Tied With a Bow

brought her into his clan, caused her to move across the country all of a sudden . . . She sighed. This was why she had to tell them about the mate bond. They’d probably still worry, but they’d be worrying based on fact, not imagination.
    Robin had connected with the sheriff and was using her Voice of Authority—the one that combined CEO with Wiccan High Priestess. It worked on almost everyone.
    “You’re planning something,” Uncle Clay said suddenly.
    “Well, it’s up to me to figure out what Benedict expects me to do, isn’t it? Then do it.”
    “Arjenie.” Her uncle spoke firmly. “The only thing he could possibly expect of you is that you’ll go home and wait for him.”
    “No, he knows me better than that. Never mind. There’s something I need to tell you, and something we should discuss. I’m going to hit the second one first. I think we’re dealing with a skinwalker.”
    Dead silence. Finally Clay said, “You ought to be joking, but you aren’t.”
    “Hear me out. I don’t know how many of those bullets actually hit the bear, but some of them must have. The sheriff and both his deputies kept firing. Did you see that they had any effect on it at all?”
    “No,” Robin said, “but that doesn’t mean the bullets didn’t hit. That was one huge heaping of bear. And even if you’re right about that, a magically defended bear does not equal a skinwalker.”
    “There’s more that does suggest it, however. First, we know that Coyote’s here. He had to have a reason to show up, and it wasn’t to protect me from Benedict, despite whatever Sammy and Seri had in mind. So there’s a connection to Native Powers.”
    “Maybe it was Coyote, maybe not. I agree that there may be some connection between this bear and one or more Native Powers, but none of that adds up to skinwalker.”
    “Plus there’s the way that cow just happened to show up and draw everyone’s attention, giving the skinwalker a chance to attack. That was planned.”
    “That’s a possibility, I guess. But so is coincidence.”
    “I think the cow was directed there, but you’re right, it’s possible the bear just took advantage of the distraction the cow provided. Either way, there was conscious planning behind that attack—which was deliberate and seemed to be directed at us. The bear didn’t charge the deputies shooting at it. It came at us.”
    “The bear didn’t know who was shooting at it!”
    “It came at us, not the deputies,” Arjenie repeated. “Now, bears will guard their kills, but the body was gone, so that’s not what happened. A mother bear will attack to protect her cubs, but there weren’t any cubs. That just wasn’t normal bear behavior.”
    Robin was silent longer this time. “It might be rabid.”
    “It shouldn’t be here at all,” Arjenie retorted. “Someone imported a Kodiak bear—or the hide from one, which they used to turn themselves into a bear.”
    “Skinwalkers are myth. Legend. Nothing more.”
    “Dragons were myth and legend until they returned last year.”
    “Dragons were also theoretically possible. Skinwalkers aren’t. For heaven’s sake, Arjenie! You know enough about how magic works to know that skinwalkers aren’t possible. The stories about them . . . well, some anthropologists believe there may have been early contact between the Native populations and lupi. That could easily have started the skinwalker stories.”
    She was not making a dent in what looked more and more like Wiccan bias on her aunt’s part. If it wasn’t possible in Wicca, it wasn’t possible at all. She twisted to look her aunt in the eye. “Earth, Air, Fire, Water . . . and the fifth element is spirit.”
    For a moment Robin was confused. Then her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “You’re claiming that skinwalking uses spirit to accomplish what magic alone couldn’t do. But spirit uplifts. Enlarges. It doesn’t turn someone into a bloodthirsty killer—which all the skinwalker stories say happens to someone who takes an animal form that way.”
    “Spirit in Wicca uplifts and enlarges because we call on the Lord, the Lady, and the Source. There are other spiritual practices. Other powers and beings to call on. That bear was tainted by death magic, Aunt Robin. What is death magic but a perverted spiritual practice?”
    Robin could not agree that death magic had anything to do with spirit. It was a blind spot Arjenie hadn’t realized her aunt possessed. In her mind, spirit meant