The Witch and the Werewolf

by Michele Hauf

  “Lars!” Mireio called, and gestured he approach. But when she looked about to take a step forward, she suddenly paused and stood. She wore a short red dress. Her feet were bare and her hands were bejeweled with crystals and rings. “Come give me a hug!”

  He wandered over and nodded to the witches, noting they had set up some kind of ritual. As he got close to Mireio he saw the circle that glinted on the grass—in which his wife stood. He stopped at the outside edge.

  “Come here,” she encouraged.

  A sudden twinge of unease shivered down his spine. He wasn’t going to step inside a witchy circle. No way. Not after watching her invoke the immortality spell. He needed a break from witchcraft after witnessing that horror show.

  “Come give me a kiss,” he tried. If she had no desire to leave the circle, he would grow suspicious pretty darn quick.

  “I can’t. You have to come to me.”

  “Why?” He cast his gaze about the circle, meeting each of the other three’s gazes for a few seconds. None betrayed their intentions. “What wicked witchery are you ladies cooking up?”

  “It’s nothing,” Mireio said. A flutter of lashes wasn’t going to win her any seduction points this time.

  Lars noted the three witches who had gathered beside him gave him sidelong glances. His hackles prickled. And considering how screwed up his instincts and body had been lately, that warned him. Deeply.

  “Just a renewal spell,” Mireio added. “It’s something we do with each of the four seasons. Step inside and you’ll feel it, as well.”

  “I, uh...”

  “Don’t you want to be renewed?” Eryss asked from beside him. “It won’t hurt. Mireio has been in the circle for ten minutes. Look how beautiful she is.”

  Indeed, his wife had never looked more lovely. Her hair spilled like goddess coils about her face, her cheeks were rosy and her lashes were so thick and tantalizing. The hand she held out to entreat him closer seemed to glow with warmth and positive vibes. A renewal spell?

  What could it hurt? It might even settle the ache in his spine. And if he got a few days of relief out of it, as he had with the bathtub spell, then he couldn’t argue against it. But why did he suddenly feel like a guinea pig?

  “Lover,” Mireio cooed. Her voice wrapped about his heart.

  Ah hell. He’d do anything for his tiny witch.

  Lars stepped over the line and into the circle. And as he did so he felt as if he’d permeated a skein and it wobbled to a bubbly close behind him. The air inside the circle felt electric and cool. The hairs on his arms and chest prickled.

  Around him, the witches immediately started jabbering something, speaking in tongues. He saw the candles surrounding the circle all take to flame and they lifted from the ground to float. The crystals on the ground glinted as if they were glowing LEDs. And as he started to back up, Mireio lunged and grabbed his hand, tugging him forward. She pulled him down for a kiss and it was so wanting and deep, he lifted her up until she wrapped her legs about his hips and held her in an intimate connection. He didn’t care if they had witnesses. He would kiss his wife and make her know how much he loved her.

  And yet...

  He didn’t feel right. Since stepping inside the circle his muscles had tightened. His fingers began to tingle. And his spine pinched. Would he have another attack in front of so many?

  She bracketed his face with her palms. “I love you, Lars. And I’m going to save you now.”

  “What?” Every hair on his body stood alert. His instincts screamed mutiny.

  “I found the spell in the grimoire you tried to hide. Did you think I wouldn’t want to sacrifice immortality if I had it?”

  Shit. So that’s what this was about. “Mireio, you can’t. You went through so much to have immortality. What about the revenge you got in your mother’s name?”

  “The only reason I took that vampire’s heart was for you, lover. Only for you. Now. Like it or not, we’re doing this.”

  She wiggled out of his grasp, and in the next instant he felt a burn down his forearm. He was bleeding? She’d cut him. And she proceeded to cut herself with a small blade that glinted with black crystals on the hilt. Then she slapped her arm over his, grasping him at the elbow, and forcing him to do the same to her. The cuts aligned and he felt the electrical energy fuse them together. Bright white light burst out from their clasp. The witches’ chants rose in intensity.

  Mireio chanted, her eyes closed and her grip tight.

  Lars wanted to shake her away. She couldn’t do this. She’d only just gotten immortality. He’d killed a vampire for her...

  Yet in the next instant his entire body jolted. His free arm swung out, extending with the shock. He gritted his jaws at the intensity of the volatile sensations that skittered over his skin. Was she feeling the same? This was insane. It didn’t hurt, but it racked every bone in his body.

  Lars fell to his knees. Mireio went with him to maintain the hold on his forearm.

  “Listen to the words,” she said close to his ear. “Know that my love can heal you. Say goodbye to death. Say it!”

  “Goodbye,” he managed, feeling his throat close up and wanting it to be real. To not be some silly healing ritual performed in a bathtub. To be something that would really work this time and give him forever with his family. “Goodbye, Death!” he shouted again. “Get the hell out of me!”

  “Yes!” Mireio shouted. “We honor the deity Hel, who wishes to take Lars Gunderson’s life, but now we request his course be changed and the disease rampaging his body be vanquished. Clear his soul of the darkness. Fill him with light!”

  His body hummed with what he could only imagine was light. Vaguely aware that around him flames had ignited the glittering circle and a swirl of wind whipped them around into a wall of gold, Lars spread out his arms. His wife placed her hand over his heart. In that moment he could feel all of her. Her heartbeats. Her joy. Her determination. Her love for him.

  Bless her for what she’d done. He prayed that this would work. For he had nothing left to try. And so he exhaled, and let go, surrendering.

  And all of a sudden the fiery wall dropped. Tiny spatters of flame scattered across the grass and extinguished with a glint. The three witches, placed at intervals around the circle remained silent, their heads bowed.

  Mireio pushed her hands through his hair and kissed his eyelids, then his forehead. “Blessings, husband. The spell is complete.”

  He opened his eyes to look into pure blue love. Mireio’s smile grew slowly. He touched her mouth, then smoothed his finger along her cheek. She felt so soft. So real. So powerful. He still felt the magic vibrating through his system. It was strong. Did her body shudder?

  “You two need to stay in the circle awhile, let the magic settle in,” Eryss said from outside the circle. “We’ve done what we came for. We’ll leave you two to bind the magic as tightly as you can. Blessed be.”

  Geneva and Valor both said, “Blessed be.”

  “Call us later!” Valor called as the threesome made their exit.

  “We need to bind the magic now.” Mireio stood and pulled off the dress over her head and tossed it outside the circle. “You ready for this?”

  Thoroughly taken aback by all that had happened, Lars could but nod and grin. Anything involving his wife’s being naked was all right by him.

  * * *

  Slowly she rocked upon her husband’s prone body, feeling the glide of him deep inside her being. Becoming a part of her. Owning her. The magic still hummed within him and her. It heightened every sigh, every touch, every slick of skin against skin to an intense sensation. He cupped her breasts as she rode him, and moaned as she used her inner muscles to squeeze him.

  They needn’t speak. The moon was nearing fullness. Probably tomorrow, Mireio realized. Tonight should be a night L
ars had sex until he was sated because his werewolf would want to be set free. But he hadn’t had control over his wolf for months. When he’d wanted to shift he could not. And when he least wanted to shift, his body decided otherwise.

  But that would all change now. It must. The spell had been invoked. And they bound it tightly with sex, the joining of their souls and bodies.

  Lars slicked his fingers over her clit, drawing up a moan from deep within her. Her body began to shudder, matching his tremors. And together the two of them came in an exquisite blending of magic and wild.

  A fierce magic, that.

  * * *

  Later they sat in the center of the circle on the soft grass that still glinted with the faery dust they’d used in the spell. Mireio sat on his lap, her head tilted against his neck. She wanted to set his wild free. To give him the freedom that his very species demanded for survival.

  Had the spell worked? Only time would tell. She didn’t feel any different. As if she’d lost the immortality she’d only had for a few short days. She didn’t miss it. She hadn’t had time to embrace it, so how could she miss it? She’d never have the opportunity to work the spell again. It was a once in a hundred years kind of thing. If she lived naturally for another hundred years, she could attempt the spell, but it was unlikely that would occur. Another seventy or so years was enough if she could spend every day with Lars.

  “What are you thinking about?” he asked, softly stroking her thigh.

  “How I’m looking forward to spending seventy years with you. Every day.”

  “Seventy? Where’d you get that number?”

  “I don’t know. I’m almost thirty. I figure I’ll shoot for one hundred.”

  “Sounds like a good goal to have. Do you think the spell worked?”

  “You tell me how you feel.”

  “Besides the fact that my body was just put through a wringer and then injected with awesome and now I feel like I’m sparkling like a faery? Who can know?”

  “We’ll take one day at a time. The moon is watching us.”

  “I can feel her in my veins. She is calling me to shift.”

  She gave him an incredulous look.

  “I know,” he said with the same doubt. “I haven’t felt such a calling for a long time. I think I could shift if I wanted to.”

  “Then do it. Let me meet your werewolf on much better terms than we have the past few times he’s come out.”

  “I don’t know. If I can’t control the werewolf, he might, you know...”

  “Try to have his way with me?”

  “Possibly.”

  “You said that’s how we bond.”

  “But you’re not ready for that.”

  “No, I’m not. But I think you can control that part of you. You would never do anything to harm me.”

  “Never.” He kissed her cheek. “You really want me to try? I could go for a run. It would feel great. I have all this energy coursing through me. I feel like it’s ready to burst.”

  “Then do it.” She stood and pulled him up. “We can leave the circle now. Our sex bound the magic. The spell has settled into you. I think shifting might even help it sink in further.”

  “You don’t need to tell me twice. Maybe you should go inside.”

  “No. I’m staying right here. I want to watch you howl at the moon.”

  “All right, then.” He kissed her, lingered on her soft, swollen mouth that felt as fiery as his heart. “I love you, witch.”

  “I love you too. Now shift!”

  “Here goes. I think I’m going to stay in the circle when I shift. Can I do that?”

  “Sure. It still has some minute energies flowing within it.” She stepped outside the circle, picking up a red candle and her dress. With a whisper, the candle ignited. Bowing, she touched the flame to the faery dust circle Valor had laid down. It glowed white, a match to the moon. With another whisper, she sent her intentions from her heart about the glow, imbuing it with love, peace and her wish for Lars’s healing. “Go for it, lover.”

  With a growl and a controlled jerking of limbs, Lars shifted from his beautiful, muscled man shape into the befurred and clawed werewolf with a wolf’s head and maw that revealed pristine white canines and a soft black leathery nose. His ears were tufted with black fur among the brown, and from his paws sprouted razor sharp ebony claws.

  The werewolf turned to her, flared its nostrils and then stepped closer. Mireio held up her palm, and the wolf pressed its paw to it. It was twice as large as her hand and the claws curled over the tops of her fingers, but it was so warm, and the toe pads were as soft as Lars’s skin.

  “Husband,” she said.

  The werewolf bowed his head and sniffed at her hair and face. It stood tall, its golden eyes glowing and claws flexing. And then he tilted back his mighty head and howled toward the moon, his chest expanding and back arching.

  “Magnificent,” she whispered.

  And she fell in love with her husband’s werewolf that night.

  Chapter 30

  A week later...

  Mireio stood before the beehives after the sun had set. Hundreds of insects buzzed in the air, returning to home base with their pollen loads for the evening. Lars was in the cabin reading to Charlie about how to unclog a drain. She’d suggested he look it up online before going after the kitchen sink that had been causing them issues for days. And her wolfie man was always eager to read and learn.

  He’d been exuberant to a fault since the night she and her witch friends had performed the death-dissuading spell. It had worked. It had to have worked. And while she’d suggested Lars go to the doctor to have those tests done all over again, he would have nothing to do with such nonsense. He said he felt great. Leave it at that.

  Which, she could do. Mostly. Yet she pined for some sort of reassurance. Some promise that the future she had with her husband would be long and not cut short by a disease that may or may not have been defeated by witchcraft.

  “No one ever knows when they’ll die,” she whispered to the bees. “I had immortality for a few days. Now it’s gone.”

  And for a good reason. She’d given her husband life. And that was all that mattered. She would never again have a chance to cast the immortality spell. Worth the sacrifice. No question.

  “He is such a kind man. I love him beyond words. Take care of him,” she said to the bees. “Please. And watch over our whole new family. I promise I will never stop loving him.”

  The bees continued to buzz, their wings busy and their furry bodies industrious. Mireio said blessings to them and then cast a spell across the meadow, stirring the flowers to tilt up their petals and reach for the setting sun.

  * * *

  Lars gripped the edge of the bed to prevent himself from falling onto the floor and instead rolled to his side, snuggling up close to his wife’s warm, naked body. Her hair tickled over his face and he nuzzled into it, seeking the faint cinnamon scent that still lingered on her. She’d made cinnamon rolls last night and put them in the fridge so when he rose in the morning he could pop them in the oven. She intended to get up when the oven timer went off and deliver to him the warm rolls while he worked.

  The witch had a curious method to doing things that all seemed to revolve around food and creating delicious memories. He liked that about her. He kissed her head and she moved slightly but still slept. Gliding his hand down her arm, he closed his eyes and drew in the softness of her skin. The warmth that emanated from her. The utter grace and beauty that had agreed to be his wife. Charlie’s mother. The witch to his werewolf.

  Life was good.

  And it was really good lately because he’d not experienced a single symptom nor shifted without volition. The spell had worked. He’d beat the disease.

  Maybe.

 
; But he wasn’t willing to risk going to a doctor to find out otherwise. Life was to be lived without caution. And he intended to do so.

  In fact, he had finally gotten the courage to tell Dean and Sunday that he was changing his will, but only to reflect that Mireio was his wife and, should he die, all his possessions would go to her. And Charlie’s mom had signed the papers and emailed them back. Now Mireio was officially Charlie’s legal mother. And should Lars ever die, Charlie would remain with her.

  All was well with him.

  Rising, he pulled on his jeans and a T-shirt, then tiptoed over to the crib. Charlie lay on his back, arms spread and legs splayed wide. He slept like the witch, using up all the mattress. Lars smirked at that. He’d sacrifice all his space for his two favorite people.

  He padded over to the fridge, pulled out the cinnamon rolls and removed the beeswax-coated cloth, then he turned on the oven, set the timer and placed them inside. Grabbing his boots by the door, he walked outside and around the back to the framework. The south wall was almost complete. He planned to order windows today and they’d be in by next week.

  He walked between the back of the new work and the bathroom. Only about ten feet. He could either craft a narrow hallway that led to the bathroom, expand the expansion even further or move the bathroom up to nestle against the main house. Which would involve a whole lot of plumbing work.

  “A hallway to start,” he decided. “At least for the winter. Can’t have my bride walking out in the dead of winter after she’s soaked in her bath.”

  The Sheetrock needed to be put up today. It was a tedious job, but he had all the right tools, which made it easier. Lars walked over to the stack of Sheetrock. He’d left his tool belt in the bee shed yesterday because, before coming in for the evening, it had started to rain.

  Striding over to the shed, he smiled because he realized he had everything he’d ever wanted in life. And more. How had a wolf like him gotten so lucky? And to have dodged death?

  Must have been due to the magic that had entered his life. Mireio had called it fierce magic. Indeed, it was.