Damaged Daddy Bear (Shifters of the Aegis)

by Leela Ash

  Micah loved the cave and spent his time diving into the sparkling waters. Meanwhile, the smaller children howled with laughter as they slid to the lower pool, over and over again, like otters.

  Little Sam trotted past, tugging at his life vest. Paige caught him as he headed for another slide. “Oops! Let me fix that for you, Sam. It’s half fallen off!”

  More like ‘half pulled-off’. Sam pouted. “Why do I have to wear it? Nobody else does!”

  “They’re older than you.” Carefully, she tightened the straps.

  “I’m gonna be five!”

  “In six months. So, you’re four now.”

  Sam was not impressed by that logic, and tears welled up in his eyes.

  Before he could melt down, she added, “I’ll let you swim with me in the big pool in a bit, okay? Once you’re a good swimmer, you can take the jacket off.”

  The promise of a trip to the ‘big kids’ pool put a smile back on his face. As he darted away, Paige snatched a dangling bit of weed from his bathing suit.

  I better run all these suits through the washer before their dad gets back. Sweetwater makes you messy!

  But it was fun, such fun. Surrounded by the remains of lunch and cake, Paige leaned back and let the sun’s rays caress her face. This was why she’d come here. This was where she wanted to raise her son. Leonard and the dangers of Los Angeles seemed to be a world away.

  A stealthy movement drew her eye to a pile of rocks across the stream. A coyote stood on it, watching them.

  “Oooh, kids, look!” Paige waved them over. “A coyote!”

  Jake’s eyes grew wide as he hurried over to her side. The other kids didn’t much care. Micah ignored the animal completely and even little Nate sniffed, “They’re everywhere. We see them in the back yard all the time.”

  The animal stared at him as he spoke, almost as if it could understand. Then its eyes traveled to Micah and back to her. Something in its stillness, its focus, unsettled her.

  “Are coyotes dangerous?” Jake whispered.

  “No,” Paige assured him. This one seemed freakishly brave, though. As Eden and Nate shrieked their way down the slide once again, it cocked its head and watched them.

  Then, slowly and calmly, it strolled down the rocks toward the youngsters.

  Paige leaped to her feet. “Eden! Nate! Sam! Over here, now!”

  “I thought you said they weren’t dangerous!” Jake’s eyes went wide with terror.

  “They aren’t–unless they’re sick.” No wild animal should be that calm around humans. “Micah! Come here!”

  She expected an argument. But when the older boy spotted the coyote and its slow, stealthy approach, he shot through the water and quickly scrambled over to the picnic blanket. So did the little ones. The Fairburn kids had grown up here and knew darn well that no healthy coyote wandered up to people.

  A piece of driftwood lay beside the cool waters. Paige snatched it up and retreated back to her cluster of children. “Stay behind me.”

  The coyote stared at her. Then its tongue lolled out.

  Like it was laughing.

  “Hey!” Paige screamed at the top of her lungs. “Shoo! Go away!”

  It never even flinched. Calmly, it waded into the water.

  Micah grabbed a rock and flung it with all his strength. It slammed into the animal’s side, staggering it.

  The coyote didn’t run. It didn’t even whimper. With steady, measured steps, it forded the stream.

  Rabid. It had to be.

  Heart pounding, Paige stepped forward and shielded the children as best she could. Any bite would mean a course of terrible, agonizing shots for its victim. If they fled, the sick creature would run them down long before they reached the car. A sickening thought arose, of the rabid coyote tearing through her tiny charges, snapping and biting.

  No. No running. She needed to face it here, to keep it away from the children. If she got bitten… well, she could live with that. But not the little ones. Never them.

  Raising her make-shift club, she steeled herself to attack it. To kill something for the first time in her life.

  As she did, the coyote’s jaw opened.

  A thin, reedy voice hissed out of it.

  “You are beautiful,” the creature whispered. “You feel so much more keenly than these clothes do! I will wear you and we shall feel horrors together.”

  Shocked, Paige froze. Her mind spun, doubting its own sanity.

  Eager now, the coyote trotted forward.

  And, as it did, a furious roar shattered the canyon’s silence.

  A grizzly bear appeared above the falls, barreling forward at a dead run. It launched itself into the air, its speed sending it flying out over the pool.

  “Dad!” Micah screamed.

  That was when Paige realized that yes, she truly had gone mad.

  “Hey!”

  His baby-sitter’s cry, defiant but tinged with fear, shattered Rex’s self-control. It split the air as he jogged… no, sprinted down this path to nowhere.

  “Shoo!”

  Something threatened her. Something she thought small, a little thing that could be scared off with a few loud words.

  His Bear knew better. And it raged.

  Fur burst across his body, his teeth grew into fangs. Arms and legs thickened. Without missing a stride he pitched forward, Shifting as he fell. Great clawed paws hit the ground and with a tremendous burst of speed, he raced away from the other Shifters.

  Dimly, he heard noises. Paige yelling ‘Shoo!’ The beat of enormous wings as Donnelly Shifted into his Dragon form behind him.

  None of that mattered to Rex, lost in the red fury of Bear mind.

  His family was in danger. Nothing was important, nothing existed except that fact.

  And the fact that he was going to destroy the threat, whatever it was.

  Ahead of him, the creek vanished over a ledge. His sharp ears picked up another faint sound: splashing water not far below.

  Good. He flung himself over the edge without pausing. As he plummeted toward the pool, his human half scanned the scene.

  His children, clustered together in fear. Paige protecting them, facing down a….

  Coyote?

  Rex hit the water, sending a wave splashing in all directions. Immediately, his broad paws lashed out and he arrowed through the pool toward her.

  A coyote that didn’t run was sick. That was the danger.

  The thing never flinched as he burst out of the pool, water dripping from his thick, brown pelt. Neither did Paige. She stood, frozen, helpless with shock.

  Well, she did just get charged by a grizzly. Poor woman probably thinks she’s dead.

  Except….

  She stared, slack-jawed with horror, at the coyote.

  Not him.

  Who the hell feared a coyote more than a grizzly?

  His Bear didn’t know and didn’t care. One deadly paw lashed out, catching the coyote full on. Its body flipped through the air, spinning, and landed on the other side of the creek with a sickening crunch.

  Never whimpering, never crying out.

  Rex rose to his hind legs, glowering over at his tiny foe. One leg twitched; the animal still lived. Then a strange black shadow seeped out from under it, spreading like a puddle of oil.

  What the hell was that? Rex snuffled, drawing in gulps of air. Bears weren’t blind, contrary to folklore, but their sense of smell rivaled a bloodhound’s. Even from here, he could pick up the sharp musk of coyote. Mixed with another scent. A dark, rank stench, touched with rot.

  Bonk!

  Something bounced off his back.

  Rex peered around, puzzled.

  Paige stood behind him, her face a mask of rage and fear. With a wordless scream of maternal fury, she launched herself at him. Lashing out, time and again, with a thick stick.

  Bonk. Bonk. Bonk.

  Blows bounced harmlessly off his stomach and chest. Rex had to admire the woman’s courage. Here she was, trying to fend
off a grizzly bear, with nothing more than a stick.

  His Bear, though, was just puzzled.

  Why is our Mate attacking us? We saved her.

  She’s not our ‘Mate’, he reminded the creature. And she thinks she just got charged by a grizzly.

  Oh hell, this was a bloody mess. Sure, he was glad he’d put down a rabid coyote, but poor Paige and her kid would be traumatized for life. Rex started to rein his Bear in. Time to shuffle off into the bushes and let his babysitter think she’d driven him off.

  Before he could, every child in the gulch stared skyward. Little Jake screamed in panic–and even his own kids shrieked as an enormous white Dragon soared overhead.

  Screw Donnelly! What the hell was he thinking? A Bear could be explained, but a Dragon?

  And worse was to come. Donnelly banked sharply, sending clouds of dust billowing into the air as his wings beat frantically. Lights burst out around him and he Shifted, dropping to the ground in human form.

  “Fairburn! Look out!” he yelled. Pointing behind Rex.

  At the coyote?

  Rex spun, as confused as his Bear.

  The coyote lay where he’d thrown it, whimpering. Dying, probably, from a broken back.

  But that wasn’t what worried Donnelly. The Dragon was pointing at something else. A living shadow that slithered across the desert stones toward him.

  The ‘oil pool’ that spilled out of the dying coyote! It wasn’t some liquid or a trick of the light. It was a blob, a foot-long pitch black amoeba scrambling quickly toward him.

  “Don’t let that thing touch you!” Donnelly bellowed. “They possess people.”

  For an instant, Rex and his Bear wrestled for control. Subtlety was lost on his Spirit Animal. Was that inkblot a threat? Then it should be destroyed! Chewed, slashed, and raked apart before it could threaten his family! Donnelly’s warning meant nothing to it. Don’t touch the thing? Ridiculous! How could they kill it without tooth and claw?

  Only, Rex remembered magic and it’s weird, unpredictable dangers. With an iron will, he forced his Bear back, dragging the raging animal from its ‘prey’.

  Lights shimmered about him too. Melting down to human form, he spun to face the stunned Paige. “Get the kids out, now!”

  He half expected her to faint. Most human minds broke when confronted by a Shift. Mortals panicked, hallucinated, passed out. But his new babysitter possessed an iron spine under her soft, delicate curves. White as a ghost, she staggered to the kids and snatched up little Sam.

  His child, not hers. He noted that, warmed that her love protected all children, not just her own.

  Time for those thoughts later, not now. “Micah, run!” His oldest dashed away. He and Donnelly snatched up Eden and Jake and charged after him.

  Slick and swift as an eel, the darkness chased them. Spilling around boulders, washing across sand. Micah tripped and fell, crying out as he skinned his hands. “Got him!” Rex bellowed. Without breaking stride, he scooped the boy up and tucked him under his arm.

  The path back to the Jeep rose sharply out of the gulch. Ahead of him, Paige slipped and nearly fell. Worse, she slowed, forcing Donnelly to pause as well. Rex glanced back, expecting to feel the blob’s cold touch on his ankles.

  It wasn’t even close. It lay at the bottom of the path, as if unwilling to climb any higher. Unmoving, silent. Alien.

  The two Hares waited at the top of the falls. Bree immediately echoed Rex’s own doubt. “It stopped moving. Why isn’t it following?”

  In Donnelly’s arms, Eden burst into tears. Sam joined her, adding his own thin cry. The Dragon put the girl down gingerly, as if he were afraid she’d break. “It’s okay, baby,” Rex assured her.

  As Hares and Dragon stared down at their strange foe, he and Paige tried to calm the children. Hugs, kisses, and promises that things would be okay took the edge of their hysteria, though they were still petrified.

  “What is that thing?” Rex growled.

  “I think it’s an Adanai,” Donnelly said. “A kind of creature from the Other Side. There, they look fae. In this world, they’re more like shadows or puddles of ink. And they possess people.”

  “It said it would wear me,” Paige whispered, her face ashen, “and that we would feel horrors together.”

  The Dragon blinked. “That’s messed up. Adanai are assholes… well, some of them. But that’s just twisted.”

  “We have no idea what exists in the spirit world,” Bree reminded her husband. “So I wouldn’t assume it’s an Adanai.”

  Tremors shook Eden’s tiny body. Every inch of his Bear longed to carry her home, someplace she’d be safe. But he couldn’t leave a threat like this free in the wilderness where some poor hiker could stumble across it. “Can you watch them a bit longer?” he asked Paige.

  Despite all the madness, his babysitter still managed to hold herself together somehow. With a stiff, dazed nod, she pulled his whimpering daughter close. Rex gave the little ones a last round of hugs then slowly, his Bear mourning, he returned to the other Shifters.

  Leaving his family in the hands of another.

  “So, how do we get rid of this thing?” he demanded. The sooner they dealt with it, the quicker he could go home to his kids.

  The Dragon tossed his hands in the air. “No idea.”

  “I thought you’d fought them before!”

  “We did.”

  “How’d you beat them?”

  “The last one avoided me. Took off whenever I showed up.”

  Something this blob clearly wasn’t doing. Though it couldn’t climb, it ranged back and forth below them. Its route cut a broad arc across the gully, as if it searched for a path that would lead it to its prey.

  Bree glanced back at Paige and lowered her voice. “Your sitter is Kin, right?”

  Rex cast a pitying look over his shoulder. “Nope.”

  Donnelly buried his face in his hands. “Oh, hell. Did I just Shift in front of a mortal again?”

  “Yup.” Bree shook her head, smiling ruefully. “You have a gift, my love! Look on the bright side, though: at least you didn’t stampede this one in front of a car.”

  “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?” he grumbled.

  The four of them watched the creature curl its way across the ravine. “Ideas?” Rex prompted. “Anyone? Danielle?”

  “Sorry,” the flustered Hare stammered. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

  “How about ‘kill it with fire’?” Donnelly suggested. “I always like that one.”

  “Worth a shot. Just don’t start a wildfire. And give me a sec.” Rex wandered over to where his sitter and the children waited. “Paige, can you get the kids home? We need to take care of this thing.”

  “What are you?” she whispered.

  Micah answered for him. “Dad’s a Bear.”

  “B-b-but how?”

  Rex reached out to give her a reassuring pat–then froze as she flinched. Gently, he took a step back and let his hand drop to his side. “We can talk about this later. I promise, I’ll explain. Just protect the kids, okay?”

  “All right.” Slowly, she herded the children together. Their little cluster straggled down the trail, toward safety. Rex watched until they disappeared over a rise, then returned to the others.

  “All clear. Shift away.”

  Once more, Donnelly transformed into that great white Dragon. He’d seen a few over the years, but the sheer size of the creature, its enormous bulk, took Rex’s breath away.

  Hope the First Flight’s wrong about these Fangs. I’d hate to have to fight a Dragon.

  With unexpected grace, Donnelly launched himself into the air. He sailed over the pool, curved back and then, wings beating hard, hovered above the clot of darkness.

  It scuttled beneath him. Rex tensed, sure the thing would shock them all and leap to attack. Instead, it remained beneath the Dragon, quivering with excitement.

  With a short breath, the Dragon sent a tongue of flam
e licking across the stones. It washed over the inkblot… to no effect. Their enemy didn’t catch fire or even notice as the weeds around it seared to a crisp.

  “Damn.” Rex sighed as Donnelly flew back and Shifted.

  Bree shook her head. “I still don’t understand why it won’t follow us up here.”

  Neither did he. And, as he thought about that, Rex noticed another oddity. “Watch the way it travels. It’s not moving in a straight line. When it charged me, it came straight on. Now, it keeps curling back and forth.”

  Like it was trapped inside a glass jar.

  Or like a dog running back and forth at the end of a rope…

  A rope that was tied to…

  “The coyote!” Rex’s face lit up. “That thing can’t get too far away from it. It’s like a dog on a long leash. That’s why it’s not following us!”

  “I think you’re right!” Donnelly crowed with delight. Shimmers began to spread across his form. “One fried coyote, coming up.”

  His wife grabbed him by the elbow before he could Shift. “Wait! Something ties this monster to that coyote. If it’s a charm or an amulet, it could give us a clue about who’s responsible. And if you destroy it when you burned up that body, we won’t know.”

  That was a problem—but Rex had an answer. “I don’t think it can jump. Donnelly, why don’t you lure it as far away as it can go. I’ll come down the other side of the gully.”

  “And do what? If you pick up some magic amulet it’ll be able to follow you.”

  Rex pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Which is why I’m going to take a picture of it, run, and give you the thumbs up to melt it.”

  A wide grin split the big Dragon’s face. “Sounds like a plan. Anybody with a brain want to lodge a protest? Otherwise, the Bear and I are tag teaming this thing.”

  “No protest,” Bree said with a sigh. “Just be careful.”

  “Of course. Remember,” Rex added, as he jogged off, “for a short distance, Bears can outrun a horse.”

  The far side of the gully was rougher, lacking the packed trail. He eased himself down as quietly as he could. Climbing back up this would be a bitch, if he had to do it fast. Probably better to just barrel off into the wilderness.