by E A Price
Bettina clapped her hands together. It was like trying to corral children. Not that she had experience in that area. She wasn’t a very maternal person – on being introduced to Lucie’s baby, she tried to shake her tiny hand and make small talk about the weather.
Speaking of… Lucie was casting hurt looks at Cutter. Wayne was warily watching Cutter while trying to calm Lucie. Cutter had his arms folded over his chest and was glowering at Wayne. Moose was virtually licking his wounds. Sydney was chewing on her lip. Kurt was arguing on the phone with his mom – Bettina knew her, so it wasn’t a surprise. While several of her witchy colleagues, Teena, Trina, and Mina were debating and arguing over what might be wrong with Cutter and Kurt.
To add to the noise, Rosie started wailing, and Lucie rocked her gently. “She’s hungry. I better go feed her.”
Cutter tracked her movements but didn’t move to help her or go with her. That was already pretty strange. Lucie could barely sneeze without Cutter leaping to try and protect her.
It was clear – neither Cutter nor Kurt could remember their mates.
“It’s probably something they ingested,” said Teena.
Trina patted Sydney’s hand reassuringly. “That makes sense. There are magical roots that can cause amnesia. I once fed Chad some drongo root to make him forget I crashed the car.” She grinned as she thought of her huge rhino shifter mate. “I’m sure there must be a…”
“But this is so specific,” interrupted Mina. “They only can’t remember their mates. Surely a spell is much more likely.”
“She’s not my mate,” growled Cutter. “I wouldn’t take a mate.”
Wayne gave him a sour look. “Well, you did, and she is.”
Moose grunted in agreement and rubbed his jaw. Took the two of them to drag him to see Bettina, during which time the wolf didn’t hold back on the punches.
“But why these two?” said Teena.
Kurt looked at Sydney – he was much more reasonable than Cutter and could just about bring himself to believe he was engaged to her. “Maybe someone who wanted to break us up.” His eyes swiveled to Trina.
“Oh, please!” snapped Trina, rubbing her giant, pregnant with half-rhino twins, stomach. “I’m mated to Chad – I could care less what you do.”
“And why would anyone want to break up Cutter and Lucie?” added Teena. The unspoken consensus was that no other woman on the planet would want to be mated to him. “Unless someone wanted to get Lucie away from him…”
They all held their breaths and glanced at Cutter. He shuffled slightly but didn’t blow up – as he normally would. Everyone, breathing out in relief, turned to Bettina.
“I think,” she said slowly, “that most likely this is something either ingested or inhaled.” It was the most effective way of infecting someone with this kind of spell. She’d once arrested a witch who used shaving cream to infect people with lust spells. Dangerous spells they were too – made the infected person try to hump anything in sight – one of the infectees very nearly had a close encounter with a tree.
“Let’s eliminate food first,” which was the easiest route to go down, “ and we’ll take it from there.”
*
“Come on down, little penguin,” crooned Arik as he prowled up and down, a delighted smile on his face.
“Director Howell!”
He was enjoying himself. The lunatic was enjoying himself!
Yep, one moment they were talking and the next he was shedding his clothes, turning into a polar bear and chasing her. She’d clambered up on top of a file cabinet, but it wasn’t likely to keep him away for long. Not if the determined look on his face was anything to go by.
He had shifted back to human and was now walking up and down, naked and proud, but still every inch a predator. Indeed, he looked like he wanted to swallow her whole. Had he lost his mind?! They’d known each other for a month, and all of a sudden he forgot who she was and then started chasing her around.
“Little penguin…”
“Help?” she squeaked.
The zombies she worked with, stared at them. If she didn’t know any better, she’d swear they were enjoying themselves!
*
Sydney peeked at Kurt over the magazine she was pretending to read. She couldn’t possibly concentrate on work and was, unfortunately, trying to read a bridal magazine to get her mind off the possibility that Kurt may not ever remember her. Of course, the darn magazine just made her realize that the wedding may be off completely…
Nope, not going to think like that. She knew things were a little hectic because of the wedding, and they hadn’t been spending much time together, but she hoped that he came back to her and quickly.
*
Trina was rocking Rosie while Lucie worried.
They had narrowed down what Cutter had eaten to the blueberry muffins that Kurt and Arik had also eaten. Wayne and Bettina were headed for the coffee shop where Wayne bought them. Cutter – never someone who could sit still for long was trying to track down Arik with Moose.
He wasn’t good at relaxing she thought fondly. During her pregnancy, she had to make sure he was occupied until the very last moment – otherwise, he would have driven himself crazy with worry.
Her hedgehog mewled. She was trying to be optimistic, but it was hard. When they first met, Cutter had been difficult, refusing to heed the mating pull – believing he wouldn’t make a good mate, believing that he wouldn’t be able to control himself and would hurt Lucie. It took a lot of effort to persuade him otherwise – took her over a year. Would she have to persuade him again? And what about Rosie? Would he ever really accept her? No, that was too horrible a thought. But how long could she and Rosie manage without him?
*
Meli cried happily as Martin cuddled her. Everything was wonderful – hearts and roses and cupcakes and sprinkles! Yes, Martin was still going to Africa, but she had misunderstood; he wasn’t leaving her, he wanted her to go with him. While she had a few misgivings about that, she had said yes. She didn’t want to be apart from him. He was her soul mate.
She breathed out in relief. To think how close she came to eating those blueberry muffins… Oh crap, the muffins!
She flinched as a petite scowling woman with purple hair, and a large, rangy shifter strode through the front door. Oh, she recognized that shifter – he was a regular and the one who ordered the muffins.
The purple haired woman zeroed in on her with an almost preternatural knowledge of her guilt and narrowed her eyes. Meli jumped up guiltily as the woman walked over and slapped a hand on the table.
“Explain. Now,” the woman demanded.
Meli tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace.
*
Kurt darted a few looks at Sydney. Or rather, he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. She was young, but yeah, she was gorgeous. He groaned as she started chewing on her plump bottom lip and as he lifted his hand to grab his can of soda, he made it explode.
The soda drenched Mina and Teena who glared at him.
“Ah, whoops?”
*
Moose gave Cutter a cautious look. “You know Lucie is a really…”
“Can it,” snarled Cutter as they walked towards records. “A mole shifter said he saw Arik making his way down here and…”
They both stilled as they heard a loud ‘eep’ swiftly followed by a growl that definitely sounded like a polar bear. Crystal barreled out of the swing door, looking more than a little disheveled.
“Out the way, idiots!” she cried as she fled toward the elevators.
Seconds later an enormous polar bear exploded through the door, hot on her heels.
*
Bettina joined Wayne outside the coffee shop. He stubbed out his cigarette.
They weren’t arresting the young woman, but Bettina had shouted at her for a solid thirty minutes, bound her magic indefinitely, slapped her with a magical cuff that wouldn’t allow her to leave the city, and told her to attend magic misuse classes. The girl’s loud s
obs could be heard outside.
“Stupid Witchbay,” muttered Bettina.
Meli had shown her the listing where she bought the ‘forget me quick’ mixture. Bettina thumbed through the listing on her phone, scowling at it.
Forget your true love. Simply bake this concoction into something sweet, and hey presto, your memories of the one you love most will be gone forever. Disclaimer, effects of amnesia may or may not last forever. Warning, there is no known oral antidote.
“Can we arrest the person who sold her the substance?” asked Wayne.
Bettina sighed. “Nope, this kind of stuff isn’t illegal – it’s illegal to give it to someone else without their knowledge, but if you want to take it yourself, then that’s up to you – and I can kind of understand the impulse.” Her eyes darkened. “The witch council doesn’t care if you want to forget your own mate, but grudgingly won’t allow you to force others to forget theirs.”
He grunted. “We could still arrest her.”
“That girl is just a lovelorn idiot – she had no intention to give it to anyone. I suppose we could arrest and charge her with negligence – but I reckon the outcome will be the same, and will just be extra paperwork for us. I’ll talk to Director Melinda,” who oversaw magical issues and witches in the SEA, “and see if she wants her to be charged. Don’t worry; I’ll put the girl through her paces before I allow her to use magic again.” Bettina smirked. “If I allow her to use magic again.”
Wayne checked his phone as it buzzed and winced, flipping through a few photos. “Looks like they found Arik. It appears he is affected too.”
Bettina cocked her head to one side. She didn’t know Arik well. On the one hand, he seemed a pretty calm sort of guy. On the other, a disoriented polar bear was never a good thing. “Is it bad?”
“Ah…”
*
Moose and Cutter glared at Arik. He was pacing up and down the cell, completely naked. Getting the polar bear there had not been easy, and they had to call on half the tactical team to do it. The big guy wanted to chase Crystal all over the building and had managed to tear apart six rooms and the canteen before they stopped him. The staff in the canteen were threatening to quit, which given the state of their food wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“Let me out now, that’s an order!” growled Arik.
“Yeah, sure,” muttered Cutter.
Crystal was upstairs, catching her breath and talking to Lucie. Cutter’s insides clenched as he thought of the little hedgehog.
His wolf howled at him in anger. Nothing new there – his beast was always angry. But this was different. Something wasn’t quite right. That female and her baby… were they really his? Everyone seemed to think so. Could they all be lying? It seemed unlikely, but he didn’t trust very easily.
Neither he nor his wolf was sure, though his wolf would like them to be his. The female was beautiful, and seemed so kind and gentle… why would she be with him?
*
Bettina looked at the dismayed expressions on Sydney and Lucie’s faces and tried not to grimace. Kurt had been causing a bit of havoc given that his magic was off-kilter – he’d turned two file cabinets into a lawnmower and a trampoline, set several fires and managed to explode the break room coffee pot. No one was particularly bothered by the latter – given the taste of the coffee – but Mina and Teena decided it was safer to get him out of the building. Bettina had called and spoken to him, and he understood the situation – he was a witch, he knew how tricky these kinds of things could be. It was just easier to deal with when it was happening to someone other than yourself.
But, apparently wonky magic was something that happened when he met Sydney the first time, so it appeared that, while Kurt couldn’t remember Sydney, the magical concoction hadn’t affected his natural reaction to her. Perhaps they had a chance to fall in love again… though it wasn’t ideal.
Bettina still had to break this to Cutter, but the volatile wolf was actually easier to deal with than his tearful mate. Yes, Cutter seemed to be in complete denial about the whole thing. He wasn’t interested in talking to Lucie, never mind anything else. This was a guy who up until that morning could barely go an hour without calling his mate.
As for Arik… yeah, she had no clue. Cutter and Kurt seemed to have reset back to how they were when they first met their mates, but Arik… she honestly couldn’t recall him chasing Crystal over the building the last time they met.
Was he in love with Crystal? Is that why he didn’t remember her?
*
Just over a month ago
Arik glared at the ceiling. His bossy sister was giving him another lecture. Growing up, he’d always just told her to shut her pie hole, but given that she was allowing him to live in her house while he hammered out his divorce, he didn’t really feel like he could. He’d save all his ‘shut your pie holes’ until he had moved out and could give them to her all at once.
His brother-in-law and his brothers – all brown bears - chuckled. They were probably just pleased it wasn’t one of them getting the lecture.
She was chastising him over his choice of bride, and his lack of a prenuptial agreement. Though strangely, his sister hadn’t wanted a prenuptial agreement for her mating, but then he imagined her mate would never dare leave or fall out of love with her.
Arik didn’t need to hear it from her – he and his bear were already kicking himself. Not that his wife was really to blame for the mess he found himself in. They parted on quite amicable terms. They had simply married too young and too hurriedly in an arranged mating and were no longer in love. She had met someone else, and now they were divorcing. The problem was that her uncle – her clan leader – was a greedy bastard, and was trying to wring as much money out of Arik and his clan as possible. He was trying to make all sorts of claims about Arik – claiming that he had affairs and mistreated his wife. His bear sneered. Total bull, of course, but Arik’s financials were in flux while he tried to get through his divorce unscathed. If the old bastard found anything that could warrant it, he would gladly take all of Arik’s clan’s money and businesses.
Thinking distance would help, Arik was glad to take the promotion at work and move to Los Lobos. It just meant staying with his judgmental sister and being a babysitter to her unruly offspring.
His sister was just getting warmed up when his inner bear growled. He heard the sound of something crashing to the ground.
“You hear that?” he asked.
His sister snorted. “Hear what?”
“That.”
He strode out of the house with his sister and brother-in-law hot on his heels.
“What’s going on out there?” called his sister.
He peered around in the dark. All their cars were there and seemed intact but… His polar bear howled as he scented the air. There was something wonderful in the air, something so sweet and enchanting. It was vanilla and cinnamon and made his whole body tremble.
“Mine,” he breathed.
“Arik?” said his sister cautiously.
He heard a sound near the trash cans and caught sight of movement in the darkness. A female. His female. A penguin shifter. She was running. He had to get to her. To catch her. To make her his.
“Mine,” he growled a little more loudly.
“Uh oh.”
He started bounding after the escaping female. His polar bear was elated. She was his mate, and she was running from him! What more could he want?
It was dark, but he caught sight of her delicious ass bouncing as she tried to run from him. Well, she wasn’t going to get far. He was going to catch her and…
“Grrr!”
His brother-in-law had jumped on his back. Damn brown bear. His weight slowed Arik down but didn’t stop him. Nope, his female was in his sights and he…
“Rawr!”
The brown bear’s brothers grabbed his arms and were trying to stop him. One brown bear wasn’t so bad; three was another matter. His own bear snarled in frustratio
n as he tried to catch the female with three brown bears hanging off his body. It was like wading through quicksand.
The female was getting away! She was in her car and driving away. Damnit!
Arik threw back his head and howled into the sky. Then he snarled at the brown bears. They were going to pay for this.
“Arik!” snapped his sister. “What on earth are you doing?”
“Mine,” he snarled.
“Maybe so,” she sighed, “but you’re still married and if you go after that woman and mate with her before you’re divorced…”
Then his wife’s asshole clan leader would take everything from Arik’s clan. He would leave families of polar bears homeless and unemployed. But… mate growled his beast.
His chest heaved as he breathed in and out deeply.
“Arik, I get it. Your first instinct is to chase her and claim her, but you can’t until you’re officially divorced.”
He snorted. His bear didn’t agree, but sadly, his irritating older sister was making sense. No, he couldn’t risk so many other lives for the sake of a month or two. He would just have to bide his time and wait until he could claim her.
At least he had her number plate memorized. He would find her, and he would keep an eye on her until he could finally make her his…
*
Currently
Crystal pushed open the door, and Arik looked up, a huge grin on his face.
Moose fidgeted. “Ah, not sure this is a good idea.”
Nor was she. Her sides still hurt from trying to run away from Arik earlier, but at least there were some bars separating them now.
“Please, just let me talk to him.”
“You heard her; beat it,” smirked Arik.
Moose huffed and left. Now it was just the two of them. One very confused penguin shifter and an extremely naked polar bear shifter.
“So ah…”
“Hello, pretty penguin.”
His eyes swirled dark brown, and his whole body seemed to quiver. Oh, why couldn’t he put clothes on? He was divine to look at and so very distracting.
“Ummm, Bettina has this insane idea that you love me or something, and you ate something that made you forget me… ummm…”