Hex in High Heels

by Linda Wisdom

  He stared into the fog-shrouded mirror as he towel-dried his hair, then shaved.

  He smiled and shook his head in wonderment. “Our Pack.”

  A moment later his smile dimmed and he knew what he had to do.

  He already knew his Suburban was still parked out back and the keys still in their hiding place.

  “I’ve got to run a quick errand,” he told Blair after he left the bathroom.

  Alarm washed across her face. “What errand?”

  “I’ll be right back. I promise.” He looked into her beautiful blue-green eyes and pulled her against him for a kiss as intense as his earlier one.

  “You’re going up to the resort, aren’t you?” Her fingers dug into his arm, but he carefully peeled them off.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  She shook her head. “That’s what you said the last time and look what happened. I want to go with you.”

  He shook his head. “I need to do this on my own.”

  Trev stepped forward. “I’ll drive you up there,” he offered. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to interfere, but you’re still pretty shaky from the past few days.” He noticed the darkness flowing over Blair’s face. “Jake’s right. It has to be done, Blair, and better if you’re not there.”

  “Then I’ll drive him.”

  Jake shook his head. “It’s better this way.”

  While she was ecstatic to have him back, she wasn’t going to allow him to go all macho Were on her and think he needed to protect her.

  “So the big bad Were and wizard go off to fight the bad guys while the little witches remain home and cook up potions and spin wool?” she snapped. “We can vote now, you know.”

  “And she’s back, in all her hexy glory,” Jake grinned, not the least bit awed by her temper.

  Jake and Trev drove off with Blair and Stasi watching, the former not happy and the latter amused.

  “I don’t see what’s so funny,” Blair grumbled.

  “That’s because you don’t see the red hearts yet.” Stasi laughed and ducked the dish towel that came flying her way.

  ***

  Jake was grateful for the company on the short drive up to the resort. By the time Trev pulled up in front of the rambling hotel, Jake felt in better control of his body and managed to walk up the steps without stumbling.

  “I don’t need a babysitter,” he growled, as Trev walked beside him.

  “Never hurts to have a witness.” Trev looked around and noticed the small group of Weres lingering in the lobby and the two standing behind the front desk, warily watching him. “Plus, I never like to miss a good show.”

  “Then get ready for the first act.” Jake stalked up to the front desk and slapped the counter with the flat of his hand. “Where’s Thorpe?”

  The clerk’s mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish. “I’m sorry, but Mr. Thorpe is hosting a business meeting. You can always call his assistant for an appointment.”

  One crafty-looking Were sidled up. “He’s in the dining room,” he murmured, ignoring the dark look from the clerk.

  Jake bared his teeth. “Thanks.”

  The dining room was almost empty save for a crowded table by the window. Jake didn’t miss that Roan sat at the head and, interestingly enough, Vera sat at the other end.

  Conversation around the table stilled as Jake approached them. Roan’s nostrils flared as he caught the scent of fury in the air, but he remained seated as a deliberate insult to Jake.

  “Well, well, look who’s here. I’m afraid I have no time to speak with you today—” the words had barely left his lips before Jake pulled him up by his shirt front and punched him square in the face. Roan flew across the room, landing on a table that collapsed under the force.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Trev warned several Weres who started advancing toward Jake. He held out one hand, the palm and digits glowing with a fiery power that would be directed at them if they took one more step.

  “Jake! You’re acting like an animal!” Vera’s face twisted with distaste.

  “If you want to talk about animals, look at your other son, Mother,” Jake sneered before he turned back to Roan, his finger pointing at the Were the way he’d point a gun that he would have loaded with silver bullets. “You committed the unthinkable, Roan. You used your position as Heir to Alpha to bind me in animal form. The best thing I did was leave the Pack, and this was the absolute proof I needed to know I did the right thing. You leave me the hell alone, and you leave Blair and anyone else I care for alone, because the next time I’ll do more than just punch you out.”

  “It won’t end that easily, Thorpe,” Trev said conversationally. “You made a very major mistake in using a wizard’s power to strengthen that curse. You knew Blair wouldn’t have a chance of releasing Jake from the collar unless one of us discovered the workings behind it. As a law-abiding wizard, and as a member of the Wizard Bar, I will be filing charges in the Wizards’ Council along with sending a report to the Were Council about this transgression. I’m sure that after my report is read, proper action will be taken regarding the offenses against my client.”

  Roan didn’t say a word, but his fury filled the room like boiling acid.

  Jake was chuckling by the time Trev drove onto the road leaving the resort.

  “We make a pretty good team,” he said.

  “That we do,” Trev agreed. “I’ve got to say, all that’s happened in the past several months sure has changed my outlook on a lot of things. Now there’s only one problem.”

  Jake didn’t need to read minds to know what the wizard meant. “Yeah, once we get back to the apartment we’re going to have to make nice with two pissed-off witches so we can keep our balls where they belong.”

  Trev’s hands slipped off the steering wheel. “Do you think Blair would do that?”

  “Without blinking an eye—and she’d make sure they were dipped in glitter and strung around our necks, too.”

  “Fine, you go inside first.”

  Chapter 15

  “Look at you! You made it back in one piece!” Irma squealed, not thinking as she hugged Jake.

  He shivered under the ice-cold sensation and again as Phinneas patted his shoulder, his hand going right through him. Phinneas looked longingly at the four steaming bowls of chili topped with chopped onions and shredded cheese sitting on the table, with bottles of beer set next to two of the bowls.

  “So, you were naked when Trev snapped you back?” Horace asked from his perch on the kitchen counter. A smaller bowl sat next to him. “I thought you all did something with your clothes when you shifted. Are the girl Weres naked when they change back? Are there any good-looking ones that like short gargoyles? Or at least don’t mind short gargoyles?

  “Be quiet and eat,” Stasi ordered him.

  Blair picked up Jake’s hand and studied the reddened knuckles. She arched a delicate eyebrow. “No shifting to heal that before you returned here?”

  “I’m holding off on shifting for awhile.” He really hoped she wasn’t going to withhold food from him now. “I feel like I’m still picking fur out of my teeth.”

  “Is he seriously hurting?” she asked.

  “He was hobbling a bit after he flew across the dining room and landed on a table that broke under him. Smashed nose and black eye, but knowing him, he’ll shift fast to heal.”

  She stood in front of him, processing his words and picturing the scene in her head.

  “One punch?”

  He nodded.

  “I’d rather he would have been slowly eviscerated, but you obviously did some major whup ass, so I’m happy.”

  “Her love of horror movies comes out at the wildest times.” Stasi poured Diet Coke into two glasses. “Let’s eat before Blair starts talking about blood and guts.”

  Jake framed Blair’s face with his hands, drinking in her smile and the light in her eyes. “Did you mean it?” he asked in a low voice. “Did you really mean what you said about our being a Pac
k? You didn’t say it just to yank Roan’s chain?”

  “Of course, I meant it.” She spoke as if she couldn’t imagine anything else. “And let me tell you, you’re part of a very special, very magickal Pack that never derides their family or abandons them. Face it, Jake, you’re stuck with me.” She stroked his face. “While you make a cute dog, I have to admit I like this face much better.”

  “And while I’d love to pursue this further, I have to admit I’m starving for real people food.”

  “Then let’s eat.” Laughing, she pulled on his hand and led him back to the table. “I haven’t had much of an appetite lately, either.”

  As they ate and talked, Jake looked at the two witches, wizard, gargoyle, two spirits, and an enchanted dog that all managed to crowd around the table like one big magickal family.

  My Pack. He felt a tightness in his chest that threatened to overwhelm him at the realization. There had been loneliness in his soul since he left the Pack and with Blair’s declaration, that sensation had disappeared.

  Then he felt silky skin slide over his hand. He looked down to find Blair’s hand covering his in a light touch.

  “The elves have totally cleaned up their act and you’re back with us. Talk about a very good day,” she murmured, then raised her voice to tell Stasi and Trev about her visit to Ginny and what she had discovered when she checked on the elves, including their plans to settle in Moonstone Lake.

  “See, all we need now is you up here on a full-time basis,” Stasi teased Trev.

  “The way things are going, I could use some backup,” Jake added. “And I don’t mean just with Roan, either.”

  “I know we can’t do much except give someone a nasty cold feeling, but we’ll do what we can,” Irma vowed, with Phinneas nodding his agreement.

  “You’d think we’d get more respect, wouldn’t you?” Blair said with a long-suffering sigh. “Jazz is going to be really sorry she missed this.” She laughed as Fluff and Puff added their opinion. “And they’re going to enjoy telling her everything.” She suddenly sobered. “They’re not going to give up, are they?”

  There was no doubt what they she referred to.

  “If they can’t find a legal way to make your life miserable, they’ll look for an illegal way,” Trev said. “I should be able to slow them down some, since they’ll have to respond to the allegations I’ll be filing.”

  Jake shook his head. “I expect they’ll choose the latter, because Baxter always enjoyed brute force and intimidation when dealing with his enemies, and over the years Roan seems to have picked up the same bad habits. Of course, it’s not surprising, considering Vera’s made of the same stuff.”

  “I can throw some extra power into your wards,” Trev offered. “You might want some protection around your place, too,” he told Jake.

  “Wolf traps would work well,” Blair muttered into her food. “The big nasty kind that slice off limbs. And we could enchant them to make sure the only ones that would fall into them would be those Weres, so no one around here would be injured by accident.”

  “Be nice,” Stasi chided.

  She heaved a deep breath. “My life is so stressful. I thought it was bad enough when we had to contend with no indoor plumbing, washing our clothes in the same creek where we bathed. Rats, fleas.” She ignored Jake’s wince. “Lice!”

  Stasi sighed. “Oh no, she’s on that rant again.”

  Blair also ignored her. “No zippers or buttons. Chamber pots. No central heat or air conditioning!”

  Stasi rubbed her thumbs and forefingers together. “World’s smallest violins,” she murmured.

  “Exactly where is this heading?” Jake finally interrupted.

  “Nothing, it’s just something I had to get out of my system.”

  “Get her out of here before she moves on to crossing the country in a Conestoga wagon.” Stasi started picking up the empty bowls and Trev jumped up to help her.

  “Those wagons were torture devices! I thought my back and butt would never recover. I wish we’d waited until they laid all the railroad track from east to west.” Blair squealed when Jake pulled her from her chair and directed her toward the door.

  “Don’t wait up for us,” Jake threw over his shoulder, as he pulled a jacket off the coat rack and draped it around Blair.

  “You’re just doing this to shut me up, aren’t you?” She found herself picking up her pace to keep up with Jake’s long-legged stride.

  “It’s time for us to have some privacy.” And he knew exactly what he’d be doing with their alone time, too.

  She noticed he looked around as they moved down the path that led to the road that ended with his cabin.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” She studied him with a keen eye, noticing he seemed much better; but she knew he still wasn’t back to 100 percent. “Whatever they tranqued you with was pretty strong.”

  “I’m fine. Shifting always helps, although the collar seemed to have diminished some of the healing properties,” he replied. “Once it was removed, I felt my strength start to come back. And a good meal helped even more.”

  Blair pulled back long enough so she could shove her arms through her jacket sleeves then quickly caught up with him, sliding her fingers through his. She trusted his enhanced sight to keep them going in the right direction.

  “Other than the satisfaction of decking Roan, do you have any recourse for what he did to you?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “Trev feels that I do, but Roan will argue he has the right to have me punished for attacking him without an apparent reason.”

  “So tranquing you, putting an illegal collar on you to force you to remain in canine form, and dumping you in a shelter that intended to destroy you, weren’t good enough reasons? When you didn’t attack him until after the fact?” She harrumphed. “And I thought we had it bad with the Witches’ Council. Eurydice is looking better all the time.”

  Snow was falling softly when they reached Jake’s cabin. He swore under his breath when he realized his keys were in his truck, but Blair easily eliminated that problem.

  “It beats carrying around lock picks,” she said, zapping the lock and opening the door.

  Jake headed for the thermostat and upped the temperature. Warm air soon streamed through the rooms. He fiddled with one of his remote controls and smooth jazz quickly followed.

  “Interesting. I figured you more for country western.” Blair kicked off her boots and curled up in a corner of the couch.

  “I like all sorts of music.” He moved across the open space between the couch and the coffee table.

  Blair watched him, admiring the fluidity of his body as he paced with the impatience of his Were nature showing in every move he made.

  “It wasn’t the first time I’d been in an animal shelter,” he spoke, but his tone was absent as if he was talking to himself. “I used to tell myself I needed to keep a license on hand, but since I tended to stay away from humans, I didn’t think it was all that necessary. Not that it would have mattered this time, since they wanted to make sure I couldn’t be found.”

  “They didn’t count on a clever witch breaking into your house and finding something to use for a location spell.” She polished her nails against the front of her emerald green sweater. “Or for her to be more than willing to break you out.”

  “But why?” He turned to face her. “Why after all these years are they stating I’m still bonded to Jen, yet they try to kill me? I no longer have any kind of standing in that Pack, so by all rights they should leave me alone.”

  “Maybe you’re Baxter’s secret heir and Roan wants you out of the way,” Blair mused. She looked sheepish. “When it’s slow in the afternoons I’ll sometimes watch the soaps, plus I used to be addicted to gothic novels. Actually, I still am.”

  Jake moved over to crouch down in front of her. Blair’s fingers itched to reach out and stroke the hard muscles of his thighs that were spread before her. After he showered he’d made use of one of the
disposable shavers, so his face was slightly pink from the cold air and he smelled of the citrus shaving gel along with the spices from Stasi’s chili and just plain Jake.

  “Dark, tortured hero, innocent heroine,” he murmured. “Well, the former fits.”

  Blair dropped her gaze, her lashes covering her eyes. “I beg your pardon, milord,” she murmured with the appropriate amount of humility. “I only wish to please you.”

  Jake had brought Blair to his cabin for privacy. Now that they had it, there was so much he wanted to say to her, and he had no idea where to begin.

  “You do please me, but not as the kind of maiden that’s afraid of the beast within the man.” He lowered himself to his knees and pulled her against him. He buried his face in her hair, nuzzling her, imprinting her with his scent while carrying hers away. “You please me with your laughter, your joy of life, and your in-your-face attitude, because you won’t allow anyone to intimidate you. At first I felt the best thing for you was to run from you, but you wouldn’t let me do that, and I am so grateful you didn’t. No one has ever fought for me the way you have.” He inhaled the combination of jasmine and vanilla mingling with her own personal scent that guaranteed he could find her even if he was blind.

  If you’re not careful you’ll be bound to her. But then she’s your soul mate, isn’t she? Why not do the right thing and go the rest of the route? Forget your fears that she’ll be hurt. She knows what you are and she’s never been frightened.

  She tunneled her fingers through his hair. “I’m stubborn that way. So what do you intend to do with me now that you’ve taken me to your hideaway?”

  Jake’s face creased in a slow smile. He slowly stood up and gathered her up in his arms. “Let’s go find some stars.”

  “I take it you’re not talking Hugh Jackman or Keanu Reeves.”

  “Something much better.” He carried her up the stairs to the loft bedroom and carefully laid her on the bed.

  Blair rolled over onto her stomach and watched as he took off his boots and stripped off his jeans and shirt. His skin was dark as if the sun touched it even during the winter, but it was his erection that kept her entranced. She resisted the urge to squirm against the dark gray quilt and instead grabbed a mint green pillow and hugged it against her.