by E A Price
“That’s kind of you?” He wasn’t sure what she was waiting for.
“I’d do anything for you, Gerry. Haven’t I always been loyal to you?”
His snake rumbled a warning. “Well, yes, we work well together.”
Norma’s gaze flickered over his desk until it landed on the photo of Jessie. It was taken on their wedding day at the Chapel of Love in Vegas. She wore a simple white mini dress and carried red roses.
“How are you and your mate getting along?” asked Norma, tersely.
Gerry couldn’t help the grin. He and his mate couldn’t be more different, and yet they fit together so perfectly. “Couldn’t be better.”
“She’s awfully young for you,” huffed Norma.
His python snapped his powerful jaws as Gerry glared at his secretary. Norma was a lot of things, but she’d never been so foolish as to voice an opinion on his mate.
“You forget yourself,” he warned in an icy tone.
Apparently, she wasn’t to be deterred. “You need someone with more experience than her - a mature woman who can cater to your needs. She’s just a young floozy!”
“Norma!” bellowed Gerry, his eyes blackening with the fury of his beast as he leaped to his feet, towering over her. “Enough!”
“No, it isn’t,” wailed Norma in a burst of fury. “How can you be so foolish as to chase after her when I’m right here for you?”
“Wha… what?”
“I love you, Gerry! I need you – take me now!”
With that, the middle-aged warthog shifter threw herself at Gerry. He staggered slightly, trying to keep her at arms length as her grasping hands and lips eagerly sought him.
“Honey, I…”
He looked up to find Jessie blinking at him, her mouth an O of shock.
“Help me!” he ground out as his snake hissed furiously.
Norma snarled as she looked up and caught sight of Jessie. “You! You’re trying to steal him away from me. He belongs to me – he’s mine, and I’ll teach you to steal what’s mine.”
She pushed away from Gerry and lunged at Jessie, who in turn let out an eep.
*
Wayne rubbed his jaw and tried not to focus on the wolf shifter who was trying to make his head blow up with just a glare. He’d thought that the fact they were friends and worked on the same team might have tempered Cutter a little, but no. Cutter saw his mate, in her underwear, kissing another male – so that male had to die.
“Are you okay, Wayne?” called Lucie, pouting slightly. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
The wolf shifter’s eye twitched, and Mason gripped Cutter’s shoulder even more tightly.
Cutter managed to get a few punches in before Lucie threw herself in front of Wayne and would not budge. She declared that she didn’t want anything to happen to the male she loved. That statement was pretty much the only thing that had stopped the wolf from bodily moving Lucie out the way and trying to rip Wayne’s head clean off. The look of devastation in Cutter’s eyes had been brief – it quickly turned back to anger, but it was the reason why Wayne wasn’t pissed at his friend.
“Obviously, she’s not in her right mind,” said Mason.
“Obviously,” sneered Cutter at Wayne.
“How dare you?” whined Lucie. They glanced back to where Isis and Avery, a lion shifter, were hopelessly trying to get Lucie back into her clothes. She apparently wished to remain in her underwear. Cutter closed his eyes and let out a shuddering breath at the sight of her. Lucie pushed the other two females away. “Wayne and I are meant to be together – it’s fate.”
Cutter shook himself out of Mason’s grip and walked over to his mate. “And me?” he growled.
Lucie blinked at him. “I…” She bit her lip and then shook her head. “I’m sorry, I’m in love with Wayne.”
“Seriously?” snapped Isis in disbelief. “I know Cutter’s no prize, but you’re so sappily in love with him you make Disney princesses look like heartless bitches.”
“Can you not sense her feelings?” asked Avery.
“They’re too jumbled,” muttered Cutter, giving Wayne an accusing look.
He held out his hands. “I didn’t do anything to her. She just asked me to come down here, and then she tried to maul me.”
“Silly Wayne. We’re in love,” chirruped Lucie, giggling.
Cutter clenched his fists; a perpetual snarl seemed to be rumbling in his throat.
Mason sighed. “This is my fault. I underestimated that idiot who thought he was Cupid. Clearly, this has something to do with his damn love dust. We need to talk to him about reversing the effects.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something? Lucie wasn’t the only one hit,” said Wayne, while keeping a wary eye on Lucie, who was blowing him kisses, and Cutter who was mouthing threats.
“Yeah, we better check on Norma. Woman’s scary enough under normal circumstances.”
*
“Gerry, how could you?” snapped Norma. She desperately rattled the handcuffs, but she wasn’t going anywhere.
He closed the bathroom door and hugged his mate. Luckily, he still kept a pair in the office – the pair he used when he was an agent. He told people he kept them for sentimental reasons. In reality, he was ever hopeful about the fun he could have with them and his mate.
He’d managed to snag Norma before she lunged at Jessie, and now the warthog was tethered in his private bathroom.
“For a second there I thought she was going to kill me,” said Jessie with a nervous laugh.
Gerry smiled grimly. “I think it’s safe to say, she’s not feeling herself today.”
He froze as agents piled through his door, yelling all at once. He held up his hand for silence. “What on earth…”
“It’s Norma,” panted Mason, “we need to check that she… that she’s…”
“That she’s not going to try and mount you,” finished Isis.
“Too late,” muttered Jessie, sourly.
Gerry quickly explained what happened and nodded to the bathroom door. “She’s in there. Now, what the hell is going on?”
He frowned as he noticed Lucie was trying to slip her hand into Wayne’s. The gator shifter’s eyes bulged, and he shook himself out of her grip and edged away. Cutter then growled at him, and Wayne moved towards Isis and maneuvered her in front of him to use as a tiger shifter-shaped shield. Lucie still batted her eyelashes at him, and he scowled.
Gerry closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I take it this has to do with our Cupid’s dust. The dust hit Jessie and Norma, and they are now enamoured with the first person they saw after being hit.”
Avery’s head bobbed. “Pretty much.”
“We should speak to our Cupid. I suggest that Mason and Isis remain behind to take care of Norma. Her reaction to the dust seems to be more…” his eyes flickered to his mate and his python rumbled in anger, “violent than Lucie’s. I doubt she’ll get through both of you.”
“Good idea,” chirped Lucie, eyebrows waggling. “I think Wayne should stick around and look after me.”
The gator shifter blanched, and Cutter snarled.
Avery slipped an arm around Lucie’s shoulder. “I think I’ll take Lucie somewhere a little more… lockable.”
The lithe lioness led her out the room, as Lucie’s bottom lip trembled and she whined at Wayne, asking why he didn’t love her. Cutter was barely able to contain himself.
“Let’s go and speak to Cupid before anyone really gets hurt.” He looked at the furious mien of the wolf shifter. Any more hurt, he added silently.
*
They were barely through the door of the cell when Cutter had Howard aka the worst Cupid imposter in the world, pinned against the wall.
“Give me my mate back, you fucker!” he howled.
He expected to feel either Wayne or Gerry pulling him away, but no, they remained respectfully distant. Even Jessie, who had accompanied them, didn’t tell him off for his behaviour. Perhaps they t
hought Cupid had it coming. Perhaps they thought it wasn’t worth getting into the path of an asshole wolf and his prey.
If Lucie were there, she would have said something. Wouldn’t have mattered how angry he was, or how much she thought the guy he was attacking deserved it – she would have told him to calm the fuck down. Actually, she would have probably said ‘calm the golly gosh down’ or something like that. She didn’t like swearing. Her compassion and her colourful collection of non-swear words were just two of the many things he loved about her. Thinking about her made his wolf whimper and his heart constrict. Seeing her lavishing kisses on the gator was not something he could easily forget and he desperately wanted to obliterate anything that reminded him of it. Since he couldn’t exactly kill Wayne – not with all these damn witnesses – he’d have to settle for taking his anger out on the idiot who caused this mess.
Except… he felt his fingers loosening. Lucie wouldn’t want this. Grabbing onto his last shred of control he took a step back and folded his arms.
“Mr. Boggs,” said Gerry, in a smooth, almost friendly voice. “Do you know why we’re here?”
Cupid struggled to his feet and managed an approximation of a smirk. “Because you realized my dust really works,” he wheezed.
Gerry smiled coldly. “Because we’re charging you with poisoning two SEA employees. I expect I can even work it up to attempted murder.”
“That’s ridiculous,” spluttered Howard. “The dust is just supposed to make people fall in love!”
“No, it appears to make people fall in lust and try to hurt anyone who gets in their way.” His eyes flickered to Jessie. “One of my…” He breathed in and out, struggling to control his temper. “One of my employees was almost attacked by one of your victims out of jealousy. If I hadn’t intervened… I’m not sure what would have happened.”
Howard scratched the back of his hand and gave them a sheepish look. “Well, I guess I didn’t really take into account people who are already mated and wrinkles like that. Maybe I should have read the instructions or the warning…”
“Warning?” snapped Wayne.
“Yeah, I sort of bought the dust on Witchbay.”
Everyone let out a collective groan. The online auction sight for everything magic had popped up in the last couple of months. The SEA had been trying to shut it down after numerous sellers posted illegal items. Human fingers should never be available for purchase.
“I just wanted to make people happy,” wailed Howard. “And to make people realize that my magic is worth something.”
“But it wasn’t your magic,” sighed Jessie.
“No, but I had to put the dust in the capsules, attach them to the arrows and find a way to make them explode – that wasn’t easy!”
“That’s not magical,” muttered Jessie as she set up her laptop. “Find the listing and let’s see what it says.”
With nervous fingers, because Cutter was breathing down his neck, Howard pulled up the listing. Cutter grabbed the laptop and after a few seconds, grunted and thrust it at Jessie before stomping out the room. She took a look at the warning given on the listing and let out an ‘oh’.
*
Lucie paced in her cell and dabbed at her angry tears. What the mother trucking hell was happening? Why was Wayne locking her up when they could be making sweet, sweet love at that very moment? She stopped and shivered slightly. She knew in her heart and her head, that Wayne was the male for her. So why was her inner hedgehog screaming at her? It was odd. Usually, the two of them were so in sync. Her hedgehog had never been a dominant or aggressive little animal – no hedgehog was – but they didn’t seem to be able to communicate with one another. It was like they were trying to talk through a sheet of glass.
She shook her head and continued pacing. It didn’t matter. She’d figure it out eventually. After she and Wayne indulged in a bit of nooky.
She rubbed her shoulder and her fingers faltered over the bonding mark Cutter had given her. Her heart skipped a beat as she remembered the night they bonded. The way he cradled her in his arms after. How proud she was of the fact that he bore her bite, and the thrill she got by being claimed by such a protective, strong male.
But, Wayne… She wanted Wayne, didn’t she? Then why did she feel this way about Cutter?
Lucie started as the door opened and Cutter entered. He jutted his chin at her. He looked proud and angry, but she could sense the underlying nervousness. She could always read him. No one else but her really knew what he was feeling all the time. They never got to see his vulnerable side.
“Hey,” he murmured.
“Hey,” she whispered, her voice quavering.
“I know how to fix you.”
The objection that she wasn’t broken hovered on her tongue, but she stopped herself. He looked mightily relieved by her silence.
He took a step toward her. “Do you feel anything for me?”
“I… I’d be lying if I said no. I’m just… I’m just so confused. Everything is telling me I need to be with Wayne, but then, there’s you… I can’t…” She growled in frustration. “So how do you think you’re going to ‘fix me’?” She put that in air quotes.
“I have to kiss you.”
Lucie sucked in a breath. The room was suddenly too small. She was trapped with this enormous shifter determined to kiss her. She was confused about him, but…
“You going to get Isis to hold me down while you plant one on me?” She said it as a joke, but her voice trembled.
He crowded her until she was backed against the wall. “Lucie,” he growled as he buried his face in her shoulder, swiping his tongue over her bonding mark. Pleasure zinged through her body.
Tenderly, he cupped her cheek. “I want you to remember how you feel about me, but I don’t want to force you to do anything. Not even a kiss. This kind of thing, you know - feelings,” that was said with a grimace, “it’s hard for me. That’s why I need you; I need you to tell me how I feel. You deserve a better mate than me, one who will kiss you in public, one who will tell you over and over how wonderful you are. One who won’t forget Valentine’s Day. But as much as you deserve that, I need you more.”
“Oh,” she whimpered as her insides quivered. What could one kiss hurt? “Maybe you should kiss me… just in case, I’m wrong, just in…”
She yelped as Cutter crushed his lips to hers. She was stiff at first, but finally, she softened and allowed him entrance, allowed him to plunder her mouth, to caress and stroke her tongue and leave her breathless the way he always did. Yes, the way he always did. Because she loved him, and he was the only male in the world for her, and that would never change.
She slipped her arms around his neck, and he pulled her closer, hungrily enjoying every moan she made. Finally, dragging himself away from her mouth, he leaned his forehead against hers. “You’re back?” he asked with just a hint of wariness.
“I’m back,” she giggled, feeling guilty as relief washed over his eyes. Her hedgehog yipped in happiness, and she delighted in the connection she once again felt with her inner beast.
“Thank… fudge for that.”
“What the heckle and jeckle happened?”
“Stupid fudging Cupid wannabe bought some magic dust on Witchbay and stuck it into arrows. Only true love could break the spell. For a moment there, I…” Pain lanced over his features, and Lucie snuggled against his big, warm body.
“I’m sorry.”
“None of this was your fault. I’m the one who’s sorry. I need to stop taking you for granted.”
“You don’t. If this… awful day has taught me anything, it’s that I really don’t need flowers and chocolates and stupid Valentine’s Day cards. I had all those things with my first husband.” Cutter growled – he always did at the mention of her ex. Even though the ex left her for another man, Cutter still got jealous. “But maybe my ex and I went all out because we really didn’t feel romantic towards each other. You and me, though, we don’t need any of that.”
She lifted her head and smiled. “I don’t think we can be more in love.” She frowned. “Although, I wish it didn’t take me licking Wayne’s face to realize it.”
Cutter snarled, and she stroked his arm. Her hedgehog only felt a little thrill over his possessive attitude. “Try not to blame Wayne for this. He was a perfect gentleman.”
“Humph. Just know that if this hadn’t worked, I would have killed Wayne before I let him make you happy.”
Lucie snickered. “I’d expect nothing less.” She sobered. “What about Norma? Is she okay?”
“Hmmm?” He nuzzled her neck. “Oh, I’m sure she’s fine. I think maybe we should go home and enjoy the rest of Valentine’s Day. And try to forget what happened today.”
She wriggled in his grasp. “Well, I do have that new nightie.”
“Ah, yes, I think seeing you in that again will replace a few bad memories.” She yelped as he scooped her into his arms. “Let’s go, mate.”
She stroked his cheek, and her hedgehog simpered. “True love, huh?”
Cutter snorted. “Was there ever any doubt?”
*
“So, what are we going to do with the rampaging warthog in there?” asked Jessie, wringing her small hands. “I mean, we need to do something, I feel like I have a target on my back.”
“Gerry! Let me out so we can mate!” snarled Norma through the door.
“Maybe she’ll get bored of me,” suggested Gerry, hopefully, but also a little wryly.
Jessie slapped his arm. “Stop fishing for compliments, you know the idea of falling out of love with you is unbelievable to me.”
He smirked. “Sorry, sweetheart. But I do think the seller will be able to help. If they’re strong enough to create the love dust, then they can find a cure. Under threat of being locked in a room with Cutter for an hour, pretty much anyone can be motivated to do anything.”
“I hope Cutter managed to turn Lucie back to normal. I don’t think I can live with the fallout of the two of them splitting up.”
“Wayne called a moment ago to say he spotted Cutter running out the building with Lucie slung over his shoulder. Apparently, she was giggling and waving at people as she went. I don’t think we have to worry.” The gator shifter had been more than a little relieved to relate that titbit of news.