Whole Lot Of Shiftin' Going On: Magic and Mayhem Universe (Baba Yaga Adventures)

by Donna McDonald

  “You’re the best mate a bear could ever ask for,” Chuck said before he laughed and kissed her.

  16

  Hildy waited until Chuck, Charlie, and the kids disappeared into the house before turning to Nathaniel. “It was a potion, not a spell,” she told him, glaring again at the frozen Isobelle. “The kids said Isobelle’s been visiting them all along and that she brought them treats each time. After the last ones, they grew their pig snouts. That’s how they figured out she was a bad person.”

  Nathaniel put his hands behind him and walked to the porch while he thought.

  “I hope you don’t mind me saying so, but Nathaniel looks smoking hot in those King clothes. Please tell me you burned those brown warlock robes of his,” Carol whispered to Leelu, making the fairy queen giggle with delight.

  Nathaniel came back and stopped to look at Hildy. “Okay. Here’s my best guess about what she did.”

  “Your guess?” Hildy asked.

  Nathaniel nodded. “With the dark arts, everything is always a guess. I suspect your dark witch used a simple confusion potion and somehow directed it to work on shifting abilities with her dark magic. She also made sure it was highly contagious which is how it initially spread. The dark arts excel in contagions.”

  “What’s the cure?” Hildy asked.

  “There isn’t one,” Nathaniel said.

  Hildy’s mouth dropped open before she gasped. “What do you mean? There’s always a cure. This is not a natural situation. There has to be a cure.”

  “There is a ‘sorting out’ potion that might counteract the confusion one, but a great deal of magic will be required to direct it now because all the shifters in the entire world have been affected.”

  Hildy nodded gravely as Nathaniel continued.

  “I suspect your dark witch spread it to her children—and their biological father—intending for them to spread it around Assley. It will require a lot of power to counteract it. I suggest you call Zenos and let him do the casting of the sorting spell. The firebird will regenerate if it requires too much. You will not.”

  “No,” Hildy said firmly. “Zenos recently regenerated and his dragon mate suffered severely waiting for his return. I can’t put Celeste of the Smoke Horde through that again. That’s not the right answer.”

  Hildy paced away and glanced at the kids now back outside and sitting on the porch with their two fathers. She didn’t envy Chuck and Charlie having to answer their questions. Grateful all they expected from her was honey muffins, Hildy looked back at Nathaniel.

  “I’ll do it,” Carol announced. “I’m the Baba Yaga. If anyone should sacrifice their power in a spell, it should be me.”

  Hildy walked to her friend. “No. Your job is to put Isobelle somewhere where we can get to her if she decides to talk or feed her to those demons she bargains with. The Baba Yaga is needed to keep the good guys winning, Carol. I finally got trained to do my job right. Don’t ask me to do yours. If anything happened to you, I would have no choice. The power will come to me. Morgana told you that.”

  Carol sighed and nodded. “Okay. I get your concern. Don’t worry about Isobelle then. The witch is going into the highest security level of the magical pokey where she won’t be able to call her demon buddies for help.”

  Hildy looked back at all her friends. Outside of Chuck, they were the best part of her crazy life. “Fixing this is my job. I’m the Shifter Whisperer. Gaia has blessed me with all her power. I’ll be the one casting the sorting spell.”

  Nathaniel nodded in acceptance. “Okay. I’ll collect the potion and bring it back as soon as I can. Next time I’ll magically transport here, providing I can sneak away from the fairy army. They insist on following me everywhere.”

  “What will the potion maker want in return?” Carol asked.

  “Nothing,” Nathaniel said. “There’s a werewolf witch whose quite adept at creating potions. I’m going to see her about putting it together. It might take several days.”

  “A werewolf witch?” Carol repeated in surprise. “Why hasn’t she registered with me? That combination is unheard of. I know I would have remembered if I’d heard of her.”

  “As far as I’m concerned, the Baba Yaga hasn’t heard of her,” Nathaniel said firmly, narrowing his eyes. “Luna is a rarity, a gift, and a personal friend. I’m sure the Baba Yaga has nothing to fear. She has my personal word that the werewolf witch’s gifts will not affect the magical balance in the world.”

  Carol waved a hand. “Understood. You know I trust you, Nathaniel, but don’t tell me any more. The werewolf wars keep escalating and a werewolf witch would be an unfair advantage.” She shrugged with the worrisome burden of it all.

  “I know,” Nathaniel said. “We’re all working on peace, Carol. Luna’s pack is especially doing so. She is part of the solution, not part of the problem. She lost her parents to a turf war. She wants a different life for her mate and children.”

  “Looks like Zenos was right after all. Destiny has us all by the gonads,” Hildy grumbled.

  “Please don’t speak that dragon mage’s name. The last thing we need is an irreverent magical showing up,” Nathaniel warned.

  “Speaking of irreverent magicals… I’m going to take our witch popsicle to solitary. I’ll be back to watch over the sorting spell.” She rounded before Hildy could argue and pointed her finger. “A spell of this magnitude is witch business—which makes it my business—even if it is being used for the greater good. I’m going to be here, Hildegard. Live with it.”

  Hildy tightened her jaw. “Fine. You can be here, but you will not interfere.”

  Carol put a hand on her chest. “Witch’s honor—I will let you do the casting.”

  The cats were drunk on catnip and passed out in their beds. One glance at the clock told Hildy that she had sat at her kitchen table for a couple of hours now with her cold cup of tea in front of her. Her mind was too full to try sleeping, so she hadn’t, even though she felt depleted after her fight with Isobelle.

  When she heard the front door open quietly, she didn’t rouse from her seat. She knew who it was. She smelled him and felt him.

  And there was no use in pretending any longer that such recognition didn’t mean what it did. Chuck was her mate.

  She needed to embrace that fact while she still had time to do so.

  “I thought the kids would be with you tonight,” she said, sagging over her table. “They’re welcome here but I haven’t had time to figure out all the arrangements. I haven’t even been upstairs but I think Gaia fixed it for me.”

  “The cubs decided to go back to Charlie’s. They said I needed to be with you. Plus, mom offered to make them honey pancakes for breakfast.”

  When she laughed, Chuck sat down at her table. The chair disappeared underneath him.

  “We need to get you one of those giant chairs like you have at your place,” Hildy said.

  “Or bring that one over here. Did you mean what you said about being their mother?”

  Hildy nodded. “If I survive casting the sorting spell—yes.”

  “I don’t want to lose you, Hildy. I love you. I always have.”

  “I don’t want you to lose me either,” Hildy teased before she sobered again. “But I can’t promise anything, Chuck. I hate this twist of fate, but I have to be the one who fixes this. It really is my job.”

  “I know. You don’t have to defend your decision to me, just let me help you bear the burden—no pun intended.” Chuck picked Hildy’s hand up and kissed her fingers. “The fairy king said it would take a couple of days to make the potion. Can I spend that time with you?”

  Hildy nodded. “I’d like that, but I’m probably not going to be a lot of fun tonight.”

  “Being with you is always fun for me. Just getting to look at you is better than eating a whole jar of honey.”

  “Get out. You’re a bear. I know that’s not true,” Hildy said, snorting at the flattery.

  “Okay, maybe better than half a jar.
Seeing you in that dress makes up for the other half.”

  Hildy looked down. “It belongs to Morgana. She saw it was elven.”

  “Is elven like Prada?”

  That made her giggle. “Not even close, but it’s still quite beautiful. Carol dated an elf prince when we were in high school. Iren was a great guy. We saved his life once.”

  Chuck held up a finger and then rose. Hildy watched him walk away but was too bemused to ask where he was going. He returned seconds later with a couple of giant shopping bags.

  “I’m not a prince, but I am a good guy. It’s all been cleaned, pressed, and properly folded. Now you officially have some of your clothes back. Wanda and Dee Dee are collecting the rest and bringing everything that had to be hung on a hanger. They’ll be dropping the other clothes by in the next day or so. The town wanted you to know they were behind everything you’re doing to help them.”

  Chuck held out one of the bags and let her peek inside. Hildy smiled and giggled. “Hello,” she said to her pretty clothes. “I’ve missed you.” She looked back up at Chuck. “Thank you for rescuing them. It’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

  “Come on. You’re getting weepy over a kind gesture, and I can’t handle that. It makes me want to kill something,” Chuck said, heading out of the kitchen again. “Let’s get you into a bath. I’ll condition your hair while you’re soaking. When you’re a furry bear of a man, you learn the value of detangling lotion. I’ll comb it through for you.”

  “Did you sneak in beauty school between your other degrees?”

  “No, Ms. Smarty-pants. I’ll have you know manscaping has been a part of my life since I was a teenager. My father made a trip all the way from Montana to teach the three of us how to look like a normal human. Mother insisted he be the one. My father is a mountain bear, so it’s quite the stretch for him to de-hair himself.”

  Laughing at Chuck’s manscaping story, Hildy stood and her dress disappeared. Chuck raised an eyebrow at her instant nudity and slowly smiled as he checked her out.

  Hildy rolled her eyes at the questions in his. “Stop leering. I didn’t get naked on purpose. Morgana warned me the dress would return to her one day. I’m glad it at least waited until now.”

  Chuck chuckled at the explanation. “Shifters don’t care about nudity, but I care about yours,” he admitted. “I don’t want anyone seeing you naked except me.”

  Hildy giggled. “That works out perfectly. I don’t want anyone seeing me naked but you either.”

  “But what I’d really like right now is to see you covered up to your neck in bubbles in that big old spa tub Morgana conjured up. I’m hoping one day soon we can be in together, but tonight you need some pampering.”

  “Pampering?” Hildy giggled again. “There may not have a been a female in your life, but I’m thinking the kids have taught you well.”

  “Actually, I learned to pamper from my mother. She’s been grooming me to be a supportive mate since I a kid. She knew Charlie and I weren’t going to end up with bear mates. We never had any interest. Going to school with all those witches and warlocks only cemented my attraction to humans. Then you showed up… the rest is destiny.”

  “I’m fascinated now. What does your bear mother consider to be good mate pampering?”

  Chuck set the bags of clothes on the floor by the closet and went to the bathroom to start the water running. “I figured we’d talk about silly things to help you relax. You can tell me stories of what it was like growing up with the infamous Baba Yaga. I need to get to know her better. She’s changed a lot since the last time I saw her. She accused me of wanting to eat you back then… and not in the good way.”

  Hildy laughed as she followed her bear into the bathroom. She couldn’t lose all this. She’d just got it. She’d just got him. Chuck was a darling most of the time. And Chuck did the hard things even when it wasn’t easy to do them—like dragging his shifter king in to see her for healing. Like saving her clothes even when she’d left him.

  “I’m sorry I got mad about you leaving this morning. Deep down I knew you probably had a good reason. I was disappointed and handled it badly.”

  Chuck shrugged one shoulder. “Mom was right. I should have woken you up and told you goodbye. I’ll remember that in the future. You know I haven’t had any practice at being a boyfriend. I’ll get the hang of it soon. How much harder can it be? I learned how to be a father.”

  “Yes. You sure did. You’re a great one too.”

  Hildy took off her boots and climbed into the tub. She sank gratefully into the soothing water. Why hadn’t she thought of this hours ago? This was heaven. She looked at her enormous boyfriend who was now sitting on a teak stool beside her tub. The concern in his gaze warmed her as much as the water.

  She smiled as she looked at him. “You know, Chuck, I think waking me up seven times in one night counts as plenty of boyfriend practice. Plus, you were outstanding in bed, even the first time.”

  Chuck laughed and knelt behind her to wash her hair. “Last night was just a preview. Wait until you see what a great mate I’m going to be.”

  “After you get done with your pampering, I may not be as tired as I thought I was,” Hildy said, smiling when her bear chuckled.

  17

  Hildy woke the next morning with conditioned hair that was finally behaving and a lingering smile from being rocked to sleep with great sex. Chuck was surprisingly gentle for his enormous size and had excellent timing. The last orgasm had sent her to sleep with her bear still loving her.

  Sure, her problems still existed today, but at least her mood had significantly improved.

  She was watching Chuck sleep when she heard her cats moaning. She dressed and went to the living room to find them holding their kitty heads with both paws.

  “You poor things,” she said, pushing their headaches away with a light stroke across their heads. They’d come through for her yesterday. She wondered what witch the cats would be assigned to if something terrible happened to her.

  “Weeze don’t want nobody else,” Fat Bastard said, reading her mind.

  Hildy glared. “I thought we’d decided that you weren’t going to read my mind anymore.”

  “Youse said that… yes. But I do not recall weeze being in agreement. However, me and the boys have been very careful only to do it if weeze was terribly worried—like today.”

  Sighing at their sincerity, Hildy stretched out on the floor and let the cats all rub against her. “I don’t mean to worry you with my worrying. I’m simply making peace with things. It’s the adult thing to do and the proper witch thing to do. I’m planning to succeed with the spell, but I know things don’t always work out as planned.”

  A shirtless bear with a perfectly manscaped chest appeared in her living room doorway. His body was the kind every female would drool over—just as she was drooling now. “Good morning. The cats woke me with their hangovers.”

  “Everyone feeling better?” Chuck asked. He sat on the floor too and smiled when the cats rubbed against him. “The cubs think these guys are the best sitters ever.”

  “Cuz weeze are,” Fat Bastard said. “And dey is getting real good at playing cards. I see great things in their future.”

  Chuck laughed but frowned at Fat Bastard. “Don’t be teaching the cubs to gamble. They’re enough trouble to keep track of as it is. How about tuna for breakfast? You guys earned it.”

  The joyful yowling made her and Chuck both wince in pain.

  They shared a mostly quiet breakfast then a bunch of shifters showed up for healing. In the basement, they found poor George lying in a cage and snoring still. They’d forgotten all about him yesterday.

  “I’m a terrible person,” Hildy said when she saw him.

  “I’m a terrible friend,” Chuck said in echo.

  “What are youse talking about? Dere’s nothing wrong with the cat in the cage. George is our new hero,” Fat Bastard said. “He indulged a little too much with the catnip I br
ought to him last evening. Who knew dem mountain lions could get so mellow?”

  “Gaia, forgive me,” Hildy said with an eye roll. “You guys stay away from George. Just because he came when you called does not mean he’s a cat like you are. George belongs in the wild. His instincts are way different than yours.”

  After his wounds were healed, George hung around for lunch. It didn’t surprise her one bit when the three cowardly females showed up at the end of the day asking to take him to dinner. George was a great guy. That harem would be lucky if George had babies with them.

  “Hey, George,” Hildy said as he started to leave. “I need a caretaker around here—someone who’ll keep the shifters in line until I can get to them. You want a job?”

  “You talkin’ a regular nine to five gig, Ms. Shifter Whisperer? Or are we talkin’ business as usual with shifters comin’ all hours of the day and night? You got mountain lions sleepin’ off catnip highs down here. That’s no way to run a healin’ business.”

  Hildy laughed. “Real funny, George, but I’m not hiring a comedian.”

  “I’m just joshin’. You know I’d love to work for you. Since Charlie wants to help Chuck for a while, I was going to be lookin’ for new employment anyway. They got some things to work out.”

  “As do we all,” Hildy replied. She smiled. “Come around when you can, George. We’ll hammer out the details—after the spell is cast.”

  “I’ll see you in a couple of days, boss,” George said, grinning as he left.

  It turned out not to be two days after all. Early the next morning, Nathaniel in his warlock robe quietly appeared at her front door with the sorting potion in his hand. The werewolf witch she’d yet to meet had told Nathaniel the potion was easy to create. Luna said activating it was the super hard part because the energy required to do so was vast. Since the shifting problem was vast too, Hildy wasn’t surprised by the potion-maker’s warning.

  Nathaniel had hugged her and said he would ask Morgana to speak to Gaia about what she was about to do. He wanted everyone to be on alert and had already begun passing along the word to the packs that Hildy would be attempting a fix.