry, he might lose her forever.

  *******

  Zena watched the clouds out in the distance as a storm was coming in. She scanned around to see everyone at the campground packing to leave, which made her do the same. Soon the rain started to pour down, and the sky got dark. It didn’t take that long for her to get soaking wet.

  In a hurry, Zena sprinted to her jeep. She took off her top and grabbed a blanket to get warm, looking out the window, as she watched the rainfall. She felt at ease as she enjoyed watching the rain. There was something about it that was relaxing. Her favorite types of days were gray skies, right before or after the storm.

  Out in the grey cloudy sky, Zena's face became perplexed she watched as a big shadow going through the clouds. It looked like giant birds. Rubbing her eyes in disbelief, she brushed it off that she must be seeing things. It was probably just a couple of dark clouds that made it look like that.

  Not wanting to sit in complete silence, Zena grabbed her phone to play some music. When she looked at it, she grunted for seeing she had no bars or data. Sighing in disappointment, she closed her eyes as she decided to go to sleep until the storm passed.

  Crash!

  Something crashed into Zena’s driver window. Zena shrieked in panic, seeing a colossal arm grabbing around in her broken window. From her cup holder, she grabbed her switchblade and stabbed the arm that tried to open her door. Instinctively, she started her car and drove off to get away from whatever it was, driving blindly due to the heavy rain and sudden thick fog. Where did that fog come from all a sudden? She couldn’t even see ten feet in front of her.

  From driving blindly through the misty rain, Zena crashed her jeep into a tree. Everything went black for a split second, as she pulled back her head, touching her bloody temple. She examined the mirror as she saw blood dripping down from the gash, she got from her head smashing into the steering wheel. A roar vibrated the jeep as the door was ripped off. Teeth dug into her shoulder as she was yanked out of the vehicle. From the agonizing pain, Zena passed out.

  When Zena woke up, she was being held over a man’s shoulder. She viewed her surroundings as she noticed other people wearing hoods as they all hiked through the Redwoods. Their eyes didn’t seem normal, while some of them had horns on their heads. If this was a nightmare, Zena wished she could wake up. When she tried to move, she flinched from her shoulder pain, which was a sign that she wasn’t dreaming this at all.

  Not going down without a fight, Zena kicked, screamed, and shouted for help, ignoring her shoulder injury. Being in the middle of the forest, no one was within miles to hear her. Desperately, she pushed around her body, trying to get the man who was carrying her to lose his grip. Opening her mouth wide, she bit him on the arm so hard that she broke his skin.

  “Son of a fucking bitch! This chick has some sharp ass teeth!” The man yelled as he flipped Zena over, gripping her arm hard as he forced it behind her back and covered her mouth. “She sure is a freaking fighter, isn’t she?” He looked at one of the people wearing the hoods. “Fin, get the poison to knock her out, and this time make sure she doesn’t wake the fuck back up.”

  Painfully, Zena struggled to make the man lose his grip. She tried to open her mouth again to bite him once more, but her kidnaper's big hand was gripped tightly over her mouth. When she saw the man named Fin with a bottle in his hand, she kicked it away from him.

  “You're pretty feisty,” Fin grinned menacingly, grabbing on to Zena’s ankle when she attempted to kick at him again. “Let’s see how much pain you can endure.” He wrapped one hand around Zena’s ankle, squeezing it tight, trying to shatter her bones as his nails dug deep into her flesh.

  Zena’s kidnapper gripped tighter on her mouth, as she screamed in agony, while tears rushed down her face. When Fin finally let go of her leg, her ankle bled out an unnatural green color. The pain on her ankle felt like her skin was burning from the inside. Zena's body went limp, as everything slowly faded into black; for now, they did not need the poison.

  A howl from a distance caught everyone's attention. From the shadows of the fog, giant wolves emerged. They were so large; an adult could ride on their backs. Blurry figures shifted in a blink of an eye; one by one, the people who kidnapped Zena were struck down.

  Once Zena heard someone in a panic calling for back up, she used the commotion to elbow the man holding her hostage in the balls. When she did that, a powerful force sent him flying. Falling to the ground, she painfully crawled away from whatever was going on, ignoring all the different unnatural sounds that filled the air. After only moving a couple of feet, Zena fell down a steep hill, landing in a pool of mud. She wept in pain when she landed on her shoulder from the fall. She felt like she was going to die from her body feeling so much pain it never felt before.

  From the shadows emerged one of the giant wolves. The majestic beast had red and silver fur with emerald eyes. He whimpered as he nuzzled Zena. In fear, Zena screamed, jumping away from the wolf. The wolf examined Zena's leg as he whimpered again. He licked Zena’s ankle as if he was trying to heal her wounds. He was concerned for her as he nuzzled onto Zena, licking her face. He sniped at her gently as he was trying to tell her something.

  Zena ogled at the wolf with a confused look on her face. Hesitantly, she reached out her arm and pet it. Something told her she knew this wolf even though she has never seen it before. She hugged on the wolf’s snout as she sobbed to him for comfort. It felt like the wolf was hugging her back, trying to comfort her as well.

  The wolf pulled away as he lowered his body to the ground. He looked at Zena, then at his back as he barked at her. Somehow, Zena understood what the wolf was trying to tell her as if he was talking to her in her mind. Carefully, she climbed onto the wolf and gripped onto his colossal neck. His fur felt so soft and warm, even though it was pouring rain outside, and its coat was wet.

  Zena closed her eyes as the wolf dashed off into the woods, the wind smashing against her skin, as the wolf zigzag between trees, moving at an incredible speed. Af
ter a couple of miles, he slowed down. Zena heard the familiar sounds of dog nails clicking on hardwood floors.

  The wolf laid down and shifted his body so Zena could slide off him. Zena opened her eyes to see that she was in a cabin with a living room, kitchen, and just one bedroom. She slid off the wolf and sat on the floor next to him. The wolf whimpered as his body began to shift. Zena went bugged eyed as she watched the wolf change into a human. She sobbed when she saw who the person was. It was Liam!

  “Zena,” Liam panted, as he was out of breath with tears of relief. Without any hesitation, he gripped on to Zena, holding her tightly in his arms. He felt her arms clinging to him as she sobbed. “I ken. Everything is fine now. You’re safe.” He petted Zena on the head, giving her comfort. “I promise that I’ll protect you. I’m never going to let you out of meh sight again. I’m so sorry.”

  Zena cried for a couple of minutes. When she calmed down, she looked up at Liam. “Liam, what the fuck is going on?! You… You….” she stuttered, not able to get her words out. She was beyond confused and couldn’t make sense of anything. “And….”

  Liam pulled Zena’s head back to his chest, as he pressed his head into her the depths of her neck. “Shh, I know I have a lot of explaining to do.”

  “The hell you do!” Zena yelled, her voice muffled from her head being buried into Liam’s chest. She pushed him back, as she gave him a furious glare. “Also, what the hell is your relationship with Yuri?! Are he and you trying to fucking……?”

  Liam couldn’t help but smirk as he watched Zena nearly yell at him. The way she looked at him in fury was making him hard. He felt like he was about to explode. Without any control, he kissed her with a fiery passion. Zena’s body went tense for a second, her body relaxed, as it submitted to Liam, and he could tell.

  Pulling his head back, Liam gazed into Zena’s eyes. Yuri rushed into the cabin out of breath, soaking wet and covered in blood and dirt. He looked at Zena with a sigh of relief. Taking a breather, his red eyes return to their gray color. He darted to Zena and kissed her on the lips, as he held her tightly. Yuri pulled away from the kiss as he caressed Zena’s face. His cold eyes now soft and warm as he gazed at Zena.

  Zena’s heart began to beat faster than normal as she cried, happy to see the two men in her presence. After what had happened to her, she didn’t know if she would ever see them again. She wanted to know them more; she wanted to start a life with them. In front of her were two men who made her feel things she had never felt before. She never felt so flustered with anyone else as much she does with them. Both gave her hope that she belonged somewhere, even if that circle was just them and Que. She always thought that people were just desperate, saying that they fell in love at first sight, but now she could see that if someone found the one, their heart and soul would know it by looking at the person. Ever since she first met Liam and Yuri, they have never left her mind. Her mind envisioned all three of them being a loving couple, and she bore both of their children. Not giving a crap what anyone thought about how they lived their lives or their relationship, she was going to be selfish. She was going to be with both men if they let her.

  Liam held his hand on the other side of Zena’s face. Both men’s hands holding her gave her warmth. Liam's eyes went teary. “Zena, we are so sorry that we confused you or made you feel like we were playing with you. Let’s put all our cards on the table. Yuri and I are…well…we are sort of in a relationship…. I guess…we never really talk about it? We don’t have a status. But we seem to be pushing more into it. We both like to share the same women. You could say that we are polyamorous. We should have told you about it way sooner before things went so far.”

  Zena slowly nodded her head, as she listened to Liam. She couldn’t say anything because her throat felt heavy, and she couldn’t get out her words. Her eyes showed that she was listening and understood things better now, even though Liam explained it poorly. But she still had a confused look on her face.

  Liam knew what Zena was thinking. Things like ‘why the hell was he a wolf,’ and ‘who were the people who attempted to kidnap her’? Liam beamed since he was so glad, he was able to tell her everything.

  Yuri beat Liam to what he wanted to say. “I know by the look on your face what’s on your mind. Remember when you were in my condo, and you were talking about how you felt that humans weren’t the only intelligent beings around?”

  Zena's eyes went wide, as she was quickly able to piece it together. What was even more shocking was that she had seen it with her own eyes. She thought she was imaging things, but she wasn’t. She wasn’t dreaming at all. Her blood felt like it was rushing faster all over her body.

  Yuri and Liam smiled, as they saw her face light up and her eyes going wide. She came around much quicker and easier than they thought. Zena’s mouth slightly dropped, stunned from everything. She had a typical reaction that any human would have if they found out that the paranormal world was real. They never thought they would see that type of reaction in real life.

  “Liam is a werewolf, and I am a vampire,” Yuri explained. “Those people who attempted to kidnap you were demons and a werebear.”

  Zena scrunched her face in utter confusion. “Werebear?”

  Liam and Yuri started to snicker from Zena’s response.

  “Yes, werebear,” Liam said, as he had tears in his eyes from laughing. “They are a thing. Almost any mammal, some birds, and some lizards can be like werewolves. It’s just no one has ever seen them. The only reason humans know about werewolves is that they befriended normal wolves and made some of them into their pets. That’s why we have dogs. You know, evolution and stuff like that. And yes, there are weredogs. They are pretty much a newer breed of species. There are many types of paranormal beings that you’ve never even heard of. The gods that people worship are immortal mages from a different world, celestials, and angels. Some with wings, and some without. Aliens that you know of are the original forms of humans, but they had magical abilities. And no, humans did not come from the grays or greens with the buggy little eyes. The humans I’m talking about are nearly extinct now. After years of evolution, humans have come to what you are now. The humans on earth don’t have magic, but they used to.”

  Zena thought to herself. Her theories were right in a way. “For some reason, I feel like I kind of already knew that. I just can’t believe that it was real. I thought I was just making up silly things.” Zena disclosed to Liam.

  Liam was stunned and amazed at Zena, but Yuri already knew it, because Zena told him already. Soon, Zena explained everything to Liam about her thoughts, dreams, and sometimes seeing flashes of things. She just thought she made it up in the little world in her head when she wanted to get away from reality. She thought she was just creative, and she could think of interesting stories. She mentioned some of the documentaries and stuff she watched that made her mind wonder if things like tapping into the brain to unlock hidden abilities in humans could happen if someone tried hard enough. She even explained that magic could be real in a sense but not what people thought what magic would be like with witches and wizards if humans were to use magic today.

  Both men looked at each other with astonishment after Zena told them what she thought was her overactive imagination. Liam snorted immaturely. Yuri glanced back at Zena as she had a look like she regretted telling them all that stuff.

  Rubbing his thumb on Zena’s face, Yuri gave her a comforting smile. “Don’t be embarrassed. Liam is just immature. Zena, everything you just said is true. What’s even more surprising is that you know all that stuff. I’ve never met a human who could come to that conclusion. You seem to have an extraordinary gift, and if you let us, we can help expand and awaken it.”

  “I have a special gift. Like, I can be…” Zena's eyes to shine in enthusiasm.

  “Yeah, you can become something other than human,” Liam said in a hyper voice. “You can learn magic and all kinds of other stuff!”

  Zena smiled cheek to cheek lik
e she was a kid getting a big piece of candy. She wanted to squeal, but she couldn’t get it out. She couldn’t believe that she could learn magic and other stuff that she never thought could be real.

  “Before you start happy dancing in your head,” Yuri urged. “You have to go through mental and physical training. You will not be able to do it overnight. It will be a long and sometimes stressful journey for you. It could take months, even years to awaken what is inside of you, and find out what type of abilities you have.”

  “Just knowing that I can do it is the motivation for me. I don’t care how long it will take. I’m willing to do whatever it takes!”

  Liam ruffled his hand on top of Zena's head. “That’s meh strong kitty. You have a lot of spunk. That’s what I’m starting to adore about you. You’re jus’ full of surprises.”

  Zena’s body jolted, as she remembered the burning on her ankle, as her adrenaline finally wore off. She was about to panic as she gripped on her ankle, finally seeing what her wound looked like. Her face nearly went blue at the site of it. “What is going on with my ankle?!! It’s green!!! There is stuff coming out of it!” She flinched and whimpered in pain as she freaked out more. “AHHHH, it’s fucking burning! It feels like my leg is being burned!!!”

  Yuri gently grabbed on Zena's leg and carefully examined it. He went into a sense of urgency as he demanded Liam to get towels, hot water, medicine, and bandages. Doing what he was told, Liam rushed to the other room to get the supplies Yuri needed.

  Zena noticed Liam was wearing skin-tight shorts, as Yuri picked up Zena and put her on the couch, propping her leg on the coffee table to examine her thoroughly.

  “I’m going to have to take off your pants.” Yuri unbuttoned Zena’s pants and carefully took off her blue jeans, making her now only in her underwear.

  “What the hell!?” Zena’s body began to fidget, as she looked at her leg. Her veins were an unnatural green to her waist, throbbing like it was going to burst like a balloon.