Once Levi reached the dead animal, lying just as he had left it, he stopped. His breath came in long bursts through his bull nostrils. He circled around to be sure no one was watching, and then shifted into his naked human form when he didn’t sense anyone else. Bastien followed Levi's lead. They avoided general eye contact and focused on the animal torn up on his land.
"Here's what I know. The heart is gone. Nothing has been eaten. The creature was killed and seemingly left out for me to find and, most importantly, some serious magic has been used to cover up tracks, at least I assume its magic because I don't know anything that can leave a true absence in the very air." The warm sun beat over Levi’s bare flesh.
Bastien kneeled down by the beast. He took a long sniff, raised his head, and closed his eyes. Outwardly, Levi couldn't see him actually do much else; the male was said to be a great hunter. It was his Khimairan specialty. Deep inside, he would be calling upon this ability. Bastien grinned, and then his eyes popped open.
"That absence will be what helps find the one responsible for this savagery. I think I know who is doing this to you. Well not exactly who, only a rumored name. I've come across this once before. The person or thing is known as the Chameleon. And I'm sure you can guess why." Bastien stood.
"And what is this Chameleon? Can we ask him to stop? Is he a Khimairan, cause I've never heard of him." Levi ran his thick fingers through his hair. Maybe if he understood why the killing was happening he could make it stop.
"He's not Khimairan, I don't think. I guess if he was we wouldn't really know, would we? He blends into whatever he wants. I can't tell you how cause I don't know, but this is pretty serious if he's in your area. Do you have something he might want?"
"Like what?" Levi moved his hands out as if in offering. "I have this place and that’s it. Maybe some potions. But if this guy is as good as he appears, what would he want with one of my potions compared to his gift? Let alone my land? He's not even killing for food. Is he just fucking toying with me or something?" Anger reared up through his chest like a ball of fire.
Bastien shrugged. "I don't know what he wants. Maybe he has a grudge against you. You piss anyone off recently?"
Levi shook his head in exasperation. He thought about his customer base. No one had complained. No one seemed upset by any of his magic potions. He had repeat customers. He didn't venture into town or to the enclave much. "I don't get involved with people enough to have offended someone, at least to this degree." Levi dug his toes into the cool grass.
"It's a slim chance, but maybe the guy is just passing through. You say it's been going on for a week and you haven't met anyone new in the last week?"
Levi thought about the last ten days. "I’ve had three male customers, all repeat customers. They’ve been coming to me for almost a year. I had an older lady whom I've been helping with her arthritis for about six months and another gal I've seen the last few months. Otherwise, no one new. For sure not in the last ten days."
Bastien rubbed the bottom of his chin and looked out along the forest. "I can't set a trap for him because I don't know what he wants. However, I think I know how you might find out who it is. If he's still around, we can use your gifts to show you the culprit."
"Like use a potion?" Levi rose an eyebrow.
"Yes...I'm sure you have a potion you can use for it. What do you want to do with dead beastie? It's good meat. Early spring has kept it pretty cool out. Through it into a pan and cook it should still be salvageable."
If they carried the carcass back and skinned and processed it, he could freeze the meat easily enough. "All right, let's get the deer back to the house." After that, they would figure out how to catch this Chameleon.
Chapter Seven
Sadie had unpacked her suitcase and was sitting on the back porch as Bastien and Levi carried a dead deer toward the house. They carried it on their backs in Their changed Khimairan forms were stunning. Levi’s bull tall and strong with dark brown fur glistening in the sunlight. His chest barreled out legs in a broad stance as they came to a stop outside a barn. They let the creature fall and started to change back into humans. Tan flesh came into view as Levi's fur receded. He had one hell of a firm ass. Sadie sat so still, she barely even breathed. Her heart fluttered as she watched his arm muscles flex picking the creature up and hauling it into the barn. As the shadows from inside the area devoured Levi's form, Sadie blushed and dashed into the house. She didn't want him to know she had watched him shift.
There were plenty of Khimairans who didn't care about shifting in front of other Khimairans. Sadie not so much. And she had no clue how Levi or Bastien felt about that either. Not that she noticed Bastien, but they might be mortified she had witnessed their change. No, she wanted to stay on Levi’s good side. She needed his help.
The warm tingle of her own change slid across her shoulders. She barely reached the couch before hands balled into hooved fists and white goat fur covered her flesh. Sadie fell onto the couch as scales slid up through her skin, glistening in the late afternoon sunlight from the front window. By the gods, what was happening to her? She'd found her mate. Wouldn't that make the half shifting impossible? A grunt came out of her mouth as she stared down at her long, green-blue, fish-like tail that flopped noisily on the wooden floor.
To Sadie's horror, the back door opened. Bastien was the first one through, followed closely by Levi. If she’d have been in human form, her flesh would be scarlet and burning with embarrassment. Instead, her tail flopped again along the floor, alerting both males to her presence. Their heads turned at the same time in her direction. She couldn't even duck out of eyesight. By the gods, couldn’t she catch a break?
"Sadie?" Levi moved around the couch. He'd put on a pair of sweatpants, but his chest remained bare, revealing his zodiac sign marring his flesh in a circle with two lines coming from the top like a simplistic bull head. Sadie opened her mouth, and a goat grunt came out.
Bastien didn’t seem surprised or out of sorts, he simply moved through the room. "I'm going to hop in the shower and let you two figure this out." Bastien left.
Sadie wanted to move—to do anything besides flop around on Levi's floor like some kind of carnival show.
"Stay calm. I'll get you into the spare room, and we can work from there. Bastien isn't going to say anything." Levi's strong arms wrapped around her and he lifted her easily, not even grunting at her weight as he carried her off to the spare bedroom.
She took a couple of deep breaths trying to calm her raging panic. What if she didn't change back this time? Would she be stuck in animal form forever with a human mind? What a miserable way to live. The thought was irrational. As she’d found her mate, she wouldn’t be stuck in animal form unless they declined each other, but her brain freaked, and she couldn’t help the thoughts and fear. She supposed if he didn’t want to bond with her then she would be like all the others and turn primal losing her humanity forever.
"Here we go." Levi put Sadie down on the bed. "I'm sure you’re pretty freaked out, but we can deal with this. Get yourself calmed down and try to shift back. I'm going to leave you alone. I'll go get my potion kit so once you’re shifted we can get you sorted out. I assume this is just getting worse for you?"
Sadie tried to nod but wasn't sure he understood as her head kind of bobbed around in a heavy manner.
"Usually an invoked sign will start to level one of our kin out. It's strange it's worse for you. Perhaps someone did something to you? Either way, I'll help you the best I can. Now I'm going go ahead and get out of your way. Take your time. If you aren't out within thirty minutes though, I'll come back to check on you." Levi walked out of the room and closed the door.
Relief flooded Sadie's system. She closed her eyes and willed her change to human form, which was a lot harder to do when Levi was in the same room. She focused on her body, breathing deeply, trying not to think of anything else but the shifting. Sadie exhaled, and the warmth of the change came over her body. Instead of hair stand
ing on end, Sadie felt the prickly gooseflesh of the hair slinking back under her skin. The soft, cool comforter touching her flesh made her eyes pop open. Human legs! Thank the gods. Her hooves had shifted to fingers, and Sadie shivered. This had to stop. Pieces of her clothes still clung to her body. None of them salvageable. Sadie pulled at the torn material and let it fall to the floor. An ache nestled at the back of her skull as she moved her legs over the edge of the bed and stood. She swayed as black circles breached the corners of her eyes, but dissipated as quickly as they came. Sadie swallowed and rummaged through her suitcase for her white lace undergarments, cotton T-shirt, and comfy pants. If this kept happening she'd run out of clothes to wear.
After she dressed, Sadie grabbed the shredded pieces of her clothes left strewn along the bed and headed out the bedroom door. Clinking sounds came from the kitchen, and she headed for them. She'd just keep her head down and not make eye contact with either of the guys. Without looking up, Sadie asked, "Where's the trash?"
"On the other side of the island there," Levi said.
Sadie quickly glanced up to see his finger pointed to the left. She walked over and tossed out the torn clothing. Another pair of undergarments gone.
"Glad to see you back in human form." Levi's voice sounded distracted, and more clinking came from the counter.
Of course, he was glad. No one liked to see odd changes from her, much like her ever-present horns, a weird shift between two creatures couldn't possibly be attractive either. She pushed the anger down to the pit of her stomach. He was going to help her; she could at least try to be grateful. He could have made a huge deal out of her shifting, but he hadn’t. That counted for something.
"I need some of your hair," he said.
"How much is some?" Sadie finally looked up. Her gaze met his, and like every time before, her world shifted, her chest ached, and the room tilted for the briefest second before she forced herself to glance away.
"Couple strands should be fine. I’ll also need you to spit in this cup."
"Spit?" Sadie scrunched up her nose, taken aback by the request.
"You'd be surprised how helpful saliva can be when concocting potions." He set the little plastic cup in front of her. Sadie pulled saliva from her cheeks and spit. Then she tugged her hair and handed both hair and saliva over.
Levi's warm fingers grazed Sadie's skin. She glanced up, and a deep-seated ache started between her thighs. Did he feel the same? Sadie let go, and heat rose along her neck. Blushing again. He was likely to think she was a prude. She wasn't, just didn't have a lot of experience with sexual stuff—or people for that matter—she’d had a male or two, but it had been quite some time since any guy had shown interest in her. Plus, even though Bastien wasn't here right this second didn't mean he wouldn't walk in at any moment, and Sadie was not into any kind of public display of anything personal. She and Levi still hadn't even talked about the bonding either. Sadie didn't blame him; she wasn't prime mating material, but at some point, one of them would have to initiate this bond between them or go their separate ways. A decision would have to be made. Her stomach fluttered at the prospect of staying with him and completing the bond. Or maybe it was the fear of rejection. "How long will it take to get the potion ready?" Sadie asked.
"Should be done by tonight. I'll take this to my lab and get the tests running. I'll likely be there most of the afternoon given that you need this sooner rather than later, but between the magic and trial and error we might have a few flops before we get the proportions right for your genetic makeup. Is there anything I should know about you that might affect the results?"
"Like what? You know more than most people about me. Healer. Horns don't go away. And now I double shift randomly."
"And you can't control it, right?"
"Correct."
"Have you ever not been able to change back for extended periods of time?"
"Extended...not really. I can generally change back within an hour or so." Not that she ever wanted it to extend to even that amount of time.
"Have you noticed when the shift tends to happen?"
Sadie cocked her head to the side and stared at the marbled counter. Stress from over helping. Stress from meeting Levi. Embarrassment from seeing Levi naked—or was it arousal? "I think it's when I’m in a highly emotional state." No way would she tell him about the sexual side of it.
"That's a start." He disappeared through a side door Sadie hadn't noticed previously. She was left alone to her thoughts, but the room felt so empty without him standing in it with her. She knew it was the bond pulling her toward him, but she had no indication he felt the same. Was the bond broken between them as well because of her genetic disorder? Could her deformity make the bond not work at all for him?
***
The doorbell rang. Sadie glanced at the front door. The sun cast an orange glow throughout the house as sunset approached. The deer meat Bastien had brought in sizzled on the stove. She turned down the heat.
"Sadie could you get that.” Levi hollered.
Sadie wrung her hands, unsure but willing to try as she headed for the front door. She couldn’t spend this time outside her safety net scared. When she swung the door open, Levi's warm presence came up behind her. A honey scent reached Sadie's nose as she came eye-to-eye with a very blue-eyed blonde female. Curves in all the right places.
Levi pushed past Sadie, and his entire face lit up. "So glad to see you again, Meredith."
Meredith glanced from Levi to Sadie, her gaze lingering on the horns before returning to Levi. Her smile barely faltered, but Sadie recognized the slight pinch and downward angle of her lips and the light not quite reaching her eyes before the female smoothed it over. "Levi, it's that time again." Her light pink lips pushed out into a pout.
She didn't comment on Sadie's horns; did that mean she accepted Khimairans. Sadie's curiosity lingered. A normal human might have shown some kind of acknowledgment after seeing a person standing at the door all human except horns, right? But instead, she acted as if she'd seen them regularly. Who the hell was this lady? And why was she looking at her mate that way?
"Come on in, I have it ready in the back." Levi motioned for her to come inside.
Meredith stepped toward Sadie as if she were putting herself between Sadie and Levi. Really? Sadie arched an eyebrow at her. The female didn't even acknowledge Sadie. Instead she turned to Levi and said, "You truly are remarkable you know that? Thank you so much for everything you do for me." Her hands skimmed the top of Levi's shoulders, and Sadie burned inside, seething. Why should she be angry? Levi didn't know he would bond with her any more than she had known it would happen. Clearly this...Meredith had her sights set on him or most likely had him already. But now, even though they had yet to discuss the bond, Sadie wouldn't be pushed around. Meredith smelled human...well as far as Sadie could tell given she hadn't spent much time around humans. She had no animal aroma.
"Hi, I'm Sadie." Sadie sidestepped the female and moved to Levi’s left side.
"Oh yeah, I nearly forgot. And don't worry about her horns, we’re working on a costume together." Levi's voice didn't change pitch once at the lie, but why would he do that for her?
"Oh, very lovely job. Getting ready for Halloween super early?" She didn't address Sadie. All of Meredith’s attention still focused on Levi.
"Something like that." He shrugged. "I'll just go grab your order. You're still credited on your account." Levi rushed between them and headed to the back in the kitchen, toward his lab of some sort.
As soon as Levi was out of sight, Meredith shot an angry look at Sadie. "Are you his sister or something? I haven't heard about you." She smiled a smug smile—the kind that told Sadie the female didn't find her important in the grand scheme of things, and Sadie was sure Meredith knew perfectly well she was not his sister.
"All you need to know is we have a mutually beneficial relationship." Ha! Take that! Sadie wanted to grin. She hoped she hit a nerve, maybe the little human wouldn't
bother coming back.
Within two steps, Meredith was toe-to-toe with Sadie, and Sadie had to look up slightly to keep eye contact while the blonde human looked down her nose at her.
"Here it is." Levi came back to the door with a vial in his hand. The smell of seasoned deer clung to his clothes from the kitchen.
Meredith stepped back and turned toward him as if nothing happened. Sadie wanted to slap her in the back of her head but refrained. Levi wasn't hers yet, and she had no right...that's what she kept telling herself anyway—repeating it like a mantra to calm the anger spreading like wildfire in her stomach. Levi handed the vial to Meredith, and her hand covered his, holding on far too long. He didn't acknowledge the touch or try to stop it from happening. After several grueling seconds, he pulled his hand away and urged her toward the door.
"Walk me out so we can catch up, handsome?" Meredith's voice sounded sugar sweet to Sadie’s ears... that too sweet kind.
Levi glanced quickly at Sadie with a look in his eyes she couldn't decipher. He wasn't angry or happy, more helpless, but not in the obvious way. It came off subtly and took Sadie aback. "Sure thing." Levi opened the door, and they walked out together with Meredith closing the door in Sadie’s face.
Unraveled: A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance: Capricorn (Dark Khimairans Book 2) Page 4
