by Gina Kincade
She had gone out this morning to busy herself in an attempt to divert her rambling mind. The symptoms of guilt both mental and physical had made it impossible for her to clear her head enough to even look through spells. Besides, truth be known, she was not ready to send him away as man or beast.
Now, swallowing hard despite the thickness of her throat, her heart beating in double time became the only thing she could hear. Having seen him transformed back into a man meant he had powers as well which he had kept from her. He'd gained the upper hand. The implication of this revelation poised itself as infinite and hideous. Her head throbbed, her lungs burned, and her stomach tightened. She wiped at the sweat stinging her eyes as she began to pace and argue with herself.
“The nerve of that odious, cunning liar. It is beyond contemptible! He must have been lying to me as long as I have known him!” Did you tell him of your magical abilities? No, you didn’t, so how is what he did any worse than what you did? Hush!"
She fought her own conscience until fear of his abilities seized her, stopped her in her tracks, literally.
Impervious to sounding crazy, her feet still, her arms waved in a furious manner as she continued, "What if he is more powerful than I am? Now he must know I have powers, too, since I transformed him! But, how did I not sense his abilities before? And, if he is here, what of Lord and Lady Sanderly? Is his damned mother a witch, too? Is nothing as it seemed?"
A rustle of foot along brush had her eyes darting around the place as she heard him approach.
He would have done well to have stayed far from my scorn now. How had he just stood there before me naked without one ounce of the guilt required of his proclamation? Well, maybe because he was more than angry having been transformed, and thus now knowing he was deceived by you.
She bridled as she wondered if he had done so in jest, stood there all naked and impressive back in the form of a man.
Did I see amusement or passion glinting in his eyes? Did he already know of my powers long before?
She had not taken the proper time to discern his emotions, because she had not spent much time looking into his eyes. She had been a snatch distracted by his body. He had looked different, more muscular and athletic than she remembered.
Although he had not spoken, there had been something disconcerting in his gaze, even if she had only caught it for a brief moment. She had felt transparent, as if he could see into the soul of her person. Intoxicating and formidable at the same time, so much for her self-aggrandized powers of discernment! Never had anyone been able to cloud her senses so quickly and for so long a time. Did he bewitch me instead of the other way around? Are my feelings for him my own?
His omission of his true identity as a witch must have been as deliberate as hers, but what opportunities had been made available to him by doing so remained a mystery to her. She did not know him at all. For two who had thought themselves so in love, they stood now about as far apart now as two strangers given their multitude of deceptions. Maybe his love was a deception to begin with?
Images of his well defined muscular body returned to her mind, making her wet even as she huffed and continued her rant, “Why did he hide his magical abilities from me? What acting abilities he must possess! Is his magic greater than mine or is it played upon by a twisted nature? Am I now in danger here with some great wizard of the dark arts? Stop it, Aubrey, what do you know to be fact?”
Briefly sorting through old conversations, she got nowhere. She had seen the form she had transformed him into soaring above her last night. She had heard his monstrous cries into the wee hours of the morning, coming from various directions, disrupting even her exhausted sleep. There was no good reason for the spell to have worn off. He would have had to have been transformed back into a man by another’s magic.
Whose magic? The question accelerated her restricted breathing. As far as she knew, she had been the only magical one in the relationship.
“Nothing makes sense!” She braced her hands against the door and dropped her head to the cool wood.
Then, the idea that he had been after something assaulted her. She ran possible scenarios through her mind, yet none played out. He was a witch just like her, and he had transformed himself back into a man. However, if that were the case, she had to wonder why he had waited so long to do it. There'd been no reason for him to have remained in that form, with those cries so seemingly full of despair racking her conscience all night long.
Abruptly, her thoughts took a different turn. “Maybe his mother’s threats had been the universe protecting me from getting hurt. By being forced to leave, I was being protected from whatever evil magic he had planned for me. Only, what I can not fathom is why and what he could possibly hope to gain. A person like me is no threat to a member of the ton in any situation.” Each possible option of his betrayal, no matter how nonsensical, brought another rush of heat through her body as she stood there, her mouth beginning to ache from the grinding of her teeth.
She quieted as she heard him approach the door. His footfalls determined and controlled, he obviously wasn't going to let the spells of a foolish woman intimidate him. Although a usually a temperate man, she could take no comfort in her past observations.
“Aubrey, I have been desperate to find you." His voice came loud and clear through the door. "I know some of the threats my mother posed to make you leave. I am so sorry for her actions, along with the fear and pain they must have caused you. I can only assume, although I hesitate to even voice out loud such a thing, that what she said was true. You left to protect Lord and Lady Sanderly. I admire you for it even more. If I follow this bizarre train of thought, other questions come to mind. What I can not grasp, and am trying not to make any rash judgments about, is why you kept your magic from me. No, I suppose I do understand. You were trying to protect those you loved, those who gave you shelter and treated you like family. I wish you had trusted me. It hurts, but I am trying to understand. What I can not comprehend, is why you turned me into a hideous beast when I came for you. Do you wish me gone from your life?”
He paused then, as if he wanted an answer. Yet, she couldn’t give him one. How could she admit that she had gone mad wanting him, and that all she could think of was keeping herself out of his arms to protect her cousins. Thinking his coming here may have already ruined them fueled her ire, and with fists clenched again, the nails biting into her skin, she just wanted him to disappear.
She'd misused her gifts against him, and yet there he stood once again trying to gain her affections. The “why” of it all still haunted her, especially if he now knew of her betrayal. She had kept such an important part of her life a secret from him. He had done the same.
“Why did you turn me back into a man if you were just going to run from me and refuse to speak to me? Did you just want to see me make a cake of myself? Even if such is the case, then fine, I will do whatever it takes. I will take the punishment. In wanting you, I brought my mother into your life. My life has been torn asunder with you gone. Tell me what I can do, and I will express to you any apology required. I will do whatever it takes! I have to be with you no matter what you are!”
She listened to him ramble on, startled at the rise in his voice with his last impassioned statement. She held her breath as she stood there trying to figure out her next move. Though she wanted desperately to believe his words, she still feared that he had some diabolical plot against her. Why else would he have hidden his powers? The intolerable unknowns crushed her chest and restricted her ability to speak, to even breath. There seemed no one she could truly trust.
“Please, Aubrey, talk to me. I love you. You had to know my mother was lying about my asking Lady Elizabeth to marry me. I know I presume much, but I thought you loved me, too. I thought you believed in me…”
She flung open the door without another thought. A vein in her head twitched. She had dreamed of him saying he loved her many times before, and he dared use the words now to get whatever it was he wanted f
rom her!
“Stop blathering on so with your lies! Why are you a man again? How did you reverse my spell? Come one step closer and I will freeze you right where you are. I am not afraid of a magical battle. I do not know what you are after, but I know you are also a witch. So tell me why you have lied to me all of this time. You knew I was a witch already, didn’t you? Just like your mother? What is it you want from me, then? And, do not strike me again with your bandy words of love!”
She set her ground, even though she had never needed to defend herself against another witch. Witches typically banded together, not against each other. Still, something about him and this whole unexplained turn of events enraged her in between her flashes of fear, leaving her barely able to stand on solid ground. Though she'd as soon die as let him see her crumble to it.
He stood silent, obviously confused by what she had said. His hands gripped into fists at his side, she could see how the muscles in his arms and thighs tensed, although she wished she could not. There was no way of knowing in which form he was more of a danger to her. However, she couldn’t take the look of pain and confusion clouding his eyes. They seemed to mirror her own.
“You should never have come here! What do you want?” Overwhelmed by the warmth coursing through her as all of her muscles tightened, she awaited his answer, attempting to keep her wits about her. Although her throat felt raw from her last words, she hissed out a few more at a volume a little below a scream. “Answer me now!”
“Please calm down. I do not understand why you are so angry, and I have no idea what you are talking about. How could I not come here? You must know exactly what I want. And, why are you speaking of magical battles? Your words make no sense at all. Are you telling me you think I am some sort of...” His words fell away as he looked straight into her eyes, and she believed him to be invading her soul. She fought for the air to speak the wrath still building heat within her.
“If you are not a witch, then you are a rake.” She knew her words cruel, and she had vexingly snarled them with every ounce of air at her disposal.
“A witch?” He laughed the question. Yet, he paused as her gaze shot to where his fists had crossed over his groin even though his stance showed no shame.
“Do not try to fool me! I made you into that beast, and even though you were able to turn yourself back into a man, do not think I can not turn you again!”
Aubrey tried to block out the body radiating heat towards hers. Too close. She feared he had placed some type of sex spell on himself which pulled her to him. Her stomach tightened while her core quivered to feel him inside of her. He somehow seemed more of a man than she remembered him to be, as if, in his transformation back to a human, he had retained a bit of the beast’s muscle structure. Thoughts of self-preservation reigned in her mind. She wished she had but somewhere to flee from him, knowing she would be safer anywhere other than here.
“Listen, I…” he said.
Unsure if he was merely talking with his hands or conjuring power, she met his hand and grasped his wrist. The shocks that touching his skin sent up her arm alarmed her beyond reason. Unmistakable magic coursed into her strong, and yet dangerously unmanaged. How had she not felt this power within him before? It must have been another of his spells.
“You must surely practice your dark craft against the laws of nature. You made it so I would not know you had such gifts as I did. How do I not know you didn’t just use your form of sorcery to make me fall in love with you? What could you have possibly hoped to gain from making me love you, though?”
Instant cold enveloped her when she answered her own question. He wants to steal your endowment of magic to make it his own! He did not want you as his mistress. He did not want your love. He only wanted your powers!
Without a thought, she spoke a brief spell to rekindle the one she had placed on him the night before. “Air, fire, water, and earth—I invoke thee. Turn this man back into the beast I have chosen him to be.” Then, with the fire of her own magic burning behind her eyes, she looked directly into his and hissed the words, “As I will, so mote it be.”
He did not even scream as the transformation took place all at once. Within minutes the great beast stood towering over her with all the girth of its form. Her trembling transformed with him. Without the man before her, the anger abated, but the fear increased. Having no idea what to expect next, she put her hands out in front of her, ready to conjure an energy ball of protection if necessary. She wished for magic enough to protect herself. Even with its grotesque size and oddity of shape, her creature towered over her a beautiful, breath `stealing image to behold. Her hands shook visibly, a slight aura of light emanating from her fingertips, as she longed to touch the powerful muscles she knew could rip her apart. Could any spell protect her from him, from the longings of her heart?
As she had created him yesterday, she had not thought out the possibility that her beast would find her. Avoidance her only goal, she'd reacted until she could summon reason. Knowing no good could come of it, she'd worked recklessly on her spell. Now, the insanity of her actions stood staring her dangerously in the face. In trying to protect herself from him, she had made him into more of a physical threat than he had ever been. Broad sided by the truth, she stood there knowing karma had conjured her ill-advised spell right back at her threefold. She'd imprisoned the man, but at the extent of having to face this uncontainable magical animal before her.
“Fly away, beast, and leave me be.” She spoke the words praying it could only be that easy.
Chapter Seven
The pain came and ebbed in waves, lessening in intensity as he stood looking down on this woman before him. The insanity of the moment and the hatred in her eyes combined to threaten unmanly tears his beastly form seemed unable to shed. His tail moved side to side as he resisted the urge to run, just for the thrill of moving fast, no destination in mind. He needed to stay and get some answers, even though he had no idea how to accomplish such a feat in this form. However, he attempted to control the beast out of determination to stay with her. He could no longer doubt the truth of his mother’s accusations.
In the body of this monstrous abnormality, a heightened state of arousal ran hot through each muscle. He thought it to be energy, most probably a result of her magic, which seemed so constant within him. In the midst of his misguided thoughts, he took notice that this beautiful female creature, despite her wyrdling ways, stood in obvious fear of her creation. He watched her chest rise and fall with the deepness of her breaths. Her wide open green eyes sparkled with the golden flecks of the sun. Willing himself to maintain the distance she established between them, he slowed the huff of exasperated breath which fought to escape him.
“Go,” she yelled again. Only a moment’s pause passed between them before she quickly continued, “As much as you might desire it otherwise, please, I beg of you, go.”
This time her voice cracked, and he could see the tears she'd been fighting. For some reason unbeknownst to him, his wings started to fan out around him, framing his form contrary to his attempt to not to frighten her further. Mighty and strong, heady with his dominance, he believed he had the power to make everything around him obey his every command even without the ability to speak. Blood pumped in his ears like the rush of a waterfall over rough rocks. His body demanded to touch her, to give her comfort and protection. And yet, he found the will to ease the savage instincts lest his beastly form harm her. Elation and despair, euphoria and torment—the warring emotions that made up the chaos of this creation—continued.
Magnificent, she stood with her hands now on those gorgeous, rounded hips cocked to one side, with her few tears shed already wiped away. Her hair spiraled down to touch her shoulders. The brown curls hung as wild as he knew her to be. In the midst of this tempest, a primal awareness came that without her he was nothing. The best part of him, without her he might as well remain a beast. He lowered his head, and he saw how quickly she tensed up again.
“I want
you to go now,” she said using both of her hands to push against his massive chest.
The touch of her warm flesh on his reptilian skin sparked sensations which left him longing for arms to pull her into among other urges.
Before he realized fully what had happened, she stood there with her hands on the chest of his male form. He thought she must have been as stunned as him by his transformation, for her hands remained glued to him, burning him. Their presence hardened his now present sexual appendage, which stood at full attention just inches from her. When his erection met with the silk of her gown, he instinctively covered her hands with his own.
An unknown amount of time passed. Both caught up in the shocking events, the sensations of being connected to her gave him tunnel vision. Here betwixt them shimmered the true magic. He tentatively placed his hand on her warm, soft cheek, and she looked up at him with her brows furrowed, puzzled. Then, she pulled away.
“How? I do not understand. How are you a more powerful witch than I am? And, this island is a well kept secret among my coven. How did you find me? Why did you lie about your magical powers before? What do you want from me?”
He took note of how her words had suddenly quieted. Her shakiness remained as tears spilled from her eyes despite the anger which narrowed them. He wanted to wipe the droplets glistening on her flushed skin away, but he knew better than to risk trying to touch her.
“Where do you get such fantastic notions? I am no witch. I do not understand what is happening here at all. I struggle to even believe in the two transformations I have made despite the pain which makes them quite undeniable. I follow the instincts of the animal type thing you made me, but it is so surreal, flying and swimming, that I struggle to wake up from some dream or nightmare. Only, I know I am not asleep. No dream is so real. I am still reeling that obviously my mother was right about you. You do possess magical abilities of astounding measure.” He stopped for a moment in awe of her. His lungs paused on his inhale.