by Jade Alters
I’ve only just noticed it and I stand there, blinking, as I watch the four of them carefully examine the tires and the ground around the car, looking for clues. Somehow, my witchy sense just knows that the four of them are genuine in their dealings with me. I’m absolutely sure of it. And more than that...they’re magical. I don’t know how yet. Maybe they’re warlocks. Although, the idea of warlock cops strikes me as very funny. Whatever it is, they have a power about them. I just don’t know its origin yet. But now, it’s as obvious as a strong cologne. I’m not even good at sensing that stuff, but now I can feel it coming off of them in waves.
So… they’re magical and devastatingly hot.
That’s a lot to take in for a girl.
The four of them are all quietly mumbling and conferring as we make our way back to my apartment. I’m trying to figure out how to ask the guys if they’re warlocks. There’s always the chance that they possess magical powers and don’t actually know it. That happens all the time. There are lots of ordinary humans walking around not knowing they could be a decently powerful witch or wizard. Often, people like that find themselves experiencing weird premonitions, having particularly good instincts, or running into strange coincidences.
On the other hand, even if they don’t know they’re magic and think I’m totally nuts for asking… Well, I guess that’s not the worst thing in the world. I do know they’re genuinely good guys. My witchy sense is tingling with that assurance. They’re not going to protect me any less if they think I’m crazy. They already have proof that I’m being stalked after all.
“Would you guys like some coffee?” I ask them as they stand a bit awkwardly around my little apartment. Darren, who seemed briefly hypnotized by a Buffy the Vampire Slayer figurine on one of the shelves, looks up at me with interest. “Yes, please.”
“You guys hungry at all?” I ask them. “I have some pastries from Porto’s.”
“Yes!” Darren says, his eyes lighting up.
Brendan nudges him and hisses. “Darren.”
“Brendan,” Darren says, all sarcasm. “She did ask.”
“It’s fine,” I say, chuckling. “I wouldn’t have offered if it wasn’t. You guys are helping me after all.”
Darren and Brendan follow me into the kitchen, and Darren seems a little triumphant. He winks at Brendan as I go about putting the coffee on and pulling out the leftover stuff from Porto’s (that I’d been saving for the right occasion) from the freezer. Porto’s is the best, but it’s always super packed, so when I go, I buy a bunch of stuff and freeze some of it for events just like this.
“Can I ask you something?” I say, wringing my hands a little as the coffee brews. From where I stand, I can still hear Ian and Mitch on the couch talking about the tires and whatever else. My kitchen is very small, containing only two little countertops and a few cabinets with a small fridge and stove. One cabinet slightly blocks the living room, so I shuffle into the corner as if hiding from Ian. From what I can tell, he seems to be the one “in charge.”
“Why of course,” Brendan says. “We want you to be honest with us.”
“Alright,” I say, sighing. “Well, I’m a witch.”
Brendan and Darren just sort of stare at me, and I don’t know what that means but I assume they think I’m a little weird now, so I figure I might as well go the whole hog. “I’m a witch, which means I can sense magic. That might sound insane to you, but I sense magic from all of you very strongly. So I was just curious…” I lean a little closer towards them and whisper, “You guys magic? Warlocks or something?”
They both hesitate, glancing at each other. At least they don’t look like they think I’m crazy though. I suppose that’s a good sign.
“We’re fox shifters!” Darren blurts out.
“Darren,” Brendan hisses at him.
Darren frowns. “Bren, I don’t know why you think just saying my name emphatically is going to do anything? Has that worked in the last hundred years?”
“Hundred years?” I say, choking on the words. I’m still over here trying to process that they’re fox shifters.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve heard of shifters. I met a wolf shifter once. He was a warlock too. He sold herbs out of his van and smoked a lot of weed. He kept trying to use the fact that he was a wolf to hit on witches (including me). Needless to say, I did not go out with him. I’m definitely not going out with a guy who sells things out of a van. Gotta have some standards, right?
“Um…” Darren shrugs, almost apologetically. “We’re not as young as we look.”
“And you’re fox shifters?” I whisper. “All four of you?”
“Yeah,” Darren says. “If you want, we could show you.”
“We should ask Ian,” Brendan says.
In the living room, Ian and Mitch look up in surprise when Darren says, “So we want to shift for Victoria.”
Ian’s eyes go wide. “Darren-”
“I had nothing whatsoever to do with this,” Brendan says, crossing his arms.
“She’s a witch,” Darren says, pointing at me. “She gets it. She said she smelled our magic.”
“Yeah,” I shrug helplessly. “I couldn’t help it. It’s really strong.”
Ian actually seems a little pleased by that. “Alright,” he says. “I suppose that does make things a little easier.”
I can’t help but wonder if I feel this strange sort of connection to these guys because of the spell. Then again, there is the fact that everything else that must be a result of the spell has been awful and… this doesn’t feel awful at all. All of this would be easier to figure out if I could just find a real explanation of the spell. But since it was all an accident, it’s exceedingly difficult to reverse engineer. Apparently.
“Are you going to do it in here or... ” I glance between the four of them, a bit dazed and slightly concerned. “Shouldn’t you go outside?”
“We’re not going to tear up your apartment,” Mitch says, laughing. “We’re very well behaved foxes.”
“Can you still think like a human when you’ve shifted?” I ask them. I’ve known a few shifters, but I always felt shy asking too many questions about it. “Like do you have the same consciousness as when you’re human?”
“Yes,” Ian says. “I mean we can’t speak. We’re not talking foxes or anything.”
“Of course not,” I say dryly.
“Although, the four of us do share a psychic connection.”
“A what now?” I look at him, incredulous, and then I hear Darren chuckle beside me. “A psychic connection?”
“Yeah,” Mitch says, looking absolutely serious. “Well, telepathic really. We can talk to each other in our heads. Not just when we’re foxes, but any time. It’s very helpful. We really only use it when we need it, though.”
I scowl at him, feeling a bit suspicious. “Are you doing it right now? You could be talking about me right this second and I wouldn’t know about it.”
“We could be,” Mitch says easily. “But we aren’t. I promise you. We’re polite about it. We just use it when necessary. Not to be dicks.”
“Well, I guess that’s comforting.”
“Alright,” Ian says, nodding. And then suddenly, he’s a fox.
Then all four of them are foxes. It doesn’t happen in a blink of an eye, but it does happen quickly enough that I sense, in the space of a second, a change that is gradual and then abrupt. Does it make any sense? Not really. But that’s the only way to describe it.
Anyway, there are now two bright auburn foxes on my couch. Ian is the biggest of all four of them, but Mitch has the bushiest tail. I notice that Darren has dark spots on the tips of ears. And Brendan has a pointier nose and is also the leanest. Darren jumps up on the couch and waves his tail around and they all look up at me expectantly.
It occurs to me that I have no idea what to say. It’s impressive certainly. I’m just not sure how to react to shifters shifting in front of me for the first time. It’s miraculous, for sure,
and that’s saying something considering I’ve seen a lot of magic in my day.
“You’re all, um…” I try to think of something complimentary to say that isn’t completely ridiculous. “You’re all very handsome foxes!”
Darrens shifts abruptly, suddenly human and resting a hand on my shoulder as he laughs. “That is the funniest reaction I’ve ever heard from somebody who just saw us shift for the first time.”
“Well, I didn’t know what to say!” I say, throwing my hands up.
The others don’t shift back, but now Darren’s expression is back to serious again. “Actually, we were just talking-”
“You are talking about me secretly!” I say, just as Brendan’s fox form nudges my leg. His tail whips past my hand and I can’t help but lean down and pet his soft fur. He seems to be more relaxed as a fox than he is as a human.
“Not really,” Darren says. “We just want to sniff around the place shifted. Look around for clues. And then we’ll go take a sniff around the car. Don’t worry, we’re very stealthy. Nobody will see.”
“Oh.” I nod at that. As far as I know, nobody’s been in here. But it can’t hurt. “Sure, okay.”
The sight of four actual foxes running around my apartment “sniffing my place for clues” is so hilarious that I have to go to the bathroom just so I can laugh into a washcloth. I’d hate to accidentally offend them. If nothing else though, they sure are cheering me up. I also find myself so relieved that I have shifters looking after me. Certainly, there are bad shifters out there. But I can already so strongly sense that their intentions are good. And there’s something really comforting about having people who understand magic protecting me. Having been raised around witches, I tend to trust people who at least know about it more than I do regular people.
I pour the coffee and warm the pastries that they still haven’t eaten. When they shift back into human form, they stand around sipping and eating like it’s just an average day for them. Ian tells me they haven’t figured out much yet, but that there appears to be some kind of dark magic at work.
I think of my most recent spell mishap, but I keep my mouth shut.
If I had a brain in my head, I would tell them immediately about the spell I did. Instead, shame and embarrassment hold my tongue. It’s a silly reason, I know. But the thought that I’ve brought so much danger upon myself just because I spaced and grabbed the wrong herb is simply too mortifying.
“That’s weird,” I say tightly.
Maybe, I tell myself, there’s some other magic at work too. For all I know, Creeper is a warlock. I didn’t smell magic on him, but that’s easy to cover if you want to and you’re powerful enough.
“There’s something else,” Ian says, looking a little sheepish.
“Yeah?” I take a sip of coffee and look around my place. I realize they are probably leaving soon, and I find myself dreading being here alone tonight. I wish they could just stay or I could go with them or… something.
“We have a big house,” Ian says. “It’s over in South Pas. We were wondering if, um… Look, it might sound nuts, but we wondered if you might want to stay with us for a bit? Until this blows over?”
“Really?” I say, blushing a little at how quickly I light up at the thought.
“Yeah,” Ian says. “Our house is a lot safer than this building and… We’re just really worried is all. But obviously, it’s up to you.”
They all look very serious and tentative as if they’re sure I’m going to shut them down.
But they don’t know about my witchy sense.
“I’d like to,” I say smiling. “Uh, can I take my cat?”
“Oh yeah,” Ian laughs at that. “We smelled him everywhere but he seems to be trying to hide from us. But, sure, you can bring him. Well, as long as he doesn’t mind foxes.”
“I’m sure he’ll get used to you,” I say, giving Ian a wink.
Victoria
According to my general ethos as a witch, staying at some random house with a bunch of fox shifters doesn’t seem that weird. Not to me. My friend, Shea, does not seem to agree. She keeps texting me a lot of exclamation points and hysterical emojis. She texts me that emote with the guy’s head exploding just to make doubly sure that I realize how freaked out she is by this idea. I text back that she should understand about “witchy sense” and that I can tell that their motivations are good.
As I pack up my stuff, guys are playing with my cat, having lulled him out of hiding. I shove some tops into a duffle bag and sigh, grabbing my phone to text Shea back again. She wants me to cast a circle of protection around my room when I get there. She also wants me to take my pepper spray with me. She insists they’re only taking such an interest in me because of the spell I messed up, which I find mildly insulting, but she assures me I shouldn’t “take it personally.”
I roll my eyes at the phone and text back that I will cast a circle of protection when I get there. It’s not like it can hurt, and I’m taking my basic spell ingredients and a cauldron with me, so it won’t be difficult to cast.
I can’t help but feel just a little bit turned on too. I’m basically moving in with four deliciously hot men. It’s hard not to think about that part of it. I’m sure I’ll be under the covers and fantasizing about the four of them right on the other side of the walls all night. God knows if I’ll actually sleep.
I wonder if I’ll see them in their underwear…
“Victoria?” Mitch says, chuckling and waving a hand at me. “Earth to Victoria? Do need any help?”
“Oh…” I shake my head and try my best not to stare at those bulging biceps. “You can take this backpack down to the car, I guess?” Mitch pushes his shaggy, blonde hair back, looking like some kind of surfer Adonis. He grins as he grabs it. The bag is heavy, and his bicep bulges even more when he picks it up.
I swear, my mouth literally waters.
Nobly, I endeavor not to show my thirst.
When we finally leave for their house, Mitch teases me endlessly for overpacking. He’s right. I’m a notorious over-packer, and I probably don’t need half the stuff I’m bringing. Especially considering my apartment is just across town. On the other hand, I like my creature comforts and I like things to be convenient. I don’t want to have to run to the magic shop or back to my apartment just to pick up some orange blossom for a spell or something.
Ian and Mitch have to return the cruiser to the station. Since I don’t feel much like riding in the back where the arrested people sit, we pack up Darren’s SUV with my stuff. He’d driven over with Brendan. Darren’s got a little plush alien dangling from the rear view mirror and it makes me laugh when I climb into the car.
“You really are a big nerd, aren’t you?” I ask him.
“Guilty,” he says, sticking out his tongue. “But I want it to be known that I’ve been a nerd longer than it’s been socially acceptable to be a nerd. A lot longer.”
“Oh, because you’re super old!” I say, and I flush at the way Darren’s grin falters. Brendan, on the other hand, snorts with amusement. “Sorry, I didn’t mean-”
“No,” Darren says, as he pulls out into the street. “I mean, we are. I was born in 1871 in France, actually. I was visiting San Francisco when I met these guys and we formed our pack. All of us are from far away. We just happened to meet each other by chance really. When we met we just sort of knew we were meant to be together. We floated around Europe for a while and now we’re here. We tend to bounce around a lot.” Darren raises his eyebrows at me. “Now, much of the last century was not fun for me as far as visiting most of America goes. Nevermind the nineteenth century. Not always easy for Ian either. His people are Chinese. They settled in Northern California in the nineteenth century.”
“Wow,” I whisper. “The stories you guys must have.”
“Yeah,” Darren says wryly, “Lots of racists have met up with the wrong end of a fox fang in our time.”
“I’ll bet.” I stare out the window as the streets of the slightly c
rappy neighborhood I live in gradually become stylish and chic as we draw closer to South Pasadena. “It’s nice that you all found each other. Is that usually how packs get together?”
“Well, since we’re foxes, we’re actually called a leash,” Brendan says, leaning forward from the back seat. “And no, it doesn’t usually work this way. More often, home leashes will organize partnerships with new leashes. It’s sort of like an arranged marriage. That is, of course, if anyone wants to leave at all. In our case, the four of us just happened to meet in San Francisco. In fact, we came across each other in the woods.”
Darren laughs softly, seemingly amused by the memory. “Mitch and I ended up fighting over a rabbit. And then Ian came along and settled the argument. We ended up splitting it.”
I turn my head to Brendan and nod at him. “And how did you fit in?”
“The three of them had shifted back into their human forms,” Brendan says, sighing. “They were walking through the woods, chatting, having a grand old time when they found me, a skinny little fox. I was out on my own, trying to prove to my parents I could make it without their money. Ended up shifted most of the time, running around the woods in Big Sur, and bored out of my mind. I had just been hunting, and then I fell out of a tree and landed badly. I injured my leg badly enough that I couldn’t walk properly. The three of them found me, and they took me to get help. That was it. We’ve been together ever since.”
“I think that’s wonderful,” I say softly. “Must be nice to just fall right into a family like that.”
“So do you have a boyfriend?” Darren says, so abruptly that it makes me burst out laughing. “Or a girlfriend?” He says over my laughter. “Or anyone special-”
