by Zoe Chant
“Guess that makes us the heroes.” Buck looked less than thrilled at the prospect. “Yippee-kai-motherloving-yay.”
Edith was wide-eyed. “Do the stories talk about the horned serpents being able to possess people?”
Diana hesitated, thinking it over. “Not exactly. Though the bite of one of Uncegila’s children was supposed to kill instantly. And Uncegila herself was said to be able to kill with a look. And not just the people she gazed upon, but all their family and kin too.”
“Now there’s a cheery thought.” Blaise grimaced. “Let’s hope that part’s been exaggerated in the retelling.”
“Stories do change and grow,” Diana said. “Just like all living things. My mom used to tell me bedtime stories of the Wakinyan and their battles with Uncegila, when I was very small. It’s one of my earliest memories, listening to her voice in the dark, safe in her arms…”
She had to stop and swallow the lump in her throat. The squad just waited, in gentle, understanding silence. Beth, oblivious to the moment, banged a spoon on the table.
“Anyway,” Diana said, when she could continue. “My mom’s versions of the stories were a little different from others that I heard later, when I was researching my thesis. My mother said that Uncegila was so hungry, mere flesh and blood didn’t satisfy her. She began to devour creature’s spirits, not just their bodies, and she taught her brood to do the same. That was what made her different from others of her kind, the horned serpents who lived peacefully in the rivers and lakes. What made her into a monster.”
Rory let out his breath. “I think we’re going to need to hear every story you know about the horned serpents and the Thunderbirds. And I am now very glad that Callum finally came clean with you. I just wish he’d told you everything earlier.”
Diana hesitated, looking round at them all; Callum’s colleagues, his friends, the people he’d called his family. “Callum…Callum said there’s still something he hasn’t told me. Something important.”
Everyone but Buck immediately avoided her eyes. From the way the Superintendent’s bristling brows drew down, he’d both noticed the sudden shiftiness of the shifters, and was as much in the dark as she was.
“All right, you motherloving collection of walking throw rugs,” Buck growled. “Someone want to tell me why you’re all looking like you know where the body is buried?”
Before anyone could respond, Beth screwed up her face, went a strained red color, and produced a conversation-ending smell.
“Saved by the stink,” Candice said, waving a hand in front of her face.
“For now.” Buck held Beth out at arms-length as though she was suddenly radioactive. “Don’t think we aren’t returning to this topic. When I can draw breath without gagging.”
“I’ll take her,” Diana said, rescuing the Superintendent. “Sorry about this.”
“Shit happens,” Blaise said with a grin. “In this case, literally.”
Diana started to leave, then paused, looking back at the group. “Listen, I know you’re all Callum’s best friends. And you don’t want to betray him. I’m not going to ask you to blab his secret. Just tell me one thing. In your opinion, is it really as bad as he seems to think?”
“No,” Rory said, his deep voice firm and certain. “It isn’t.”
“Well, it wouldn’t have been,” Blaise added. “If he hadn’t been so stupid as to try to hide it in the first place. Now…well, not gonna lie. He deserves a good smack round his thick head. But don’t go too hard on him, okay? He beats himself up enough as it is.”
“Please don’t hurt him,” Edith said, looking anxious. “He made one bad decision, it’s true. But he did it because he loves you, and was terrified that you wouldn’t love him back. Just remember that you’re true mates. Always, no matter what.”
Reassured, Diana nodded. “I will. Thank you. All of you.”
Carrying Beth—and trying not to breathe too deeply—Diana headed for the toilets next to the gym. There was no built-in changing unit, of course, but Callum had managed to squeeze a small folding table into the room, with diapers and wipes always laid out and waiting.
Diana put Beth down, wrestled her out of her romper…and discovered a serious containment breach. She searched the changing table, but not even Callum had thought to leave spare clothes down here.
“Oh, poo,” Diana muttered, which was all too apt. “I wish I had telepathy. I could really do with someone fetching a clean romper.”
She started cleaning Beth up as best she could, while Beth kicked and complained. “I know, I know it’s cold and you don’t like it, baby. Let Mommy sort you out, and then I’ll…wrap you in my shirt or something to run you back to the cabin. Just hold still for me. I’m working as fast as I can.”
Beth suddenly stopped kicking, as though she’d understood Diana’s words. Her head swiveled, eyes fixing on the door.
“Ba!” Beth announced, stretching out her arms eagerly, just as a quiet, polite cough came from the other side of the door.
“It’s not locked!” Diana called out, wondering if somehow she had managed to send a telepathic message to the squad without realizing. “Come in!”
The door stayed closed. The deep, sharp huff! noise came again, sounding like an animal snorting. It was followed by a soft scratching sound, coming from the lower edge of the door.
Keeping one hand on Beth, Diana managed to lean far enough to reach the door handle. Opening it, she discovered an empty corridor…and one of Beth’s rompers, dropped in a heap just outside the bathroom.
Diana hooked the romper with her foot, dragging it close enough to pick up. It was very slightly damp on one sleeve, as though someone had been carrying it in their mouth.
“Fenrir?” Diana said. “It’s okay, you don’t have to hide from me anymore. Please come out.”
A pause—and then the air shimmered. The enormous black dog appeared out of nowhere, belly pressed submissively to the floor. His plumed tail swished in a hesitant, uncertain wag.
For a moment, her mind flashed back to when she’d been seven years old, cowering behind her mom as the feral dog pack closed in. Frozen in terror as her mom stepped forward, facing all those maddened eyes and snarling fangs, not even a stick in her hands…
Diana swallowed the old memory. Her mom hadn’t been afraid of the dogs back then, and she didn’t need to be afraid of Fenrir now. He was a person, not a dangerous animal. She could trust him, just like the rest of the crew.
“Thank you,” she said to him, holding up the romper. “I really appreciate this.”
*Is just what pack does. Provide for cubs, and for denning bitches.*
Diana jumped at the deep, growling voice. Fenrir’s canine jaws never moved, but she could hear him in her head. It was a bit different to the way that she’d heard Callum—just words rather than a deep communion of souls.
“I can hear you,” she blurted out.
Fenrir’s tail wagged harder. *Sky Bitch is pack now.*
Diana blinked. “Uh…my name is Diana.”
Fenrir cocked his head, looking slightly baffled, as though this was exactly what he’d said. *Yes. Sky Bitch.*
Okaaaaaay. From Fenrir’s perfectly polite, respectful tone, Diana could only assume that he didn’t mean the nickname as an insult. Making a mental note to ask Callum about this later, she started getting Beth dressed again.
“Have you been following me around all this time?” she asked Fenrir, remembering how he’d appeared out of thin air. The squad had told her that hellhounds could make themselves invisible.
Fenrir’s ears drooped in guilty contrition. *Not spying. Stayed outside den. Just wanted to help guard pack’s first cub.*
Diana scooped up a newly-fragrant Beth. Screwing up her courage, she squatted down so that she was eye-to-eye with Fenrir, Beth on her hip.
“Thank you,” Diana said to the hellhound, meaning it. “I’m sorry I was rude to you earlier. Would you like to…”
She stalled, not quite sure
what to say. He couldn’t hold Beth, and it seemed rude to invite a person to sniff her daughter.
Beth solved this problem by reaching out to Fenrir with both chubby fists. He leaned closer to allow her to grab at the long, thick fur on his neck and chest.
“Babababa!” Beth crowed, yanking with all her strength.
Fenrir stayed perfectly still—apart from his tail. That was a blur of motion, a mad windscreen-wiper of delight.
“No, baby. Gentle.” Diana caught Beth’s hand as she tried to grab Fenrir’s ear. “Gentle with the nice doggy—uh, hellhound.”
*Can test her teeth on me,* Fenrir said tolerantly. He poked Beth’s cheek with his broad, wet nose, making her giggle. *Is how cubs learn, grow strong. Or stronger, in Stormhorse’s case. Swift paws already, this one.*
Stormhorse? Diana wanted to ask why Fenrir had called Beth that, but she suspected he would just give her another of those puzzled looks. She was starting to get the impression that Fenrir had a rather strange, alien way of seeing things. Which, she supposed, made sense, if he couldn’t shift into human shape.
Fenrir pricked up his pointed ears, muzzle turning in the direction of the door. At the same time, Beth looked round as well. Her little mouth wrinkled in a frown.
She can sense things, Diana realized with a jolt. Beth clearly had the same ability to sense life-forms as Callum. That was why she’d so often seemed to be paying attention to nothing.
“What is it, baby?” Diana picked Beth up again, a shiver of anxiety making her hold her daughter close. “What can you sense?”
*Stone Bitch,* Fenrir said in her head. His tail wagged again.
“Diana?” Edith called from outside. “Are you in here?”
“Coming!” Hastily tossing the dirty diaper into the trash, Diana went to meet the firefighter. “What’s up?”
Edith beamed at her. “Callum’s back. He’s with the others, in the mess hall. Didn’t you sense him through the mate bond?”
“No.” As far as she could tell, her sense of Callum hadn’t changed. The mate bond was just a dim, warm glow in her heart, not nearly as bright as it had been before Callum had left. “Is that wrong? Am I supposed to be able to tell when he’s close?”
“Well, I can with Rory, but we’ve been mated for a while. This is still very new for you. I’m sure there’s no need to worry.” Edith held out her hands. “Can I carry Beth for you? That way you’ll be able to hug Callum properly when you see him.”
“Uh, thanks.” Diana passed Beth to Edith.
Diana followed Edith, Fenrir padding at her side. As they approached the mess hall, she could hear the squad’s voices drifting from the open door. No-one sounded alarmed…and yet anxiety tightened its grip on her stomach. She couldn’t help thinking about horned serpents, and what the squad had said about how they could possess people…
Callum went out after Maurice. And maybe we were wrong. Maybe all this time, Maurice was still working for Lupa. Maybe it was all to lure Callum out into a trap. Maybe that’s not him in there at all…
“Shut up, Gertrude,” Diana muttered.
She went into the mess hall--and froze.
“Oh hey, Diana!” Blaise waved at her, beaming. “Look who’s back!”
The man in the middle of the group turned. He was wearing Callum’s clothes. He looked exactly like him. He even stood exactly like him, spine straight, shoulders set. Yet his controlled, blank expression cracked as he caught sight of her. His green eyes widened in surprise.
“You?” he said, in Callum’s voice.
At her side, Fenrir growled, the fur lifting all along his spine.
“That’s not Callum.” With every atom of her being, every beat of her heart, Diana knew it to be true. “That’s not Callum!”
Chapter 21
Wait, Callum’s pegasus said suddenly. What was that?
Callum stretched out his wings, balancing on the wind to search the glimmering life-forms in the small town below. Looking for the hellhound amidst the clamor of other lives was hard, like sifting through a handful of sand for a single grain. Try as he might, he couldn’t find anything that might have attracted his pegasus’s attention.
I don’t see anything, he said to his inner animal, silently.
Not down there. His pegasus turned in his soul, looking inward rather than peering out through their shared senses. Something is wrong.
A jolt of fear constricted his chest. Not his fear, but Diana’s. Her distress flared down the mate bond in a silent scream.
Our mate! His pegasus reared, hooves flashing, ready to strike. She calls us! GO!
Callum was already wheeling round, breaking off his search. Thunder Mountain was a dim smudge on the horizon. Wind shrieked past his flattened ears as he put his full power into his wingbeats, racing for home.
Faster! FASTER! his pegasus urged him, as though he wasn’t already straining every muscle and bone to breaking point. She needs us, now!
Callum reached down the mate bond, trying to contact Diana, but he was too far away. He stretched his senses to the limit, searching for the hotshot base, looking for any sign of an intruder. Had Maurice somehow slipped past the squad’s defenses? Was Lupa attacking, with the full might of her pack?
Home came within his range at last. His awareness skipped over the lives present. Diana, Beth, Rory, Edith, Buck, Joe, Seren, Wystan, Candice, Blaise, Fenrir—
And one other.
He’d thought he was flying at his limit. He’d been wrong. Callum put on a new burst of speed, faster than a falcon, faster than he’d ever flown before.
And he knew that he was already too late.
He almost broke a leg on landing, he was going so fast. Only shifting to human form saved him from a catastrophic tumble. He rolled, absorbing the momentum, came up on his feet, and sprinted for the mess hall. Rory met him at the door, looking unsurprised by his sudden arrival.
“I thought you might turn up in a hurry.” The griffin shifter’s broad arm barred Callum’s way. “We have a problem. Well, to be more accurate, you have a problem.”
Callum’s chest was on fire. He had to respond telepathically, too out of breath to form words. *Did Diana see him?*
“Oh, she did more than just see him.” Despite the grim line of his jaw, a hint of amusement sparked in Rory’s golden eyes. “She brained him over the head with a water jug.”
Callum stared at the griffin shifter.
“She thought he was a demon wearing your skin,” Rory explained. He quirked a tawny eyebrow. “To be fair, it was a logical conclusion. He had the rest of us fooled, but she knew on sight that he wasn’t you, thanks to the mate bond.”
Callum managed to suck in enough air to wheeze out, “Has he said anything yet?”
“Yes.” Rory was now clearly battling to keep a straight face. “‘Ow.’ Diana knocked him out cold. He’s only just come round. You’re very lucky your mate has such a strong right arm.”
Callum wasn’t feeling very lucky just then.
“Callum!” Diana came barreling out of the mess hall, ducking round Rory. She flung herself into Callum’s arms, seizing him in a rib-crushing embrace. An instant later, she shoved him away. Her emotions were a turbulent storm down the mate bond—relief, shock, outrage, confusion. “You have a twin?”
“No,” he said, honestly. “I have two. My brothers and I are identical triplets.”
“Why on earth didn’t you tell me?” Diana’s voice rose. “Is this your big secret? I could have killed the poor man! Oh God, he’s Beth’s uncle, and now he’s going to hate me!”
All his chickens were coming home to roost, and they’d grown into velociraptors. Of all the ways for Diana to find this out…at that moment, he could have happily brained Connor himself, for turning up unannounced, at the worst possible time.
“Diana.” He took her hands, though he suspected he should really be falling to his knees to grovel at her feet. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to find out like this. I promise, I�
�ll tell you everything. But first, I need to speak with my brother.”
Callum found Connor in the infirmary, holding an ice pack to his head. Despite the bruise swelling on his temple, Connor flashed his trademark wide, cocky grin the moment he saw Callum.
“Well, that backfired on me,” Connor said ruefully. “Still, considering how many chainsaws and axes you guys have lying around the place, I’m grateful that the most lethal object to hand was a water jug.”
“I’m not.” Callum clenched his fists, forcing down an intense desire to seize his brother around the neck and throttle him. “What are you doing here?”
“Hey, you’re the one who called me. I got your message. You said it was important, so…” Connor threw open his arms with a flourish, like a magician finishing a trick. “Here I am.”
Callum pinched the bridge of his nose. Five seconds in Connor’s presence, and he already had a headache.
“I didn’t mean for you to come in person,” he hissed. “Or as me. Where did you even get that?”
Connor looked down at the Thunder Mountain Hotshots t-shirt he was wearing. “Nicked it from the storeroom when I arrived. Couldn’t resist. Also, this is all your fault. Would it kill you to mix up your wardrobe a bit? I mean, if you didn’t make it so easy to impersonate you, I wouldn’t be sitting here with a concussion. That lady has one hell of a right hook. Is she really your mate?”
“Yes,” Callum ground out. “She is. Diana.”
“Well, she’s lovely. And very strong. And jumps to conclusions way too fast. Why the hell did she think I was a demon? I mean, it’s not like she’s never met me before.”
“She doesn’t know she met you before.”
Connor’s forehead creased. “What are you talking about? She bought me at that awesome charity auction. We spent a whole night together.”
It was Connor.
It was Connor.
With tremendous effort, Callum stayed still, though he wanted to howl in anguish and rip his brother apart. “I know. But she doesn’t. She thinks she bought me.”
