Page 98 of Werewolves and Witches AU

My fully formed wolf’s eyes snap to the figure sitting on a chair not five feet away from us in casual repose.

An exceedingly elegant drag queen—no, female impersonator draped in layers of golden material that frames long and tanned legs crossed at the knee—clicks her tongue in disapproval. “Es innecesario, Rowan.”

She taps the end of her cigarette holder against a glass ashtray set upon a small side table that just materialised as if from thin air. “May I call you Rowan?”

I don’t move. If this person so much as points the end of one those jewel-studded shoes in Milo’s direction—

“I promise your wolf that I intend no harm to young Master Milo under there. In fact, it was Milo who invited me.” She stands then, and hinges at the waist in order that she’s also upside down, then she addresses him directly. “I think I made it in time; you are alive, no?”

I growl again at the memory that he almost wasn’t. “Who… the fuck… are ye?”

Milo suddenly shuffles and scrambles from under me. “Oh my goddess, no way!” He manages to roll over onto his front, but it’s a tight squeeze. “You’re Time?”

Milo pokes me with his elbow to give him some space to get up, but my wolf refuses to separate. Another, sharper nudge from one of his bony elbows forces me to compromise. I give enough room that he can kneel on the floor, but remain pressed up against his back with my bigger thighs bracketing his and both arms wrapped around his shoulders. Possessively. Protectively.

“Currently, I am Señora Tiempo.” Lady Time gives a deep curtsy, and the swathe of dyed ostrich feathers that crown her head flutter and sway with the movement. “But I go by many names: Time, Le Temps, Die Zeit, Aevum…”

Milo claps in excitement, and she shoots him a wink.

I lean forward to rest my chin on his shoulder, and when he turns sideways, his face displays a wide smile.

“It worked! It actually worked!” he laughs out loud.

It’s a joyous, carefree sound that eases something deep inside me. But there’s also a new and more complex emotion blooming.

“Ye summoned the god of Time?” My voice is quiet, my awe of his abilities having stolen my breath.

Milo blushes, and turns away, “I don’t know that I summoned her so much as I… left an interdimensional letter of complaint.”

Señora Tiempo’s earlier smile drops, and she stands a little taller. “About that…”

She snaps her fingers, and Janus appears leashed and bound by her feet.

Instantly, I shift into full wolf form, and stalk forward to body-block Milo. Snarling and baring my teeth, I hunch my shoulders and store my power in my back legs ready to strike. I’m much bigger like this, and from where Milo still kneels behind me, no part of him is exposed.

Señora Tiempo doesn’t comment when my wolf stretches and snaps in warning at Janus’s chained and prone body. Instead, she speaks softly to Milo. “When you called, I was in the middle of the second verse of ‘My Heart Will Go On’ by Celine Dion, and it’s such a crowd-pleaser that I wasn’t able to just stop.”

She pokes Janus with one of her pointed shoes. “But I heard every word you said. And when the applause had died down, and I’d fought my way back to my station at the rear of the Carpa Valentino, I listened again. Then I checked in with Anna Perenna and the Parcea. And then Fortuna, who sent me to you with her blessing.”

Had Milo not done whatever he did to get Time’s attention, then, he’d be dead.

Janus protests something from behind his gag, but all he achieves is a red face and a puddle of drool. Lady Time kicks him harder. “Silencio! Or I let my amigo, Rowan, use you as a chew toy.”

My wolf likes that idea and stalks forward, but the soft and hesitant grasp of Milo’s fingers on the thick fur of my flank prevents me. I fall back to my mate’s side, and lean in. He smiles up at me with what I interpret as gratitude.

Señora Tiempo yanks on his leash. “This is for show, but I promise that Janus is no longer a threat. Not to the General, his Bloodline, nor to either of you.” Then her voice adopts a more melodious tone, and the chain leash Janus is bound with transforms to a prismatic band of full-spectrum light. “Consider him human, and very mortal.”

I dip my head in a canine form of acknowledgment. Milo replaces his fingers with both arms, and hugs tightly around my thick neck.

“Rowan, if you’d consider adopting your human form, I’d like to invite you both a mi casa to discuss these matters further—in more comfort.” She gestures to the open, windy rooftop of the Colonial National Bank.

I turn to observe Milo, who’s exhausted but wide-eyed with wonder, and lean closer to lend him my strength. We won’t go anywhere he doesn’t want to go. His fingers tangle in my fur, and I love that he isn’t fearful of my wolf, having only seen him once during an attack.

While we’re having this wordless exchange, Señora Tiempo adds, “I won’t keep you long, unless you both choose to stay, and can return you to any point in time that you choose once we’re done.”

Milo inhales, then nods—he’d like to go. And because I’m not letting him from my side, it looks like I’m going too. In harmony with my wolf, finally, about the fact that Milo is our mate, I change back to my human skin.

His grip slips from my neck, but graces my arm and settles into a comfortable hold of my hand. I give it a gentle squeeze, and thread our fingers together.