Changing Hearts

by Marilu Mann

  “True, but the good Lord watches over His child, Malcolm. He put you there for me.”

  Joie noticed Malcolm didn’t have an answer for her godmother. His eyes narrowed, but the look running across his face seemed more one of dismay than puzzlement. She guessed he might not be as religious as her godmother, so she broke in.

  “Tante, you should listen to Malcolm. I love you, but he’s right, you could have been hurt. Carrying pepper spray won’t betray your faith in God. You even sent some to me when I lived in Atlanta.”

  “True, that’s true, cher. But Atlanta’s a big city and you were hurt there. Not that pepper spray wouldn’t have been a good thing to use on the no-good—”

  “Tante!” Joie stopped her before she could talk about what had been a heartbreaking moment in Atlanta. The less she had to think about Bill and the loss of their baby, the better.

  If she’d only known how he’d react, maybe she could have saved herself the hurt. Old pain washed over her, but she dealt with it as she always did. She put it aside as she turned to the man watching them.

  “Thank heavens you were there, Malcolm. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to Tante.” Joie reached out to take Malcolm’s hand. She squeezed it gently, then met his eyes. The heat there brought a flush to her face. His eyes seemed to glow.

  They ate a hastily prepared lunch as they talked more about Kay carrying some form of protection. Joie found herself listening to the sound of Malcolm’s voice without really hearing what he said.

  There was an underlying cadence to his words that sounded a bit strange. Almost as though he weighed what he said, tempering his thoughts. Every time she looked at him, he returned the look, his own gaze an unblinking one, reminding her of the wolf last night.

  She noticed that he ate a lot and he ate quickly, almost as though he couldn’t be sure where his next meal would come from. More and more questions ran through her mind about this stranger. She’d never doubted Tante’s judgment in the past, but wondered if it hadn’t been a mistake, inviting this compelling man into their home. When they finished eating, Joie cleared the table.

  “Come with me, boy, I’ll get you settled.” Kay got slowly to her feet and led the way into the living room. Joie stayed behind to clean the kitchen, but she could hear every word being spoken in the living room.

  “My Joie, she’s a good girl. You keep looking at her the way you are and you’ll find yourself out in the swamp with the gators.”

  “I’m not going to hurt Joie.”

  “I know you not. We done had this conversation.” Kay laughed. “You think you so clever. You just wait, boy. Wait ‘til Joie finds out about you. You think she’ll turn her back, don’t you? You think she’ll run? You just wait!”

  Joie heard the front screen door slam, then quiet reigned over the cabin. As she turned to leave the kitchen, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Malcolm stood there. He simply slouched in the doorway, watching her.

  “You startled me.”

  “Sorry. Thanks for lunch and for fixing up my arm.”

  “You’re welcome. Thank you for saving Tante. It was very brave.”

  “Some people might say it was stupid.” He seemed to be studying her face very closely. It impressed her to see his gaze hadn’t strayed to her breasts. She knew her breasts were too large for her frame. She’d heard all the Dolly Parton jokes she could stand for one lifetime, but Malcolm’s eyes had never left hers.

  “Well, I think it was very brave and I thank you.” She moved across the kitchen and, before she could change her mind, stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. Because she was so short or he was so tall, if he’d turned his head at all, she’d have kissed his mouth.

  As it turned out, he froze, then stared down at her. The heat in his eyes now totally unmistakable. Joie moved away before he could reach for her. She was sure his eyes were glowing now.

  “I, um, I have some work to do. Excuse me.” She whirled around, leaving the kitchen almost at a dead run.

  It took every ounce of willpower he had not to follow her. Slade stood in the small kitchen and touched his fingertips to the side of his face where Joie had kissed him. Tenderness? From a human? He’d never experienced anything like that before.

  Besides, he’d rather focus on the way it had felt to have her luscious breasts pressing against him as she’d kissed him. Slade closed his eyes briefly, then smiled. He left the kitchen, following Joie’s scent.

  It turned out to be easy to find her. She’d gone into a small building beside the main cabin. He could smell herbs drying inside, along with alcohol and some herbal scents he couldn’t place. The animals inside the small building knew he stood outside. He sensed them going still. Fox, raccoon and—he paused, wrinkling his nose—cat.

  Slade pushed the door to the small building open to see Joie stroking the side of the cat. She moved slightly and he saw the kittens. The mother cat hissed at his approach. Slade stood perfectly still until the cat calmed herself. Joie finished checking the cat and her kittens, then closed the door to the cage. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled.

  “I don’t think Queenie likes you.”

  “Most cats don’t. Are you a vet?” Slade stepped farther into the small room.

  “No, I’m training to be a traiteuse like Tante Kay, but I seem to have more affinity for animals than humans.” Joie busied herself feeding the raccoon that had bandages around both front feet, then the fox who stared warily from the back of his cage.

  “That’s odd. Renaud generally comes to the front for everyone. He is a social little guy. Not an animal person, I take it?” Joie smiled at him.

  Slade answered her question with one of his own. “What’s a traiteuse? French, right?”

  He’d been curious as a boy, one trait no one had ever been able to beat out of him. It still showed up now and again. He bit back a curse. He hadn’t meant to spend more time with her. But she was candy for his sweet tooth and, human or not, he had to have more. Besides, one or two more questions couldn’t hurt, could they?

  “Traiteuse is what the Cajun call their healers. We use herbs, prayer and other things to help the body work its own magic. Nowadays there are precious few of us because the young people keep moving away. They don’t want to be trapped in the swamps. Me, I think I like being in the bayou away from people.” As she spoke, her speech pattern changed to mimic her Tante’s.

  It amused Slade to hear her talking about “young people” when she couldn’t be much past her early twenties.

  “You like animals better than people?” He trailed a hand along the low roof. The smells here were intense but welcoming.

  “I love them and they seem to respond better to me than to other people.” Joie faced him now, a slight smile on her face. “What about you? Do you like animals even if they don’t seem to like you?”

  “Yes. Animals get used to me. I don’t hurt them. I’m…” Slade shrugged as he stopped himself from saying he was an animal. He’d never hidden what he was because it went against his basic life philosophy. For some reason though, he wanted Joie to keep talking to him, and telling her he was a shapeshifter might cause her to reach for the nearest phone. Or gun. He still wasn’t sure where the old woman had hidden her pistol. Slade glanced at Joie out of the corner of his eye as he moved closer to the cages.

  The animals stirred restlessly, catching his scent. He moved again so he stood downwind of them, then focused his attention on Joie.

  Chapter Five

  A plain blue t-shirt and a denim jumper, the most shapeless thing he’d ever seen, covered her. He wondered if she did that to hide her shape or just for comfort. From the way she slumped just a bit, he guessed it was to hide her magnificent breasts. If she were mine, she’d display them proudly, especially to me.

  Just the thought of Joie in a tank top or naked from the waist up turned out to be enough to make his mouth water. He gave himself a mental shake. Humans and shifters. Oil and water. Don’t go down that road, Slade.
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br />   “Malcolm, I heard you and Tante talking. What did she mean when she said I’d run if I found out what you were? Are you a criminal?”

  “I haven’t broken any human laws.” He wanted to bite the words back as soon as they were spoken. He had, in fact, broken a few. Especially if Maggie was really dead, though the cops would be hard-pressed to pin that on him. She’d noticed his odd wording as well. He glanced away from her, waiting for her next question.

  “What does that mean? You don’t consider yourself human? What, are you an alien?” Joie laughed softly but stopped as he turned to meet her eyes.

  “No, I’m no alien.”

  “Then what did she mean?”

  “You’re very curious, aren’t you?” Slade moved slowly across the room. He noted the increase in her breathing as he approached. She stepped back slightly, but he leaned forward, caging her in by placing his hands on the workbench on either side of her hips. Leaning even closer, he caught her scent again. Damn lilacs. “Are you sure you want to know what I am?”

  Slade let his eyes glow slightly, keeping his gaze locked on her face. She parted her lips to take a breath, but never took her eyes away from his.

  “Are you trying to frighten me?” Though soft, her voice came out laced with steel.

  “I don’t know. Am I scaring you?”

  “Yes.”

  Her answer surprised him. Honesty? Since when is that a human trait? Slade trailed one finger across her jaw. The softness of her skin delighted him, though he kept his expression impassive.

  “Are you married?” He had no idea where that question came from or even why he’d asked it, but it had caused an interesting color to come into her cheeks.

  “No. Are you?”

  She didn’t sound as frightened now. He moved back a pace, just far enough so that she could move if she wanted to. Joie took two small, slow steps to the side. He realized she was edging toward the door, but made no move to stop her.

  “No.” Slade leaned against the wall, having to duck to keep from banging his head on the ceiling. He spared a glance at the cages again, noting that the animals were calmer with him on this side of the room. “Joie, that’s an interesting name.”

  “Thank you. It means Joy in French.” She’d stopped moving away from him, sensing, perhaps, that he really wasn’t going to hurt her.

  Shit, I suck at this. I don’t know how to talk to a human female.

  “I’d like to have sex with you.” Slade wanted to kick himself in the head when those words came out of his mouth. If she’d been a shifter, that would have been fine, but he knew he wasn’t supposed to just blurt things like that out to a human. If her face gets any redder, she’s gonna catch the room on fire.

  “I, well, thank you, but I don’t think so.” Joie moved quickly to the door and fled. Slade let her go. After a few seconds, he started to laugh softly. If he’d blundered with a female this badly in the past, he couldn’t remember when, and she’d thanked him.

  Slade left the small building, scenting the air. Joie and the old woman, Kay, were in the cabin. Joie probably telling her godmother she’d brought a lunatic home. He turned away from the cabin to take a walk. No time like the present to scope his surroundings out a bit more. He’d been pretty out of it when he’d landed here, so he needed to get more familiar with the area.

  Slade jogged and walked until he felt satisfied that he knew what lay around the cabin for at least a mile in all directions. He stared up at the sky. Though it was still day, he could feel the moon rising. It sent a prickle down his spine, like someone touching him on the inside of his skin, calling to the animal inside him. He knew it would be full in a few days.

  Maybe he could hide out here with these two women. No one in New Orleans would ever expect to find him taking shelter with humans.

  By the time he returned to the cabin both women were sitting on the porch. He wondered how they made their living. Surely they couldn’t survive on being “faith healers”. He stepped up on the porch and stood directly in front of the old woman.

  “I appreciate lunch and the offer of a place to stay. I’d like to pay you for the bed.”

  “We don’t need charity, boy. You just help pay for the groceries you eat and we’ll be square. ‘Sides, you did save me from them punks, consider the bed your reward.”

  Slade stared at Kay for a long moment, then turned his attention to Joie. “How much do you need for groceries?”

  “Well, I’m not sure. I don’t really think we need that much.”

  Slade reached into his back pocket. He peeled two hundreds off the fold of money from his pocket, handing them to Joie. Her mouth fell open and Slade grinned at her.

  “I have a very healthy appetite.”

  The old woman just cackled, and after a moment or two, Slade laughed as well. Joie shook her head, then went inside to put the money away in the kitchen. He looked at the old woman, who winked at him.

  She let her eyes close to nap in the afternoon sun. For a moment he watched her, wondering what had caused her to trust him to that extent. Then he realized that he wanted a nap as well. Funny thing, though, he didn’t feel in danger from her. Stretching out on his back, he soaked up the comforting warmth of the rough wood under him. He laced his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

  It seemed only a few moments before he heard footsteps. Although he became instantly aware, he kept his eyes closed. The sounds came from the cabin, not toward the cabin. Soft snores told him that the old woman still dozed next to him. He waited until he felt the person standing over him. Opening both eyes like a lazy dog, he winked up at Joie.

  “Oh!” Her exclamation came peppered with half disgust and half dismay. “You knew I was there!”

  “Of course I did. You weren’t exactly quiet and I’m lying on the boards you’re walking on.” His grin seemed to annoy her even further, since she whirled back toward the kitchen.

  “Well, if you want to eat, you can get yourself up off that porch and get cleaned up. Wake Tante Kay up too.”

  Joie felt her temper rise. Grin at her? Mock her? He’d wear the cornbread she’d just pulled out of the oven. First he came on to her like she was some bar tramp, like one of the Tarbeaux girls, just blurting out that he’d like to take her to bed. Then he tried to make her feel a fool for looking at him.

  Was it her fault the man looked so fine? She’d only wanted to see if that power he exuded dimmed when he slept. She shook her head. Her ire faded as she laughed at herself. Who are you trying to fool, girl? Your hormones were shouting loud and long at you about that man, and if you weren’t so skittish, you’d have taken him up on his offer!

  Malcolm and Tante entered the kitchen to hear Joie laughing softly. She saw them exchange a glance, watched as Tante Kay shrugged her shoulders. “My goddaughter, sometimes she’s a bit fey.”

  Joie caught their eyes with a smile. She and Tante Kay laughed, then Malcolm chuckled softly as they sat down to the dinner table.

  * * * * *

  After dinner, a knock at the door had Slade tensing until the old woman grabbed her bag. She hugged her goddaughter, but Slade heard her whisper, “You be careful now, child. Malcolm’s a good boy, but he’s got heat too.”

  Heat? Old woman, you don’t know what heat is. Slade’s thoughts ranged from anger at her warning to amusement. If he desired something, nothing would stop him from taking. He looked at Joie through narrowed eyes. He wanted her, but he didn’t know if it would be worth the time. He sniffed. Damn lilacs.

  “I’ll help with the dishes.” He didn’t know what else to say, but in the back of his mind he knew it was the polite thing to do. It had been so long since he’d had to be polite that he didn’t know for sure if he could still do it.

  Her look of surprise notified him that she thought him to be some kind of barbarian. The arrow of anger that shot through him startled him. What do I care what she thinks of me? She’s just a human. Just a damn human who smells so good she makes me ache.


  “Yeah, I’m fully capable, sweetheart. If I promise not to break a glass, will you sit on the porch with me after? I have some questions.”

  She measured him for a moment with her head cocked to the left. He watched her curls tumble into place as he waited for her answer.

  “Yes.” A small nod accompanied the word. Then she handed him a glass to rinse.

  They worked in a companionable silence until the last cast-iron skillet had been dried on the stove. Joie grabbed a pair of clean glasses, filled them with sweet tea and headed out to the porch.

  “Coming?”

  Slade took a moment to give himself a good shake, head to toe. He remembered his thoughts in wolf form about her last night. And he reiterated under his breath, “Not yet.”

  He slid out the door. Joie sat in the porch swing with her feet tucked under her. Her smile warmed him. Maybe she had forgiven him for his bluntness this afternoon. Then he realized she’d shifted her legs so that there wasn’t room for him. So much for that idea.

  Slade lowered himself to the porch to lean against one of the roof supports. The wood still held the heat of the day. It felt good sinking into his body. Most of his aches had gone, but the few that remained were good ones.

  “So, how long have you lived here?” Good opening question, wolf man. Can’t go wrong with that.

  “Nine months. I’ve been home nine months. What about you? Where do you call home?”

  Slade heard something in her voice, but couldn’t define it. And he didn’t want to answer questions about himself either. Damn humans. They always had to know more than they needed to.

  “Here and there. I’ve called a lot of places home.”

  Her eyes caught the fading sun as she turned to look at him. “You must have traveled a lot. Was your family military?”

  He thought about the man who’d been his “family” after his folks had died. Yeah, he’d been military, retired, and a total bastard. His mother’s sister hadn’t wanted to take him in when his parents died. She’d lived in fear of her drunken, abusive husband discovering her family’s “dirty little secret”.