by Alexia Purdy
Malachi
Once back home, we had a long hard look at one another. That was all it took to lead us to the bedroom in a mad rush to warm up together from the frigid night outside. Her body was a thing of beauty, and I was more than happy to worship it the whole night through. Even with tiny twigs and leaves tangled up in her hair and splinters driving their sharpened ends into our feet, we could no longer resist each other.
We tossed about the bed, taking turns on top as we ravaged one another. Each square inch of her body tasted of a sweetness I could savor forever. I couldn’t get enough. There was nothing I wanted to do more than let her know it. Running my fingers down her sides, I relished the shivers it caused her, making her nipples tight and hard, ready for my mouth. She was easy to love, and I realized I had done so the moment I’d met her. She’d affected my life with increasing intensity. I’d been so ready to leave and never look back, but I would have missed out on so much. Now I had reservations about leaving without her if I ever did get around to leaving again.
I couldn’t imagine life without her.
Nothing would ever be the same. There was a point at which I could have done without someone like her. I’d have viewed it as an anchor, a chore. But not with Phoebe. She brought color my life, breath to my aching lungs. To leave now would be to know what I’d be without her, and it would be worse than death, worse than the blood-soaked life I’d led before.
There was no returning to that. I refused it.
So I made sure she’d need me back, the same way she had me needing her. I’d make her body shudder in ecstasy the whole night through, playfully kissing and nipping at her pretty flesh until she begged me to either stop or make mad love to her. And I would comply. Her legs were miles long and wrapped around my torso, letting me know exactly what she wanted.
I hoped she could love this empty shell of a man. I’d done so much wrong in my life, but I couldn’t take any of it back. It had made me who I was and had forged the fire within, keeping me going when the days seemed endless and the nights even more so. Without having tread that arduous path, I would have never arrived at this one. The one and only place I wanted to be.
When we were done and the fatigue embraced us, I held her tightly in my arms, never wanting to let go.
“Malachi?” Her voice aroused my inner animal in ways I could never have imagined, even breaking through my exhaustion.
“Yes?”
“Is love different for shifters?”
I peered at her, past the crack between her eyelids, which were hooded and sleepy from our lovemaking.
“No different than for humans. Just maybe more intense. We’re more animal than human, but we have the best of both worlds. More drive to survive, to live. More tenacity to love even more deeply.”
“And break hearts more severely too?”
I shook my head, bringing her closer to me so I could brush my mouth against her soft lips. They were swollen and bright pink, angry from use.
“It’s always possible, but that’s not what I’ve ever wanted.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, her eyes looking dreamily into mine.
“For what?”
“For being there when I needed you most. For rescuing a strange, naked woman who ran into your path, ruining your plans to escape this place, derailing your life. Thanks for being that kind of a man.”
I laid my chin on top of her head, breathing in the soft perfume emanating from her in pleasant waves. The outdoors still clung to our skins. “Thank you for that diversion. I would have missed out on you, and that would have been tragic.”
“Yes, it would have.”
We both slept without nightmares, clinging to one another for dear life.
***
We arrived at her apartment the next morning to find a stranger rapping his knuckles on the door. Phoebe hesitated a moment but then ran toward the guy and fell into his arms.
What the…?
“Phillip! What are you doing here?” She held him out at arm’s length, giving him good, scrutinizing look up and down. It made my inner animal flare up with jealousy, but I pounded it back down, taming my temper as I cleared my throat and waited at the end of the staircase.
“I heard you were sick, so I brought some chicken soup. It’s been days since you came to work, and I was getting kind of worried. You’re never sick. Thought I’d just check up on you. You didn’t answer your phone, which was weirding me out.” He held out a plastic container with warm liquid sloshing inside.
“Oh, that’s awfully kind of you! I’m so sorry! My phone… I lost my cell somewhere and haven’t gotten it replaced. I didn’t mean to worry you.” Phoebe beamed and accepted the soup. I cleared my throat again.
“Oh, Phillip. This is Malachi. Malachi, this is Phillip. Malachi let me stay with him while I was ill. I was using his phone to call in sick.”
Phillip tilted his head and eyed me up and down over Phoebe’s shoulder with a severely pointed expression.
I knew that look. I’d seen the threat time and time again in my previous profession. The guy was smitten with Phoebe, and she didn’t even know it.
“Phillip. Hello, nice to meet you.” I held out a hand which he didn’t even make a move to shake. “I take it you work with Phoebe?” I asked.
“Right.” He threw me a smile so fake, I could see his plastic lips. “We work the same days each week in the ER and partner up all the time. For emergency drills and procedures.” The wicked gleam in his eyes worked to shake my spirit as it dawned on me how close these two were. I hoped it was just a work-related cooperation.
“Of course. She’s never mentioned you before.” I matched his mocking grin, turning it up a notch for good measure. Might as well get it over with, if that’s how it was going to be. I thought what she meant about breaking hearts was her speaking out about her own fears. I didn’t realize she was talking about my own heart.
Shit.
“Really?”
“Nope. Are you her boyfriend?” I was through playing games.
He almost choked on his own spit. “Boyfr―Oh, not at all. We’re just friends. Me and Phoebe―we’re not like that.”
I could see that was true, but not in his mind.
Phoebe shook her head, rolling her eyes.
“Phillip is not my boyfriend, Malachi. We work together at the ER. He helps me out a lot. Especially when I started there. I was clueless.”
“She was still wet behind the ears. Like a wobbly kid.”
They both burst out laughing, but I wasn’t impressed.
“Remember that time you tripped on the IV bag tubing you’d just primed? Right in front of the patient?” Phillip asked.
“Oh, my goodness. I was mortified! Luckily you caught me before I cracked my skull on the edge of the gurney. Who trusts a nurse who trips on air and kills herself in front of a patient? So clumsy!”
They chuckled until I crossed my arms and exhaled loudly. They both stopped talking, looking awkward and clearing their throats. I eyed them back and forth, wondering just how far this “friendship” had gone.
Phoebe’s face filled with a caution as Phillip seemed to unconsciously puff out his chest. Maybe he could feel my animal rising and thought he was protecting Phoebe.
I shook it off. No sense in losing my head over this idiot.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Phillip. I’m sure we’ll become excellent friends. Just like Phoebe and me. We just met two days ago, actually, and we’ve grown very close.”
Phillip looked visibly relieved yet disturbed by my words. He still didn’t offer his hand, and I almost hadn’t noticed I’d offered mine up again. I didn’t relent. I held it out, challenging him to accept it. After an eternal moment, he finally gave in and held out his hand. I gave it a firm shake, but not hard enough to hurt him, just enough of a squeeze to let him know I knew all about guys like him.
“Well, that’s wonderful… um… it’s nice to meet you too. Are you the Malachi who lives up by
the creek? In that dilapidated cabin out in the woods? Yeah, I think I’ve heard of you.”
I felt like grinding my teeth down to nubs. My reputation preceded me still, and now he really had it coming for bringing that up. His excited fear returned as his eyes and smile widened. I’d just confirmed that indeed I was the Malachi, who lived in the forest. Alone. Rumored possible killer and complete recluse.
Just fucking great.
“The one and only.” Own it. That’s what I told myself all the time. Own it. Love it.
Phillip’s beaming smile faded. I think he was hoping I’d get flustered and deny it all. He was at a loss for words at this point, which gave me more relief than when Phoebe suggested we go back inside. At least we wouldn’t have to keep standing on the landing like a trio of idiots. Once inside, both Phillip and I waited in the living room, not moving but standing awkwardly as Phoebe took her bags back to her room.
“You all can have a seat. I need to run a load of laundry while we’re here. It’s so good to be home!”
“Where did you go?” Phillip called out as we both sat on the couches. Me on the long one, him on the loveseat. I switched the TV on to drown him out.
“I was staying at Malachi’s for a few days. He’s been a huge help while I was sick.”
I glanced at Phillip and found him staring at me with a scrutinizing wonder. It made me think he had some intense, vested interest in Phoebe, but she viewed him more like a big brother than a lover. It was cold comfort to know she had a non-shifter friend who could possibly get in the way, even though she didn’t feel the same way toward him. What would he do if he found out Phoebe was a shifter? Probably freak the fuck out.
I cracked my knuckles while we waited, popping each one twice and as loudly as possible. If this guy ever found out what we were, it would cause big trouble not only for us but for the entire shifter community. One could never be too careful when it came to trusting humans with our secrets. Most had to have their minds wiped by the wizards to continue living a regular life. Some secrets drove people to do the most nonsensical things. Like, try to uncover who was what and who lived where and what we were. It got into dangerous territory that would only put the human in danger of being offed by the ones who opposed anyone knowing of our nature.
There weren’t many who would take it that far, but the few who were that prejudiced would never risk a human walking around with that kind of knowledge. It was like a walking time bomb.
Phillip watched me with great interest, taking every detail under examination. I threw him a toothy smile and pretended it didn’t bother me. Usually, this threw anyone off my trail, but it made Phillip drill his eyes into me even more, attempting to draw the real me out. It was disturbing only because I wanted to show him how little of a threat he really was. If he were a shifter, he’d have been running with his tail between his legs.
But he was still there, in my way. Just what we needed, another obstacle to trip on.
Phoebe
“Anyone hungry?”
The guys looked at each other and mumbled under their breaths.
“Yeah,” Malachi muttered, crossing his arms and sinking back into the couch.
“I’m starved,” Phillip answered. I saw his smile waver as he glanced towards Malachi, but it brightened when he returned his gaze to me. “I can order some take out if you want. I’m sure you can save the soup for later.”
“Oh yeah, the soup….” I gave him an apologetic look. “I’m not big on soup, but yes, I’ll save it for later. Chinese?” He nodded. “Be a doll and order for me? I’ve got a load to fold back there.”
“Uh, sure, what would you like?”
“Some Kung Pao chicken and noodles?”
“I’ll have the same,” Malachi interjected. He didn’t look our way but appeared to be entranced by the show on the TV. It was some barbarian-looking reality show challenge where the people had to use their wits and muscles to get over the obstacles. I was pretty sure Malachi could cream all the contestants. It made me wonder if any of them were shifters.
I’d be wondering this for the rest of my life. Nothing would ever be the same.
As Phillip called the Chinese place, Malachi watched his show. I busied myself in my bedroom for half an hour until I heard that the show had finished. Before he could get interested in something else, I stepped into the living room and motioned for Malachi to follow me back to the bedroom. Once there, he looked around, focusing on a picture of my mother before reaching out to pick it up.
“I see where you get your good looks from.” He smiled as he gazed upon the picture before replacing it on the dresser. “You miss her, don’t you?”
“Yes. Every day. She was so grounded, always helping others out. I guess that’s where I got my need to do the same, regardless of who a person is. Hence why I became a nurse.”
“So, Phillip works with you in the ER….” His voice drifted off. He avoided my stare and instead studied the other photographs on my walls.
“Yes.”
“Is he also a… nurse?” He coughed on the last word. Male nurses always got made fun of. Why would I have expected any less from Malachi? I rolled my eyes.
“Yes, he’s also a nurse. Is that a bad thing?”
“I just didn’t expect… you know… a male nurse.”
“You’re not going to go all Meet the Parents on me now, are you?”
“Hey, his real name isn’t weird and perverted, is it?” He winked.
“No. Are you jealous?”
“Me?” He pointed to himself. “I don’t have a jealous bone in my body.”
I put hands on my hips, giving him a scolding eyebrow lift. “Well, there’s a first time for everything. Phillip is harmless. He’s like my BFF if that’s what you want to call it. I’m not interested in him romantically at all. We’re just good friends.”
“Does he know that?”
“Know what?”
“That your relationship is purely platonic? Because, man, I could’ve sworn the last time anyone cared about me that much when I was sick, they were definitely sharing my bed.”
“It’s not like that, Malachi.” Now I was getting annoyed. Phillip was just a friend, and I hated to see Malachi’s brute side come out.
“What’s it like, then? I don’t have women who are just good friends. It’s all or nothing.”
“Well, you should have some more friends as it is.”
“Don’t go there.”
“Go where?” I scowled at him, pressing my fingers into my palms.
“Um, I don’t mean to interrupt, but the food’s here, and the guy is asking for the money. Who’s got cash?” We both turned to glare at Phillip, who instantly backed away and lifted his hands in defeat. “Whoa. Okay, I got this. Pay me back when you’re all done here.”
Phillip left the room, leaving me feeling horrible that he’d walked in on our argument. I’d barely known Malachi for two days, and we were already fighting? This wasn’t how I wanted to spend our time together.
“I don’t want to fight,” I mumbled, feeling my anger still rising. Then I felt something twitch on my face: an involuntary spasm, followed by another.
Shit!
“Hey, hey! Keep your morph in check.” Malachi pulled me to his chest, hugging me tightly. I buried my face into his chest, squeezing my eyes shut as I tried to control the transformation. My cheeks kept twitching, and my hands began to spasm as I tried in vain to fight it.
“I don’t know what’s going on… I can’t… I can’t stop!”
“Phillip can’t see this. He’ll be in danger,” Malachi whispered. I could hear the desperation in his voice as he tugged me toward my small walk-in closet, opened the door and gave me a firm but gentle push inside.
“I’ll distract him. If you morph, try to change back as soon as you can. Whatever you do, don’t squawk or move around too much. And please, don’t come out naked.” His eyes filled with worry as he shut the door and walked out of the room.
; I felt my face burn red even as it changed. How mortifying! I groaned, crouching down on the floor. My beak was already growing, and my body began to shrink to an impossible size. I dropped down into the pile of my clothes, still fighting to the bitter end.
I was a bird again. Shoot. I fought the urge to give my wings a stretch and barely succeeded as I heard the boys coming back toward my room. My beak hung open as I breathed through it to keep from calling out. In the darkness, I felt the immensity of my situation bearing down on me like an anchor dropped into an ocean, ready to drag me down into its murky depths.
My only salvation was that maybe this situation wasn’t permanent. If we found the person who’d done this to me, somehow we might be able to break the spell, and I could return to my normal life.
And what kind of life would that be? Would it be without Malachi?
I listened as the guys spoke to one another. Malachi’s voice was deep, booming and resonating while Phillip’s was calm and soothing. I hadn’t told Malachi about my friend because, let’s face it, Phillip was just a friend. Nothing more. How could I get Malachi to see that the guy was harmless? He was more like a brother, even though I’d known for some time that he was interested in a lot more than a platonic relationship.
I exhaled into the unseen and waited, trying to calm the excitement which had caused my morph. Note to self: Don’t get upset. Getting mad makes you shift. Wonderful. Wish I’d known that beforehand. Now I was stuck in the closet for who knew how long before I could coax my body into morphing back.
Come on… I know I can do it.
I relaxed and concentrated as hard as I could on imagining my limbs long and smooth, my hair long and past my shoulders, my head the size it should be and my torso slender and womanly. As I prayed for the change, I heard the guys enter the room.
“Look, I don’t know who you are, but if you don’t tell me where Phoebe’s been all weekend, I’m going to take this further. I’ve never seen you, and you’re acting like a jealous boyfriend. What if you’re some crazy psychopath keeping her prisoner? Phoebe doesn’t hang around with men of your caliber. You’re not good enough.” Phillip was by the door now, and by the sound of his strained voice, he was giving Malachi the stink eye of a lifetime.