HOTSHOT BROTHERS: Coyote Shifters

by Hunt, Sabrina

  Aunt Sil came out and it took every ounce of willpower not to run forward to her. She walked slowly towards us, her wrinkles cut deeper in the sun, and suddenly the color seemed to fade out of the world.

  This is my punishment, I thought dizzily.

  “They are okay right now. Fern and Pea have put them in deep slumber, coasting on good dreams.” Aunt Sil’s voice was as soft and sweet as a spring breeze. “We will figure this out.”

  “What about Ray?” Sky asked, her fingers digging into my arm.

  Aunt Sil gave me a long look and shook her head. “I do not think Ray will fall to this.”

  “Why not?” I asked hoarsely. A tumult of emotions went through me. On the one hand, I didn’t want the girls, the Elders, or my brothers unprotected. Yet on the other, I had to wonder why.

  Why was I untouched by whatever sickness ailed my brothers?

  A grim, angry look came over Aunt Sil’s face as she looked beyond me and to the west. “I believe we are about to find out.” She stalked by us, her head held high, and we trailed like ducklings.

  We passed through the gardens and trees, all of their beauty somehow incongruous with what was happening. Don’t you know the guardians of the wilderness have fallen ill? Why are you not weeping for those who watch over you?

  Setting my jaw, I noted we were walking towards the same hill my brothers and I had careened down the other day.

  And standing there, a blot against the blue and green, a jagged note in the melody, and an unfamiliar-familiar face, was the Crooked Man.

  Blonde, blue-eyed, with what should have been a handsome, laughing face. But it was ravaged and wasted, the thin lips constantly twisting into cruel smiles, and cracked across with burns.

  I went to move forward but Aunt Sil caught me. She gave the Crooked Man a searching look, her face still and lips tight. “Don’t,” she whispered. “Don’t say a word. Or his name.”

  “You seem unsurprised to see me, brother, Silver Tail.” He inclined his head. “Ladies.”

  Willow let out a long hiss. I glanced back to see Kalin and my sister each holding an arm. Hazel stepped forward to the other side of Aunt Sil.

  “I recognized that dark and foul handiwork,” Aunt Sil said calmly. “I guess I must offer you great credit for managing such a coarse and unrefined bloodspell at such a distance.”

  “Oh, what is distance when it comes to blood? Right brother?” The Crooked Man grinned.

  “We will find the two-faced beast and dispose of it,” Aunt Sil said dismissively. “You wasted your time.” She turned to walk away. “Now, leave.”

  Her words were quiet, but the power behind them seemed to hush the earth and sky. For a moment, I saw a flicker of unease run across the Crooked Man’s face. Then it smoothed away. “I already have.”

  Aunt Sil’s entire body went rigid with shock and she whipped back to the beast. “What?”

  Fear hit me so hard my vision went dark. I’d never heard that kind of disbelief in Aunt Sil’s voice. She paled as she looked at it.

  It seemed to become indifferent. “Oh, yes, once it taught what I needed to know, I disposed of the Two-Face. I knew that it could potentially undo my great work.” It reached inside its long black jacket and pulled out a handful of items. Then holding up its hands, I saw a bloodstained claw and rock in one palm, and a vial of bloody water and a rusty-looking bullet in the other.

  Aunt Sil gasped, her knees sagging, and Hazel wrapped an arm around her. “No,” Sil breathed. “How?”

  “Oh, yes, Silver Tail. It took patience, I grant you, but I knew the moment that little shaman appeared on the scene, the rest of them couldn’t be too far behind. My only regret is that Rayner avoided his fate.” It smirked. “Although perhaps this will cause him greater suffering.”

  “What do you mean?” Sky demanded, pushing forward, and I caught at her.

  Looking over at Aunt Sil, I asked urgently and softly, “What is going on?”

  She was gray-faced. “The Crooked Man is too clever. It is old; old and putrid craft – the knowledge of demons long locked away or destroyed. For bringing such darkness back, I shudder at what fate awaits you, Skinwalker.”

  “Do you? I long for that day. And yes, it took a while to find one, I grant you,” the Crooked Man said. “I almost didn’t in time. But fortune favors the bold. The two-faced demon told me everything I needed to know. How to take down a shifter, especially one of Akba Atatdia.” He spat. “The protector and trickster. What delicious irony, tricking the trickster…”

  “That is old, arcane demoncraft. It comes at a terrible cost.” Sil stared at the Crooked Man. “Did the demon tell you that, Skinwalker?”

  “Oh, I have already paid in full,” it snarled.

  Aunt Sil’s eyes closed as though she couldn’t bear to witness what was happening.

  “What do you want now?” I demanded, clenching my shaking hands into fists, and I felt Sky’s worried hands land on my shoulder. I shrugged her away gently and stepped forward. “Me?”

  “Little brother, your fate is already sealed. No, I am here to make a trade. You can have these objects and your brothers back – so long as I can have the Moonstone.”

  I sucked in a hard breath. “Forget it,” I said through gritted teeth. “They’d never want that.” A coil of nausea went through me at those words. Forgive me.

  “You’d sign their death sentence as you’d sign mine,” it sighed. “I know that. But what about Sky, little brother? You’d cause her that kind of pain? And Hazel, Kalin, and Willow, too?”

  Shoulders tight, I swallowed and glanced around. Sky was looking up at me, white-faced and eyes filling with tears. Willow looked like she was about to collapse, Kalin was pressing her hands to her chest as though trying to keep her heart from breaking, and Hazel looked utterly devastated.

  “Love is a weakness and I easily exploited it. All it took was patience,” it said. Glancing around at the circle of people who were silent in shock, a sly, triumphant smile now appeared on its face. “Well, I’ll give you some time to ponder it. Three weeks, in fact. Aren’t I generous? Give the Moonstone to me on the day before the summer solstice, Rayner, and your brothers will live.” It paused. “If you don’t, they will sleep on forever until I come and slit their throats.” Its eyes lit with cold fury. “And then, without the protectors, I will kill all of you, one by one, and burn this land.” It stared at me. “But you can live on, little brother. I will show you that mercy so that you can live in hell for the rest of your days.”

  With that, it vanished. My knees gave out and I hit the ground, my fists digging into the earth. Wes’s element.

  His blood was on the rock. Cree’s on the bullet. Burr’s in the water, which had once been snow. And Ben’s on the claw.

  “Aunt Sil?” Hazel’s voice was thin and breaking. “Please…explain.”

  “Come with me, come with me, we all need to discuss this,” Aunt Sil sounded heartbroken and distracted. “Oh, I never thought it would come to this.”

  I sat back and Willow appeared in front of me. She hauled me to my feet and the girls clustered around me as Aunt Sil rushed off.

  “Are you alright, Ray?” Kalin asked, her voice low and kind.

  “I’m…” I didn’t know. I didn’t know what to say. In my mind, a half-formed plan was coming together to give the creature the Moonstone, to bid the girls and my brothers to run, while I stayed to try to hold back the tide of darkness. Or gave myself up for them.

  Whatever it took to keep my family alive and safe together.

  “I’d never let them die,” I said, a note of desperation in my voice. “You know that, right? I was bluffing.” My head fell forward and I said bitterly, “It knew that too, though.”

  Willow gripped my shoulder. “We know that Ray.”

  “Come on.” Hazel tried to smile. “Perhaps the Elders know something. They’re waiting.”

  We gathered around the fire we’d sat in front of only two nights ago. It was empty and fil
led with ash. The sight made my nerves stretch thin.

  And the mountains will burn…

  I’d thought we had more time – the rest of the year – to figure out how to utilize the Moonstone and save the wilderness of Montana, along with the rest of the world.

  Now we had three weeks and I was the only shifter left standing.

  Never had I seen the Elders so grim and uncertain. Big Bear was sitting with his head in his hands. Fern was holding a shaking Pea. And Crowfoot was pacing, his lanky limbs twitching.

  Aunt Sil was sitting regally on a log, her face tilted to the sky, and Grayson, her courier bird, fluttered down to her shoulder. She reached up to stroke him almost automatically.

  “You’ve heard of Sleeping Beauty, no doubt,” she said, and we all went still. “In a way, this is like that, although all Native people have their legends about the power of dreams. Shared dreams, vision quests…” Her voice trailed off.

  Crowfoot waited, then continued as Sil remained silent. “Dreams have an uncanny power. In some legends, they are believed to be a soul’s escape into the spirit realm every night. For a shifter, they are both signposts and warnings, portals to the past and future.”

  Aunt Sil roused herself. “The world of dreams is not one to be trifled with, but of course every demon likes to test the limits. While they do not dream, they do rest and require a kind of sleep. Yet one such beast, the Two-Faced spirits, learned of a way to manipulate dreams and force a sort of sleeping illness on people – especially shifters.” She paused. “Shifters are particularly vulnerable.

  “This is old, old magic from the dawn of time. I never thought I’d witness it – it is the stuff of myth – stories I heard when I was girl.” She let out a long sigh. “Yet with blood from each of the brothers, the Skinwalker has managed it. He has awoken a very old evil…

  “When blood is shed during a moment or act of courage or selflessness, it is always potent. But it becomes far more potent if such a moment is one when the shifter is protecting someone he or she loves.”

  Hazel let out a choked sound. “That was the claw of that Pale Eye, then.” Her hands were over her face and Willow hugged her. “Oh, Ben.”

  “What can we do?” Kalin asked, her voice breaking. “There must be something.”

  “Usually one must slay the Two-Faced Demon who enacted it. It can only be done by their hand – they have long been the demons of dreams and shadows. But the Crooked Man already did that.” Aunt Sil swallowed. “Doing so sealed the spell to the objects instead, and to itself, I think.”

  “Could we steal them back?” Sky asked, her fingers worrying her hair.

  “I could try,” I said.

  “No!” Aunt Sil cried. “The risk is too great. If you die, Rayner, your brothers will die.” Her eyes slid to Pea. “Tell him, Pea. We have no choice.”

  “If the Skinwalker had your blood,” Pea said slowly, her big eyes sad, “we would have had no choice but to surrender the Moonstone to save you and your brothers. The reason your brothers are in no pain, a kind of stasis if you will, is because we were able to tie their lives to yours, Ray. They dream, peacefully and well. No cough now troubles them.”

  “When they wake, they will suffer no ill-effects, they will be fine,” Fern added.

  I nodded tightly. “I understand.”

  “In a way, your lives were already linked – Fern and Pea merely strengthened that bond. It protects them, but it leaves you vulnerable. Yet we’d hoped we wouldn’t have to tell you, Ray. We planned on sending Big Bear and Crowfoot to find the Two-Faced Demon…” Aunt Sil’s shoulders sagged. “‘All things are connected like the blood that unites us all,’” she quoted, but her voice was not filled with its usual joy and reverence when speaking of Chief Seattle. It was full of unshed tears.

  “Now we may have to give it the Moonstone,” I said. “It has trapped us. It played us for fools.” My voice was low and bitter. This is all my fault.

  A cold, grim silence fell.

  Hazel broke the silence. “What did it mean, Aunt Sil – saying something about once I appeared? Did I…?”

  Aunt Sil sighed. “No, it’s not what you think. Like I said, you are all connected, part of a greater web. A cycle. As the Crooked Man rightly guessed, Hazel, once you and Ben found each other, it was only a matter of time before the rest did as well. You all have a role.”

  “Okay, what if we give the Moonstone back and then we steal it again?” Kalin asked. “I’ll do it, I’ve done it before.” Her voice was low and fierce.

  “It will have accounted for you, now, Kalin.” Aunt Sil was looking at her with some pity. “You are the guardian of the Moonstone. Thus, you were able to avoid the wards the Crooked Man had placed around it that time. It will either hide it or destroy it, now. It will not let you steal it a second time, my dear.”

  “It has neatly tied our hands, you see,” Big Bear rumbled as he lifted his head. “I know you are all plotting, but there are only two options as I can see it. We either give the Moonstone back to revive our boys – although we have no guarantee the Crooked Man will honor his end of the trad – or we somehow stop him in the next three weeks.”

  “But Rayner can’t risk himself!” Sky cried out.

  Everyone began to speak at once and I thought I could sense my four brothers around me.

  Squeezing my eyes shut tightly, I asked, “Why the day before the summer solstice?”

  The babble of voices trailed off and I opened my eyes.

  Aunt Sil was thinking hard, a gleam coming into her eyes.

  “Didn’t you find that odd? It was so specific. I think the Crooked Man made a mistake.” I stared down at my hands. “Now we just have to figure out what.”

  Chapter 4

  “Paige, hey, are you okay?” someone was asking me. “Wake up, Paige.”

  I stirred, struggling to open my eyes and orient my surroundings. Two arms were gently holding me against a hard chest. One arm was under my knee and the other was around my shoulders. A scent of crisp wood, pine, and a whiff of wood smoke filled my nose.

  Why is this so familiar?

  Oh, right, I was being held in Rayner Hess’s arms. My mind went on fast-forward. He’d come for help and I’d refused. Then he’d charmed my dog and apologized. With no explanation.

  Forcing my eyes open, I saw Rayner looking at me and he gave me a tired smile. “We’ve gotta stop meeting like this.”

  He’d shifted into a coyote. One I’d seen before.

  And I’d fainted dead away.

  He must have caught me before I smacked my skull onto the hard earth, I thought, completely dazed. Fast reflexes. Probably can run really fast.

  Nim was sniffing and licking my cheek. Rayner nodded at him. “He was worried.”

  “Help me up?” I asked in a weak voice and he nodded.

  Once I was on my feet, I stumbled back and stared at him. “What are you? No, wait. Am I losing my mind?” I asked out loud. “Have I spent too much time alone out here?”

  “You’re not losing your mind,” Rayner said calmly. “Deep down, you know what you saw was real and even as your mind struggles to accept it, some part of you won’t. Try not to fight it.” He paused. “Oh, and I’d appreciate if you could keep my secret,” he said, putting his hands in his pockets. “Be kinda awkward if this got out. And dangerous.”

  A hysterical urge to laugh rose up in me and a small, squeaking chuckle escaped. “I need a drink. I need coffee. I need an Irish coffee.”

  Rayner gave me an odd look. “I’m sorry that I startled you. I never thought you’d, um, faint.”

  “Ha, yeah…” I muttered. “Who would have thought that someone would be surprised to see a six-foot man shift into a goddamn coyote?” Another laugh escaped me.

  “Six-foot-four,” Rayner corrected delicately.

  I turned and walked into my house. On the porch, I turned and saw Rayner was still standing on the lawn. “Coming, coyote man?”

  A smile spread across his fa
ce. “Yes. Thank you.”

  Once in my kitchen, I forced myself to focus on each next step and nothing more. Fill coffee pot with water, put in filter, and then get the coffee grounds and two mugs. One for me and one for the man sitting at my table, patting my dog and saying nothing. The silence was driving me insane.

  “Nim seems to like you,” I said to fill the quiet. “That’s a new one.”

  “He’s a sweetheart,” Rayner murmured. “Really loves you.”

  “What, can you speak to animals too?” I joked, turning to him as the coffee burbled.

  “Yes,” he said with a shrug.

  I swallowed hard. “Are you screwing with me?”

  “Paige,” he said, giving me a flat look. “No.”

  “Prove it,” I challenged, hands on my hips. Maybe this is some kind of elaborate prank…

  “You adopted Nim from a place in Butte. He was very thin, with a hurt left paw and didn’t like to sleep anywhere he couldn’t see you for the first few weeks,” Rayner recited this as though reading it from a sheet of paper.

  I gaped at him and passed a shaking hand over my eyes. “Oh my God. Who are you?”

  “I’m a lot of things, Paige.” His tone was weary. “And a lot of them are not things I always want to be. Or force me to give up the things I want.”

  For a moment, his guard slipped and the heady flash of his gaze made my heart give an uneven leap. But then he dropped his eyes and I turned back to the coffee pot.

  “Paige, I know this isn’t easy,” Rayner continued in a low voice. “I can’t imagine… No, I know I’m throwing so much at you all at once. I know this is not the ideal way to tell you about this part of my life or introduce you to this world.

  “I know you have questions and that I’m probably the last person in the world you want to help. But you and I also know that you are a brilliant woman.” There was a note of rueful admiration in his voice. “Of course I have no one else who could help me. I need you.”

  I stared out the window above the sink, watching the clouds race across the sky, and I could feel my face pulling into a look of both concern and irritation.