Penny woke and registered that she felt safer and more comfortable than she could ever remember being in bed. She hummed happily and cozied up Cole, pleasantly achy from their escapades the night before that had moved from the couch to the bed before they fell asleep in each other’s arms. She had one leg thrown over Cole, her hand spread over his chest and now she raked her fingers through his chest hair, smiling to herself and pressing into him.
“Good morning to you, too,” Cole said softly.
“‘Morning, Mr. Bear,” Penny murmured, and she sat up a little, smiling through her long curtain of hair before leaning down to press a kiss to his neck. But the chill air made her shiver and she sank back beneath the covers. “Big old teddy bear.”
Cole laughed and she felt the rumble of it in her own belly. He stroked her hair. “I do not mind being your teddy bear,” he said.
“I don’t want to move,” Penny said. Except that now that the tension between them had - at least temporarily - broken and an entire evening had passed, she found herself worrying about Henry again and what he might do.
“Don’t move, then,” he said, kissing her hair. “I’m gonna make coffee.”
“Thank you!” She called after him, slapping his butt when he rolled out of bed. “Can you bring me my phone too, please?” He winked at her over his shoulder and she bit her lip as he swaggered across the room, bare ass naked. “Mmmm. I do like to watch you walk away.”
He swung his hips a little and she giggled and fell back into the covers. She reached over and grabbed the remote to put on some news. The TV flipped onto a cable news channel and the chyron across the bottom of the screen read: UNIDENTIFIED CREATURE TERRORIZING TRENTON, NEW JERSEY.
Penny sat up with a start and her smile fell as she watched a blurry cellphone video of a grayish blob-like creature on a city sidewalk that was a lot larger than a bit of algae. The blob sprouted a tentacle and nabbed a terrier running down the street. The terrier disappeared inside the blob and Penny clapped a hand to her mouth. The anchor was talking about how nobody knew what the creature was or where it had come from but the prevailing theory was that it had come from the sea, a previously undiscovered lifeform. It was so far being called a “land squid.”
“Cole!” Penny shouted. Cole appeared in the doorway, holding two mugs of coffee, and he turned his head to watch the TV as he padded over and handed Penny her cup. “They did it,” Penny said. “Or they did it to somebody anyway. They made a monster.”
“Shit,” Cole murmured, and he set down his coffee, pulling on a pair of boxers.
“How much longer will that antidote take?” Penny said.
“I don’t even know if it’s going to work,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. “And I have to test it-”
“I don’t think we should wait,” she said. “Not if they’re already trying this on people. I have to go back to the city. If I can stop The Salvaged before they try this Reckoning or whatever it is, we won’t even need the antidote.”
“What about this guy?” Cole said, nodding at the television.
The anchor on the television said, “I am just receiving word that law enforcement officials and animal control in Trenton have put down the unidentified creature-”
“Oh,” Cole said.
“They don’t even know there was a person in there,” Penny said, “If there still was.”
“Okay,” Cole said, but he frowned at Penny. “But I’m coming with you, Penny. Obviously. You’re not doing this alone. I’ll check in with my shifter buddies too, see if they’ve reached the city yet. To be honest, I don’t think those wizards in London are going to be any help.”
“Penny and the bears save the world, huh?” Penny said.
“We’re gonna damn well try,” Cole said.
“Oh shit,” Penny said, clapping a hand to her head. “But my car-”
A pounding on the front door interrupted them and Cole frowned at her before grabbing his robe and cinching it. Penny pulled on the PJs she’d been wearing and threw on a t-shirt, following him into the living room. The pounding persisted and Cole threw open the door to see Delilah the mechanic, leaning in the doorway, her hands shoved in the pockets of her jumpsuit, her ball-cap pulled low over her blonde hair.
“Ah, good morning,” she said, nodding to Penny. “Wanted you to know, I had that part just laying around as it turned out. Fixed ya’ right up-”
“How’d you know where I was?” Penny said.
“I asked around. Heard you were staying with the hot professor.”
“Oh… But-”
“It’s on the house!” Delilah said. She gestured down to the ground. “Parked ya’ right here. No thanks needed! And uh…” She clapped Penny on the shoulder and grinned at Cole. “Congrats, guys!”
“Thanks!” Penny said blankly, and the took the keys Delilah handed her. She shrugged at Cole who shrugged back and they went inside to freshen up and get ready to save the world.
They were showered and dressed and driving in the direction of New York City when Penny realized she had no idea what conclusion they had reached apropos of the sex. Penny gripped the wheel at ten and two and tried to get herself used to the idea that it had been a one-time thing. Professor Montgomery was used to one-time things and she was likely no more memorable for him than one of his little grad students.
That was too bad, she thought. Because she had decided she liked him probably more than she should, having known him for so short a time. She wasn’t sure if it was the cooking or the oral that had sealed her feelings. She tried to amuse herself and put away the melancholy now coming over her as she drove while Cole told her about what it felt like to be a bear after she’d asked him while waiting at a stoplight.
He mentioned his mate and she smiled sadly at him. It tore at her heart that he had lost his mate. He’d explained a little about mates and their physical and spiritual connection. Humans could have babies with shifters, he’d said. He hadn’t said specifically whether they could be mates. Probably not, she decided, if only to lower her own expectations. Cole had processed his grief, but he would either always be heartbroken or else seeking another bear shifter woman to share his life with. She was just another human who was turned on by the sexy professor.
Except it’s not just that and you know it, she thought.
None of those grad students knew he was a bear. He’d shared that with her, even if he’d been forced to. The thought did make her feel a little special.
“Are you happy working as a restaurant hostess?” Cole asked suddenly.
Penny snorted as she slowed in traffic and said, “Of course not. It sucks.”
“What would you like to do?” He inquired, leaning back in his seat and turning his head to look at her.
“I’d like to paint and live in the woods,” Penny said reflexively, blushing when she realized it sounded exactly like what somebody who maybe wanted to romance an actual bear might say.
“Sounds like a nice life, “ Cole said. “Why don’t you do that?”
“Oh, sure,” Penny said, laughing. “I’ll just quit my job and live on, uh, I dunno, dust and paint and move to the woods.”
Cole scoffed at that and said, “Yeah, but, didn’t you say you and your brother own your house? In Brooklyn? You could sell that for a mint. Be more than fine for as long it might take you to make yourself a living, find some place in the woods…”
“I’ve…” Penny cleared her throat. “I’ve thought about that. A lot actually. But it’s not just my house, it’s Henry’s. Even if he is an evil wizard. And, I dunno. I thought maybe I should go to art school first. I don’t know anything, I’m just self-taught.”
“I guess I shouldn’t try to advise you on that one,” Cole relented. “Since I haven’t seen your work.”
“No, you haven’t,” Penny said, feeling a little easier. Thinking about actually following her dreams always filled her with a little anxiety even if it was coupled with excitement. “You should pose for me one day,”
she muttered, not knowing she was going to say so before she said it.
“Pose for you?” Cole grinned and that. “Nudes?”
“Yes,” Penny said, “but I meant as a bear.”
“Oh!” He brightened. “That would be nice! A painting of my bear self?”
“Portrait of the artist as a young bear,” Penny quipped. He laughed at that and reached over to squeeze her hand. The simple gesture filled her with such hope that she could think of nothing to say and froze up before he pulled away again and went quiet. “If you wanted to, anyway,” she went on. “Wouldn’t mind painting you as human either. Nude, I mean.” She smirked at him and he blushed. It was a cute look on him, especially in his leather jacket. But he didn’t say anything else so she scrambled to backpedal. “It was just a thought. I’m just...babbling,” she said weakly.
How silly he must think her, Penny thought. Like he wanted to date some nobody like her. Her insecurities reared up again and she sighed. When they had to slow to a stop, she turned on some music from her phone.
“Oh nice,” Cole said when the music started playing. “I love Beach House.”
Penny smiled at him but inside she was already trying to get used to the idea of him being gone.
Delilah
Delilah was dressed as a cop, at a checkpoint she’d set up with the help of the Oracle, about two hours outside of Bellington. She sighed, pushing the aviators up the bridge of her nose. The cop’s uniform was stiff and it was still chilly - though, blessedly, it was not raining.
The couple had consummated. That, to Delilah’s mind, seemed like the end of the story. Goal achieved. She had thought all they needed to do next was defeat the wizard punks and then everybody could go home and pat themselves on the back.
She had been about to turn her attention to the Salvaged situation until a message came in from Gavrill on her Oracle.
The human and the shifter may have had intercourse, but they certainly weren’t “together.” No confessions of love had been spoken. They were both deeply insecure about the other’s feelings and there was a good chance they were both going to part ways, thinking the other wasn’t even interested.
Delilah was annoyed. She thought this was all a load of stupid human bullshit. But as this was the mission and as it was so far a bit easier than convincing bad people they should become good people, Delilah sucked it up and devised the checkpoint gambit.
They wouldn’t hit her checkpoint for two hours. She played a candy matching game on the Oracle, whistling absently.
“Hey.” A cop appeared, seemingly from thin air. He was dark skinned and he had short dreadlocks and just about the most prettily handsome face Delilah had ever seen and he was...fit. He smiled broadly at her under his shades as he ambled over, tossing her a nod. “Delilah, right?”
Delilah scrambled for some foothold of bullshit. How did he know her, how had he found her, and if he was a cop-
“I’m Katz,” he said. “From the Department of Soul Matery. The Council sent me to see how you’re doing.”
Delilah’s shoulders dropped but now she gazed at him over the rim of her aviators, mainly to get a better idea of just how attractive he was. Yes, far too attractive. He was probably an angel too. Ugh.
“I don’t need a babysitter,” Delilah said, crossing her arms, and staring into the street.
“Hey, now,” Katz said, coming up to stand beside her. “I come in peace. They always send a rep to check up a couple times. Pairing up earth types is serious business to the Council.”
“Why?” Delilah asked with a snort.
“Because they’re always trying to inject more love into earth,” Katz said, as if that should be obvious. “All the departments that deal with love are pretty high pressure. Pleasant to work for though! I transferred over from Friendship myself.”
“Oh, man,” Delilah muttered. “You’re a real believer, aren’t you?”
“In love?” Katz said, frowning.
“Yeah.”
“I mean...I am an angel, “Katz said, pointing to his chest. “So…yeah. They warned me you were pretty cynical.” Delilah only shrugged at that and Katz went on, “But they think you’re doing a good job. Like, they were surprised how well you’ve been doing.”
“Oh gee, thanks!” Delilah snapped. She pursed her lips, feeling a bit petulant. Being good at getting dumb living beings to fall in love didn’t seem like much of a challenge to her. Not generally. She considered the entire mission a punishment and she was happy to get through each one as quickly as possible and maybe raise some hell at a nice dive bar on her way back to the angelic dimension if she could swing it. Or she could go to that one bar in the angelic dimension that wasn’t really a dive but was as close as one could get in the afterlife.
Katz cleared his throat and said, “Having said that-”
“Ugh.”
“Do you have a plan to complete the confessional bit?” Katz said. “Oracle’s been off lately but it’s showing that Montgomery and Sax have yet to confess their feelings to each other.”
“You do know they’ve known each other for, like, a day?” Delilah said wryly.
“Yes,” Katz said, nodding. “It’s a short timeline but it’s on track for them. Everyone’s different. If these two part without a confession, they’ll likely never see each other again, having assumed the other wasn’t interested in anything beyond intercourse.”
“Okay, well I do have a plan,” Delilah said. “So it’s fine.”
“Okay…” Katz looked at her expectantly.
“When they stop at this checkpoint, I’ll spell her to sleep,” Delilah said. “With a little hex. And give her a couple nightmares. I do have a few powers bestowed upon me by the oh so holy Council.”
“I don’t understand,” Katz said, chuckling uncertainty. “How does a nightmare help your cause?”
“Easy,” Delilah said. “He’ll comfort her. Humans get super mushy when they’re vulnerable. I know he’s a shifter, but same diff. He acts like a human most of the time.”
“That’s interesting,” Katz said. “Other agents usually try to set up a romantic dinner, get somebody to talk…”
“Nah.” Delilah squinted down the road and checked her watch. “They have to think they’re doing it themselves. You can’t make them feel stuff, you just have to stage a situation that motivates them to reveal their feelings. I did the same kinda thing when I convinced people to sell their souls or become vampires back in the day. It’s like that but in reverse. Classic manipulation.”
“Wow.” Katz blinked at her. “You know, I think you might be a natural at this!”
Delilah curled her lip at him and said, “Bite your tongue.”
Cole
About two hours out toward the city, Penny needed to stop to find a restroom and they bought water and snacks. Since Cole was already feeling edgy knowing he wouldn’t be able to shift for who knew how long, he wanted to something to do and asked to drive.
The drive was pleasant enough if a little awkward.
He wanted to tell Penny that they should figure out how to see each other after this and more than that he wanted to tell her that she should sell her stupid house in hipster Brooklyn and quit the job she hated at the fancy restaurant that didn’t know how to cook fish properly. He wanted to tell her that instead, she should maybe live Upstate where she could paint bears and trees all she wanted if she would just agree to also let him make her laugh and hold her at night.
He wanted to tell her all that except he couldn’t get a read on Penny who had told him off when he’d hit on her and then come back and later begged for his tongue. She was probably all mixed up because of this crazy situation with her brother, he thought. She’d just needed a nice distraction, a good roll in the hay with the sexy professor. It didn’t mean she was interested beyond that and why would she be? He was older than her and he had not exactly enamored himself to her with the long line of grad students he’d bedded. Not to mention which...he was a bear. Whi
ch she now seemed to find charming in some way, but he doubted that would last. He’d be lucky if she just didn’t tell anyone.
Cole drove and brooded and wished he knew what Penny was thinking. What if he was wrong and she wanted to actually make something of this with him? What if, though they had known each other about a day, she was feeling as strongly as he already was? Because unless he had truly begun to lose his mind, he was starting to feel like Penny was meant to be his new mate, somebody he would feel connected to in mind, body and spirit. It didn’t seem to matter that she was human. He was feeling it as strongly as he had with Louise and that feeling had come up quickly on him too. When you knew, you knew, Cole figured.
He just wasn’t sure what Penny knew and he felt a tender melancholy about it all as they drove and nodded along to soft alternative rock until Cole slowed when a big sign directed him to a checkpoint where a cop was waiting to question them. Beside him, Penny was too quiet, messing with her phone, but now she looked up, frowning.
The cop seemed faintly familiar as she bent down to talk to them. Behind her, another cop was observing them, his hands in his pockets as he leaned on the checkpoint road sign.
“Good afternoon, sir!” The cop said. “You driving back to the city?”
“Yep.”
“Howdy, ma’am,” the cop said, nodding at Penny.
Penny smiled tightly and the cop pulled her pair of aviators down her nose a little, gazing over the rim of them at Penny. “Hope you aren’t too tired…” She muttered something under her breath and Cole frowned. Penny blinked at her.
“I don’t...think so,” Penny said, but she yawned and shook her head. “Hmm.”
The cop muttered something else under her breath that Cole couldn’t make out and then she nodded at them both. “Okay. You’re fine to go. And may I say, the two of you make an adorable couple.”
“Oh,” Penny said quickly. “We’re not…”
“Yeah,” Cole said, his heart rapidly sinking. “We’re not…”
Secrets & Dark Magic Page 8
