Werecats and Werelocks (Collection) (2 page)

Charlie stared at her reflection in the mirror and then at the pile of hair on her floor by her feet.

If she didn't quit shedding, a Hoover with super suction was next on her list of things to buy.

Right after more Benadryl. Oh, and more Benadryl.

Looking down at her toenails, now sharp and oddly pointy, she frowned.

Christ, she needed a pedicure.

She sneezed hard, and then sighed.

Upon reflection, one might find what had happened at Fabulous Furries three weeks ago kinda freaky.

However, now that some time had passed and she'd sort of adjusted, she just figured—go fucking figure.

Grabbing another handful of tissues, she wiped at her red, swollen nose and winced.

She was still coming to terms with the idea that the man who'd sunk his tooth into her was responsible for this mess. She should make
him
vacuum the fucking floor.

Charlie ran a cool cloth over her eyes and called to Pinky out of habit. Not that he'd listen ... No matter what she did, she couldn't coax him out from under the bed since this had happened, but she tried anyway. “Pinky? C'mon, dude. We can't go on like this forever, you know. Have you forgotten how I got into this flippin’ mess?"

Silence greeted her ears. Nary a whimper from da Pink.

"Yeahhh, that's right. I was going to get
you
a new bone, you beast.” But Pinky clearly cared little about her predicament. He seemed only to sense the huge changes that had occurred in her body's chemistry the past three weeks.

"Ya know, Pink, only I, Charlie Ledbetter, could wind up being caught in the middle of a brawl over some chick named Tasha in the chew-toy aisle and end up like
this
."

On the drive home, Charlie had sneezed so frequently and so severely, she thought surely she'd have to pull over and call Renee to ask her to come pick her up. Luckily, she made it home before the real wheezing started and her lungs began to rattle like a pit of snakes. The only thing she could figure was there had to have been cats in the pet store. Fabulous Furries welcomed all patrons and their pets. But under normal circumstances, Charlie wasn't typically affected by her allergy to cats unless she was around them for an extended period of time, snarfing up their hair.

While she'd been busy trying to figure out why a good dose of Benedryl—something that always quieted her allergic reaction to cats before—wasn't cutting it two hours post dosage, her doorbell rang.

At the time, she'd cursed, hoping it wasn't the Jehovah's Witnesses looking to recruit her again. Because she felt like she might snap and offer to let them come help with the virgin sacrifice in her back yard, feeling as butt-ugly as she did.

But opening the door revealed a crowd of people who wanted to
talk
to her about what had happened at Fabulous Furries. What they wanted to talk about left Charlie a million things. Most of which was totally freaked out.

Apparently, these were her new people.

All twenty or so of them.

Full of apologies.

A bunch of tiger shapeshifters...

From Tibet.

Fancy-schmancy.

Somehow, these people, the Piljor family, had located her rural home in the country and after a family
pride
meeting—because that's what a plethora of tigers were called—a pride—had decided something had to be done about Charlie. It seemed what she'd thought was no more than a harmless, albeit bloody nip to her earlobe, wasn't harmless at all. She'd been bitten by a cat.

And not just any old cat. A
tiger
, to be precise.

Who shapeshifted. There was that word again.

Nice.

Being bitten by a
shapeshifter
meant she was one now, too. Well, almost. Her shift wouldn't be complete until the full moon.

Her shift...

When the guy who'd nipped her ear at the pet store had come home and told his family he'd left a hole in her earlobe the size of Texas, they'd chosen to act—responsibly. Which was very ASPCA as far as Charlie was concerned.

The head pride guy, Luke, decided she couldn't be left to her own devices and looking back, Charlie decided that was downright decent. What if they'd never bothered to own what had happened at the pet store?

Jesus Christ Superstar...

They'd explained what a shapeshifter was and how they weren't just tigers, but half human too.

Hence the wandering around looking like everyone else on the planet.

Now
the memory made her chuckle. At the time—not so much. Charlie blew her nose with some toilet paper and rummaged around in her medicine cabinet to see if she maybe she had some more Flonase. A snort or twelve couldn't hurt.

Her image in the mirror told her nothing could hurt at this point. She looked like complete shit.

All thanks to a fucking nip on her ear.

Charlie'd never forget looking at the crowd of people gathered on her steps, minus the guy who'd done the dirty to her. They were all really, really good looking—so good looking she was almost intimidated by their hard bodies, perfect hair and striking facial features—via eyes that were swollen and red—and thought, well, huh.

When she'd said the word out loud, it somehow sounded less crazy. So she repeated what they'd just said, “Tigers, eh?"

It was like a day at The Bronx Zoo.

Right here at her little house in the country.

Everyone began to speak at once, as if they'd already anticipated what she might ask. Their origins were Tibetan, which was sort of cool, and she'd have appreciated that factoid far more if it weren't for the fact that she couldn't stop sneezing.

"Tigers...” she said again to the crowd of faces, wiping her eyes with a tissue. “Like roar, Born Free tigers?"

"In essence,” the face that stood out the most for her in the crowd replied. He was all blond hair and lean muscle, dressed in a sweater and jeans. Hmm-mmm-good. Even if he wasn't human.

"And I'm not supposed to assume you people are all certifiably fucked in the head?” But there were
twenty
of them ... that was a buttload of crazy people all telling the same crazy story.

"You wanna see?” one man from the back of the crowd offered.

Charlie leaned against the railing on her front porch and coughed, clearing her throat. “Um, see? See what?"

"Me, you know, shift—into a tiger. So you'll know we're telling you the truth,” he responded, pushing his way up her steps.

Her snort filled the chilled evening air. “I take it you've run into skepticism before. I mean, I can't imagine anyone in their right mind would doubt the truth of what you're saying. Like seriously, I bet this kind of thing happens everyday. A nice, non-violent, average, simple girl goes to the pet store to get her dog some bones and she walks out of said pet store a tiger. Happens all the time, right? Or is that just me walking out on a limb, talkin’ smack?"

He remained silent to her rant of an inquiry, but waited with questioning eyes.

Her stomach sank and her grip on the railing tightened. Fuck no, she didn't want to see. “You know, if you'd asked me say, last week, I might have been game. I'm sure it's super cool and all. But I really feel like shit today, and honestly you're all freaking me the hell out. So I have to go with no for the moment. But thank you just the same. Just know it's appreciated."

The hot blond guy interrupted his overzealous pride-mate by introducing himself as the head honcho, Luke, and then launched into a speech that offered her reassurance. “We don't want to frighten you. Only inform. I'm sorry my brother isn't here to apologize in person, but he will be. You can trust me when I say, I won't let this go. This is our responsibility and we plan to handle it as such.” The stern set of his jaw left Charlie certain he was serious.

They'd given her some background on shapeshifting and all the kooky shit that went with it, then as suddenly as they'd appeared, they left to let her digest.

When all was said and done, even after researching on the Internet what Charlie had always thought was utter baloney and someone's overactive imagination come to life on a movie screen, she'd come to accept this new fate. There wasn't much choice in the matter. The changes in her body alone were enough evidence. She was one big shedding hairball, her eyesight was so keen at night when her eyeballs weren't watering, they were zeroing in on the herd of deer she had in her backyard that were at least five hundred feet away, and then there was her nose. It was suddenly her guide to all things raw and red.

Raw, red meat.

And to top everything off Pinky wouldn't come near her. Not within twenty feet of her even.

Charlie shuddered. Poor Pinky—so confused—so terrorized by her very presence he mostly didn't come out from under the bed anymore. Clearly he smelled the change in her and he wasn't having anything to do with it. Lately, when he ate, he zinged from his new hideout, nabbed a morsel or two from his bowl and zinged back under the bed for cover.

She left the bathroom and her reverie to kneel beside her bed, lifting the comforter to peek at Pinky. “Pink? Ohhh, Pinkster ... is it that you're worried I'll eat you? I won't eat you, I promise. I love you—since the first day I laid eyes on you at the pound. I mean,” she gave him a guilty look, “I have thought about it, okay? Seriously, I'm just being honest here. You
do
smell good, but I've managed to fight the impulse so far. I can keep doing it ... I think ... So c'mon, huh? I'll play sock with you,” she coaxed, wiggling a finger at him.

Pinky whimpered, curling his barrel-round body into itself and putting his head between his paws.

Charlie sighed in defeat. “So that's a no. Okay. Fine, but you can't hide forever. I mean, eventually you're going to have to trust me.”
And I totally hope to live up to that expectation by not snarfing you down whole
.

Charlie rose, her head hanging, her will suddenly stolen from her due to the scent of fresh deer meat hanging around her back yard again. She slapped a hand over her mouth to keep it from watering.

She wanted to eat a deer and it didn't even need to be cooked as far as she was concerned.

Jesus, how much further could she sink?

You're a cat, oh, sorry, a tiger from Tibet, la-dee-da—that's allergic to herself. Sinking has a whole new level for you
.

Right, she was a tiger who had been allergic to cats when she was 100-percent-grade-A human.

Now that she was half human and half tiger from Tibet, her allergies had become so much worse.

Which was just another go fucking figure.

Only she, Charlie Ledbetter, could be bitten by a cat, be stuck halfway between human form and cat form, and have an allergic reaction.

To herself.

Jesus. Effin'.

[Back to Table of Contents]

Giving up hope on Pinky for today, Charlie went to her kitchen in search of some more allergy meds. These days she gulped bottles of antihistamine like they were Pepsis, popped any kind of pill in varied combinations like she was eating potato chips, and if she wiped her nose just once more, it'd likely fall off into the tissue.

Gripping the edge of the kitchen sink overlooking her backyard, Charlie sneezed again, her eyes sore and watering like twin faucets.

Thank God this could all be fixed.

She snorted when she remembered exactly
how
her allergy issue could be fixed. She'd only gone over it a million times since she'd found out the remedy and then once more reassured herself—this would all go away soon...

Her newly acquired pride relatives had told her so. They really
could
make this little allergy problem better.

When one of the pride people had returned three days later, she came bearing more information.

Okay, so it was some jacked up information, but it was all Charlie had.

"It's going to seem absolutely sinful to someone who isn't of our kind,” Juanita Piljor, er, grandma tiger told her over tea and a bottle of still more Benedryl.

Charlie sneezed and smiled gratefully when Juanita handed her a tissue across her small dinette. “What? How bad could it be? Like is it some kind of ritualistic virgin sacrifice? Because if that's the case, you're scratching up the wrong post. I hate to be blunt, but I'm no virgin. I'm no slut, but lily white I'm soooo not.” Then she cringed. The poor woman had to be seventy if she was a day, cracking wise about sex probably wasn't appropriate.

But Juanita laughed, her wrinkled face broke out in a grin and her red lips coated with lipstick curved upward. “Oh, you don't have to be a virgin."

Suh-weet! Charlie cocked her head and raised an eyebrow in question. “Care to explain?"

Her hand reached across the table, gnarled and covered in age spots, to grip Charlie's. “You don't have to be a virgin to do this, dear."

She squirmed in her seat. “To do what?"

"To fix this."

"Hold up. Are you saying there really is some kind of sacrifice?"

"Well, I guess it depends on how you define the word sacrifice. If I were your age, I'd call it an adventure. At my age, it's just called lucky. Anyway, the ritual goes back many, many hundreds of years and has to do with the full moon and pheromones and something else that escapes me, but I know it works because I've seen it with these old eyes. Well, I mean, I didn't watch ... I just know it did the trick."

"Pheromones and watching what?” She blew her nose hard. “Okay, here's the deal. I say you just tell me and get it over with. I have a crazy feeling I'm going to freak and right now, I feel miserable. It can't be much worse than it already is. So if I have to dance naked while I hop around on one foot and sing ‘Kumbuya,’ I'm in. I just don't want to live the rest of my life needing oxygen and a Benadryl chaser."

Juanita poured her more tea. “I like a girl who attacks things head on. All right then, this is what's required. You have to have sex."

They really were a lovely group of folk, her pride people via pet store brawl were.

Yippee-ki-yi-ay. Now if only there were someone who'd be willing to travel the road, as of late anyway, less traveled. While Charlie knew she should be really freaked out, the sex part wasn't such a big deal. It wasn't like losing a limb or something. She wasn't a prude and if that's what it took, then, okay. It was finding the person to have sex with her she was struggling with. “I don't have a boyfriend. In fact, I haven't had one in two years. I own a small bookstore in town and I work
a lot
. I haven't had time to date. So I think we have to find another way."