HOTSHOT BROTHERS: Coyote Shifters

by Hunt, Sabrina

  “I wasn’t worried,” Kalin retorted, accepting the glass from Cree and frowning at it. “You guys saved my life last night.” I met her eyes in surprise and she slit them at me. “Why?”

  Ben, Cree, and I all let out a bark of laughter. But Hazel cocked her head, almost looking offended on our behalf. “What do you mean, why?” she asked.

  Kalin pushed back her heavy hair, setting the glass on the table with a thud. “I mean, why did you save me and not anyone else? What’s going on? What were those things at the compound?” Her body was starting to shake. “What happened to my sister?”

  Hazel was at her side in an instant. “Your sister was there?”

  Now Kalin was staring at the floor and her fists were knotted on her knees. “Yes. But she…she wasn’t herself. She attacked me… She didn’t recognize me.”

  A burst of agony mingled with rage flared inside me. Gritting my teeth, I shook my head. “Shit, I didn’t realize. If I had, I would have grabbed her, too.”

  Seeing Kalin in pain unknit me somehow. Threw my world off its axis. And I didn’t know why, so once again, I silently blamed that goddamn Young family noble streak.

  And no matter what, we were going to get her sister back.

  “Tell us what happened Kalin,” Hazel urged her in a soft voice. “Why were you there last night? Did you know your sister was there?”

  Kalin raised her head and gazed around at us. “Why should I tell you?”

  “Because we’re probably the only people who can help you,” I said bluntly. “Think the cops’ll believe you when you tell ’em what you saw?” I didn’t mean to sound so harsh but my blood was roaring through my veins. Sick snake of a Skinwalker, I thought bitterly. In my mind, I was also wondering if I could get back to the compound and find her sister.

  “What, are you guys like secret superheroes?” Kalin asked, then muttered, “Whatever, fine.”

  “So you remember everything?” Cree asked quietly.

  Looking over at him, Kalin frowned. “I remember everything that happened at the compound.” Then her eyes found me. “I remember you,” she said slowly. “You called out that man. What did you call him?” Then she shook her head. “It gets hazy after that. It was like I was being submerged in needles or ice water and I think I started hallucinating. I was being carried, but you were running too fast. And there were coyotes around…”

  Kalin didn’t seem to notice that her four listeners had gone wide-eyed, shooting each other uneasy glances. Instead, she was lost in trying to remember.

  “Wait!” she exclaimed and we all jumped. Kalin’s eyes were narrowed again. “Before I tell you anything, I want someone to tell me what happened to my sister. It also almost happened to me, too, right? Does that mean you guys can save her too? Can you bring her back?”

  Damn, she’s sharp as they come, I thought.

  Without meaning to, Cree, Hazel, and I all looked at Ben. “Jeez guys,” He muttered, raking his hands through his black hair. “No pressure.” Sitting down in a chair near Kalin, he said, “I have to be honest, here. I don’t know. There are things we can’t tell you – in order to keep you safe – but I can tell you we will try to save your sister. It’s just…” He made a frustrated face.

  “You can do it, Doc,” I said in a quiet voice.

  Ben shot me a look of mingled exasperation and gratitude. “It’s the timeline, though, Stealth. You know we have no idea if that’s a factor.”

  Kalin was watching us with huge eyes and I fought down a sigh. I knew Ben was right. We weren’t sure if, after a while, whatever happened to the Pale Eyes became permanent. We didn’t know if there was what Ben called a “window of healing.”

  But I couldn’t stand the thought of Kalin’s eyes losing any more of that light. “You brought Hazel back from the dead, bro. You can do it.” I said firmly.

  Hazel let out a cough. “I wasn’t dead, Wes, I was dying.”

  Kalin leaned to the side to look at Hazel and then over at Ben. “Once again, who the hell are you people?”

  “Afraid we can’t tell you that,” Rayner said as he stepped through the front door. His usual smile was gone and he looked grim. Then he gazed around the room as Burr stomped in behind him. “We got a serious problem. Cree, Wes, Ben – outside, please.” When Hazel went to rise, Rayner shook his head and said, “Keep her company.”

  Hazel’s eyebrows shot up and she nodded as comprehension flashed in her eyes. What he meant was, “keep Kalin occupied so that she doesn’t eavesdrop.”

  The second we were out on the back porch and well out of earshot, Cree asked, “What’s going on? What’s wrong with you two?”

  “That girl,” Burr began.

  “Kalin,” I supplied.

  Raising his eyebrows at me, Burr folded his arms and continued. “Right, Kalin. Well, she is currently a wanted woman in River Hills.”

  “What?” Chorused Ben, Cree, and I.

  “Keep your voices down,” grit out Rayner. “Yeah, looks like she pissed off the Crooked Man in all the right ways. Town is now crawling with Pale Eyes and the sheriff is leading the manhunt.”

  “Is it ’cause she got away?” Cree wondered and I nodded, thinking the same thing.

  “Who knows?” Rayner looked irritated. “Either way, she’s now our problem.”

  “In addition to the other problems,” Burr added. “The compound’s been cleared out.”

  “That fast?” Ben asked. “So the Moonstone is gone.”

  “Yep,” Rayner said. “They’re moving northeast, heading for Lake Mead, it looks like. They must have done it the second we left. But with the sheriff and his goons all over the place, there are eyes everywhere. We’re going to have to get up there the old-fashioned way.”

  Grinning, I rubbed my hands together. “When do we move out?”

  Rayner and Burr looked at each other, then at me. “Here’s the thing, Wes,” Rayner started to say in a tone of voice I knew well. His “placating Wes” voice.

  “Oh, hell no.” I immediately said.

  “You don’t even know what I’m going to say!” Rayner rubbed his temples. Then he proceeded to explain what he and Burr had come up with on the ride back to our rental house.

  With the town under lockdown by the sheriff, the best thing was to try to heal as many Pale Eyes as possible. That meant Rayner, Ben, and Hazel would stay behind. But someone also had to go after the Crooked Man, who’d clearly left behind his goons to distract us and keep us busy. That left Cree and Burr to head northeast, track him down and wait for the rest of us to join them.

  “Why can’t I go with Cree and Burr?” I interrupted, folding my arms. “Tracking is my thing.”

  “Because someone’s gotta stay with Kalin,” Rayner said in a low voice.

  “What? Hell no!” I exploded. “I’m not babysitting! Someone else can do it!”

  “Who, Wes?” Rayner asked.

  I gaped at him, then glanced around at my brothers and my shoulders slumped. He made a good point. Ben would need backup and Rayner was the best of us for that job. Burr was strong and Cree was fast, so they’d offset each other perfectly until the rest of us arrived. As for me…

  “You know that out of all of us, you’re the one best equipped for this kind of a mission,” Burr said. “In fact, you’re kinda the only one.”

  “Mission?” I laughed, but internally I sighed, already knowing they were right.

  “Yeah,” Rayner said. “You’re ex-military. You know how to stay hidden, survive in the wilderness, and you and this Kalin already have some kind of connection.” I looked at him. “What? You do. Of all us, I think you’re the only one who has a shot of keeping her alive until we figure out why the Crooked Man is after her.”

  All excellent points. It still sucked, though. The last thing I wanted to do was drag this chick through the mountains. I doubt she’d ever roughed it. And I was also supposed to keep our whole Hotshot Brothers legacy a secret from her as well? Jeez, don’t do me any favors, guys.r />
  “Sorry, Wes,” Burr said. “I know it sucks, but what else can we do?”

  Rubbing my face, I nodded and didn’t answer. They were right. What else could we do?

  Chapter 5

  Hazel had just brought me a bowl of soup and some crackers when the five brothers, as I’d heard them refer to themselves, filed back in. The two recent additions introduced themselves as Rayner Hess and Burr Santana. Rayner was the blond and Burr was the brownish-red-bearded giant. Ben was the dark-haired doctor, Cree was the puppy-like one, and Wes was my rescuer.

  And whatever news those two had broken to the other three – it hadn’t been good.

  Cree was frowning, his usual smile lost in slanted pucker, Ben looked stressed, and Wes looked infuriated. Right now he was sitting in an armchair on the other side of the room, scowling at the ceiling and not talking to anyone. Looking at him, I kept feeling stabs of guilt.

  But I had no idea why.

  Once I’d eaten, Rayner asked me the question I knew they all wanted the answer to. Why I was in River Hills of all places. What I knew, what I’d seen, and what I was going to do now.

  Swallowing, I locked my hands together, staring at my whitening knuckles, and told them what had happened to my sister. How she’d vanished one night in Vegas, how the cops didn’t care, how I’d tracked her here. And how I’d been so desperate to find her, I’d ventured into that place.

  Only to find that she might be lost to me forever.

  I wasn’t sure why I even told them. I still had no idea who these people were or what they could do. While I knew they referred to Ben as “Doc,” he wasn’t like any doctor I’ve ever known.

  How could someone heal what had happened to my sister and those other people – what had almost happened to me? But I knew one thing: I felt safe here, and I no longer felt that crushing loneliness I’d experienced since my sister had gone missing.

  At least there were people who had seen what I’d seen. Who believed me, and who, in some way, seemed to be able to stop whatever hellish things were happening in this town. Who said they would save my sister. Or at least try.

  Once I was done, I chanced a look up and my eyes locked with Wes’s. The hazel color was stormy, but then it went soft and I had the strangest urge to fling myself into those solid arms. He looked both pained and furious on my behalf.

  “We’ll get your sister back, Kalin,” he said in a low voice, as though we were the only two people in the room. “I promise.”

  I smiled at him, blinking back tears. “Thank you.”

  “Ahem.” Cree cleared his throat and I jumped. A blush rose in my cheeks and I fought it down with some shock. I was not a girl to ever feel embarrassed and this was the second time it had happened around Wes. “I would like to reiterate, especially now that you’re awake – that you, Kalin Montero, are one ballsy chick.”

  I laughed. Real laughter. And for the first time in weeks, it was like a weight had been lifted from my chest. Something in me loosened and hope, once again, blossomed within me.

  While I had no idea who these crazy guys were, I trusted them.

  And I didn’t think Wes made promises lightly.

  Later, I rejoined the group for a late lunch. I’d taken a nap, then showered and changed. It turned out that after I had been attacked, the brothers got me out of there and back to their rental place. It was a house to the south of town, on the outskirts of the woods and all but hidden from the road.

  Cree had offered to go get my rental car that I’d left a mile or so from the compound. Grateful, I’d handed over my keys while hoping the car was still intact. And when I’d woken up from my nap, I found my bag outside my door.

  Now in my favorite pair of jeans and sweatshirt, I felt whole again. Content. Sitting down at the table, I thought I’d feel out of place, but somehow, I fit right in. There was a warmth in that group that enveloped the room and I relaxed right into it.

  I found out tantalizing tidbits, which made the mystery of these brothers all the more intriguing. While they weren’t related by blood, they’d spent so much time together – working and whatnot – that they referred to themselves as that. Now I knew they spent a lot of time in Montana, did wildland firefighting jobs, and as such, were called hotshots.

  “The Hotshot Brothers?” I asked in a teasing voice, glancing around the table. “It fits.”

  Part of me was amazed that just yesterday I’d seen these six eating in a diner together, had been saved by Wes at that very diner, then sassed him, and then was saved by him again.

  And now I was sitting here, part of this group, laughing with them.

  Wes was sitting next to me at the table and sometimes our arms would brush against each other, sending a river of heat coursing through my body. His scent filled my nose and I had to resist the urge to lean against him more than once. Every so often too, I had to stop myself from smiling like an idiot.

  After a while, though, I was suddenly wrung with guilt and grief. For the first time in weeks, I wasn’t consumed with thoughts of Trini. I was enjoying myself. And I wasn’t alone.

  Biting my lip, I knotted my hands together and stared down. I’m sorry, Trini.

  “Hey,” Wes jostled my elbow lightly. “Don’t do that. You’re allowed to be happy.” I looked over at him, half-shocked, half-annoyed, and he smiled at me. “I’m betting your sister wouldn’t want you sitting around miserable and worried all the time.” His voice was low and soft, like a caress. “Believe me, it doesn’t do you or her any good.”

  “Thanks,” I said, letting out a long sigh. “Damn, you’re smarter than you look.”

  He laughed. “Girl, you’re a piece of work.”

  “So I’ve been told,” I said, smiling back.

  Once we were dong eating, the sun was low on the horizon, filling the house with ruddy light. But no one made a move to clean up. Instead, Rayner leaned forward, playing with his glass and surveying me with his bright gray eyes.

  “There’s some things you need to know, Kalin, going forward.” He said. “One of which is that the Crooked Man has cleared out of the compound he was once holed up in. We believe he is heading for Lake Mead.”

  I sat up straight. “Are you going after him? Can I come?”

  Rayner sighed, drumming his fingers on the side of the cup. “Yes and no. There are some matters we need to clear up here. So Burr and Cree are going ahead; Ben, Hazel and I are staying behind. We would like it if you went with Wes if that’s okay.”

  I frowned. I knew full well they weren’t telling me something. “Why split up?”

  “Tell her,” Wes said. “It won’t do any good to keep it from her, not after what she’s seen.”

  Rayner shot Wes a hard look. “I’m not sure I agree.”

  “She needs to know,” he rumbled next to me, “or she won’t agree to it.”

  The blond eyed me. “Yeah, I see what you mean. We’re splitting up because we have to, not because we want to. We’re weaker when we’re apart and the Crooked Man knows that. But he has this town under his thumb.” He paused, eyes growing serious. “And now he’s on the hunt for you.”

  I licked my dry lips and shook my head. “But why–?” Then I cut off abruptly, as I suddenly remembered what was stashed in the hidden pocket of my jacket. The white stone. I’d just taken it out a little while ago and stared at it. It was as beautiful as I remembered it.

  Could that be it? I wondered.

  “That’s what we’re wondering too,” Burr spoke up and I started. “It could be that you’ve seen too much and he wants to cover his trail. It could be that it’s personal – you got away with our help. Or perhaps you know why? Did something happen before we got there?”

  I hesitated, then shook my head. In the back of my mind, a plan was forming. Just in case these brothers and Hazel couldn’t help me, I now knew I had a bartering chip. I wasn’t sure what it was, but surely these six wouldn’t care about some stone.

  “So what does that mean? I’m going to go
to Lake Mead with Wes?” I turned to him and saw that he was grimacing. A flutter of panic and anticipation went through me. “Uh, Wes?”

  He gazed at me, a strange smile twisting his face. “You ever been camping? Real camping?”

  An hour later I was finishing repacking my bag for the third time. While Hazel had promised to keep track of the stuff I left behind, it was hard to part with it. In the end, I packed a backpack full of clothes and toiletries. I knew I should leave my camera behind, but I couldn’t part with it. The bag was waterproof, meant for rugged conditions. It would be okay. Maybe I’d even get some shots.

  Sitting on my bed, I looked around the room and everything that had happened seemed to crash over me at once. My breath got short and I closed my eyes, trying to calm down.

  But I could see Trini’s sickly eyes, her pale skin and hear her raspy voice. Intruder. Then I shivered, remembering the red-eyed creature pouring fire onto the logs, the cruel laughter of the Crooked Man and the pain that had burned my shoulder when he touched me.

  Now those creatures were after me. And my best bet for survival was trusting a bunch of people I’d just met and traveling through the woods to Lake Mead with one of them.

  The one I’d noticed in the first place, of course, and had already sassed more than once. No wonder he didn’t look too pleased with his assignment.

  While Wes had been polite about it, asking what I’d like to eat and so forth, I could tell he hadn’t signed up for roughing it with me willingly. Although he’d looked relieved when I’d retorted, “Yes. And I know what real camping is.”

  How can this be happening? I wondered as I stood up. Wes wanted to get a head start first thing in the morning so I knew I should start getting ready for bed.

  “Get her and her stuff, now.” Rayner’s voice rang down the hall, sharp as a blade.

  Burr appeared in my doorway, gray-faced. “Kalin, they’re coming. We’ve got to get you out of here now. Where’s the stuff you’re leaving behind? We have to hide it.”