by Sarah Makela
I stood up a little straighter, feeling better now that we were making a plan, a way to fix the damage and both get to a place where we were safe. "First though, I want to pay a visit to my wizard friend Kevin. He was looking at the first golden rock I found, and he's been keeping tabs on where they’ve been spotted, since he has more local contacts than I do. If we're able to see the most recent sighting of these rocks, perhaps we’ll find a better lead than if I just fly around the whole forest." I gave him a half-smile, and he returned it with a soft kiss on my lips.
"All right. That sounds like a plan. I'll follow your lead." With that, he shifted back into his massive coyote form and nuzzled my thigh.
The wet touch widened my eyes, but I couldn't help laughing, before heading toward the sliding glass door. It would be easier for me to just open it and let us out instead of trying to mess with the front door. He had a mischievous look on his face, and his tongue hung out to the side like he was laughing with me. Once I'd opened the door, I waved him through with a slight bow, and he licked my face before strolling outside.
Blinking and looking after him, I wished we could spend more time together before we ventured out into the woods and dealt with this crazy mess. The more time I spent with him, the more I wanted him as a solid part of my life. I could see where my feelings for him might even eclipse what I'd had for Ezra. While I’d loved Ezra, he’d been human and never really understood the shifter part of me. That and him thinking I worked too much... But that had ended up being his downfall. My work.
Closing the glass door behind me, I locked it, storing the key under one of the smaller potted plants. Then I shrugged out of my clothes and looked up to see Cody sitting and watching me. He didn't have the laughing, mischievous look on his face anymore. He was serious and intent on me. I bit my lower lip, and he slid his tongue across his muzzle as if reacting to that gesture.
My heartbeat pounded in my chest, and I let my raven form slide over me before I could throw myself on the ground and spread my legs for him. Not now. Not yet. Soon enough we'd be able to experience that together, but right now, we had other problems to deal with.
We flapped our wings, and I launched myself into the air. I didn't go quite as high as I normally did, not only because of my previous near-death experience. I needed to stay in range so Cody could keep an eye on me. If he couldn't see me, we'd get split up, and this would all take much longer than it needed to. Granted, once we'd visited Kevin, we might have to split up anyway, depending on what he said. While it was great to stick together to track down a crazy person in the forest, it was also impractical. But we could discuss where we'd meet up when we came to that.
I only hoped Cody had good stamina since he'd need it with all the travel we were going to be doing. At least I could let the wind carry me as I glided through the air.
We traveled through the forest together for a while. I kind of enjoyed not being so detached from everyone else, at least having Cody there with me. He’d kept up just fine so far. For such a large coyote, he was pretty darn quick.
I couldn't help being impressed by him as he ran below me. My raven krawed at me, and I glanced up in time to see a tree coming straight at us. We twisted to the side, barely dodging it. Ugh. Keep your head on the task at hand. Not implanted into a tree as you're flying.
After several minutes, we finally made it to the area near Kevin's cabin. Like me, he wasn’t comfortable being too close to people. Then again, with all of the magical experiments he performed, that made sense. He wouldn't want a magical explosion to set a neighborhood on fire, or for people to get into his business and call the fire department or police on him as a suspected drug cook.
The raven krawed at Cody for me as we slowed down a little, coming closer to the ground. Having him right behind me made me feel a little nervous. Maybe because, while I trusted him, he was still a huge coyote and I was a raven. He could rip me to shreds in this form without much effort, or just trample me. But he was good about keeping a safe distance between us.
While I allowed the shift into human form to run its course, I took the time to look around. Cody was still in his coyote form, which was probably just as well. Both of us walking up to Kevin's naked would be a sight. At least Kevin was more or less used to me showing up like this. Well, maybe less, but I didn't really have any other options.
Heading toward the cabin, I was startled by Cody's bark. He nudged something on the ground in front of him with his nose. His shirt. He hadn't been wearing it when I saw him earlier. Maybe he'd dropped it while he was outside and had the forethought to grab it again.
I knelt in front of him and pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose. "Thanks." He licked my lips, and I grabbed the shirt as a trickle of desire slid over me. God, I was so not into bestiality, but Cody seemed to have such a profound effect on my body that it didn't matter what form he was in, he still made me needy and wanton.
I slid the t-shirt over my head, and it fell to the tops of my thigh. Brushing off the leaves, I climbed the porch stairs and stopped in front of Kevin’s front door, listening carefully. The place was completely silent. He might be asleep, but I kind of doubted that. There would at least be some level of noise coming from the house. Something. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe Kevin didn't snore anymore.
I knocked, but as I did, the door slid open. My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach and nausea welled up inside me. He would never do that. He had a lot of valuable lab equipment downstairs. He always kept the house locked up tight. I pushed open the door, and Cody nudged me out of the way. There wasn't much I could do about that, since he was much bigger than I was.
He sniffed around, walking slowly but steadily toward the basement. I wanted to shove him out of my way and go check the house, but I also wasn't sure if anyone else was there right now, and he was the more formidable of the two of us. My best plan of attack would be to escape, but he could actually take on whoever might be waiting to jump out at us. Still, I didn't want him to risk himself needlessly, and I was really concerned about Kevin. This wasn't like him. I wondered if somehow the bad guys had heard through their grapevine that he was involved with me.
I pressed my palms hard against my face, then ran my hands through my hair. Okay, calm down. I couldn't let my emotions get the best of me again. That'd only lead to chaos.
Cody pressed forward, faster now, headed to Kevin's bedroom. Things were thrown everywhere. While I knew Kevin was super neat in his lab, I'd never really had need to come into his room before, so some of this might be clutter, but the broken and slightly smoldering objects were definitely not normal, though. It was reminiscent of my home after I was attacked, except Kevin hadn't had as much time to react. He'd probably been sleeping when it happened.
I turned and ran to the basement, determined to see what they'd done to his lab. He'd had the golden rock there, among other things. Had they taken it? When I got to the bottom of the stairs and flipped on the light, my heart hammered in my chest. The lab was completely destroyed, as if someone had come in and just broken everything purposefully, rather than it just having been collateral damage from a fight.
On the wall, in something that looked like blood but wasn’t, judging by the smell, was written 'find the artifact, or your wizard friend will pay with his life...as will your boyfriend.'
Sitting on the steps, I pressed my face against my naked legs. Keep calm. They won't kill him, not yet. However, I knew that they would be willing to. I'd already seen one dead body tonight, and I didn't need to add two more to that number.
Cody barked at me, and I looked up to him. He jerked his head very deliberately, as if trying to tell me to follow him. I nodded and rose to my feet, a little unsteadily. I clutched the stair rail tight to keep from tumbling down to the basement again.
He remained at the top of the steps until I was right there next to him. He nuzzled me softly, then walked back to the bedroom, with me following close behind. I didn't want to come back in here—it was another r
eminder of how dangerous I was to those who tried to get too close—but I knew he'd probably found something important. He transformed into his human shape, and I wrapped my arms around him, needing the hug. He held me for a long moment.
"It's going to be okay. You said you trusted me. We'll make this right. We'll get your friend back, I swear." He ran his hand over my back, and I let out a shaky breath.
"If we don't, they'll kill him." I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. "They murdered a girl who looked like me and left her right there for me to see. Maybe they'd taken her mistakenly, and..." I opened my mouth to keep speaking, but I didn't even know what else to say. I shook my head and pressed my forehead against his chest. "I do trust you. I just don't want us or anyone else to die by their hands."
Chapter Twenty-One
Cody
I hated seeing Morgana like this. She was a strong and independent chick who kept turning me down—now she almost seemed broken. I wanted to help her put her pieces back in place, but I didn't even know where the glue was. Then again, maybe some of that kick-ass attitude had been a front to cover up all her pain from the death and misery she'd gone through in her life.
Pulling her close just to hold her for a moment, I surveyed the disaster around us. She needed the hug, but I also needed to tell her about what I'd found. There’d been a stack of papers under the bed that looked like someone had thrown them there in a hurry. They were spread all over, but I'd managed to get them somewhat organized without putting too many bite marks in them.
"I want to show you something." I pulled away from her a little, not wanting to let go entirely just in case her knees gave out on her. After seeing how unsteady she’d been on the stairs, I didn't want her to fall and hurt herself. "These were under the bed." I bent to the stack I'd laid on the bed and picked them up, handing them to her.
She flipped through them, and a frown creased her brow.
"What?"
The frown increased as she kept flipping. "It seems like the golden rocks stopped somewhere near here. He had a few ideas why, and he marked the spot, so we should be able to find it." She dropped to her knees on the floor before me, and I took a shallow breath, but she glanced under the bed and grabbed an envelope that I'd missed. It had her name on it. She looked up at me, and sadness crept into her eyes again. "This must've been how he knew to connect Kevin with me. God, if only I hadn't dragged him into helping me, he might be fine."
I knelt beside her. "Stop beating yourself up. There's no way you could've known that they would come here to Kevin."
"The guy’s also a wizard, so it makes sense that he’d know Kevin was involved in this kind of work too. Maybe when I rejected him, he came to see Kevin and found out something about us working together." She jumped to her feet, not seeming to have a problem walking now. In fact, she jogged into the living room, poking around as if she knew about something I didn't. Frowning at her, I followed, giving her space but ready to help her when or if she needed me to.
She picked up a picture of her, Kevin, and another guy, presumably her dead boyfriend, from an end table. It would be obvious enough for someone who was trained to pay attention to their surroundings. They were all smiling and had their arms wrapped around one another, on a white sandy beach with a clear blue ocean behind them.
I wrapped my arms around her waist and rested my chin on her shoulder. She let out a soft sigh and placed her hand on mine. "This must've been a clue. At least we know what's at stake." She set it back down on the table, then turned in my arms and pressed a soft kiss to my lips. "Let's head to the spot he wanted to tell me about. Kevin was smart. I think we'll find something important there."
I pressed another kiss to her lips before pulling away from her. "Lead the way. You're more familiar with this part of the woods than I am."
She smiled, then stripped off my shirt and handed it to me before brushing past me on her way out the door. I watched her body shrink and feathers sprout from her skin. It was mesmerizing to watch how effortless her change was. I shook the thoughts from my head as she krawed at me, cocking her head to the side in that unusual, birdlike manner.
I let my coyote come over me, grabbed the shirt between my teeth, and took off after her.
We traveled for a while, but it didn't feel nearly as long as it should've been from the map. Maybe I was more into the running than I'd thought. Looking up at her distracted me a little, but I mostly kept my gaze straight in front of me, letting the coyote have his chance to really run and let out all the aggression and frustration we'd both been feeling the last few days. I didn't know how else to deal with it. Except have sex, but I didn't want to force myself on Morgana, even though I knew her body was as willing and aroused at the possibility of us consummating our relationship as I was.
But first things first. We needed to survive long enough for that to be an option.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Morgana
I looked over the area, matching the features I saw to the ones on the map. We should be close to where the last golden rock was found, but as hard as I looked, I didn't see anything or anyone. However, the cloying scent of decay caressed my nose, and the carrion-eater in me zeroed in on the scent. I flew in the direction of the smell, hovering over a large boulder for a moment before gently touching down. Only then did I notice the strange gold tint to it. My raven krawed at the shiny object, and we hopped over to the back side of it. A very pale and slightly wrinkled form lay on the ground. His long black hair looked Native American, but he seemed too ancient to be the one causing all this trouble.
Cody entered the clearing and sniffed the air. He saw me on the boulder and walked around to get a better view of what I was looking at. When he saw the body, he stopped, and a mournful howl rose from his throat. His coyote form melted away, and he crawled to the corpse on his hands and knees. I leapt from my spot to be near him if he needed me, but I didn't understand what was going on.
Then it hit me. This must've been someone Cody was related to. I shifted back to human and waited nearby, hoping to be a warm presence in his darkness.
"Jacy... How could you have done this?" he whispered. "Why?" He slid his fingers carefully over the corpse's open, frightened eyes, closing them. He cleared his throat, his voice choked with tears. "This is my cousin. I can't leave him here like this. I have to take him home before the wild animals decide to eat him."
"Do you want me to come with you?" While I wanted to get this all done and over with as soon as I could, there was no way I'd leave him to deal with his grief alone. He and his cousin had obviously been close.
He glanced over at me and sighed. "I’d like that. My shirt is over by the boulder." He lowered his gaze back to the body and shook his head. "I never thought he’d be the one behind this. I should've seen it, though. He'd been different recently. Not at all like the best friend I'd had since childhood." Cody lifted his cousin into his arms carefully, and my heart ached for him. I hadn't been strong enough to take Ezra out of the cavern we'd been in when the trap had sprung on us. We'd been fighting again, and he hadn't been paying close enough attention to where he was walking...
Ugh, not the time for that.
I grabbed Cody’s shirt, sliding it over my head. We walked side by side, the scent of impending rain and his dead cousin filling the air. I placed my hand on his upper arm and gave him a comforting smile.
He sighed, but smiled back weakly. We both had reasons for wanting this asshole wizard dead. While Cody was mourning his cousin for getting involved, I frowned as a sudden thought struck me. Wait, where had the talisman been? Had we missed it?
I darted back through to the clearing again and searched around the slightly tinted rock. There was no sign of the talisman anywhere. Instant disgust snapped inside me—maybe they'd taken the talisman in addition to Kevin. But that didn't make any sense. They’d wanted me to find it, and they even said that on the wall. They hadn't been able to locate it themselves. Unless it was still around here, or on
Cody's cousin somewhere. I knelt to see if it had fallen from Jacy's hand when he'd died, and that made me think.
Cody walked back to where I was. "What's wrong?" He frowned down at me.
"The talisman. I don't see it anywhere." My eyes rose to his cousin, and I saw that his hands were clenched tightly, as if he was holding onto something.
Cody looked down, following my gaze. He gently set his cousin to the ground again and examined his closed hands. "It's there, but I'm afraid of breaking his fingers if I try to remove it."
I’d had a little too much experience with doing this, even for my own liking, but when you're regularly faced with prying treasure from mummies’ fists, you learn to do what you have to do.
"May I?" I took a step forward, and he nodded, although he looked a little reluctant to let me mess with his cousin's hand. "I promise I'll be gentle with him."
"I know."
I pinched the end of the talisman with my fingertips and wriggled it a little, doing my best to keep from moving enough to damage his hand. It was difficult, especially in the almost mummy-like condition his body was in. After a few minutes it finally slid free, and I let out a sigh of relief. The talisman was smaller than I'd expected, carved out of a dark, heavy wood. The odd-looking figurine had a man's legs and those of various other animals merged together to form the body of a figure sitting in a meditative pose.
My hand burned as I held it, and I dropped it to the ground, looking down at the red spot where it had touched my skin. Cody leaned in to look at my hand in the morning light, and pressed a kiss to it. "It should heal fairly quickly," he said.
