“What do you mean?” Lucky asked.
“There’s not just one portal.” Kinley still held Ransom with one hand. “There are several.”
Ametta dabbed facial cream on her cheekbones and forehead before rubbing it in. Its light coconut scent mixed with the vanilla aroma of the candle in her bathroom spread a calm through her. These ordinary rituals, what she did every night before bed, hopefully would help her sleep tonight.
The only thing out of the norm was the set of eyes constantly on her. Not unsettling, but the fact she didn’t have her own space at the moment was grating. While she had been sharing a bed with Lucky for a while, she still valued her bathroom time.
“You know nothing’s going to happen to me in here.” She peered at Lucky’s reflection in her mirror.
Leaning against the doorframe, he smiled. He wore only flannel pajama pants and a white t-shirt. A beautifully snug fitting t-shirt. Not even Michelangelo could have created a man so gorgeous. “Maybe. But I’m not taking that chance.”
“There are no portals in the house. There could have been one, but now it’s closed.” She finished rubbing in the cream, and then turned and folded her arms. “If a Shadowman does grab me, he’s going to have to take me past you and through everyone else.”
“Still not taking that chance.” Lucky shook his head. “My eyes will be on you all the time now until this whole totem thing is done with.”
Ametta leaned over and blew out the candle before exiting the bathroom. She purposely brushed against him and quirked up her lips in a coy smile. “Is that all that will be on me?”
He followed her to her bed and playfully tugged on the belt of her robe. “I thought the good times were on hold because your family’s in the house.”
Did she need that reminder? She could already hear her dad snoring in her office. Saskia and Sedge were taking first watch downstairs while Kinley and Ransom slept in the spare bedroom. And they were sleeping, dammit. She refused to think they could be doing anything else.
Ametta turned and pressed herself against him with a sigh. While he could turn her on in five seconds flat, the good times were on hold. Maybe she was a little prudish, or perhaps it was because she was nearly taken and killed by Shadowmen, but she wanted his comfort more than anything else.
Lucky hugged her tight to him and buried his nose in her hair. “You’re going to be fine, babe. Everything is going to be fine.”
Oh how she wanted to believe it. She really wanted to believe it. But their fate hung on finding all the totem tokens. They’d already lost two. Every shifter in the world could die if the bad guys managed to take all the totems. They could also unmake all the shifters, and some would consider that worse than death.
Now on top of that, Anchorage swarmed with Shadowmen. And they seemed to be after her in particular. “The smallest threat,” Sedge had called her. She about kicked him in the groin at that point.
There wasn’t one portal, but many. Sedge and Saskia might have been able to close one or even a dozen portals. But Kinley said there were too many to count. To see her sisters shaken up was the final nail in the giant totem pole shaped coffin.
“It’s not going to be fine,” Ametta murmured against his chest. She tipped back her head and ran her fingers over his scruffy chin. “But lie to me again and kiss me.”
Lucky pressed his forehead to hers. “I’d never lie to you.” His lips brushed over hers. “You will be okay.” He kissed her again. “I have faith everything will work out.”
Faith in herself had been something she always had. Faith in the rest of the world, that had always been harder. But this man, he was perfect. How did she get so lucky? And as it sometimes did, the play of words on his name made her smile.
Her chest swelled, and everything else in the world dimmed next to his light. She loved her family, yes. She loved her job. But there had never been anything that so completely enraptured her other than him.
She loved him. Loved him more than anything else. Had she said the words to him yet? No. But in her defense, neither had he.
The moment had to be perfect for it. Not in the throes of amazing sex nor cuddling after the fact. And not tossed about as if it meant nothing. She always thought it ridiculous when she saw those couples who said I love you after every single conversation.
Lucky kissed her more deeply. His tongue swept in to tease hers. He let out a soft groan as he urged her back toward the bed.
Forget her family. She needed this right now.
Ametta pushed off her robe and let it fall into a silken heap on the floor. She wore blue sleep shorts and a camisole, the most modest of her sleepwear. Sliding her hands up under his t-shirt, she ran her nails lightly over his sides and back.
“Oh yeah.” He trailed his kisses along her neck and tilted her back, kissing over the bare part of her chest. Little nips and licks made her legs quiver.
His mouth traced along her tattoo, the necklace token of the elk totem. It thrummed with the energy of the nearby totems. Ransom’s lynx in the other room and Saskia’s salmon downstairs. Not that she needed any reminder there were other people in her house or that there was…
Another one!
“It’s back!” Ametta twisted in Lucky’s arms and crawled over the bed toward her window.
“What?” Lucky hurried after her around the bed as he adjusted himself in his pants.
Ametta yanked open her curtains and flipped up the blinds. The lights of the city twinkled before them, alive and bustling even at this time of night. Cars zipped by on the street, and a few lazy snowflakes fell. This was a view she adored, which was why she had chosen this unit to move into.
“The other totem. Somewhere close.” She pressed her hands to the glass. Where was it?
The bang of the spare room’s door opening and the sound of two people running down the stairs said Ransom felt it too. Sedge’s deep voice commanded them to stay inside. And while Saskia argued with him, she didn’t go racing out the front.
“I can’t see anything, babe.” Lucky leaned forward and cupped his hands around his eyes to shield them from the bedroom light’s glare.
Nothing was on the ground. They’d all see it if there was. Was it a small animal? A raccoon or squirrel? They could hide under cars. Most animals would be hibernating at this point, though.
Or maybe… Ametta looked to the left and then the right of her building where two tall leafless trees glistened with snow and ice. There, out of reach of the lights of the parking lot, she could barely see it on one of the top branches. Black against the black of night.
“A raven.”
“Where?” Lucky peered out over her head. “Are you sure it’s not a normal bird?”
The raven sat unmoving in the tree. The wind made the branches sway and fluffed up its feathers. If she didn’t have the energy of her totem coursing through her, she’d say it was an ordinary bird, but she could feel that tug.
“It’s a totem.” Ametta raced out of her room and down the stairs. She shouted to the others before she even reached the bottom. “Out front in the tree to the right. It’s the raven!”
Everybody shot to the front door, crowding with elbows bumping before they funneled out.
The cold of the ground bit into Ametta’s bare feet, but it didn’t stop her. She pushed her way in front of Saskia and pointed to where she’d seen the raven. Of course, it was gone. “It was there.”
“I know. I could feel it.” Saskia scanned the area in a small circle.
“It’s gone now. Like it popped its head in through the door to say hi and then left.” Ransom wrapped an arm around Kinley and rubbed her bare arms. Kinley at least had on an oversized Star Trek t-shirt while Ransom was bare chested.
Ametta hugged herself and nodded toward her condo. “Let’s get back in then before we freeze.”
Sedge and Saskia were the last to follow inside. They were the only ones fully dressed too. With boots on.
Sedge shut the door and locked it, h
is brows furrowed. “Where’s Kunik?”
Ametta tilted her head back to stare at the ceiling. Yes, where was her dad? No snoring rumbled the condo.
He was fine. Just an old man sleeping through the excitement. So why was her heart suddenly pounding faster than when she’d spotted the raven?
Kinley zipped toward the stairs first, and Ametta was close behind. Saskia basically pushed them up, and the three of them burst into the small office.
Flicking on the light, Ametta gulped for a breath. “Dad!”
Her father rolled over in the cot and threw an arm over his eyes as he snorted himself out of sleep. “What? Something wrong?”
“Hell,” Saskia muttered as she shook her head and exited the room.
“No, Dad. Nothing’s wrong. Everyone’s okay.” Kinley gripped her bear necklace with one hand and smiled.
Ametta flicked off the light. “Yeah, we’re good. Go back to sleep.”
Her father was truly the old man who slept through everything now. The thought was somehow comforting and unnerving at the same time. They stepped out of the room and shut the door. As crazy as everything had been lately, their dad was the one stable thing in their lives.
He started snoring as soon as the door clicked.
Kinley put a hand on Ametta’s shoulders, and when Ametta looked at her sister, the smile was gone and tears glistened in her eyes. She rubbed Kinley’s back. “He’s okay, Kin.”
“But he won’t be.” Kinley sniffed. “I heard… He needs to beware the man in shadows.”
A half hour later, Ametta paced back and forth in the living room, running her hands through her hair. “We’re not going to be able to convince Dad not to help us.”
She’d throw her father on a plane to take him far away from Alaska if she could. But he’d fight every step of the way. He was as stubborn as Saskia was. All the Dorns were. Even Kinley had grown into hers.
“Kunik will not run from a fight, especially not one his daughters are involved in.” Sedge’s statement only punctuated her own thoughts. Telling her dad to go would only make him run faster into the fray.
“I will fucking tie him down.” Saskia gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. Standing beside the living room window, the light from inside and the darkness from outside cast dramatic shadows on her face like a devil’s mask.
“And he will chew through the ropes.” Sedge shot back. “Keeping him away is not the answer.”
“You’re right.” Ransom leaned back on the couch in his spot beside Kinley. Still bare chested, his totem tattoo seemed to ripple as if a drop of water fell into a pond. Maybe it was a trick of the eye, but Ametta’s own token echoed the sensation. “The whispers are not always what they seem. Kunik needs to beware of the men in the shadows. He is aware of them. Maybe the threat isn’t to him.”
“That’s right.” Kinley nodded. “We know the Shadowmen are after the tokens. Right now, Mett’s in particular. So the warning could be telling Dad to beware that something he cares about is not taken from him. Maybe he needs to be a guard instead of going out on the hunt.”
“He’s going to hate that just as much.” Saskia snorted.
“He will, but he’ll be less likely to argue about it.” Lucky stood closest to the front foyer, nearest to Ametta. His arms were folded over his chest, and his gaze forever on her.
“Dad will argue about it. We need to drive the point home that we don’t need to be worrying about him while we have a totem to find.” Ametta might not be able to convince their father to leave, but surely if she and her sisters banded together to tell him to step back, he would listen. It would be an added bonus to have Sedge backing them up too. She was an expert at getting her clients to leave behind idiotic ideas about redecorating. She knew which buttons to press and how to sweet talk. If she could do it for her clients, it should be no problem with her dad.
“Don’t I get a say in this?” Her father thumped down the stairs and scratched his beard and then his back.
Ametta jumped in fast before Saskia could say something stupid and have their father running out into trouble. “Of course you do, Dad, but you have to understand—”
“What I understand is that there are missing totems,” he said as he walked into the living room, standing straighter by the second. “If we don’t find all these totems, every shifter in the world could die. Every shifter.” He looked at each of them as he drew out those two words. “If you’re worried about me in danger, remember every damn shifter in the world has a possible death sentence hanging over their heads. It’s not just about you all, and it’s not about me.” He held up a hand to silence Saskia when she opened her mouth, and when she shut it, he pointed at her. “I’m trained as Black Shaman too, and I’m every bit as good as you. Yeah, I’m not as young as I used to be, but you can’t let your hearts get in the way of doing your job.”
“Dad…” Ametta stepped toward him, and he held up a hand to stop her too.
“No. I love you girls. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you, but don’t you dare risk everything to save me when there’s a world full of shifters needing saved.” Her father nodded once and flopped down in the chair. He rubbed his face with one hand before speaking again. “So why are you all freaking out about my well-being?”
“Kin heard some whispers. Said you need to beware of the Shadowmen.” Saskia leaned against the wall next to the window.
“We all need to beware of the Shadowmen.” Their dad huffed.
“We know that. But the whisper Kin heard was specifically about you.” Ametta put her hands on her hips. “Maybe you’re trained and all that, but you slept through all the noise when we saw another totem. You didn’t even wake—”
“There was another totem?” Her dad sat up in the chair and gripped the carved arms. “When?”
Ametta held out her hands. “My point made.”
And while she was glad she did make that point, it weighed heavily on her with the fact it wouldn’t make any difference. Her father was right. Every single shifter in the world was linked to the totem pole. Whoever controlled it could make more or destroy them all. She wouldn’t doubt the golden eagle hunter planned to kill them all and be the only shifter left. Queen of the World.
Ametta wouldn’t want anyone choosing to save her and then cause them to lose the totems. She was certain every person in the room felt the same way. But that didn’t stop her chest from constricting when she thought of her father in danger. Or Lucky. Or her sisters. Even Sedge and Ransom.
Lucky came to stand beside her and slipped an arm around her waist. He didn’t push into her space, but it was more of an I-understand-how-you-feel move. “Maybe about forty-five minutes ago? It was the raven. We ran downstairs and out the front. It flew away or disappeared by the time we all got outside.”
Her father frowned and sat back again. “I guess I was tired then. But the raven… It’s a powerful totem. Who saw it first?”
“Mett did.” Kinley motioned to her.
“Did it call specifically to you?” her dad asked.
Ametta pressed her lips together. She’d felt the tug, but so had Ransom and Saskia. The fact she saw it first was likely luck. Though was anything about the totems random? “I don’t think so.”
Her dad turned his head to Sedge. “Is it possible for someone to earn two tokens?”
Sedge’s jaw twitched as they waited for him to answer. “I don’t know. I would say no, but I do not control the totems, and they choose on their own who is worthy.”
So it was possible Ametta could get two tokens? She scolded herself her first thought was that she did not want another tattoo. One was more than enough.
But vanity aside, it did make sense. If the totems wanted to reunite with one another, why wouldn’t another totem pick a token bearer? They had all thought for the longest time each person could only bear one, but that had blinded them to this possibility.
Even though it was silent in the room for a minute, the same realization see
med to dawn on everyone else. It was as if she could hear the ping of lightbulbs going off above their heads.
“We have to make sure that whoever gets this totem is not already carrying one.” Sedge smashed all the lightbulbs.
“Why? Didn’t you just say we don’t get a choice?” Saskia narrowed her eyes at him.
“It would make whoever has two tokens a prime target. If our enemies take that person, they’ll gain two totems. Better that we each only bear one, and so we should let someone who doesn’t have one get a chance to earn the raven.” And this was why Sedge was the leader of the Black Shamans.
It wasn’t as if they could tell the totems what to do, though. Whoever they chose was the one who earned it.
Kinley shot down that same line of thinking. “So what does the raven represent? We know Raven was one of the most powerful and active of the old gods.”
“Trickery, deceit, pranks…” Ransom rattled off.
“No, those tales came later.” Sedge shook his head. “Raven and Bear created much of the world together. They created shifters and magic. He was a protector of this knowledge, a gatekeeper to secrets. He is courageous, a bringer of truths we hide from ourselves. It’s why later so many associated him with evil because it was a reflection of their own dark truths.”
“Deep.” Ransom let out a long breath. His eyes brightened. “Gatekeeper maybe literally? Like of the portals?”
“Maybe. It would explain the multiple portals in the area.” Kinley nodded and then added softly, “The giant hated Raven and Bear.”
“Because they killed all the giants,” their father added.
And then the undead giant Kinley faced killed Azarius, a Black Shaman raven shifter and Saskia’s mentor. Finally getting its revenge after all those centuries.
Kinley rested her head on Ransom’s shoulder, and Saskia looked out the window, hiding her face from everyone.
“Well, who has their own dark truths they’d like to share?” Ametta yanked the subject of conversation away from giants. The surprised and annoyed looks she received answered her question.
Shadows Fall (Totem Book 7) Page 4
