My blood thrummed as the CLS genes activated, and the million shadows gathered and spread. I could feel the moon in her fullness peeking from the other side of the world, calling to me to change and howl.
“It’s not private enough here,” I said through clenched teeth. I closed my eyes and willed the change not to happen, not here in front of him, and especially not in a place with huge glass windows where anyone could see.
“Kyra, what’s wrong?” Jared asked.
“I don’t know if I can stop it,” I told him. When I opened my eyes, the shop looked different, and the shifting between wolf and human vision, back and forth, made me dizzy. “I can’t. It’s happening.”
Veronica pushed a button beside the door, and curtains descended between the shelves and the windows. She pulled the one down over the door as well. With only the iridescent lights—she’d not used the ceiling fluorescents—the sense of twilight increased the urge. I fumbled for my shirt buttons, but my hands wouldn’t—couldn’t—obey. I dropped to all fours and crawled behind the counter.
“Veronica, undress me,” I gasped.
“My arthritic fingers can’t handle your little buttons. He’ll have to do it.”
Oh, gods, this isn’t how I imagined this would happen.
“What?” Jared asked.
My skin tingled. “You need to help me out of my clothes. And hurry.”
I didn’t have time to think about the swiftness with which he undressed me—as if he got women out of their clothes all the time—but I did appreciate his gentleness in spite of his hands trembling. With desire or revulsion, I don’t know, but I appreciated it. Then he stepped back, leaving me alone and naked, and I’m sure covered in a full-body blush of shame mixed with desire.
“Now what?” he asked. His voice sounded far away.
“We wait,” Veronica said. “You can’t watch the change—that’s only reserved for those whom the lycanthrope trusts absolutely.”
He moved from behind the counter. Then it happened, the pushing, pulling, prodding agony of transformation that the full moon gave force and swiftness. I panted on the floor of the counter and noticed his scent and mine mingling on my clothes. The sensation sparked my desire for him into a flame, and I decided that even if disappointment ensued, it was worth it to have him just once.
I trotted out from behind the counter. The stones on the shelves glowed, each with their own spirit and color, but none as brightly or as enticingly as Jared’s eyes, which to my wolf vision sparked emerald green.
“Is that her?” he asked. To his credit, he’d stepped in front of Veronica as if to protect her from whatever I’d turned into. I appreciated his instinct even if his lack of trust in me hurt. But then, I was a wild animal.
“It is. She is.” Veronica moved around him. “May I touch you?” she asked me.
I nodded and couldn’t help but sniff her offered hand. I’d never smelled magic before. Hers had an earthy scent, like the ground after a good rain woke the roots and seeds.
As for Jared, he smelled like a gathering thunderstorm that needed release in a dramatic display of lightning and sheets of rain.
Speaking of sheets…
But I couldn’t follow the thought because Veronica placed her hand on my head. I flinched away from it at first, but with a huff, allowed her. No one had touched me when I was a wolf, not even members of my pack, but I understood that she needed to in order to show Jared I was no threat.
Well, not in the biting sense, unless he was into that sort of thing.
“She’s still Kyra even though she is a gorgeous wolf,” Veronica said. “She has a different kind of magic almost as powerful as yours.”
He moved around me, careful not to step on my tail, and looked behind the counter. Veronica moved her hand from my head, and I stifled a growl. Then he stood in front of me, and I looked up at him.
“Kyra, is that you?” he asked. There was a sense of wonder to his voice, but he shifted his weight to his back leg as though preparing to jump back.
I nodded, then decided to try and see if I could telepathically speak to him like I had when he’d projected into Nona’s house.
“It’s me. I’m the same wolf you saw last night in your dream.”
His quick intake of breath told me he’d heard me. “How is this possible?” he asked.
“Is she speaking to you? If so, let her.” Veronica moved to sit behind the counter. She sounded weary.
“You can’t hear her?” he asked.
“No, she is speaking only to you.”
He knelt in front of me.
“You may touch me,” I said.
He reached out a hand, then drew it back. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Please touch me.”
Even his dimples when he smiled seemed magical to me in my state. “I thought you’d never ask.”
He ran his fingers lightly over my head and down my back. I wanted to lick him but thought that would be too dog-like, even if I wanted to taste him. Then he ran his hand over the soft fur of my throat and chest, and I did get a quick swipe of my tongue in. He tasted of the ocean salt with the sweetness of rainwater underneath.
“Kyra, we’re about to have company,” Veronica warned.
I pulled away from Jared’s questing touch.
“We’ll continue this later,” I promised him.
“I’ll hold you to that,” he murmured.
“And you.”
“I’m counting on it.”
Veronica moved out of the way and allowed me to change back behind the counter. I had just re-dressed and was putting on my shoes when three knocks came at the door.
“Miss Chalice?” a voice called. I recognized the policeman from the day before.
“In a moment!” She turned to me. “Are you all right, dear?”
“I think so. Are you?” I asked Jared.
He grinned. “I definitely am. That was amazing. I had no idea you were a woman of such talent.”
“Oh, you have no idea.”
Veronica opened the door, and the young cop came in with two others. “We need to bring you down to the station for more questioning, ma’am. We’ve found evidence that your former employee, Miss Crystal LaForge, was poisoned.”
10
Undressing the Truth
“Is this an arrest?” Jared asked.
The policeman turned to him, and his eyes widened. “Um, no sir, she’s simply a person of interest.”
“Regardless, I’m going to arrange for her to have legal counsel with her.” He pulled his phone from his pocket.
Before he could call, Veronica said, “That will not be necessary, although I appreciate your offer of help.”
“It’s not just for you,” he told her, but his gentle tone took the bite from his words. “Although I’m in no way involved, and neither is Kyra, it’s best for everyone if we go ahead and have legal advice from the beginning.”
At my name, the policemen whispered among themselves.
“What is it?” Jared asked.
“We got a tip that she might be involved as well.”
“That’s ridiculous. And she’s not feeling well, so she can’t go with you today.” He called, and after a few short exchanges, hung up. “One of my attorneys will meet you at the station, Veronica.”
The policemen’s eyes had widened with each word, and I suspected they feared being turned into newts less than Jared’s legal counsel. I couldn’t do much, just sit on the stool and watch.
“I can take care of the store,” I told her.
“Don’t worry about it, you’re too exhausted. Go on, and I’ll close up and then accompany these gentlemen to the station.”
I was too worn out from the change—my second in twenty-four hours—to argue. When we walked outside, I noticed clouds had gathered, and a cool breeze pricked my exposed skin. Jared walked beside me, his jawline tense.
“Is this you?” I asked as quietly as I could.
He looked up. “I have
no idea.” He rubbed his temples, and he looked as tired as I felt. We walked back to Nona’s house slowly, and the fresh air cleared my head somewhat, but I was glad to reach the front door and take my shoes off.
“What now?” Jared asked.
I sighed. As much as I had enjoyed our day together, I knew it would have to end sometime. My mood had dropped with the temperature outside. Although Jared had an appreciation for novelty, now that he’d had the chance to think about my secret and ponder how it could interfere with a normal relationship, I couldn’t imagine he would feel anything but revulsion for me. Or worse, a sick curiosity.
“I suppose you should return to Boston. Or didn’t you say you had a business thing you needed to take care of up here?”
He didn’t edge away, pull out his keys, or make any other motions like he wanted to leave. Instead, he took off his jacket, hung it on one of the hooks by the door, and bent to remove his shoes as well.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Getting ready to take care of a certain piece of business.” He straightened, and his grin was so wide it showed both dimples. “My business was to come up here and find out what you know about the Fortunas.”
“Not much,” I said. And in truth, I didn’t have much solid knowledge, just assumptions and hearsay.
“And now that’s established, I can focus on other things.”
He picked me up—literally swept me off my feet—and I had to hang on around his neck.
“First let’s make sure the coast is clear,” he said with a wink.
“From what?”
“Oh, intruders, ghosts…” He winked, but I glanced at Nona’s pictures as we passed and tried not to feel that her dark eyes in each of them looked at me with judgment.
But if we kept things innocent, she wouldn’t appear, right?
There was no crash from the kitchen, and we found it just as we left it. He placed me on the island and left me to look in the fridge.
“Hmmm, so you’ve been living on water and protein bars,” he said. “That makes for a balanced diet.”
“Totally.” I ignored his facetiousness and admired his ass as he bent to look lower and open the empty vegetable crisper.
“And not a real vegetable in sight.” He straightened and looked at me with a cocked eyebrow. Then he came to stand in front of me, trapping me between his hands, which he flattened on either side of me. I ran my fingers over his muscular arms.
“So what do you eat, wolf-girl?”
I stiffened. He was still there in spite of having seen what I would become every twenty-nine days, but I wasn’t prepared for him to talk so casually about it.
“I haven’t had time to go to the store,” I said. “So I’ve had to make do with what I had on hand and what the kindness of strangers has brought me.”
“You need some real food.” He leaned closer.
“That’s not really what I’m hungry for,” I murmured.
“Oh, really?”
“Not vegetables.” I grinned. “But I could totally do five a day.”
He bent over with his laugh, and I missed the feel of his hands under my thighs. “That was horrible.”
I widened my eyes innocently. “We were talking about vegetables.”
The rolling pin, which had been secure in its cradle, rolled toward me and tapped my butt. I scooted off the island and glared at it.
“Right,” I said. “No canoodling between unmarried couples.”
His expression sobered, and he eyed the rolling pin like it was going to fly up and hit him. “So that part of my dream or whatever it was holds true—we’re being watched.”
“Always.” I sighed. “As you can probably imagine, my brothers and I didn’t have much in the way of summer romances up here.”
“What, you didn’t go to the Cape like normal people?”
The rolling pin turned a hundred and eighty degrees, and he pushed me behind him. “Is that thing dangerous?”
“No, but Nona is sensitive about that. She never liked Cape Cod in the summer. Too many city people, she said.”
“Right. How about I order us some takeout, and then we can just watch television?”
The rolling pin rolled back to its cradle and bumped against it.
“I think that sounds good, and so does she.” I walked around the island and put the wandering kitchen implement back in its little stand. “I’ll be good, I promise,” I said once Jared had left the kitchen to get a better cell signal with which to look up restaurants that would deliver. “But he is the world’s most eligible bachelor, so if you could give me a little room to maneuver, that would be great.”
One of the cabinets opened, and a box of powdered milk dropped to the counter.
“Message received,” I said and put it back.
Jared ordered a vegetarian pizza—our compromise for how to get some vegetables into me—and he said at least I would have leftovers. I promised him I’d go to the store after work the next day.
After we ate, we’d watched a couple of on-demand episodes of Charmed. We both appreciated the irony, but I hoped I wouldn’t have to deal with any of the weird nastiness the sisters did. I stopped him before he could move on to another episode.
“I should go to bed,” I said with a sigh. “I’ll be opening, I’m exhausted from changing today, and I’ll need any extra energy I can muster for the full moon change tomorrow night.”
I’d tossed out verbal tidbits about my problem all evening to see if he would balk, and he never had. It seemed kind of unfair that he got to do cool things with water, air, and energy, and I was stuck turning into an extra hairy bitchy mess every twenty-nine days.
“Are you sure you’ll have work tomorrow?” he asked.
“Why wouldn’t I?” I leaned back and looked at him with a frown. “I had planned to open, and I can be there all day and close if I need to.”
He rubbed the back of my neck, and I returned to my former position with my back against the couch cushions and his arm behind me, but kept the regulation Catholic school two inches between my breasts and his chest. I wasn’t sure if that was the right distance, but no crash ensued from the kitchen, so I figured it was close enough. Or far enough for the Holy Spirit to get in there. Like it didn’t have anything better to do.
He glanced at his phone, which was on the couch on the other side of him. I’d ignored the texts he’d received and sent during the evening. There hadn’t been that many, but enough to make me wonder if there was a jealous woman on the other end of them.
“The attorney I sent, Bill, says it doesn’t look good for your friend even though they don’t have any solid evidence against her. There wasn’t any sign of forced entry, so they think the perpetrator was someone the girl knew.”
“What about suicide?” I asked.
“Bill said they weren’t saying why, but they’ve seemed to rule it out. Even if Veronica is innocent, all this could be enough to get her work visa pulled and her sent back to Scotland.”
“Which would mean her sister could lose the store if she’s not there to manage it.”
“And you couldn’t do it?”
“I can fill in, but I don’t know enough of the nuances of the business to step in and manage it. Besides, this is just a temporary thing while—” I almost said While I get back on my feet, but I hadn’t trusted him with that secret yet.
“While what?” He kneaded the tense spot on the top of my left shoulder.
I sighed and tried to relax under his touch, but I couldn’t. I wanted the conversation to be over, but I didn’t want him to stop touching me. I couldn’t remember the last time a man had been so concerned for my comfort or well-being.
“It’s okay,” he said. “I get it—you’re down on your luck because of your illness. I figured as much. Crystal shop girl isn’t what I’d had in mind when you said you were here for a business opportunity.”
“I’m sorry I lied,” I told him. “I was embarrassed, and we’d only just r
econnected.” I couldn’t believe it had been the day before. So much had passed since I’d fallen at his feet at the airport it felt like the incident had happened several weeks prior.
“It’s fine, as long as you don’t do it again. I can’t help but think that if you had still been in your former life, you wouldn’t have given me the time of day. You’d’ve just told me to fuck off, and I wouldn’t have seen you again.”
I drew back in surprise but put a hand on his arm. “I wouldn’t have!” But he had a point. If I’d had more resources, I might have let my temper get the better of me. I certainly wouldn’t have gone back to his condo with him.
Crap, I don’t know whether to be more embarrassed by how I was or my circumstances now.
He drew a thumb along my cheek. “Don’t be upset. It’s all right. I’m glad I found you again.”
“Me, too.” I kissed his palm. He moved his hand to cup my head and drew me to him. We both hesitated, but nothing odd happened, so I closed the distance.
I had the sensation of cresting a wave with a heart-stopping drop followed by the exhilaration of the rush to shore, like flying but cradled by warmth. I parted my lips, wanting more, and he moved his other hand to rest on my hip. Another wave brought me to straddle him and fist my hands in his shirt.
The volume of the television increased, and we drew apart.
He turned it off and held up both hands as I scrambled off his lap.
“I think that’s my signal,” he said.
“Sadly, yes. Your place next time?” I whispered.
“I’m counting on it. Tomorrow night?”
“I can’t. I have a date with my furry side,” I said with a pout.
“We’ll figure something out.” He pecked me on the cheek, and I followed him into the foyer and watched him put on his shoes and jacket. He gave me a kiss on the lips that was over too soon, and I leaned against the door jamb and watched him drive away.
“I hope you will this time,” I said after his tail lights had disappeared.
He’d seemed fine, but there was no telling what he’d decide after he thought about my situation for a while. Would he think I was a gold-digger? Or would he be repulsed once the full implication of my illness’s manifestation hit him?
Lycanthropy Files Box Set: Books 1-3 Plus Novella Page 87