“Nothing is wrong between us, Frost. Nothing I can’t handle. Topper and I have a lot of strong feelings between us. That’s all.”
Frost nodded. “Strong feelings. Yes, that’s what happened when I met Lacey. She turned me into a rabbit—which is a small desert mammal with long ears and a fuzzy tail. I did not enjoy being a different creature. Now a short time later I’m about to become a father to our child. This is unlike any place I have ever been, General. The unexpected is a daily occurrence here in Magic.”
“Indeed,” Stark replied. “In my short time here, I have seen that for myself.”
Topper came over until she stood in front of them. “Can either of you freeze the men in black enough to keep them knocked out all night? The scientist doesn’t worry me, but the men in black might be able to get away.”
Frost nodded. “I found a way to cause temporary unconsciousness in animals. It seemed to work on your scientist. It lasted about five Earth hours on the horse shifter Lacey worked on which should translate into about ten on a normal human male.”
Topper nodded. “Fine. Show Stark how to do it and help Theo put the guys in jail. When I get my powers back tomorrow, I’ll fix their memories. Until then, I’d just as soon they not know they’ve been taken prisoners.” She looked at Stark. “When you’re finished, meet me at home. I owe you dinner. We may need to open the portal for your trip back before the men in black wake up.”
Stark quirked an eyebrow. “Capturing dakkari. Taking prisoners. Now you’re making me dinner. And all in one day. You amaze me, Topper.”
“If that’s sarcasm, I’m keeping the largest steak for myself.” When Stark laughed, Topper grinned and transported herself without saying goodbye.
Stark turned to look at Frost. “Is steak some form of animal protein?”
Frost grinned. “Yes. The best kind. So Topper’s cooking for you?”
Stark grinned back. “Yes. The witch seems to enjoy feeding me. First female like her I’ve known.”
“As far as I know, Topper only cooks for the Fates, General. You must be special to her. Now the tension between you is doubly confusing,” Frost said.
“Isn’t everything about females confusing?” Stark asked wryly, not wanting Frost to know about his true relationship with Topper. He didn’t normally brag about the females he bedded, even if in this case, he would like nothing better than to publicly claim the witch.
Frost laughed as he nodded. “I have always thought so, Sir. Always.”
CHAPTER 11
Topper sighed as she watched Stark take the last bite of his food. She’d made two giant steaks and he’d eaten one and a half of them. When he set down his fork, he made the same happy growling noise he’d made when they were doing something fun in bed together.
Her face flamed at all the things she’d done with him and all she wanted to do again. Topper imagined her face would pinken over sexy thoughts of Stark until the day she died.
“How long have we known each other? Has it really been just a couple days?” she asked.
Stark smiled. “Is this a verbal sparring trap? I say it feels like I’ve known you forever and you then have a reason to get angry at me? I studied the nuances of your language before I came to Earth, but you surpass my studies with every conversation.”
Topper giggled and covered her mouth with a hand. “I’m witchy, not bitchy—or at least, not usually. It’s been a hard couple of days, Stark. You’ve not really seen me at my best.”
Stark pushed his plate away. It might as well get said now as later. “Whichever the case, it’s been an illuminating couple of days for me. I don’t want to go back to my planet without you. Return to Glacier with me. I would be very good to you.”
Topper snorted. “You’re just talking about sex. What would I do when we weren’t in bed? I get restless in my own house when I run out of chores to keep me busy. I need a more fulfilling life than merely taking care of a man—even an outstanding one.”
She stood, gathered their plates, and walked them to the sink. She stacked them before turning back.
“It’s very sweet of you to offer, but I can’t go to Glacier with you. And it’s not just about the men in black. Nonny and Moonie could do the mind wipe on them. It’s more about being here for the rest of the townspeople. The jaguar shifters are still new. There’s a Yeti family coming from the state of Washington in a month. I’m supposed to go white water rafting this weekend. I know you have to take the dakkari back and release them… and you have to go soon… I don’t see how this can work.”
Topper stopped talking when she heard herself rambling. Stark was staring at her with a very sad look in his shifting silver eyes. She sighed and shook her head.
“You and I barely know each other. It wouldn’t be very smart to make all kinds of promises neither of us can keep, no matter how nice we work in bed. You have all those other females back home. One day soon, I’ll just be that Earth woman you spent a couple nights with while you were off-planet.”
Stark stood and walked to where Topper stood at the sink. He wanted to tell her they were mates, but she couldn’t even accept that she was special to him. He turned Topper around and lifted her chin with his fingers.
“The other females were just a way for me to cope with not having found you until now. At the risk of you thinking I’m an awful male, the others meant nothing to me and I hardly remember them. I would much rather have you for now and always, even if you are a lot of trouble.”
Sighing, Topper wrapped her arms around him and held him close. “If my magic was working, I’d turn you into a toad. You insult me better than any man I’ve ever known, but I still can’t go with you. It might be fun for an adventure, but I’d never be content. Your work is there. My work is here.”
Stark sighed against her hair. “My work hasn’t been enough for me in many years. How can you ask me to forget I met you?”
Topper hugged tighter. “There’s no other choice. I don’t have the magic to remove your memories of me.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking,” Stark whispered.
Topper fought the tightening lump in her throat. “Yes. I do know what I’m asking, and I can’t see this situation we have working out any other way.”
“Frost chose Lacey to be his mate. Why can’t you believe I could choose you?”
Topper shook her head. “Because we’re old—I’m old. I’m not a young woman with big dreams in my head about raising a family like Lacey. Mostly I like my calm, peaceful life. I like my occasional Earth-bound adventures that let me come home more contented. I normally have purple hair, Stark. The only reason I look this plain is because I was trying to be as typical as possible for you. But I’m not really normal—not for an Earthling or a witch. I don’t think I could really change for you, no matter how inspired I might be temporarily.”
“Spend the night in my arms and I will inspire you more than you ever dreamed.”
Topper groaned and put her forehead against Stark’s hard muscled chest. Was she nuts to throw what she had with the sexy alien away? Maybe she was.
But she also knew she was never going to be truly happy living in Glacier’s Alaska-like climate so far away from her family and friends. She would miss the sunshine. She would miss Magic.
Still… there was no man on Earth who could compare to Stark and she wanted all the time with him she could get.
“Look—I will spend the night with you again, but please don’t keep asking me to go with you. You’ll just turn me into a blubbering mess and I’d rather be the woman of your dreams instead.”
Stark pulled Topper close and held her tightly. “Very well. I will cease asking. Will you allow me another question?”
“Sure,” Topper said, shrugging a shoulder against the warmth of him. It was very tempting to grab hold and never let go.
“Is your name really Danielle? I was shocked to hear you introduce yourself. I realized then that I never asked you for your proper name.”
/> Topper laughed at the question. “I’ve always loved the name Danielle, which is why I use it when I have to talk to non-magical people. I’ve used it so often now, it seems like my name.”
“That’s not an answer to my question, but I’ve no more patience for asking. I want to take you to bed.” Stark shook his head, took her hand, and dragged his frustrating, smirking witch to his room.
***
Barely six in the morning and the New Mexico sun lit Magic’s town square. Its bright appearance drew a chorus of groans from all the sleepy witches gathered there, coffee cups in hand. Topper stood in front of the collective circle of power watching Stark arrange the dakkari cages until he could easily carry them all through the portal.
Power had returned to her this morning. When her mind had become conscious, her power had run through her clean and sweet as ever. She had removed the miniaturization spell on the dakkari, but re-shrunk them again with a spell caveat to allow them to return to their full size in a few hours. That put Stark on a deadline, but she had one as well.
The men in black would be coming out of their frozen mental states soon and she had to be ready for them. Nonny and Evanna were already at the jail, prepared to deal with them until she got there. Moonie and Lacey had come to help her open the portal.
Frost stood by Stark, silent as a sentry as he watched the preparations, but she’d caught Frost looking between her and Stark like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. Topper understood Frost’s intuitive urges, but she wasn’t ready to talk about her relationship to Stark. She was still trying to figure things out herself.
This morning she’d watched Stark dress, insisting he keep one set of the clothing Theo had loaned him. Moonie had expressed deep disappointment at his non-naked state when they’d finally shown up.
After last night, she wasn’t willing to share the sight of Stark’s body with other females. She’d done her best to be memorable to him as a lover. But how memorable could she be? Stark was a walking alien sex God. She was an aging witch who’d managed to catch Stark’s interest for reasons she still didn’t understand.
Last night Stark had been both demanding and loving. And he’d awakened her several times, but every time her eyes opened, he’d just been holding her, touching her face tenderly. He’d spoken to her in his own language, tracing icy designs on the inside of her arms as they lay tangled together. She couldn’t believe she’d come to care so deeply about a man she’d only met a few days ago.
The only reason she hadn’t begged Stark to stay was because part of her knew it wasn’t fair to ask for what she wasn’t willing to offer him in return.
Sighing over his innate masculine beauty that she would miss, she watched Stark walk slowly to her. She bowed her head to him, then smiled when he returned the gesture. Respect was a universal sign that spanned both distance and culture. Despite their differences in opinion, it was astounding how much she cared for him after so short a time.
Stark stepped close until his chest nearly brushed her breasts. “It is time for me to go. I will miss you, Topper.”
“I’ll miss you too, Stark.” Topper patted his chest. “You forgot something at the house.” She held a hand out to her side and whispered a chant. His purple diaper cloth appeared in her hand—washed, folded, and pressed.
Stark took the cloth from her and fitted it back inside his wrist unit. He whispered something over it and the cloth shrunk and disappeared beneath the metal band. Topper was the only woman who had ever felt any genuine need to look out for him.
“May I return to visit you?” he asked, setting the rest of his pride aside.
Topper sadly shook her head. “It won’t be possible. The portal is too dangerous. If we keep using it, the men in black will be visiting Magic every day. Eventually, the word will get out and Glacier will be overrun with unscrupulous Earthlings trying to steal advanced technology or whatever else they think they can get by with taking. We can’t let that craziness happen, so you’re going to be the last Glacier traveler to use the portal. We won’t open it again unless it becomes a life or death emergency for Frost and Lacey.”
Stark blinked. He was stunned to hear he was about to take a one-way trip, but what could he do? He didn’t own the portal. Glacier didn’t have any rights to say what happened to it.
“A normal trip here without worm hole assistance would only take six or seven of your Earth years to make in a Glacieran starship. That is not so long. I could return that way.”
“Don’t be silly. We’d both forget each other before you got back here,” Topper stated sharply, shaking her head. “Now you better go, Stark. Otherwise my eyes are going to start leaking and then everyone watching us will panic. You’ve been hell on my public bad-ass witch reputation.”
“You will always own my heart, Topper,” Stark promised, as he leaned down and placed his lips over hers. He just couldn’t make himself believe he’d never see this female again. She belonged to him.
When he raised his head, a stunned silence had fallen over the gathered crowd. Apparently no one in Magic had ever seen Topper be kissed before. It slightly mollified him to know he’d been the only male who’d dared to lay a public claim.
“Be careful while I am not here to help you. Even bad-ass witches need help now and again.”
Topper laughed, even though it wasn’t really funny. “I will, alien. And you watch those green meanies when you release them. They’re not going to be very happy back out in the ice fields after being in a warm desert climate for so long.”
Stark kissed her a final time. Then he walked to the circle and waited while Topper and the other witches opened the portal. With one final nod to Frost, he gathered up the dakkari, and stepped through it before he could change his mind.
It was the first time in his life that doing his duty felt like it was also ripping out his soul.
***
This time the portal released him just outside Polar’s home. Ignoring the loneliness he knew was only going to get worse as his homecoming reality sunk in, Stark stored the dakkari in the transport he’d left there and then returned to Polar’s residence to retrieve his clothes.
They were still folded in a pile exactly where he’d left them in Polar’s office. It all seemed so silly now—that he’d thought he needed to be nude to go to Earth.
But he did not put his other clothes on even though what he was wearing would not serve him well where he was headed with the dakkari. Instead, he just slipped his uniform coat over the Earth clothes the dragon had given him.
He should have been overjoyed to be back safely after completing his mission. Perhaps tomorrow he would be.
At the moment, all Stark could think about was that his home planet no longer seemed like home to him.
CHAPTER 12
“Topper, this can’t go on. You’re acting like a zombie and you know what happens to zombies in Magic. Sheriff Buchan got rid of all of them before he passed on. We can’t have the magicals being eaten for their brains,” Destiny declared, raising her thumb and finger as she pretended to shoot Topper.
Aura frowned. “Stop teasing her, Destiny. Can’t you see Topper’s hurting and confused?”
Topper snorted. “I am not confused. I mind-wiped the men in black like you taught me and then I had a perfectly good time white water rafting over the weekend. My hair is now purple again. See? There is nothing wrong with me.”
“At least nothing a well-hung alien couldn’t fix in about an hour,” Fortune declared.
Aura fisted her hands on her hips. “I can’t believe you’re harassing Topper over sleeping with him. This is our fault, Fortune. If we hadn’t decided Topper needed someone, the green meanies wouldn’t have gotten through the portal, and Stark Naked would never have shown up on Earth to retrieve them. I told you we shouldn’t have sent out that distress call to his intergalactic floozy of a goddess.”
“Icela is not a floozy, but please don’t talk to her again. And stop calling him Stark Naked or n
one of you will get dinner,” Topper said firmly. She set bowls of steaming butternut squash soup in front of the three of them. “This is your first course. Eat your soup before it cools down. It’s better hot. The squash will set your palate.”
Topper frowned when the Fates sighed collectively and lifted their spoons. It didn’t make her feel any better knowing she and Stark had been nothing more than live pawns in an interplanetary matchmaking scheme. She hoped Icela proved more helpful to Stark than the Fates were being to her.
She spooned up a slaw she’d made from raw brussel sprouts and pine nuts. Stark would probably have enjoyed it. He seemed to enjoy her cooking as much as the Fates did. Thinking about his praise, her sigh filled the kitchen as she put small dishes in front of her three guests.
“Raw vegetables to help with clarity. Eat and be well.”
“Blessed be,” the Fates answered in chorus before moving on to eat the slaw.
Topper stopped cooking and let the blessing bring her a measure of peace. “I have the best life any witch could ever wish for. What other witch can say the Fates come to dinner? None. So what if I miss him… a little? Any woman would miss a man capable of giving her as many orgasms as she could handle. There probably aren’t five human men walking this planet who have that sort of bedroom talent.”
Fortune snorted. “You’re probably right, Topper. It was very generous of you to pass him back to all those horny Glacieran females who are no doubt standing in line this very minute to take a turn on Stark Naked’s talented man stick.”
Topper turned and slammed down the entrée in front of her mouthy, irreverent Goddess friend. “Baked cod with mango salsa. It’s a little spicy. Eat it and shut up. I made no promises to him.”
“Nor accepted any in return,” Aura said flatly.
Topper slammed another entrée down. “It would not have been fair to accept Stark’s promises. He can’t come back. You know I can’t open the portal again without risking the whole town.”
Tangling With Topper Page 9
