by D. N. Leo
Orla helped Mori from the backseat and realized she wasn’t tied up. She moved stiffly, though. “Are you okay?” Orla asked. “Don’t worry, we’re here . . .” she said, but stopped when she saw the worried look on Mori’s face when she saw the men fighting.
“Stop fighting! Stop that! Stop!” Mori cried out.
The men ignored her and continued fighting. Orla grabbed a load of bread lying on the ground and whacked at the two men. “Stop fighting!” Orla yelled. They stopped, but they were still snarling and swearing at each other.
“You get off her,” Lorcan growled.
“What the fuck!” The man ran at Lorcan again, but Orla jumped in front of him.
“Hold on. Hold on. She’s all right,” Orla said to Lorcan.
Lorcan turned to Mori. “Are you okay, Mori?”
Mori gingerly pressed her palm into the injuries she’d sustained in the fight with Sai. “I’m all right. It’s not his fault. I’m not hurt . . . much. He was just trying to help me, Lorcan. That’s Roy.”
“Yes, finally, thank you!” Roy punctuated every word like a curse. “I was just trying to help.” Roy paced back and forth, looking as if he needed something to punch.
Mori couldn’t move quickly—she leaned against the car. “I’m sorry, Roy. Don’t get mad at me.” A tear dropped down onto her cheek.
Roy was astonished, and his fury evaporated into thin air like smoke. He’d never seen Mori’s tears before. A woman like this didn’t cry easily, and when she did, she could deflate a man’s gigantic ego, Orla thought.
Roy darted over to Mori, taking her arm. “Please don’t cry. Let me take you inside.”
“Would you like to come in?” Mori asked Lorcan and Orla.
Lorcan was about to refuse, but Orla chimed in with an agreement before he could utter a word.
Chapter 29
That night, Orla and Lorcan stayed in the guest room of Roy’s house. Snuggling on the futon, Orla toyed with a strand of hair on Lorcan’s face and looked into his striking blue eyes. He smiled at her. “We haven’t had a proper wedding yet. I’m sorry.” He smoothed her hair and pulled her into his arms.
“The wedding is just a formality. You haven’t proposed properly.”
He hopped up on his elbows. “I did, in London.” She lay down on her arm. “Really? I can’t seem to recall.”
“That’s all right. I’ll do it all over again.” He inched closer to her, and his hands began to get very busy on her body. Some nibbling here, some kisses there, gentle touches in other places. Her man knew how to please a woman, Orla thought. Soon, their bodies tangled in the sheet as they drove each other to the peak of satisfaction.
Orla’s biological clock had adjusted to the time difference. She woke naturally in the morning, but not Lorcan. He was a sleepyhead regardless of the planet he was on. She snuggled into his chest for some of his familiar warmth, thinking of another round of activity to lift the morning mood. Then she gasped and bolted out from under the blanket and off the futon, landing on her backside and dragging herself backward on the floor.
Lorcan sat up. He intended to ask if she was okay, but what came out of his mouth was a woof.
Backed against the wall, Orla calmed down instantly as she registered what had happened. “Shhhh, it’s okay, Lorcan.” She smiled as graciously as possible. “You see, it’s okay. I’m okay,” she repeated herself. In front of her was a magnificent electric blue fox. She recognized his eyes, and she could tell he was in a panic. It was not the time for her to freak out. She smiled again.
She could tell he was totally confused.
He whirled around, walking back and forth, making a pitiful little moaning sound. She inched toward him. He sat down on the futon. She reached out her hand and touched the soft fur on his head. He shook her hand off his head. As he turned around, he saw his bushy blue tail. He sprang up to all fours, jumped off the futon, and landed on the floor in front of the mirror. There, he saw it. In the mirror was a large blue fox. He snarled at himself.
“No, no, Lorcan, it’s okay. We’ll figure out how to handle this.” Orla reached over to him, but he bolted out the door and outside to the garden.
“Lorcan!” she cried out and ran after him.
He was too fast. He disappeared into the bush. Tears streamed down her face. Orla ran back into the house. Her scream woke Mori and Roy. She stuttered so much they couldn’t understand what she was saying. Eventually, she summoned all of her strength and put the words together. “Lorcan turned into a blue fox. He was totally confused, and he just ran off into the bush.” And that was all she could say. She cried.
“He didn’t know?” Mori asked.
Orla shook her head. The thought of losing him forever tore at her heart. Roy said nothing. He shifted into a large black fox and ran out the door.
Mori sat Orla down. Orla didn’t know what to say, what to feel. Would he come back to her? He turned in to a fox, and so what? Orla concentrated on the current situation, and sketched a scenario in her mind. What if she turned into an animal? What would it feel like? What would she think of herself?
Then it dawned on her what Lorcan might feel, and the realization wasn’t pleasant. But if he truly felt that way, feel like an animal and that she might leave him because of that, as long as he came back, she would change his mind.
That was, if he came back.
Chapter 30
It had turned dark before Roy made it home. He walked into the house, gloriously naked with fox-Lorcan on his shoulders. He walked straight into the guest room and threw fox-Lorcan down on the futon. His blue fur was soaked with wet patches of blood, his left eyelid was torn, his right ear bled, and he was apparently not conscious.
“Oh my God, what happened to him?” Orla asked in panic.
“I beat him up. Stubborn son of a bitch. He’ll heal fast. You don’t need to worry,” Roy said.
Mori came in with a medical kit. She gave it to Orla, and then took a few bandages out and fussed over Roy’s injuries. It looked as if Lorcan had put up a good fight. Mori took Roy back to his room.
Orla cleaned up all the mud and blood on Lorcan, literally from head to tail. She smoothed his magnificent blue fur. She had never seen such a beautiful animal. The thing was, he was all hers. A little later, Orla found Roy and Mori sitting in the living room. Mori poured Orla a cup of hot tea.
Sitting on the sofa, her hands still shaky, Orla couldn’t make sense of the whole thing.
“He’s different. I think he’s a mix.” Roy broke the silence.
“Like you? Fox-wolf?” Mori asked.
Roy shook his head. “I don’t know. You’re right, Mori, his blood tastes very strange.”
Orla followed every single word in Roy and Mori’s conversation, wanting to gather as much information as possible about were creatures so she could understand Lorcan better.
“How come he didn’t know? Were blood is genetic. Unless he’s a dead-liner who could live his whole life not knowing. But it’s obvious he can shift. He can’t be a dead-liner. In that case, he had to have been shifting since he was a kid. How could he live his whole life not knowing?” Roy asked.
“The other day, after Mori bit him, I think things started to change. I don’t think he knew. I don’t know his family, but I really don’t think he knew about this ability.”
“It doesn’t look like he’s taking it well,” Mori commented.
“But were blood is, well, blood. You have it, or you don’t. It’s not a thing you can trigger,” Roy said. The conversation continued, Mori and Roy discussing what they would do if they weren’t werefoxes.
People always wanted things they couldn’t have, Orla thought. She finished the tea, excused herself to go back to the guest room with Lorcan. Before she left, she asked, “When do you think he’ll be able to shift back to his human form?”
“We can’t speak for Lorcan, but we shift whenever we want,” Mori said. “The only time I was forced was when I bit him.” Orla nodded and le
ft to be with Lorcan.
During the night, she snuggled next to Lorcan, stroking his fur and whispering into his ears that she loved him. She knew he heard her. Then she fell asleep. She felt his warm rough tongue on her cheek as she slept. She smiled at the feeling, but it might have been just a dream.
When she woke the next morning, Lorcan was still in fox form. He opened his eyes and looked at her. He stared right through her, then he closed his eyes again. She lay down next to him, stroking his fur, but he turned his head away from her. “All right, if you just want to lie here, I’ll lie with you.” She lay down again next to him. Then she started talking about different things, about the time they were in London and the time when she left home and he didn’t find her until three years later, and what she did in between.
Hours passed, and she kept talking. She cried, she got tired, she fell asleep, she woke, and she kept talking. Still, Lorcan just lay there in his fox form. In the evening, Mori came in. “Orla, you’ve got to come out and eat something. You look worse than he does.”
“If he wants to do this, I’ll do it with him,” Orla said as a tear rolled down her face.
“I’ll give you tonight. But by tomorrow morning, if you guys aren’t up, I’m throwing you out. You’re not going to die and rot in my house,” Roy said from the doorway.
When Roy and Mori had left the room, Orla reached over, pulled fox-Lorcan into her arms, and cuddled. “Well, one more night, and then we’ll have to die on the street. If that’s what you want.” Still no sign of a response from Lorcan. She lay there for a little longer, and then she got up.
Orla went to Lorcan’s computer bag and pulled out the pouch in which he kept his lucky little love stone. The yellow stone stared back at her, both encouraging and daring her. She palmed the stone and went back to Lorcan at the futon. “I know you can hear me right now, so I’m going say this once and for all. You thought I was six and didn’t have a clue what you meant when you took this stone. You were wrong. I understood, and I secretly wished you had kept your promise. I was raised a sorceress—I’m not allowed to wish, to have hope, or to love. So I thought if I wished for your love and kept it a secret to myself, then my sorcery demon wouldn’t know. So I kept it a secret. Through all those years when you hadn’t yet found me, that was the only thing I hoped for. When you showed me the stone in London last month, I thought my secret hope had finally paid off. But I was wrong after all . . .” Tears streamed down her face now.
“I had been so wrong my whole life! You said you’d love me regardless of what I am. How noble of you. You don’t think I can love you in the same way? Maybe the next thing you’re going to say is that I want you for your money. But if you want to say so, you might have to shi—”
His mouth was on hers. He pushed her to the futon, his hands caressing every curve of her body while his mouth ravished her. He was starved for her. He’d shifted back to his human form in lightning speed. All six-foot-one of him wrapped around her long, lean body. He kissed, he fondled, he soothed, he wiped away the tears and the worries that dulled her eyes.
Chapter 31
The next day, Lorcan went for a run with Roy in their fox form. Roy taught Lorcan essential survival tips for controlling his shifting activities and how to utilize his were-abilities. After all, Lorcan was very new to the were-business. When the two foxes came back, Orla observed the magnificent sight of them. While Roy was large and quite bulky in the chest, he had short and shiny fur. His golden irises glowed. It seemed to her that he must have had some leopard in him—half-wolf, half-fox didn’t quite explain his eyes. Lorcan looked more like a wolf than a fox with his long, glowing blue fur, especially around the face. His eyes were the same, striking blue. Both of them, Lorcan and Roy, were long, lean, and muscular, with the strength of predators. Seeing them, Orla made a mental note to never confuse were-creatures with ordinary pets—she could lose body parts that she desired to keep.
When the men came to the living room, fully dressed, Orla said, “I guess it’s time for us to leave. Thanks for your hospitality.”
Mori nodded. “I guess we part here. It was a pleasure meeting you.”
Roy went to the kitchen to get himself a cup of tea. He sat down on the couch and said nothing.
“Very well then. Thank you again.” Orla stood with Lorcan, about to leave.
“We can work together,” Roy said and sipped his tea.
“Roy!” Mori sent Roy a disapproving look.
Roy shrugged. “That’s what you told me. You said they could help by taking the key to somewhere safe.”
“That was before what happened in the temple. Before . . . before . . .”
“Before Sai tried to rip your throat out . . . after he failed to kill you by tipping his wolves that you had been wounded by a bullet?”
Lorcan’s eyes darkened. “You mean the bullet intended for me? I haven’t had a chance to thank her for that yet. And you’re saying someone was trying to kill her because she took that bullet?”
Roy leaned back in his chair. “There’s nothing personal about her taking that bullet for you. She bit you without knowing you had were-blood. Your blood mixed, and you were both naturally bonded for a short period of time. The issue is that a dickhead in her clan, possibly a traitor, took the opportunity to send three wolves after her when she was injured.”
“We don’t have proof of that, Roy,” said Mori.
“You speculated that yourself at the temple. Think about that, Mori. I know you think troubles follow you, but the truth is, we’re stronger together. You can’t go back to your clan.”
“Why not?” Tears started to form in Mori’s eyes.
Roy couldn’t handle Mori’s tears, and Orla knew they needed Roy to stay cool. Before he could utter insensitive words in response to Mori’s tearful reaction, Orla jumped in. “But we need you, Mori. Really. We need your help. We need the key, or people will die, including us. We will protect the key because it’s . . . it’s our lives we’re talking about . . .”
Lorcan sat down next to Orla and was about to say something, but Orla cut him off. “Roy, how do you think we could help? Come on, we need this.”
Roy looked at Mori, waiting for a signal, then he said, “Sai was bought off by the Yakuz, Mori, and I’m afraid that the majority of senior members in your clan were, too.” His voice was as cold as steel. Tears rolled down Mori’s face now.
“At the temple, Sai gave you two options. He challenged you. If he won, he’d lead the clan and be in a position to access the key. If he lost, what did he promise you? It seemed to be fair at the time, right? If he lost, he’d spend the rest of his life guarding the key, meaning he’d know exactly where it is. Either way, it leads him directly to the key.”
Mori sobbed, but Roy pressed on. “You were in the middle of it, so of course you couldn’t see. But the other members of the clan were pushing you toward one of Sai’s options. Think about it, Mori. I know it hurts. You love your clan, and you worked for it your whole life. You believe in it. But the Yakuz is the force of evil. You can’t fight against it. I don’t want to lose you, Mori.”
Mori looked at Roy and nodded. Roy smiled, but it didn’t last long. They suddenly heard the loud squawking of birds. Looking out the window, they saw a sky full of black hawks streaming at the house. There were similar to those that had attacked and killed the wizard—and they knew the old wizard had given Orla the map.
Orla darted toward her handbag which rested in a corner close to the door, but it was too late. The front line of the birds threw their bodies at the glass entrance as if on a suicide mission. The door shattered, and a cloud of black birds invaded the house. Roy pulled the cover from the sofa and wrapped Mori up, tightening his grip so she couldn’t wriggle out. He drew his gun and shot at the birds with his free hand.
“Through the back door!” Roy yelled, dragging Mori out the back door with him. Lorcan grabbed his bag with one hand, and tried to protect Orla with the other. There wasn’t much Orla coul
d do from inside the house. They ran to the back yard, and once out in the open, Orla began to throw her fireballs. This time, the fire was lethal to the birds.
They ran toward Roy’s car. He opened the front door and shoved the squirming Mori inside. He darted to the driver’s seat while Lorcan and Orla jumped into the backseat. A few remaining birds hurled themselves at the car, but figuring they had no chance against metal, they flew away.
Roy drove away quickly.
“Where are we going?” Lorcan asked.
“To the key,” Roy said briskly and focused his eyes on the road. Mori finally broke free from the sofa cover. She looked at Roy, and her voice was shaky. “You’re scratched. Oh my God, you’re scratched.”
Roy shook his head. “It’s okay.”
But Orla knew it wasn’t okay—she could see where the shoulder of his shirt was torn, the scratch marks had turned black. She swung her eyes to Lorcan and saw that the scratch marks on his arms and shoulders were bleeding, and the blood was red. “Are you okay, Lorcan?” she asked. Lorcan nodded, but he could see Roy’s trouble as well.
“What is that, Mori?” Lorcan asked. Mori looked back at him, her eyes filled with tears already. “It’s the Yakuz’s poison. It’s designed for were-creatures.”
“Why didn’t it affect me?”
Mori shook her head and said nothing more.
Chapter 32
Roy drove the car straight to the wooden dock. The wheels spun as he braked hard, and the car did a three-sixty and stopped with one wheel dangling over the edge. He pushed at the door, bolted out, and slumped to the ground. Roy was on his knees, breathing heavily. His eyes were dazed, and a stream of black blood trickled from of his mouth. Mori wrapped her arms around him, but he shrugged her off. He tried to yank at his shirt to pull it off, but Mori wouldn’t loosen her grip.
