by K.N. Lee
Five more weeks passed, and Zelda did give birth, Rosemarie assisting with the delivery. When the baby opened his eyes—a gorgeous combination of her darkness and his silver—Magnus couldn’t be happier.
And Zelda, eyes glistening, seemed to be just as happy. Her gaze met his, and he knew his heart was big enough to love them both, to love his new pack.
Yes, he would never forget the first time he saw her, and now he would see her each day for the rest of their lives.
There was nothing more he could want out of life.
Beneath the glow of the moon, Magnus threw back his head and howled.
Life was good.
Having found love made it that much better.
For the first time in a long time, Magnus looked forward to the future and what promises it held.
Epilogue
Ten years had passed. Ten wonderful years.
Her life had changed the moment she met Magnus Varg. It changed again when she realized he was a werewolf and then again when she fell in love with him and yet again when they married.
Now, they had a pack of their own with three werewolves—one boy and two girls.
Magnus’s construction company had grown, and now he oversaw two branches. As for Zelda, after the birth of their second child, they moved back to Philly, and she worked long and hard at her job. During the day, she strove to make strides with the brain toward a breakthrough for patients with schizophrenia and other similar disorders. And she continued with her research, too, and right now, she was so close to realizing a connection between humans and lions. Who knew? Maybe one day, werelions would be possible.
Until then, she had more than enough to keep her happy.
Her cell rang. She was at the laboratory.
Zelda answered it, putting the call on speaker. “I’m leaving now.”
“Come home to me, Juliet.”
“As long as you’re waiting there for me, Romeo.”
“Always.”
I love you, Magnus.
I love you, too.
She stilled. Magnus? Did you hear me?
Yes.
But…
Anything is possible.
You have to come in. Her mind began to race. This could be the break she needed! Leviticus and Heather had moved their packs down toward Baltimore, living in relative peace the last she had heard, so she never had a chance to study their brains will mentally communicating with each other, and until now, Zelda and Magnus hadn’t been able to.
Tomorrow, Juliet.
Why not now?
Because it’s getting late.
So?
The kids are asleep.
As the neighbor to come over.
I already have candle lit around the Jacuzzi.
Oh?
And a bottle of wine.
Oh.
And chocolates.
Oh! Yeah… The MRI can wait.
There was a time for research and a time for family, and right now, she had a loving werewolf of a husband waiting for her at home.
She swore she could hear him howling as she turned off her phone.
A huge moon shone down on her as she hurried out of her workplace and toward her car in the parking lot. Again, she heard another howl.
Magnus was more than her Romeo. He was her moon.
It was far past time to return to him.
She threw back her head and howled to herself and then giggled to herself all the way home to Magnus and his kisses and his tender love.
A Hex on You
A Moonlight Dragon Novelette
Tricia Owens
Chapter 1
"This is just stupid."
I flung the newspaper on the ground—or at least I tried to. But since it was magicked, it hovered helpfully in the air. I tried karate chopping it and kicking it, but each time the papers floated gently back to waist level.
"I dunno," my best friend Melanie said as she studied the hovering newspaper, "I think it's kinda cool that it does that. Prevents people from littering."
"I wasn't talking about that," I gritted out. I crossed my arms and huffed as I sat back on the stool. In front of me, the interior of Moonlight Pawn was completely deserted. It was a Thursday night, but I would have expected at least one customer. So far there had been nada. The slow winter season in Las Vegas had officially set in. If tourists were in town, they were locked up in casinos.
Melanie reached over and plucked the paper out of the air so she could read it. The periodical wasn't something I read on a regular basis because it contained far too much gossip for my taste. It was more of a local tabloid that excitedly speculated about which magickal beings in Vegas were responsible for which unsolved crimes and coyly suggested where to lay blame for everything from bad weather to traffic congestion. Since I had a hard time believing a teenage troll was behind the latest windy days, it was difficult for me to take seriously anything else The Magickal Meddler had to say.
"Uh oh. Pixies might be carrying lice," Melanie murmured as she paged through the short periodical. "And they say the long lines at DMV are caused by witches who are PMSing. It's screwing up the computers."
"Are you serious?" I snarled, incredulous.
She grinned mischievously at me from over the top of the paper. "Ha-ha! Just kidding." She glanced down as I grumbled. "But I don't see why you're so upset, Anne. They used a really good photo of you. You look hot!"
"Uh, did you even read the caption? It called me Most Likely to Bring About the Apocalypse."
"No, Anne. It's asking if you are going to bring about the apocalypse," she corrected with a smile.
I glared at the paper she held. "Right. They only tacked on the question mark at the end so I can't sue them for libel. I think I'll still sue them."
"Yeah, that's not so great. I mean, you haven't done anything dramatic in days."
I gave her a long look. "Melanie, I haven't used my sorcery in months."
"Um, but when you do, it's so big and dramatic that it makes me people remember it for weeks. So, like, as far as perception goes, you're kinda using sorcery all the time." She let out a meep at my expression. "I'm just talking about perception, not reality!"
"That's great, Melly. No, really."
She giggled.
I subsided into broody annoyance. I was probably being overly sensitive about this. I wasn't the first magickal being to be called out by the newspaper for something I hadn't done. However, this also wasn't the first time I'd been accused of being the bad guy. I was sick of it. Just once, I wanted to be credited with something positive. Or failing that, simply ignored. It wasn't like I hung out much in the magickal community. I had my own circle of friends and that was enough for me. Why did I have to be dragged into the public eye?
The door opened and what felt like freezing air—for Las Vegas, anyway—shot inside the shop, making Melanie shiver. As a monkey shifter from Mexico, she felt the cold more keenly than I did. She wouldn't have shifted into her furry form while anyone could see her, though. She just cinched her coat and scarf more tightly around her as she continued reading the newspaper.
I checked out the customer who had arrived with the wind. He was quite a sight: probably six and a half feet tall and apparently nothing but bones. His long, white duster made him resemble a candle, or maybe an icicle, considering the weather. Mostly bald, with a strip of brown hair circling the perimeter of his head and plain features, I could have written him off as a teacher or a boring office worker. But, oh, man, I knew better than to do that once I got a look at his eyes.
Talk about serial killer eyes.
I sat up straighter beneath their penetrating glare. At any given time I had enemies within the magickal community. Some people viewed me as a threat because I was descended from dragons. I possessed sorcery that took the form of my Chinese dragon familiar, Lucky. Other people were terrified that I'd forego using Lucky and do the damage myself by turning into a dragon and burning Las Vegas to the ground. Some of my a
ncestors had allowed power to go to their heads and done some terrible things. I got that. But it didn't mean that I was a bad seed, too, or that I deserved all the animosity aimed my way.
I slid off my stool. Already in a sassy mood, I was sort of looking forward to confronting someone who had a problem with me simply being me.
Melanie looked up, her brown eyes widening. "Anne, what's up? Why do you look—"
"Can I help you?" I asked in a tone that definitely didn't sound like I was amenable to being helpful in any way whatsoever.
"Are you Anne Moody?"
Here we go.
"I am. Who's asking?"
His smile did it. As soon as he flashed his incisors I called up Lucky. My Chinese dragon blazed into life in the middle of Moonlight, filling the shop with blinding, golden light. The tall, thin man cried out when faced with twenty feet of a massive, whiskered dragon with tiger paws. Who could blame him? Lucky looked ready to rumble, his fangs flashing. At the sight of them, the tall man stumbled backwards and hit the Elvis mannequin I'd been trying to sell for three weeks. Startled, maybe thinking he was being attacked from behind, the man let out a shout.
All of a sudden he began to grow. We're talking up and out, the top of his head smashing through the ceiling of the shop and going through the roof while the rest of him expanded as well, his huge shoulders collecting plaster and wood splinters. I gaped up as the guy punched a hole through the top of the pawnshop, revealing the moonlit sky.
The guy was literally a giant.
"Dios mio!" Melanie yelled.
I shared the sentiment but I didn't have time to say it. The giant swung fists the size of sheep at Lucky, who snarled and twisted out of the way. A fist crashed into a row of shelving, sending merchandise flying across the room. A foot that could have stomped me in the ground tried to kick Lucky and missed, bashing a huge dent in one wall.
What the hell? This giant was going to total my shop! I felt the familiar rippling of invisible scales across my skin as my dragon reared, preparing to blast fire at the giant attacker. You'd better believe I welcomed it.
But then,
Moody, stop!
A dark form flitted in front of Lucky, causing my dragon to jerk his head away in annoyance. I watched a gray, mottle-skinned gargoyle buzz around my dragon like a gnat.
"Vale, get out of the way!" I yelled up at my boyfriend, exasperated. I'd known he was coming by tonight but I didn't need him to interfere. I had this.
Vale's gargoyle form wasn't large. It was the approximate size of a juvenile gorilla. But it was strong and could be tenacious, as was the case now. Ignoring my demand, his gargoyle flapped its bat-like wings to propel it through the air, sticking close to my dragon. Lucky had his work cut out for him as he battled both this annoying gargoyle and the giant man who kept taking ungainly swings at my dragon's head.
This isn't an enemy, Moody! It's a misunderstanding!
"What?" I cried, switching my attention from the giant to Vale's gargoyle.
I know him!
Most of my adrenaline squirted out of me like air from a deflating balloon. I pulled back on the energy I fed Lucky, which made him diminish until he blinked out of existence completely, taking his light with him. The giant peered down from the hole he'd made in my roof and frowned as if unsure why the fighting had stopped.
Vale's gargoyle landed on the floor beside me. He transformed instantly into his human form, which was a definite pleasure to look at, especially since he always shifted into a naked state. I didn't hide how I ogled the firm muscles in Vale's butt and back as he addressed the giant.
"Edward, it's okay. She didn't mean to attack. She won't hurt you."
"You really do know him," I marveled as I reluctantly pulled my attention away from Vale's assets. I scowled. "Why the heck did he come in here and tear up the place?"
Vale turned his head and gave me a dry look. "Did he truly attack first?"
"Er." Thinking back, the first shot across the bow had definitely come from my cannons.
I was spared from admitting as much when Edward the giant began to shrink. It was like something out of a Syfy movie with a fairly decent special effects budget. The giant shrank everywhere at once and within the span of a couple of seconds. Amazingly, his white coat had taken the voyage with him, growing larger as he grew larger and shrinking with his smaller body. Cool magick.
"Why did you do that?" he asked me in a young, petulant-sounding voice that didn't fit his facial features at all.
"I thought you were about to attack me," I said defensively. "You looked like you were super angry."
A dash of color came to his cheeks. "That wasn't my fault. You know how some women have 'resting bitch faces'?" He subsided into a mumble: "Well, I have the male version of that."
"Resting serial killer face?" I said, and then was immediately mortified when he turned dark red. "Sorry, sorry. Just kidding."
"No, it's true," he said, clearly miserable. "People always think the worst of me before I get a chance to introduce myself."
I felt like a complete jerk.
"Well, I'm, er, glad we cleared that up before anyone was hurt," I mumbled.
He nodded, unable to look me in the eye, still looking embarrassed.
I could feel Vale looking at me with mild reproach and Melanie was just Melanie, wide eyed and in a state of "whoa." So I said, "You, um, asked for me by name when you first came in here. Was there something you wanted?"
After a hesitation, Edward nodded. "I saw you in the paper. I-I just wanted your autograph."
I laughed loudly and awkwardly. Everyone flinched at the sound.
Feeling like the world's most unlikeable person at that moment, I said brightly, "Well, you're in luck. I just happen to have a copy of it floating around here somewhere."
"Oh, my god, that was so humiliating," I groaned once Edward had left.
Vale, Melanie, and I were at work cleaning up the mess that was my shop. It pretty much looked like a meteor had blasted its way through. Merchandise and structural material covered the floor and one wall looked like, well, like a giant had kicked it in.
"I'm not going to say I told you so," Vale said quietly as he swept up debris. He was dressed in one of the spare outfits he left at my place in case of situations like this. He told me he'd shifted into his gargoyle form a couple of blocks away when he saw the light from Lucky shining up through the hole in the roof. His clothes were still strewn across the sidewalk.
"You don't need to say it, Vale. I screwed up. I jumped to conclusions."
"You were quick to use your sorcery to attack," he pointed out.
He didn't need to elaborate. Wincing, I thought of the issue of The Magickal Meddler that I'd autographed for Edward with plenty of drawn hearts and So sorry I tried to fight you! written beneath a smiley face. The paper might be a gossip rag, but it turned out it might be pretty accurate when it came to describing me.
"So maybe I've got a hair trigger when it comes to using Lucky," I admitted. "You can't blame me what with all the crazy shenanigans we've been through, which, may I remind you, has included tons of demons, dark spirits, and general weirdos."
"But we're not facing any of those now, and you need to improve your relationship with other magickal beings," he pointed out calmly. "That means not trying to bite them with your dragon."
"I know. I know. I don't need more enemies." I paused with a dust pan in hand. "How about this: I promise not to use my sorcery against anyone for a month." I waved the pan dramatically when he cast a skeptical look my way. "That'd show that I have restraint, right? No sorcery? Because I have complete control over myself. I always have."
"I dunno, Anne," Melanie offered unhelpfully. "You nearly deep fried a fanboy just now."
I ignored her to make puppy dog eyes at Vale. "That'd impress you, right?"
His lips tilted into a reluctant half-smile. God, he was sexy. And he had a thing for having his hair pulled, which I was seriously contemplating as
I stared at him while he considered the seriousness of my promise.
"You don't need to go that far," he told me. "And you don't need to do anything more to impress me." His dark gaze deepened, as did his voice. It had a funny way of doing funny things to my body. "You impressed me the first day I met you, Moody, and that hasn't changed."
Yeah, I seriously needed Melanie gone at that moment. Vale and I needed some alone time. However, my best friend only giggled. "You guys are so cute together. You're making me want to call up Christian."
"Hey, maybe you should!" I said quickly, thrilled to hear her mention her water nymph boyfriend. "I think tonight's when Netflix adds new movies. You guys should check to see what's on."
"You are sooo obvious," she said with a grin, but she leaned her broom against the counter. "Okay. Sounds like it's a 'chill' night, then. You guys have fun cleaning all this up. Don't catch frostbite later on your hoo-ha! Ha-ha!"
I had to grin as her laughter followed her outside. Even Vale smiled, though his expression reflected a different sort of pleasure that rapidly warmed the air between us.
"She's right," he said. "You're obvious."
"Tell me you have a problem with that," I challenged as I carelessly tossed the dust pan over my shoulder. It struck something which clattered noisily to the ground. I cringed, hoping that whatever I'd just knocked down wasn't too expensive.
Vale wasn't as dramatic. He piled the pieces of tiling and wood that he'd collected near the door and then unhurriedly turned off the neon Open sign. Next, he locked the front door. "This roof needs to be sealed," he commented with glance upwards at the damage, "or you're going to freeze to death."
"I may have someone who will keep me warm until then," I murmured as I watched him approach like a shadow gliding across the floor.
"Lucky him."
"Lucky both of us." As he slid his hands around my hips, I draped my arms over his shoulders and leaned in close.
