Magic Man

by Stone, Wendy

  Brady dropped his hand onto Joe’s shoulder, squeezing. “God, I’m so sorry, Joe. Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

  “You were busy trying to get into every girl’s pants you could. Besides, what Angie and I had, it was so special, so wonderful that I was afraid. Afraid that if anyone knew what I’d found in her, they’d take it away. And they did just that. It was only my faith in God, my belief in him that kept me going. I... I can still feel her blood on my hands, feel her squeezing my hand. I watched her die and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. She was my soul mate, Brady, and I watched her die without doing a damn thing.”

  “You were with her, Joe. You held her and made sure she wasn’t alone when she died. That means a lot.”

  “But it wasn’t enough.”

  “So you pledged your life to the church, became a priest to hide your pain behind a collar?”

  “That’s not what I’m doing,” Joe said quickly. “I looked for salvation through Christ. I gave my life to God because... because...”

  “Because what?” Brady pushed. “Because you were too afraid to try again? Because you couldn’t face me or anyone else to help you with your pain? Because you were running away?”

  “We aren’t having this conversation,” Joe said, turning away from Brady and walking down the dark tunnel.

  “So now you’re too scared to talk to me.” Brady pushed through the cobwebs and hurried to catch up with his friend. “You’re still running away. Did you ever think there might be more than one woman out there for you? Many people lose spouses and go on with their lives, finding someone new to fill that hole.”

  Joe turned, his eyes fierce in the beam of the flashlight. “I didn’t want anyone else, dammit! Don’t you understand that? Angie was my everything. I didn’t want to find someone new to take her place in my heart. The only thing that kept me going after she died was my faith that, if I believed in God enough, I’d be with her again in heaven.”

  “So instead of letting me help you through this, you packed up and left, running to the seminary school. You turned your back on your friends and went to God.”

  “Yes.” Joe shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you, Brady. I was a mess. I wanted to tell you, but every time I opened my mouth, it wouldn’t come out.”

  The men reached the end of the tunnel, finding a short ladder which led to a trap door. Brady grabbed Joe’s arm before he could climb the ladder. He pulled his friend into his arms, hugging him fiercely.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

  “It’s okay, Brady. I know if I told you, you’d have been there in a heartbeat.” He patted his friend on the back. “Come on, let’s get this done so you can get back to your soul mate.”

  * * * *

  Being alone in the cold, gloomy cell-like atmosphere of this room was definitely getting to her. Molly got up, hugging herself under the blanket she had wrapped around her. She shivered; spotting her clothes on the floor, she put them on, wishing she had a pair of socks for her feet.

  The pile of foodstuffs and bottled water caught her attention and she went to the table, sorting things. It was a way to keep busy and to be organized, a trait she learned from her white witch mother.

  She found a bundle that held clothes and almost squealed in delight when she spotted the thick white socks on top. Clutching them to her chest, she sank down on the side of the bed, snuggling her cold feet into the warmth of the socks.

  She picked up a bottle of water, opening it to sip. Then she went to the doorway, peering down the long tunnel to see if there was any light.

  “There you are!”

  Molly managed to get out one good scream as the man grabbed her from behind. Then he slapped one hand over her mouth while picking her up around the waist. She fought silently, using both her nails and her feet to beat on the man. Her struggles grew more frantic as the man pinched her nose closed, his hand still tight over her mouth so that she couldn’t breathe.

  She tried to free herself, using her elbows, her feet, anything to hurt the man enough that he would let go of her nose and give her lungs the precious air they craved. As a last resort, she started to change, her muzzle growing, her teeth changing to fangs. She bit the man, his blood filling her mouth, the coppery scent of the stuff in her nose.

  He screamed and released her, pulling out the long handled cattle prod that they liked to use. “Fucking bitch,” he screamed. “This will teach you to bite me.”

  Molly was in mid-change, the clothes she was wearing hampering her agility. She tried to run, but the socks she’d been so thrilled to find tangled around her paws. She fell on her side.

  Brady! she screamed in her mind as she felt the pointed electrodes touch her skin.

  * * * *

  Brady stopped climbing, staring down the long tunnel over his shoulder. “Did you hear that?”

  “Hear what?” Joe asked, waiting patiently for Brady to continue up the ladder. “I didn’t hear anything.”

  “I swear I heard a woman screaming,” Brady said, shaking his head.

  “I didn’t hear anything.” But he glanced back down the dark tunnel too. “I could go check.”

  They both stood silently, listening intently for any more noise. When there was nothing more, Brady kept moving and finally reached the trap door. The metal bars that had locked it were rusty and stiff from long years of non-use. The metal grated and screeched as he pulled them. He was pushing the door open when he felt it.

  Brady!

  It was so loud in his mind that he almost fell from the ladder, the trap door slipping out of his grasp as he held his head. “Shit,” he cried, grabbing onto a rung of the ladder. “She’s in trouble. Joe, we’ve got to go back.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Talk later,” he growled, his head still spinning from the force of her call. He jumped from the ladder, racing back the way they’d come, flashlight off.

  * * * *

  Molly tried to scream again as the man shocked her, but her body was beyond her control, her muscles quivering in spasms of pain. Her mouth was open but no sound came out. Her four legs shook terribly, extending straight out from her body. Then the pain was gone and she could breathe again, though parts of her still quivered in literal aftershock.

  She stumbled to her feet, turning to face the man with the prod. Unsteady, she knew she wouldn’t be successful attacking him and running was almost impossible. Even as a wolf, the stuns she received from the prods would make it difficult for her to do anything. She slunk back, teeth bared in a snarl, her tail between her legs.

  “Come on, nice girl, come here girl. Just step a little closer and I’ll get the noose on you and we can get out of this damn place.” He held the pole steady in one hand, the other on the trigger of the stunner.

  Molly growled from deep in her chest. Her fur was thick but it didn’t protect her from the prod. Brady! Help me! she screamed in her mind, snapping at the noose at the end of the pole. She got it in her teeth, shaking her head, trying to tear it away from the armed man.

  * * * *

  Brady skidded to a halt at the end of the tunnel, not sure what he would find in the small room. He heard growling and snarling and a strange male voice.

  “Good girl, just a little more.”

  Holding his hands together, he slowly pulled them apart. Between his palms, a red glow started to form. A circle of spinning flames grew to the size of a basketball.

  Molly yelped, and Brady stepped into the room, holding the globe of flames in his hands. He saw a man dressed all in black, pants tucked into combat boots. He had a knife at his waist, a nine millimeter pistol in a holster on his belt. In his hands, he held a cattle prod and a long pole with a loop at the end. The loop was in Molly’s mouth and she was trembling. As he watched, the man put the electrodes to her skin and pulled the small trigger.

  “Leave her alone!” he shouted, throwing the globe at the man.

  The flames enveloped
him. He screamed, dropping the cattle prod and the pole to beat at the flames on his clothing.

  Molly stood, spitting out the loop. She reached down and picked up the cattle prod with her teeth, crushing it in her powerful jaws.

  Brady grabbed the man, yanking his pistol from the holster even as he helped put him out. Setting the scorched man down on the chair, he put the pistol in his face. “Don’t give me the excuse, because I really want to pull this trigger.”

  The man gulped and held still.

  “By all that’s holy,” Joe exclaimed, entering the room. “Here.” He handed Brady a coil of rope from the pile where Molly had found the socks. Brady immediately began tying Molly’s attacker to the chair.

  “What are you going to do with him?” Father Joseph asked, helping him wrap the man in rope.

  “I’m going to question him. Then I’ll let Molly decide his fate. She was the one he hurt.”

  Molly growled ominously, her green eyes never leaving the man. Her long tongue slicked over her lips, as if she were trying to decide how he would taste.

  “No,” the man shook his head. “You can’t do that. She’ll kill me.”

  “If that’s what she wants, I’m all for it,” Brady said, shrugging. “Now you’re going to answer some questions for me and then maybe I can talk Molly out of making you a meal.”

  Molly pushed against Brady’s leg, creeping closer to the man in the chair. Her eyes lit up and she snapped at his leg, barely missing flesh and bone as she tore his charred pants in her teeth.

  “Okay, okay, just keep her back,” the man cried. He tried to move his leg but it was tied too tightly. “I don’t know what I can tell you.”

  “We can start with your boss.” Brady said, reaching down and stroking his hand in Molly’s fur.

  “His name is Dr. William Parnell.”

  Molly growled at the name, her startling green eyes growing even more fierce and focused. She stood against Brady’s side, letting his stroking hand calm her.

  “What agency does he work for?”

  “He doesn’t work for an agency. The man is rich, he does all of this on his own. Do you realize how long a lifespan these wolves have, not to mention the other animals he’s got in his lab?”

  “What does their lifespan have to do with torture and imprisonment?” Father Joe asked, stepping a little closer.

  “Dr. Parnell is working to find a way to take what is in their DNA that makes them live so long and inject it into a normal human. He would be able to lengthen anybody’s lifespan.”

  Molly growled, nudging Brady’s leg. Brady looked down into her eyes. “I don’t know what you want,” he said, frustrated.

  “I do,” Father Joseph said. “She wants to know how a flunkie like you could possible know all this. Does he trust just anybody with the knowledge of what he hopes to accomplish?”

  “I work in his lab. I guard the animals.” He paused as Molly let loose a snarl and surged forward “No! Don’t let her...”

  “Then don’t call her kind animals,” Brady growled, wanting to hit the man himself.

  “I’m sorry, really sorry,” he cried, trying to make his body small enough that she couldn’t get him. He jumped when her huge white fangs snapped closed next to his crotch. Shrieking, his feet slammed against the floor, knocking the chair over.

  Brady gave a cruel grin that sent chills up the man’s spine as Brady righted the chair. The man was almost blubbering.

  “Oh, stop it, she didn’t hurt you,” Brady snapped. “I want to know where this lab is.”

  “J-j-just o-outside of W-Wolverine, off h-h-highway t-ten,” the man stammered. “I-it’s up in t-the woods.”

  “You can find it?” Brady asked Molly, seeing the answer in her eyes. “Okay, now we know where we have to go. But what should we do about him? We let him go and he’ll be running back to this Parnell.”

  “Let me deal with him,” Joe said. “I’ll make sure he sees the error of his ways. He won’t be a threat.”

  “Oh God, you aren’t planning on giving him one of your world famous lectures, are you? Those should be banned by the Geneva Convention as cruel and unusual.” Brady chuckled when Joe narrowed his eyes.

  “When you get back, you’ll get your own lecture, my son. So shut the hell up.” He smiled when Brady laughed. “What are you going to tell Renee?”

  That sobered Brady up. “It’s a case. She’ll understand.”

  “But will she understand what I found you two doing in here earlier?”

  Brady glanced down at Molly, who seemed absorbed in watching her two front feet. He almost swore he could see a smile on her wolf face. “I don’t want to talk about that,” he said quietly.

  Joe smirked. “I brought down some clean clothes. They get donated to the church all the time and we hand them out to the needy in the area. I can’t think of anyone needier right now. Molly should get dressed and then we can see where that other tunnel comes out.”

  They waited while she changed, going down the tunnel for privacy. Brady stood close to the end of the tunnel, holding clothes. He could hear the creaks and crackles of her bones, hear her moan as she changed back to a woman. He couldn’t help but think of what had happened earlier in bed. She was amazing, free spirited and wild when it came to pleasure.

  He felt his cock twitch at the memory of the way she’d tasted, the depth of her passion, the way she’d felt around him when he’d plunged into her. He should feel guilty for what they’d done. He didn’t.

  A frown crossed his face. Why wasn’t he feeling guilty? He felt it when he used his magic on someone who didn’t deserve it. He felt it when he’d used it on Renee. Just a tiniest bit of magic to get her to become less restrained, more passionate and he’d felt guilty as hell for doing it.

  So why didn’t he feel terrible for what he’d done? So lost in thought was he that when Molly touched his shoulder, he jumped and spun around to confront her.

  She stood there gloriously naked in the dim light from the lamp on the table. Her body was pale, gleaming white in the shadows. She was perfection, with lush curves highlighted by the long curls of her fiery hair. He couldn’t stop staring; all thoughts of Renee flew from his head.

  “Brady?”

  “Yes,” he said absently, his eyes on the red curls that guarded her sex.

  “Can I have my clothes?”

  He looked down at the bundle of clothes he still held in his hands, than back at her. “Must you?”

  She laughed, the husky trill sending a shiver of lust down his spine. “I think we’d draw a bit too much attention if I left like this.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He glanced behind him, seeing the shadow of Joe on the wall. He was talking to their prisoner, and if he knew Joe, starting a lecture that would have the man’s ears bleeding. Turning back to Molly, he narrowed his eyes in concentration.

  Molly squeaked when she felt herself lifted into the air and taken to Brady. She laughed again when she felt his free hand slide around her waist, pulling her to him.

  “It’ll cost you a kiss,” he whispered, bending to speak into her ear. He couldn’t help but slip his tongue around the whorl of her ear before drawing her lobe into his mouth and nibbling on it.

  Molly shivered, but it wasn’t due to the cold. “Just a kiss?” she asked.

  “We don’t have time for anything more.” He groaned. She was pressed so intimately against him, he could feel every naked curve. It was so tempting an idea to just strip and push her against the wall, plunge his cock into the wetness he knew would be there. He could almost see it.

  When she groaned, her leg coming up around his waist, her body undulating against him, he knew she could feel his thoughts as if they were really happening. He knew she felt him slide his cock into her wet pussy, filling her with his girth. She moaned as he concentrated upon her breasts, thinking of how it would feel to suckle upon one of those ruby-colored nipples. A low growl came from her and her hands came up against his chest.


  “What are you doing to me?” she whispered, her voice husky with passion. “How can I feel your cock in me?

  He smiled, concentrating upon her pleasure. “Because I want you to,” he growled against her ear. “I want you to come for me. I want to hear you call my name.”

  Her body shuddered at his words and he closed his eyes, feeding her passion with his magic. It sparked and crackled around them, their auras blending. “It’s what you did to me,” he said, reminding her of the bit of witchcraft she’d performed in his office. “How does it feel?”

  “Oh God,” she growled, her nails digging into his shoulders as she rode one wave of bliss and then another. They kept coming, each one bigger and wilder than the last, until she threw back her head, her eyes closed tightly, her teeth biting into her lip to keep from screaming his name.

  He felt each of those waves as well, felt her climax almost as if it were his own. Her pleasure, her emotions, all seemed tied to his. Their auras merged, pulsed red, then a violent purple, then red once more.

  Brady held her against him, one hand still holding her clothes, his mind trying to figure out the connection he felt to her. He frowned, his mind going in circles.

  Then he felt her hand touching his face and looked down.

  “Why the frown?” she whispered, her fingers slipping over his mouth.

  He stared at her. It would be so easy to tell her, he realized. She would have some kind of answer, he was sure. But his feelings were too new, his confusion a bit too personal to confide. Not yet; not just yet.

  “I was hoping I didn’t stain my jeans,” he joked. “You should get dressed.” He handed her the clothes, stepping back. He tried not to see the hurt in her green eyes as he turned away. It wasn’t an escape from her so much as a way to flee his own feelings.