The Shifter and the Witch

Deklan

So, I didn’t mean to kiss Lucy tonight. I’m not complaining, mind you. I just pictured our first kiss being more romantic, less combative, that's all.

I blame my wolf.

He just huffs and gladly takes the credit.

“We should get some sleep,” I suggest to Lucy. “We can start looking for Hannah tomorrow.”

She pulls back from me and nods.

“Right,” she agrees and steps away from me. “I’ll, uh, see you tomorrow.”

I blink at that while my wolf lets out a little whine.

“You don’t have to go,” I say. “You can stay here. With me.”

At first, she seems surprised at the invite, then she seems pleased. Her expression softens, and a sweet smile comes to her lips.

“Okay.”

My wolf relaxes when he hears her agree to staying the night.

Smiling, I lower my mouth to Lucy’s for another kiss. I have to. Her kiss is one of my new favourite things. After the frenzied kiss we enjoyed moments ago, this soft meeting of mouths is no less delicious.

Slowly, I pull back, then take her hand in mine and lead her upstairs and into my room. The shirt she wore the other night is still on the end of my bed. She lets go of my hand, goes over by the bed, and starts to undress. Though I'd love to watch her undress, I turn away, giving her some privacy. I go over to my bedside table and plug my phone into its charger.

“Which side is yours?” she asks.

“Right side,” I reply.

While she climbs into my bed, I quickly undress. I drop my jeans, pull on the jogging pants I wore last night, and climb into bed. Lucy lays down facing me and adjusts the pillow beneath her head. Her expression becomes shy, almost embarrassed, and she starts to ask me something but hesitates.

“Would you -” she says and pauses. Her gaze drops from mine and lowers to my chest. “- hold me?” she finishes.

I shift closer and reach for her, and she tucks herself against me and rests her head on my chest. A breath sighs out of her when I start stroking her hair.

It takes her a while, but I know when she’s fallen asleep because her body relaxes and her breath settles into a soft, slow rhythm.

Once she’s asleep, I let myself drift off too.

***

Lucy

After last night’s shock, I didn’t expect to get any sleep, so I’m a little surprised when I wake up in the morning to realize I did end up falling asleep.

Opening my eyes, I look over my shoulder, looking for Deklan. His side of the bed is empty. My thoughts quickly turn from him to Hannah. Sitting up, I rub my eyes and go over what I need to do. I need to go home, check on Jinx, wash up, change, then come back here and scry.

I know it’s probably a waste of time looking for Hannah during daylight hours - she probably won’t come out and play until darkness has fallen, if she adheres to demon’s ways - but I’m going to scry for her anyway.

Throwing off the covers, I get on my feet and head out of Deklan’s bedroom and downstairs. Deklan’s over at the stove with his back to me when I enter the kitchen. He’s got a mug in one hand and a spatula in the other. I don’t smell coffee, so I assume he’s drinking tea. He’s still in the jogging pants he wore to bed. He doesn’t have a shirt on, and his feet are bare. He turns when he hears me, and I get treated to a view of his front.

Hello, six-pack.

“Good morning,” he says, smiling.

He takes a sip of his drink and watches me over the rim of his cup as I cross the room to him. He hasn’t shaved yet and he looks sexy as hell with his thicker scruff.

“Morning,” I reply. “Smells good.” I stop at his side and check out what he has going on.

Scrambled eggs are in the pan on the stove, bacon is plated, and bread’s in the toaster.

“Can I help?” I offer.

“Would you take care of the toast when it pops?” he asks, and sets his cup on the counter.

“Of course.”

“How are you feeling this morning?” he asks as he moves the eggs around in the pan.

I shrug in response to his question. What aren’t I feeling is probably a better question. Between finding out my sister is alive and kissing wolfy last night, I’ve got a lot going on inside.

“I don’t know.” I sigh. “I think I’m still just stunned.” I shake my head. “I can’t believe Hannah is alive. That she has been all this time.”

Deklan lifts his spatula from the pan and eyes me thoughtfully.

“And you’re still kicking yourself -” he guesses correctly. “for not looking for someone you thought was dead.”

I shrug again. Well, when he says it like that, I sound foolish.

Setting his spatula on the stovetop to the side of the burner in use, he turns to me and lifts a hand to my cheek.

“Beating yourself up isn’t going to help your sister,” he murmurs.

He’s right. That’s true. But still, it’s hard not to beat myself up.

I sigh. “I’ll work on it,” I promise, and then I lean into him for a kiss.

He smiles. “You do that.”

A swipe of his tongue across the seam of my lips has me opening for him. Our tongues greet one another with lovely strokes and lazy swirls.

When the toast pops a moment later, we slowly pull apart, and I turn to the toaster while he turns back to the eggs. A second later, he turns off the burner and scoops the eggs from the pan onto two plates. I slather the toast with butter, set two more pieces of bread in to toast, and butter them after they’re browned.

“What do you want to drink?” Deklan asks over his shoulder as he takes our plates over to the table.

“Do you have juice?” I ask.

“Orange,” he replies.

“I’ll have that,” I say. “I’ll get it,” I add when he starts my way to get it for me. “Sit. I’ll bring your tea,” I add.

He turns back to the table, and I get out the orange juice.

“Glasses are...” I ask and point toward the cupboards.

Deklan points to the cupboard above the toaster. I get a glass, pour myself some juice, return the jug to the fridge, then grab Deklan’s tea and join him at the table. We chat as we eat breakfast. (Lunch, really, given the time.) It doesn’t take us long to empty our plates. When we’re done, Deklan asks me when I’m going to start scrying.

“I have to go home and take care of my cat first,” I tell him. “I’ll grab a shower and come back here and scry.”

“Alright. I’d keep you company while you’re scrying, but I’ve got to get some work done on some commissions,” he tells me. “I’ll be in and out of the studio.”

He grabs the dishes and takes them to the sink while I chug the last of my juice.

“I’ll go change and head out,” I tell him when I’m done.

“Alright,” he says.

I go over to him and smack my lips to his, then turn to go, only to have an arm hook around my waist and reel me backward.

“I don’t know what that was, but as far as kisses go, it wasn’t very satisfying,” he complains.

I turn in his embrace and look up into eyes brightened with silver.

“Let’s try that again,” he grins.

I chuckle into his mouth as he kisses me.

A higher level of satisfaction is achieved with this kiss, sure, but a desire for full-body satisfaction is ignited.

Several long moments later, Deklan lifts his mouth off mine and licks his lips.

Did our kiss taste like bacon to him too?

***

Deklan

Male satisfaction fills me.

Lucy’s eyes are hazy with pleasure after I school her on goodbye kisses. She tilts her head and raises her brow.

“Why do your eyes do that?” she asks.

“Change colour?” I ask.

She nods and strokes a hand over my chest, petting me.

“Wolf shifter thing. Our eyes change with heightened emotion,” I tell her.

She cups my jaw and runs her thumb along my cheek.

“They’re beautiful,” she says.

That she thinks so makes me very happy.

Lowering my face to that lovely spot where shoulder becomes neck, I inhale her scent until it reaches every minuscule pocket of my lungs. Suddenly, I feel the urge to bite her. An undeniable urge.

I don’t break skin. I just give her a love bite. I press my teeth to her shoulder and apply some pressure. At the action, my wolf growls with satisfaction in the back of my mind.

It doesn't occur to me until after I've done it that my wolf and I have just marked her as ours.

Lucy moans with pleasure at my bite.

My wolf growls again.

***

Lucy

Deklan has a weird look on his face when he pulls back after nibbling at my neck.

“What?” I ask.

He blinks, and his eyes shift from my shoulder to meet mine.

“Nothing,” he replies.

I’m curious what made him tense there for a moment, but I let it go.

I don’t really want to leave, but I make myself go.

“I’ll, uh, be back soon,” I tell Deklan.

He nods, still looking dopey.

I teleport upstairs to his room, where I ditch his shirt, and get back into my own clothes. With a smile still stretching across my face, I teleport home. And it takes all of two seconds for my energy to drop and my smile to fall away.

Now alone, the events of the last twelve hours hit me hard.

Hannah’s alive. My sister’s alive. She’s been alive all these years and I had no idea.

Jinx comes around the corner from the hallway into my bedroom and meows, interrupting my thoughts.

“Hey buddy,” I murmur as he trots up to me. He rubs himself against my leg.

“You miss me?” I ask.

I bend over and pick him up.

He probably didn’t miss me. He probably just wants his food.

I bring him with me to the kitchen, where I set him loose and grab his bag of food out of the cupboard. I fill his bowl, give him fresh water, and then refresh his kitty litter. When I leave the kitchen, he follows me, but when I go into the bathroom, he hightails it into my bedroom.

He’s not a fan of the bathroom. That’s where his baths happen.

I turn on the shower, strip, and set my clothes and my phone on the counter by the sink. Turning my back to the mirror, I look over my shoulder at my reflection. I undo my glamour, remove my bandages, and check my back. The scrapes there are healed. They don’t need to be bandaged or covered up again.

I face the mirror and undo the glamour hiding the gash at my temple, and remove the butterfly bandages. The gash is better. It’s healing nicely and doesn’t need to be rebandaged, but I’m still going to cover it up with a glamour again.

After checking my wounds, my eyes fall to my neck. Where my skin is smooth, Hannah’s is marred with a scar. I wonder how she got hurt. Was she in a fight with another demon? If she’s been with demons ever since that night that Zolark killed our mom, she’s spent more time with them than she has with me.

Deklan’s words from last night echo in my head now, and I can’t help thinking that maybe he’s right. Hannah may be alive, but the sister I loved may be gone. Maybe whatever has happened to her can’t be undone.

That hopeless thought doesn’t sit well with me, and I berate myself for even thinking it.

Deklan can’t be right. I have to be able to undo whatever was done to Hannah. If she’s under a spell, I’ll remove it. If someone’s manipulated her mind, I’ll perform a mind restoration on her. I’ve never done a mind restoration, but I’ll figure it out.

Forgetting my brief moment of despair and doubt, I step into the warm spray of the shower. While I wash up, I plan. Hannah’s not going to be amenable to coming with me, so I’m going to have to capture her and contain her in a crystal cage. I’ve never had to hold anyone in a crystal cage before, so I’m going to have to make a trip to my friend’s store for crystals. While I’m there, I’ll ask Zareena for tips on how to perform a mind restoration.

Turning off the water, I get out of the shower, dry off, and head to my room. I pull black pants and a white top off hangers in my closet and throw them on, and then shoot a text to Deklan.

I gotta pick up a few things. Shouldn’t take too long. See ya soon.

I send that off, tuck my phone in my back pocket, and teleport myself to the alley behind the shop my friend Zareena owns. She runs an occult shop called ‘The Source’. I’ve been getting my supplies there for years.

The bell dings over the door as I enter, and the pungent smell of patchouli greets me.

“Hey, Lucy,” Zareena says when she sees me.

Her shoulder-length brown hair is loose today, and she’s dressed in a form-fitting top and a long dark skirt.

“Hey, Zareena,” I say and cross the room to her.

“How’s it going?” she asks.

I huff a humourless laugh as I come to a stop across the counter from her, knowing I’m about to shock the hell out of her. I’ve never talked about my past with her. I’ve never mentioned having a sister since it was such a difficult subject to talk about.

“Actually, I’ve got some interesting news,” I begin. “I just found out the sister I thought dead is actually alive."

Zareena’s eyebrows go up at this information. “I'm sorry. What?”

After dropping my bomb, I provide more context. I relay a clipped story of the night the Zolark attacked fifteen years ago, then jump to last night and coming face to face with the sister I thought long dead.

“I have to think that she’s either under a spell or has had some kind of mind manipulation done on her,” I tell Zareena. “She doesn’t remember me. I’m gonna need four crystals for an energy cage. I’m going to have to cage her and try to undo whatever was done to her.”

Zareena nods and heads over to a shelf holding large fluorite crystals.

“You’ll want fluorite clusters,” she recommends, looking back over her shoulder at me. “Fluorite enhances memory, and clusters radiate beneficial energy into the environment and absorb detrimental energy at the same time.”

Awesome. Perfect.

Zareena collects two large purple crystals, takes them over to the checkout counter, goes back, collects two more, brings them over to the counter, and places them with the first two.

The crystals are almost the size of cantaloupes.

“How much for the four?” I ask, knowing this is going to be pricey.

“Normally I’d charge two hundred each, but I can do one hundred each for you.” Zareena offers kindly.

Even with the generous price cut, it’s still steep, but considering it’s for my sister, nothing’s too steep.

“Thanks, Zareena,” I reply and pull out my phone to pay.

Zareena rings up my purchase and then tucks the crystals into a white, cardboard box with dividers so they don’t shift too much and bang into one another.

“Do you know how to do a mind restoration?” Zareena asks. “If you need to do one.”

“No. I was actually going to ask you for help,” I reply, and she nods.

“Come get me once you’ve got your sister,” she says as I pick up my box. “I can help you lift the spell if she’s under one. Or, if she’s had some kind of mind manipulation done on her, I can help you with that.”

Gratitude and relief fill me. I’d hoped Zareena could help me with some tips. This is better.

If I have to do a mind restoration, I’ll take all the help I can get.