by Kaye Draper
She snorted. "I just went for a run down the road and back to clear my head. No fur."
Jet let out a long sigh and put his elbows on the table, his chin in his hands. "How much longer until food?"
I shook my head at him. Luna arched a brow. "Who says I'm sharing?"
Jet stood and stretched, pausing to cover a yawn. Then he winked at the werewolf. "Oh, you'll be sharing, doggie. I don't know why you pretend otherwise."
She glared at him. "Twenty-five minutes. Go away until the timer goes off."
He smiled a sly smile and turned away, tail swishing. "Fine. I'm going back to sleep."
He headed toward the living room and I couldn't help the fond smile that crossed my face. He was going to go curl up in the sun coming in the living room window, I just knew it. No matter what his shape, his personality was all feline.
I stared into my coffee cup, mulling over what to say to Luna. She slipped her filled muffin tins into the oven, then turned to me. Her big green eyes were full of emotion, even if she was trying to keep her face composed. "I'm sorry, E. About last night. I didn't mean what I said. I was just…well, there's no excuse. I was being a bitch. I know it's not about my gender—and even if it was, you've got every right to love who you love. It's just…my gender is a sore subject for me, I guess."
I shrugged. "I get it. Kind of." Setting my coffee cup aside, I moved closer. "Luna, I'm not good at this whole…romance…thing. I have never been the center of so much damned attention. It's ridiculous. So, I'm sorry that I handle it like a complete moron."
She snorted. "It's okay, sugar. Your bumbling is kind of adorable."
I glared at her and crossed my arms over my chest. "I just…I'm scared, okay? I've never been with a woman, but that doesn't really mean anything right now, because…." I felt my face going fire engine red, but forced myself to push through. I had promised her, a while back, to stop hiding from my life. "Well, because I think I'm really into you, regardless."
Oh, Powers That Be, kill me now. I was so fucking awkward.
She pressed her lips together to smother a smile and I knew she was laughing at me. "Okay," she said softly, reaching out to grip my elbows, since my arms were still folded defensively. "And?"
I swallowed hard. "And that's not the reason I'm so scared, Luna." I worried my lip between my teeth, then finally managed to just blurt it out. "When we were captured. When I met my dad. He said he can do fate magic. Whatever that means." I shook my head, then met her eyes, my chest aching. "He said he cast some sort of spell…to bring powerful people to help me."
She watched me for a minute before it sank in. "Oh. And you think…?"
I laughed bitterly. "Do I think that the only reason I'm suddenly surrounded by powerful, beautiful people who all want to protect me is because of some stupid spell? Well, given how the rest of my life went up until now, um, yes, that's exactly what I think. Why else would any of you be here?"
She didn't let go of my arms. Instead, she moved her hands up my upper arms to my shoulders, pulling me toward her until I finally relented and let her hug me. She didn't say anything for a while, just rubbed my back and rested her head against my shoulder. I gripped the back of her sweatshirt and let out a shuddery sigh. I didn't need to start blubbering like a stupid baby.
But of course, that's exactly what I did.
I shook with nearly silent sobs while she wrapped me up in warmth and softness and reminded me it was okay to be broken once in a while. It was okay to be soft sometimes. When she did pull back, it was to cup my face with her hands, swiping away tears with her thumbs.
She looked into my eyes and her face was full of understanding. "I can see why you would think that, hon. And maybe you're right. Maybe magic brought us all to you. But I just don't think magic could make people fall in love. What I feel for you feels too real, too damned twisted up, to be anything but my own."
I blinked at her. "But I'm a fucking mess. Inside and out."
She smiled and huffed a soft laugh. "I don't know if you've noticed, E, but everyone is a fucking mess. Some people just hide it better than others. The fact that you're aware of your insecurities makes you more attractive, not less."
I sighed. "I'm sorry I ever made you feel unwanted, Luna. This whole odd poly relationship thing is new to me. And when I realized you were serious about…us…and that I wanted that, I had a hitchhiker in my brain at the time." Awan had been possessing me, voluntarily, until he found a new body.
She leaned in, stopping just shy of kissing me. "The only one who made me feel unwanted was me. I shouldn't have gotten all bent out of shape and went all rabid on you."
I laughed. "You had other things on your mind." My heart was about to burst right out of my chest at her nearness, at the feel of her warm, strong fingers on my skin.
She stared back at me, and I realize she was waiting for me to make the decision. I bent my head slightly, pressing my lips to hers, just the ghost of a touch. Then I pulled back, waiting for her reaction. She smiled and leaned into me, covering my lips with her own, slow, soft, and sweet.
It wasn't the raging, passionate kiss I'd expect from a rabid werewolf. But it was perfect. She pulled back and stroked a hand through my messy red curls. "We can go slow, if you want," she said softly. "I just…the wolf needed to know you were really ours, I think." She looked down and I felt the tension in her.
"Explain," I said, putting a little more space between us so I could focus on the conversation. I reached for my coffee cup and she leaned back against the counter. "Remember, I'm not quite up to speed on all this werewolf stuff."
She shook her head. "Not just werewolf stuff. Stupid alpha stuff." She shrugged. "I spent a long time drugged. They kept my alpha powers suppressed from the time I was a teenager. So…I didn't grow up learning how to be alpha, like the alpha males do."
She heaved a sigh. "For me, it was sudden. The drugs wore off, I broke out. And I found I had all this power. I could do things I never knew I could do before. The other wolves I came into contact with were suddenly reacting differently. They were subservient. And…something in me had changed too. I wanted them to be subservient. I needed them to submit to me and acknowledge my power over them."
She wrapped her arms around herself, in an unconscious gesture that made me think maybe she was just as scared of her power as I was of mine. "There are these…instincts, sometimes. Needs I have now that I never had back when I was weak and chained up in the pack's jail cell."
Her green eyes met mine, and I knew she was desperate to have me understand. "I don't want to be a raging asshole. But sometimes I can't help it. Those wolves came into my territory. They wanted to take me back to the pack, so they could use me again. That was bad enough. But the thing that makes me more upset is that they thought they could be here without bowing to me. That they could get within a hundred miles of my pack, my mate and think I'd let them live."
She huffed. "And then they got away with it. It made me livid. Then to top it all off, I could smell the cat's scent all entwined with yours. It just…I lost control of myself."
I went to her and touched her cheek. "Luna, I—well, I can't say I know exactly what you mean, but I do get it. I lose control of my shit at least once a week these days. At least you managed not to kill anyone without someone else dragging you back to sanity, the way they have to do for me."
She covered my hand with her own. "Thanks."
I nodded.
The timer dinged and I startled. Luna laughed and turned to grab a hot pad and get the muffins out of the oven. Jet appeared in the doorway like magic, his ears perked forward and tail twitching. "Food?"
I laughed. Luna rolled her eyes and popped the muffins out onto a cooling rack.
Jet strolled over, nose twitching. He stopped and cast a glance from me to Luna and back again. "Did you sort out your werewolf, idiot necromancer?"
I stared at him. He was such an asshole.
Luna shoved him aside and got out a stack of plat
es from the cupboard. "I'm sorted, you fussy feline."
"Good." He nodded and went to hover over the muffins. "I want five."
Luna sighed as if she was the most over-worked, underappreciated slave in the world. She plopped one muffin onto his plate, cut it in half, and pointed to the butter dish. "Put butter on them. It gets all melty. You'll like it."
He grinned at her, showing his pointed teeth, his tail waving in excitement. "You're such a good doggie!"
She pointed the butter knife at him. "Stop calling me a dog, kitty cat."
He slunk past her to the butter, turning to pluck the knife from her fingers. "No."
Luna rolled her eyes and gave me a look. I shrugged. "Yep. He's always like this. And no, I can't do anything about it, because I've given up."
Jet hopped up to sit on the countertop with his plate in his lap, taking a bite of one butter-soaked muffin. He closed his yellow eyes and moaned. "Doggie is right, this is very good." He opened his eyes and stared right at me, full of mischief. "You should reward her for treating me so well."
I put my face in my hands. "My life is so damned weird."
I lifted my face to find Luna standing in my space, a wicked look of her own gracing her features. "I deserve a reward. Kitty cat says so, and I've noticed he somehow always gets his way."
I sighed, but let her pull me into one more sweet, lingering kiss.
When she pulled back, her eyes were twinkling. And Jet had stolen four more muffins. He took the butter dish and the knife to the table, humming happily to himself.
Luna was right, the little asshole got everything he wanted. But I wasn't going to complain too loudly, since for some reason giving him what he wanted usually resulted in good things for me too.
"Where is everyone else," I asked as I went to refill my coffee.
Luna went to get her own muffin. "Drake had to go to work. He took your car." She smirked at me. "Did he really get an actual job? As a construction worker?"
At my nod, she grinned and continued. "Toma went to the cemetery down the road—something about his grim. And Awan went with him in case the wolves showed up again." She shrugged. "I promised not to go too far on my run, and I knew you had kitty cat over there with you, so you were safe enough."
I sighed. Why did it feel like she was a security guard giving me a run-down on everyone's whereabouts?
She handed me a plate with a soggy, butter-covered muffin. I eyed it skeptically, but we all knew I was going to try it, since I never turned down food. "I think we should go talk to that witch sometime," she said with a tilt of her head. "It wouldn't hurt to keep someone that powerful on your good side."
I frowned. "She's a black witch. She made freaking ghouls out of people and set them free to terrorize the town! And you want to be friends with her?"
Jet stood and went to get the milk out of the fridge. "She's right."
For like half a second, I thought he was agreeing with me, and it shocked the hell out of me. But of course, that would never happen.
"We should befriend the witch," he continued. "She probably has the spells and ingredients that you'll need to break the curse on your family."
I stared at him. With everything else that was going on around here, I'd kind of forgotten about that little slice of what-the-hell. Boy, I was just daughter of the year over here.
Luna looked at me in question. I waved a hand. "When we were in the collector's dungeon, my dad said there's a curse on my mom. He asked me to get rid of it."
Jet put the milk away and took his glass to the table. "I promised I would help, since my necromancer is useless with magical things."
Luna shook her head and gave me a weird look. "What?" I demanded.
She shrugged. "I think I finally understand why you were so dead-set against accepting responsibility for your life. Because it's just one thing after another with you, isn't it? I'd hide from it too, if I was you."
I shoved her lightly and left the room in search of my cell phone so I could ask when Drake would be home with the car. We probably did need to go visit the creepy old black witch. How fun.
Chapter 4
I stepped out of the rental car and put my arms on the top, gazing out across the Ravenwood trailer park toward my mom's dilapidated old mobile home. I narrowed my eyes as I got the same sinking sensation I always got whenever I approached the place.
"I always just thought it was me," I said slowly. "But…does anyone else feel that horrible feeling right now?"
Toma slid out of the backseat and rested a hand on the small of my back. "Oh, Esper. I wish you would have introduced me to your mom a lot sooner."
I turned to look at him. His purple eyes were glowing faintly, and his Cupid's bow lips were downturned. "I think I could see this, even before my power fully awakened."
I followed his gaze toward the trailer. "What do you see?"
He shook his head. "It's like a black cloud over the place, but clingy…sticky. It's feeding on their energy…their souls."
I took his offered hand and Toma's magic connected with mine. I gasped when I looked back at the trailer. "I think I'm going to puke," I muttered.
Jet got out of the passenger's side of the car, his ears pinned flat to his head and his tail lashing. "That is going to make a disturbance when it breaks," he said ominously.
I sucked in a deep breath. "But…we can do it, right?"
We had spent a very awkward afternoon with the old, blind witch who ran the curiosity shop in town—despite Awan and Drake's objections. She was as crotchety and obtuse as ever, so it was really hard for me to say if she could be an ally. But she did agree to loan us a spell book, and to sell us real ingredients so we could undo the curse, rather than the fake crap she sold the tourists.
Of course, she had probably been hired to cast the curse in the first place. But she wouldn't admit to it.
For all I knew, the hag was still working for the collector. She insisted she had owed him one favor, which he had already spent. But, how exactly would you even know if someone who called themselves a "black witch" was telling the truth?
I took the cardboard box of supplies from Toma so his hands would be free for whatever magic working he needed to do. Apparently, the curse was anchored to my mother's freaking soul. So, the spirit mage at my side should be able to cut it loose.
"You sure you know what you're doing?" I asked Toma for maybe the hundredth time since we'd left the witch's shop.
He looked up at me, then glanced nervously at the trailer. "Honestly? No, no I'm not." He shrugged. "But I suppose there's only one way to learn." He gave me a puckish smile, but I could see the panic under it. "You don't really like your mother anyway, right? So, if I accidentally make her explode or something, no worries?"
I sighed. "I trust you," I said firmly. Even though I wasn't entirely sure there wasn't going to be some exploding. "Should we maybe wait until the kids aren't here though?"
"No," Toma said after a pause. "It's got it's tendrils sunk into them too—not as bad as your mother, but still."
Jet arched his dark eyebrows at us. "Why are we just standing here? Stupid necromancer, stop putting this off." He glanced at Toma. "Pretty mate, you have the ability to handle one little curse. We will not allow you to make anyone explode."
He gestured and Toma's Grim materialized from under a clump of trees a few lots away, where the trailer park butted up to a wooded area. All I could see of the massive black dog were shifting shadows and glowing, blue-flame eyes.
Toma straightened his spine. "Right. Let's do this."
He and Jet turned and eyed me. "What?" I muttered, not liking that look.
"You need to be with the others when this thing breaks," Toma said slowly.
I blinked at him. "What? Why?"
Jet shook his head. "Because it's attached to you too, stupid magic user."
I swallowed hard, looking down at my own body. "Toma…?"
He squeezed my hand. "It's attached right to your heart, Espe
r," he whispered. "Let's go get rid of that, okay?"
I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. I didn't even know what I was dithering about anyway. It was Toma and his grim who were going to be doing most of the work, with maybe a little bit of a push from Jet where he could. I was just there for moral support. And to try to get my family to go along with what would essentially sound like crazy mumbo-jumbo to them.
I braced myself for the unpleasantness and headed toward the trailer. Before we went inside, Toma had me help him make a salt circle around the outside of the house. If anyone saw us, they didn't say anything. Weird as it was, two people dumping a bag of something around the small, weedy lot was far from the strangest thing that went on around here.
When that was done, we dropped the empty bags into the trash bin that stood at the curb and I slapped my hands against my pants to get rid of the fine sheen of salt dust. Toma bound his long hair back and took a few candles out of the box we'd brought. He muttered to himself as he went around the circle, making a little symbol with his quick, nimble fingers before setting each candle at a predetermined point and lighting it with a spell.
I saw the dingy curtains twitch in one of the windows. Ryan's room. Toma had just finished his candle lighting, when the trailer door opened and my half-brother leaned against the doorframe, giving me a narrow-eyed look. "What are you doing, Esper?" His eyes flicked to the guys beside me, and he frowned when he saw Jet, who had his ears and tail out.
I sighed. The cat was out of the bag. Ha, ha. "Ryan. Hey. How's it going?" I waved awkwardly. "This is Toma. And this is Jet. We need to…um…do some stuff."
I was going to have to explain to them—all of them—what was going on, and all about the magical world. But I was too used to having to keep my freakishness a secret.
Jet crossed his arms and shook his head at my bumbling attempts to explain. "Stupid necromancer. The witch boy can help."
I glared at him. "Shut up with magic stuff."
Ryan didn't move from the doorway. "Why does that dude have cat ears? Is that a tail?"
Jet smiled proudly, displaying his sharp teeth. "My name is Jet. You can call me that. Or familiar. Do not call me 'dude'. It's common."
