by Celeste Raye
Something just wasn’t right.
Chapter Nine
Once they stopped at the restaurant they decided on, Frank practically jumped off the bike. He had spent the last several minutes with a woman smashed up against him, and it was not an easy feeling to forget. She was obviously not the type of woman that usually rode on a motorcycle. She had most likely never been on one in her whole life. She certainly acted that way.
He almost felt bad for her a couple of times, slowing down so she wasn't so nervous, but then he realized that he had to help himself. Frank was unable to stop the need coursing through him, her hugging onto him, pressing all of her soft, womanly curves against him. It was pure torture.
She needed a minute to get off the bike, and when she did, Frank had to support her for minute. Connie had wobbly legs, something he had experienced his first couple of times.
“Are you alright?”
She was breathing fast and he could tell that she was turned on. He didn't have to sense her thoughts and feelings to know that she was in need. It wasn't that hard to imagine why, considering his whole body was on fire because of her. The fact that she was just as affected was a good sign.
“Are you ready to go in?”
She agreed, but Frank could see that she wasn't quite sure. He was though. Ever since he met her, there was just something about her, and it just got stronger with the kiss. The kiss solidified all the thoughts that he had in his mind. Frank had been called into that bar for a reason, and even though he didn't know what that reason was quite yet, Frank knew that he would find out soon enough.
They went inside and ordered dinner. The conversation was kept light and there was no mention of the kiss. It was such a small thing compared to what he wanted to do to her, but the woman was full of surprises.
Not only did she not seem to know how powerful she was as a witch, but she also did not understand the effect she had on him. She was a walking conundrum, and Frank was up for the challenge of figuring her out.
“I was thinking about what you said earlier about that bear, and you never did tell me how you got away.”
“Well, it was kind of weird because I think that it was actually trying to help me and my friend from these creepy guys. They were trying to take us.”
“You were saved by a bear?” He tried to sound incredulous.
“Ha-ha. I'm serious. One minute he was taking care of those men, and the next minute, he was getting too close to us. I don't know what to say, but I do know that I felt threatened by it. Now that I think about it, I actually feel guilty. I don't think it was trying to hurt us at all. It knew that we needed help and he gave it to us. But he was just so big…”
She was quiet for a time, and Frank could tell that it was bothering her. In truth, it was bothering him as well. He had so much to tell her, but he was still afraid that she would see him as the beast. He would not be able to handle another terrified look from her.
Frank wrestled with the idea of telling her, but he decided that it wasn't the best time. He still wanted to have her see him as a man and only a man. It was one thing to find out the hero had magical powers, but it was another thing altogether to know that the man that she’d been kissing before turned into an animal.
It would not take long for the inevitable to come out. Frank hoped that the two of them would get to know each other a little more, be around each other more than a few hours, before Connie’s world came crashing down. Not only was everything that she knew and loved false, but it was continually perpetuated throughout all of her life. Not to mention, the more sinister implication.
As he was dropping her off at her house, Frank could tell that something was wrong. He could feel it in the air, and he sensed that there was not only a hurt human in the house, presumably Denise, but there was also a witch, full of dark magic. He stopped Connie from getting off the bike. He told her to wait.
“I thought that the kiss happened at the door?”
He smiled at her for a moment and felt damn guilty about what he was going to have to do next. Everything that Connie knew was wrong, and she was about to come face to face with that fact. Even though Frank had a feeling that she had some clue to her powers and what she was, he also knew that she did not have all the information. If she did, she would know that he was a shifter and there was a witch ready and waiting to do her harm just inside her house.
The only thing that Frank could come up with was the idea that someone had kept it all from her. If that was done, it was done for a reason, and likely not a good one. He didn’t have time to explain it all, though.
“It does, usually. You can't go in there right now, though. Something is wrong.”
She just waved him off like he was joking until she looked at him and saw that there was concern written all over his face.
“You're just joking, right? I mean, how would you know something like that?”
Frank took a deep breath and tried to get his words right. This was going to be a moment that she remembered for the rest of her life, and he wanted to make sure that it was the right one. There was going to be a lot of shock, and it was a pity it had to be done there and then.
The witch that he had fallen for without even knowing her was in trouble. Again. His protective nature kicked in and picked up anything lacking. Now he was focused.
“We need to go, now.”
Connie wanted to protest, he could see her lips forming the words, but she finally closed her mouth and looked forward. He whipped the bike out of the driveway, waiting for something to happen. The attack was imminent.
“Are you sure about this? This isn't some ploy to get me to come over to your house or something, right?”
He shook his head. Frank resisted the need to tell her what was going on. He knew he had to bring her back to his place to keep her safe from whoever was after her, but that was going to be a lot. His place was full of people like him. It might very well send her over the edge, and he didn’t want that to happen.
While he drove slowly down the driveway, she looked over at him repeatedly to see if he was cracking a smile or something, Frank just kept watching the house. He was convinced that somebody was going to fly through the door at any moment and kill them both. Whatever kind of witch it was, it wasn't a good one, and it was strong enough that even he could tell that. Shifters were not known for their magical sleuthing abilities, but he didn't need any help this time around. Whoever was in the house was bad. Case closed.
“So, are you going to tell me what's going on, Frank?”
He had gotten out of the driveway, and they were going back down the road they came from. Frank waited until they were out of the neighborhood before he answered.
“You're a witch, Connie. I don't know how else to tell you that, but you're definitely a witch, and for one reason or another, there was a witch in your house, and she does not want to be your friend.”
Connie had several looks run across her face. She didn’t believe him.
“Are you serious?”
He agreed that he was serious and watched her face before acceptance finally settled there, to his surprise.
“I thought you would take this a lot more critically.”
“If you would have seen what I did last night, you probably wouldn't. There are definitely things in this world that I don't understand. There are parts of me I don't understand.”
Frank was rather shocked by her admission, but he was thankful that she did not get hysterical. He had never been good with hysterics.
“So, the one thing I have to ask you is pretty important.”
“Ask me anything, Connie. I will tell you anything I can. I can't even imagine how this must be for you to get this sort of information.”
“It's alright, really. I'm still coming to terms with it, but I think I'll be alright.”
“Then what do you want to know?”
“What do we do now? Where do we go?”
Frank thought about the girl that he had pic
ked up in the house. She wasn't dead, but she certainly was hurt. He wanted to tell her more about it because he knew that it was Denise, but at the same time, whoever was staking out her house wasn’t somebody that he wanted to mess with. He held that part back, assuring himself that he would tell her sooner or later. For now, his main objective was to get Connie out of harm's way.
“I am going to have to take you home, but I think there is something that you should know about me first. You’re not going to like it, but it’s better than you finding out later and freaking out.”
He was taking Connie’s ability to process to the limit. But she had to know. There was no way for them to go forward unless she did.
Chapter Ten
Connie did not like the start of that conversation and she was a little worried about what that meant. He got so serious all of a sudden, and considering what they were going through, she had to figure that there was something to it. Connie had felt alarm when they got back to her house moments before. She’d felt it in her soul, but was unable to figure out why.
“Just tell me. Dragging it out just makes it worse.”
Whatever it was, Frank was nervous to tell her, and that made her anxiety level go up. What would make him freak out? She had not known him very long, but he seemed like a rather calm person. Connie couldn't think of much of anything that he could say that would change her opinion of him. To Connie, he was a rock.
“I am a shifter. The one you attacked last night. I wasn't trying to hurt you; I was trying to keep you safe when I saw those guys go after you. I wasn’t trying to scare you, Connie, but I have to say, you did well protecting yourself. Especially if you didn’t know you had powers.”
That completely threw her for a loop. It was a bit too much.
“What?”
He seemed to feel a little guilty and apologized for not telling her sooner.
“Considering what happened last night, I didn't know how to tell you. And then I found out that you didn't even know you were a witch, so I didn't want to overload you.”
“Then why are you doing so now?”
“Because I don't have a choice this time. The only way I can see this not ending in disaster is if I take you to my house. You're going to find out very quickly that I am a shifter, and it's better for you to find out on the way there than to find out when we get there and freak out.”
“Well, I guess that's a good thing. I don't really know what to say. I didn't think that you were trying to hurt me last night, but you're pretty scary. I mean, you’re the biggest bear I've ever seen in my life.”
“You are the only being to have ever knocked me out. I came to with cops all around me.”
“I’m sorry. I thought you ran off. It was so dark and foggy after that.”
“Part of your magic aura lingers for a while. It took a lot out of me, and it took a bit of time to heal. You got me good.”
“Wow. Strangely, this somehow makes sense.”
“I am glad that you are so easily swayed. I thought that you were going to be upset about all this.”
Connie wasn't sure why she wasn't. She knew that she should be freaking out. All of this was a lot, but for some reason, she just felt a calm go over her more than anything else. It was like she could finally see it all. There was a reason she never felt like she belonged. It was because she didn't.
“I don't know, but it actually makes all the years I didn’t fit in make sense. I knew that something wasn’t quite right. I have never felt like I belonged anywhere. My family has never really felt right. I feel like there was always something missing, and I guess hearing all of this has just made me understand that maybe those feelings weren’t wrong after all. Maybe I just needed to know what I really was first.”
“It doesn’t change everything.”
“Knowing that I am a witch isn't the end of my world. It’s actually the beginning of a new one. I knew that there was something different about you from the moment I saw you. I just got this feeling when you were watching me from across the room. That's why I went to dance with the other guy: because every hair on the back of my neck stood up when our eyes met. What does that mean?”
He shook his head and kind of shrugged a little bit. “I don't know. I never go into that club, and I was passing by on a walk and felt like I needed to go in. Then I saw you, and I knew that you were the reason.”
Connie felt the same way, but she was not as quick to give up all of her power. There was a lot that she was not okay with, and the universe telling her what to do wasn't okay. She wanted to pretend, at least for now, that she had control of her own destiny.
“It is rather strange, don't you think? I mean, it feels like we were meant to meet, but I don't believe in all that.”
“Whether you believe in fate or not doesn't really matter. Fate believes in you.”
Connie didn't know what to say to that. She had always liked the idea that she ran her own life. There was no way that she was going to be fine with some mystical being telling her otherwise.
She stopped and chuckled to herself. Frank was looking at her like she had lost her mind, and maybe she had.
“What is so funny?”
“I was just thinking how I wasn't going to let a mystical being tell me how to live my life, but then I remembered that I am a mystical being. This is really going to take some getting used to. I don’t even know how to use my powers; it just happened.”
“I would imagine so. I can't even dream of what you are going through right now. From the time I was born, I knew what I was. I've always been surrounded by my own kind. Then they told me what I needed to know and taught me everything I needed to learn.”
Connie had not even thought that far ahead. She was sure that there were certain things that she was going to have to learn, but she hadn't given it much thought. Of course, there hadn’t been much time to think about that sort of thing anyway. Her whole life had turned upside down in one day.
“Are there a lot of things that I need to learn? I mean, as a witch?”
“I can't say that I know all that much about witches. Our kind usually don’t get together that much. Most of the magical beings keep to themselves. I think it's just easier that way, instead of mixing it all up.”
“So, a lot?”
He agreed.
Connie had a lot to learn about everything, even being magical. Who would have known that they had rules as a community? It felt like she was a baby in a new world, and the only one that was there to help her was Frank. He was her life preserver. She just wished that he knew more about how she was going to be a witch.
“I guess I am going to have to find some of my own kind at some point. Is my family part of it?”
“I would think so, but I’m still confused about why you weren't told what you are. It seems unnecessary to keep something like that from you.”
“I wish I knew. I am sorry I hurt you with my powers, Frank.”
“It’s already forgiven.”
It wasn't long before they stopped in front of an old manor. It was pushed back from the road, and the yard was full of dark, dense bushes and trees. It felt like they were not keeping up with the upkeep, or they were simply trying to keep to themselves. Either way, it looked too normal, and it was not what she had envisioned. She had been so sure that there would be a clue as to what supposedly lay inside.
They stopped, and he turned the engine off and looked at her.
“I think we need to set up some ground rules.”
That had her attention, because she really did not know how she was supposed to act. Connie was afraid that she would do something to embarrass herself.
Connie was shaking inside from unknown fear. She had no idea what was going to come next, but she knew for sure that it was her future laid out in front of her. Her job and her family could all be a thing of the past. Connie was in a whole new world now; one she hadn’t known existed two days ago.
“Are you sure you're okay?”
&nbs
p; “Yeah, this is just a lot.”
“So, how do you feel right now?”
“I feel nervous; what do you mean?”
“I mean that there are twelve shifters, at least, in this house. You should be able to pick them up. All witches should be able to pick up other magical beings. It will help you later in life.”
“How so?”
“Well, for one thing, like I told you before, not all of my kind of people are going to be happy that you're around.”
“I don't understand why we don’t get along.”
“It's just situations that happened a long time ago.”
“So, that means that we can't get along because of it?”
“Something like that.”
Connie wasn't so sure about all the rules and reasons for keeping each other separate. She had never been the type of woman that liked being told what to do. It bothered her more than anything else.
“That seems ridiculous. I would think that magical creatures would stick together. It would just make sense, considering we live in a human-centric world.”
“You are one of those magical creatures. Just remember that, Connie. The rules are in place for a reason, even if we don't understand them fully. This is the way it has been for thousands of years.”
“If we are supposed to stay separate, then why did you kiss me?”
And why did she feel the way she did?
“I don't listen to rules very well.”
“Well, at least we have something in common.”
Chapter Eleven
Frank felt a lot of eyes on him when he opened the front door to the house. He had three brothers living there—Dennis, Greg, and Josh—as well as two sisters and an aunt. There were many kids that came rushing forward to say hello, and he was bombarded for a minute. Connie looked even more nervous than ever, and he wished he wouldn't have said anything about the two kinds not getting along. It was true, of course, but maybe he could have let her settle in first.
