8—ROWWR
Dallas growled deep in his throat at the memory of that first morning in the magical house. Someone had made him a turkey bacon omelet with cheese for breakfast and it’d been dope. Everything since had been good, but he was holding out hope that he’d get another turkey omelet soon.
He turned around again and drove past the building.
The woman was in her car, waiting to pull out onto the road.
Dallas passed her and watched her in his rearview mirror.
She pulled onto the highway going the opposite direction.
Dallas waited until she’d crested a hill, then he did a quick U-turn and stepped on it until he could see the blue glow again.
He followed until she pulled into a residential subdivision, then directly into a garage. She’d gotten home safely, and so Dallas turned toward home himself.
If she was a switch, she’d show up at a ‘Cause’ event eventually. He looked forward to it.
Dallas drove down the road toward home, just driving and zoning out… when the name of the magical house popped into his head.
Credence!
The garage door opened on its own and Dallas drove straight into his spot, which was marked with a pawprint.
He got out of the car and made his way through the cavernous garage into the kitchen.
Bottles of water sat on the counter and Dallas opened one and downed it, then he headed for the fridge.
Inside was all manner of drinks and snacks, along with a container marked DALLAS.
He peeked inside and found a three-meat lasagna. Nice.
He grabbed it out and ate three huge spoonfuls cold, then covered it and shoved it back in the fridge, grabbing another bottle of water and heading out of the kitchen. Near the door was a small chalkboard where someone had written ‘SKREEEEEEE.’
Dallas erased it and wrote ‘ROWWR.’
He headed for his room but stopped when he heard something. Was someone calling for help? He stalked through the living room, down the hallway that led to Dakota’s room.
Aven was sprawled out on the floor near the door, his legs stuck out into the dimly-lit hallway, wearing only a pair of shorts.
“Water,” he called theatrically, stretching his hand out toward Dallas.
Dallas tossed him the water bottle, staying at the far end of the hallway, trying not to smell the sex in the air.
Aven cracked it open and downed it in a few swallows, then said, “That Prowl is no joke.”
“Dude,” Dallas growled. He heard whisperings of what the Prowl was. “I don’t want to know!”
The door opened and Dakota leaned against the frame, her hair wet like she’d just showered, wearing a tiny blue babydoll-style nightgown, her gaze on Aven. Dallas covered his eyes and whipped around so he couldn’t see his little sister.
“There you are,” Dakota said. “You naughty little—”
“Don’t finish that sentence!” Dallas shouted.
“Dallas!” Dakota yelped.
Noise and crackling of light exploded behind him. He whirled around in time to see Aven be pulled into the room by swirling blue light. The door slammed and the hallway was left strangely silent.
After a moment, it reopened and Dakota stood there, wearing a pink robe, still tying the tie. “Hey big bro,” she gushed.
Dallas shook his head slightly, not speaking for several long moments. “I broke my everweft,” he finally said. “Can you give me a new one?
Dakota relaxed and leaned against the wall. “Uh yeah… but let me practice on Aven first. In the morning?”
Dallas grunted affirmative. Ready to hit the sack, he headed back to his room, eager to erase all thoughts of Dakota and Aven’s extracurricular activities from his frontal lobe.
The next morning, just before noon, Dallas headed through the quiet house, past the massive fireplace, to Aven and Dakota’s room.
He’d slept for six hours, shaved, showered, put on his leg, eaten breakfast, and now he had two hours until he was supposed to meet Maze.
He was doing okay. His leg was swollen from all the activity the night before, but it wasn’t too sore, and he was only limping slightly.
Listening for any signs of life, he prowled down the dark hallway. As he drew close to Dakota and Aven’s room, he realized the rumbling noise he heard was Aven snoring. A note on the door read:
I’m in the training room on the third floor.
Dallas headed back the way he had come, down the long hallway, through the hotel lobby-sized living room, to steps leading upstairs.
The glass walls showed Dakota doing pullups in a workout room filled with weightlifting and sparring equipment.
She wore a gray physical training uniform from her days in highway patrol, and her blue glow was strong, illuminating the walls and equipment.
Dallas made his way inside. Dakota hopped down as soon as she saw him. She grabbed a gym towel and wiped her face. “Hey,” she said, smiling, heading right for a punching bag.
“Hey,” Dallas said. He found a chair and sat, watching his sister go absolutely apeshit on the punching bag for several minutes.
“How long did you sleep?” he asked.
“No sleep yet,” she grunted, shaking her sweaty hair out of her face. “Aven passed out an hour ago, so I came up here.”
“You’ve been up here for an hour with no sleep?”
“Yeah,” she said, coming in front of him, bouncing side to side like a boxer. “Wanna fight? Or run?”
Dallas considered, then shook his head. “Not today, I’ve got ‘Cause’ business in less than two hours.”
Dakota grinned wide. “So you’re staying?”
Dallas nodded, then shrugged. “Yeah, seems like it.”
Dakota smiled, a genuine smile that made Dallas smile back. She hadn’t been too thrilled with him lately.
“Hey, ah, sorry for telling Jameson you’d never shifted,” he said.
She waved her hand and blue sparkles flew across the room to disintegrate against the wall. “It all worked out.”
“I’ll try not to be so overprotective.”
Dakota shrugged. “Eh, it’s in your blood.”
Dallas nodded. “Speaking of which, Mom glowed too...” he said slowly, watching his sister’s face. “Did you ever…?” The surprise on her face let him drop the question. No, she’d never seen their mom’s glow.
“She glowed… like me?” Dakota looked down at herself. “I mean… I don’t glow right now, do I?”
Dallas nodded. “Like a light bulb.”
“Blue?”
“Yeah, blue, but Mom glowed white.”
“What does that mean?” Dakota asked.
“No idea.” Dallas sighed. “Can I get that everweft?”
“Yeah,” Dakota said. She grabbed her water bottle and drank, then moved closer to him. “Did Mom know she glowed?”
“I don’t know…” Dallas said. “I tried to talk to them about your glow a couple times when you were born but I figured out pretty quick that they didn’t see it.
I tried to convince myself I wasn’t seeing anything for years…
then I accepted it, I guess. It became something secret and special about you… and Mom.”
Dakota nodded and they shared a rare quiet moment.
“Well, okay then.” She shrugged and whacked her water bottle against her hand. “Let’s get you everwefted. I called the other witches—”
Dallas grinned.
“What?” Dakota demanded.
“You’re a witch,” he said.
“And you’re a giant pain in my ass,” she retorted, but she was grinning, too. “It’s hard to get used to, I know. I’ll never shift.” The smile stayed on her face.
He shrugged. “Magic’s good, too.”
“Hell, yeah, it is. Let’s do this,” she said, whacking the water bottle against her palm again. “Lemme see the leg.”
Dallas rolled up his pant leg, exposing his prosthesis and sleeve. Dakota came close and touched his leg just above the sleeve. Her touch swarmed the stump and soothed the swelling. Dallas tried not to let his eyes roll back in his head—it felt so good to be free of the pain even just for a moment.
Dakota was talking. Dallas tried to listen. “I think I've got it. Aven was easy, because he's my mate, and I'm intimate with him.”
Dallas made a face and grunted.
She pointed the water bottle at him. “And you’re going to be difficult because of your prosthesis and your ego the size of Uranus.”
Dallas leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and laughed. He’d been knocked down several pegs recently, but it still was good to hear his sister act like he was normal.
“Here it comes, big bro,” Dakota said, standing and backing up. She tossed her water bottle aside, then cupped her hands and wound up like she was on the pitcher’s mound—
Dallas raised a hand, palm out—
Dakota whipped a magical ball of turquoise light at Dallas’ face. It hit his palm and the light burst out, suffusing his body, feeling like pop rocks against his skin.
After ten seconds, the light began to fade. After twenty, it disappeared.
“Was that necessary?” Dallas asked.
Dakota laughed. “Nope, but it was super funny.”
Dallas shot to his feet and jumped into the air straight up, shifting as he went, relishing the look of surprise on his sister’s face.
His clothing disappeared and his prosthetic leg changed shape and grew a paw pad with claws.
Dallas landed on a weight bench as a black jaguar and roared his thanks to his sister in a sawing, guttural roar.
She grinned and gave him a thumbs-up, then she spoke in his mind.
It looks so good!
Dallas gaped at her, almost falling off the bench.
Dakota laughed merrily. No one told you about the telepathy between shifters and switches yet?
Dallas shook his head no. He shifted back into a man, and his outfit of jeans, boots, and long-sleeved Navy Seals hoodie reappeared.
Dallas looked down at himself. “Huh. Look at that. All good.”
The aglet on one of his shoelaces exploded and metal shot across the room, pinging off a weight machine. Dakota ducked, laughing.
She knelt and pressed her fingers to the end of Dallas’ shoelace, and when she stood, he had a new aglet that looked like it was made from glowing blue stone.
“Thanks,” he said, meaning it.
“Anytime,” she said.
He nodded.
She nodded back. “Seriously, anytime, I mean it.”
Dallas nodded again and gave her a smile. He left the room and stalked through the house to the garage, wanting to get to the meeting place early and scout around before Maze and Thorn showed up.