The Trinity

Making friends

BEAU

23 years old

The guy’s eyes nearly popped outta his head when I asked him what a water shifter was doing around here. I had to chuckle “relax dude, I don’t want any trouble. Just curious is all.” I told him.

But he didn’t relax, at all. In fact I was pretty sure I could grab one of the walnuts off the bar that nobody ate and crack the shell in his ass.

He seemed that f*****g tense. “You got a name?” Start small I told myself.

“Adriel” he said. Hmm unusual name for sure.

“So Adriel, what brings you to our little air shifter tribe here in Utah?” I asked. His burger had arrived and he was taking a bite.

“Looking for someone.” He said around the big bite. I didn’t trust easily. The birthmark on the bottom of my foot was tingling. That usually happened when some weird s**t was about to go down.

“Yeah? Looking for someone in particular? Or just a lady to warm your bed?” He shot his eyes toward me. “Or guy?” I added after he looked surprised by my first question. Hey, no judgment here. I swung both ways and was never shy about it. My brother Avery had always hated it and made me feel ashamed of it. But I hadn’t seen him in years, so he could go f**k himself for all I cared. He was the only family I had left. We grew up in the shifter orphanage together down the road, but he knew where I was and hadn’t made contact since I was 17.

“How’d you know I was a water elemental?” He asked me, turning his barstool in my direction.

“Not many pale skinned, blonde haired blue eyed people around here. That and your otter tattoo. Is that what you shift into? That’s adorable.” I said. Wrong. Wrong thing to say. He looked pissed as his hand possessively laid over the tattoo on his forearm.

“No little birdie, I don’t change into a f*****g otter. Why don’t you come out back with me and I’ll show you what I change into.”he said with a low growl.

Ahh, just like me he didn’t have his shifter animal tattooed on his arm. That otter represented somebody he cared about. The same way my mountain bluebird represented my mother. I shifted into a golden eagle. I wondered what Adriel changed into, I felt pretty enticed to take him up on his offer. But I didn’t want to fight the guy. I sorta liked his uptight personality for whatever reason. It was so different from my laid back, go with flow personality.

I laughed and clapped my hand on his shoulder. “Jesus. Relax dude, I didn’t mean anything by it. I should’ve guessed the otter was somebody else, like my mountain bluebird.” I said tapping my finger. “She’s my mother. I have my eagle tattooed on my back. So spill the tea, what do you shift into?” I asked curiously.

I hadn’t met to many water shifters before. Our kind usually kept to themselves.

For whatever reason his eyes narrowed slightly before he forced out a laugh too. “Sorry man, I’m not used to making friends so easily. Been on my own for a long while after my parents died. Wanna get out of here? I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” He said smiling at me.

Maybe he did like men. He seemed all too eager to leave with me all of the sudden. I downed my beer and threw money on the bar covering our drinks and his burger. f**k it, I was game.

ADRIEL

I couldn’t believe my dumb f*****g luck. After 6 months of watching these people from the bushes, the first eagle shifter I run into plops down next to me inside Twigs and tells me he’s an eagle shifter.

What an i***t. It’s like he didn’t have any comprehension elementals weren’t supposed to go around and shout out their powers or shifter animals.

I got into his old beat up truck that was parked outside the bar. We drove down an off the path side road that turned into gravel. We were in Sevier County, not far off from the lake. Utah truly was beautiful. The mountains, the open plains, all right here. I couldn’t help but think about Noa. Imagining her deer or her ocelot cat bounding around and taking in the natural beauty of the region. Her Cooper’s hawk would fit in so well here too. Even though the idea of her mixing in with the air shifters made me feel uneasy.

“Where do you stay? Wanna head out to the lake or back to my place?” Beau suggested pulling me from my thoughts.

“I’ve got a camp site set up on the other side of Sevier Lake. We can head out there for the night. It’s not much but it’s comfortable enough.” I told him.

I was getting weird vibes from Beau. I was starting to think he was into me. I’d never even looked at a man in that light. My thoughts were always consumed with Noa, so I didn’t really know what to think or how to act. The only thing I did know was I needed to keep his guard down right where it was. If I was going to find out what type of eagle he shifted into I had to let him think he could trust me.

I had a leghold trap set up not too far from my tent. I had debated on taking it apart earlier in the week, I was glad that I decided against it. I directed him down a few more side paths before we reached my campsite.

It wasn’t much. I had a tent set up with my few belongings I’d gathered over the years. There was a fire pit a few yards away in front of the tent and the lake was behind it a little further down.

We hopped out and headed over to build the fire. The sun was going down and the temperature dropped pretty dramatically at night here. Beau asked me to get the cooler outta the back of his truck. As I lifted it a few feathers kicked up.

Golden eagle feathers.

I opened the cooler and grabbed a couple of drinks tossing one to Beau as I smiled.

Got ya, motherfucker.

BEAU

It’d gotten pretty cold outside. But Adriel and I had the fire roaring so it was comfortable enough. We’d been talking some on and off. There weren’t too many people in my life that I felt content just sitting in the silence with.

Adriel didn’t talk much about his upbringing even though I had asked. He didn’t even want to tell me where he was from, just saying he was from here and there. I tried to get him to open up by telling him about me and my brother being raised in the orphanage together. I told him that Avery had left years ago and never contacted me. I was on my own now and I honestly preferred it that way.

Nobody’s able to hurt you if you don’t let them in. I would get lonely sometimes and find a guy or girl to keep me company every so often. I never felt attracted to one s*x more versus the other. It just always felt like I was attracted to the person and their gender was an afterthought to me.

The fire had been going for several hours and we were getting low on wood. Adriel told me to grab some just on the other side of his tent. It was dark now and I couldn’t really see much in that direction. I took a few more steps and didn’t see any firewood. Adriel was directing me while he sat on his log. “A little more to your left Beau, should be right there.”

What the f**k was he talking about? There was nothing over here but some shrubbery. I took another step forward and something snapped shut on my foot and ankle. A severe pain shot up through my leg as I cried out. It was so intense it immediately dropped me to my ass. What the f**k was this? An animal trap? I never thought these things were right to begin with but now I f*****g hated the god damn things.

I shouted for Adriel. He was just a few steps away, he’d obviously seen me go down.

“Hey man, give me a hand would ya? This thing feels like it’s gonna snap my f*****g leg off.” I said as he crouched down to inspect it.

“Yeah Beau, I’ll give you a hand. Right after you tell me why you murdered my parents.” He said as he flipped one of my golden eagle’s feathers around in his fingers.