by Moira Byrne
She took another step forward and I took one back.
"Wait," I said.
She paused. "Yes, lover?"
I barely managed not to shiver in disgust.
"I want to just . . . look at you for a moment."
"I can't say I blame you." She ran her hands along the curve of her body and gave me an indulgent smile. "You always loved looking at me."
I had no idea what she was talking about.
I glanced over at the bed. I could probably dash across it and get out the door before she could react. I tensed, ready to implement my plan, when I heard a noise in the hallway, followed by hissed whispers.
"She said 'emergencies only.'"
"This is an emergency, you nitwit."
Since the woman in front of me didn't react, I guessed she couldn't hear the conversation like I could. Why not? Their whispers were so loud. She was busy dropping one hand down to her thigh. I watched in horror as she started to slowly pull up her skirt. She was trying to give me some sort of show I didn't want to see.
The door behind her suddenly opened and another woman walked in, carrying a tray.
"Heather," the woman called out, "I brought you the refreshments you requested."
Fury lit Heather's eyes before she whirled around to face the door.
"Rachael, what did I—"
"Let me set these tasty treats down," Rachael said through clenched teeth. "You and I can go talk about something very important in the hallway while your guest eats these snacks and gets his energy up." An obviously fake smile crossed her face as she put the tray on the dresser.
Heather turned back around to me. "I'm so sorry for this delay. Why don't you start on the food and I'll be right back to continue what we started, darling."
I glanced over at the tray. It held two large glasses of some sort of frothy beverage, along with cheese cubes and a pile of crackers. Dribbles of the beverage ran down the sides of the glasses. Everything was piled as if thrown together at the last minute.
With a smile that didn't reach her eyes, Heather turned around and rushed out the door, Rachael right behind her. Rachael partially closed the door behind her and they stopped right outside. They spoke in hushed whispers, but I could hear every word clearly.
"This had better be important," Heather hissed. "Where the hell is Paige? Why isn't she with you? She was supposed to be watching the door."
"I sent Paige to the store," Rachael whispered back. "She was acting funny. I don't think we can trust her anymore."
"And that was reason enough to interrupt me right now?"
"I thought you should know about—"
The sound of a hard slap echoed all around.
"Make better judgment calls in the future."
"I'm sorry, Heather. I'll try to do better."
"Whatever. Get some ice on that before it swells any worse. God knows you're no beauty and swelling won't help. Anything else? Tell me now. If you interrupt me again, I swear . . ."
"Oh, well, I put more of the tonic in the drinks for you."
Tonic? What tonic? I looked at the glasses suspiciously. I wished I knew what was going on. Why did I feel so detached? Was it the tonic Rachael had mentioned? I suddenly realized I had no input from my wolf.
I blinked in surprise. My wolf. How could I forget about that part of me? Now that I knew it was gone, I could feel that emptiness clearly. It was like it was asleep. But my wolf was never quiet. I could always feel it. It was part of me.
Why didn't anxiety race through me? I could barely get worked up about any of this. It was like something was repressing my emotions. Even the revulsion I felt for Heather was distant. However, it was slowly growing stronger, like the gradual awakening of a limb.
Acting on a silent inner prompting, I quietly walked over to the two glasses. I picked up one and sniffed. A slightly sour scent had me wrinkling my nose. I turned and hurried over to the bathroom.
Quietly, I opened the door and stepped inside. I moved to the toilet and put the glass low to the water. I dumped out the beverage quickly and made my way back to the dresser, empty glass in hand. I didn't want to miss any more of the women's whispered discussion.
"You did something right for once," Heather whispered. "Now, get out of here. I don't want any more interruptions."
"But what if—"
"Robby and Seth are here if I need any help with him. It'll be fine."
I carefully blanked my expression just as the door opened once more.
"I'm so sorry about that," Heather said, feigning chagrin as she stepped back into the room with that creepy smile on her face. Her eyes grew wide when she saw the empty glass.
I shrugged. "No problem. Hope you don't mind that I didn't wait for you. I was really thirsty and once I took a sip, I couldn't stop myself."
Satisfaction flickered through her eyes. "You can have them both if you'd like."
"Oh, no. The other is all yours." I wondered if this tonic would affect her, too.
She walked over to me, ignoring the tray. "I'm not thirsty. Shall we pick up where we were before the rude interruption, my love?"
"You should, um, hydrate," I blurted out. Her words made me uncomfortable, and I couldn't pinpoint why through the fog over my emotions. One thing was clear—I did not want to see the show she was offering. "Drink your glass."
Heather's gaze impatiently raked over me again, but she paused and reached for her glass. She took a long drink, then another. I waited to see if something would happen, but she simply drank. No passing out. No odd behavior. Either it took some time to work, or it didn't affect her. Hell, I didn't even know what it was.
She set the glass down on the tray. I was running out of distractions. My wolf started to stir but it was painfully distant.
"Now, where were we?" Her eyes were full of lust as she licked her lips. She missed a drop of the foamy drink. The droplet shimmered next to her mouth. A slow smile crossed her face and I realized she thought I was staring at her mouth.
I had to get out of here.
I heard a faint noise outside the room. A noise that was steadily getting louder. Feet pounded down the hallway. Who was running? I really wished I knew where I was. This tiny pink-box of a room didn't give me any clue. I looked at the door, and my instincts kicked in when I caught a movement by Heather out of the corner of my eye.
I quickly stepped back and to the side. Her hand was hovering in the air and I realized she'd been about to touch me. I saw anger flare in her eyes and I could tell things were about to become unpleasant.
Suddenly, I heard yelling in the hallway. Heather's attention jerked away from me and landed on the door as it slammed open. The most furious woman I'd ever seen stood in the doorway. Her dark hair framed a beautiful face with eyes that were flashing an unnatural blue as she took in the room in one glance.
She snapped her head to the side and kicked out at something in the hallway. I heard a shriek and a thud, then she marched into the room.
"What do you think you're doing?" Heather screeched. "This is illegal."
"So is kidnapping, you tacky blowup doll," the warrior woman bit out.
"She kidnapped someone?" I asked. Wait . . . was it me?
Her eyes met mine and time stopped. She was magnificent. She looked like she was fighting for a righteous cause and would let nothing get in her way. Whoever she fought for had to be important to her.
I wanted it to be me. As I had that thought, I felt the push in the back of my mind. My trapped wolf was fighting to get out, beating at the walls of a cage. It wanted me to go to her.
"Are you okay?" the beautiful woman asked me.
I frowned. "I've had a very strange day, I think."
She snarled and looked back at Heather. "What have you done to him?"
"I've done nothing." Heather looked shocked. "You're the one who interrupted a special time between us. Right, my love?"
She looked over at me with a desperate smile. It took me a moment to realize she was t
alking to me. I could only stare at her. Heather's smile remained fixed in place, yet her eyes were as beady as a shark's. When I said nothing, she let out a frustrated noise and turned back to the dark-haired avenger.
"He's just being shy," Heather insisted.
"Cut the shit, it's just sad at this point. We both know you're lying." The woman glared at Heather. "The only way you'd get laid is if you crawled up a chicken and waited."
Heather made a shrill noise in the back of her throat like an angry bird. "You need to leave. Now."
"Happily. Your perfume is giving me a headache anyway. C'mon, Ben. We're going."
Was she talking to me?
"I don't think so." Heather put her fingers to her lips and let out a harsh whistle.
"What the hell was that, Heather?" the woman asked.
Heather's smile was triumphant. "Me calling for your escort."
"I hope it's an army because I could take on you and your little witch bitches before my morning cup of coffee."
My heart thudded in response to her scathing tone. Such fire. No wonder I loved her—wait, what? I stared at her for a moment, then, suddenly, the confusion that held me captive disappeared. Aly. The beautiful, angry woman was my Aly. She was here to rescue me, wasn't she? The chains on my wolf snapped and my memory flooded back. The field. The interrupted spell. Blood magic.
"You were doing a blood magic spell in that field." The words boiled out of me, spilling over with bubbling anger.
"You can't prove it," Heather snapped back. A half-second later, her eyes grew wide and she slammed her hand over her mouth.
"We've got more than enough proof," Aly bit out. "What were you doing out there, huh? I hope it was worth ruining the rest of your life."
A cruel smile crossed Heather's face. "I don't have to tell you anything."
"You're right, you don't," Aly replied with a shrug. "In fact, why don't you just stop talking altogether? Nobody wants to hear your stupid voice. Most would consider a world without you talking a blessed place. Praise be the silent Heather, for it is a gift to us all."
Heather's mouth opened and closed several times. Her face started to turn deepening shades of red. She looked like she was going to explode. "You, you—"
"Yep, me. Here to ruin your day and take Ben out of this pink prison." Aly flipped her hair over her shoulder and smirked. "Bye, bitch."
"You talked too soon." Something flashed in Heather's eyes. "They'll take care of you."
She jutted her chin in the hallway. I followed her gaze to see a pair of shifters in their cougar forms prowling our way.
"Aly, get over here," I ordered. I didn't want her ambushed from behind. And with all this horrid perfume that Heather had saturating the room, I figured it was unlikely she'd been able to smell them as they snuck up behind her. With a glance at me and a raised eyebrow, she hurried over to my side.
"Interesting outfit, by the way. Trying to seduce your way out of this place?"
"I woke up like this." I was revolted at the thought that Heather had touched me in the slightest.
Aly shot me a sideways look. "You okay?"
"I will be." I turned my attention to the cougars entering the doorway. They'd taken their sweet time. Were they trying to frighten us? Heather inched over to the doorway and a smug look replaced the fury on her face.
A low growl rolled out of Aly. She lunged forward without even shifting, like she was going to attack them barehanded.
"Aly, no," I said as I reached out to pull her back.
"Ben," she snarled. "That's Seth and Robby. I'm going to kill them."
"Easy, Aly," I said as my brain frantically scrambled for answers. The names were familiar, then the one on the left snarled and it all suddenly clicked. "Those morons just won't leave well enough alone, will they? We beat them at the orchard. We beat them at the field. Now they're back for more, eh?"
"Yeah," Aly grumbled, "and we'll give it to them. One last ass-kicking."
The cats slunk to the ground and started growling.
"Wait," Heather yelled.
All four of us stopped and looked at her in confusion. She looked distraught.
"You can't fight in here. I'll never get the blood out of the rug. What if it stains the tile?"
Aly placed a hand on her hip and tilted her head far to the side in disbelief. "Are you for real?"
"I'll have you know that rug is very expensive."
Aly and I looked at each other, then glanced at the pink and white rug.
"Go to the backyard," Heather insisted.
Aly and I shared another look, then shifted our focus to Seth and Robby. For a brief moment, the four of us were in complete agreement. This was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard of.
"This isn't some sort of spectator event, you know," I said.
"You don't get to choose the venue."
"If you don't get out, my guards will escort you." Heather looked from side to side. "Hopefully without blood. Please, just go."
"Your guards?" I asked slowly.
Heather waved her hand at the two cougars. "Them, of course. Now, go."
The four of us continued to stand there, staring at each other. I wanted nothing more than to get out of here with Aly. I could feel my wolf's confusion in the back of my head. Why weren't we leaving?
"Fine," Aly suddenly said, her voice bright. "We'll go out there."
I looked at her, surprised. "We will?"
"Sure, but they have to go first. I don't want them at my back."
The wheels were turning inside Heather's mind for a few long seconds. That calculating look I had seen earlier flashed in her eyes. "Fine, but you'll have to shift first. Give me all your clothes."
Aly and I looked at each other.
"Why?" I asked, suspiciously.
"You won't be able to go anywhere if you're naked."
"Yeah, yeah," Aly said, "let's do this thing."
When her hands went to the bottom of her shirt, I stepped in front of her. I was glad I did when I saw how closely the two cougars were watching her. I could remember the lingering smell of lust from that fight the day I arrived. They were way more interested than simple guard duty required.
"Make them leave." I gently took hold of Aly's hand to keep her from removing her shirt.
"No," Heather argued. "They're here for my safety."
"Make them wait in the hallway." My voice was hard. I wouldn't budge on this.
Heather studied me, then nodded. "Wait in the hallway."
One of the cougars lowered his ears in displeasure, the other simply turned and walked out. I noted the markings on the first. If we had a throw-down, I'd make sure to give him some extra-special attention.
Heather stomped her foot. "Now."
The cougar raised his lip in a silent snarl, but a noise from the one already in the hallway had him turn and step out.
The moment they couldn't see us, I let go of Aly's hand. I heard her clothing rustle as she yanked it off and threw the pieces to the floor. I had no idea if her keys or phone were in her pockets, but she was the one who agreed to shift, so I hoped she had some sort of plan.
I felt the brush of her fur against my fingers and looked at her. She gave a chirp and bumped my hand. My turn.
I put my hands on the elastic of my shorts and heard a low growl from Aly. I glanced down at her and saw she was staring at Heather. When I looked at the witch, I noticed her lips were parted and she was breathing quickly. Her eyes were glued to my shorts.
Aly growled again, a low, menacing sound.
"You too," I said.
Slowly, as if against her will, Heather drug her eyes up my body to meet my gaze. "What?"
"I think she wants you out of the room, too."
"But why—"
"No," I cut her off. "We aren't lovers. Never have been. Stop pretending. Are you going to step out of the room, or are we going to fight in here and get blood on your rug?"
She looked appalled as she spun around and stepped i
nto the hallway.
I pulled down my shorts and crouched as I stepped out of them. I leaned in by Aly's ear to urgently whisper to her, "I hope you have a plan. I can't smell a thing because of this damn perfume, but as far as I know, Rachael is the only other person in the house."
I gave her a fast kiss on the side of her furry face then shifted. I immediately started to sneeze as the horrid perfume assaulted my super-sensitive nose. After what felt like a never-ending sneeze-athon, I finally got myself under control.
When I looked up and met Aly's gaze, her ears were pricked. I was certain I saw amusement in her eyes. Figures. Cats. I heard a shoe slide on the floor by the door and bumped Aly with my nose. When she looked at me, I glanced at the door and back to her, telling her we were running out of time. I had no idea why Heather hadn't come in during my sneezing fit. Maybe it hadn't lasted as long as it felt.
"Are you almost done?" Heather groused from the hallway.
Aly bumped my shoulder with hers, her ears pricked up. Ready for action?
I gave a slight flick of my ear to the door. Let's do this.
Aly crouched slightly, then she leapt through the air. I raced after her. When she got to the door she charged Heather, who was just on her way inside.
The woman screamed as she fell, but Aly continued forward, jumping past Heather and away from the two cougars. I followed, jumping over Heather. I glanced back at her and saw she had climbed to her knees. Rachael was on the floor next to her, unconscious. That must have been who I saw Aly kick.
Heather was blocking the hallway as she struggled to get back on her high-heeled feet. She was wobbling so much it looked like one wrong move would lead to a snapped ankle.
"Go after them you morons," she screamed.
I glanced back again and saw the two cats staring at her. I knew it wouldn't take them long to simply jump over her. Why hadn't they already done so?
I wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I quickly turned my attention to following Aly. The hallway wasn't long, and it quickly reached an intersection where another hallway met it. Aly didn't hesitate—she kept running straight. I wondered if this was the way she had come in. I quickly glanced down the intersecting branch but didn't see anyone.