“You didn’t give him a chance to talk.” Sedge retorted, picked up another injured man, and threw the guy over one shoulder.
“He had plenty of chances to talk.” Saskia dragged the body to the doors on the left side of the cannery. One of them had to lead to a freezer.
Sedge picked up a second man and stood as if he were carrying a couple of toddlers. “Saskia, you aren’t a violent woman.”
She shot him a narrow-eyed glare. “What the fuck? Do you even know who you’re talking to?”
She squashed the urge to say it wasn’t like him to talk about these things. He was the man of all men. Push down all emotions, never let anyone see any weakness, and believing that grunts were perfectly fine responses to questions.
Through the first door was the open entrance to the freezer. It wasn’t working, but dozens of boxes and bags sat in neat rows. More drugs, likely. As if there hadn’t been a fortune in heroin out in the main area.
“I do.” Sedge followed her into the freezer and set the two men not so gently onto the floor. Groaning, one curled into a ball and covered his head. “Many times we fought, you said you couldn’t be a Black Shaman because you weren’t a killer. While you are an excellent fighter and harsh with justice, you did not like delivering death sentences.”
Saskia propped up the man she carried against a duffel bag in case he had trouble breathing. She stepped over him and pushed past Sedge out of the freezer. What was he doing? If he was looking for a fight, she wasn’t in the mood.
While there was much about being a Black Shaman she enjoyed, killing people was not one of them. She did what was necessary, but whenever she’d been with her long time mentor, Azarius, she’d let him deliver the punishment. He’d never complained or asked why. But that’s because he really understood her.
And now he was dead. Saskia’s throat constricted. It had been two months, but it still hurt just as much.
“That is not you who beat that man.” Sedge snagged her arm and yanked her to stop and look at him. “That is not you.”
She jerked her arm and, when she was unable to free it, stood still. His dark eyes bore into hers. Old and knowing. Sometimes she forgot he’d lived so many years. “I did that—”
“Your pain did that.” He corrected.
She shouted at him wordlessly. No one was going to psychoanalyze her, especially not The Bear. She struggled to free her arm again, and he wrapped an arm around her middle to hold her in place.
“Your pain did that.” Sedge repeated and drew her closer to him. “You cannot hunt with it driving you. You must release it. Let him go. He’s gone to the Sky.”
Sedge didn’t say Azarius’ name, but she didn’t doubt that’s who he meant. And while it was tempting to press herself against his hard body, let him wrap her in his strong arms and shield her against the hurt, she couldn’t.
Azarius made her who she was. She couldn’t let him go. And her heartache over his death drove her. Yes, she wanted to save her family, to save every shifter in the world, but most of all, she was doing it for Azarius.
The fact she hadn’t found a token yet meant she was failing her dead teacher.
Every breath hurt as her chest grew tight. Tears threatened to escape. No. She couldn’t do this right now.
“What the hell, people? Who left the fucking door open?” A gruff voice hollered from outside on the dock. “And why didn’t anyone meet me with a blanket? I know my scout seal, Spot, has been here, so what idiot forgot to go out and wait?”
Saskia and Sedge turned toward the dock door as Nattiq marched inside.
Nattiq was an ugly bastard. Average in height but squat with short legs and a rounded beer gut. His flabby skin gleamed with sea water and all was bared. Disgustingly so. His long black hair lay matted and mingled with his unruly mustache and beard.
“What’s going on in…” Nattiq spied a knocked out gunman and whipped his head from side to side. A choked sound rattled his throat as he dropped the three drug packs he carried and ran out the way he’d come.
Saskia leapt over an overturned table and raced to the dock with Sedge barreling alongside of her. The three seconds it took them to get outside, Nattiq had shifted into a bearded seal and hitched along the dock to jump into the water.
“Nattiq!” The word barely left Sedge’s lips before he shifted and launched himself into the sea after his quarry.
Without hesitation, Saskia slipped out of her human form. Not as complicated as thought, but as natural as a breath, as if a polar bear had been there all along. And, in essence, she had.
From two legs to four, she dashed along the dock and dove into the water. Darkness had made the water a sea of ink, but she had excellent vision above and below the waves. Unfortunately so did seals.
Sedge swam deeper, intent on his target. Saskia stayed above the water, in case Nattiq popped up. Seals were better swimmers, but they still had to breathe. With a little magic, a Black Shaman could breathe the oxygen from the water, and so Nattiq couldn’t wait them out under the sea.
While Saskia waited, she took stock of her surroundings. Docks behind her with the cannery and a fishery down the road. Docks to the right by town. Small boats and floatplanes tied up for the night. Two large freighters bobbed a mile off shore. Maybe one of them was Nattiq’s supplier. Would he seek protection with them? Or was he the tricky type, doubling back to the docks to slink along the coast to the north where there were rocks and ice floes?
The prick didn’t look smart, but he’d gotten his business this far. Maybe not intelligent, but crafty would be a better word.
To her right, she caught a glimpse of a whiskered snout popping out of the water before it disappeared. Yup, the tricky type.
Saskia paddled as fast as she could. Nattiq would reach the ice before her, but no matter his hiding place, they would find him. Though it would be easier if she could fly. Azarius—
Nope. Not going to think about him now.
Sedge surfaced five feet to her left and matched her speed. She gestured with her head that she’d seen Nattiq go north, and he chuffed his understanding.
The lights of Kotzebue grew smaller behind them, and the moon couldn’t fight its way from behind the clouds. The chill of the water and rush of the hunt invigorated her. This wasn’t like smacking around drug dealers or dealing with vicious gnomes. This was a hunt as it should be. Predator seeking prey.
Not that she was going to eat Nattiq. Hell no.
Something splashed ahead. Was it that murdering bastard?
Saskia rocketed toward the spot and saw a flash of movement along with a splash a little farther away. Fish. She sniffed. Not a herring. It was too big. Salmon? Shouldn’t they be in the southern waters by now?
Whether it be salmon or herring or whatever, fish would only jump in this weather if they were frightened. And what would scare them? A speeding seal.
She didn’t have to alert Sedge to her find. He dove under as she kept an eye on the surface again. With her eyes adjusting to the lack of light, the ice chunks and frozen rocks ahead seemed bright on the dark water.
Sedge emerged twenty feet ahead of her with a flapping salmon in his jaws. Surely he wasn’t stopping to have a bite to eat now. Another fish leapt out of the water and smacked the side of his head. A second later, a third crashed into his snout, and he roared at them.
Saskia barked out a laugh. Feisty fish.
Something bumped her leg and then her hip. What the hell?
Dipping under the water, she blinked in time to see a dozen or so salmon swimming to ram into her. Surprise dropped her jaw, and she let out a bubbly shout as they crashed. She snapped and caught one by the tail to fling it out of the water and away from her.
She swatted at the salmon that continued to butt against her. Another gang had circled Sedge and was giving him the same furious treatment.
No matter how dumb fish were, they fled from predators. This wasn’t right.
Surfacing, Saskia swam to the nearest
thick sheet of ice and clawed her way up onto it. A few salmon flopped onto the ice, and she slapped them back into the sea.
The floe rocked as Sedge climbed up on the other side and spat out the head of a fish. He snarled and shifted into his human form, dressing himself in a thick white parka. “The bastard got away.”
Saskia shifted and magically clothed herself in her standard black attire. The first Black Shaman trick she’d learned. “Nattiq will come back to his fishing grounds, well, dealing grounds. We’ve got something more important going on here.”
“He will not escape me.” Sedge bared his teeth and let out his breath in a slow hiss. Mist swirled around his face. “The salmon. A token most certainly.”
“Can’t you tell?” Saskia agreed, but he’d declared every unusual situation they’d come across in the past two months caused by the totems. Didn’t he know? He was The Bear. He helped create the damn totem pole. Of course, the old gods were not what they once were. He was a mortal with part of the essence of Bear in him.
“I know it.” He folded his arms and scanned the sea with narrowed eyes.
“Do you know it, like can you feel it, or is it that you want it to be a token? I don’t want to miss catching Nattiq because some fucking fish are acting up.”
He stepped forward and towered over her. “I don’t feel it, but it’s obvious.” His jaw tightened, and he huffed out another big breath. “And why aren’t you in white? I’ve told you repeatedly to blend in with your surroundings.”
“It’s night, and the moon isn’t out.”
“You stand out like a cow on an iceberg.”
“Are you calling me a cow?”
Sedge groaned. “No—”
“Why can’t you leave me alone? What does it matter what color I wear? It isn’t as if every beast in a five mile radius can’t hear us.” Saskia threw up her arms and shook her head. Arguing again. It seemed a never-ending struggle between the two of them. Why did he have to be so difficult?
His lips thinned as his chest rumbled. He clenched and opened his hands repeatedly. “I’m not the one shouting.”
She bit back a scream. What was the point? He’d never admit he was wrong or couldn’t do something. And he always turned it back on her. Who cared what color she wore? It was only because she wasn’t doing something he told her to do. He always wanted to be in control, and she rebelled against such a tight hold.
Except Saskia couldn’t escape him. Honor bound her to be a Black Shaman under his tutelage. She took on the punishment for two tribesmen so they wouldn’t lose their hands. There was also the fact Sedge was key to remaking the totem pole that would save all shifters. Hunting with him was invigorating, inspiring, thrilling. There wasn’t a word in her vocabulary for it. Most of the time, they were so in sync, it was like they were…
No. She wasn’t going to even think it. The days when she thought they were meant to be together were gone. She couldn’t give him what he wanted: a mate who would bear him cubs. Cancer had ravaged her body and soul. And while the doctors said it was gone, a relationship still would only end in heartache.
His gruff baritone interrupted her thoughts. “You’ve gone quiet.”
Thank you for your astute observation, Mr. Obvious. Saskia crossed her arms across her chest and stared north toward the ice floes. No matter they were shifters, and bears at that, their lives were fragile.
“Saskia.” His warm fingertips touched her cheek and turned her face to him. His dark eyes locked with hers. “I’m here for you.”
Her heart thumped loudly as if it could drown out the sounds of the ocean. She didn’t want to fight. She wanted to do their job, to find the totems and save her family, save shifters everywhere. She wanted him to… Dammit. Just once, if she leaned on him for a minute…
A great explosion of freezing water slapped against her, and she stumbled back. She gasped with the sharp cold like little daggers. Water dripped into her eyes, and she blinked it out to see a ragged monster standing on the water beside them. No, a woman.
With black hair twisted with seaweed and eyes like an insect’s, the thing screeched as she latched onto Sedge’s chest and arms with talon hands and ropes of kelp. As fast as the woman had burst up out of the water, she was gone with her prize.
Splashed again, Saskia steadied herself and spit out saltwater. Fuck! Panic threatened to send her down the path of madness. Sedge.
She shifted and dove under the water. Urgency fueled her strokes.
A sea hag had taken Sedge. She hadn’t even known the creatures existed anymore. But she remembered the stories. Whether the hag took him for a meal or a plaything, either way, he’d end up dead. If The Bear were to die, the totem quest would be futile.
And she’d be completely broken.
Saskia pushed her legs, paddling as quickly as she could. Even with Sedge transformed and struggling, the sea hag was faster. It was her realm, after all. And while bears were comfortable in the water, they weren’t meant to be deep sea divers.
Choking on her fear, there were a few seconds she was thrashing in the water before she was swimming again. Rhythm was not a friend of panic, and she couldn’t afford to miss another beat.
She couldn’t lose sight of them. Focusing on the bright white of Sedge’s fur, she spared a few seconds to summon a little magic. No fancy words or sweeping gestures needed. Magic came from intent, from that well of life within. Azarius had explained it, but lectures had never been Saskia’s thing.
A thin barrier, like a sheet of gills, formed on her nose. Breathing wouldn’t be a problem, but as they went deeper, seeing would be.
Salmon zipped by her, and a few bumped into her rear. She growled and kicked deeper. The witch had dragged Sedge far out of the reach of the little light from above. Desperation heaved in her lungs.
Saskia would have no chance of finding him if she couldn’t see. She needed light. But she didn’t think she was close to the bottom, and she didn’t have time to scrounge around for a rock.
Fuck. What could she do?
Another big fish rammed her side. She lashed out, missing the salmon as it did a graceful roll. She’d tear every one of them apart if they didn’t stop. Seconds ticked by. She had to find something.
The damn fish!
Let them come. She’d nab one in her mouth and use it as a light.
Easier said than done. She silently cursed as she tried to catch a salmon, but this was their home. Fast and sleek, they swam circles around her. Literally.
Swiping with her paws, sheer luck hooked a fish with her claws. Saskia clamped onto it with her jaws and imagined fireflies. Burning bright with a green glow.
She’d never done this with something living before, but with her powerful intention, it didn’t seem to matter. The salmon’s gray body lit up along with a dozen other fish around her. It seemed a bunch of shooting stars swam around her.
Deeper. The pressure of the water squeezed tighter around her. Dammit, where did they go? No way could the hag take a fighting polar bear that far.
Nothing but water. She had to get to Sedge. She grasped the flopping fish harder.
If she could say the words, she’d thank the salmon spirit. Maybe if she broke taboo, Sedge would break free and come to her. Though, considering she was in the ocean, it would be more like to attract Sedna’s attention, and from the old tales, the sea goddess was not someone anyone wanted to piss off.
The glowing salmon zoomed ahead of her and into swaying seaweed. Seaweed meant bottom. And indeed, ten feet down, her paws scraped over the rocky seafloor.
Sedge. He better still be alive. Saskia might not be a killer, but she was ready to rip out the sea hag’s innards and strangle her with them.
Ahead. A speck of light that wasn’t one of her fish.
Saskia made a beeline for it. Over the seaweed and to a mound of big rocks. A cave. The fish in her mouth had stopped moving, but the glow remained.
A net of braided seaweed lay over the entrance. Salmon boun
ced off as they attempted to get through. Saskia slashed at it, shredding the makeshift door, and rushed inside.
To a hoarder’s paradise.
Pieces of ships, propellers, deck chairs, nets, fishing rods, coolers, weighed down life jackets and buoys, rugs, and even a disco ball. Crates filled with silverware and another with radios. The hag had collected everything that sank to the bottom of the sea. Probably even took things right off boats.
The salmon swam past her as Saskia wove around the piles of junk. As she neared the center of the cave, she spotted more what she expected. Human skeletons.
Most laid in crumpled piles, but a few still had enough clothing and sinew to hold them together. Dozens of them. Maybe a hundred. And all of them looked like adults. And male.
Great. A sea hag with a sadistic love or a really big hate of men.
Rounding a mound of ship’s bells, Saskia came to the center of the cave. The ceiling was twenty feet at its highest, and the space was lit by strings and strings of decorative lights. They glowed not unlike her fish and gave the feeling as if she were in a fun house of horrible cruises.
Tied with several thick links of seaweed to a boulder, Sedge in his bear form pulled at his restraints. His muzzle was bound, and a big crab shell sat on his back. He tried to get to his feet, but he acted as if that empty shell weighed two tons.
At the opposite side of this central area—was it some type of weird living room with the chairs, table, and busted TV?—the hag whipped a trio of fish that assaulted her and smashed them against the rock floor. Blood made the water around them misty and pink.
To the hag’s left floated a bowl. No, a bubble. It shimmered and waved in the water. Inside swam a huge and angry salmon. It bounced off the barrier as it tried to ram its way out.
Saskia had never seen a salmon that big. Was it the witch’s pet or…? No. The totem. Shit.
“What are you doing here, girl?”
The crinkled voice startled Saskia as she swung her gaze back to the hag. Did she just speak?
Deep Current (Totem Book 6) Page 2
