by Fiona Roarke
Milo frowned. “Wait a minute. How did you do that, Max? You didn’t have time to dye your hair.”
Faux Max turned and ran toward the nearest airport exit. A large figure moved to intercept, and he bounced off Sheriff Merrow’s chest before he could get through the automatic sliding doors. The fugitive sprawled on the floor.
“I’m sorry,” the burly Sheriff said. “I have some additional questions I need to ask before you take your sudden trip out of state.”
“No. I don’t want to answer any.”
“Too bad.” The Sheriff reached a hand down to help him up. Faux Max ignored the hand and tried to scramble away. Ruby rushed over to stop him, Milo on her heels.
Suddenly, Faux Max didn’t look like her Max anymore. He looked like someone else. A small circle of observers gaped at the change in his physical appearance. Luckily, the onlookers didn’t include any of the humans in the ticketing area.
Milo said, “Hayward! How did you do that! What are you?”
Ruby put a hand on Milo’s arm. “Those are great questions, but I think they should be answered at the Sheriff’s office.”
“Good answer,” Sheriff Merrow said as the sliding doors at his back opened to admit someone new. The real Max. He scowled at Hayward and searched the area with his sharp gaze until he found her.
“Ruby!” he shouted, moving in her direction. The sound of his exuberant voice echoed off the airport’s tall ceiling and walls. Everyone in the lobby area, ticketing persons included, turned to look at them.
He swept her into his arms and buried his face in her hair. “I missed you.”
Her arms tightened around his neck. “We were only separated for a few minutes. Besides, you know exactly where I was, hiding until the Sheriff got all the airport exits blocked so Hayward wouldn’t escape.” It had been part of her plan. The one she created quickly once she arrived at Matilda and Helen’s home and discovered what had upset them so much.
Matilda had called in a tizzy, blabbering ninety-miles a minute about a clawfoot tub, an untucked shower curtain and the dead body she’d discovered when she tried to tuck the crimson curtain back inside where it belonged. Ruby ran all the way to their gothic gingerbread house to find not a dead body, thankfully, but instead an unconscious Max crumpled at the bottom of what was a clawfoot tub in that back bathroom.
The puzzle pieces clicked into place. The back door had been ajar. Max had his eyes closed for fear of not following their spell instructions to the letter. Hayward must have followed them to Helen and Matilda’s home and taken the opportunity to knock Max out and shove him in the bathtub before taking his form in order to fool everyone, even her.
She’d been easy to convince because it was her very worst fear. Losing Max.
He’d remained out cold for over ten minutes as they tried to wake him. They’d even dropped water on him. Nothing. Then he popped awake like he’d never been asleep. “Don’t spray me again—” he had started to say, but when his eyes opened, he looked at Ruby and finished with, “Oh, it’s you. Well, I still love you and want to marry you.”
Ruby helped him out of the tub, trying to keep her cool and contain her elation. “Even though the spell is gone and you don’t have to say it anymore.”
“Yep. That was the first thing I wanted to say to you because I wanted to, not because I was compelled.”
Sheriff Merrow arrived a few moments later and Ruby outlined the plan she’d conceived as she raced to Matilda and Helen’s home.
An announcement over the loud speakers informed passengers the flight to Arkansas would be boarding soon. They had foiled Hayward’s plot, even though they weren’t quite sure what he’d been up to.
“I’m glad your plan worked.” Max squeezed her.
“So am I.”
“I still missed you, Ruby.”
“I wasn’t gone for very long.”
“I hated every moment we were apart.”
“I did, too.” He dipped his head and kissed her. She kissed him back.
“Break it up, you two,” Sheriff Merrow said with half a smile as he put handcuffs on the redheaded Hayward, valet to a very shocked Uncle Milo and a rare chameleon shifter who’d caused so much trouble.
“Time to go.” Sheriff Merrow pushed a sullen Hayward toward the sliding doors.
“I love you and I want to marry you, Ruby,” Max said.
Sheriff Merrow paused and turned back. “I thought Matilda and Helen took that spell off already.”
“They did.”
“How come you still have to say that?”
“I don’t have to say it. I just want to,” Max said, looking deeply into Ruby’s eyes.
She grinned. “I might start saying it back.”
“Awesome.”
The Sheriff sighed. “Here comes the gushy part. Now it’s really time to go.”
Uncle Milo patted Max on the back. “I’m glad that you two are back together.” He frowned and added, “Although I guess the trip in an airplane is canceled now.”
“I’m afraid so, but one of these days I’m sure you’ll get to take a flight in an airplane.”
Max watched as Sheriff Merrow herded Hayward out of the airport. “Why do you think he did it?”
“Unfortunately, I have a guess,” Uncle Milo said.
Ruby looked at the big clock on the wall of the airport lobby, and realized the weekly dinner at Aunt Vilma’s house was this time tomorrow. She’d call her aunt and tell her to have Rochester set a couple more places at the table.
“Would you be willing to go to a family dinner with me tomorrow night?” she asked Max.
“Sure.”
Uncle Milo perked up. Ruby said, “You are also invited, if you’d like to join us.”
“Dandy. I’d love to come for dinner with a family.”
Ruby looked from Max to Milo. “You two do have a strong family resemblance.”
“Is that good?” Uncle Milo asked.
Ruby nodded and grinned as another splendid plan formed in her head.
Maybe she’d play matchmaker for a change and set Uncle Milo up with Aunt Vilma. Turnabout was fair play.
Epilogue
<^> <^> <^>
Ruby held the men and women gathered around the dinner table spellbound with her tale of treachery, a quasi-evil twin, and a plot to subvert a vast fortune into the wrong hands. “You see, it turns out that alien shifters from Alpha-Prime are very rare. In fact, everyone thought they were extinct. But Uncle Milo’s valet Hayward had hidden his abilities for decades.
“After over twenty years of faithful service, he apparently got tired of being a poor valet and traipsing around planet to planet, following Milo to the far corners of the galactic realm. So he came up with a diabolical plan to steal the Vandervere family’s wealth after framing poor Max and almost sending him to a gulag, thereby forcing him to lose his birthright.
“Then he planned to impersonate Uncle Milo and return to the fold after spending years as the long-lost prodigal outcast and worm his way back into succession for the family’s wealth. But when Max was exonerated, Hayward had to change his plan and come to Nocturne Falls.”
“Wait a minute.” Warrick asked, “Why did he have to come all the way to Nocturne Falls to steal their money? Why didn’t he just pretend to be Max, march into his parents’ living room and demand his inheritance?”
“Because of the kind of alien shifter he is. He had to meet Max in person and come in physical contact to be able to imitate him. That’s one of the reasons he approached Max at work and sprayed him with the knockout stuff. He needed to touch Max for several minutes to get a good link for the imitation process.”
“I thought that was so he could go plant the bauxite fuel bomb by the fountain,” Viktor said from his seat beside her. “And I’m still very unhappy to discover I’m allergic to that stuff.”
Ruby punched him in the arm. “Don’t be such a big baby.”
“What about the red hair? Why was he always a redhea
d?”
Max took over the explanation. “It’s apparently because he’s an older shifter. He couldn’t get his hair to change to my blond unless he expended almost all of his energy. That’s why he always wore a hat to cover it so his imitation could last longer.”
Isabel nodded. “I know someone back in Alienn, Arkansas who is an alien shifter. She thought she was the last of her kind.”
“Do you mean Dixie Lou Grey’s friend, Miss Penny?” Bianca asked with a knowing smile.
“That’s the one. I heard a rumor that one time she and Dixie spent ten whole days on a luxury cruise liner enjoying a galactic trip, but no one on the cruise ever found out.”
The group stood and moved into Vilma’s large living room. The stately fireplace was just the thing for a cool October evening.
Once everyone had a nightcap in hand, Vilma asked, “So where is your uncle Milo tonight, Max? I was sorry he wasn’t able to join us for dinner.”
“He found a better place to live, but he had to take care of the paperwork earlier in the evening. Plus, he wanted to move his things out of the Pinehurst Inn as quickly as possible.”
“Did he see the giant cockroach?” Viktor asked. Her brother was ever on the hunt for stories about that vile, infamous insect.
“Probably,” Ruby said. “But he’d probably never admit it, being a big-game hunter and all.”
She patted her jacket pocket. “Oh. Max, I forgot to give this to you. Sheriff Merrow appropriated the lighter Hayward used to set the fire at Elenora Ellingham’s home during the Black and Orange Ball.”
“I’m not sure I want it.”
“Why not? It still works?” Ruby flipped the top open, pressed the striker and a blue flame lit up immediately.
Viktor made a face, bent at the waist and sneezed hard in her direction. The moment the spray of Viktor’s sneeze hit her, Ruby convulsed. Her perspective shifted and it felt like she was shrinking. The lighter fell from her palm to land on the rug. That weird urge to fly came again.
Before she could reason out what had happened, Viktor sneezed on her again. Her perspective changed in reverse. She closed her eyes, thinking she might actually hit her head on the crazy tall ceilings at Vilma’s house.
Ruby opened her eyes to see everyone staring at her. Every mouth hung open in shock. Even Vilma’s rock-steady butler, Rochester, looked like he’d seen a specter and he never lost his cool.
“What just happened?” Ruby asked. No one said a word. No one moved. They all just kept staring. She looked at her hands, arms and legs, patting herself down like she was checking herself for weapons.
Max moved closer and hugged her tight. “You just turned into a beautiful raven. You were perched on the back of the sofa. That was awesome.”
“What?! I did not.” Ruby looked around. Her family nodded as if validating his fanciful statement.
Vilma put her drink down, stood up and clapped her hands. “Amazing!”
“What about this is amazing?” Ruby asked. “How can I possibly be a raven shifter and not know it?”
“I think I have an idea.” Vilma moved closer. “There is some decades old gossip that I overheard my mother telling a friend once that I believe will make everything clear.”
“Gossip about what?”
“Not what, dear. Who. It was a rumor about your maternal grandmother, Iliana, that went around right before she married your grandfather.”
“I can’t wait to hear this,” Viktor said.
Ruby turned to him. “You can listen. But learn to hold your nose when you sneeze.”
“Well, stop using alien bauxite fuel lighters or pay the consequences.” He pointed to the lighter still on the floor where she’d dropped it. Max picked it up and slipped it safely into his pocket.
Vilma looked skyward as if trying to remember the story she’d heard as a girl. “It was rumored that Iliana ran away with her secret lover the week before she married your grandfather.”
“How does that explain me sneezing Ruby into a raven a minute ago? By the way, Sis, that is a super awesome skill to add to your private investigator skillset.”
Max squeezed her as if he thought it was also cool. She hoped so. This was a bit surreal, but explained a few things.
“His name was Bogdan and he was a raven shifter.” Vilma looked wistful. “He was very handsome. Once they discovered her gone, Iliana’s parents hunted her down and dragged her back to marry into the family they’d chosen for her. No one that I know of ever saw Bogdan again. Further rumor said he left the country because of his broken heart at losing her.”
“Bogdan?” Ruby told them what she remembered of her grandmother calling her that once.
“Is that why you’re such a sucky witch?” Viktor asked, grinning.
“Oh, I’m the sucky witch, Mr. Sneezy Pants Vampire Hoodlum?”
“Hey, I have allergies.”
Max hugged her tight. “I love your family, Ruby.”
She hugged him back. “As much as you love me?”
“Almost. But I love you best of all.”
“Does that mean you want to marry her?” Vilma asked. She had that hopeful look in her eyes.
“I was just about to say that,” Max said.
Instead, he kissed her. Then he whispered in her ear that he loved her and wanted to marry her whenever she was ready.
“I love you and I want to marry you, too,” Ruby whispered back.
The End
About Fiona Roarke
Fiona Roarke is a multi-published author who lives a quiet life with the exception of the characters and stories roaming around in her head. She started writing about sexy alpha heroes, and launched her very first series, Bad Boys in Big Trouble, moved to a light, funny Sci-Fi contemporary romance set in Arkansas and now, a Sci-Fi Fantasy Romance Series set in the future. When she’s not curled on the sofa reading or at the movie theater seeing an action film, Fiona spends her time writing about the next bad boy (or bad boy alien) who needs his story told.
Laughter is essential each and every day along with lots of coffee first thing in the morning.
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More by Fiona Roarke
Close Encounters of the Alien Kind
A Nocturne Falls Universe Story
Invasion of the Alien Snatchers
A Nocturne Falls Universe Story
The Alien Who Fell to Earth
A Nocturne Falls Universe Story
Aliens Actually
A Nocturne Falls Universe Collection
(Print Collection includes: Close Encounters of the Alien Kind, Invasion of the Alien Snatchers, and The Alien Who Fell to Earth)
Merry & Bright
A Christmas Anthology (Nocturne Falls Universe)
Including: Have Yourself a Merry Little Alien by Fiona Roarke
The Dragon’s Spellbound Alien
A Nocturne Falls Universe Story
The Vampire’s Unintended Alien
A Nocturne Falls Universe Story
You’ve Got Aliens
(Alienn, Arkansas 1)
How to Lose an Alien in 10 Days
(Alienn, Arkansas 2)
My Big Fat Alien Wedding
(Alienn, Arkansas 3)
For Romantic Suspense fans:
Bad Boys in Big Trouble
a six book series, including Biker, Bouncer, Bodyguard, Bomb Tech, Bounty Hunter and Bandit
Coming soon:
10 Things Aliens Hate About You
(Alienn, Arkansas 4)
m.Net
