Fur Magic Boxed Set: Talisman, Sage, Fawn, Lola: Paranormal Romantic Comedy (17 page)

Chapter 11

Penelope had the flowers in a vase on her entrance hall table and I was damn pleased to note that she kept glancing at them with a small smile. That’s right, ladies and gents, Pen and Dr. Luke were finally on the road to romance and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Maybe Damien’s midnight rendezvous that had ended in floral homicide had come to some good after all by inspiring Dr. Luke.

Elias Stout simply wouldn’t be a problem if Pen’s magic worked right the first time and Pen’s magic would work just fine and dandy if it weren’t for the evil witch siphoning off her powers.

The sooner those two love kittens got to smoochin’, the better.

Happy couple incoming. That’s sarcasm, in case I’m accused of not giving enough warning this time.

Sage was in his usual spot atop the roof, acting as lookout and sending messages when necessary.

The entire shelter was on high alert after the death of the garden and El Chupacabra invasion. Seriously, even Casper had cooled it with the can-kicking and wild jumping. He’d told me the other day he was jealous of all those viral goat YouTube videos and he wanted to parlay his hooves in to America’s homes via Facebook. We
all
wanted Penelope to be safe and there was still tension hovering above the house.

That tension hadn’t even broken when the first shoots of fresh green grass had pushed between the brown blades killed by Chokecherry’s magical dabbling.

There was a knock on the front door and I hopped down to join Pen. She sucked in a deep breath, glanced at the flowers a last time – redder than her luscious lips, just so you know – and opened the door.

Kara and Chase stood on the doorstep, arms folded and refusing to look at each other.

Penelope deflated visibly, but put up a gracious smile straight afterwards. “Kara, Chase,” she crooned, “I’m so glad you could make it. Please come right in.”

“Yes, I made it just fine, thank you,” Kara said, placing a hand, tipped with perfectly manicured fingernails against her chest. “I don’t know where he came from. I certainly didn’t come with him.”

“As if I’d offer you a lift, ice queen,” Chase growled back at her, narrowing his eyes. He was usually such a nice guy, but the spell-gone-wrong had unlocked the dark side, all right.

This isn’t Star Wars, Obe-Won’t Kenobi. And Ami and Luke are coming up the drive, just so you know.

Yeah, yeah.

I peered past the fighting couple at Ami charging up the drive with Dr. Luke in tow. His eyes lit up at the sight of Penelope, and she bit her bottom lip in reply. Yes, this looked very promising indeed.

Ami reached the doorstep and stood behind Kara, waiting.

“And if you think for a second I’d go anywhere with you, you are very sorely mistaken, mister,” the nail tech said, poking Chase in the chest over and over again.

A fine line between love and hate, indeed.

“Now, now, please don’t fight. I made fajitas!” Penelope offered, but the pair of ungracious guests had no interest in what she had to say. They were too consumed by their newly discovered mutual hatred for each other.

Penelope met Ami’s gaze above their heads.

Dr. Luke sauntered up the garden path and stopped behind the cluster of folks.

Humans really were like cattle sometimes. Was I going to have to break up this little gathering myself? Had they not heard there were fajitas? Yummy. I could almost smell the sizzle of the steak already. That was Pen’s star recipe and it’d proved most popular in the past. I knew this because I’d watched her and Ami scoff it down while watching Dirty Dancing Havana Nights together and giggling hysterically.

Perhaps Pen’s fajitas included hallucinogenic mushrooms.

“Excuse me, I would rather have a baboon sit on my kid leather seats than have you anywhere near my car,” Chase snapped. “I don’t know why I even came to…”

“Now, now, let’s all calm down,” Dr. Luke said, and his soothing tone immediately quieted both Kara and Chase. “We came to have a good time together before Chase heads off back home. I’m sure we’ll have a lovely evening. Something smells delicious, Penelope.”

Penelope went bright red, because Dr. Luke’s words said the fajitas smelled delicious, but his gaze told of a different kind of hunger. Purr, purr, baby.

“Come on in, everybody,” Penelope said, beckoning with her slender fingers. Chase and Kara stepped over the threshold and immediately walked to opposite ends of the room. Ami stepped in after them, grimacing at their lack luster behavior, and swept me into an embrace.

I purred and rubbed up under her chin because she deserved a damn good cuddle and so did I.

Don’t get too pawsy down there. She’s never caressed my feathers before.

Poor Sage hadn’t been treated to one of Ami’s cuddles and he was clearly jealous as could be.

Dr. Luke stepped through the door and I perked up, training my perceptive cat eyes on them. Just one true love’s kiss and Penelope’s problems would dissipate, if only she’d realize it.

“Good afternoon, Penelope, it’s good to see you again,” he said, with a bob of his head. He shut the door behind himself and glanced at the flowers Pen had displayed in her best crystal vase. Dr. Luke puffed his chest out with pride at the sight of them.

“It’s good to see you again…”

“Don’t you look at me like that,” Kara snapped, pointing her index at Chase. “Don’t you dare look at me like that.”

“I wasn’t even looking at you. You’ve lost your damn mind.”

I didn’t scare easy, but these two set my fur on edge. The sooner Penelope dealt with them, the better, but I was beginning to lose hope in the idea that she’d ever get them to kiss at all. They truly hated each other, the emotion rolled off them in waves and collided in the center of the hall.

“Why don’t we all settle down?” Ami suggested, stroking me compulsively. Her hands calming herself more than anything.

“I’ll settle down when he stops staring at me. You can’t hide the fact that you want to start an argument. What is it about me that drives you nuts? Are you jealous?” Kara folded her arms, multiple gold and silver bracelets clinking with the movement.

“Ha! Jealous? Of what!”

“I have…”

“That’s enough,” Dr. Luke said, cold tone cutting across the arguments, spilling cool water on the fire. “Now, if you two can’t behave, I’m sure Penelope will have to ask you to leave. Look at how upset you’ve made her.”

He gestured and I looked over at my mistress. She was as pale as a sheet, shaking a little too. Pen wasn’t good at conflict and the negative energy flying around in the room probably made her feel even weaker. Couple that with her waning magical skills and you had a recipe for disaster.

“Don’t leave,” Ami said, right away, good girl that she was. She knew that Kara and Chase had to stay and that they had to kiss. “But do calm down. Let’s all go settle down in the living room and talk.”

I could think of nothing I wanted to do less. I leaped out of Ami’s arms and landed at Penelope’s feet, then walked between her legs, stroking myself against her to offer her some strength.

“I…I’d better check on the fajitas,” she said, and rushed into the kitchen.

I followed hot on her heels and sat down to stare at her, fiddling with the tortillas she’d arranged on each plate. She spotted me and wiped her forehead. “Oh Tali, what are we going to do about this? They can barely stand the sight of each other. How will they ever kiss?”

I flicked my tail into the air and nudged a ketchup bottle toward her, the beginnings of an idea brewing in my whip-quick brain. This had to work…it was our only option, and maybe it could help me with the Penelope and Dr. Luke situation too.

The ketchup bottle hit her hand and she looked from me to the bottle and back again.

“Talisman! That’s a brilliant idea.”

Chapter 12

“ETA on those fajitas?” Ami asked, sitting on the sofa squished between two positively fuming humans. Kara and Chase had folded their arms again and stared off in opposite directions, refusing to meet each other’s gazes. Dr. Luke looked like he wanted the San Andreas Fault to rip through the living room and swallow him down into a rocky abyss.

They haven’t stopped fighting since they got here, Tali, I don’t like it
. Lola sidled up to me and purred, then rubbed against my side and twined her tail in mine.
I wish you could get them to stop
.

Just you wait, baby doll, you’re about to witness magic. Talisman’s own special brand of influential magic.

I looked up at Pen, who stood clutching an empty wine bottle between her palms. “The fajitas will be ready in twenty minutes or so.”

“Twenty minutes!” Kara through her hands up in the air. “I can barely stand to be in the same room with him for five minutes, let alone twenty. I think I should leave.”

“Oh no you don’t, I’ve wanted to leave since the start of this charade. If anyone’s leaving it’s me.” Chase rose and towered over the couch and its residents.

Ami rolled her eyes, grabbed him by the arm and jerked him down again. “Nobody’s leaving,” she said. “What did you want to say, Pen?”

The doorbell rang a second later and Penelope rushed out to answer it before she could introduce her master plan. I tapped my tail against the boards, irritated that this was taking so long.

My solution was perfect, it would lead to a broken spell for Kara and Chase, but that was nothing. What I really wanted was the broken spell for Penelope. The minute her lips touched Dr. Luke’s we’d be free, and there’d be no need for a meeting with Dagda Cerridwyn or a grand scale plan to stop Lucinda Chokecherry.

“Ami,” Penelope said, bustling through the door carrying the wine bottle, “look who I found waiting on the doorstep.”

Eldris entered directing a sheepish smile around the room and nodding a greeting. He ruffled the back of his hair until it stuck up at a strange angle, then made brief eye contact with Ami.

“Hiya, Eldris,” she whispered, a breath of anticipation, and gave Penelope a sharp look. Apparently, Pen had decided to work her magic on Eldris and Ami as well. Hopefully not the literal kind which’d landed us in the Chase and Kara mess. I didn’t think I could take it if Ami turned on me. I needed all hands on deck.

“It’s good to see you,” Eldris said, walking over to her and taking her hand.

She rose and he pressed his lips to her skin, cheeks coloring. These folks were constantly blushing, it was like inhabiting the inside of a ketchup bottle. Or living on a tomato vine, or…

Yeah, we get it Cat Deeley, let’s get on with the show.

Sorry, I don’t think I can dance.

Sage gave an exasperated hoot and snubbed me by turning his beak skyward. I sidled up to Penelope and wound around her legs, nudging her so she’d come back to her senses and stop staring at Eldris and Ami with that satisfied smile. She blinked down at me, then the bottle in her hand, her mouth forming into a tiny ‘o’ of surprise.

“Everyone, I’ve had a wonderful idea for how we can spend the evening. Or rather, until the fajitas are ready.”

“What is it, Pen?” Kara asked, with a sweet smile. She was normal to everyone but Chase, a side-effect of the botched magic.

“Spin the bottle,” she pronounced, lifting the wine bottle high. She noticed the severely unimpressed expressions of her guests and floundered for a second. “I…look it could be fun. Who’s played this since they were in high school? Kind of like a blast from the past, you know. I even have a re-mix of high school tunes all ready to play on my iPod.”

Eldris and Ami shared a look full of secrets, and she lowered her gaze to the floor, smiling softly. “I think it’s a great idea,” she said.

“I second that,” Eldris put in.

“I’m all for it if everyone else is,” Dr. Luke said, dusting off his jeans and meeting Penelope’s gaze. He sure was a handsome fella, though Pen seemed determined not to notice it. Maybe, just
maybe
, even hotter than human Talisman.

“Great,” Penelope replied, before Kara and Chase could voice the protests bubbling on their lips.

Pen organized everyone on the floor, ignoring the protests from the two ‘lovers’ and placed the bottle in the middle. She spun it once, clapping her hands in delight when it landed on Kara. “That means you get to go first,” she said, pointing at the woman opposite her.

Kara gave her a weak smile, still unimpressed, and gripped the bottle in one hand. Pen and Ami gave each other a dose of side-eye. This was it.

The bottle had to land on Chase.

But what if it doesn’t? Lola sat beside me, just outside the circle of humans.

Oh it will, you can believe that. And if it doesn’t, I’ll nudge it into place when no one’s looking.

Kara spun the bottle and everyone watched its arc, listening to the rattle of the glass on the floorboards as it slowed from a green blur into a bottle shape. It slowed, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, and landed on…Chase.

That saved me a lot of trouble.

Kara and Chase glared at each other across the circle, both shaking their heads. Justin Timberlake trilled in the background about bringing sexy back.

Yeah.

“No way,” Kara said.

“Uh-uh.” Chase chimed in at the same time.

“Rules are rules,” Penelope replied, firming her tone. “You can’t break the rules, guys. Just kiss and get it over and done with so we can move on with the game.” Her eyes narrowed, trying to force them with sheer will and a reluctance to be rude to their hostess.

Kara rolled her eyes but scuffled forward on her knees and Chase, not to be outdone by his newest enemy, followed her example. They met in the middle, leaned forward and their lips connected.

Everyone laughed and clapped hands, and Penelope grasped the bottle and spun it absentmindedly. She was intent on the result of the kiss, not on where her turn landed. Now was my chance!

I dashed forward the minute the bottle settled and batted it until it faced Dr. Luke, then I slunk back.

Kara and Chase parted, gazes filled with shy admiration.

“Funny,” Kara breathed, “I don’t remember what we were fighting about.”

“I believe it was about leaving first,” Eldris said, helpfully, and Ami nudged him in the ribs to shut him up.

“I don’t believe I’d fight with you for no reason, but now that you mention it, I don’t remember why or what either. That’s kinda crazy.” Chase settled back, his hands grasping his thighs and the light of consideration in his stare. It looked as if something was cooking in the kitchen and it wasn’t just fajitas.

Kara swallowed and touched her fingers to her lips. “I’d like to do that again.”

This wasn’t magic, this was what happened when you let nature run its course. Poor Pen, if she hadn’t interfered, these two would probably have ended up with each other regardless.

“And I’d like to take you out on a date some time,” Chase replied, reaching across the space to take her hand.

I made sure he didn’t nudge the bottle off Dr. Luke, who sat staring at the pair as if they’d each promptly grown a pair of wings a piece. Their change in behavior obviously baffled him.

Penelope and Ami grinned at each other and Ami washed her hands like Pontius Pilate, passing down a judgment. Peace had returned, but I couldn’t care much about Chase and Kara when Pen
still
hadn’t seen where her spin had landed.

She looked down and gasped. Dr. Luke followed her line of sight.

Time seemed to slow as they looked from the bottle to each other and back again, both grinning. This was the moment we’d waited for. Dr. Luke and Pen would finally have to kiss. Nothing could stop them now.

Intruder alert!