by Nicole Hall
A purloined flagstone path. It sounded like a cozy mystery that her former company would pretend to publish. Bitter thoughts fought for dominance, but Keely only wanted to feel sad for a bit. The job may have sucked, but it had been her dream once upon a time. A dream she’d almost had stolen from her and had fought desperately to keep.
Without the solid foundation Samantha and Dru provided at the beginning, she might have lost it anyway. The row house had been her home for more than a year, and now she’d chosen to leave that too. Compounding bad luck with bad decisions? Who could tell?
All her carefully laid plans were crumbling, and Keely didn’t know how to shore them up. The familiar panic at the thought of starting over again threatened to choke her. What if she wasn’t good enough? What if she chose poorly and ruined everything?
Keely shook her head and got a death grip on her runaway thoughts. She wasn’t in college any more. She had choices and skills. She could do this.
Find a job. Find a place to live. Adjust her dreams. It didn’t sound hard, but it had taken Keely close to six months to find that first job. She had three weeks.
First, the park. Keely licked her fingers, grabbed the messenger bag she’d dropped on the counter, and turned away from Dru’s urban paradise. She’d take one day to think and mourn, then she’d get to work.
The front door slammed behind her, but for once Keely didn’t care about staying on Samantha’s good side. She pulled up short half-way down the steps when she noticed the large reddish-brown llama standing on the sidewalk outside their wrought iron fence. She looked around, but none of the other pedestrians paid him any mind. What were the chances there were two llamas wandering around the east side of Manhattan?
Two identical llamas?
Fancy meeting you here.
Keely dropped her head, pushing her fingers through her hair to let her palms rest at her temples. There was no mistaking that husky voice. The alley llama had followed her home.
My name is Seth.
She looked up, but kept her hands in her hair. “Why are you haunting me?”
I told you. I need your help.
“There’s something like one point five million people in Manhattan. Why not ask one of them?”
Seth didn’t answer, and it occurred to her that she was essentially talking aloud to herself. Luckily, most people were desensitized to crazy in New York. Keely lived on a fairly quiet street, but traffic started to pick up as the work day ended. A steady throng of people walked by, and exactly none of them noticed Seth, let alone her.
As she watched, a man in a blue suit walked right into Seth’s butt. The man bounced back and looked in confusion at the sidewalk in front of him. He glanced back and forth, then glared at her when she made eye contact.
“Sorry,” Keely called as he edged closer to the street and kept walking. She didn’t know why she’d apologized. Seth was the one blocking the sidewalk. For that matter, why hadn’t the guy just gone around the giant-ass llama in his way?
They can’t see me.
Keely glowered at him. “I’m special then?”
An older woman nearly collided with him, but he side-stepped at the last second. Keely sighed and opened the gate so he could come into their tiny courtyard area.
Evidently.
Keely leaned against the brick and lowered her voice. “Why can I see you if they can’t?”
It’s part of the spell.
She waited, but he didn’t explain. He sniffed at the potted plant Dru must have put there; she always brought home sad looking plants. Nothing about him said anything other than llama to her, and a seed of doubt started growing a little at a time.
“Do I get a better explanation than that?”
Nope. Also part of the spell. I can’t talk about the details.
She couldn’t deny his voice in her head, but she’d heard hallucinations could be vivid.
Hallucination or not, she knew an easy solution that didn’t involve grilling a reluctant fake llama. Charlotte was only a phone call away. Her sister-in-law and best friend came well-versed in the hidden magical world.
Seth nibbled on a broad leaf of the plant while Keely pulled out her cell phone. Who are you calling?
“My best friend.”
Need reassurance you’re not crazy?
Keely ignored him, and Charlotte answered on the third ring, breathless. “Yes?”
“Is that how we’re answering the phone now?”
“It is when I know who’s calling and I was busy doing something else.”
Keely winced. She didn’t want to think about Charlotte and her brother getting naked. “Gross. Isn’t it the middle of the day there? Who’s watching the twins?”
A low grumble in the background preceded a door closing, and Charlotte sighed. “Well, now you have my full attention. Rav is with the boys.”
"Your imp is babysitting the twins?"
"It's fine. She does it all the time. Honestly, she's better with them than we are."
"They're four times her size!"
Charlotte was silent for a moment. "How big do you think the twins are?"
Keely shrugged even though Charlotte couldn't see her. What did she know about babies? Seth pulled on the leaf and almost knocked the plant over. Keely swatted at him, and he huffed warm air across her arm.
“New topic. I’m going to ask a question, and it’s going to sound crazy. Remember when you called me about Rav and I totally believed you right from the start? I’m going to need some of that faith.” Keely took a deep breath. “What do you know about invisible, telepathic llamas?”
Charlotte laughed so hard on the other end that Keely considered hanging up and calling her brother instead.
“It didn’t seem that funny to me.”
Charlotte gasped for breath and finally calmed down enough to respond. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ve never heard of an invisible llama. I know telepathy is possible but rare among magical types. I’m afraid I can’t help you.”
Keely deflated. “That’s what I thought you’d say.”
Charlotte sobered. “Are you in trouble?”
“No. Just having a hard day.”
“Okay, but be careful. Llama or not, magical creatures are tricky. There’s always more to it than what they’re telling you.” A high-pitched squeal echoed in the background, and Charlotte sighed. “That was Jax. I have to go. Love you. Be careful.”
“I will. Love you too.”
Keely hung up and shoved her phone back in her bag. Seth hadn’t moved, but the plant was missing a couple of leaves. “If I do this, you’ll leave me alone? There’s no fine print involved in this magic?”
He tilted his head at her. Spent some time with the Fae, have you?
“No. And you didn’t answer the question.”
There’s no fine print. You kiss me. I change back. Done.
It still felt dangerous to simply do as asked. Complicated magic often didn’t take free will into account. Or so she’d heard from Charlotte. Keely’s experience with magic was limited to second-hand accounts and meeting Rav the one time she’d gone home when the twins were born.
Frustration leaked into his voice. All I need is one little kiss. It won’t cost you anything, and I can go back to my life. That seems like a pretty good trade-off to me.
She looked away with a frown. He was right. One stupid kiss wouldn’t kill her, so what if he needed it on his backside instead of his front. What could possibly happen that would be worse than the day she’d already had?
“Okay. Fine. Turn around or whatever before I change my mind.”
His relief filled her mind. Thank you.
A second later, she was face to butt with a llama and really questioning her life choices. At least he didn’t smell bad.
Keely pressed a kiss to his flank, making sure she pushed hard enough to get past the fur and connect with muscle. The surprisingly soft hair tickled her cheek, but when she pulled back, nothing had changed. Seth was sti
ll a llama.
Fuck.
Yeah. That seemed about right.
2
KEELY
That should have worked. Seth’s hooves clacked on the stones as he shuffled around.
Keely shook her head. “Look. I did what you asked. You’re still a llama, and I have somewhere to be.”
Seth seemed doubtful about her plans. Keely wasn’t even sure how she knew that, but skepticism rolled off him in waves. I know you were going to feed the ducks at the park. I think they can wait a few minutes more for the stale bread in your bag.
Keely clutched her messenger bag closer to her. “How’d you know that?”
You were picturing the ducks when you walked out of your building, and I can smell the bread. Llamas have very sensitive noses.
“Great. I’ll keep that in mind. If you’ll excuse me.” Keely tried to step around him, but he was blocking the gate with his furry body.
Wait. I might have gotten the information wrong. Try kissing my face instead.
“We couldn’t have started there?”
Seth didn’t answer, but he lowered his head and bared his cheek. The one on his face this time. Keely sighed and stepped closer again. She’d give him one more kiss then crawl under him to get to the gate if she had to.
Keely braced herself with a hand on his chest, and he lowered his head. He felt like a giant fuzzy blanket, but the fur on his face was softer than the fur elsewhere. She kissed his cheek, and between one breath and the next, the fur disappeared.
The minor tickle against her lips was replaced with rough stubble over warm skin, and her hand rested against cotton instead of fur.
Keely gasped and stumbled back, but a strong arm wrapped around her waist and kept her upright. Her eyes centered on Seth’s chest, covered in a plain black tee shirt, and his shoulders seemed to go on forever.
Goosebumps exploded across her body, and heat spread from where his hand splayed against her back. Keely exhaled raggedly and looked up past full lips and sharp planes to meet vivid golden eyes. Dark auburn hair framed his face, hanging in a shaggy mess down to his chin. Go figure. Seth was gorgeous.
He grinned and spun her in a circle. “I knew you could do it.” Seth set her back on her feet.
Keely was dizzy, and not just from the sudden spinning. “Glad I could help.” Was that her voice? She sounded like Batman. The angsty one, not the funny one. She cleared her throat and tried again.
“Do I get an explanation now?”
Seth’s hands slid away from her hips as he gave her space, and Keely’s thighs clenched together. “Of course. You’re my girl. You get anything you want. How about we go feed some ducks, and I give you a story that’s only fifteen percent made up?”
Keely crossed her arms. “How about no percent made up?”
He spread his hands out with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. “I thought you didn’t care.”
She pressed her lips together. The storyteller in her wanted badly to know, but Seth had trouble written all over him. Then again, it wasn’t like her track record could get any worse. There was something to be said for spending a beautiful spring day with a beautiful man who owed her.
“Fine. You can come along and tell me whatever story you want, but don’t scare the ducks off. I want to see the babies.”
He bowed low, but kept his eyes on her. “You have my word.”
Tension simmered between them until Keely broke the contact and reached for the gate. Heat crept up her cheeks. She needed a distraction.
Keely strode east along her street toward their local park, and Seth easily kept pace next to her. “Were you cursed?”
He laughed. “I lost a bet. I’m pretty sure my opponent cheated, but I still can’t figure out how. She told me afterward this was payback for…well, let’s just say I made a mistake and she didn’t forget it.”
She snuck a glance at him. “Somehow I’m not surprised that was the cause. I understand the llama part, but why make you invisible?”
“She didn’t want me to find the solution easily.”
Keely raised a brow. “Sounds like some mistake you made.”
“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“How long were you a llama?”
Seth sighed. “Almost a year. It took a while to figure out the cryptic instructions.”
They crossed into the park and walked along the path next to the pond until a family of ducks paddled closer. Keely shushed him and pulled out her bread.
“You know, bread isn’t good for ducks,” Seth whispered loudly.
Keely glared at him. “They like it.”
“I like chocolate, that doesn’t mean it’s good for me.”
That was it. The subtle scent she’d been trying to identify since his big transformation. It was chocolate, but not regular chocolate. Dark chocolate. Sinful. Luscious. Her mouth watered a little thinking about it, and her brain took that as an excuse to wonder if Seth tasted as delicious as he smelled. The heat in her face returned, stronger than before.
Keely couldn’t look at him as she took a couple of shallow breaths. What was wrong with her? The guy had been a llama less than an hour ago. He could be planning to murder her and dump her body in with the ducks.
The plastic wrapping crinkled in her hand as she squished the bread. It had been too long since she’d had any attention from an attractive man. Or even a regular man. Or any man. She’d been so focused on her career that her dating life had been left behind. Gah, hormones.
“Are you going to feed the ducks or just mangle their food in front of them and leave? If it’s the second, I wasn’t sure you had it in you, but I like a woman with a vicious streak.”
Sure he did. “If the llama incident is any indication, you should probably stay away from women with vicious streaks.” Keely opened the package and started tossing bits to the duck family.
Seth inched closer and reached for a handful of bread crumbs. “Good thing you’re a woman with an adventurous streak instead.”
Keely didn’t see herself that way. She made a plan, then she stuck to the plan. She got shit done. Deviations led to failure, and that she avoided at all costs. Adventure required deviations. Then again, look where her plan had gotten her.
They fed the ducks until the bag was empty, and the comfortable silence that settled between them nearly made Keely forget that she’d only met Seth that morning.
SETH
Seth wished he’d approached Keely weeks ago. Damn Maddie and her convoluted spells. At least he’d been trying to help when he’d locked her inside the wards. At her mate’s urging, no less. The last time he’d checked, Aiden wasn’t prancing around Mulligan as a camel, so he could only assume she’d forgiven his cousin somewhat faster.
Keely wasn’t what he’d been expecting, which was why he’d hesitated after he’d found her. She’d had the same long dark hair and blue-green eyes as her picture, but in person the color reminded him of the vivid water around tropical islands. Either way, he’d been fairly certain he’d had the right person. Her personality, though, had surprised him. She was supposed to be confident and feisty, and he’d seen hints of that as he’d watched her, but the Keely she presented to the world was deferential. Seth preferred the sass.
She watched the ducks with a sad smile on her face. Whatever had happened to her today, she wasn’t happy about it. Neither was Seth, unless it fed into his plans. She normally worked late on Tuesdays, but today she’d left just after lunch time. Maybe he could use it to his advantage.
Seth nudged her shoulder. “In the interest of only making up fifteen percent of the story, I should probably tell you it wasn’t a coincidence that I ran into you.”
Her gaze snapped to his. “Explain. And don’t make anything up.”
“I’ve met your brother. A friend of a friend kind of thing. He was at this barbeque I went to, and he mentioned he had a sister in New York.”
Keely’s eyebrows crept higher and higher up her forehead as h
e talked. “You were in Mulligan?”
“For a while. When I figured out I was invisible and the bit with the kissing, I came up here looking for you.”
“You were looking for me specifically?”
Seth shrugged. “No one in Mulligan could see me, but the spell specifically said fellow trouble-makers would be able to.”
Keely’s brow furrowed. “Then why me? I’m so far from a trouble-maker.”
“That’s what Brandon called you.”
She opened her mouth, then shut it again. “What were you doing in that alley then?”
“I told you. I was looking for you.” He tried for a charming smile, but Keely frowned at him.
“Hiding in an alley isn’t the most effective way to find me.”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
“Only because I threw my stiletto at you. Even then, I almost didn’t go into the alley. What were you hoping would happen?”
Her resistance to his charm made this harder than necessary, but what a nice change from the usual. He toned the smile down and threw some truth at her. “I’d planned to watch and wait until I got a better sense of you. Not everyone would react so calmly to an invisible, telepathic llama. You jumped the timeline a bit.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You were watching me? That’s a lot creepier coming from you when you’re man-shaped.”
Seth took a long, slow look at her, letting his eyes linger on her curves. “If it makes you feel better, it was hard to truly appreciate you with llama vision.”
Keely snickered as she turned a darker shade of pink. “That was a terrible come-on.”
Seth rubbed his jaw and tried to hide how her laugh had shot right through him. He wanted to hear it again, almost as much as he wanted to find out if he’d imagined the heat that came from her hand on his chest. “I’ll have to work on that skill. It’s been a while.”
She shook her head. “You do that.”
The ducks quickly realized the food had stopped raining down and swam off, so Keely stuffed the empty plastic bag in a nearby trash can and turned back toward her building. Seth wrestled with the decision to get her further involved in his life right up until she stooped down to pet a stray cat lying in the sun on the concrete.
