Rodan’s body shook, his magic nipping at my skin as he lost control of himself because of the fear. The air itself was thick with his terror, an emotion I was more than happy to intensify.
I tilted my head to the side as if thinking about something. “I could always let you go.”
He warily looked at me, waiting for it. My wolfish smile told him my new idea wasn’t going to be any better than the scenario I had painted for him.
“Let Lombardi know about you. He needs a good hunt. He’s been bored lately.”
“H-hellhound?” he stuttered, eyes growing massive.
“Yes, a hellhound.”
His whole body shook now, his skin pallid.
I let him go and stepped away, giving him room to slump to the ground. He stared at the ground in shock, most likely playing through the scenarios I’d given him. None of them were a pleasant death. Being killed by his boss would be faster.
“So, what are you going to do?” I asked, keeping my body relaxed.
Magic wrapped around him and then he shot up straight up into the sky. Some kind of spell to fly most likely.
“That’s what I thought,” I muttered and walked out of the alley. I rolled my shoulders, reining my wolf in and relieving the tension that had built up in my body. My shifter was ready for a fight and yet there was none to be had. Maybe there was merit in participating in those fights at the park. Thinking about how excited Davies would get if I signed up had me holding back a chuckle. If I ever thought about it, he’d have me signed up before I could even finish the thought.
“Venni?”
Dr. Porter was making her way toward her apartment, a backpack slung over her shoulder. She had changed at some point into tight fitting capri jeans and a purplish-gray t-shirt. She looked me over slowly before looking around the area. Wanting to fidget, I forced myself to still.
“Is something wrong?” she asked and my wolf wanted to brush against her, loving the sound of her voice. Her magic curled through the air, the scent of cinnamon floating by on the breeze.
“Doctor,” I said, giving her a short nod.
Her eyes narrowed. “Meathead.”
“Patrol,” I said, keeping my answer simple. No reason to go into specifics. She didn’t need to know those details.
“Uh huh.” Her lip twitched as she held back a smile.
Before I could stop myself, I found myself asking, “Would you like to join me? I’m just finishing up.”
She blinked a couple of times, her mouth slightly open as surprise flashed across her face. After a moment of consideration, she closed her mouth, gave me an expression saying this would be interesting, before nodding.
Damn. What was I thinking?
I stepped closer to the curb to give her room to stand next to me. Cars zoomed by, along with some four-footed creatures as they clonked against the pavement, determined to get to their destination as quickly as possible.
When she joined me, she gave me a nervous smile.
“I won’t eat you,” I said. I wasn’t even sure where that came from. Was I teasing her? When was the last time I’d teased someone?
She chuckled. “As if I’d let you.” Her eyes trailed up and down my body. I kept my eyes on her face, letting her take me in. I was a big guy, intimidating, especially when I wanted to be. My wolf loved the attention, and I was almost tempted to roll my eyes at his excitement. Almost.
“So, you patrol the city?” she asked as we began walking at a slow pace.
“Once in a while, and just a quick sweep to get a feel of how the city is doing,” I answered. It wasn’t quite true, but it wasn’t a full lie either. Working at BMS taught us to be alert and prepared, and to be able to do that effectively, we needed to know what was brewing in the city in case we were asked to step in. For the most part, the enforcers did that and they did a good job, but sometimes, tensions grew to their breaking point between factions and they wanted it dealt with privately, so they came to us. If we didn’t want to be blindsided, we needed to be aware that it was something that had been brewing.
“How is the city doing today?” she asked.
I thought about what I could share with her. “The leprechauns and gnomes are fighting again,” I said and shrugged.
She snorted and my lip twitched, wanting to smile at her reaction. “When are they not fighting?” she asked.
“Yes, well, the last time we were asked to step in, we had rocks thrown at us from the gnomes. The leprechauns are little tricksters too. I’m hoping the enforcers will step in this time.”
She leaned toward me, her shoulder brushing against my arm. “Is the big bad wolf scared of some little beings?”
Turning to her, I gave her an incredulous look. “And you’re not?” I asked. “They’re scary. Half of them are kind of cute. Cute and deadly is a scary combination. It’s like watching pups in my pack go feral. They’re dangerous. Size does not factor into that.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry.” She was quiet for a moment before snickering. She raised her hand to wave me off. “I’m sorry. All I’m thinking about are little ankle biters taking down the big softy wolf.”
“Dr. Porter.” I sighed. “They really are dangerous.”
“I know.” She shrugged. “But you have to admit, the image of them being dangerous is rather hilarious. Isn’t there an old movie where if you feed these cute little furballs food after midnight, they go crazy and try to eat you? Maybe I should find that.”
I shook my head as we made a circle around a couple of blocks. “Leprechauns aren’t allowed to eat living flesh. They will go feral if they do,” I said.
That seemed to quiet the doctor.
“Last year, there was a brother-sister duo that got a taste of flesh. They managed to eat three families on the same block before the enforcers were able to take them out. They’re small, they’re tricky, and they have magic. All that and being crazy is dangerous, even if they are only three feet tall.”
“Shit,” she swore. “Now I feel like a bitch.”
“Only a little,” I admitted.
She stopped and turned to me, grabbing my hand so I stopped with her. Magic danced along the hair on my skin, and I stiffened at the touch. Touch wasn’t something I did often. I wasn’t an intimate guy, especially in public. She seemed to pick up on my discomfort and let go.
“Sorry,” she said, her hands dropping to her side. “And I’m sorry for being insensitive. I didn’t mean to make light of what they could do. It’s just hard to imagine.”
“Apology accepted,” I said. “And I know what you mean. I saw the aftermath, but if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have believed it either.”
“Forgive me?” she asked. Her eyes drew me in. They were sincere, no hidden agenda in them. She really did feel bad about making light of something serious. There weren’t many people like that these days.
“Nothing to forgive. The moment you realized your mistake, you fixed it.”
Her expression softened and relief washed over her.
“You’re a good one,” she mumbled.
After that we walked in silence, and I didn’t mind. I wasn’t much of a conversationalist and Dr. Porter didn’t seem to mind either. Once we circled around, I dropped her off at the entrance to her building.
“That was a nice walk, thank you,” she said.
“Anytime, Doctor,” I mumbled and handed back her bag, having taken it while we were walking.
She smirked as she swung it over her shoulder. She gave me a little salute and said, “Until next time, meathead.” She turned on her feet and went inside, and while I fought with my wolf, neither of us could look away from her retreating backside.
She had a nice backside.
I sent Davies a quick message, letting him know I was so screwed. He didn’t need to understand the text, but I did perfectly.
Dr. Laila Porter was dangerous, but not the dangerous kind of danger. I didn’t know how to deal with that.
Chapter Ten
&nb
sp; ~Venni Reynards Part II~
The angry storm clouds threatened to spill their load when I sat outside with my lunch. After careful calculations and by the heavy scent of rain in the air, I had at most fifteen minutes before the rain fell. Unwrapping, my sub, I ate quietly, lost in my thoughts.
I was about to be sent out on a mission for the weekend. For once, instead of Davies going with me, I was going to be partnered with Alijah as we escorted someone through the wild to get to a village tucked away a day’s journey north of here. It was remote enough to not even have roads and that meant we had to be vigilant in our travel.
These assignments weren’t my favorite. I liked tracking, searching for people, not escorting them. Unfortunately, Alijah and I were the best for this because of our shifter abilities and we had experience out there. Anyone else risked doing something wrong that would get them eaten by a tree.
The wind blew, and I smelled Laila. She approached, smiling big when she spotted me. She carried a small brown paper bag at her side. When she got close, she claimed the other side of the picnic table.
“That looks good,” she said, eyeing my lunch. She leaned closer, taking a closer look. “Is that all meat? And bacon?”
“I’m a shifter. We love our meat.”
She made a humming noise as she pulled out a basic sandwich and then a small device, setting it on the table.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Eating.” She didn’t look up as she unwrapped her sandwich.
I wanted to ask why here, with me, but I didn’t want to come off as an asshole who didn’t want her to sit with me. In fact, I liked that she came to sit with me. There were a couple of empty tables and others she could have decided to sit with. She was making me feel like I was in high school again and she just made my table the cool table. Some of the men in the area eyed her as they ate their food.
Suddenly, her head snapped up. “What kind of shifters are there?” she asked.
“Why?”
She shrugged. “I read that shifters were mainly predator animals and of the warm-blood variation, so wolves, large cats, bears, and even avian.”
“That’s true. I’ve heard of a couple of prey shifters, but they don’t live long because, well, they’re prey. None of the stories I heard about them are happy endings.” I frowned thinking about how most of them were lucky to even make it out of their teens if they managed to live that long.
“Why is that? Wouldn’t the human side of shifters make it easier to keep them alive?”
“Well, if they shifted, it wouldn’t only be shifters after them. Let’s say you’re a deer shifter. Shifters need to change into their other form every once in a while. We go crazy if we don’t. So a deer shifter eventually shifts. Most of us do it in the woods. There are others there who aren’t shifters or human, and they’d be more than happy to eat a deer if they came across one.”
Her eyes widened. “So if I were a deer, and I shifted, I’d really become the prey, being hunted by anything with the thirst for blood and guts.”
“You don’t have to say it like that,” I mumbled. “Blood and guts?”
“Isn’t that what gets you salivating?” she asked.
“No.”
She smiled and leaned closer. “You don’t need to hide it from me, Venni. Admit it. The idea of sinking your teeth into a living breathing thing excites you.”
A growl rumbled in my chest, and I leaned forward. “Do not mess with me, Dr. Porter.”
We went into a staring match, her green eyes hard and challenging as she stared me down. Neither one of us were going to give. My wolf refused to back down. We were alpha enough. And Laila didn’t understand what it meant to be an alpha, that meeting others’ eyes could be construed as a dominance match.
Without looking away from her, I said, “It’s the hunt. It’s catching the scent of my prey and then chasing them down until they’re tired. It’s knowing that while they are exhausted, I’m still ready to go for miles.” I leaned closer, lowering my voice, holding back a smirk when she shivered. “It’s knowing that their life is in my hands, that they’ll die only when I’m done with the chase. That is what excites a shifter. Not the bloods, not the guts, but the chase.”
I leaned back and eyed her. She finally looked down, away from me and my shoulders lowered slightly now that the battle was over. I won. She didn’t realize what that meant, but she didn’t need to. I was stronger than her. That only meant it was my job to keep her safe. My wolf liked that, liked that she needed us, that we were the ones who were going to keep her alive.
“What are you doing out here?” I asked. “It’s going to rain soon.”
“Then go inside.” She shrugged before taking a bite and chewing slowly. Her gaze went to the small device sitting between us. I frowned as I stared at it. It was a dark blue disk, about two inches thick and the size of a small plate. There were two buttons on top.
“What is that?” My question came out slowly.
“A project.”
“Dr. Porter. I’m not up to being an experiment again.”
She sighed. “All it’s going to do is repel the rain. That’s it. It’ll also give the impression that we aren’t sitting here.”
“A cloaking device that works in the rain.”
She nodded. “Most of them, if they rain, people can still see that someone is there because the rain stops in the middle of the air. This device makes it look like the rain falls all the way down and not onto us. I already mastered that part.”
“Then what do you need to test?”
“I’m trying to get the cloaking to work closer to the body and not like a dome. That way, the people it’s attuned to can sneak around people without being sensed.” She pulled two small pins. “Put this on.”
“I’m not sure I want to do this.”
“Please?” she asked. “I’m close. It’s almost done.”
Her eyes begged me, her plush pink lips set into a small pout.
I tilted my head back and sighed, staring at the darkening clouds. Thunder rolled in the distance as the storm approached. “Fine.” I grabbed the pin and clipped it to my shirt.
“Thank you,” she said and did the same with the second clip.
After that, we ate in silent, waiting for the storm to come. About five minutes later, she reached out and hit the button. There was a soft whirring noise for just a second, almost undetectable by my shifter hearing, before it disappeared. My skin tickled, and I closed my hands to keep from rubbing at the small hairs that were now standing up.
“Is it working?” I asked.
She grinned at me. “Let’s test it out.” She stood and went over to a couple who probably enjoyed the rain. Gills slitted across the sides of their necks. Their hair shimmered green and seemed to turn into clumps. Kelpies. They didn’t exactly work for BMS, but were more like active consultants who did work for us when water was involved. They were also liaisons between land folks and water folks.
Laila clapped her hands together, and they didn’t react, continuing to whisper together as they munched on something still squirming and alive. I pushed back a gag. I may kill and eat animals, but eating worms and maggots was still disgusting.
When we were only a couple of feet away, Laila paused, and I stopped right behind her.
“Hello,” she said.
They didn’t turn to us.
She moved closer. “Hello!” she yelled. I winced at the sudden loudness.
Again, they didn’t react. They did look up at the sky when thunder boomed and shortly after, lightning lit up the area.
The male said something in their native language, the sounds of his words sharp. The female nodded and they both stood. They turned our way and walked toward us. I went to reach Laila to pull her out of the way. Instead, she grabbed my arm and yanked me forward.
The female bumped into us and jumped back, eyes wide.
The male said something, and she ignored him as she reached out. Laila reached
her own hand out and they touched. The female let out a small squeak and the male went on the defensive.
“Show self,” he snapped out, jumping in front of the female, eyes narrowed, trying to see us.
Laila reached into her bag and pulled the disk out, hitting the second button. I grabbed her and yanked her back, not wanting her within their reach.
A small growl came out of the male, and he blinked a couple of times before confusion crossed his face.
“What?”
“Hello,” Laila said and held her hand out like it was perfectly normal to introduce herself after scaring them. “I’m Dr. Laila Porter. I apologize for giving you a fright.”
The male eyed her hand, looking like he was contemplating either biting it off or just shaking it. He was lucky he chose to just give her a handshake.
“’Ello,” he replied. “What you did?”
Laila held up her device and went into a quick explanation, fighting back a smile as they talked. I kept an eye on the male, noting that he was still stiff. When Laila finished talking, the female shoved her male companion out of her way.
Shortly after, they departed, the female laughing and shaking her head as they disappeared inside.
“Can we go in too?” I asked, my clothes now soaked through.
“Yeah. See, I told you there was nothing to worry about.”
She unclipped my pin and tucked it away in her bag before going back into the building.
“You never said there was nothing to worry about,” I pointed out.
“Oh.” She stopped and faced me, her brown hair matted to her face. “Venni, there is absolutely nothing to worry about. I’d never intentionally put you in danger.”
I groaned. “Dr. Porter, it’s too late for the warning now.”
She laughed and left me to follow after her. Maybe we should have lost the stare-off we’d held. That way, we didn’t feel obligated to make sure she stayed safe. My wolf growled, not liking that thought. I had to admit, I didn’t like that thought either.
I’d rather be right there if something went wrong, that way I could get her out of whatever trouble she found herself in.
Magical Attraction: Page 7