Get the hell out of here before it’s too late, warned a bitter little voice in the back of my head.
A low buzz came in the distance and I tensed. Engines. Someone’s coming. Swiftly I disentangled myself from Willow, then snuck out of her room and listened hard in the hall.
Footsteps were crunching over the snow as two people made their way towards the house. For a moment I debated waking up Willow, but then I decided to check it out first.
These two were fast, though, and they were already at the back door by the time I got into the kitchen. I heard the twist of the knob, the jingle of metal, and a blast of cold air went across my feet. I was looking for a weapon when I recognized their voices.
“Damn snow,” one young, roguish male voice was saying as the door shut.
“Mmm, I didn’t hear you complaining when you were going eighty across that field,” said another, far milder and quietly-amused male voice.
I stepped onto the patio, heart pounding and a smile spreading across my face. Willow’s two brothers were unloading bags and taking off their coats.
“It wasn’t eighty!” protested the younger one.
“I’m sure it was,” I said, grinning.
They both jumped, the older brother reaching for the younger, then stopped in their tracks and simply stared at me, mouths hanging open.
“Juni, Fox,” I said. “It’s okay–”
“Burr?!” Fox regained the power of motion first. His entire face brightened like the sun coming out from behind a cloud. “Burr, oh man, you’re here! You’re okay! I knew it!” He flew at me, hugging me tightly, and I bit down at a yelp at his cold, soggy outerwear.
“Of course I’m okay,” I said, my voice a bit gruff. “Thanks for looking for me.”
Hugging Fox back in one arm, I then reached for Juniper, who was staring at me like I was a ghost. Then Juniper was hugging me back, his grip strong and head bent. When they let me go, both Juni and Fox looked away rubbing their eyes, and I swallowed hard.
“I’m sorry to have put you through that,” I said.
“Don’t worry about it,” Fox said, shedding his coat and boots, then picking up a bag.
“How did you get here, Burr? How long have you been here?” Juniper asked as he sat down to unlace his boots, still looking a little dazed.
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you everything once Willow’s awake. She doesn’t the know the whole of it yet either,” I explained.
“Is that why–” Juniper started to ask, then he said abruptly, “we came here to surprise Willow. Make her breakfast. She’s been…” He trailed off and gave me a funny look. “Well, I’m sure she’s better now.”
I raised an eyebrow, but merely said, “Breakfast sounds good.”
“Are those my old clothes?” Juniper asked, smirking at me. “Huh.”
“They don’t really fit you, Burr,” Fox chimed in. “Man, you’re a beast!”
“Thanks, Fox,” I said drily, glancing down at my damp sweats and top. “This is all your sister had, though.”
“So how did she find you? Or did you find her?” Fox asked. “Can you at least tell us that?”
“I–”
“Wait, where is the coyote?” Juniper scrambled to his feet, glancing around in alarm. “He was still recovering.”
“He’s fine,” I said. “Uh,” I rubbed the back of my head and grinned. “He’s right here.”
Fox let out a yelp. “Are you serious?” He tackled me in another hug. “You’re a shifter, too?! Why didn’t you shift back? When did you become one?”
“Shh, you’ll wake Willow, goofball,” I said, slapping him in the back of the head. “We’ll talk over breakfast. I’m gonna go freshen up – since I’m now covered in snow.”
“Oh, right. Can’t wake Willow,” Fox said in a knowing voice.
“Right.” As I went to turn, I saw a sly look exchange between the two and I groaned. “What was that for?”
“Nothing,” Juniper replied.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Fox chortled.
Shaking my head, I went and changed clothes. More sweats and another t-shirt, just as tight as the tank top. Damn, I missed having my own stuff. When I went back to the kitchen, the two boys were expertly making breakfast and tossing jokes. They beamed when they saw me.
“Man, I am so glad you’re not dead!” Fox declared.
“Yeah, me too,” I laughed. “So how’d you get here so early with all the snow?”
“Well, when Willow didn’t call us yesterday, we got a bit worried. Then that bad storm rolled in over this area, so we headed out here as far as we could last night.” Fox jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Left our car at a friend’s up the road and took his snowmobiles over this morning. Parked ’em a bit over so that we wouldn’t wake Willow.”
Snowmobiles. That’s what I’d heard. “Sorry, yesterday was…” I trailed off, thinking about the snowstorm, the fight in the woods, and Sorvang. “Intense.”
Yet even that word seemed to pale in comparison with all the events. The bath floated into my mind and I shoved it to the side.
“You know, I did wonder at the size of the coyote, but I never dreamed it was you," Juniper said thoughtfully as he laid strips of bacon on the griddle. Fox was poking the eggs with vim and his brother laid a steadying hand on his shoulder. “And how Willow managed to spot you in the storm. But now it all makes sense.”
“How long have you been a Coyote Shifter, Burr?” Fox asked eagerly.
“We should really wait for Willow,” I said with an apologetic smile.
“You guys didn’t talk about it yesterday?” A mischievous smile spread across Fox’s face.
“No…” I squinted at Fox. “Too much happened. And I was exhausted.”
Fox let out a laugh and Juniper elbowed him.
“Alright, what is with you two?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Juniper replied instantly. “Ignore Fox. He’s overly relieved to see you.”
“Probably not as relieved as Willow,” Fox sang out with a smirk.
“Fox, hey, come on.” Juniper’s voice was serious and Fox hunched his shoulders, looking abashed. “You know that isn’t our place.”
“What…?” I trailed off as Fox handed me a cup of coffee and I started to put two and two together. Face and neck growing hot, I cleared my throat and said brusquely, “Trust me, whatever you two idiots are thinking, it’s not the case.”
“Oh, I know. Sorry. Not our business,” Fox said in a sepulchral tone.
I put a hand over my face and grumbled, “Oh, man, I forgot how you two get.”
Juniper and Fox both laughed. Once, the two of them had been grossed out at the thought of me in love with Willow. They’d even said so, more than once, but no time was more memorable than on the first anniversary of when I’d stumbled into Silver Tail’s land and my life had changed forever.
To my embarrassment and joy, I’d been thrown a small party. Everyone had given me presents – mostly small, sentimental keepsakes, although Crowfoot had given me a knife as long as my arm, which Santana had promptly confiscated.
Willow had been noticeably absent, however, so while everyone else was busy, I’d snuck outside and tried to track her down. It hadn’t been easy, but after a year of knowing her, I’d managed to find her curled up next to a tree, glaring at the pond.
I’d tried to play it cool, thinking it would be funny if I snuck up on her and scared her. What I hadn’t expected was that after I scared her, she’d knock me to the ground and sit on me.
Staring up at her, her face turned away, I’d blurted out, “Willow, are you mad that I live here? Is that why you’re outside? Jeez, I thought we were friends at least.”
Willow had leaped to her feet and glared at me as I sat up. “Of course not, Stupid! We are friends – even if you’re annoying most of the time.”
“Then what is it? You’re missing everything and that’s pretty stupid.”
Her shoulders had slumped an
d she’d sat back down next to me, muttering something.
“What’d you say?” I’d asked.
“I said I didn’t get you a present! I didn’t know what to get you!” she’d shouted. “I was trying to think of something and I couldn’t. I’m bad at it.”
“That’s not true,” I said, trying to pat her shoulder clumsily.
“I should have gotten you something,” she’d whispered, sounding like she was trying not to cry. “I don’t mind having you around – some of the time. You can be fun.”
“Okay. Thanks,” I’d said, thinking hard. “Well, I don’t need anything else. But you could give me a memory.”
“What? How?” she exclaimed, staring at me. “What does that even mean?” She’d tried to say that in patronizing tone but instead she sounded genuinely curious.
I’d shrugged, saying, “We always fight. So how about we don’t fight today? We could hug instead.”
I’d said the last part as a kind of joke. The adults thought it was adorable how much I liked hugs. But for a kid who’d grown up neglected, hugs were meaningful. Or maybe I was just born a hugger.
Willow, however, never seemed to like hugs, only giving quick, sporadic ones.
But on that day, she crawled over on her knees and kneeling in front of me, wrapped her arms my neck and set her chin on my shoulders. I’d been so astonished, I didn’t even hug her back at first. Then, when I did, grinning a little, she hadn’t even pushed me away.
We’d sat like that for a good five minutes, which at twelve had seemed like a lifetime. Then she’d let me go and stood up, walking back towards the house.
“You coming?” she’d asked.
“In a minute,” I’d called, so she’d shrugged and left me there.
Heart pounding, I’d lain back on the ground and grinned at the sky. Then two small heads had appeared over me. Fox gave me a gap-toothed grin and Juniper had looked disgusted.
“Ew, you guys were hugging for like an hour. Do you like Willow or something?” he’d asked.
Flushing, I’d stood up and grabbed them in twin headlocks. “Of course not, pipsqueaks. That was a friend hug. And you better keep it between us.” Then I’d dragged them back into the house while they’d frantically promised to keep it a secret.
Later, however, when the two of them had grown up, they’d found not-so-subtle ways to hint that I should ask Willow out. To my surprise and amusement, Willow never picked up on it.
And from the looks of things, they were already back at it again.
I sighed and regarded them with a faint feeling of guilt. It had sucked that Willow’s and my falling out had put them in the middle in some regard. Nor did I think they should get their hopes up for some big reconciliation.
“I’m sorry, but you do know things can’t go back to the way they were, right?” I asked.
“Sure. That’s life, isn’t it?” Fox said, coming and standing next to me. “I mean, I remember when you were shorter than Willow. Now you’re bigger than Uncle Aspen ever was.”
I hugged him around the shoulders and laughed. “Since when did you become philosophical?”
“He’s not. He’s just gotten better at stealing from me,” Juniper replied wryly.
“I see,” I laughed, as Fox stomped around to jab Juniper on the side. “But still, you two should know things are still off between me and Willow.”
“Huh?” Fox gave me a look and then shook his head. “No, man, don’t go there.”
“She still hates me,” I started to say in a low voice, staring at the floor. “But–”
“She doesn’t,” Juniper said calmly and my breath caught hard in my chest as I looked up at him. The two brothers smiled at me. “Maybe she wants to because that’s Willow…” Juniper rolled his eyes. “But you were here the day she found out you were missing, weren’t you? Was she okay?”
My eyes went wide and for a second, it was as though Juni and Fox had vanished. I was watching Willow sobbing on the kitchen floor, reaching out a hand and gripping onto me.
“Wow, what is all this?” came a soft, sleepy voice as Willow appeared in the kitchen doorway, leaning against the frame and looking amused.
Stomach lurching, I gawked at her as a sudden hot rush went through me, a bewildering mix of embarrassment, hope, desire, and annoyance.
Willow, still not quite awake, met my gaze.
And for a moment it was like we were the only two people in the entire universe.
Chapter 8
Voices from the kitchen had woken me up in a frantic twisting of blankets. Eyes flying open, I’d reached for Burr, only to have my hand close on empty air. Looking around, I’d seen bright sunshine was trickling into the room and I’d realized I was alone in the center of my bed.
Then relief had gone through me as I’d recognized my brothers had arrived. Hastily getting dressed, I’d rushed out to see Burr standing across the kitchen from Juniper and Fox.
Hands clasping at my chest, I’d gazed at them, wanting to hold onto this moment – seeing the three of them together again. But once I’d alerted them to my presence, I’d seen in the same moment that Burr’s entire body was rigid with tension.
Tilting my head, I met his gaze. There was a raw, open look in his eyes, awakening me in a single breath and my heart beat its way into my throat. Blood swirled through my body, rushing into my cheeks and pulsing in my ears.
Why are you looking at me like that?
The moment stretched tighter and tighter until an awkward cough broke through.
“Ahem!” Fox said. “We brought and made breakfast for you, Sis.”
“Mind telling us why you didn’t let anyone know Burr was alive?” Juniper asked. “What, did you want to keep him to yourself?”
I tore my gaze from Burr’s, my shoulders jumping to my ears as I said, a little too loudly, “Absolutely not! The phones were down!” Moving across the kitchen, I busied myself making a cup of coffee and ignoring them. But I thought I could still feel Burr watching me and my hands twitched, knocking the coffee bag over. Then I dropped the paper towels as I went to clean it.
What is wrong with me!
“You okay, Willow?” Fox asked, his eyebrows at his hairline.
All three of them were watching me and I barked out, “Of course. And one of the first things I did was immediately try to call you two morons!”
“Well, um, we already made coffee,” Fox pointed out as he sat down at the table.
“She did try to call,” Burr muttered. I heard him walk over to the table and from the corner of my eye, I watched him drop into a seat next to Fox.
Now he seemed withdrawn, almost shell-shocked, and I cast my glance at my other brother. Juniper looked far too innocent as he stacked pancakes. What are you up to?
But I didn’t ask. Instead, I helped bring over plates and silverware. Fox was humming, his hands behind his head, used to his two older siblings serving him, while Burr, who would usually help, was sitting there looking dazed.
A nervous hitch went through me. Was he in pain from that mark? Were his injuries bothering him? Right after breakfast, you’re getting checked up on, I thought with ferocity.
“Tell us what happened, now, Burr! We’re all here,” Fox said eagerly as Juniper and I sat down. “I gotta know! It’s killing me!”
Poking at his plate with a fork, Burr looked around the table and sighed. “To be honest, I don’t remember. One minute I was in the bar and the next thing I knew I was waking up in a cage.” His face became comical. “At first I thought it was one hell of a hangover.”
“Oof, talk about embarrassing,” Fox grinned around his fork and I kicked him under the table. “Ouch! What? Can’t believe it was Burr we put in there. Shoulda known –weighed a ton. Ow! Stop it, Willow. So how come you didn’t change back?”
“I couldn’t,” Burr said, and he winced, hand drifting to his side. In another second I was next to him, rolling up his shirt and my chest tight with fear.
“Look at thi
s,” I said, glancing at my brothers and pressing my fingers to his ribs. The mark was uglier and redder in the sunshine. But when I touched it, Burr’s shoulders relaxed. “Have either of you seen this before? I think it’s related to why his shifter powers aren’t working.”
Juni and Fox were both drawing back and looking sick.
“No,” Fox said, but I don’t like it.”
“I think I have…” We all looked at Juniper and he winced. “But I don’t remember where. Aunt Sil would know. But I agree with Willow, there’s something malevolent about it.”
“And then there’s this charm,” I said, moving away from Burr and pulling the necklace from my pocket. “Don’t put it on. We don’t know what it is.”
“Wait, wait,” Juniper said, shaking his head. “This is too confusing. Walk us through it. What happened yesterday – that’s when you shifted back, right Burr? Maybe there’s a reason.”
Burr nodded and related how he’d left, conveniently without explaining why, and how I’d tracked him down, only for us to be ambushed by Sorvang and the keelut.
The whole time, he only looked at Juniper and Fox. Once he was done, I stammered out some additional details and how we’d found the mark.
By the end of it, my two brothers were looking askance.
“We should get out of here!” Fox exclaimed, glancing out the window over his shoulder. “Sorvang could come back at any time.”
“The wards are holding, baby brother,” I said, yawning as I paced around the kitchen. “And it was only when Burr left that he was attacked. No.” I sat back down and stared out the window. “I think he needs to stay here until he recovers. We’re no match for her right now.”
“If anything, we need to get Aunt Sil here,” Juniper said.
“Or Ben,” Burr sighed. “Doc could probably heal me in a second.”
“Ben?” I looked over at him. “Is that one of your Hotshot Brothers?”
“There are more shifters?” Fox asked, throwing his arms out. “What?”
Burr nodded, listing off four names with warmth and affection in his voice. Ben Ofreo was the youngest, a healer who had struggled the most with his change but had come into his own last year. Cree Campbell, the second-youngest, was fast and full of life. Wes Young was quiet, sometimes surly, but always kind and humble. And finally, Rayner Hess, the de facto leader, and Burr’s best friend. He didn’t say much about him, but from the way his brow pulled down, I sensed Burr was worried about him.
HOTSHOT BROTHERS: Coyote Shifters Page 39