by Elle Thorne
Mist surrounded the ramp that connected the slight cabin’s wraparound porch—if you could even call it a porch, rather than a dilapidated excuse for a collection of timber. The entrance of the ramp was half-buried on solid ground, then it extended over the water, eventually touching the porch. Perched on the railing, in the same chemise she’d been in last night in Alexa’s mind, Leandra’s dark gaze appraised Alexa’s approach.
“You’re expecting me,” Alexa whispered.
“I hoped you’d heed my invitation.”
Interesting choice of phrasing. “One typically heeds warnings and accepts invitations.”
Leandra nodded, her light eyes glowing in her light brown complexion. “In some cases.”
Not in this one? “Why did you want to see me?”
“Changes are coming to Arceneaux Point.”
Whoa. “What?”
“Alexa! What the hell are you thinking? Your brother has forbidden you from coming here alone.”
She whirled around to face a voice she knew all too well.
“Theo! Why are you skulking through the bayou following me?”
“Lézare told me to watch you while he was out of town. Seems he knows your propensity for trouble.”
“Theo Ricoletti.” Leandra unfolded legs tucked beneath her as she perched on the banister and rose from her seat.
“Witch,” he scoffed.
Alexa looked between the two of them. What gives? Why the animosity?
“Lézare shouldn’t have felt the need to have you protect his sister from me.” She crossed her arms over an ample chest, her beautiful, high-cheekboned face wearing an arrogant sneer. “Me, of all people. As if I’d do an Arceneaux harm.”
Theo put a hand on Alexa’s arm. “Let’s go.”
She yanked herself from his grasp. “I’m not going until I’ve talked to Leandra.”
Theo’s eyes narrowed, his nostrils flared. A growl came from deep within his chest. His dark brown eyes flared with an amber light. “Then I go with you.” He took a step onto the ramp, which sunk into the soft dirt with the lion shifter’s wide shouldered, thick chested bulk.
Alexa glared at his back, then looked to Leandra, who studied Theo with an amused expression, a tiny smile playing on her lips.
“He is no different than he was years ago, on a rampage, angry at the world, this lion shifter.”
The growl in Theo’s chest became louder.
Why is Leandra provoking him? Alexa followed him up the ramp.
Leandra opened the door to her cabin and went in, Theo and Alexa followed her into the cool dimness.
The cabin smelled like a mixture of roots, herbs, and dirt; the odors assaulting Alexa’s sensitive shifter senses. She crinkled her nose at the plethora of different aromas.
Leandra took a seat at a table covered with a threadbare red tablecloth. “Sit.” She nodded toward the chair across from her.
Alexa looked at Theo, then back at Leandra. There was nowhere for him to sit, save a bed in the corner that wasn’t much larger than a cot.
“Be seated,” Leandra repeated, her tone conveying she didn’t care if Theo had a chair or not.
Alexa planted herself in the empty wooden contraption that she feared would crumple, so rickety it was.
Theo leaned against the doorjamb. “I’m fine right here, thank you for the hospitality, Miss Mathieu.” A fake smile remained on his face, pulling his features tight.
Leandra nodded as though he’d been thanking her in earnest.
“What changes are coming to Arceneaux Point?”
“I can only tell you the essence of matters.”
Theo released a soft snort. “Basically, nothing.” He rubbed his nose as if the smells offended him. “Witchery.”
“You are welcome to leave, Theodoros Ricoletti, son of an Italian lion shifter and his Greek servant woman, raised by the servants in secret until the lion shifter learned he had a son. Theodoros Ricoletti, stolen by his lion shifter father from his servant woman mother, reared by governesses and nannies, sent off to a boarding school, only to run away and join a group of roving shifters.”
Theo flinched; his muscles flexed in arms clad in a short sleeve shirt.
“Does my recounting of your life need any correction, lion? Would you like me to provide more of your history?” Leandra’s telling was heated, as though driven by anger.
“You’ve said enough, witch.”
“Why does Theo hate you?” Alexa’s hand flew to her mouth. She hadn’t intended to ask.
“He knew me before…” Leandra’s tone had cooled.
Before what?
Leandra’s expression was forbidding, her face chiseled from ice, restricting more questions into the matter.
“What is the essence of what you feel? What sort of changes at Arceneaux?”
“You know Lézare would not be happy with this.” Theo’s words were clipped, coming from a clenched jaw.
“He would be happy if he knew my efforts could save lives. You send Lézare to me, if need be.”
“Would you two quit bickering?” Alexa had enough of their squabbling. “Save lives? What changes are coming to Arceneaux Point?”
“New mates, new types of beings. Some friendly, some not so much.” Pushing away from the table, Leandra rose from her chair.
“That’s it? How am I supposed to… what am I to do with that information?”
“Be accepting. Be forgiving. Be vigilant. And be happy.”
Theo released another scoffing laugh. “That’s all you have, witch?” He took a step toward Leandra.
Alexa rose to intercept him in case he planned the woman harm, but he froze, his gaze a squint, a flash of amber in his eyes.
“What’s this?” Theo reached for an object on a shelf.
Alexa tried to look around him to see, but couldn’t.
“Leave it.” Leandra snatched the object from him, ran toward the door and before Alexa could react, she’d opened it and tossed the object out.
A splash told Alexa it had landed in the water, whatever it was.
“What were you doing, witch?” Theo wrapped a large hand around her wrist. “What have you been up to?”
“Theo, don’t hurt her.” Alexa put her hand on his arm.
His head snapped in Alexa’s direction. His dark eyes had become fully amber, alerting Alexa to an upcoming shift. He dropped on all fours. Theo’s face widened, then a tawny muzzle began to take form, thick wiry whiskers poked through the skin on his face.
Bones crunched, tendons tore, creaking heralded his change into a large, dark-maned lion. In the grassland, he’d have looked massive. In the small cabin, he was immense. Fear for Leandra’s safety took precedence for Alexa and her tigress.
She closed her eyes against the discomfort as her tigress determined to come forth and protect Leandra. Her eyes flew open. Sinew and muscles lengthened painfully, flesh stretched, fur emerged. A growl emanated from her widening chest.
In her tigress form, Alexa stood to her full height in front of the large lion that Theo had become.
He rumbled at her.
She snarled back.
He leaned back and opened his cavernous mouth wide, jaws spread, teeth bared and gleaming. He released a roar that shook the cabin’s contents, leaving tiny glass goblets tinkling as they clinked into each other.
His roar would have made her cringe, except she was driven to protect the human Leandra from him.
She felt him push for a link. Pressing her for their minds to sync the way shifters did to communicate when in their shifter form, able to talk in each other’s heads.
She accepted his request.
“Leave,” Theo commanded her in her mind.
“I’m not going. You can’t hurt her.”
“My lion wants to—” He pawed at the pine floor. His claws extending, blade-sharp, they dug into the wood, dragged across, leaving deep cream-colored gashes in the weathered dark flooring.
Alexa sensed a change in
him. He was releasing a different energy; his pulse was racing. The scent she picked up was one of confusion. “Shift back, please. Let’s talk this out.”
“No!” He released another roar, this time in their sync, inaudible to human ears.
Alexa flinched from the deafening sound that filled her tigress’s mind. “Shift. I’m asking you as your boss’s sister.” She pushed her own tigress away and took control of her body, pressing toward a shift into her human skin.
Leandra put her hand out to the mighty lion, her gaze bold. “I know you won’t hurt me. I know you can’t. You, the one I couldn’t control. You’re not as easy as Theo, are you, chère?”
Though her tigress resisted the shift, Alexa pushed harder. Seconds later, after more creaking and stretching, then contracting, she was in her human form. Alexa staggered.
Leandra leapt forward and caught her before she could dive headfirst into a bookshelf that housed glass, ceramic, and porcelain pestles, bowls, and cups.
Alexa held on to Leandra for support. Shifting back, so quickly in succession took its toll. She was drained of her shifter energy.
“I’ve got you, Alexa,” Leandra whispered. “Bring Theo back, brave lion. I promise, no spells.”
The lion released a chuffing sound.
Alexa stared. What’s bringing Theo and no spells about?
He stretched, his jaws opened in what looked like a yawn. Within seconds, his muscles contracted and his body morphed, bringing Theo back and pushing the lion into the man once more.
Theo glanced at Alexa, then his stare pinned Leandra. His face turned ashen under his olive complexion. He shook his head as if confused.
Leandra stared at him defiantly. “I did what I had to do to protect Alexa.”
Still shaking his head, he paused, then asked, “What is going on. Why do I…” He rubbed his face, then ran his fingers over his head. “Leandra?” He put his arms out.
Leandra leaned into his embrace. “I’m here. I’m sorry.”
“Why do I remember? Why didn’t I before?”
“Your blood. It was in the vial I tossed out.”
“You collected my blood?”
“Not I. But it was given to me, and with it an ultimatum. I did it to protect you. To protect her.” She indicated Alexa.
“So why did you throw it away? Why now, after all this time?”
She cast her eyes down. When she raised her head, Leandra’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. “It was in a vision. These things must play out, though I do not always understand them.”
His lips alit on Leandra’s forehead, then he pulled back. “You cast a spell on me? You made me forget about us? And made me think I was in love with Alexa?” His thumb traced her lower lip.
Alexa leaned against the table, wiping the swamp’s humidity from her forehead. She stared at the two—clearly lovers. The air around her became heavy.
The magic in the room was thick.
She’d observed a sorcery so powerful it made Theo forget his love.
How can something like this magic exist?
It made her question other facets of her life. Suddenly a will to run as far from the bayou and swamps, as far from Arceneaux Point, New Orleans and Louisiana as she could seized her.
She shook her head to get her bearings while Leandra and Theo were still in an embrace.
“I had to, my love. It was that or…” Tears sprang to Leandra’s eyes. “I had to. You’d have been killed if anything were to happen to Alexa.”
Alexa was an interloper, a third wheel at a scene she had no business witnessing. She shrunk back to make herself less obtrusive.
He frowned. “So you made me love her?” His hands on her shoulders, he held Leandra at arm’s length. “When you knew all I wanted was you?” His voice was raw, the questions wrenched from his soul.
Alexa couldn’t be silent. “Who made you do this?”
It almost seemed as if Leandra was looking through her, with those light-colored eyes glowing. “You had to be protected, and this was decided.”
“And you agreed.” Theo let the words fall with a finality.
Leandra’s expression turned woeful.
“If anyone else had put the spell on you, they’d have made it too powerful. I had to make your feelings for her just strong enough to love her a little. I couldn’t have you taking her for a mate. I couldn’t watch my man become another woman’s.”
Alexa sat in the chair. Leandra and Theo?
She wasn’t sure if the weakness in her was from the shifting alone or the revelations she’d just been shown.
“This can’t come out,” Leandra beseeched Theo.
“I’m not living a farce anymore.” He turned toward Alexa. “I’m not trying to be cruel I don’t want to hurt you… I’m sorry…”
I’m not. “It was never really that way between us.” Relief coursed through her, relief that she and Theo could be friends.
“Theo.” Leandra indicated Alexa. “Alexa has to be protected until she’s mated. That’s the decision.”
“What?” His lion’s grumble sounded in his chest.
“Just a while longer.” Leandra worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “Alexa’s time to find a mate is near.”
“You saw something?” Theo asked.
“So now you believe in her powers?” Alexa was confused. A few minutes ago he was scoffing at Leandra’s skills as a witch.
“That was part of the spell I had to put on him. He had to hate me, not believe in me, and he had to be in love with you.” More lip chewing. “At least until you found a mate.”
“Which you say will happen soon.” Alexa reminded her.
After today’s events, it was the last thing she wanted. How could she trust anyone, if a simple spell could make one think they were in love?
Would Leandra cast a spell to make her love someone so she could have Theo back? Would she cast a spell on Alexa to get her a mate?
“And after Alexa finds a mate? Then what?” Theo’s fist punched his other palm.
“Then we’d be together again.”
Exactly what I was thinking. She misses her man, and I could be the sacrificial lamb so she can have him back.
Would Leandra do that to her? She hadn’t thus far. Why would she suddenly use magic to find her Alexa a mate?
Leandra put a hand on Alexa’s arm. “I wouldn’t do that.”
Did she read minds too?
“You want me to pretend I’m in love with Alexa.”
“Hey, you don’t have to make it sound like it’s the most miserable assignment in the world,” Alexa mock-grumbled.
“Sorry, Lex.” He ruffled her hair, the way he used to when they were younger.
Alexa liked this new/old Theo. She liked the easy companionship that they used to have.
“Yes,” Leandra told Theo. “You’ll pretend until she’s with a mate.”
“Hold on a minute.” Alexa raised a hand. “You’re saying I’ll find someone—without your interference.”
“True.” Leandra nodded.
“No magic?” Alexa pressed her further.
“None.”
Laughter bubbled from deep within Alexa. “Not likely.”
Leandra gave a half-shrug.
Theo nodded.
“We’ll see,” Alexa told the witch. “I’m not looking for a mate anyway.”
Leandra put her arms around Theo’s waist. “Neither was I when this lion of a man entered my life.”
Theo kissed her on the cheek. “I can’t play act for long.”
Another thought occurred to Alexa. “Would your spell have worked when I was out of town? Does my brother know about this? About the two of you?”
Theo gritted his teeth, his jaw muscles working. “How can he? Her spell made it so as I couldn’t even remember loving her. I couldn’t tell your brother what I didn’t know.”
“You still can’t. Lézare cannot know that I’ve been here. You can’t tell him anything,” Alexa said.
“Alexa.” Leandra’s tone was serious. She turned to face away from Alexa, fiddling with items on the table. “I saw a wolf. And I saw a path with two choices. One choice was dangerous—your life was in danger. The other…” She shook her head. “The other was not as clear, but it held happiness.”
Why does it feel like she’s holding something back? “Does this have something to do with the change that will happen in Arceneaux Point?”
“It’s a part of it.”
“We should get going,” Theo tapped Alexa on the shoulder. “You have a ball to prepare for.”
“Yeah, and Lézare is still absent. I wonder if Valencia’s made it in yet.” Alexa glanced at her phone. No service.
Great. So even if Valencia has made it home, I won’t know until I get into an area that has service.
Theo took Leandra in his arms, eclipsing the woman against his wide chest. Her eyes gleamed as she tilted her head. He placed his lips on hers gently.
Uncomfortable, Alexa averted her eyes and slipped out of the cabin to wait on the porch. The sound of their soft murmured promises carried out the windows while the breeze caused sheer fabric to drift in and out of the open shutters.
Moments later, Theo stepped onto the porch, his face ruddy, while Leandra dabbed at the corner of one eye.
“Soon,” Leandra whispered.
Theo nodded. “Ready?” he asked Alexa, his voice tight with emotion.
She nodded.
Alexa and Theo made the trek back together.
Alexa slowed her pace. “Where is this coven? Who is in it?” Alexa kept her voice low, knowing his shifter hearing would pick it up, but not wanting anyone else to overhear.
“I don’t know. I don’t get involved in that part of her life. I used to visit her in her cabin, until…” He scratched his head. “Until she put me under the spell that kept me from her.”
“Theo.” Alexa stopped, put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. It seems I disrupted your life.”