“They’re beings from another dimension, and they’re trying to steal all the energy from ours. In a way, I feel for them, with their world dying. That makes them desperate. And dangerous as fuck. But they’re working to destroy our world.”
“And that’s where your brotherhood comes into play?”
Baer nodded. “Your brotherhood now, too. You’ll see. I can’t wait to see what powers you get.”
His heart knocked hard against his ribs. He sucked in a deep breath, then let it out in a huge whoosh. “I’m getting powers?”
What the hell had he wandered into? He’d just wanted some freaking doughnuts. If he couldn’t feel his heart hammering, he’d have been positive he was still asleep in his bed. But then, his dreams were never this vivid.
“All the brothers have them. And believe me, we need them to fight these things and keep our world safe.”
Wiley’s mind lurched. Powers? Him? The idea was ridiculous. He looked at his hands, which had spent hours drawing things just like this. Most of his adulthood and teen years were passed in endless fantasies about supernatural beings and superheroes with powers.
His heart picked up pace even harder, and he felt a little dizzy with the knowledge that little old him might be meant for something bigger than just idle daydreams. He stared at Baer, taking in the shoulder-length red hair and whiskers. This guy was a shifter. What powers was he going to get? Eagerness had him vibrating in his seat. He held back a shout of glee.
Maybe he could become invisible. Or fly—hell, he’d love to fly.
Baer looked at him again. “You’re taking this so well. The rest of us had a little harder of a time coming to grips with everything.”
Wiley snorted. “This is like a dream come true for me. I draw comic books for a living, so my world is already filled with things like this. Only they aren’t real. I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Comic book artist, huh?” Baer’s grin was there again, wide and so sexy. “You’ll hit it off with Grey, then. He’s a writer.”
“What do you do?”
“I worked in forestry. Now I’m at the plantation house, trying to save the world.”
That could have sounded cheesy, but it somehow didn’t. Probably due to the matter-of-fact tone Baer used. Like this was just another day in his supernatural world.
Baer swerved to miss a pothole and righted the Jeep with a soft curse.
Wiley looked out at scenery he’d been staring at his whole life. The moss-covered trees that lined the sides of the road. The same old country back roads. All this time, magic had really existed and not been something he made up on the pages of his books.
“Have these pestilents been chasing you your entire life?”
“Nah, just a year or two. They found a way to break into this world through a rift, and the more they can open it, the more life they can steal from our world. Right now, they’re sending—for want of a better word—troops through to search out me and my brothers. They’ll be after you now, too. From what I understand, some have actual magic to fight us with. We call the brotherhood the Weavers Circle.”
“Weavers as in magic users? Wizards?”
Baer nodded and his hands flexed on the steering wheel. “We’re not actual brothers, but it feels like we are. You feel like you know me, right?”
“I feel something.” Wiley wasn’t sure what it was, but attraction was the first thing that came to mind. He sure as hell didn’t say that aloud, though. He couldn’t imagine a man like this being interested in skinny, geeky him. Not with all his problems.
“There’s a reason you feel that drawn to me. I felt the same when I met Clay and Grey. It’s a wild thing, that’s for sure.”
There was no stopping the smile that formed when he listened to Baer. He liked the man. There was something so relaxed and friendly about him, as if he and Wiley had known each other for years rather than having met only minutes ago under insane circumstances. Wiley would have just chalked it up to the man’s easygoing nature, but maybe there was something to his story of brotherhood.
With only his grandmother left, Wiley loved the idea of having brothers. He’d always wished for a big family. When he was a little kid, he’d dreamed of siblings, cousins, and so many aunts and uncles, but that wasn’t possible. Not that growing up with his grandmother had been bad. Just lonely.
Watching Baer, Wiley couldn’t miss the strong muscles that flexed and shifted in his forearms. The man was amazing in human form, but he wasn’t limited to just pink flesh. “So, you can change into a cougar.”
Baer flashed him a grin that made Wiley’s stomach flip. “I can shift into any animal I want. Cats, wolves, birds.”
“I can’t imagine how incredible that must be.” He gasped as a new idea hit him. “Oh, my God! You can fly!”
“Yep. And I can hear animals’ thoughts. They don’t think like you and me for the most part. It’s mostly images, but words get through. They spend most of their time looking for food and shelter.”
“I can’t imagine. Wow.” He turned in his seat to face Baer. “What animals have you been?”
“Lots of them. From rabbits up to a bear. I kind of like the big cats, though. They can do a lot of damage.” He threw a wink at Wiley. “Plus, they’re fast.”
“Have you been an elephant?”
“No, haven’t tried anything quite that big yet.”
“I have so many questions! Do you have their range of hearing and sight when you’re in animal form? Do you retain your own thoughts? Oh, can you track things by scent?” Wiley was practically bouncing in his seat, his brain buzzing with so many images and ideas.
“I do retain my own thoughts, though sometimes it’s hard with the smaller brains. And yeah, I take on the senses of that animal.”
“This is just so incredible,” Wiley said with a wiggle. He probably looked like a squirming idiot, but he didn’t much care right then. He was meeting a supernatural being, and it was even possible he was going to get powers! “What about the goddesses? Damn. Can’t believe they actually exist. Are they like Thor or…oh my God, does Thor really exist?”
“Nah, they aren’t like any gods we typically hear about or even read in comics. They’re powerful beings who’ve been alive since the beginning of time. They pop in and out. I nearly shit myself the first time one of them disappeared.” He cleared his throat.
Wiley laughed. “Oh, I get it. When you changed into that cougar, I felt a little something like that. Reality changed in one fell swoop.”
“It’s going to feel that way for a while. Your whole world is about to change.” He hit his blinker and swerved fast down a narrow, gravel road. “I should have known Jo was up to something when she sent me after pumpkin doughnuts when she could have just conjured them up. Should have realized she was sending me after another brother. Though it’s weird she didn’t just come out and say it. Would have been safer if I’d have brought Clay or Grey with me.”
Every time Baer called him a brother, a warm flood of belonging filled his gut. A sense of belonging he’d never enjoyed in his life. He couldn’t wait to meet the others, to see how he fit into this special little world. Or big world, since it felt larger than the reality he’d known before walking into that doughnut shop.