Charmed by the Werewolf (12 page)

Power was everything in a relationship, and he retained control.

Finally, after hours spent dealing with the extraneous people in both Sophia’s and his life, they were alone and working to lift the curse. Xavier breathed deep, filled his lungs with the crisp, clean autumn air, and grinned so wide, his jaws protested.

“I think perhaps I’ll allow you to search out Renn while I go to the driving range,” he stated in a conversational tone as they mounted the concrete steps at the front of the Windsor Lakes Country Club and Golf Course. “I’ve had a bit of a stressful week and could do with something to relax me.”

“I don’t think so, wolfy. It’s already mid-day on October twenty-seventh and I don’t have to remind you time is ticking. If anyone is stressed out it
’d be
me
since I have to deal with
you
.” The look she threw him could double as a death-ray. “Especially after the dirty trick you played on me yesterday.”

“You brought it on yourself. Besides, you
’re supposed to love me despite my flaws.” He raced her to the glass door, holding it open so she could pass through before him. His only reward was a glare. “Ladies first.”

“Who said anything about love? I
’d think your primary focus would be to lift the curse.”

“Love is the natural next step after one finds their mate.
” He leaned close enough to smell her floral-and-vanilla scent. “I have a few ideas that will help the feeling along if you need suggestions.” Her stony silence smacked him with enough force to make him double over in mock pain—but she almost cracked a smile. He put his hand on the small of her back and ushered her into the golf-oriented Pro Shop.

“You can keep your suggestions.
” Sophia drew a finger along the length of a shiny putter. “Nothing like that will ever happen between you and me, not while Sterling is still alive and well.” She snorted her annoyance when he propelled her to the counter.

“So you say now, but I
haven’t turned the full effect of my charm on you and it’ll be much more than what you got a taste of yesterday.” He winked, pleased when a blush tinged her cheeks. “You need humor in your life, Sophia. There’s no use fretting over Sterling if you don’t have to.”

A cringe twisted her face. She looked over her shoulder as if expecting to see the man lurking about. “Where Sterling is concerned, there’s always cause for worry.
”

Once the curse lifted, Xavier promised himself he
’d whisk Sophia away to some remote vacation spot, make her forget the horrors of working for the Portal Master. “Poor Sophia, always trying to save the world.” He grinned at the boy behind the counter whose nametag read,
Travis
. “Excuse me, young man, we’re looking for an employee by the name of Renn.”

“Dude, she’s out by the lake at this time of day. Don’t expect to catch her. Every time someone goes down there she just…vanishes.
” He buried his nose in his comic book and ignored them.

“Really? Does she disappear into the air in a cloud of purple smoke, or perhaps breaks into two million pieces and blows away in the wind?
” Xavier purposefully bared his teeth and emitted a low growl. “I’m afraid I need a bit more information.”
Maybe I’ll circle around after we finish with Renn and eat the boy
. Sophia’s hand on his arm dislodged the thought and tempered the urge.

“Allow me.
” She smiled at the acne-prone teen and used her index finger to lower the pages of the comic book until their eyes met. “Could you point us in the direction of the lake?” She winked then slowly pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “I’d appreciate your help.” She leaned on the counter. Xavier’s eyes               nearly bugged out of his head at the amount of creamy cleavage the low-cut neckline of her shirt revealed.

The woman had an alter ego after all. He looked at her with new respect and
more than a little desire.

The boy wasn’t unaffected either. As Travis swallowed, his Adam’s apple quivered. “I’ll do better than that. I’ll drive you down myself in the golf cart. It’s the biggest lake on the property and there’s even a picnic area on a small island in middle of it.
” Another teenaged boy came behind the counter from a back room. Travis spoke in low tones with him then led Xavier and Sophia out a rear door to a waiting golf cart. “Hop in. We’ll be there in a couple minutes. Oh yeah, if your name is Sophia, Renn is expecting you. She said to tell you to follow the instructions and you’d know what they mean.”

“What
’s he talking about?” Xavier prodded her with a forefinger.

“I have no idea.
” She shrugged. “I’m not an all-seeing oracle, so how should I know what her instructions mean?”

Xavier took a spot on the back seat behind the young man and draped a long arm along the seat. “Will you be joining us, Sophia, or do you want to walk over?
” He popped on a pair of dark sunglasses. “I’d hate to think of you out there, dodging maniacal golf cart drivers.”

“I’m coming. No need to get your feathers ruffled.
” As soon as she stepped into the cart, Travis stomped on the gas pedal, throwing her against his chest. “Travis!”

“Sorry ma’am. I’m late for lunch. My girlfriend gets mad if I’m late.
”

“Get used to it, buddy. Women are always mad about something and it
’s even worse if you are mates.” Xavier briefly clasped Sophia close, dropping his voice to a whisper. “The last time I checked, werewolves didn’t have feathers.” His chest tightened when she wiggled away and planted her rear end on the seat. He put his lips against her ear. “If you’d like me to be ruffled, though, I can oblige, especially after that momentary bit of flirtation with poor Travis.” He nipped her earlobe, teased the fleshy bit with his tongue. “That side of you makes me hot.”

“Get your head out of the gutter. The thing with Travis was a necessary evil.
” She scooted across the seat to the opposite side of the golf cart. “We have a job to do. If I were you, I wouldn’t get too fond of me. In four days we’ll go our separate ways.”

“No, we
won’t. When this is over, the first stop on our path is my bed. After that, who knows, but we’ll go there together—as mates. You know this. Stop denying it. Hell, I think you say these things simply to annoy me.”

The golf cart ricocheted to a halt near one of the larger water hazards on the course nearly spilling them out of the vehicle.

“Thanks for the lift.”

“Sure. Good luck with Renn.
”

“Alone, at last.
” Xavier swept her into his arms as Travis motored over the winding path. The sharp scent of gasoline lingered on the air after him. “Nice location for a romantic interlude.” A laugh escaped at her panicked expression. “No? Ah, you’d prefer somewhere more private.” He heaved a mock sigh. “I guess we’ll search for the mermaid.” He released her and stepped onto the deck that jutted out over the water. Leaning against the wooden railing, he peered into the greenish water that sparkled in the sun and shaded his eyes against the glare. In the middle of the synthetic lake lay a white gazebo on a tiny island. “How do you suppose a person reaches the island? I don’t see a bridge.”

Sophia joined him at the rail. “How do we find Renn?
”

“I—
” A splash below caught his attention, then a brilliant flash of color streaked through the water. “Did you see that?” At a loss, Xavier tucked his sunglasses in a suit pocket. A scrap of paper fluttering in the slight breeze became his salvation. “Look.” He yanked the noted from a wooden signboard. “The Activity Director is unavailable at the moment due to circumstances beyond her control.”

“What does that mean?
” A wrinkle appeared between Sophia’s eyebrows. “So now she won’t see us?

“Not necessarily.
” He moved farther down the deck until he came to another signpost. He frowned when she rubbed the spot on her wrist that contained her birthmark. “It hurts you again?”

“Yes. Danger’s probably imminent, which is nothing new. What’s that?
”

“Not sure, but we may need to ingest this science project.
” A small collection of glass vials waited in a wooden cabinet, each bearing a label with the words “Drink This” in heavy calligraphy. “Ladies first.” His lips twitched when she gave him an ineffectual shove. He supposed it was a good sign that she always had to be touching him in some way. Her acceptance of their fate was a slow journey, but eventually, they would arrive.

“Is this your idea of a joke? Didn’t you ever read
Alice in Wonderland
? No good can come from drinking strange stuff.”

“Yes, I
’ve read the book. I found it a charming story. Why do you assume I’m behind every abnormal occurrence you encounter?” He unrolled a small scroll and met her stormy blue eyes over the top of the crinkled paper, while struggling to retain a grip on his sanity. She’d break him with those eyes alone if he wasn’t careful—and he didn’t want to be careful any longer. He wanted to drag her into the trees and make love to her, claim her, brand her as his, but the lure of lifting the curse hung heavy on him. He owed it to them both to see it through to the end.

“
Since I’ve met you it seems to be par for the course, no pun intended.” She smiled at a passing golfer on the cart path.

A pang of jealousy stabbed through Xavier’s chest and a growl escaped. He wished for once she’d smile because of something
he
said or did. “Be honest, Sophia, this humdrum life you claim to have lived before you met me contained no bizarre occurrences?” When she remained silent, he knew he’d won the battle. He handed her a vial containing a blue liquid. “Drink this.”

“I’m aware of what it says.
” She popped off the cork. The air around them filled with the sharp scent of peppermint.

“Do you need to be so damn frustrating?
” He sighed in defeat, raking a hand over his face. “The scroll says if we are urgently seeking an audience with Renn we’ll need to swim to her living quarters at the bottom of the lake. Oh, and the footnote says she’s expecting both of us for tea.” He popped the cork on his own bottle and clinked it against Sophia’s. “Cheers.”

“Wait!
” She grabbed his arm before the vial reached his lips. “You can’t drink something because the label tells you to.”

“We
’ll be fine. I won’t let harm befall you.” He winked, debated briefly the ramifications of teasing her further. “Thank you for your concern. I’m growing on you.” Baby steps in the right direction for his stubborn woman.

“There are consequences! What if it’s poisonous?
”

He
ignored her protests and downed the vial’s contents, which tasted of peppermint schnapps. Xavier cringed, stuck his tongue out as if the air would take away the bitterness. He wouldn’t admit it to her but his stomach churned, not from a reaction from the blue liquid, but from apprehension. When the anticipated spasms of agony never came, he threw back his head and laughed. “Worry wart.”

“Fine. Don’t blame me if you have another allergy attack. You haven’t refilled your prescription.
” She swallowed her own blue liquid. “Nasty.”

“See, no harm done.
” Xavier grinned. “You’re quite a skeptic considering what you do for a living.”

“What does that mean?
” Her mouth opened and closed much like a fish. She laid a palm over her stomach. “Xavier?”

Damn. I was wrong.
“It seems, whether you want to believe it or not, we’re about to become like the fish.” A slash of pain sliced through his body to culminate in his neck. “Bloody hell, that hurts worse than changing into a wolf!” He clutched his neck. Gashes appeared beneath his fingertips. Gills. He gasped as the slits opened and closed.

“Xavier, you’re turning into a fish.
” Wonder filled Sophia’s voice. Her mouth formed an O of surprise. “Geez, look at that.”

Nausea washed over him when his legs fused together. The act of contorting ripped the suit from his body. It fell in shreds around him. He tumbled to the deck, the owner of a brand-new tail covered with turquoise scales that caught the sunlight. Waves of pain radiated to every nerve ending. Xavier gasped for air. “I can’t breathe, Sophia. I’ll wait for you below.
” His words were quick as he hauled his body across the decking and flopped into the water.

*****

“Wait!” Sophia fell to the deck when her legs also transformed into a fish tail, complete with shimmering purple scales and a gauzy lavender fin at the end. “This is not acceptable!” She did
not
want to be a mermaid any more than she wanted to be a Gargoyle. “Oh God.” She flopped around on the wood. As her tail thrashed about, her jeans and loafers fell away. The ripped bits of frayed fabric scattered about the deck must be the remnants.

The tail issue pushed into the background as her lungs raged with fire. Sophia struggled to force oxygen into organs that no longer worked. With a cry, she clutched her neck as gills forced their way into her skin, the vents fluttering of their own accord. “I can’t breathe.
” She gasped but nothing she did would bring the vital gas into her lungs. Stars danced before her eyes. Her vision flirted with blackness as she labored in agony.