Ransom did a great job at not gaping. Yet he didn’t speak for half a minute, and her abdomen quivered as it tightened further.
“Sedge is leading us. He wants the totems back together to restore the totem pole, to make things right. He’s a good guy. Sure, he’s not exactly chatty, but we’re not Black Shamans. We can’t know all his secrets. We know enough to do the job we’re doing.” He lightly kissed her. “Why would Sedge do anything else? It wouldn’t make sense.”
Kinley had gone over it a hundred times in her head last night. “If Azarius is to be believed, and I’m not saying that I do believe him, he wants to restore things to how they were. Sedge does not. I can’t think why he wouldn’t want to, but everything else Azarius said… He was sincere. I like to think I’m pretty good at judging people, and if he tricked me… I don’t think he was doing that.” Her words gained momentum. “He wanted to give me his side. And I did keep reminding myself that he killed my dad. I repeated it again and again, but I had to hear him out.”
Ransom shushed and hugged her, rubbing her back. “You listened because you’re fair and goodhearted and you needed to know.”
She nodded. He truly understood her. She smiled, almost laughed, and realized she was almost crying too. “He said Sedge had his own agenda. That Sedge knows of my abilities but hasn’t told me or offered to help me learn about them because it doesn’t fit in with his plans. That he only uses me when he needs to.”
Maybe she should expand on that last part. But it was how it felt. Sedge had very little interaction with her and Ametta outside of the hunt for the totems.
Ransom ran his hands through her hair and drew them apart so that he could look into her eyes. “No one is using anyone here. We’re all working together. We want the same thing. And, yeah, we have different strengths, different abilities, but we’re all a part of this. We’re all important.”
Ransom was right. She didn’t have to see Azarius again. Sedge wasn’t using her. They were a team, and he was like the captain. They could get matching uniforms. Be like the Power Rangers! Instead of dinosaurs, they had bears. And Ransom was the sexy green ranger.
“Kin!” Ametta’s shout rattled the door. Literally.
Ransom chuckled and kissed Kinley. “I think you’re being summoned.”
She sighed. “Yeah, I promised to help her decorate this morning.”
“Are you okay now?” He smiled when she nodded. “So how do you want to tell everyone? In one big group or separately? Maybe just tell Sedge and see what he thinks first?”
Her heart sped up as she tensed. She really should tell everyone what happened. Secrets always came back to bite people in the ass. But all she had was a conversation. She didn’t agree to do anything, and she didn’t have to see Azarius again.
Maybe her sisters would be mad that she had talked to Azarius, but they’d forgive her, right? It was nearly Christmas. It was going to be difficult enough as it was. Did she really want to mess it up even more? She could wait.
“You need to tell them,” Ransom said with all seriousness again.
“I know. I just…” She closed her eyes for a few seconds. “I just need to figure out how without hurting them, without ruining Christmas.”
“You did nothing wrong, babe—”
“Kinley!” Ametta knocked on the door. “I know you’re awake in there. You two better not be having dirty, rotten sex in this house.”
“Nothing rotten about it.” Ransom waggled his eyebrows and kissed Kinley even as she stifled a giggle.
“Whatever. Just get dressed and come help me.” Ametta marched away from the door.
Kinley kissed the most gorgeous man on the planet and slipped out of his arms. “I better go. And I’ll tell them. Just give me a little time to figure out how.”
He nodded as he lay back. She had full trust in him that he wouldn’t say anything until she was ready to do so, but she had no idea when she would be ready.
“I don’t know if I like the wreath there,” Ametta said and pursed her lips as she pointed to where Kinley was holding up the wheel sized decoration. She then zipped her finger to the other side of the sitting room. “Or there.”
There was no use in rushing Ametta. Her sister had to have everything just right. Kinley stood still as the positioning of the wreath was considered. They’d already decorated the front porch, dining room, and stairs. A nine-foot evergreen stood off to one side in the sitting room. Ametta hadn’t decided exactly where she wanted it either.
Ametta shook her head. “I think I’ll hang the wreath in the foyer. The tree needs to be the center of attention in here.”
Kinley set the wreath against the wall nearest the foyer and glanced at her younger sister. Ametta had been there when their father was killed. Right beside him. Their dad was protecting her. Or believed he was. Was Azarius really going to harm Ametta?
She swallowed the lump in her throat and wiped her hands on her jeans. Ransom was right. She needed to tell everyone about her talk with Azarius.
“Lucky has boxes and boxes of ornaments we can get from the attic. And then all the gifts.” Ametta walked slowly around. When she stood at the corner nearest Kinley, she lowered her voice. “I got Saskia new furniture for her house. Do you think she’s going to freak?”
Kinley’s eyes widened. She didn’t know whether to laugh or gasp. “Um, I don’t think she’ll like you trying to decorate the place. But she won’t be rude about a gift. Doesn’t that break some sort of taboo if she is?”
Ametta nodded. “That’s what I thought. When she sees the furniture in the living room, she’ll like it.” She smiled that I’m-so-pleased-with-myself smile. “Sedge was harder to buy for. What did you get him?”
That was an understatement. “I let Ransom decide.”
“Ransom?” Ametta snorted, stepped into the corner, and spread out her arms. “I think I want the tree here. So what did he get him?”
“Flying lessons.”
Ametta’s perfectly shaped brows shot up. “That’s actually really good. Better than the designer suit I bought for him.”
This time Kinley did gasp and covered her mouth. “You didn’t.”
“I did.” Ametta surveyed the corner again from all angles. “Eventually he’ll have to wear a suit. Whether it be to your wedding, my engagement party, or his own wedding. Though, I don’t think he and Saskia will go the traditional route on that one.”
Her wedding? Kinley ran a hand over her face and rested it on her neck. She loved Ransom, wanted to spend her whole life with him, but she hadn’t thought of weddings.
Focus. Keep the subject on Sedge. “Couldn’t Sedge just, you know, make his own suit?”
“But it wouldn’t be a Jaochimo Max design. I do wish I could make my own clothes like that, but… yeah.” Ametta’s jaw hardened, and she exhaled loudly through her nose.
Azarius had fooled Ametta, making her think she had her own magic like a Black Shaman. But it had been an illusion in the end. He could have very well tricked Kinley too, but the evidence said otherwise. He was an idiot if he dared try the same scheme twice.
Kinley hesitantly wet her lips. “When you were with Azarius, what sort of things did he say to you?”
“I don’t even want to think about that right now.” Ametta put a hand in the air.
“Did he say anything about Sedge? About how he might not be what we think he is?”
Ametta stared at the wall for a moment. Silent but a hurricane of emotions danced through her dark eyes. Her lips parted and then shut. Would she shout? Refuse to talk about it?
“He did.” Ametta’s usual confident voice wavered. She crossed her arms and then uncrossed them. “But he’s a liar. A murderer.”
Kinley kept her tone soft. “He is. But… he spoke to me. Last night.”
“What?” Ametta spun to face her and balled her hands into fists.
Kinley held up her hands and lowered them. “He’s not here. Don’t worry. He spoke to me on the astral plane.
Your domovoi was there. He seemed to think it was safe.”
Ametta dug her nails into her palms before she moved to sit in a high-backed chair. “The stuff you do… I just don’t get it. The astral plane? What is that? And Grandfather. He’s not my domovoi. What happened? What did Azarius say?”
Sitting on the chair that matched the one her sister sat on, Kinley perched on the edge of the cushion to face her. “The astral plane is like a realm where spirits are free of the physical. It looks just like this one. Mostly. I guess it could look like anything. Yet since I can hear whispers, I can step over to other planes.” She still didn’t understand the how of it herself. “He just talked to me. I wanted to rip him to bits first, but I wasn’t my bear. I’m human there. But he told me Sedge isn’t what he seems. That he’s in this for selfish reasons. While Azarius wants to restore things to how they once were.”
“We’re all in this for selfish reasons. We don’t want to lose our lives.” Ametta shot back. She then breathed out, smoothing her hands in the air in front of her in an effort to calm down. “Sedge wants the same thing. Why wouldn’t he want the same thing?”
“I don’t know.” Kinley squeezed her clasped hands between her knees. “Does he ever talk to you about anything?”
“No. Not really. Maybe he asks what’s for dinner.” Ametta shook her head and then shrugged once. “That’s Sedge. He isn’t one of those men who talk. He’s more of a grunt and growl sort.”
While that was funny, and true, Kinley didn’t feel the urge to laugh. “But have you ever thought how little we know about him? He just expects us to go along with whatever he says.”
“Again, the alpha grunt and growl sort. Have you ever talked to him? Asked him questions?”
Kinley dropped her gaze to her hands. No, and how stupid of her. Sedge was intimidating, but she wasn’t afraid of him. Not a lot, anyway. It was because he was the unknown in their group. More known to Saskia, she supposed, and their father had trusted him. Mostly.
Her dad hadn’t trusted Sedge with her. He’d been afraid he’d try to use her for her psychic abilities. But what if that was what he was doing?
No. She volunteered. She wanted to do be a part of the hunt for the totems.
“I’m taking your silence to mean you haven’t.” Ametta slapped her hands to her knees and stood. “Well, no time like the present, right? We need some muscle to carry boxes down from the attic. Lucky is baking, Saskia is fixing the cupboards, and Ransom is…” She tilted her head to listen. “Shooting zombies, I guess.”
“So where is Sedge?” Kinley asked.
Ametta shrugged her shoulders again and shouted, “Sedge! We need a hand.”
Holy crap. Her sister just yelled for an old god.
Ametta smiled and walked to the foot of the stairs. Kinley followed, shaking her head.
Sedge came from the kitchen. In very faded jeans and a white t-shirt, she could see every bulging muscle. The man was bigger than any other shifter she’d met, and she’d met a lot of hulking men in her years. She’d grown up thinking her dad was the biggest and strongest, but he had looked short next to Sedge.
“There you are.” Ametta honeyed down her tone. “We need to get a bunch of boxes from the attic. Come on.”
Ametta didn’t even ask him to help. Brazen was an understatement for her sister. Both of them would make good starship captains, but could they work together on one ship? Kinley always fancied herself a science officer or an engineer. She didn’t want a command position.
Sedge stood there staring at her.
Kinley glanced at Ametta who had already started up the stairs. Oh! He was waiting for her to go first. She dipped her head with a little smile and hurried to catch up to Ametta.
How to even start up a conversation with him?
“So,” Ametta said, stepped onto the second floor, and went over to open the door to the attic. “Kinley’s been hearing things. About you.”
And there it was.
Kinley bit her bottom lip and hoped neither saw her wince.
Sedge stopped at the top of the stairs while Kinley and her sister stood at the door to the attic. His brows darkened as one eye narrowed further than the other and his body tensed. “What have the whispers told you?”
Great. Ametta couldn’t have done this subtly? Throwing something like this into a person’s face unexpectedly was a surefire way to cause conflict. Peace and unity were what their group needed.
Time to smooth it over. “The whispers aren’t always truthful. And they can easily be misinterpreted.”
Sedge nodded with a small assenting grunt.
Kinley would not look at her sister. She would not look!
“Basically they were saying you aren’t who you say you are and you can’t be trusted.” She waited for him to rage or laugh it off or anything, but all that happened was his jaw tightened. What did that mean?
“I am Sedge. I am Bear. I do not pretend to be anything else. And what can’t I be trusted with?” He motioned to the attic with a flick of his hand.
Ametta flicked on the light and led the way up. The back of Kinley’s neck tingled as she turned her back to Sedge and walked up. She gripped the banister tight with one hand. “The totems.”
“Only I can put the totem pole back together.” His statement sat heavily in her ears.
They knew that already. As the reincarnation of the old god Bear, he was vital in their quest. It was strange he didn’t have a token himself, but again, it made sense he would wait for the bear. No one questioned that it would be for him. Except Azarius.
“We get that.” Ametta stepped into the dusty attic and gestured to a stack of boxes. “But how are you going to do it? The totems have melded themselves to us. Can they be easily taken off?”
Sedge strode past them and picked up three of the boxes. “They cannot. I will remove them when we have them all. I will restore the totem pole and put it back where it belongs. That is all you need to know.”
“It would help if we knew what was going to happen. Will everything be like it was?” Kinley moved back out of his way as he headed for the stairs.
“Everything will be as it should be.” Sedge carried the boxes through the door and disappeared down the stairs.
Kinley and Ametta didn’t say a thing until they heard him go down to the first floor. Neither of them let out a relieved breath.
“He didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know.” Ametta stared at the open door.
“I know.” Kinley nodded. She raised a hand to press it to her chest, feeling her heart thumping hard within. She bunched up her shirt with her fingers. “What if someone else could put the totem pole back together?”
And if so, why does he want it to be only him?
“I wouldn’t suggest that to him. Or Saskia.” Ametta nibbled on her thumbnail before she realized what she was doing and quickly dropped her hand to pick up a box. “Maybe… even though Azarius a murderer, maybe you shouldn’t tell them you talked to him.”
“Really?” Kinley paused and rested her hands on the last box.
“Saskia would freak, and…” Ametta inched closer and dropped her voice to a whisper. “Have you ever thought why the Moon Man beat you to give you that strength? The legend says you’re supposed to fight a god. What if Bear is that god?”
Kinley sucked in a breath. She hadn’t even considered it. So many other scenarios ran through her head. Mostly that Azarius might be a god or that a god would have the bear totem. Or even that the golden eagle hunter was a goddess.
Sedge was the only one she knew to be a god. She swallowed audibly. “I couldn’t… No.”
But the possibility had already implanted itself in her mind.
Like an alien ready to burst out of her head, the doubts about Sedge pounded in Kinley’s mind. She helped put the lights and tinsel on the tree, but left Ametta to arrange the ornaments and pulled Ransom out of the kitchen to settle her maddening thoughts.
He wiped cookie crumbs fr
om his mouth, pressed her against the wall in the dining room, and brushed his lips against hers. “Looking for something a little sweet?”
The man’s libido put Captain Kirk’s to shame. But what was she to say when she eagerly hopped into bed with him whenever she could. She laid her cheek against his and whispered, “I talked to Ametta. Told her what happened.”
“Good for you, babe. And look,” he said as he ran his hands down her sides to her hips. “Still in one piece.”
“We asked Sedge some questions.”
“Yeah? See, everything’s worked out. Did you tell him about your astral plane visitor too?” Ransom kissed along her neck.
“We didn’t get any answers.” She pinched her lower lip between her teeth.
Ransom stopped and pushed back a few inches. His gorgeous face scrunched up. “What?”
“He said we didn’t need to know.”
“Why would he say that?” Ransom shook his head. “Maybe he was unnerved by two beautiful blondes asking him questions. I know someone who won’t be.” He tugged her into the kitchen. “Watch the master at work.”
Kinley dug her heels in a little, but probably not as much as she should have. Smart as Ransom could be, he was just as impulsive. Sometimes it irked her, yet they needed answers.
The scent of peanut butter cookies filled the air. Lucky stood at the island decorating sugar cookies while Saskia sat on one of the kitchen chairs sanding a cupboard door. Both of them looked up as Ransom pulled Kinley into the room.
“God, Lucky. That smells so good. I think I’m going to marry you.” Ransom grinned and pulled out a chair, gesturing for Kinley to sit.
“Sorry, man. You’re just going to have to quit me. I’ve got someone much prettier than you to keep me warm at night.” Lucky chuckled.
Kinley slowly sat, unfazed by the banter between the guys. It wasn’t unusual for Ransom to play up the bromance angle with his friends.
“Oh, you wound me.” Ransom grasped his chest and leaned back against the table with an exaggerated death groan. Then he straightened and peered at her sister. “Saskia—”
Descending Moon (Totem Book 8) Page 5
