Magic Man

by Stone, Wendy

  “Okay,” she said, unwilling to argue with him even though she could almost feel the pain of those trapped in the buildings below. Before she backed completely away, she sent a thought to them, letting them know she was here, that she was going to help.

  A loud cacophony of sound came from the building she knew housed the rest of the Weres. She smiled. Her message had gotten through.

  She followed Brady to where they’d left their borrowed wheels, on a back road in the middle of nowhere. Climbing in, she waited until he’d started it, sitting in the passenger seat and saying a small prayer of thanks to her gods that they were still okay.

  “What are you smiling at?” Brady asked, reaching over and tugging gently on one stray strand of fiery hair.

  “I was just thinking what a multi-talented person you are. You pull bunnies out of thin air and can make a girl squeal in pleasure with the same casual aplomb.” She laughed as his ears turned red. He reached out and touched the ignition with his fingers, a spark traveling from the end of his finger and into the switch. The car started with a roar and he put it into gear, anxious to get away. He could almost smell it, the antiseptic smell of illness and death.

  It coated that place, made the neatly placed white boxes of the buildings seem darker, evil. Bad things happened there. That knowledge made him almost physically ill. He couldn’t help but wonder what Joseph would think right now and what his advice to him would be. The priest would be shocked that such things could actually happen in this day and age.

  Brady could almost hear his advice. “Stay away from that place, Brady, or else you could be the next one in it.”

  “Never,” he whispered.

  “Huh?” Molly asked from her side of the car, where she was trying to plot their position so that they could find it easier later.

  “I’m sorry, I was just thinking what Joe would say if he could have seen that place.”

  “He’d probably think I belonged there and that you should take me back personally and collect the reward,” she sighed, thinking of the handsome priest and his ideas on witches and werewolves.

  “There’s a reward?” Brady asked.

  “Hey,” Molly turned toward him. “Don’t even think about it.”

  “Well, no one told me there was a reward,” he griped, picking on her a bit.

  “You are so not funny,” Molly growled, the green in her eyes swirling.

  “It was a bit funny,” Brady said with a grin. “You know it was.”

  “Not even a smidge funny.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

  “You wouldn’t even if you could, Molly.” He leaned over, looking away from the road for a second to pull her to him for a kiss. “You’d miss me keeping you warm at night.”

  “I could get an electric blanket,” she snapped, though she did kiss him again. “Now watch the road,” she said with a small smile.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he replied. “You’re the boss.”

  The trip back to their motel took very little time. Molly sank down in the seat every time a car passed, though since it was getting darker she was pretty sure she wouldn’t be spotted. “So what do we do next?” she asked.

  “Well, we’re going to go and buy a couple of those pre-paid cell phones. I need to get some information and since I can’t use my own system, we’re going to have to hit an internet café somewhere. Then I figured dinner and bed. I’m starving.”

  Molly reached out and plucked a stray leaf from his dark hair, twirling the stem in her fingers as she sank into her thoughts. “Do you think I could use one of the phones to call my brother? He’s got to be worried sick about us.”

  “Brother? I didn’t know you had a brother.”

  “He’s my half-brother on my father’s side, from his first mating. But I know he’s worried. We’ve never gone this long without speaking.” Molly hit the window button and let it roll down a few inches, holding the pretty red-speckled yellow leaf up so that it caught in the wind. It pulled out of her fingers with a sound like paper flying in the wind. Then it was gone and she rolled the window up again.

  “You can’t tell him where we are,” Brady warned. “If his phone’s been tapped and I’ll almost bet you that it has, telling him would bring them down on top of us. Okay?”

  “B-but Nashe might be able to help,” she said softly.

  “I know, baby, and I know you’re worried about your sister as well. We can’t just rush in there all willy-nilly and rescue them. I wish we could. But that might end up with us thrown in cells for their amusement as well.”

  “I couldn’t do that again,” Molly said, her face going pale as she thought of the horror of captivity. “I just couldn’t survive it again.”

  “I know,” he said, reaching out and covering her hand with one of his and giving it a gentle squeeze. “So, we’ll go buy the phones, dump this car somewhere and pick up a new one. Then we’ll find a café and I’ll buy you a coffee. We’ll take this slow and carefully and we’ll get Tallie back so you can take her home.”

  “Then you can go back to your fiancée,” Molly said, feeling a strange pang like pain near her heart. “And back to the life you knew before I ran into you on the street.”

  “Yeah,” Brady said, feeling a pang of his own. His was of guilt, because he hadn’t thought of Renee in a very long time. Not much at all since he’d run into the pretty little witch on the streets. Definitely not since the basement, where he’d made love to her. “I guess I should call her as well.”

  “Yeah, she’s probably worried about you.”

  Brady sighed, but didn’t answer. She probably was worried about him. He pushed the thought away. “What sounds good for dinner?”

  “I don’t care,” Molly said. “The one thing good about being partially Were. We eat anything.” She didn’t tell him that she’d been craving a nice rare, juicy steak more than anything else in the past day or so. It meant that her protein levels weren’t being kept at a consistent rate and her body craved red meat.

  “Okay then,” Brady said. They drove passed their motel before turning around and stopping in a restaurant. It was sit-down style and a little on the swanky side, but they’d been frugal so far. He wanted to take her out someplace nice, wine and dine her a bit.

  He found a spot to park in the back and then helped her out of the car, brushing bark and grass and stray leaves off her from being under the log. “Come on, gorgeous,” he said finally, holding out his arm. “I’m hungry.”

  The hostess looked at them oddly for a moment and then shrugged, showing them to a quiet booth in a corner where they could talk undisturbed. She handed them each a menu and took their drink order, nodding her approval when Brady chose a Yamhill-Carlton Pinot-noire.

  Then she left them to peruse their menu, promising to send over their server right away.

  “Nice place,” Molly said, opening her menu as she glanced around. “There are no prices,” she said, staring at the neatly printed entrees.

  “The prices are on my menu,” he said. “It’s to keep you women from worrying about pennies when you’re out having fun.”

  “Okay, since you have the prices, you choose my meal,” she growled, sitting back and closing her menu, placing it neatly on the table near her silverware.

  Brady glanced down at the menu then eyed his companion. With a smile, he closed his own menu and reached across the table, snaring her hand with his own. Playing with her fingers, they sat in a comfortable silence, each lost in their own thoughts until the waitress arrived.

  She was an attractive brunette who smiled widely at Brady with an “I’m available” look that drove Molly nuts.

  She got a watered-down version of that smile, much more lukewarm than the one given to him. “How are you tonight?” the brunette asked. Her name tag read Rita.

  Molly murmered some comment, distracted by Rita’s large double D breasts, which seemed to defy gravity and float upward on her chest. She glanced over at Brady and felt a smal
l spurt of aggravation at the slightly goofy look upon his face.

  Rita’s white blouse was too tight and pulled across her large breasts as if straining to hold back a flood. She wore tight black pants that seemed painted on her rounded ass and long legs. Molly looked around the room and noted that Brady wasn’t the only one affected by this one’s abundant charms. She still gave Brady a kick under the table.

  “Ow,” he said, reaching down to rub his shin and then giving her a glare. He gave their dinner order to Rita and finally turned back to her when the curvaceous brunette finally took her leave, glancing over her shoulder at him.

  “What are you, two?” Molly growled. “Dammit!”

  “What’d you kick me for?” he growled right back.

  “I thought you might want to pull your tongue off the floor and shove it back in your mouth before that brunette bimbo tripped over it. Of course, with those boobs, she’d probably just bounce back up.”

  “Is that what this is about? I found a waitress attractive so you have to get grouchy?” he asked.

  “Found her attractive? I thought you were going to push me out of the booth and invite her to eat with you.” She snarled deep in her throat, feeling the wolf pushing against her control.

  “It wasn’t that bad,” he snapped right back.

  “It’s not any of my business,” she said suddenly, her face paling. “I have no claim on you. You’re doing me a huge favor by taking this case. You are my employee, not my lover,” she said.

  “I am too your lover,” he roared, pissed off by her dismissive attitude of their relationship.

  “Brady, you’re making a scene,” she said softly, looking around the restaurant. “Keep it together, we don’t need anyone noticing us.”

  “Then admit that we have more than an employee/employer relationship,” he said, his voice lower. “Admit that you mean something to me and I do to you,” he dared.

  “You do mean something to me, Brady,” Molly said softly

  As soon as she spoke, it began to rain outside, the skies opening and letting loose a deluge that reduced visibility to nil. Lightning flashed and thunder crashed, sending the lights in the room flickering. Conversations were drowned out and in the corner, one woman let loose with a small shriek.

  “But,” Molly added slowly, reluctant to discuss something that had been bothering her a lot. “You don’t belong to me, no matter how much I might wish you to.”

  “I belong to no one but myself,” he said belligerently.

  “The ring you put on Renee’s finger says you belong to her. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all,” she said, glancing around the room. “Maybe we should just go.”

  “But we’ve just ordered and you haven’t even tried the wine yet,” Brady said, reaching out and taking her hand. This time he ignored Rita when she came with the glasses and the wine bottle, opened to breathe in a silver champagne holder. It was poured and tasted, okay’d by Brady and then she left once more, adding a bit more wiggle to her walk to try to recapture Brady’s interest.

  It didn’t work. His eyes were firmly entrenched on Molly. Molly glanced over, watching as Rita looked back to see if she was still center of attention and smiled when the woman almost snarled in rage.

  “You have to admit, those tits of hers are something else.”

  Molly chuckled. “They aren’t real,” she said, leaning across the table like she was sharing a secret. While she was that close, she brought her other hand up and caressed his face, ending with a lingering kiss, breaking the hold Rita and her magic tits had on him.

  “Mmm,” he hummed when she sat back. His eyes were still closed and he licked his lips, as if savoring her taste. “Rita who?”

  “Good answer,” Molly giggled, watching him grin as he opened his eyes and stared at her. His eyes were dreamy. He couldn’t stop touching her, holding her hand or laying his hand across her arm. His foot moved, rubbing against hers under the table.

  He refused to talk about the case or how they were going to get into the enclosure. That would still be there to deal with tomorrow. Tonight, he asked about her, curious as to how she grew up. “Who was your first kiss?” he asked, stopping when the buxom waitress brought their food.

  Molly could smell the steak before it came out of the kitchen. Her mouth watered and her wolf howled from deep inside, sharing her pleasure. When it was placed before her, cooked rare and beautifully pink inside, the juices oozing onto the plate, she thought she’d lose control and change in public.

  It took a lot of concentration but she managed to hold back, though her green eyes changed briefly, the dark brown that ringed her iris growing more pronounced.

  “Are you okay?” Brady asked, reaching over to touch her hand.

  She nodded, unsure of her voice.

  “Molly,” he said again, insisting on eye contact. He stared at the swirled colors in her eyes and she could see the alarm on his face. “What’s wrong?”

  “My wolf has been craving red meat for a long time,” she whispered. “I’m having a bit of trouble controlling her.”

  Brady gave a start and took a good look at her. “Would it be better to take it back to the room? I could get the waitress to make it to go.”

  “No!” she snapped, then shook herself, seeming to come out of some kind of trance. “If she tried to take it away, I might do something bad. I’d know she’s bringing it back but I don’t know if I could translate that to my wolf right now.”

  Brady felt something under his hand and looked. The hand he’d been holding had sprouted fur, half-changing to a red wolf paw. He could see the fur growing up her arm. “Oh shit, Molly, your arm is changing.”

  Molly started, pulling her hand under the cover of the table and its long white cloth. “Could you cut me a piece of it,” she asked, nodding at the gloriously spiced meat.

  Brady did, feeding it to her and seeing her eyes shut in ecstasy. She moaned deep in her throat and he felt his cock harden in his pants. There was just something incredibly sexy about the way she ate.

  “Another, please?” Molly asked, blinking her bright leaf-green eyes at him.

  He placed the rare meat on her tongue and again heard that same purring little growl of pleasure. “You sound like you do after we make love,” he whispered to her as she opened her eyes.

  “I feel like I do before we make love,” she whispered back. Kicking off her shoe, she slid her foot up his leg, trailing it over the seam of his pants until her foot was in his lap, the hardness of his erection under her toes. “Is this for me or for Rita?”

  “It’s all yours,” he groaned, his eyes closing as sensation rolled through him. Lifting his glass, he watched her do the same, her hand once more human. “To what comes next,” he said, clinking his glass with hers.

  “Wouldn’t that be better as to who comes next?” she teased. She sipped the wine, a small drop of it catching on her lip. Before she could lick it away, Brady leaned forward, his tongue coming out to catch the drip and then to lick inside her mouth, tasting the lushness of her passion and its dark flavor.

  “Is everything okay here?” Rita asked, her murderous blue eyes blaring a warning at Molly. Molly blinked back, suddenly noticing something else about the young waitress.

  “What pack?” she asked, certain her instincts were correct.

  “I don’t belong to a pack,” Rita snapped, not even bothering to deny her true nature. “I’m a loner.”

  “Loners don’t make it long out here, Rita. You’d better find a pack.” Molly dug a piece of paper and a pen out of her bag and wrote down a name and a number. “Call him, he can get you a job at a great restaurant and he can help to make sure you’re okay.”

  “Why would you want to help me?” Rita asked, obviously surprised. She stared at the number and the name.

  “Because I know what it’s like to be alone and helpless and it isn’t something I liked the feeling of. Call him, he’s my brother. He’ll make sure you get a place to stay and a job a
t a restaurant much nicer than this one.”

  “I will,” Rita said, tucking the slip of paper down inside her cleavage. Molly could sense that she meant it and wondered at the instant trust between them. It was bewildering, but she couldn’t deny that it felt right and natural. “Thank you.”

  “Could you put the rest of this in a doggie bag?” Brady asked, seeing that Molly had calmed down and had control of her wolf.

  “Yeah, sure.” Rita took their plates before Molly had a chance to speak.

  “What are you doing? I’m fine now, my wolf is under control.”

  “Yeah, I know. So when we get back to that room, I’m going to let you eat your dinner using me as a plate,” he said, his eyes sparkling.

  “Do I get to lick my plate too?” Molly asked, hearing him groan and smiling when he nodded.

  It took only a few moments before Rita was back. By that time, Molly had Brady extremely worked up. He was ready to just throw some money at the bill and rush out of the restaurant in his hurry to get back to the hotel.

  “I’ve taken care of this,” Rita said, refusing his money and handing him the big bag. “I also threw in some dessert I think that you’ll enjoy.”

  “Thank you,” Molly said.

  “No,” Rita said, reaching out and hugging Molly. “Thank you. You’re right, it’s scary alone. You two be careful. There’s been a van load of scientist types hanging around the area and they smell wrong. Dangerous, maybe even evil. I can’t explain why. I think there’s something going on up in the mountains, but I’m not sure what it is.”