Magic and Mayhem: Witch and Were (Kindle Worlds Novella) (5 page)

E
ight hours
later and still no shift. I'd watched Zelda work her magic on the injured Shifter and sat in awe of her ability. Her job wasn't easy. In order for her to heal others she took on a portion of their pain. Although she said it had been worse in the beginning, I can't imagine it was all that fun now.

For someone who claimed to be selfish, she did many selfless acts to help others. So the sassy, smart mouthed witch also had a soft inner core. And it was fun to watch.

"You don't have to stay down here and watch me work you know. You could go upstairs with the others and join the party." She had her hands on a small bunny that looked to have a particularly nasty head injury from a car accident.

"I know, but I'm fine. It's been interesting to watch you work. I don't have a fraction of the power you do."

"Maybe you weren't meant to be a witch," she said. "I've been watching you too and you're actions are more Shifter than witch. You rely on your instincts more than reason. That is definitely a Shifter thing."

"So you're thinking my problem has been there the whole time and only latent till now?"

She shook her head. "Maybe the problem is that you think it's a problem, when it's not. It's just something new you need to learn."

"I've tried looking inward. I've even cast spells to help me find my way and so far nothing has made a difference."

She let go of the bunny and looked down at the animal. "How's that, Sheila? Better?"

"Yes, much," the bunny replied.

"Good. Why don't you go upstairs and join the party then. Some food and rest should fix the rest."

The little Shifter hopped down from the table and scurried into the corner. A few minutes later she emerged from the shadows a fully dressed woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. "See you later, Zelda," she called as she bounded the steps two at a time.

Zelda turned back to me. "Now, lets get this done. I'm about shot for the day and could seriously use a drink."

I wasn't sure what we could do until I shifted, but I was ready to make something happen or call it a night. I walked over to the chair across from Zelda and took a seat.

"Now as I see it, you think like a witch, but act like a were. Your animal instincts are there whether you realize it or not."

"Are you saying I'm not a witch?"

She grabbed my hands and held them tight as her magic began to weave around us in a rainbow of colors.

"Well, I have heard more than once now, that if a witch gets pregnant by a Shifter she'll have Shifters that have magic and not the other way around since witches don't shift. So if your father is a Shifter it might explain why you have so little magic."

"And this takes fifty years to show up?"

"That I don't know. I'm going on limited knowledge here. But I do know that a witch with no magic is extremely rare."

"So what do we need to do? I need to be fixed."

Zelda snorted. "Don't you wonder why Mick drove you all the way here to see a Shifter healer instead of calling Baba Yagagme?"

"Because he's a Shifter and he knows you. And no one I know calls on the Baba Yaga. Too risky."

"Well, that is true. The less you see her the better. Trust me. I know this. I also know that to make a change you will have to decide whether you want to go back to being just a witch or become a Shifter like your father. I'm not able to give you both."

"Now you sound certain. How can you be so sure?"

"Look down, Patience. See what you are?"

I did and was shocked to see that deep in the layers of Zelda's colorful magic I had turned back to the white wolf.

"Good Goddess. If that's all you had to do to get me to shift, why the hell didn't we do this hours ago. Why did you make me wait?"

She shrugged. "Didn't know I could do it. Besides I needed the time to observe you. You've been like a puzzle that I worked on all day and I'm finally beginning to solve."

I jumped down from the chair and paced across the room. Now that I was in wolf form my senses had heightened and I was picking up on the distinct scent of lies. Just like Mick told me I would.

"I am not some experiment and this is not some mad scientist lab, you kook. Tell me the truth. You've been bullshitting me all day haven't you?"

She smiled. "A little. I saw your Shifter blood the minute we shook hands. But what that meant and how I could fix it took some time to work through."

"And now I'm supposed to just choose on the fly with no warning?"

She hopped down from her stool and crossed the room. "I don't really care either way. I said I'd help you and I will. But I can't make the decision for you on which to choose."

"What's going on down here?" Mick asked from the top of the stairs. "I saw Sheila come up and then didn't see either of you."

"Oh nothing much. Zelda here got me to shift and now apparently my father is a Shifter and I have to decide what I want to be. You know, every day crap."

The stairs creaked as Mick descended. "Zelda, does that mean you can suppress the wolf?"

"I can. I could also suppress the witch. But I can't help her be both. That is Goddess designed and healers simply don't have that kind of control."

Mick turned to me. "You want to be both?"

The magic inside me was beginning to rise along with the anger. "I don't know what I want to be anymore. I'm confused and it's all your fault."

His eyebrows climbed up his forehead with 'that look'. "My fault? How so?"

"It's this whole trip. You constantly calling me mate."

"Right?! I know exactly what that's like," Zelda said.

I ignored Zelda and kept my gaze on Mick. Every torn emotion I had was because of him and the feelings he made me feel.

"You showed me what it felt like to be a true Shifter and for the first time in my life I experienced real power. That's a heady feeling that is hard to let go. And the whole marking thing. How am I supposed to walk away from that if I change? Will I even be marked anymore?"

"Good Goddess, you marked her already? What were you thinking? Didn't you two just meet?"

He nodded. "We did. But she's my mate."

Zelda threw up her hands and I growled at Mick. This conversation was getting us exactly nowhere.

"Anyways, if you like being a wolf so much then it should be an easy choice," she said.

How would my being a Shifter affect what was happening between Mick and I? Would we still be the same or would I lose myself in him? Then there was the whole witch thing...

"I've been a witch for fifty years and I don't want to lose that. I have an expanding business that relies on me to perform my low level, but crucial spells. I can't walk away from that either."

They both looked at me as if they didn't understand why I couldn't decide. I'm not sure which part they didn't get. There was no spell, this was no joke and I now had a life altering decision to make just as Francine had predicted.

Zelda waved her hand and zapped me on the shoulder with a little light magic to get my attention. "So what's it going to be, Patience? Witch or Were?

I
stared
into the rearview mirror at the small, but interesting town of Assjacket, West Virginia fading into the distance as we drove away. While not my style of living, it certainly seemed to have its charms. Not to mention

I turned and looked at Mick, my handsome silver fox behind the wheel of my snazzy new car. All mate talk and kooky cow Shifters aside, they'd had a great time on their drive and he made a fantastic travel partner.

The news from Zelda about my condition still made it difficult to breathe. Decisions were one thing, being put on the spot to make one without proper preparation unacceptable.

And there was the fact that my paternal parentage had finally been solved in a span of a few hours. Not sure how I felt about that.

"You've been silent since we left Zelda's. It's making me nervous."

"Well, I'm not sure what to say anymore. The trip wasn't exactly a success."

Mick flashed his million-dollar smile. "Well, it's not over yet, sugar. We have about another 3000 miles to go before we roll into Vegas. Anything in particular you want to do before we get there?"

"Maybe." I had a few ideas on the brain and most of them involved Mick and I being naked. For all the craziness I would now have to deal with I still wanted him in my life.

"What happens when we get back to Vegas, Mick? I get the feeling the outcome from this trip didn't work out exactly as you'd hoped." I fidgeted in my seat. This trip had stirred things up in me I didn't feel comfortable with. The floodgates of emotion had broken open and all the kings' horses couldn't put them back together again.

"You couldn't be more wrong."

I wanted him to tell me more, but he didn't look particularly forthcoming. When he turned down a side road, I had to ask. "Where in the world are we going?"

"Wanna show you something. I don't think there's anything like it in Vegas."

He turned down another narrow lane and drove through a gate with no sign. For about a half a mile it looked like this road led to nowhere and would dead end in front of them.

Until at the last minute, Mick took a sharp left and they drove up to this enormous old building with fantastically creepy architecture.

"What is this place?" I asked. It looked right out of a fairytale but with a horror bent to it. It was amazing.

"It's an old psychiatric hospital. When I was younger, I used to drive out here to study the building. Not only is it a masterpiece of architecture, but also if you listen hard enough you can pick up on a strange vibe.

"I don't know whether to be scared of you right now or impressed," I said. "The place is cool, but the fact that you actually liked to spend time here is a little creepy."

After the state came in and shut it down, it stood abandoned for many years. Until Shifters and witches started coming out here to practice their magic. It became a safe haven for the weird and unusual."

He parked the car near the front entrance and they both got out and walked to the building.

"And now?"

He shook his head from side to side. "Eventually, the federal government seized the property and decided to make it a tourist thing."

"You mean we can go inside?" This was sounding better and better. I couldn't help that I had a near morbid fascination with things like this.

"No. Unfortunately not. But the grounds are part of the park service and we're welcome to walk around and view it from out here."

He paused and got down on one knee.

"Uhm, Mick. What the hell are you doing?"

"I brought you here so that I could tell you that I think you made the perfect decision with Zelda. I'm behind you one hundred percent."

"But—"

"And... To once again inform you of my intentions to make you my mate in every way."

I laughed. "Hasn't that ship already sailed? You've marked me and we've had sex. Way more than once."

"No, Patience. Until you agree, you can still walk away. Although if you do, there's about a 99.9 percent chance I'll come after you."

"Well, now I'm just curious. Under what conditions does the other tenth of a percent count? I might need to be prepared."

"If you do something crazy like neuter me in my sleep or otherwise try to hurt my junk, I probably won't come after you."

I giggled at his scenario. "So let me get this straight. You brought me to a lunatic asylum to ask me yet again to be your mate and to warn me not to hurt your man junk? Is that about right?"

"Well, when you put it like that." He stood to his full height and pulled me into his body. "How about we just have sex again and call it a day? Everything else can wait."

"You've got yourself a deal."

He leaned down and covered my mouth with his. As my head began to spin as it always did when Mick kissed me, I felt the warm magic of the wolf begin to heat me up. The decision to not let Zelda make any changes might be risky, but at the moment, together with Mick, the choice to be both Witch and Were against the odds was worth the risk.

And if the Witch Council had an issue with it... Well, they knew where I lived.

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obyn Peterman (Kindle
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