Lost Causes by Mia Marshall Page A

knew well. As undergrads, we’d passed many drunken hours beneath its roof. It was owned by Frank, a human and a good man who had nothing to do with any of this. He wasn’t even aware elementals existed. The front door was barred, a government sign in the windows informing me that the building was closed for health violations.
    I moved to the next image. It featured an oversized monstrosity, a McMansion built in front of the Tahoe National Forest. The ugly home was little more than a gateway to that forest, where Carmen Avila shifted into a mountain lion and claimed the woods as her own.
    The next photo was of a wooden house built sometime in the sixties. It was the home of Mac’s uncle. Will had taken Mac in when he chose civilization over the feral life of a bear and left his father and brother behind in the forest. Mac’s teenaged cousins also lived there, only one of whom was a shifter. Not all the children of shifters were born with the changing gene. They grew up as humans in a magical world. Without any power of his own, Brandon would be even more vulnerable to the elementals’ attacks than the others.
    Sera’s beloved red Mustang was parked in front of the house. We’d asked Will to liberate it from the clutches of airport parking once it became obvious we wouldn’t be returning anytime soon. The car’s presence confirmed this was a recent picture.
    The final image held two blond elementals I’d never seen before. The women held five-gallon cans of gasoline and a lighter. They smiled at the camera, the threat explicit. Do as we say, or be the cause of your friends’ deaths.
    I took careful note of their faces. I never wanted to kill again, but if I ran into them down the road, I could give them one hell of a wedgie.
    Besides, what I wanted meant little to the madness. It studied the images too, full of hungry malevolence. The longer I stood before the council, the more agitated it grew. It craved release. It demanded that I buy my freedom with death.
    I dug my fingernails into my palm, forcing myself to remain present.
    Maybe the others sensed it. Sera moved to my left side and Mac stood behind me. The power I’d given him rose to the surface, seeking to connect with my own. I took the comfort and stillness he offered.
    Mac reached over my shoulder, grabbed the photos, and ripped them in two.
    My voice was level when I spoke at last. “Most people would avoid angering a dual. I thought you were smarter than this, Deborah.”
    She ignored my jibe. “This is only the beginning, of course. How old are you now? In your sixties? You left your island home a mere fifteen years ago, but that is long enough to meet people and make connections. You also are familiar with a weak ice, are you not? A local policeman. We would not hurt innocent elementals, of course, but he has a human wife. Human co-workers. This bear…” She paused for a moment, as if unwilling to acknowledge Mac’s presence. “He still has family in the forest, doesn’t he? Wildfires are so common in late summer.”
    Deborah continued, unaware of my growing turmoil. “If you are as stable as you claim to be, I’m certain you would do anything to prevent harm befalling those you care about.”
    “What do you want?” I spoke through gritted teeth. I was hanging on by a thread.
    “I wish for you to return with us, of course. It is impossible for a dual magic to be loose. The damage you could cause is unimaginable.”
    Luke shuffled his feet, and I fought the urge to glance at him. He’d received nothing more than a cursory examination when they first saw him. Either they hadn’t figured out what we were searching for in the desert or they didn’t realize we’d already found it.
    “And then you’ll execute me.” It wasn’t a question.
    Deborah’s voice was so gentle it could almost be described as kind. “Aidan, I know how you were raised. I have met your family. You were brought up by good people who instilled a sense of honor and