Flying Fur by Zenina Masters

Chapter One
     
     
    The collector was coming. It was now or never to get into position for the escape.
    Misty looked at the shifters beneath her and hoped that her resemblance to a rodent didn’t shift their urges from escape to attack.
    She was thirty metres in the air, tucked in the corner of an I-beam, waiting for the collector to complete his evening taunting of his acquisitions. Focusing on the cold of the metal, she let herself go dormant and her body stiffened. It would make her drop harder to manage, but she would not show up on his sweep.
    Time slowed around her, and she locked up a moment before the magic swept over her body. Misty kept her mind calm and her body in torpor until the waves of energy passed and the elf down below had moved on.
    She remained in position while the shifters below settled down for the night. The small, smug spot in her mind woke up and sneered when the elf returned and scanned the ceiling once again. Misty played dead, and when he was gone, she dropped silently through the air, making a slow corkscrew down into the cougar habitat to land on the back of the largest male in the pen.
    She gripped his ears and pulled him toward the fence. His inwardly spiked collar didn’t shift as she tried to keep her balance. When he carried her past all the other curious noses with a few growls and swipes, she sighed and made the jump out of the habitat and back into her naked human form. She looked around, got to the keypad and opened the doors.
    The habitats opened and the shifters walked free. After the first few rescues, it had been found that the blade collars were best left in position until a healer could be found to remove it.
    She looked down at the beasts that were gathering around her. She asked the cougar, “Do you mind if I hitch a ride? We want to head out and keep left. The rest of the attack forces are on their way in now.”
    He nodded and lowered his head.
    Misty sighed and pushed the door open then quickly moved to straddle the cougar so climbing on him was easy. When she was in place, she tugged on his ears and the beasts started to run.
    They kept left, and the sounds of shouts and confusion were coming from the main house. The shifters kept together and kept moving toward the guarded healers against the outer wall.
    Misty hopped off her ride as he was released from the collar, and she asked him the question she needed an answer to. “Is there anyone inside the main house?”
    He nodded slightly.
    She cursed, grabbed a blade from the nearest guard and ran for the main house and the shouts of battle that were coming from within.
    This was not her first rescue. She sprinted up the stairs and looked at the melee from a high vantage point. The chained cats were in a corner with one of their number lying, bleeding, on the floor. Another elf was closing in on them, and they growled and cowered away from the blades he carried.
    Misty cursed, climbed to the railing and launched herself through the air, growing the gliding flap between her arms and legs in just enough time to slow her fall onto the back of the elf, blade first.
    He groaned and fell, clawing at his back.
    Misty released the chains and lifted the wounded leopard in her arms, carrying her out and to the healers with the others following in a close cluster.
    Misty brought in the group, and the healers gathered around the panting and bloody leopard.
    She wiped at the blood on her body, absently watching the attempts to save the life while those who were trapped waited patiently for their turn. Their lives were not at stake.
    Sighing, Misty went to the wall where some of the newly human shifters were sitting.
    “Can you breathe? Are you injured?” She asked the standard questions.
    The man who had been her riding cougar smiled slightly, his face was grubby but it was the scarlet collar marks holding her attention. “Not injured. Better. Thank you.”
    “You are welcome. This was the second biggest collection they have found