True Shifter

by Rains, Christine

  So if she couldn’t play make-believe, she could whittle an animal in her mind. The snout, the proud chest, and yeah, the curly tail. A compact body built for hard work.

  The forest smells changed slightly, and she wobbled on four new legs. She regained her balance as she opened her eyes and wagged her tail.

  “Yes!” Ransom hollered and did a little dance. A naked one. The guy had no shame.

  Kinley’s grin said yes even louder to Saskia. She’d done it. She howled with her victory.

  “Let’s get back to the house. Everyone needs to know. Now we can come up with an even better plan.” Ransom fist-bumped Kinley and shouted, “Wonder Twin powers activate!”

  They both turned into their animals. Nerds.

  Something fluttered in Saskia’s chest that urged her to run. She could get to the sea and turn into a fish. She bet her totem would enjoy it. Or she could fly off. This time not surprising herself and crashing. Anything other than to see Sedge.

  But this was too important. She knew the gift she had received now. She might be the one able to do it, but it was for Sedge. For all of them.

  Saskia jogged on ahead, tripping over her own paws a few times. It wasn’t like walking as a bear, and her vision wasn’t nearly as good. Dogs actually had pretty crappy sight.

  It didn’t matter. Not like she and Az were going to have a dog fight. Nothing was bigger or more powerful than a polar bear, but at least now she could have wings or be something sleeker and faster. Not a lynx. Too small. Something more like a mountain lion.

  She carved out a mountain lion in her head. Her body lengthened and grew more loose. Her paws were wide and caramel in color. She worked her jaw and felt her teeth with her tongue. Nice.

  Ransom chuffed at her, and she swatted at him. He darted ahead, racing back to the house.

  Kinley kept pace with Saskia, and when they arrived, the others were waiting in front of the house. Ransom was in his human form with a blanket wrapped around him. Ametta held a second blanket.

  None of them said anything as Saskia padded up to them. All of them, except Ransom, frowned.

  Saskia shifted back to her human form and clothed herself immediately with her Black Shaman trick. “I figured out what the domovoi’s gift is.”

  “Oh my God. You were a cougar.” Ametta shook her head and laughed briefly. She opened the blanket and stepped forward to meet Kinley as she transformed. Ametta wrapped her snugly.

  “And a dog and a hawk,” Ransom added.

  “Grandfather must have given you the last of the power he had left.” Lucky still looked like a man in mourning.

  “Perhaps. I don’t know if it’s temporary or not.” Saskia glanced Sedge’s way. He hadn’t said a word yet. He merely stared at her as if he’d never seen her before. “Any which way, I’m a true shifter. Just like Az. We’re on even ground now.”

  “Did you say true shifter?” Sedge’s gaze darkened.

  She folded her arms. Did he spit out those last two words? Yes, she hated Az too, but it didn’t mean what he was bad. “Yeah, that’s what he told me he was. And that’s why he wants to collect the totems, to restore the pole and give all shifters their full powers back.”

  Sedge hissed a breath out between his clenched teeth. “You should have told me.”

  Saskia dug her fingers into her arms. “I was going to. I was going to tell everyone, but—”

  He clenched his fists. His jaw worked back and forth before he declared, “As Bear, I must destroy all true shifters.”

  Azarius had been right. If Sedge knew what he was, he would kill him. Now would Sedge kill her too?

  Saskia’s heart raced. She wouldn’t run. He wouldn’t hurt her. Right?

  Kinley moved to stand next to her, and then Ametta joined her. Damn her sisters. She didn’t need bodyguards. But somehow, it made her stand a little straighter.

  “What do you mean you have to kill all true shifters? Aren’t we all that?” Kinley questioned Sedge as Ransom and Lucky joined the crowd.

  “Az said that true shifters could change into any creature,” Saskia replied. “That long ago, every shifter could do it, but Bear and Raven took those powers away.”

  “What he said is true.” Sedge hadn’t moved, but his body posture changed just slightly. Coiled.

  Saskia dropped her hands and readied herself. What if Az had been the good guy all along? She never wanted to believe her sisters when they shared their doubts about Sedge. Sure, he could be tight-lipped and standoffish, but he did what was right. But in the end, he was Bear. And while he might only be a reincarnation of the old god, he had no choice in carrying out his duties.

  “Bear and Raven took away the powers of true shifters because of the trouble they caused.” Sedge continued, but did it matter anymore? There were always troublemakers. It didn’t matter if they were human or shifters.

  “Why didn’t they punish them some other way? It seems cruel to take away their powers.” Ametta’s tone was quiet. Clearly careful not to sound accusing.

  “It wasn’t only mischief. It was devastation.” Sedge drew out the last word with his gravelly baritone. “True shifters are born as animals. They were never human, and thus they lack the third soul that gives them empathy and compassion. They would have humans live beneath them. They would have had the world beneath their paws if Bear and Raven did not stop them. To keep the balance of the universe, limited shifting powers were granted to humans after because they had that third soul.”

  So Azarius had only told her a partial truth. He kept saying he was going to set things right. Shit. That meant he’d take away the ability to shift from human born shifters and give it only to animals. Animals that had no conscience.

  But all that, did it mean…? Saskia narrowed her eyes. “Az is really a raven?”

  Sedge nodded once. “It seems so.”

  “Holy fuck.” Ransom dipped his head back and ran his hands through his spiky locks.

  “I have never come across one. The universe would not let Bear and Raven make it void of all true shifters. They are rare, but I know I must kill any I find immediately.” Sedge stayed where he was so far. He wouldn’t attack her. He loved her. At least she hoped he still did.

  Saskia wet her lips and dared. “So now that I’m a true shifter…”

  The side of Sedge’s lips quirked just slightly. “You are not. Were you born from a bear as a bear?”

  “I’ve sometimes wondered that.” Ametta snorted.

  Saskia shot her youngest sister a glare. Jokes weren’t helping.

  “So Saskia is safe since she isn’t a true shifter. She just has the power to shift into other creatures.” Kinley made no attempt to hide her relief as she turned to Saskia. “But the gift Grandfather gave you could be temporary. We need to take advantage of it while you still have it. And the faster we make a move, the better chance we’ll have an advantage over Azarius.”

  “I can match any form he takes.” Saskia smiled at that. She’d beat that bastard at his own game. Beat him right into the ground.

  “You can, but he’s better at it.” Sedge wiped the smile from her face. “I’ve known him most of my life, and I believe he’s much older than that. He has experience. We cannot underestimate him.”

  “But we have the element of surprise.” Saskia raised her head. Sedge wasn’t going to take this away from her. She would kill the man who killed her father. Or rather, the animal.

  “Let’s go inside and discuss this. Kin and I need some clothes, and I think everyone could do with some coffee.” Ransom bounced up the steps and opened the front door.

  Kinley fast followed, giving him a quiet thank you. Ransom held the door for a few more seconds and then hurried in himself. Lucky and Ametta followed, pausing to look back at Saskia and Sedge who hadn’t moved.

  “Come on.” Ametta motioned them in. “I’ll make that toffee one you really like.”

  Saskia turned to follow when Sedge held up a hand. “A word. Alone.”

 
Ametta and Lucky paused, and Saskia waved them on. “Yeah, fine.”

  Not really fine. Not at all. She didn’t want to have any personal conversation with Sedge when she had thought only a minute ago he might have to kill her because Bear dictated it so. She knew her sisters joked that she had a god in love with her, but it was the man, not the old deity, who wanted her.

  Lucky and Ametta went in and shut the door behind them.

  “You cannot fight Azarius yourself.” Sedge took a step toward her.

  Was he going to lecture her now? Tell her she needed to train more? “I can take him.”

  “No. You cannot.” Suddenly he grabbed her by the arms and drew her to him. “You cannot die.”

  The words felt heavier than anything else he’d said all day. Saskia shook herself, but not hard enough to free herself from his firm grip. “I don’t plan on dying. But if I die taking him down, it will be worth it.”

  “No.” Sedge growled, his face mere inches from hers. Intensity lit his eyes. His hot breath caressed her flesh. “You cannot die. I cannot lose you.”

  Her mouth went dry as her throat constricted. This was the Sedge she loved, but was also the same man who’d turned his back to her. She bit her tongue to keep her chin from quivering. “You already pushed me away. You made yourself clear when you turned your back on me in the den.”

  He shook his head. “I didn’t know what to do. I was ashamed—”

  “It didn’t matter. I needed you. Everyone needed us.” Emotions roiled inside her, and she pushed the old familiar anger to the forefront. She grabbed the front of his shirt and pushed her knuckles against him.

  “I came—”

  “After the fact!” Yes, be angry. Better than letting all that hurt cry out and reduce her to a sobbing idiot.

  He didn’t let go. “What do you want from me? I love you. I never stopped loving you. I didn’t turn my back on you or us or anyone. I turned my back on me, on my shame.”

  She slammed her fists against his chest. “You let me believe you didn’t want me, that you didn’t care about any of this. You didn’t even say a word about it when you came here.”

  “I don’t know how to deal with the shame, Saskia.” He snarled the words, upper lip lifting from his teeth. “I am Bear. I should know everything. I should be able to find all the totems and put the pole together myself. But I can’t. I don’t know how. It’s eating me up inside. I’m not only failing every shifter, but I’m failing you.”

  Oh. Her anger froze, cold and heavy inside her gut. Her hands shook as she clenched them harder. “You haven’t failed.”

  “I have. Every second that bastard is out there.” Sedge gnashed his teeth. He then leaned his head in closer to hers and lowered his voice. “In all my many years, I have never loved anyone as I love you. My duty has always been more important than my life. But now I have someone more important than my duty. I cannot lose you.”

  “You haven’t lost me.” Saskia’s heart fluttered against her ribcage. She flattened her hands and slid them up to cup his handsome face. “You’re stuck with me forever.”

  His muscled arms wound around her body. “You cannot fight Azarius.”

  “I can’t promise that.”

  “I know.” The tip of his nose brushed against hers. “I hate it and love you at the same time.”

  “I hate your overprotective bullshit and love you at the same time.”

  He smiled. A thing that seemed so rare and precious. She closed the distance between them and kissed him.

  All that weight dropped from her shoulders as their kiss deepened. Why had she stayed mad for so long? She had the damn salmon token. Wasn’t she supposed to be wise? Though it hadn’t been fear keeping her from him this time. Pride and a hurt heart did not mix well.

  Something wiggled in the back of her throat. Damn the domovoi’s gift.

  She put all of herself into the kiss as she ran her hands over his head through his short pale blond hair. With him, they could take on the whole fucking world.

  The wiggling increased, faster, more erratic. Like a kernel of popcorn in hot oil.

  It sprang forward quicker than she expected and jumped from her mouth into his. His dark eyes popped open wide as he pulled away, putting a hand over his mouth.

  “It’s the domovoi’s gift.” Saskia told him quickly so he wouldn’t think it something hostile. Then her shoulders sagged. “I guess it’s yours now.”

  In a way, she should have expected it. Grandfather had bestowed the gift through a kiss, and now she passed it on to Sedge. It was what the house spirit had said after all. But she wanted to be the one with the power, the one to take Azarius down.

  Sedge dropped his hands and blinked several times.

  Would he want to try shifting into something else right away? He probably could do it much better than she could. She hated that fact even as she thought it.

  He looked over her shoulder into the distance. His eyes didn’t focus on anything. He just stared.

  Saskia peered behind her. Nothing but trees. Did the power not sit well with him?

  His mouth opened once and then closed. Finally he said, “I remember.”

  “What?” Her brows furrowed. What was he talking about?

  His gaze returned to her. Cold and unrecognizable. “I remember everything. I can get all the totems and fix the pole. I can set the world right.”

  “Sedge?” She reached a hand out to him.

  He stepped away from her and walked to the house. “I am Bear.”

  The domovoi’s gift was to make Sedge remember everything Bear knew. But it did far more. He wasn’t Sedge anymore. He was Bear.

  And with Bear, duty came first.

  Saskia shouldn’t have kissed him. Staying mad at him would have… Would have what? Kept them all in the dark and led to their deaths?

  Fuck. She could still shift into any creature. They tried that to make certain who had the power, but it didn’t feel like a win. Not when she didn’t have Sedge anymore.

  “Saskia, are you even listening?” Ametta’s sharp voice cut through her thoughts.

  “What? Yes, we need to get the other unclaimed tokens that Az hid and then his. But how? You said you saw the one locked in a magic safe in a secret Extra Space.” Yeah, like that wasn’t going to be impossible.

  “From Ametta’s description, I can get into the safe, and she can bring us there.” Bear was all business. While the rest of them sat around the table, he stood at the head of it.

  Was the change in him temporary? Saskia put her elbows on the table and leaned forward. “And how is she going to do that? She doesn’t know how to travel through portals. None of us do.”

  “I do,” Bear stated. Not proudly or snappishly, but just all matter-of-fact. “I will place a spell on Ametta, putting her in a trance to trace her steps through the portal to the Extra Space. Though she cannot consciously remember how to get there, her body will know.”

  “So how do we do this?” Ransom sat back in his chair, an arm over the back of Kinley’s. “Do we tie ourselves together like mountain climbers so we don’t lose each other?”

  Bear shook his head. “Only Ametta and I—”

  “No, you’re not.” Saskia’s protest was matched by a more fervent Lucky’s. They glanced at one another, and she guessed his nod meant he agreed with her. Good. They’d be more formidable protesting together.

  “Only Ametta and I are going.” Bear repeated, unmoved.

  “I go wherever Mett goes.” Lucky crossed his arms before him as a declaration there would be no more discussion about it.

  Saskia refused to be left behind. “And what if Az shows up? It’s more important that you get the token out of the safe. Mett and Lucky can’t fight Az and hold him back, but I can.”

  Bear regarded her with an unreadable expression and nodded once. “All right.”

  Sedge had been vehement about her not fighting Azarius. This only proved to her even more so that this was not Sedge. Bear was all busi
ness. She swallowed her grief and hoped nothing showed in her eyes.

  Kinley softly cleared her throat. “We should all go. I might be able to hear something—”

  “I have a different task for you.” Bear interrupted. “And one for the lynx as well.”

  Ransom’s eyes lit up. “Is it a secret mission? Do we get earpieces and code words?”

  Bear frowned slightly and seemed to decide to ignore the questions. He looked to Kinley. “You are to go to the cave where the totem pole was housed.”

  “But that’s on the mainland.” Ametta put her hands on the table as if she might rise like her voice.

  “None of us are going anywhere alone. Kin can’t—” Saskia vehemently shook her head as Bear talked over her.

  “The cave is an Extra Space. It has no fixed place in this world. It is where I put it. And that is here on the island.” Bear did not deviate his focus from Kinley. “It is where Saskia and I stayed recently. Follow our trail back, and you will find it. You will go into the cave and listen. The totems’ voices will be loud in there. I want to know if they’ve been corrupted in any way.”

  “The totems’ voices?” Kinley blinked.

  “She can’t go out there alone. She’ll be a sitting duck, or bear.” Ransom leaned in closer to Kinley. “I’ll go with her.”

  “It would be safer if we all went. That can wait until after we get the other tokens,” Saskia added. She would not put her sister in jeopardy. Feisty as Ransom was, he’d be no match for Azarius.

  “No. I want her there now. The sooner I know the better.” Bear barked.

  Saskia rose from her chair. No way was she going to let him order them around. She didn’t care if he remembered shit. “No. We stay together.”

  His eyes narrowed. No affection whatsoever in them. “The cave is a safe place. It has been spelled so no true shifter can enter. This is why the raven needed the golden eagle shifter and the tribal shaman to get the totems for him. They didn’t know how to handle them, and the totems fled.”