by Harry Nix
Nia threw the hand out into the yard and then turned to Alex.
“We’re going to have to do a quick search for any clothes for both of us. This place is distant – about a hundred miles from Baxter and at least forty from the nearest main roads. If we can’t find anything, we’ll detour to steal something. But we need to be gone in the next five minutes, okay?”
“So no reward after the battle then?” Alex said with a grin.
Nia kissed him, which was still an odd feeling being they were both in their hybrid werewolf forms.
“Once we get to Juno and cleanse then we’re going to get to know each other, you know?”
She headed upstairs while Alex searched the rooms downstairs. All he found were girls clothes and none of it would fit him, not even in his human form. He was pondering fashioning another toga from a unicorn sheet when Nia reappeared, holding a bundle made from a unicorn sheet.
“Nothing for you so we’ll find something on the way. We gotta run now. We’ll take turns carrying the magic stuff and clothes I found for me,” she said.
Out the front, past the red ruin and then around to the back of the house. Alex saw more signs that someone had been working in the garden. April’s house seemed a mystery. Where were all the people? The rooms had clothes in them and it was clearly set up to house a large number but it felt abandoned and empty. Some of the rooms he’d explored clearly hadn’t been opened in years.
“Now follow me,” Nia said. She put the bundle on the ground and then shifted, changing into the beautiful copper wolf he’d seen before.
Alex felt the pull of it and let himself follow.
The shift seemed faster than human to werewolf. This time he shrank down, although not by much, his hands turning into paws and his body growing pitch black fur. Within a moment he was a wolf – albeit a large one, far bigger than a standard wolf.
“Come with me,” Nia said. It was clearly difficult for her to speak in this form. The lack of lips to form shapes affected her speech. Alex nodded in return as she picked up the bundle and set off.
As they ran, questions teemed through his mind. The big one was: how had he been a werewolf for twenty-five years and not known it?
Damn, I missed my birthday!
In the rush of everything, Alex realized that Nia had told him it had been three days since he’d transformed. That meant he’d missed his twenty-fifth birthday entirely. He’d even arranged drinks with Puzo and Howey and some others at a local bar, The Elephant. Given he hadn’t gone to work, hadn’t answered phone calls and now was missing for days, were the police out looking for him?
Alex shook his head as he ran, wondering what he’d tell Puzo and Howey. Oh, yeah, by the way, I’m a werewolf and some crazed mages are after me. Yup, had to kill a bunch of weredogs and I have this hot werewolf mate now.
At that thought, Alex let his mind wander about Nia and what exactly she was to him. That calm certainty was sitting there, implacable. She was his. He was hers. Until death. There was no question to it.
Alex followed Nia as they ran, speeding across the landscape. He found himself watching her as she ran, her copper fur gleaming in the sun.
She’s hot no matter what form she’s in he thought and then surprised himself by giving a happy bark.
6
“Thank you for the ride!” Nia called out, holding the container of shortbread cookies that had been forced upon them.
“You marry that girl now, ya hear?” Earl said, waving a finger at Alex.
“And you say yes too!” Edna called out to Nia as the Huberts drove away.
After a detour to steal some clothes and shoes, Alex and Nia had ended up on the side of the road. The very first car along had been Edna and Earl Hubert who were driving to Baxter to meet their latest grandchild.
As Nia cuddled up to Alex in the back seat they’d immediately set in on them with the grandparent thumbscrews about marriage, babies and everything else.
Nia had slipped on one of the mage’s rings, a thin gold band with a green emerald and immediately played along that while it wasn’t an engagement ring, she was expecting one soon.
Alex, wearing stolen clothes that were a little tight on him, laughed as Edna kept up with the questions and force-fed them sandwiches, biscuits and other things from a cooler she had in the front.
By the time they got to Baxter Alex was stuffed – something he thought virtually impossible now he was a werewolf but somehow Edna had managed it. Nia had teased him the entire way about having babies and in the end Alex had given in, promising Edna they’d make lots of babies together.
With Nia holding his arm and pressed up beside him, he saw for a moment that it wasn’t a joke but a glimpse of the future.
Again the calm certainty washed away what would normally be shock.
Edna and Earl had insisted on taking them to their destination so now they were out the front of a two story house painted bright yellow waving as the old couple drove away.
Nia immediately turned to him the moment they were gone.
“So babies huh. How many babies are you going to put in me?”
She pressed herself up against him, the scent of her filling his senses.
“Well, you heard me tell Edna – lots and lots,” Alex said, clasping her arms around her and planting a deep kiss.
They were absorbed in a private world when a voice called out from above them.
“Hey, get a room!”
Alex looked up and saw only a flash of blonde hair vanishing from an upper window.
“That’s Juno, short for Juniper but don’t ever call her that unless you wanna get stabbed,” Nia said, taking him by the hand and leading him up to the front door.
Alex looked down the street and saw a few of the houses were painted in bright primary colors like Juno’s house. Others were utterly normal. Did witches live in the colorful ones? More questions to add to the list.
Nia rapped on the door and Alex sensed someone – a girl by the scent – was standing behind it.
“Little witch, little witch, let me in,” Nia called out.
The bright yellow door swung open to reveal Juno, standing all of five feet in what could have been a sexy schoolgirl costume – tartan skirt, white shirt, knee-high socks and even a loosely knotted tie. She had bracelets on her slender wrists and multiple necklaces, some with gems that sat in her cleavage. Her eyes were a blue that verged on green and her blonde hair was tied in a braid that curled around her neck.
“Nia, a gift for me? You shouldn’t have,” Juno vamped and then flung herself into Nia’s arms, kissing her on the lips. Alex realigned his thinking as he realized that Nia and Juno were definitely more than just friends from the way they connected.
Juno broke the kiss and then grabbed Alex’s hand, pulling him behind her into the house and into a lounge room.
“Okay, so take those clothes off to see what we’re working with here,” Juno said, looking up at Alex with a devilish grin.
“Hey, he’s mine. Alex Lowe, Juno Harbinger,” Nia said, pushing the bundle of magical items on to Juno.
“Aw, so he’s not a present you got for me?” the little blonde witch said with a pout.
Nia looked at Alex with a smile and then back to Juno.
“If you’re good and help us then maybe,” she said.
What? Alex thought. He hadn’t said anything but now he’d apparently been traded for sexual favors?
A deep wolfish part of him was completely fine with this and in fact looking at Juno like she was his next meal.
Juno looked him up and down with a naked hunger.
“Deal. What do you need and what’s with all the magical jewelry?”
“Five weredogs attacked us and Nia says you can help with something called a cleanse?” Alex said.
“He can talk! What a miracle,” Juno said. She unwrapped the unicorn sheet bundle and dumped the contents on a small coffee table. Nia slipped the emerald ring from her hand and added it to the pile,
setting the box of shortbread beside it. The total haul from the dead mage was seven rings and one wand.
“So what did you do to upset the dead mage you took these from?” she asked, picking up each ring in turn. As she did, Alex felt a slight pull, like a gentle current moving against him.
“I have no idea. I didn’t even know I was a werewolf until three days ago,” Alex said.
“And this dude sent five weredogs after the two of you? That’s a lot of overkill.”
“Plus another one, the first one that I found trying to track him. You’re not gonna believe this either but Alex has magic.”
Juno dropped the wand on the table and put her hands on her hips.
“A werewolf mage? No, are you serious? Do something magic.”
“I can’t do anything magic... I only did one thing and that was floating a few things in a bedroom while we were...” Alex trailed off.
Juno turned to Nia and poked her.
“So he’s barking up your tree, so to speak, and he does magic?”
Nia swatted her hand away and blushed.
“Yeah, golden sparkles and everything. Felt just the same as, you know.”
“When you were barking up her tree,” Alex quipped.
Now it was Juno’s turn to turn pink in front of Alex.
So it’s true, he thought, looking at Juno. Nia was standing beside him, wearing a set of slightly too small clothing and looking hot as hell but he also was appreciating Juno. Some deep part of him was urging him to just reach out and grab her.
Nia must have seen the look on his face. “Just hold on there Alpha. Let’s get safe before we do... other things.”
She touched Juno on the shoulder to get her attention. The little witch seemed half hypnotized.
“We need a cleanse for both of us to start with. Can you do it?”
“Wha? Uh... yeah... for a fee, of course.”
“Name your price,” Nia said.
Juno started moving around the room, cracking her knuckles and shaking out her arms, like she was warming up.
“Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me,” she finally said.
“The Godfather, 1972. An unspecified favor from me or both of us?”
“You got it. One each. Cleanse guaranteed.”
Alex looked to Nia. “She’s your friend, you tell me if this is a good deal.”
“Witches,” Nia muttered before finally nodding. “Okay, do it.”
Juno sized up the two of them and then took five of the rings and the wand from the pile. “It’s a big job so I’m going to need to draw on these too. You good with that?”
“We are,” Nia said.
“Let’s kneel in a circle then,” Juno said.
She moved the coffee table out of the way and then the three of them knelt on the carpet. Alex felt his stolen pants protesting. They were a size too small. He’d have to return to his apartment soon to collect his clothes.
Wait – is it safe to do that? he thought. Given weredogs were after him maybe going back to the apartment was a bad idea. On the other hand, it was literally his entire life in there, including his laptop and all the stuff he was working on for the game.
The game... Alex suddenly realized things might be over for that too. Unless that mage was some one-off loner (and that didn’t seem likely), how could he return to his normal life? He couldn’t be working with Puzo and Howey when at any moment a giant weredog could come smash the door down or some crazed mage with a lightning wand decided to fry them.
“Hold my hands, and you Alex, watch and learn,” Juno said.
Alex pulled himself out of dark thoughts about what exactly his life was now and held hands with Juno and Nia.
As soon as he touched Juno he felt her connection to the magic. The witch must have felt the same because her eyes widened and she glanced at him. To Alex, Juno’s magic was like wildflowers, honey and hot chili mixed together.
“You really do have magic, a lot of it,” Juno whispered before turning her gaze to the pile of rings and wand in front of her.
Alex wasn’t quite sure what to expect – chanting, herbs being thrown around, maybe a cauldron – but what happened next had never been mentioned in any book or movie about witches ever.
A faint transparent green screen floated up above Juno filled with gibberish. It spiraled down the screen, line after line and Alex understood immediately this was the cleansing spell, or spells, that Juno was casting.
The gibberish looked like code, all letters and numbers and odd symbols that looked like Norse runes. There was even a sprinkling of emojis through it and a few Japanese characters.
It was completely unreadable but as it flowed he began to get a sense of patterns. Nonsense string #1 repeated a few times, seeming connected with another nonsense string.
Was this magic? Some sort of universe code you could manipulate once you learned the language?
“Wow, the two of you are strong together,” Nia whispered. Alex could feel the flow of magic from her hand. It was rushing around in a circle joining the three of them. He could also feel Juno drawing on it from all around them. The sensation of a current was there again, the flow pulling towards Juno.
He could see how she was drawing it in but unlike the werewolf shift, it didn’t come naturally to him. It was some sort of relaxation but focus at the same time. A tension but release simultaneously.
As the magical code spooled out on the screen, tiny gold sparks drifted up from the backs of Juno’s hands, like snowflakes falling in reverse.
Alex couldn’t read any of it but he got a feeling he could see how the magic worked. There were hints of travel and then change, like these sparks were going to find his and Nia’s blood and alter it somehow, render it inert.
The scent of Juno’s magic grew stronger as she pulled more of it from her body to fuel the spell. He caught a flash of something on the screen and thought that’s the battery before it vanished.
A new chunk of magical code landed on the screen. This was different to the rest – the symbols written in harsh strokes. It was angular and sharp, somehow utilitarian but also slightly dangerous, like the way a kitchen knife could be a tool or a weapon.
Golden tendrils streaked with black stretched out from Juno’s hands and enveloped the rings. Immediately the sickly scent of roses filled the room.
The mage’s scent Alex thought. He’d smelled it on him before he’d crushed his chest and broken his spine. Perhaps all mages had a scent unique to them?
The tendrils sucked magic out of the rings like milkshake up a straw. When they were drained they moved to pull on the wand. If the rings were flashlight batteries, the wand was a car battery, multiple times more powerful. The scent of rose petals was joined by the smell of the ocean, salty and wet.
A different mage made this wand Alex realized.
No matter the source of the power, it was sucked up into Juno’s hands and the golden sparks grew stronger, becoming more numerous until a cloud of them swirled overhead.
Alex looked down from the cloud and saw Juno was biting her lip. She was frowning too and a trickle of sweat ran down the side of her face. Can I give her magic he wondered but didn’t know how to do such a thing.
The spell came quickly to its conclusion, the magic code on the screen collapsing down into smaller more dense lines, like it was compressing into a purer form. Finally something that looked like an intricate mathematical formula shot off the screen, leaving it empty.
Wow thought Alex and then sat back in surprise as wow appeared on the screen above Juno’s head. The little witch frowned and shook her head and the text vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The screen followed a moment later and then the golden sparks shot as one straight out through the wall.
Juno let go of their hands and went to sit back but collapsed.
“You both owe me,” she whispered, her voice thick with sleep as she toppled down on the carpet and passed out.
&n
bsp; Alex quickly grabbed her, pressing a finger against her throat to feel for a pulse. She was still breathing and her heartbeat was regular, if a little slow.
“She just overdid it. Should have used all the rings but she was probably trying to impress you,” Nia said, stroking her finger down Juno’s arm.
“Why would she try to impress me? We’re the ones who came to her for help.”
“Witches and werewolves go together like peppermint and choc chip. Almost every alpha ends up with a witch at some point... and witches do like their alphas too,” Nia said.
Alex looked down at Juno, who now appeared to be sleeping, her pink lips slightly parted. There was something about her that made him want to kiss her, to carry her to the bedroom, to possess her the way he’d possessed Nia.
“It’s natural,” Nia whispered.
He glanced at her and saw her cheeks were flushed. Was she excited by this?
Despite the inner wolf saying it was natural too, Alex resisted it.
“But aren’t you my mate?”
Nia moved over closer to him, placing her hand on the back on his neck and gently stroking it.
“You’re the Alpha... my Alpha and you’ll have many wives. We need a pack if we are to survive and thrive and adding a blonde witch sounds very good to me. I was Nia Whitewood. Now I’m Nia Lowe.”
“You’re my wife?”
“Mate, wife, it’s all the same,” Nia said with a shrug.
No matter that calm sitting in the core of him, Alex could still feel himself resisting it. What do you mean wife! Three days ago he was on the brink of turning twenty-five and now he was essentially married for life to a werewolf girl he barely knew! What are you, crazy? Oh, and you want me to add a sister-wife too? You want a pack?
He might have lost it then and there but then Juno snorted in her sleep. “Heh, alpha,” she said and rolled back over into sleep.
“She needs to rest after that spell. I’ll take her to bed,” Nia said, standing up and scooping the witch up.
“Just to sleep, I mean,” she amended when she saw the hungry look on Alex’s face.
Alex watched her go, his mind still spinning. Magic and witches and a pack and a wife and a second wife?
