Shifter (21 page)

How does he know I do that, I wonder, thinking back to all the times I’ve left Legos in my freezer or stickers stuck to the outside of my laptop. He noticed that. Wow. No one besides Carrie knows that I let them do this. I cock my head and look at him questioningly. I want to ask what else he has noticed about me, but he isn’t paying any attention to my questioning look. Deciding I’ll worry about this later, I ask, “Dr. Smith. The veterinarian at the Smith County Animal Clinic and Shelter is an Angel, and she gave you protection charms. She knows what you are then?”

He nodded. “She figured it out when Mave got involved. She knew instantly what Mave was. Unfortunately, Mave’s curse was a good one because Dr. Smith had no idea what I was. I only appeared to her as a normal house cat at first.”

“Who else in my life is supernatural?” A part of me doesn’t want to know the answer to this.

“No one and everyone,”

“What does that mean?” I drop my keys and take a seat.

“It means that pretty much all humans have a hint of supernatural blood in them,” Devan said, apparently not liking that the two of us had all but forgotten he was here, judging by the annoyed tone in his voice. “Our kind has mixed with yours for thousands of years. Not every supernatural being can mate with humans or have children with humans, but a large number of us can and do. We, as shapeshifters, can easily have sex with humans, and they can bare our children,” he said this with a hint of suggestion in his voice.

Dimitri glowers at him and starts to say something but doesn’t.

“Yeah, that isn’t going to happen. I’m not into bestiality, so it is a good thing you turned out to be a jerk.” My words have the desired effect on Devan, but when I see the look on Dimitri’s face, I regret saying them. In all honestly, under other circumstances, I might have actually been open to the idea of sleeping with Dimitri. I give him an apologetic smile that seems to actually convey my thoughts, causing me to look sheepishly away from him when a smile spreads across his lips at my look.

“So these charms keep you safe?” I ask, trying to change the subject.

“They keep both of us safe. Anyone in your house is safe from Mave. As long as I am here, she can’t get to me.”

“Why don’t you take a few of them and ward your own home?” I ask, my tone revealing the fact that I don’t want him to leave. The realization that I don’t want him to go startles me. Why wouldn’t I want him to go? Well, aside from the fact that he is gorgeous, at least I think so. He isn’t Carrie’s type by any means. She likes them tall and lanky with blonde hair and baby faced. I like them thick and dark and huge. Thinking of this brings to mind the detailed vision I got of him earlier when he was on my bed. My body tightens and aches just picturing his semi-erect penis.

Dimitri grins at me wickedly, causing my body to flush again, then says, “For one, I don’t know if their power will work outside of this house. Most likely, their magic has already fused with this house and with us. Two, if that has happened, I will not weaken your protection. Mave wants you almost as much as she wants me.”

“Me? Why? I didn’t do anything to her.”

“You have kept her from me. She thinks you know what and who I am and are trying to keep me to yourself.”

“But…” I can see he is hiding more from me, and by the look on Devan’s face, he can see it too.

“Don’t try to understand or rationalize crazy. It won’t work. She is a deranged and disturbed individual.” Dimitri says.

“How long do you have to stay here?” I ask, unsure of what I want. On one hand, I don’t want to be a part of any of this, and I don’t know how I feel about having a strange man in my home, even though he has technically been here for months. On the other, I can easily get used to waking up to his naked body pressed against me every morning. I feel my face flame brighter and quickly look away from him again, not before noticing the smile pushing up the corners of his mouth.

“I don’t know. I’ve been human for a few hours now, but I could shift back into cat form any minute. I’ve tried to shift into my base form but can’t. I need to stay at least until I get all of my powers back, and I believe that will be once I am able to shift into a wolf again. That is unless we find a way to stop Mave. I’m not leaving you alone until then no matter what.”

The sincerity in his voice makes my heart warm. I stare at him in awe. I want to argue. To tell him this is my house, and he stays only if I allow it, but I can’t. I will not risk his life because his presence inconveniences me.

“What do we do now?” I ask, resigning myself to everything I’ve just learned.

“We go to bed.”

“Excuse me,” I reply shocked by his words. I’m not the only one either. Devan leapt to his feet to say something—When had he taken a seat?—but then freezes when he realizes that he can’t say anything. He has no claim over me. This isn’t his house.

“I mean there is nothing we can do right now. We’ll have to go on about our lives the best we can. Take everything one day at a time. My family will have to go on pretending as if I am still missing, for no other reason than to keep Mave from finding out that the curse is wearing off. All the while, we have to search for a way to get rid of her or at least get her off me.”

“And me, what do I do?” I ask.

“You have to go on as if you know nothing about me or the supernatural world. Mave can’t suspect anything. There is no telling what she will do if she finds out you really are keeping me hidden in your house and...”

“And?” I ask.

“Nothing. I’m tired. It has been a long night, and we need to get some sleep. Devan, brother, thanks for coming, and thanks for looking for me.” The two men hug.

“Mom and Dad are going to want to see you, you know,” Devan says.

“Yeah. Abby, will it be all right if they come by tomorrow?”

“Will you be human?”

“Probably not, but I can talk to them telepathically when in animal form if they are nearby.”

“That’ll be a sight. Sure. Can you make it around two or three tomorrow afternoon? I have a feeling I’m going to be sleeping in,” I say.

“Sure,” Devan says. “I’ll call before we come. Oh, do you mind if we pop in, you know, literally?”

“Do you have good aim?”

He gives me a puzzled look, then laughs. “Yeah. We won’t break anything.”

“Then I think it will be a good idea if you do that from here on out. I want that witch woman to think you and I have severed all connections. And you be sure that they don’t put Richards back on your case. I don’t want to see his face again, you understand? If your brother’s life weren’t on the line, I’d make the same request of you, but for now, I will tolerate you. And you’re not to bring your new girlfriend here ever.”

“What do you have against Katie?” he asks, basking in what he thinks is my jealousy.

“Nothing really, but no woman wants to see a man she has dated, no matter for how brief of a period of time, treating another woman better than he treated her.”

He flinches, and I swear I think I see Dimitri smile. “All right. But I’m not sure I can do anything about Richards.”

“Do what you can.”

He nods and disappears.

“You know my brother isn’t a bad guy,” Dimitri says.

“I know, but I was in a very destructive relationship for a very long time, and I don’t trust anyone or give second chances.” I yawn, my eyes water, and for a second I nearly fall asleep where I’m standing.

“Come on, let’s go to bed.”

I let him lead me down the hall before realizing he intends to come to bed with me. At the hall closet, I stop, reach inside to pull out a fitted sheet, a regular sheet, and a comforter. “Put these on the sofa, and I’ll go get you a pillow.”

He stares at me uncomprehendingly.

“I know the sofa isn’t long enough for you, but it will have to do until you get your brother to bring you an air mattress or you can conjure up one of your own.”

Finally, he smiles, realizing what I’m saying, and turns back to the living room.

I stand inside of my bedroom door for a long time. My head spinning with exhaustion and all the information it has yet to process.

“Abby?” he calls from outside my door as he knocks lightly.

This shakes me, and I remember why I have come in here. “Yeah, hold on.” I snatch a pillow off the bed and go back to the door. He isn’t out there. I go down the hall to the living room. He is sitting with his legs spread, elbows on his knees, and his face in his hands. Pity rushes through me, and I almost ask him to come to bed with me. After all he has been through, it seems cruel to make me sleep on my sofa. But that would be opening myself up to a world of emotions I really don’t want to have to deal with.

“Here’s your pillow,” I say, holding it out to him. He looks up at my words, but doesn’t take the pillow. The look of sadness, of despair, of resignation in his eyes hurts me.

“I’m sorry for all of this,” he says. “I never meant for this to happen. I didn’t know she was a witch. I shouldn’t have slept with her. I...”

I sit down beside him, laying the pillow down beside me. “Don’t do this to yourself. Things happen. We all make mistakes.”

“Yeah, but most people’s mistakes don’t cost others their lives.”

“No one has lost their life. Granted, you aren’t completely what you used to be, but right now, you’re human. You’re safe. I won’t let her take you.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about. Abby...”

“Don’t worry about me. Once you are fully human again and not hiding out in my house, she’ll forget all about me.”

“I don’t think it will be that easy,” he says, looking intently at me, and all of a sudden, I realize I didn’t either. I will help him, no matter what. I don’t know what a human like me can do up against a witch, but I’m going to do whatever it takes to help save him from her.

Our eyes stay locked, and it isn’t until he has fully turned to face me and is lifting his hand toward my face that I break away. “Get some sleep. If you’re still human in the morning, we’ll talk.” His hand falls to the spot on the sofa I have just vacated.

“Night, Abby,” he says as I leave the room.

Chapter 20

~~~Dimitri~~~

The next morning, she walks, half asleep, to the bathroom to do her morning business. After that, she heads to the kitchen for a glass of 2% milk and a yogurt. She glances my way out of the corner of her eye and screams at the sight of me rising from the sofa.

“Abby. Abby. It’s okay. It’s me,” I say, rushing to catch her falling yogurt cup.

“You scared the shit out of me. I forgot all about you being here,” she says, clutching her chest and breathing hard.

“Obviously. Let’s hope none of your neighbors heard your scream.”

“So do I,” she says, recovering from her shock. I hand her the cup, and we both walk to the tiny kitchen where she takes a seat at the small, round, wooden table that only seats four on a good day. “Did you sleep well?” she asks and begins eating while I rummage around in the refrigerator for some breakfast.

Before I can answer, Sebastian walks into the room and rubs himself on her leg, then leaps into the chair next to her. Out of habit she looks around the corner for her other cat. I smile at the confused then sheepish look she gives me when she realizes that I am in the room. She’ll never admit to it, but I heard her roaming the house last night silently calling for her cat. Despite the fact that she appeared to believe my story, a part her had to check, had to discover the truth for herself.

“I did. I think I shifted back in the night though,” I say not commenting on her expression.

“What makes you think that?” she asks, scraping the bottom of the cup for the last little bit of yogurt.

“I woke naked. It’s a good thing you detoured to the bathroom or you would have had a shock this morning,” I say, cutting a playful look her way as I pull a few items out and sit them on the counter. “Besides, I slept a little too comfortable on the sofa to have been human the entire night.”

She can’t stop her eyes from roaming down my chest to my crotch when I mention being naked. I feel an erection coming on, but before I can respond, someone knocks on the front door. She and I give each other quizzical looks.

“Who is it?” I whisper.

She shrugs her shoulders. No one either of us knows would be here this early. We had originally planned to sleep in, but we hadn’t. Still, most people didn’t start calling her house until after noon, and no one came over during the week unless they planned the visit.

“Anyone you might know?” she asks, I guess assuming I might do my telepathic thing to read the person, but since I can’t get a read on the person, I shake my head.

I am sure whoever is on the other side of the door is mostly human with only a bit of supernatural blood in their veins even though they are blocking their thoughts, probably unconsciously. She told my brother to simply appear in the house, so it wouldn’t be anyone for me. As she passes me to go the door, her close proximity makes me acutely aware of how bare my upper body is as her bare arm moves against me. The heat from her body sears me, and it is all I can do to breathe normally.