My Bad Boy's Secret: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance (134 page)

              “Hello, ma’am,” Marnie said nervously. “We’ve travelled long and hard to seek your wisdom.”

              The witch huffed, and it took a moment for Neil to realize that she was laughing.

              “A Mackenzie and a Campbell, finally you want to swallow your pride.”

              Marnie and Neil exchanged glances , their faces stricken.

              “How did you know?”

              The witch looked slightly put off, and Neil looked to Marni with a panicked look. A wolf he could handle, but did he want to be turned into something worse? Like a frog? He would absolutely not want to be turned into a frog. Marnie looked calm, and he tried to take strength in that, but her family wasn’t the family with the nasty habit of turning into different animals.

              “Of course, you have the look of your grandmother, little Marnie,” the woman broke into a wide toothless smile, and Marnie couldn’t help but smile back.

              “And you,boy, you’re a Campbell if I ever saw one. Not that I see many. Have you come to ask me to break the curse?”

              Marnie nearly jumped with excitement. “Oh yes! We’d love for you to do that. If you need to make a potion to do so or anything we’ll even go and get the ingredients for you, but we can’t keep living like this with our families hating each other, and we don’t even know
why
.”

              The witch smiled at the girl’s exuberance, “Once upon a time, a Mackenzie girl fell in love with a Campbell boy. The two clans lived in relative peace until the horrible happened, and the Campbell boy broke his engagement with her to love another.”

              Neil frowned at this story. Was that it? A broken engagement had led to this? The witch laughed as though she had read his mind.

              “I know, but the Mackenzie girl was young and impulsive and had far more magical talent than she thought she did. She cursed him to become the dog that he was, but unfortunately she was a little off the mark.”

              “Unfortunately?” Neil said with a raised eyebrow. Marnie tried not to laugh.             

              “Ashamed of their use of witchcraft, the poor girl was banished, and all mention of our power has been wiped from the records of our clan’s history. But it’s not all the way gone, now is it my girl?”

              Marnie’s eyes grew wide. “You’re the girl!”

              The witch laughed. “Slow, but you get there in the end. Yes, I am. Unfortunately the curse had taken on a terrible life of its own, I’m afraid, leading to a horrible hatred between the two that neither can explain. I’ve waited for generations for a Campbell and a Mackenzie to come to me and asked, with no hint of selfishness, for the curse to be broken. Finally, after all these years, I’ll be able to rest.”

              Marnie looked confused as she glanced up at Neil. “It’s done? That’s it? All we needed to do was…” She blushed.             

              “You needed to fall in love, yes. A true love, and by god your love is as true as anything I’ve ever seen.”

              Neil whooped and picked Marnie up by her waist, spinning her around with a glee that surprised him. The wolf in him felt as though it was gone, and part of him was sad about that, but he could just picture his father feeling the same, realizing that his hatred towards the Mackenzies had been foolish all alone. He could imagine his father calling Bridget back, Bridget’s relief at being normal, and the peace between the two clans once and for all. More importantly, he could look down into Marnie’s green eyes and realize that no matter what they were going to do, they were going to be allowed to do it together.

              He kissed her, and she threw herself into it as though it were the last kiss she would ever receive. Once they finished, he placed Marnie back on her feet properly and turned to thank the old woman.

              She was gone.

              “Just as well,” Marnie said. “If I was finally allowed to rest after a few centuries, I wouldn’t wait to say good-bye.”

Epilogue- Three Months Later

              Neil hated to admit it, but he did miss the wolf within. It seemed as though he was the only person in the village who did, but at the same time he couldn’t allow himself to feel too terribly about it, especially given the fact that a warm and rosy peace had descended on the two clans of Mackenzie and Campbell.

              Within two weeks of the truce, Bridget had been returned to much happiness and fanfare from Marnie, who openly admitted to the friendship. Bridget was happy to be home, but not nearly as happy as she had been to hear that Marnie was going to become her sister-in-law. She jumped up and down and clapped her hands, and stood beside Marnie at their wedding. Neil had been nervous about marrying so quickly, what if old animosities resurfaced? But Marnie had insisted in that adorably stubborn way of hers, saying that if they put it out much longer the witch was going to get annoyed with them and recast the curse all over again, simply over the fact that they were stalling.

              They were blissfully happy...except for the fact that Neil missed his wolf.

              One night he sat in front of the house that him and Marnie now shared on the edge of the heather meadow, staring up at the moon that was round and full, slowly realizing that this was the first time he had not had that jittery nervousness about it.

              “You’re up late,” Marnie said behind him, her voice thick with sleep.

              “I’m coming to bed soon,” he told her. “I’m just...remembering.”

              He felt Marnie move to his side, kneeling beside him and touching his shoulder. He turned to look at her and gave her a kiss, only to be surprised by the mischief he saw in her eyes.

              “What?” he asked.

              “I have a surprise for you,” she replied.

              “What is that?”

              “Looks like magic in our clan isn’t dead…”

              Before he could ask her what she meant, she leaned over and blew a secret into his ear...and then it happened. The familiar pain, now dulled a little bit, flared in his bones, and he looked at her with a surprise and love he never thought that he would be able to share with anyone.

He twisted and transformed and ended it in a howl, only to turn to his wife, his wonderful and magical wife, to see a beautiful she-wolf with a dark brown pelt and large green eyes. She winked at him and ran off ahead of him, nipping at his ear and howling merrily as the two scampered off to play in the night.

THE END

Shared By A Seal

Miranda gazed out of the small window beside her seat at the vast and barren land that stretched out before her. She couldn’t hear anything over the sound of the helicopter blades chopping through the air but it didn’t look like there was anything to hear, anyway. They were about an hour outside the nearest city. Miranda sighed and shifted in her seat. This was her first trip to Russia and she was anxious. Not only because it was her first trip to Moscow, but because of the incredible importance surrounding her visit.

“Do you need anything Ambassador?” Her assistant asked her, leaning forward in his seat across from her to shout it. Miranda gave a smile and shook her head. This was going to be her first major event as Ambassador for the United States and it was not one to be taken lightly. The election for the new President of the Russian Federation was taking place and the pending result could either deepen the relationship between the two countries, or cause another divide. Miranda took another deep breath and tried not to think about the pressure her role had in this. To ensure a good relationship with either victor, she had to be diplomatic and build a relationship with both candidates while subtly supporting the best candidate over the other. It was a delicate game to play and so far she had done a wonderful job at it. It was like walking a constant tight rope and one misstep could cause much more than just her to fall. She stared back out the window and saw the city steadily grow as the helicopter drew closer to it.

“We’ll be at the embassy shortly.” Her assistant told her. Miranda nodded and sat back in her chair. She began running her list of duties and obligations through her head as the helicopter began to lower to the landing pad on the top of the embassy building. As soon as the helicopter touched down she was whisked away to begin her duties. Miranda listened intently to her assistant as he read through her schedule for the day: shower, change, meet her security, go over her speech, assess the room for the swearing in ceremony, and cross her fingers that everything goes according to plan. They stopped outside her room and her assistant turned to her eagerly.

“Anything else, Ambassador?” He asked politely.
Yeah, a nap would be
great, she thought to herself. Miranda smiled at him and shook her head.

“Not at this time, Jonathan. Thank you for all your help, I’ll meet you down stairs to meet with our security in two hours.” She told him, walking into her room and closing the door behind her. She waited a moment, listening as the horde of people that constantly followed her around broke off and went their separate ways expect for the one guard constantly posted outside her doors. She heaved a sigh of relief and made her way to the bathroom. All of her luggage had made its way to her room already and sat on a luggage rack waiting for her to put it away to her liking. She had made the request after her first trip to the United Nations as Ambassador to not have her belongings put away for her. When she had arrived at the hotel she had been extremely stressed already and when she wasn’t able to find anything because she didn’t understand the organizational scheme the person who put her clothes away had it just made matters worse. She was almost late to the assembly because of it. Taking her shower items out of her bag, she started the shower and smiled as the warm water cascaded over her hand as she adjusted the temperature. This was probably going to be her only moment to herself for the rest of the day and she was going to enjoy every minute of it.

***

Greg waited patiently with his team of Navy SEALs for the Ambassador to arrive. It was a unique circumstance that had his team providing security for the Ambassador instead of the CIA or FBI. Typically, the SEALs wouldn’t be called in for something like this but given the high tensions in the country regarding this particular election, the government opted for an entire team of trained warriors instead of just a handful of agents. There was a growing unrest revolving around the election, and if things didn’t go just right—hell, even if they did—there were most likely going to be riots. Riots of joy or riots of unrest, that was yet to be determined. Greg wiped his face with his large hand and tried not to pace. The Ambassador was running on time but it still felt like they were somehow behind schedule. He checked his watch and ran a frustrated hand through his auburn hair.

“The Ambassador Miranda Gold.” Her assistant introduced. Greg turned around and stood at attention, his shoulders squared and his hands clasped behind his back just like the rest of his teammates. His breath caught in his throat at the sight of the beautiful woman descending the stairs toward them. Her long black hair was tied back in a sleek and conservative ponytail and her make-up was minimal, succeeding in only making her face look bright and alert. She wore a red suit with a pencil skirt that hugged her hips and made his mouth go dry.

“Ambassador, this is SEAL team five. They will be providing your security through the election announcement tonight and swearing in ceremony tomorrow.” Jonathan introduced, adjusting the glasses on the bridge of his nose and holding his hand out toward the group of ten men in front of her. Miranda smiled at each one of the men and went to shake their hands but was thrown off by their stance. She closed her outstretched hand and dropped it uncertainly back to her side.

“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you. I know this is an unusual assignment for you to be on, what with no water nearby and all, but I appreciate you being here. This is a high tension situation that can go badly very quickly so it is reassuring to have such expertly trained military personal here with me and I thank you for it.” She said diplomatically. Greg stepped forward as team captain and gave her a nod.

“We are glad to be here for you, Ambassador. We will monitor the perimeters of the election room and the counsel building it is being held in. If anything should go wrong, we will get you out and back to the embassy safely.” He assured her. Miranda’s smile faltered a little at the thought of what all could go wrong but she squared her shoulders and nodded back at him.

“Alright. Let’s get to it then, shall we?” She said, walking toward the door. Greg led his team after her and they climbed into their respective vehicles to drive to the counsel building where the candidates were awaiting the results of the election. The building was mostly empty save for a few officials and private security doing the same thing they were and scoping out the exits and layout. Miranda waited patiently, talking to the Ambassador from the United Kingdom while her team traversed the entire building. After about an hour, Greg came up to her and politely interrupted.