by Leia Stone
But Haru shoved the phone up to my fox ear anyway. Life hadn’t been in the habit of waiting for me to be ready for anything before it happened.
“Hey, kitten.”
His voice. I had no memory of it. There were no home movies or any other recordings of my brief time with my parents. His voice was rich and had the slightest Japanese accent.
“I realize you can’t talk in your kitsune form, and we have little time. Haru has filled me in. You can do this. For your first time, it’s easier if you are holding the other person’s hand or a piece of their hair or something like that.”
Tears leaked from my eyes. I had a dad, alive, and he was talking to me now as if we hadn’t spent the last twenty-five years apart. I forced myself to get it together. I’d have plenty of time to freak out about my dad later—I hoped.
“Look him over for a good minute before you begin,” he was saying. “Try to register everything so you can remember it later with your eyes closed. Notice the shape of his nose, the color of his hair, the shape of his lips, and so on. It’s easier with someone you’re close with.”
A clicking sounded on the line and my father sighed. “I have to go. I’m so proud of you, kitten. I love you so much. Your mom—”
The call dropped.
Fuck. My. Life.
“There’s no more time!” Tianna yelled from outside as wind blew the door and slammed it against the wall with a crash that made me jump.
With a giant swallow, I shoved down every emotion that wanted to come to the surface and pushed away the call with my dad—all but his advice. I definitely needed to follow his instructions. One day I’d allow myself to have a much needed nervous breakdown, but that wasn’t today.
I worked to calm my nerves as I settled beside Nathan’s quickly cooling body. I needed to get this done before his essence entirely disassociated from the body it was leaving behind. As I lay down, a huge surge of power filled me up, making my body tremble for a moment.
Brock.
‘You can do this, ma petite renarde,’ he said.
I nodded at my lover, trying not to let him see that I was barely holding it together, and then nestled between Nathan’s arm and torso. Peering at his face for several long moments, I tried to catalog everything. The way his eyebrows were kind of bushy and his nose a little crooked. His face was squarish and his lips wide.
The wind picked up outside and I heard Willemena tell the storm to fuck off. Ordinarily I would’ve laughed at the outburst from the old witch. Not now. I wasn’t even a little bit amused, not at anything. Shit was as serious as a heart attack.
‘Just breathe,’ Cass said.
And that’s what I did. I lay my muzzle on Nathan’s arm, closed my eyes, and silently thanked him for his sacrifice. A deep breath in, Brock’s alpha power surged through me. A breath out, and my nerves fled and I harnessed more control.
I pictured myself—slender and fit, with long, silky black hair and almond-shaped, violet eyes. I even remembered to include the small birthmark I had on the back of my right thigh. And then I pushed that image onto Nathan, while also calling up my magic, like I would when shifting. I imagined it encompassing him as light. Just as Tianna had taught me to create a dome of protection over myself, I placed a dome of Evie Black over Nathan. I pushed my brain to hold the image and hoped like all hell that it was working.
Before I thought I’d finished, Molly breathed, “Holy fuck,” and one of my eyes popped open.
Nathan looked … wow. Super fucking ugly, like an inhuman alien. He had my almond-shaped eyes and petite nose … along with his strong jaw and beard scruff.
Oh God. I was totally going to die. This wouldn’t fool the spell.
“Keep going,” Brock yelled from his place on the couch. Power flooded into me as Brock gave me all he had.
As the storm crackled outside, I focused all of my newly unearthed power into this image of myself that I was spreading over Nathan. His features needed to be sharper, but most importantly, my energy needed to saturate him so that this spell would believe I was dead and that balance was served.
Brock’s alpha power pumped into me, making my adrenaline rush and more and more magic fly out of me, like tangible waves of electricity that left my body to wrap around Nathan.
When I’d given it my very best shot, I opened my eyes.
Holy fuck. Nathan was … me.
A whole lot like me at least. It was pretty damn believable.
“Shift,” Willemena hissed, now hovering beside me. “Hurry!”
I snapped my eyelids closed and recalled the edges of Nathan’s face, trying to remember every feature and imagine my own face in such a manner, while also trying to keep the Evie dome over Nathan’s dead body. My brain squeezed from the amount of concentration it all required.
‘Breathe,’ Cass reminded me.
My bestie knew me better than I knew myself.
Another deep breath in and I started to shift, my bones cracking. Oh no! The pain was breaking my concentration. My eyelids flew open as I stared down at my changing body.
Please don’t have a vagina, please don’t have a vag—
Fuck!
I’d shifted into myself!
Looking over, I confirmed that Nathan still looked like me, but my concentration was weakening with my panic.
“Plan B!” Cass called and leapt into the air, landing in front of me. Red magic sparkled around his body as he illusioned his body to appear to be me.
“Cass, no!” I screamed, as pain like I’d never felt before ripped into my body, and a black inky blob hovered over me.
This was not good.
“The spell,” Willemena whispered.
Tianna must have just entered the room, because a strangled cry ripped from her throat at seeing Cass now illusioned in my form.
“Cass, I’ll never forgive you!” I grunted, while I also worked to keep Nathan looking like me, continued to try to change my form to the right one, and tried not to black out from the pain. If I lost consciousness, I didn’t need anyone to tell me I’d never wake again.
The black blob zoomed toward Cass and I panicked, throwing my left arm out without thinking. A purplish pink crackling ball of magical fire erupted from my palm and slammed into my bestie, blasting his illusion. Cass was back to being a pink, pot-bellied demon imp, shiny iridescent Speedos and all … and not a second too soon.
The moment the black blob registered my pink furry bestie, it reeled backward and seemed to look between Nathan and me, considering.
It was like an intelligent force of darkness, which scared the ever living daylights out of me.
“Use my power and shift into anything!” Brock roared. “Whatever, as long as it’s not you.”
That’s right. It didn’t really have to be Nathan. It just needed to not be me, and probably not my fox either since the blob knew that form too. Without much thought, I shifted into the only person that I’d never forget. I knew every wrinkle, every gray hair, every gesture by heart—the cluster of freckles above her collarbone that looked like the Pleiades star formation.
Taking deep breaths, I urged my body to mold into the woman who raised me. My entire body tingled and burned, but every time I started to feel depleted, Brock pushed more power into me. Finally, I looked down and saw the old, delicate hands that would make me coffee and grind herbs and brush my hair, and a sob racked through me.
Cass fell to his little knees before me. “Gran.”
My gaze flicked to the black blob as it eked dangerously close to me and took one last look at Gran before zooming toward Nathan’s body, disguised as me, and dove into it like some kind of creepy alien possession. Zzzzoop. It sped into what looked like the center of my chest and vanished from sight.
Seeing the blackness appear to enter me—well, Nathan—was highly disturbing—like top five craziest things I’d ever seen, and I’d seen some shit as a supe bounty hunter. His body shook a little with the force of it before going still.
&nb
sp; Willemena grabbed a large raw chunk of black tourmaline and another of smoky quartz from the table and walked over to Nathan, where she knelt down slowly, for once showing her age. She placed the heavy crystals on his chest with uncharacteristic gentleness, and I appreciated her respect for the dead and for his sacrifice.
“The debt has been paid. The spell is dissolved,” she said to all of us. Brock crouched next to me, while Cass was at my other side. Tianna, Reo, Haru, and Molly circled the scene.
We stared at the lifeless body until I entirely released the transformation magic and the body flickered like a hologram and transitioned back into Nathan. One moment it looked exactly like me, the next the werewolf shifter was back.
“You did it, Evie,” Willemena declared.
Then she looked at me, emotion straining her face. Reaching out, she brushed my cheek. “It’s good to see my old friend again, but you can change back now, Evie. It’s safe.”
I let go of the image and, as soon as I did, Brock’s alpha power rushed from me in a wave, leaving me depleted and exhausted. Once again in my normal pregnant Evie body, I sat up and looked through the open door. The storm had stopped. The torrent of thunder and lightning was gone, replaced by a colorful morning sunrise.
Brock slipped into my room and returned with a blanket, which he draped over my shoulders as he helped me stand.
I stumbled forward, rounding on Cass, my finger already pointing toward his face. “I love you, you little shit. Don’t you ever try to sacrifice yourself for me again!”
His wings fluttered and he took flight to meet me at eye level. Tears welled in his eyes. “Well, then don’t ever kill a vampire with a killing curse attached to him again!” he fired back.
We both laughed and sniffled, and I opened my arms while wrestling with my blanket to give my bestie a hug.
‘I need a fucking drink after that shit,’ Cass told me.
‘Make it a double,’ I answered, before remembering I was pregnant.
Damn crotch goblin.
10 Pissing Contest
After all the drama, Brock and I met up with Ray and the rest of his wolves to put Nathan’s body to rest. The entire pack, save the most badly injured wolves, gathered to pay its respects. As part of the pack, it seemed only right that I do the same, especially since Nathan had basically saved my life; it didn’t much matter that he did so after his death.
After the burial, Brock encouraged me to lie down for a bit. Boy, that sounded like heaven. I was dead on my feet.
He’d finished his phone conference with the council, who’d determined that a site visit wasn’t needed. The older wolves had decided that because Croft, who was now the local seethe leader, wasn’t filing a dispute, they were able to accept Brock’s claim based on his word alone. There would be no investigation.
Thank you, Croft. I owed my vamp lawyer tenfold.
I really wanted to nap for a little bit. I was beyond exhausted—cooking a bun in the oven really took it out of you—but my ex-boyfriend Jack and his partner Kenzie would be here within the hour, and they’d be expecting a full report on the siren. It was time to hunt this bitch down, so tired or not I was going to buck up and give it my all. Maybe I could sneak half a cup of coffee when Cass or Brock wasn’t looking. I’d googled it and one small cup a day was deemed safe from what I’d read.
“I want every single box opened.” I pointed to Molly, who was hovering by the police files we’d gotten on Calista. “Look for anything new or unusual.”
“Cass, start a board,” I said, and my bestie started to clear space along a wall in the dining room for us to pin things on it. He dragged Gran’s old-school chalkboard out from the garage and leaned it up against the wall, sticking a piece of chalk in the waistband of his fanny pack.
I started to pace, hoping to encourage a burst of energy, picking up files and peering through them as I went. “Things we know,” I said aloud so Cass would know to write what came next on the board. We’d done this hundreds of times; he knew the drill. “The siren is killing humans, probably tied to a witch, and wants to open the gates of the underworld.” I paused. “But don’t add the underworld bit. I don’t want Jack or Kenzie to see it.” Best to keep everyone on a need-to-know basis.
Cass nodded while jotting notes with a scrape-y chalk sound. “And the siren’s powerful.”
Molly, who was grabbing file after file and tearing through them, squealed, prompting Haru and Reo to move so they could look over her shoulder. The warriors had pretty much moved into Gran’s cabin under the guise that they needed to protect me. But the more I saw them fawn over Molly, the more I wondered if there were other motives for the rooming arrangement.
“What is it?” I asked.
Molly looked up, wide-eyed, like she’d won the lottery. “All her victims go to the same gym. That’s where she’s scouting her prey.”
“Does that gym have a pool?” I asked, hurrying over to consult the files.
Molly passed me the folders. “Yep. Olympic sized. I’ve been there before.”
Gotcha!
Gravel crunched outside, and Cass, the warriors, and I moved toward the large window by the dining room. Haru and Reo twitched their hands over the hilts of their katanas, their muscles tense.
“It’s okay,” I said to them, sharing a wide-eyed holy-fuck look with Cass.
Jack’s SUV was coming to a stop right outside.
Oh God. Exhaustion fled and my whole body tingled like a live wire.
‘Well, this is going to be interesting,’ Cass said, and I giggled as if I’d just escaped a madhouse.
‘Interesting is not the word I would have chosen,’ I said.
My werewolf ex-boyfriend was on my alpha baby daddy’s land.
‘Would it have been better if I’d said this is going to be a clusterfuck?’
‘Better? No. But more accurate,’ I told my bestie.
‘I wish T were here. She’s not going to want to miss the show.’ Cass sifted through his fanny pack for his cell phone. Tianna had offered to take Willemena to rent a car so she could drive home since the cantankerous old witch said that traveling the way she did to get here was reserved for emergencies only. When Brock had told her to put the car rental on his credit card, Willemena had demanded a convertible. The witch was comical. The crone left with a vial of Brock’s blood as payment for her help. Though the vial was small, Willemena had clutched it like it was a treasure. In the world of spell casting, alpha blood was.
I sighed heavily. I’d promised Brock I’d tell him when Jack got here.
‘He’s here,’ I sent to my alpha, hoping he was too busy with Nathan’s memorial to meet Jack and we could just run along to this gym without the awkward—
‘I see him.’
Fuck.
I burst from the house like my ass was on fire, hoping to intercept Jack before Brock did. But I was too late. Jack had just exited his car and Brock was already walking toward him. Both of their nostrils were flaring.
“Jack! Kenzie!” I tried to pull their attention toward me, but no luck. Brock was a foot away from my ex, and the two wolves were locked in a fucking dominance battle, staring each other down with fierce eyes.
“Jack, this is Brock, my … boyfriend,” I said, figuring that was safest as I moved closer to the pair. Even though we hadn’t talked about a label for whatever was between us, Brock might kill me if I called him a friend in front of another male wolf.
“And her alpha,” Brock added, trying to drill a hole in Jack’s head with his gaze.
Jack raised an eyebrow.
“And the father of her unborn child.” Now Brock was just being a dick.
Jack broke his stare to meet my gaze with a shocked open mouth.
‘He’s scrawnier than I thought he’d be,’ Brock said through our pack bond, sounding far too pleased with himself.
Jack was anything but scrawny, but I wasn’t going to argue.
‘Be nice, dammit. I have to work with him all week,’ I sai
d.
“Pregnant?” Jack asked. “You never wanted kids.”
I winced.
Thanks for that, jackass.
“What?” Brock reeled to look in my direction.
Motherfuckers. There should be a rule against your new boyfriend meeting your ex.
“Yeah, well … I’ve changed. A lot.” I placed a hand on Brock’s shoulder, hoping I was strong enough to pull him back if he lunged for Jack. My ex was a hotheaded bigmouth who’d been in more pack trouble than anyone else I’d ever met. Riddled with tattoos and a fan of breaking the rules, Jack was your ultimate bad boy.
Jack seared Brock with one more look. “Kiss your alpha goodbye. We have a case to work.”
The low growl in Brock’s throat made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up on end.
“You will not disrespect me on my land.” Brock’s voice was barely human.
Kenzie came up behind Jack and thwopped him in the back of the head—hard. “Dammit, Jack, stop starting shit and get in the house!” This forced Jack to break eye contact as his head jerked toward the ground, a move which might have saved his life.
If looks could kill, Kenzie would be dead. Jack gave her the nastiest look I’d ever seen, all tight lips and glowing orange eyes, before stalking off past Brock and me toward the house.
“Sorry, darlin’,” Kenzie told Brock. “He doesn’t have many brain cells left.” Then Kenzie followed Jack into my gran’s house and left us alone.
Brock was breathing through his nose, deeply, as small patches of fur rippled up and down his arms.
I offered Brock a wince and a weak smile. “He’s a total douchebag, sorry.”
Finally, Brock met my eyes. “If he ever disrespects you like that again, I’ll kill him and hide the body so that no one will ever find it.”
My eyes widened. “Jack’s harmless. I promise.”
And I can take care of myself, I wanted to say, but with the look on Brock’s face I didn’t.
Reaching out, he pulled me closer to him, pressing my pelvis against him. Leaning in, he rubbed his scruff along my neck, making my legs go weak.