18. Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Andy
I t was a nice day out. Just like every other day here in the world I had created. There wasn't really any sun, and the sky was the same weird purplish color that it always was, but the temperature was always even, somewhere around seventy degrees or so, the breeze light and comfortable, and the lighting just right. Like a nice summer's day where the sun wasn’t glaring and the heat wasn't unbearable. It could almost be pleasant, with the plants around me and the comforting auras of the people I loved humming softly in the background of my consciousness. A vacation. If I just pretended a little harder, I might be able to convince myself it was just a vacation. A long weekend off to putter in the garden and let my mind wander.
My rage had dwindled, eventually, and I felt embarrassed by my outburst the day before. I tried to apologize to my fellow pocket world prisoners, but they wouldn't let me. They used words like “understandable” and “don't worry.” And maybe they were right. We all had our breaking point. We all lost control of our emotions from time to time. And we were under a lot of weird damned pressure. But still, I felt like an ass.
And on top of that, all of the problems that had sent me off the deep end still existed. They didn't magically vanish just because I threw a tantrum.
I took a deep breath of the fresh air and dug my fingers into the loamy soil where I'd been working. Bis was helping me in the courtyard garden, the others coming and going throughout the day to help out or just to chat. We were in a strange lull. There wasn't really anything for any of us to do about our situation, unless we were going to join in Bella's insane crusade. We were reasonably safe at the moment. No flaming emergencies to take care of. But I was very aware that the feeling of safety was an illusion.
Somone would figure out where we were eventually, and find a way to get to us. The only question was who would come for us first, the SA, the cult, or the angels. Plus, I couldn't maintain the pocket world forever. I could feel the bubble that surrounded us… wavering now and then, like a living thing grumbling its discontent. I had patched it up once, but some new failure was likely to occur eventually. And maintaining it meant a constant, low-level drain on my energy all day every day. My magical well was probably insanely deep, but that didn't mean it was limitless. One day it would run out.
Bis let out a squeak and I pulled myself from my worries to pat down the dirt over the seeds I'd sown. I glanced aside to find my hedgehog-skunk-rat helper rolling around the small grassy area in the center of the courtyard beside the fountain. He peeped happily as he chased a cloth ball I'd made for him out of an old shirt. I laughed when he miscalculated his roll and got stuck on his back, his little legs kicking helplessly in the air.
“Momma! Help!” he pleaded. Sometimes Bis was so smart, and perceptive, and adult-like. But then at other times he was playful and cute as a child. I could never fully figure out whether he was actually an adult or a kid. I wasn't sure what the age of maturity was for a lab created, human-infused, hybrid familiar.
“I've got it,” River said, stretching languidly before standing to go turn our companion right-side up.
The shifter had been lounging on the bench there for some time now, reading from a stack of dusty old books he had pilfered from one of the libraries. He hummed to himself and muttered about fascinating finds and strange ideas as he read a bit from one book before picking up another, only to swap it out for another a few moments later. Occasionally, he'd ask me a question or share a bit of magical trivia as he apparently read through histories, spell books, crystal guides, animal lore, geography, and only the goddess knew what else.
It was a fascinating way to pass my time in the garden. I'd never met someone whose mind worked quite the way River's seemed to. Constantly moving, shifting his attention, soaking in everything around him with such avid curiosity and just a touch of wonder.
He stopped by my side on his way to Bis, tilting his head, his shiny, shaggy black hair ruffling in the slight breeze. Those catlike eyes studied me, and he reached out to brush a leaf from my hair. “It's always fascinating to watch a witch work with their element,” he informed me. “I can't work magic like that myself, but I can feel it. The way you commune with the earth. Is it different here? Away from the soil and plant life you are used to?”
I shrugged, a bit captivated by those catlike yellow eyes. “Much different. But I think I'm adjusting to it, getting used to the energies here over time.”
He smiled. “Digging in the dirt suits you.” Bis peeped pathetically, and River sketched a formal bow to me. “Pardon me, mistress witch, I must proceed with my rescue mission.”
I shook my head at him as he walked away. His outfit today was pretty sedate, just borrowed sweats and a t-shirt loaned to him by Elijah and Aahil. The sweats were too long, and the t-shirt was tight. But somehow, his movements were every bit as graceful and lithe as they had been in a pencil skirt and heels.
I put my spade and extra seeds in the basket at my side as River flipped Bis back onto his little feet. “You're quick,” the shifter observed, his keen gaze taking in every little dart and weave as Bis went back to attacking his ball. There was a glint in River's eyes that suddenly gave me pause. “Would you like to play chase, Hibiscus?”
“Oh! Yes,” Bis said, abandoning his ball to prance adorably around River's feet on all fours.
I opened my mouth to question this crazy idea, but my train of thought fell off the rails when River quickly started stripping. His borrowed t-shirt was tossed onto the bench behind him, and the sweatpants followed in a flash. I gaped. He wasn't wearing any underwear. I found myself staring at this almost-stranger's gorgeous ass and all the lean, powerful lines of his body. He had beautiful copper skin, and this ridiculously perfect posture that made me want to trace the lines of his sculpted back. I must have made some sort of noise, because he turned to me and I couldn't keep my eyes from dipping from his chest, with its light smattering of silky black hair, to the nicely proportioned, uncircumcised cock that was now at eye level.
“Did you say something?” River asked calmly. As if he wasn't standing there naked in front of a strange woman.
I cleared my throat and tried to think of something normal to say. “You're naked,” I blurted instead.
He arched his brows at me, then looked down at his own body. “Oh, does that bother you?”
I blinked. Tried to keep my eyes pointed at his face. Probably failed. “Um… not really?”
He huffed a half-laugh and gave me a boneless shrug. “You're a witch. I thought witches shared the same beliefs about nudity that shifters do. I'll only be a moment.”
I kept my mouth shut. I could feel his aura swelling, and the nudity made more sense. In a strange shimmer of magic, the hot guy before me morphed into a sleek, beautiful black jaguar.
It wasn't the painful-sounding half-transformation of a werewolf. There as no crunching or grunting. This was a true shifter. His rare and powerful magic was effortless, like breathing. He went from man to cat in the space between inhale and exhale. He stretched his new form and shook himself. Then he jumped, prancing in place, bending his front legs so he could touch his nose to Bis's little head before leaping up to race around the courtyard.
Bis chirped happily and followed suit, and soon the jaguar was chasing my tiny best friend, stalking him through the plants like a hunter stalking prey. I swallowed hard and got to my feet. “River?” I said nervously. One good bite and Bis would be gone.
Just then, the jaguar leapt and landed over the top of Bis, a big paw on either side of the little rodent. Bis squealed in delight and put on a burst of speed, but River just pounced him again. I gasped as the jaguar caught Bis in his massive front paws and rolled, like the little spiny ball that Bis had become was a just a cat toy.
“River!” I shouted, running their way, my magic unspooling, coiling in my hands, ready to be formed into a stun spell. “Drop it!”
The two creatures froze and turned their heads to look at me just as Dyre ran through the door from the house and Aahil burst into existence at my side in a swirl of sparks, no doubt drawn by the alarm they felt through my bond with them. We all stared at each other.
Bis slowly uncurled from his ball to twitch his long nose at me. “Momma? What's wrong?” He didn't seem scared. Merely curious what we were all so riled up about.
River seemed to gradually realize what the problem was here. He slowly rolled over and deposited Bis on the ground, then shimmered again as he shifted. He sat cross-legged in the grass, naked as the day he was born, his black hair tousled and his eyes alight with the fun of a good chase. “I wasn't going to hurt the little guy,” he said, as if we were all crazy for even thinking it.
Bis huffed and stood up on his back feet, crossing his little front paws like an unimpressed human. “We were just playing ,” he said, rolling his little black eyes.
“Yeah, well,” I said lamely.
Dyre let out a long breath and gave us all an unimpressed look. “I felt you prepare your magic and thought we were under attack,” he told me flatly. His zombie guard shuffled into the courtyard, and he waved him away. “False alarm,” he muttered.
Aahil snorted. “I was really looking forward to setting someone on fire.” His gaze landed on River, and he lifted dark brow. “I still could.” Flames flared up in his hand, dancing with merry threat.
I sighed and bent to pick up my gardening things. “Oh, stop jinn. Clearly, I overreacted.” I glanced at River. Yep, still gloriously naked. “I'm sorry for assuming the worst. It's just…” I waved a hand helplessly. “Big cat. Tiny familiar.”
River shrugged one shoulder, unconcerned. “My jaguar is rather magnificent. It was a natural misunderstanding. But our animals understand each other,” he said with a conspiratorial glance at Bis.
Bis nodded. “River would never hurt me. His cat's too quick and too smart for that.”
I shook my head. “If you say so, I guess.”
The others had all filtered in to quietly observe, probably drawn here by my panic and the magic surge just like Dyre and Aahil. So, they all got an eyeful when River stood up and dusted off his ass. “In my animal form, my instincts are stronger, and I am more animalistic. But I'm still myself. I have full control of my faculties. It feels good to hunt and chase. But I can tell actual prey from friends.”
And with that, he shimmered again, sending out a wash of that strange, powerful shifter magic, and became a sleek, shiny black jaguar once more. Bis head-butted one of the cat's front legs, then took off with a peep, clearly asking to resume their game. River made some sort of stupidly cute chirping noise in reply, and they were off, racing around the courtyard playing chase again.
I headed toward the door with my basket, pausing beside the others to watch the weirdos playing tag in the garden. “I almost fried him,” I muttered tiredly. “He has no sense of self preservation.”
“Or modesty,” Ambrose said with a leer.
I rolled my eyes.
“He'll fit right in around here,” Niamh said dryly as she put her knife back into its sheath at her waist.
I headed back inside to find something else productive to do. At least River's hijinks had taken my mind off all of my other worries for a while. But of course it couldn't last.
The ground rumbled ominously, almost like… a mild earthquake. Because of course it did. I should have known better than to relax, even for one fucking afternoon.