whole goddesses, aliens, and powers thing?”
Grey nodded. “Even though I had been chased for two years and caught a hint of Clay’s powers before we made it to the plantation, it was a lot to swallow.”
“Drunk or sober,” Clay mumbled.
“So, I decided to shift in the living room to prove it all to him,” Baer tossed in.
“Into a peacock?”
Baer nodded and Grey laughed.
“Oh, I’m sure he tried for peacock,” Grey said.
“But I ended up an ostrich,” Baer groaned. “To this day, I don’t know how I confused the two. Wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen the feathers on the floor the next morning.”
Grey busted out laughing, and even Lucien was chortling now. Baer smiled at the two of them as he added, “Smashed right through the coffee table and freaked Grey out. He dove over the couch.”
“There was an eight-foot bird suddenly flapping its wings in front of me! Of course I dove for cover!” Grey shouted, then gasped for air.
Lucien turned and looked at Clay. “And what were you doing during all this chaos?”
Baer almost fell over laughing when he saw pink stain Clay’s cheeks.
“He was busy having angry sex with Dane,” Grey answered before Clay could speak. “Or was it make-up sex?”
Clay’s smile turned a little wicked. “Yes, to all of the above.”
Grey groaned and Baer grinned at his friend. “You did ask,” he teased Grey.
“Yeah, well, let’s stop there,” Lucien grumbled. He shook his head as he turned where he stood near the middle of the open field, his hands on his narrow hips. The Fire Weaver was wearing a pair of jeans and a plain T-shirt today, but there was still something classy about his appearance.
“For most humans, nothing has changed in their world,” Grey said suddenly.
Lucien jerked around to look at the Soul Weaver, his mouth hanging open in surprise.
The writer looked a little tired, but the man had been hanging around them more the past couple of days. The constant onslaught of emotions and thoughts had to be wearing on him.
“The harder you’re thinking about something, the louder those thoughts are for me,” Grey explained. “I can try to block some things, but it’s not always possible. It’s why I stay in the apartment over the garage.”
“That’s gotta suck,” Lucien murmured, his voice sounding a bit speculative, as if he didn’t quite know what to make of the Soul Weaver and his powers.
“Probably about as much as the ongoing chatter Baer’s got hitting his brain each day.”
Lucien looked over at him and Baer smiled. “I don’t get human chatter. I can pick up on what animals are thinking. Can even command them, though it takes a lot of energy and concentration.”
“And the rats at the cemetery?”
Baer shook his head. “Not mine. I couldn’t reach them at all.”
“I wonder if some of it had to do with the fact that you were taken by surprise,” Clay offered. He sat up and crossed his legs in front of him, resting his forearms on his knees. “If we run across her again, you’ll be expecting an attack from the animals. You might be able to get in their minds the next time.”
“I’ll try,” Baer said, though he wasn’t feeling very hopeful.
“Lucien has seen enough of my powers,” Grey said. “Baer, show him what you can do.”
“Yeah, something really big or really small,” Lucien requested.
Baer walked into the middle of the field. He rolled his shoulders, trying to loosen up the muscles in his body a little as he sifted through countless images of animals in his brain until he finally settled on one. An animal everyone seemed to request but he hadn’t actually tried yet.
Closing his eyes, he shut out all the noise around him and tapped the power resting in his chest, just waiting to be called. As the energy filled him, he directed it into the animal in his head. His body stretched in impossible ways and his heart rate sped up, but just as the panic started to rise, he pushed it away. He’d shifted dozens of times now, tried so many different animals. There was no reason to panic. He would always be able to find his way back to his human form. No matter what body he was in, he was still Baer.
Sounds of shock and awe reached his ears. Baer opened his eyes to find that he was now staring down on the tall Fire Weaver. Even Clay had gotten to his feet and was slowly approaching with a