by Lucy Kelly
“First answer a question for me. Did anybody mix their blood with mine? Did I have a mark when my bra was removed? Or a small cut?” Laura asked.
Laura’s words jogged Mara’s memory from Tuesday night when she and Marshall had undressed Laura and put her to bed. Mara explained how Marshall had caught his finger on her bra and bled a little. She was surprised at Laura’s response.
“Marshall saw me naked?” she squeaked, turning red.
That was when Mara remembered she wasn’t dealing with a shifter here. Laura was a human female and had different ways of thinking about nudity.
“He wasn’t turned on or anything. I was there too. Nudity is common for shifters,” she said, trying to calm Laura down.
Laura slammed her fist down on the arm of her wheelchair. “Mara, I consider you my best friend and we are about to have our first fight. First, you let a man see me naked, which is bad enough. Then you tell me I’m not sexy enough to turn on a man. This is not the way best friends act.”
Mara was looking very contrite until Laura ruined it by laughing. She was in too good a mood. “Okay I’ll tell you about my dream,” she said.
It took a little while to go through the entire dream. Mara kept interrupting and asking questions. Lola came in with a tray of snacks. Mara absently nibbled on a cracker as she thought over everything Laura had said. Some aspects of the dream definitely seemed prophetic. She tried not to let the shock she was feeling show on her face.
If it is true! If Laura is a changeling, it would be vastly important to the shifters of the world. But who is the teacher? It couldn’t be me, I’m only a minor priestess of the goddess. There hasn’t been a changeling in the world in like forever, can it be?
The two of them were still discussing the dream when Maggie informed them of visitors at the door. Marshall Connor had arrived with another man. Mara told Laura that she would think on the dream and what it could mean. For now they would keep it between them, and Laura agreed.
They both had smiles on their faces when Marshall came in. Mara raised an eyebrow when she saw the man with Marshall, she didn’t know him. He was six feet tall and beefy with brown hair and muddy brown eyes. He also had broken blood vessels in his cheeks that signaled a heavy drinker. His worn down boots, threadbare jeans, and beater t-shirt didn’t exactly show him off to an advantage either.
Marshall looked at Mara and Laura and introduced them. “Mara, Laura, this is Roland Gantry. He’s just driven all the way in from Colorado. He says, Laura, that he’s your true-mate,” Marshall finished, trying and failing to hide his grimace at choking out the words. He was thinking, even young Ben would be better than this guy.
Then Roland made things worse with the first words out of his mouth. “Crippled huh, oh well, it won’t matter so much in bed. I’m ready to get the deed done, do you wanna fuck here or are you shy? Either way, makes no matter to me.”
Chapter Fourteen
Laura was shocked. “No!” she shouted involuntarily. A shudder went through her body. “Lola!” she called out and was happy to see the little Kobold come running from the kitchen. “See, Marshall, this is Lola my Kobold housekeeper and interior decorator. I can see her. Mara says I have magic, my mom came to me in a dream telling me…things,” she said frantically. At the last minute, something inside her wouldn’t allow her to say the word changeling in front of this stranger. “Please tell me you’re not going to give me to this…this…what are you anyway?” she asked, forcing herself to look at the unkempt, overweight, scruffy person in front of her. She would not believe they would force her to have sex with the man. She would rather take the death sentence; he repulsed her on every level.
“Did you need me to bring you something?” Lola asked her, standing next to her wheelchair. “One of your guns?” she asked and both Laura and Mara laughed until they realized she was serious.
Actually, that wouldn’t be such a bad idea. She’d feel safer. She was about to ask Lola to go get one when Marshall spoke up.
“Laura, I’m pleased you have some magic in you. I’d still be happy if you were mated, for your safety. Roland here says he knew you were his mate as soon as he scented you. Don’t you think you should give him a chance to get to know you?” he asked. He didn’t like the guy either but shifter law forbade interference between true-mates.
“How do I know he’s really my true-mate? He could be just saying that to get in here. You sent my things,” she blushed, “all over the U.S. Anybody could show up,” she said.
Since it was exactly what he had done, Roland didn’t want them checking in to his story. He should have gone to the Alpha’s house and taken a sniff of her undies. He could have put on a show and then the Alpha would have backed him up, considering they’d just fought, which would have made others believe him too. He jumped in before they started asking questions.
“Look here, you’re only human like the alpha says. I’m strong enough to protect you and you should be happy to have a man like me around. I’m a strong wolf,” he said puffing out his chest, as if just saying it was enough.
However, Laura had spent most of the prior day in the company of alpha shifters and this guy didn’t even make the grade. Next to Marshall, he looked like a barroom bully. She had to figure out how to convince Marshall to get rid of him. She didn’t want him in her house.
“Laura, there is a shifter approaching the house. Are we expecting anyone else? I don’t show any appointments on my schedule,” Maggie House said.
Laura turned to Mara. “Would you ask Tom or Ben to find out what’s going on?” she asked, she didn’t want Marshall leaving her alone with this stranger. Deciding this situation wasn’t going to be resolved in the next five minutes, she reluctantly invited the two men to have a seat in the living room and asked Lola to bring refreshments. She wasn’t surprised when Roland called out for a beer. It wasn’t even eleven o’clock in the morning.
She watched Mara head down the hall to the game room and slowly wheeled herself into the living room. “You never did say, which pack are you the alpha of, Roland?” she asked from the doorway. She remembered her brother telling her to make a quick attack, keeping her enemy scrambling was the best way to regroup without losing ground. Having this wolf in her living room was already losing ground in her opinion and she didn’t want to lose anymore.
Deciding he was better off sticking with the truth as much as possible, he answered her. Inside he was pissed this crippled girl was questioning him. She should be falling down on her knees to thank me. And suck me off while she’s there. “I recently lost a challenge,” he said with a low growl, showing her his displeasure. He looked over at Marshall to see if he’d step in and bring the girl in line. When he didn’t, Roland decided the man was a wuss. There were only three places for a woman, on her knees, on her back, or cooking his food. As soon as the alpha left him alone with his mate, he’d show her which place suited him best.
Something of his thoughts must have shown on his face because the chick in the chair wheeled back two feet. He thought she had been joking earlier, and then she pulled open the end table drawer and pulled out a gun, placing it in her lap. Marshall smiled, he had seen the look too. He was also beginning to have doubts. He planned to make a few calls to check this guy out.
Mara hurried to the living room to see if she could prevent any bloodshed. It was a new carpet. Ben went to the door to see who was there. Maggie said there was a shifter outside, he wondered how she figured that out. When he opened the front door he looked around. He didn’t see any of the shifters he knew or would be nearby like the other guards. Instead, the only animal he saw was a tortoiseshell cat. A cat, deep in the woods of Montana?
The cat sitting on the porch railing jumped down and shifted in front of him into an old woman. There weren’t any cat shifters, were there? House cats?
He was shocked for two reasons. First, he’d never seen a cat shifter this small before and second, when she shifted she was wearing clothing. Shifters t
ook off their clothes to shift, was the woman, who reminded him of his granny, a Shayatin Sorceress? “Hello, can I help you? And would you like to explain how you shifted with your clothes?” he asked warily, stepping outside and closing the door. He was familiar with the house’s security systems and knew Maggie was monitoring them.
“I’m Frieda Schrieber. I’ve come all the way from Germany. I’ve been up for almost twenty-four hours and I’m tired. We should go inside, the alpha and the young changeling will need to see me. I’m here for her, you see,” she explained in a sweet firm voice. He couldn’t place the accent but he did understand the authority. Suddenly he realized what she was. The stories his parents told him when he was small trickled through his head. He reached back and opened the door. Backing up into the house, he held the door open for her. She was short, only about four foot nothing and from the back might be mistaken for a child. The long white hair was braided in a crown around her head and her face was a tracery of fine lines and wrinkles.
As they passed by the kitchen, he realized he had lost her. He backtracked and found her talking to Lola. They were speaking in a language he didn’t recognize. He was even more surprised when the two of them disappeared into the hearth. Knowing he was in over his head, he went to the living room to report.
When Ben got a good look at the man claiming to be Laura’s mate and then saw the gun in Laura’s lap. He let out a low growl and had to push to keep his mountain lion under control. “You have a visitor, Laura. Her name is Frieda Schieber. She’s in the kitchen with Lola. They seemed to know each other. Lola took her into her room,” he explained and both Laura and Mara looked astonished. The magical door to the hearth was very small and the hearth was always hot.
About twenty minutes later she appeared in the doorway. Frieda completely ignored everyone in the room as she walked straight over to Laura. “Oh my dear, you can’t know how pleased I am to finally meet you? Really, you have left it rather late, haven’t you? Lola has filled me in on everything, I’m really looking forward to helping you,” she asked with a twinkle in her eyes, gently scolding.
“I’m sorry?” Laura said, completely bewildered.
Looking around, Frieda examined the others in the room. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?” she said.
“Um…Frieda?” she said, shrugged and then gestured to the others in the room, “This is Marshall Connor, the local Alpha; Mara, my best friend; Ben, another of my friends, and this other person is Roland Gantry. He arrived today, saying he’s my true-mate. I don’t believe him,” she added.
Frieda gave the gun a pointed look. “Yes, dear, I can see that. And of course you’re right. He’s not your true-mate. Marshall dear, you’re not her true-mate?” Frieda asked.
As Marshall gave Frieda a negative shake of his head Roland’s face grew very red. How dare this hag come in and make a statement like that. “Hey!” Roland interrupted, standing up. He didn’t know who this old broad was, she smelled human with a whiff of magic. She was ruining his chance at an easy life and Roland wasn’t having any of that. “I am her true-mate. Like a couple of thousand others, I gave her undies a sniff. She’s mine,” he said belligerently.
Frieda gave him a long look. “What color?” she asked.
“Huh?” he said.
“It’s a simple question. What color was the underwear you sniffed?” she asked patiently.
Roland thought fast. He was going to have to make something up. Damn, he really should have insisted on going to the alpha’s house to sniff them. Looking at the girl in the chair, he decided it was actually an easy question. A cripple like her obviously didn’t wear anything too sexy. “Plain white cotton,” he blurted out.
Mara gasped and Roland believed he’d guessed right. With a smug smile, he picked up his beer and sat back down. Leaning back in his chair he guzzled his beer, not even noticing the overflow dripping down his chin and onto his shirt.
“Alpha, I personally prepared every baggie sent out. There were no scraps of white cotton. Not one,” said Mara.
Frieda nodded her head as if she had something confirmed. She patted Laura on the shoulder. “You see, things will work out now,” she said.
Marshall stood. He was angry, very angry. He hadn’t liked the shifter that had shown up at his door early this morning. The man had obviously driven all night so he made allowances for his appearance. He deeply regretted bringing him to Laura’s house.
“Maggie?” said Laura.
“Yes, dear?” Maggie house said.
“Please scan the person called Roland Gantry and enter him into the security system as an undesirable,” Laura said.
“Yes, dear, right away. Do you want me to immobilize him?” Maggie asked.
“That won’t be necessary. I believe Marshall is intending to remove him,” she said.
“Yes, Maggie, Roland and I will be leaving now,” Marshall said on a growl. “I’ll be back in a few hours,” he said.
Roland always knew when it was time to leave. He hoped he made it out with his life. The alpha was very angry.
No one moved or spoke until Maggie announced Marshall and Roland had left the building.
“Maggie, please set security to repel Roland Gantry if he comes on to the property again,” she said.
“Yes, dear. Will it be possible to get image and tissue samples of his shifted form? My database only holds information on his human form at this time?” Maggie asked.
“I’ll request the information from Alpha Connor and supply it if at all possible,” Laura said. And she meant it. She didn’t want the man anywhere near her ever again. Suddenly she missed her six big older brothers. They wouldn’t have let Roland Gantry in the house! She turned to Mara. “Mara, if this is what it’s going to be like then I think I should get a look at anyone before they come in,” Laura said. She’d given her trust to the alpha and his people. She was having second thoughts about that now. If Frieda hadn’t thought to ask about the underwear, it might have taken longer to get rid of that horrible man!
Frieda perched herself on the edge of the sofa seat and looked at the two women. Ben had followed to see Marshall and Roland leave. On the way to the door, Roland was thinking as fast as he could to save his skin. He started claiming some men in his old pack had tricked him. Since they must actually know who his mate was, he needed to get back there as soon as possible. Marshall wasn’t buying it. It was too coincidental. He told Roland to wait as he stopped to give Ben instructions.
Roland, seeing his chance, quickly stripped and shifted. He wanted to make it to his truck before the alpha caught up with him. By the sound of the roar behind him, he was glad he’d made a break for it. He put on some extra speed, happy that a wolf could run faster and was more nimble than an angry bear. He knew he was running for his life. That little girl must be really important for the alpha to care this much.
As he ran he was already trying to think of ways to get even with her.
Chapter Fifteen
Frieda waited until Mara and Laura’s attention shifted off the men leaving the house. “Well, that was exciting wasn’t it? Still, I’m glad that’s over with. We have so much to do we need to get started right away. Mara dear, I sent the rest of my things to your house, I would like to stay here with dear Laura, but I wouldn’t like to presume,” she said with a twinkle.
“Ben said you shifted from a small house cat. I wasn’t aware there were feline shifters that small,” said Mara, trying to figure out what and who the woman was. She decided to come out and ask her. “He also says you shifted with your clothes. He thinks you’re a changeling. Is he right? Why are you here? How did you find out about Laura?”
Frieda blushed a delicate pink. “I’m sorry; I thought you would be expecting me. Your Ben is right, I’m a changeling. The last changeling until Laura here awakened her power. There is one thing I don’t understand. If you don’t have a mate yet, how did your magic awaken?” she asked Laura.
“It was an accident. I had a small
cut and so did Alpha Connor,” Laura explained, blushing herself. She wasn’t about to explain about Marshall Connor seeing her naked!
“So you aren’t mated yet. That explains why you’re still in that wheelchair. The tiny amount of blood you exchanged was enough to awaken your magic and not enough to heal you completely,” she said to Laura as if everything made sense. She had no idea of the shock she’d given Laura with her off-hand remark. “We need to find your mate, the stronger he is, the faster you will heal from injuries.”
Laura couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She wouldn’t let herself hope. Because she didn’t want to break down in front of the two women, she wasn’t going to think about the possibility of healing and walking again right now. Lowering her head, she swallowed, holding back her tears. She needed a moment to get herself under control.
Wiping her face with her hands, she looked up. She was grateful Mara and Frieda pretended not to notice. “I had a dream of my mother telling me I was a changeling. The dream was right about going out into the sun. Now you’re telling me I’m a changeling and I’m going to be hea…hea…healed.” She took a few gulps of air.
It was too much, in too short a time. “Excuse me,” she said and she wheeled herself out of the room as fast as she could. She wanted her father and her brothers.
Mara watched the young woman she’d grown so close to over that week leave the room with tears in her eyes. It was hard for her to believe it had been less than a week since they had met. She looked at the old woman sitting on the couch. Frieda was a legend come to life.
“How did you know to come?” Mara asked her.
“It must have been when her magic woke and she became changeling. The shock was welcome, I must say. I’ve been waiting a long time for the next changeling to appear. I can only do so much on my own you know. Now, I only knew she was here because of the location spell I cast. As soon as I knew her location, I packed up. I keep up with all the priestesses in this realm and so I sent my things. She called you Mara, so you are the priestess I sent them to. I hope I can stay here, if not, you’ve got a house guest,” she said with a smile. “Lola has told me all she knows. Now I want to hear your story. Fill me in on my new student. What do you think of her?” Frieda said.
