“The raven at the mall. It looked like Azarius, but I thought it was my imagination making it so.” Sedge placed a hand on Saskia’s shoulder, and it was immediately batted away.
“No! If he was alive, he’d come back to us. He’d not let us believe he was dead. He wouldn’t kill Dad!” Saskia turned from them, throwing up her hands and then kicking a log. It snapped, breaking in half.
“We saw him go under the giant’s foot,” Ransom said quietly. He stroked Kinley’s hair as he continued to hold her. “If anyone could survive, it would be Azarius. He’s clever, fast.”
“He said he was up north with you when you were fighting the Jinxioc.” Ametta leaned her head against Lucky and tasted salt on her lips from the tears still streaming down her face. “You thought he was Death, but it was him. He beckoned you to come with him. He wanted you to hunt with him, but you didn’t leave.”
“It can’t be Azarius!” Saskia shrieked at them.
Sedge snatched Saskia’s arms and whirled her around to face him. He put his head so close to hers, their noses nearly touched. “Don’t blind yourself to the truth. We will deal with this together.”
It was the most tender Ametta had seen Sedge be with anyone. Strong yet gentle, what he sister needed. Ametta hugged Lucky tighter.
“Azarius killed my father.” Saskia sagged, her voice hitching.
Sedge caressed her cheek. “And now the Black Shamans hunt him.”
No turkey or seal. No rolls, mashed potatoes, or pumpkin pie. No neatly folded crane napkins. Ametta and her family built her father’s funeral pyre and burned him on Thanksgiving Day.
Ametta had been too young to remember her mother’s death. While she could see how it had affected her family, she now knew how it felt to lose a parent. It was as if Azarius had truly scooped out the contents of her chest and left her hollow. No, not hollow. Full of sorrow.
Full of guilt. If she had only listened to her dad.
They sat outside most of the night waiting for the pyre to burn down to ashes and told stories about their dad. Sedge talked about him as a Black Shaman. Her dad had once tracked down a colony of meerkats to find a shifter who had killed some girls and had to play Whac-A-Mole until he finally found him.
Ametta and her sisters remembered how their dad would take them out for weeks in the summers to the woods to camp, how he helped people and seemed to know everyone in Alaska, and tons of goofy fish tales.
Curled up on Lucky’s lap and wrapped in a blanket, Ametta tried to recall some personal stories, but she and her dad never did anything alone together. She had not been interested in fishing or hunting or anything her dad liked. In fact, she spent much of her youth avoiding doing things with her dad. Another wave of guilt turned her head from the fire.
“Dad always said you were going to do great things.” Kinley reached over and squeezed Ametta’s knee. “Bigger things than even he could imagine.”
When Ametta scrunched up her face in disbelief, Saskia jumped in and nodded. “It’s true. It was almost like he was in awe of you. You would do the big things, Kin would have him a bunch of grandkids, and I was going to be the bitter old maid.”
That earned a chuckle from everyone.
Ametta’s chest swelled. Did her father really think that of her? “Why did he never say it to me? When I said I was leaving Alaska, he was angry. I didn’t think he’d ever talk to me again.”
“Of course he would have.” Kinley adjusted her blanket across her and Ransom’s laps. Underneath, they held hands. “He bragged about you to everyone. His famous designer daughter.”
Fresh tears blurred Ametta’s vision, and Lucky kissed her head as he rubbed her back.
“And you know Dad. He was never good at saying how he felt. If he fed you, it meant he liked you.” Saskia snorted and crossed her legs in front of her. Sedge’s arm lay across her shoulders. No hiding their relationship now.
“Hey, he fed me!” Ransom grinned and got a playful nudge from Kinley.
Yes, their dad was the typical male. Not so great at expressing feelings, but he’d take on the world for anyone he cared about. He’d die for them.
Ametta retrieved a tissue from her coat pocket and wiped her eyes. He shouldn’t have had to die for her. If she hadn’t been so blinded, but she’d been sure she was right, that Azarius was helping them hunt the totems. Why hadn’t she been as suspicious as her father?
She knew why. And she hated herself more for it. She wanted to be a part of getting the raven totem. One hadn’t been enough. She had to show everyone how good she was. Her damn ego.
“Dad shouldn’t have died. I shouldn’t have…” Ametta crushed the tissue in her hand like it was Azarius’ head. She shook her head and wet her lips. “I was so stupid. I thought Azarius was helping us. I thought he picked me to be the one to help him because I was the best to do so. If I would’ve just listened to Dad instead of Azarius… If I would have stepped away instead of stupidly holding my ground…”
“It’s not your fault, Mett.” Lucky murmured near her ear as he held her tighter.
“You couldn’t have known,” Kinley agreed softly.
But it felt like Ametta should have known. She prided herself on reading people, on being able to do it so well for her job. Yet she didn’t doubt Azarius. She’d been too eager to help.
“Don’t you go thinking that shit, Mett.” Saskia spat and pointed at her. “Az dug his own grave. He’s the bad guy here. And by the way he carved your chest, he would’ve killed you too. Az never did anything that wasn’t calculated. He picked you because you have a token and didn’t know anything about him.”
“He was trying to rip your token off you, and he didn’t care if you might die.” Lucky’s chest rumbled, as if the anger in him was simmering.
“But how did he turn into a bear?” Ransom asked. “He wasn’t using any skins, was he?”
Lucky shook his head. “No, he shifted from one animal to another.”
“Is it possible to be able to shift into two animals?” Kinley peered at Sedge.
“No.” Sedge then sighed. “The old gods, they could change into anything. Not just animals and people, but objects or even the wind. When Bear and Raven first created shifters, they had the same powers, but many abused them. So they created the totem pole and put the shifter magic into it, making it so shifters could only transform into one shape.”
“So you’re saying Azarius is Raven?” Ametta frowned. Woe be unto them if he was.
“No.” Sedge stated with sharp clarity.
“But he could be and maybe he hid it from you.” Ransom suggested. “He is a crafty bastard.”
Sedge narrowed his eyes at that. “No. He’s not Raven. Raven had been reborn into someone else, and she is far away from here.”
Interesting as that was, Ametta gave silent thanks that they didn’t have to deal with another incarnation of an old god. “So does that mean you can change to other forms?”
“I am a polar bear shifter with the essence of Bear. I can only be a bear. The gods will not be born whole again until the battle at the end of the world.”
The only good news out of that was it wasn’t going to be the end of the world. Ametta stared into the fire wondering how many of the old tales her father knew. Sometimes around the campfire, he’d tell them the old stories, but Ametta had never liked them. Inuit myths always ended horribly, and she had been a child who loved her happily ever afters.
“It is possible Azarius found something of the old gods and tapped into their magic.” Sedge continued. “He’s the only Black Shaman who is older than I am. I do not know who trained him only that he helped train me and encouraged me to take my place as the head of the Black Shamans. He took no interest in training anyone else until Saskia.”
Saskia cocked her head to stare at him. “Why me? I was the worst student half the time.”
“I can think of several reasons, but they are my own.” Did Sedge just give Saskia a suggestive smile? Ametta wanted to rub
her eyes to make certain she’d seen that right.
“It could have been the whispers.” Everyone looked at Kinley as she spoke. She hadn’t said much since their father had died. “Azarius told me he heard whispers on the wind.”
Each of them was silent for a moment. Kinley, and sometimes Ransom, heard voices. Ametta didn’t know if they were ghosts or natural spirits or whatever, but they told her of things to come. If Azarius knew what was going to happen with the totems, knew Saskia would be a Black Shaman, knew she would be a token bearer… God, he could know so much!
Was that how he was so conveniently there in the parking garage to save her from the Shadowmen? If she had known… No. It wouldn’t have made a difference. She’d believed everything Azarius told her.
At least the Shadowmen were gone. The multiple portals were because of the raven totem, and when it gave itself to Azarius, the portals shut taking the Shadowmen with them.
“It will not help him in the end.” Sedge broke the quiet with his ominous declaration.
Just like Kinley hearing the whisper about their dad didn’t help him either.
Ametta turned her head from the fire and rested it against Lucky’s chest. She didn’t mean to fall asleep, but when she opened her eyes next, it was with the light of the morning. No, a lamp. Lucky must have carried her into her dad’s house and settled on the couch with her. The fish clock on the wall told her it was early in the morning, though.
Lucky snored lightly under her, and she twisted so she could look at him. So handsome even unshaven and circles under his eyes. This man could have died for her. Maybe he would’ve put up a good fight against Azarius’ bear, but Azarius was more powerful. And Lucky likely knew that. He didn’t care. He only wanted to save her.
There was definitely more than grief in her heart. And right in this moment, it sang louder than anything.
Ametta leaned in and kissed his cheek. His snoring stuttered and stopped, and he opened one eye a crack.
“Hey, babe. You okay?”
“I love you.”
Both of Lucky’s eyes shot open. He blinked a few times and cupped her face, drawing the pad of his thumb over her cheek.
“I love you so much.” Ametta placed a hand over his, and oh did it feel good to say it. It felt right, and it wasn’t her ego making her blind this time.
“I love you too.” Lucky lifted his head and kissed her, tender and slow.
Her lips tingled as they parted. “Don’t you ever die on me.”
“Don’t you ever die on me.” He kissed her again and wiggled to shift them to a more comfortable position on the couch. “Heh, those sound like good wedding vows to me.”
Wedding vows? Was he asking her to marry him?
Ametta sat up and gave him a pointed look. Oh no. This was the I-love-you moment. A perfect and wonderful moment. He would have to pull off a magnificent proposal to get her started thinking about marriage. It needed the right place, the right time, the right ring…
Okay. She’d marry him right now if he wanted. She never wanted to be apart from him.
She settled back against him, and he muttered she should go back to sleep.
Her eyes stayed open. She was more awake than she’d ever been.
Her dad had bragged she would do great things. Maybe he meant just in the designing world, but she wouldn’t fail him again. She’d do whatever it took to find the other totems. No more bowing to her ego or going off without the others. They’d save every shifter in the world. That’s what her father would do. He would do anything to help others.
He did great things. Now so would she.
TOTEM SERIES
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Three sisters.
Seven totem tokens.
One chance to save their world.
DARK DAWNING (TOTEM #1)
It’s a dark day when someone murders one of their own.
Shifters across Alaska are going missing. When up and coming interior designer Ametta Dorn rescues the gorgeous Kodiak shifter Lucky Osberg, she comes into the crosshairs of two relentless hunters. While Lucky sets his sights on wooing her, the killers seek to not only capture her in her powerful polar bear form but to also take her skin.
To prevent her murder and the deaths of other shifters, she must work with Lucky to track down and stop these merciless hunters. After all, their enemy’s plan for shifter skins is something much more terrifying than collecting mere trophies.
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Release date: October 17, 2016.
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SILENT WHISPERS (TOTEM #2)
It’s not only the dead who whisper upon the wind.
An ancient totem pole has gone missing, and its pieces are scattered across Alaska. Restoring the seven totem tokens may be the only way to save every shifter in the world.
Kinley Dorn, a geeky architect with a heart of gold and a polar bear shifter, jumps at the opportunity to help her family find the lost pieces. Their idea of “helping” involves staying indoors to research online. Work leads Kinley to sexy lynx shifter Ransom Averill. He coaxes her away from the safety behind her computer and into the path of a rampaging giant. Terrifying as the monster might be, she must brave its mountain because the owl totem is calling to her through silent whispers.
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Release date: October 31, 2016.
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CLOAK OF SNOW (TOTEM #3)
No one messes with Saskia Dorn’s family and gets away with it.
The same murderous shifters who had hunted her sister have attempted to steal a magical totem pole. Since the pieces are scattered across Alaska, Saskia, a polar bear shifter, takes her search to the tundra for any signs of the lost totems.
Instead she finds Sedge, the latest reincarnation of the old Inuit Bear god, who just happens to be the man who broke her heart.
They come across a small native village tormented by the Jinxioc, evil gnomes with an appetite for human flesh. Sedge declares he will rid the people of the menace, believing a totem token is nearby affecting the devils’ behavior. At his side, Saskia battles to save the tribesmen, but it could mean sacrificing herself.
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Release date: November 14, 2016.
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SHATTERED SPIRIT (TOTEM #4)
A haunted house isn’t going to stop Ametta Dorn from doing her job.
Frustrated that her family has left her out of the search for the missing totem tokens, Ametta Dorn loses herself in her work. She’s offered a dream job of a complete interior renovation of a famous Cremaschi house. Not even discovering the house belongs to Lucky Osberg can dampen her enthusiasm.
Lucky’s plan to spend more time with her as she works goes awry when the spirit who protects his home tries to murder her. Ametta won’t be scared off, despite being tempted to run and never come back. She was going to flee Alaska and pursue her designer dreams anyway, yet that means giving up on Lucky and the totem that is just within her grasp.
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Release date: January 9, 2017.
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GHOST CAT (TOTEM #5)
Bigfoot is rampaging through a small fishing town, and he has friends.
The whispers say a boy is missing. Kinley Dorn can’t ignore them. The last time she did, a giant almost killed her. Her investigation in the boy’s disappearance leads her and her boyfriend, Ransom Averill, to a village on Lake Iliamna. Unfortunately, that boy isn’t the only child missing.
Some folks claim Bigfoot is taking the children, but the gentle creature usually stays away from humans. Kinley believes a totem is making Bigfoot act strangely, but can she and Ransom find it before more kids are abducted?
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Release date: Janua
ry 23, 2017.
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DEEP CURRENT (TOTEM #6)
Always read the fine print when making a bargain with a sea hag.
Lost to the clutches of her grief of losing her mentor, Saskia Dorn welcomes the opportunity to take down a warehouse of drug dealers. When their leader makes a break for it, Saskia and her ex-boyfriend, Sedge, chase the criminal shifter into the sea off the coast of northwestern Alaska. Not only do they lose their quarry, but a vicious sea hag snatches Sedge.
Saskia can’t take another loss and attempts to bargain for Sedge’s life and the salmon totem the witch has trapped in her cave. The sea hag wants only one thing: her long lost love. Who is dead. And living under the freaking ocean with the Salmon People. Find the Salmon People and return with the witch’s love before Sedge’s life is forfeit. Simple, right? Yet she can’t leave the Salmon People’s land without finding herself first.
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Release date: February 6, 2017.
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TOTEM #8 and #9 are forthcoming in August 2017.
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OTHER WORKS BY CHRISTINE RAINS
Paranormal Romance
Of Blood and Sorrow
Fearless
The Marquis (The 13th Floor #1)
The Alpha (The 13th Floor #2)
The Dragonslayer (The 13th Floor #3)
The Harbinger (The 13th Floor #4)
The Oracle and the Vampire (The 13th Floor #5)
The Ghost (The 13th Floor #6)
The 13th Floor Complete Collection
Paranormal Erotica
Ghost Dancer (The Paramours #1)
Poltergeist’s Pleasure (The Paramours #2)
Lovelorn Spirits (The Paramours #3)
Shadows Fall (Totem Book 7) Page 8
