“What?”Branson asks.
Like me, he senses there’s more she wants to say.
“Something strange happened with the reins.I couldn’t reach them, but they came to me, I willed them to stop dragging on the floor and they just floated into my hands.”
“Well, you do have witching blood,” I say with a smile.“What do you expect?”
She nods, thoughtful.“I guess so.”
I turn at the sound of paws on the hard ground.Harvey is approaching.
Princess whinnies and bobs her head up and down, rattling her leathers and buckles.She is pleased to see him.
He stops, rears up, and shifts to his human form.Naked, he ducks to the back of the carriage and pulls out boots, pants, and a thick black sweater.When he’s dressed, he goes straight to Princess, cooing and fussing as he checks her legs and feet by running his hand over them and then speaking softly into her ear.When he’s satisfied his horse is unharmed, he looks at Maisey.“Thank you.Another few seconds and she would have tried to get under that bridge.It would not have gone well and I can’t imagine life without her.”
“She’s a good horse.She got spooked, that’s all.”
“And you clearly have a way with her.”He nods at Branson and then me.“You dealt withhim?”
“Yes, he’s dead.The others are there now.”
He sniffs the air.“Yes, I can smell them all, a real shifter party going on.”His attention turns to Branson.“You did good for a cat.”
Branson’s head jerks as though shocked by the statement.Then his mouth stretches into a grin.“Cheeky son of a bitch.”He laughs.
Harvey laughs too and slaps him on the back.“You guys should get going, it’s cold out here and I don’t have spare clothes for you.”
“Yes, he’s right.”Maisey shivers and looks at first my naked body and then Branson’s.“Without fur you’ll catch a chill.Come on.”
I release her and will my wolf to surface.He does and I’m glad of the warmth of my fur and the heightened senses.Branson also shifts and as soon as he has, he rubs his cheeks over Maisey as though staking a claim.She ruffles the fur between his ears—he loves that—and we leave Harvey still talking soothingly to Princess.
Halfway back across the park, in the shadows of a rocky outcrop, there is a gathering of shifters.The alphas we spotted beneath Maisey’s window.Though now they are in their human forms, clothed, a trunk set on the floor beside them.
“We should shift again,”Branson says.
I see his alpha, Aslar, a huge guy who keeps his yellow panther eyes even when in human form.Fraser is at his side wearing a thick black parker coat.Then Isambard, the leopard alpha, his human coat the same as his animal one, and Demitri, the coyote alpha, and Taktak, the polar bear alpha, easily the biggest out of them all.
“What the hell?”I’ve never seen anything like it.These age-old rivals are standing around as though wars and revenge have never happened.
“What is going on?”Maisey asks, her hand on my shoulders.
I can’t answer so make the decision to shift and hope there are some spare clothes in the trunk.
In moments I am human again, Branson the same.Luckily, we find some clothes, including boots and coats in the trunk.Clearly someone had planned for this unprecedented event.
“Where is the dead coyote?”Branson directs at Fraser.
“He has been dealt with.Nikoli took him.”Fraser turns his attention to Maisey.“Are you well?Did you he hurt you?”
“I’m fine, thank you.”She smiles and slips her hand into mine, it feels like it’s for reassurance.And I’m not surprised, there’s a lot of scary big alphas looking at her, I can’t blame her for feeling nervous.
I am, though.Branson and I haven’t been seen apart for some time now.The penny must surely have dropped that there is something more to our relationship.
“We wish to thank you,” Taktak says in a throaty accented voice.“If a descendent of the High Priestess hadn’t graced us with blood and knowledge, then this would have been a very different outcome.We might not even be here a month from now, moon fever takes hold quickly.”
“Yes, I have seen that,” Maisey says.“But no thanks are necessary, from any of you.All I ask is...”
“What?”Isambard, the leopard alpha asks gruffly.“What can we do to serve you?”
