Laughing at the shocking sight being reflected to her, she braced her hands on the sink and hung her head. Outside of Gaia and her late-night visit, nothing else was making any sense. Dressed in these clothes, she looked more like a fashion don’t than a fashion do. Even Carol on her worst day looked better than this.
“I need my own clothes. I need to get my hair done. I need a freakin’ day in Paris and Prada therapy. I need a life that doesn’t include bears that leave your bed before dawn.”
As soon she solved this problem, she was going to indulge herself.
Healing area empty once more, Hildy paced as she wiped everything down with an eco-friendly disinfectant. It wasn’t that she feared the spread of animal cooties as much as she merely liked the smell of the natural oils included in it. It smelled hellaciously better than fifty kinds of animals and cleaning always grounded her.
She was wired and buzzing today. The power Gaia had given her now felt trapped within her body.
Food. She also needed food. She hadn’t taken the time to eat this morning. A cup of tea would be nice too.
She jogged upstairs to the kitchen and found a solemn Charlie sitting at her table.
“Come on in, Charlie. Make yourself at home. Don’t mind me—I just live here,” Hildy said, rolling her eyes.
“The cats let me in. I needed to talk to you alone.”
“Sure—talk,” Hildy said, heading to the sink to fill the kettle. “Tea?”
“With lots of honey, please. It’s been one of those days.”
“For me too,” Hildy said, plopping tea bags into cups. She turned to glare. “Your wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am brother was gone when I woke up. I’ll try not to take my anger out on you.”
Charlie squirmed in his chair. “Chuck leaving you this morning was my fault. I had a problem with the kids and I needed his help. They were refusing to go to school. We had some late night company arrive and they weren’t cooperating with me. You were right about him being their dad. He growls and they listen. That’s what a real parent does.”
Hildy nodded as she took the whistling kettle off the stove and poured boiling water into the cups. She carried their steeping tea to the table and went back for the honey jar. There was a container of homemade muffins on the counter—muffins she hadn’t baked. Too hungry to question their appearance, she brought the muffins to the table as well.
Charlie sighed as he looked at them. “The muffins are from Mom. She said to tell you hello and that she was looking forward to meeting you.”
“Your mother came home? But Chuck said she usually stays gone for months.”
Charlie nodded. “All true, but Mom returned late last night. She said the men she normally visited were put off by her pig snout.”
Hildy choked on a bite of muffin. They were good but a bit dry. “Your mother grew a pig snout?”
“Just yesterday—that’s why I had to come to see you. Mom says the pig snout appeared right after she ran into someone who looked like the woman tattooed on my arm. The woman said her name was something else, but that was far too coincidental. I think Isobelle went after my mother because Mom wasn’t here in Assley.”
“Do you think it was Isobelle?” Hildy asked.
Charlie nodded again. “Had to be. She’s hurting my family, Hildy. How can I stop her? I know she’s technically part of my family too, being the mother of the cubs and all, but she’s not a very good person. The safety of the cubs has to come first. I can’t let their first shift turn them into pigs.”
Hildy frowned and made herself eat the rest of the dry muffin. She didn’t want that either. When Charlie only put a tiny bit of honey in his tea, she knew he was super upset. Chuck would have used the whole jar. Any happy bear would.
“That witch is not…” Hildy stopped her denial to reconsider.
If her theory was right, Isobelle technically was the mother of the cubs. Unless she had a twin as well, it had been Isobelle who’d slept with Charlie. And now Isobelle was always going to be part of Charlie’s family no matter what. It was the natural order of things.
Hildy looked at the male who could be technically her brother-in-law if she considered herself mated. But she didn’t. Did she?
“I’m now convinced the problem is magical. To fix this, we need to know how Isobelle put the curse in place. She’ll never willingly tell us unless she has a really good reason to do so.”
“If you want me to track Isobelle down, I can do that. Her scent will always be with me. Getting her to return to Assley is going to be the real problem. And if she’s anything like you or the Baba Yaga, I’ll definitely come back as a toad.”
Charlie was right, but no one knew how powerful Isobelle was. Morgana had drained her Baba Yaga power and given it to Carol. Maybe it was time to find out. Both she and Carol needed to know if their nemesis was the one causing havoc in their lives.
“I have an idea about how to get her here, Charlie. Do you trust me?”
“Of course. You're my brother’s mate. You’re now my family too.”
Hildy smiled. “That’s not exactly a yes to my question, and I for sure don’t feel like Chuck’s mate this morning, but I do need your help to carry out my plan.”
“I will always do what I can. I promise.”
Hildy nodded. “Good. Drink your tea, Charlie. What I have in mind requires a cage from the basement and us going out into the front yard. ”
“Is this going to hurt much?” Charlie asked.
Hildy shrugged. “No idea. A catalyst is necessary for this particular spell. It will either fix you or accelerate whatever is occurring in your shifter bio-chemistry.”
“In short—I might turn into a big old pig,” Charlie concluded. He looked around him. “Guess that’s why I’m in this cage, huh?”
Hildy shrugged again. “If that’s where your biology is going… then, yes, you might turn into a pig. The cage is a precaution so I can keep you where you belong.”
“Do it,” Charlie finally ordered, lifting his chin. “My brother will take care of the cubs if I turn into a swine. Do your evil Circe thing to me, Hildy, but remember, I’m meant to be a bear.”
“Circe? The witch from Homer’s Odyssey? Dude, I am so not Circe. I’m more like the goddess Athena in that story. I’m looking out for the good guys. Keep that in mind when you start oinking all over.”
“In case I don’t switch back, you should know I sincerely wish my brother hadn’t found you first. You’re really smart.”
Internally rolling her eyes at Charlie’s compliment, Hildy shook her head. “It would never have worked between us. I’ve loved Chuck since he was a child. We’ve grown into our current relationship—if you can call what we have a relationship. Now shush while I do this. This is a no distractions allowed spell.”
Before she got started, Hildy turned to her familiars. “Stop licking your privates and go tell the Baba Yaga that I need her help. Tell her to prepare a binding spell and get here fast.”
“Are youse sure youse need the Baba Yo…”
“Yes. Go and bring her back here,” Hildy commanded. The cats blinked away even while yowling in protest. “They were so cute as kittens. Maybe I should look into a regression spell so I can like them again.”
Clearing her throat, Hildy closed her eyes and looked for the right magic inside her to cast the spell on Charlie. The magic was effortless to find and she felt it instantly run into her hands.
She wished she’d been using the power to heal instead, but that day would come.
“Mirrors are cursed while the true self is cloaked
Bears don’t growl and frogs don’t croak
Blood and mating have both been spurned
In all shifter blood, a wrong change now burns
Return this curse to its caster—return it three times three
Return it to the one who tampered with life’s sacred tree
As Gaia’s witch commands this day, so mote this spell be.”
Hildy kept her
eyes closed even when Charlie called out. She felt magic leaving her hands, but she repeated the spell three more times before letting her eyelids raise. When she looked in the cage, it was to see Charlie with his large hands covering nearly all of his face.
“It’s gone. My snout is gone,” Charlie said in surprise, pulling his hands away so Hildy could see.
“Interesting. Now shift to a bear and let’s see what happens,” Hildy ordered.
Charlie turned into a sizeable blond bear with a brown stripe down his back. She smiled and nodded. “Great. Now shift back to human.”
Charlie complied, but unfortunately, he ended up naked. His clothes had been torn off during his shift into his bear form and pieces of cloth were lying on the cage floor.
Naked Charlie wasn’t hard on a woman’s eyes because the rest of him matched the eight-pack abs she’d seen before. Hildy’s only problem with the male scenery was that the handsome bear shifter made her miss Chuck even more. Great Gaia, she had it bad for Chuck.
“Oops… I forgot about that little side effect,” Hildy said. She waved a hand and reassembled Charlie’s clothes on his body. When he was dressed once more, she walked forward and opened the cage door to let him out.
“What did you do to make my pig snout disappear?” Charlie asked.
“I’m hoping I gave it to a sneaky, evil witch, along with a few other pig parts. Now go get Chuck and the cubs and bring them here. Isobelle is going to be mad when she shows up.”
“Why would she show up here?”
Hildy laughed and felt the power of being right flow through her. It was some of the best magic in the world. She smiled wide. “She will come because she knows I’m the only person who can fix her now. Even the dark magic she uses can’t undo one of Gaia’s spells.”
“Can you fix the cubs like you fixed me?”
Hildy shook her head. “This fix is only a spell, not true healing. I’m winging it here and your fix might be temporary. Once Isobelle tells me what she did, I can find a way to fix everyone permanently.”
“Wow, that would be amazing,” Charlie said.
“Let’s hope it’s worthy of your ‘Wow’ and then some. Hurry and bring the family here, Charlie. I don’t think it’s going to take long for Isobelle to show up.”
“Right. Going. Can I go as a bear? It’s great to be myself normal self again.”
Hildy nodded and watched Charlie’s bear form rip his clothes to shreds again. The effort to clothe him had been a total waste of magic. She should have just left him naked.
“Get dressed before you come back here. If I have to fight a witch, I can’t be wasting my magic putting clothes on naked bears.”
Charlie roared once in agreement and took off running.
14
Utterly alone at her house for the first time, Hildy transported the cage back to the healing room in the basement, then turned to walk up her sidewalk. The sight that greeted her stole her breath.
The sidewalk pavers were now level and laid correctly, the wrap-around porch was completely redone, and a porch swing with brightly colored pillows swung gently back and forth.
Backing down the sidewalk for a better look, she saw the roof was also replaced and the shutters were repaired. In fact, the whole house was sparkling white. The house of horrors was now as beautiful as a house could be.
Laughing with joy, Hildy bounded up the newly painted steps and looked around at the freshly painted porch in awe. She knew exactly who was responsible for the rest of her renovations.
“Thank you, Gaia. It’s all beautiful,” Hildy said sincerely, seeing the enormous pots of blooming flowers flanking each side of the doorway.
She walked back into the house and saw the stairs were now well lit with a small chandelier. It appeared her new benefactor had finished every detail that hadn’t been done.
“Let there be light,” Hildy said with a giggle as she flipped a switch at the bottom of the stairs.
She’d go up and investigate the bedrooms some other time. Right now, she needed to change clothes. She needed to prepare herself for a witch fight which she refused to have looking like an extra from the Flash Dance movie.
In her bedroom, she stripped off her yoga clothes and pulled Morgana’s beautiful blue dress over her head. She left the headband on to hold back her hair but added her favorite stone pendant to her ensemble. The flame-colored agate looked great against the blue.
“Too bad the dress isn’t a bit more modern,” Hildy said, admiring her reflection. The dress suddenly shimmered and changed forms. It grew partial sleeves and shrunk in length to stop just above her knees. “Oh, that’s much better.”
Hildy looked at her feet and conjured a pair of matching blue boots to match the outfit. It wasn’t the greatest outfit she’d ever put together, but it was way better than wearing a blanket… or the used yoga clothes.
Now she felt prepared. She did some meditation, burned some sage in her fireplace to clear the negativity from the house, and went to her bag to look through her magic tools. Since they were attuned for healing broken bones and mending body parts, she found nothing.
Telling herself that the only power she needed was inside her, Hildy made another cup of tea and headed back outside to her lovely renovated porch to wait. No way was she letting the fight happen inside her now beautifully restored house.
An hour later, a bunch of bear shifters walked into her front yard. The three smallest ones ran to hug her when she walked down the steps to greet.
“Got any honey muffins?” one asked.
“Not today,” Hildy said. “Maybe I’ll make some tomorrow.”
A chorus of dancing “Yays!” and fist pumps made her smile.
“What did you do, Hildy? Hire a bunch of elves after I left this morning? I would have fixed it all eventually. You didn’t use your magic, did you? You know you’re not supposed to do that.”
Hildy lifted a finger, pointed, and glared at the bear who assumed nothing was wrong. “I’m not sure I’m talking to you.”
“Why?” Chuck asked, totally shocked over the news.
“Why didn’t you wake me up if you needed to leave this morning? After last night, don’t I at least deserve a kiss goodbye or a note or… I don’t know… something.”
“I did wake you,” Chuck said in his defense. “I woke you about seven times last night which is why I let you sleep in this morning. I figured I’d be back by the time you got out of bed.”
“There were more than a dozen shifters in the basement screeching for me when it was barely light outside. I didn’t even get a freaking cup of tea before I went to work.”
Chuck sighed. “I’m sorry. I would have brought you tea if I’d been here.”
“Do you honestly expect me to believe that?” Hildy asked. She looked down when someone tugged on her dress.
“Don’t be mad at Daddy. It wasn’t his fault we were being stubborn old bears,” a pig-nosed, sassy cub said by her side.
While Hildy was smiling at the cub, a large woman with flashing brown eyes and a pig snout came up and punched forgetful Chuck solidly in his arm. The force of it shoved him sideways several steps.
“I like her,” the woman said. “A healer has no time to worry about her man. You wake your woman up next time before you leave her bed. I swear you’re just like your father. I should have known one of you would get his bad habits. He’d bound out of bed and leave me laying there for the slightest reason. Makes a woman feel used.”
Chuck glared at Hildy. “You know that’s not what happened. The kids are the only reason I would ever have left you this morning.”
Hildy snorted and crossed her arms. “Really? You left me at Charlie’s the other day without saying goodbye. Sometimes I think I don’t know you at all, Chuck. Maybe if you hadn’t disappeared after the first time we…” She stopped when she heard a childish laugh and glanced down at three pairs of pig ears listening intently to her every word. Wait… pig ears?
“Oh no,” Hi
ldy said, bending to feel their pointy ears. “You’re changing again.”
“But we don’t have piggy tails yet. We still have our hairy bear butts.”
Giggling, Hildy smiled at all three of them. “Well, thank Gaia for that,” she said with great feeling. “And I just realized that I don’t even know your names.”
“I’m Farley. These are my brothers, Harrison and Garrison. Dad said he couldn’t rhyme all three of us. I don’t mind though. I like my name being different.”
Hildy laughed as she straightened. “I think you all have great names.” She looked at Chuck and Charlie. “Take the kids to the basement and put them into one of the large cages. Your mother should stay down there with them as well. The doors are warded now to let me know when someone enters who isn’t a shifter.”
Charlie called to the kids but they looked at Chuck for permission. Hildy looked at Chuck too. He stepped forward and put a hand on her face. “I never meant to hurt you by leaving. Last night was the most amazing night of my life.”
Hildy sighed against his palm. “We’ll work it out later. Protect the children and your mother. That’s what’s important right now.”
“Who’s going to protect you?”
Laughing, Hildy moved Chuck’s palm to her lips and kissed it fully. “Silly bear. Didn’t me kicking your ass teach you anything? I’m planning to take care of myself. The Amazons trained me to fight, remember?”
“But I’m your mate, Hildegard. I’m supposed to have your back. What if Charlie’s ex brings friends to help her and you’re outnumbered?”
“I won’t be for very long. I’ve got friends coming as well.” Hildy kissed his palm again and was surprised when Chuck caught her close and kissed her mouth. His possessive kiss spun out until she was nearly spinning herself. Her addiction to the bear was worse now that she knew how the bear delivered on that sensual promise.
She eased away and patted his massive chest. “You’re a sexy distraction I can’t afford at the moment, but I guess I’d feel the same way if I knew you were about to get into a fight. Hide the family, then come back.”
Whole Lot of Shiftin' Going On Page 10
