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“He should be glowing a little. It’s something between a sparkle and a dim light. They’ll damn near blind you at night when the moon hits them just right. He looks kind of dull.” Rauf ran two fingers over the goat’s side, parting the dirty hair to expose the shorter fur beneath. He pointed to a faint shimmer along the skin. I’d assumed it was dust catching the light.

I cupped my hands around the spot to block the light from the barn door. Tiny flecks glimmered beneath my shadow, pale and weak. I checked the goat’s shoulder and then his neck, finding the same faint trace in both places.

“Does the glow change when they’re frightened or hurt?” I asked.

“Not this much.”

I bent until my face was inches from the goat’s flank. The shimmer didn’t pulse with his breathing, and there was no rash or hair loss around the dullest areas.

Hooves scraped against the barn floor behind us. Another minotaur sauntered down the aisle, shorter than Rauf but still big enough to make me move closer to the stall wall. He took in the open case, the goat in the straw, and me kneeling beside it. His careless expression disappeared. “Is that another one?” he asked. “That’s like the third one this month.”

Rauf made a sound in the back of his throat.

I looked up at him sharply. “There have been other sick goats?” I snapped. “Did you not think that could be helpful?”

“There have been dead goats,” he said. “This is the first one we found while it was still alive.”

“It doesn’t look good,” the shorter, and possibly younger, minotaur said.

“Go away, Drev.” Rauf shoved his shoulder.

Drev rocked back a step. The easy slouch vanished from his body, and his chin came up. His shoulders were squared and his horns had dipped toward Rauf.

Rauf moved in front of me and the goat. It might have been protective if he hadn’t looked ready to put Drev through the barn wall. Drev’s nostrils flared. Rauf’s hands curled into fists. Neither of them spoke.

The goat bleated between them. They didn’t even blink.

“If you’re going to fight, take it outside!” I had to raise my voice to be heard over the testosterone flooding in the room, but Rauf and Drev each took a step back.

“Out.” Rauf scowled.

Drev glared at him before he retreated.

“What about the goat?” Rauf asked, as if he hadn’t nearly come to blows with one of his… housemates? I wasn’t sure what the situation was out here on the farm or why these men had decided living out in the middle of nowhere was preferable to living in town. The hair-trigger tempers might have had something to do with it.

“Keep him hydrated. There are some antibiotics in your kit you can try. I’m not sure anything much will make it worse. See if he can keep some food down. And if he doesn’t improve in a couple of days…”

“I’ll take care of it.” Rauf’s voice was solemn.

Rauf looked down at the goat and reached for the water bowl. His mouth stayed tight, but his hands were gentle again.

“We can examine our options,” I said instead. “No need for anything drastic yet.” Now that the goat was safe in the barn with the hope of water and food, he had a chance. I couldn’t work magic, but it was something. “Keep me posted.”

And if it gave me a reason to come back out to this farm and see Rauf another time, I wouldn’t mind the opportunity.

“Is there a place I can wash up before I walk back into town?” I smelled like goat in a very bad way and didn’t want to invite more questions. I’d already been gone longer than I’d planned and it was probably ten miles back to town.

“There’s a hose in the yard.” He nodded through the door. “And don’t worry about walking. I’ve got a truck. I can drive you.”

I should have said that I could walk. But my legs were aching and the sun would be going down soon.

And a large part of me wanted to spend just a bit more time with the surly, enigmatic minotaur.

So I smiled. “I’d appreciate that.”

4

TERESA