Page 20 of Shifters Unifying (Shifters Destiny: Willow Creek Shifters #2)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

emma

Damned universe. The chosen one… Me!

Fuck no. It never should have been me.

I had been the rainbow vet from Willow Creek with a thriving veterinary practice. Logan ran a successful construction business, but he didn’t have to be there in-person every day. I did. My success had depended directly on me.

Everything changed. My magic had damaged those who I’d meant to help, who someday might need to help me. Did that mean I was nearly as bad as Acheron?

The door of the training gym clicked closed behind me, and I wished it would have slammed. It would have made more sense. Logan hadn’t made a peep since I’d mentally pushed him away.

Dr. Wise exited behind me and trailed after, huffing as she tried to keep up. “Where are we going?” she grunted. “Do you have a place we can sit down and talk? A cabin or something? Anything out of the way?”

I didn’t have an answer. I’d never slept anywhere in Six-Mile except the Alpha’s Manor. Yet instead of retreating into Logan’s bedroom to be alone or into his arms to be comforted, my feet ate away the distance around the corner of the warehouse and toward the forest beyond.

“Emma,” Dr. Wise panted. “Please.”

I glanced over my shoulder and stopped short, realizing I’d come to a stop in the place Theo’s Death Rite had been performed, and a sweaty Dr. Wise halted beside me. The Louisiana humidity must bother her more than the rest of us in Six-Mile.

After a moment, I asked her, “Have you ever seen the Death Rite?”

“I’ve seen the ritual performed. My husband wanted to be cremated in the old way.

” Her eyes turned glassy, and she blinked rapidly to dissipate her tears.

She cleared her throat. “As a non-shifter, I wasn’t allowed to light his burial shroud.

Though, it would have been my duty otherwise, and it became the moment I chose to learn and compile everything I could about shifters.

There had to be a way to help future generations. ”

Her softly spoken words lingered in the air and muted my anger. Pain wasn’t unique to me, and Dr. Wise was trying to provide information she believed necessary for my task as the prophesied savior of the clans. She was trying to do the job she’d been given.

My shoulders sagged. “Has there ever been a multimorph who refused their calling? Who changed their mind and abandoned their duty?”

She considered me for a long moment. “Only two that I know of.”

“What happened to them?”

“The first lost her mind, wandered out into a blizzard, and died in northern Bulgaria.”

“And the other?”

“Also lost her mind.”

“Perfect,” I muttered.

Dr. Wise tipped her head to the side and pushed her glasses up her nose.

“Before her end, she begged to be killed, so she would not allow herself to be used against her people. The enemy she had been sent to beat spread through Europe, and the imbalance began the great migration of many shifters to New Port Orleans, into Louisiana, and up the Mississippi River.”

“So, if I don’t accept my duty, I’ll lose my mind. That’s great.” The admission felt like a gut-punch, and it took my breath away.

Dr. Wise shrugged. “According to the limited histories I’ve studied. It’s likely that there are instances of successfully deferred multimorphism of which I am not aware. The information is not complete.” She paused, thinking. “Yes, I believe I can say that it’s as likely as not.”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “Acheron’s out there, and it’s my job to beat him or die trying. When I think about Logan and leaving him to fight the battle on his own… I already know that I’m in too deep.”

She nodded, lifted her case, and reached inside. When she brought her hand out, she held another jump drive and offered it to me. “This is encrypted and password protected as before.”

“What’s the password this time?”

“Your name, transposed to the number equivalents, plus five.”

I frowned. “Huh?”

“E-M-M-A would be 5-5-13-1. Add five to each number. That would be 10-10-18-6. That’s the first part of the password. Do the same thing with you last name.”

“Understood.” I help up the portable drive. “What’s on it?”

“This is a compiled, indexed list of everything I could find on linking. It’s similar to the fated mate bond. Basically, it’s a study I’ve done on what you’ll likely need to do to beat Acheron.”

“And what’s that mean? Do you have a summary?”

“In order to beat him, you’ll have to do what he does.”

“How so? I don’t intend to do anything he does,” I countered. “He destroys where I must heal rifts, build up clans, and unify them all.”

“In order to beat Acheron, you’ll need to link with other shifters and channel their energy through you, much as you did on the training mats.

” She beamed at me. “As Acheron’s strength grows, your energy circle will need to grow large enough to combat him.

In the end, there’s no telling how many warm shifter bodies it might take to beat him. ”

My jaw slacked, and I gaped at her. “You’re tell me I’ll have to do what I did in there? Again?”

“That is correct,” she said. “It’s the only way to have enough energy to beat the still-growing mage.” She grinned. “Don’t you see?”

I shook my head. “See what?”

“It is a good sign that you were able to do that. It means you can link, and you can funnel shifter energy where you need it. If you were to access the primal at the same time as linking to other shifters, it is likely that you would be able to beat Acheron.”

“That’s everybody’s wild hope,” I said sarcastically, flashing a thumbs up.

“That is the hope,” she agreed. “You must continue to practice linking and managing incredible amounts of shifter energy. That practice is necessary to avoid another instance like today. Thankfully, as is often the case for the multimorph, you can balance any accidental destruction with healing.”

“Oh, that’s handy, isn’t it?” I sighed. “There’s no way I can practice,” I said. “Didn’t you see what happened in there? I hurt them, almost destroyed them. That’s the mark of someone evil, not someone meant to be the multimorph and save our kind from a larger threat.”

“It only happened that way because you’ve only read about using energy-linking. You’ve had no practice, no teaching.”

“Uh, no, I’ve not read about it at all.”

Dr. Wise froze. “Then how did you know how to do that?”

I frowned and studied my toes. The moist Louisiana soil cooled the soles of my feet grass, but the dirt in this spot had been burned by Theo’s cremation. It was still too soon for any of the vegetation to have grown back without magical assistance.

Yet, I didn’t know if the barren place was because it was often used as the spot for the Death Rite or if traditional funerals happened here because the grass simply did not grow here.

Which came first: the funeral pyre or the bare spot?

More importantly, how many more bodies would soon burn in this place because of my emergence as the multimorph?

“Emma?” Dr. Wise pressed. “How did you know how to link with the others?”

I took a breath. “Listen. If I see something done, I can usually do it on my own, even if I don’t officially understand the how of it. It’s… It’s…”

“Instinctual,” Dr. Wise interjected.

“Yes, I think that must be some of it. It’s not that I can do it immediately after seeing something done, but it’s more that I can figure out how to do it when the need for it arises… after I’ve seen something done.”

She gestured toward the drive. “I’ve also discovered information about a possible relic, and its location. We should determine if we can locate it. It will be necessary when the final battle comes.”

“Ah,” I said. “Relic for the win.”

But Dr. Wise missed my sarcasm. Instead, she retrieved her recorder and took a series of audio notes about me, behaving as though I wasn’t there while I looked on, awkwardly.

The older woman was more than accomplished at what she did as a shifter historian.

However, she cared nothing about normal societal behavior.

Though, to be fair, she’d been married to a shifter for decades, and normal shifter behavior was nothing like human society.

“Have you heard from Sheila?”

“Hmm?”

“Logan’s cousin, owns Vixen’s in town. Makes the best drinks around. Have you heard from her? I couldn’t stop in to see her the last time I was in Willow Creek.”

Dr. Wise deposited her recorder in her bag once more, carefully situating it inside. “Oh, yes, she’s well. Still learning about being the shifter historian after I pass.”

I frowned. “Are you dying?”

“Each of us will die, and it’s good sense to prepare for it.” She said it as though it was the most natural thing in the world. “If we’re lucky, we die with honor.”

“You mean if we die in battle?” I snapped.

She tilted her head to consider me but didn’t comment.

“What if we die from old age?” I continued, needing her answer. “That should be honorable, too.”

She lowered her attaché case and met my gaze, her eyes tearing up once more.

“You know, old age is an honor all its own, one that many are never afforded.” She took a breath.

“So, as we age, we live on in defense of those who have gone before, keeping the good alive, pouring good into the world around us for as long as we are able, each of us often tasked with reminding those who will come after us what good can be.”

I didn’t know how to respond, so I said nothing. It was the most I’d ever heard her say. Maybe it was her credo—the reason why she compiled the histories.

“Really, that’s all any of us can do,” she added, finally. “No matter how long or short our lives wind up being.”

“Thank you,” I murmured, holding up the flash drive, but meaning so much more.

She squeezed my shoulder. “Now I must interview the shifters you linked with. It’s certainly an incredible time to be alive… History in the making.”

Then she hurried away without another word, leaving me to stand beside the barren spot while birds flitted between trees and sang overhead.

When I finally made my way back toward the main complex, Olivia met me at the rear corner of the building. She stopped in front of me and crossed her arms. “Where do you think you’re going, Emma Carter?”

“Where I please,” I answered, not caring if my answer held bite. I needed a break to process my place in the coming days. “It’s my right after all.”

She snickered. “After your stunt in the gym, Six-Mile needs to see its multimorph in a good mood, so I’ve organized an impromptu barbecue.

Phil’s working on hamburger and hot dogs now.

They’re all on the patio by the gym. Maybe you can ease the concerns about your growing power.

They could all do with seeing you laugh, seeing you as a regular shifter. ”

My scowl didn’t dissuade her. “Didn’t you see what I did in there? There wasn’t anything regular about that, and I could have easily hurt them all permanently.”

“Yeah, it was impressive, and the rumor mill is already making it that much more incredible.” She quirked an eyebrow and tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder. “Which is great for your reputation. I hope it spreads to the rest of the clans.”

“What?” I snorted. “If I’m not careful, I’ll be no better than Acheron. I’m just the reluctant hero on a different side of the battle, and I want some space to process it all.”

“Is that so?” She didn’t look like she believed me.

I shrugged but didn’t answer, aware I was probably on the verge of a grown-up version of a tantrum. Snackies and nappies heal a million ills whether you’re little or big, my mom used to say. A reset was definitely in order.

She went on. “Well, like I said, it’d be good for the shifters from today to see you, too. They’re worried about you. So, if you’re ready, I’ll show you where we’re setting up.”

Shaking my head, I said, “I don’t think so. Not today. Maybe when I get back.”

“What? You can’t be serious. I don’t think going-it alone is your safest best at the moment.”

“Well, I’m going. Don’t make me go all multimorph on your ass.” I smiled then, to soften the cut of my words. “Will you let Logan know I’m taking some time alone? Maybe a day or two. I’ll head to the squirrel territory after that. Can you handle training the newbies for now?”

“Sure.” She frowned. “Where are you planning to go?”

“Away.”

“I’m not sure Willow Creek—"

“Not there.”

“Good.” Her gaze narrowed, calculating. “If you travel north, you’ll run into a dirt road.

Follow it west. It leads to another road, the north route will lead to an off-grid cabin all by itself in the woods, sort of in no man’s land.

It’s a safe house for any shifter, and it’s generally stocked with some canned goods.

You should be safe there, but I can’t make any promises about keeping other shifters away.

” She didn’t have to audibly say Logan for me to hear his name in her warning.

“Got it.” The electronic drive still rested in my palm, and I held it out to her. “Can you keep track of this? Dr. Wise gave it to me, so I’ve got more studying ahead of me.”

“Don’t want to take that with you?” she asked.

“Is there a computer in the cabin?”

The corner of her mouth twitched as she took the drive. “Fair point. What about your cell phone? Wanna take that with?”

“I’ll deal with everything when I come back,” I said.

“Sounds good.”

“See you soon.” A gust of colorful wind burst around the corner as I drew on an abundance of shifter magic, and I dropped to all fours, already morphed into a lanky cheetah.

Then I galloped away, determined to take as much time as I needed. Toddlers or not, the clans would have to manage themselves. As I ran, two thoughts followed…

What if I can’t do this anymore?

How long would it take to find another multimorph?