Kiss Me Deadly Page 30

  Another growl from the huge wildcat now loose in the city made me instinctively turn around and start running for my house. I didn’t think I’d ever moved so fast in my life. Keeping the bracelet on me made me nervous so I decided to quickly hide it under a Dumpster in an alleyway I passed on my way home. I’d come back for it in the daylight when every shadow didn’t seem as if it was ready to pounce.

  “Hey honey,” Mom said, distracted since she was on the phone when I blew through the front door. “How did it go at Hocus Pocus? Did you find a familiar?”

  “I don’t know,” I said when I’d found my voice. It came out really shaky. “I’ll have to go back tomorrow. I have homework. Talk to you later.”

  I ran upstairs and shut my bedroom door, trying to put what had happened out of my mind forever.

  ***

  There was a small striped kitten sitting on my chest, looking at me, when I woke up the next morning. It cocked its head to the side.

  “You’re finally awake. I’ve been waiting forever. Where’s the bracelet, Brenda?”

  I heard the voice in my head, the same voice from last night. I pushed the kitten away from me and scrambled out of the bed and got tangled up in the sheets and my baggy pajamas. My legs felt shaky.

  “Wh-what do you want from me?”

  The kitten watched me carefully. “The bracelet. Like I just said.”

  “How come I can hear you?”

  “Good question. I figure it’s because that old witch did her abracadabra thing last night. I’m your familiar now, remember? Who knew that would actually mean something? But at least it helped me find you again. You’re like a homing beacon for me now.” He didn’t sound terribly happy about that.

  The familiar/witch bonding spell.

  “You turned into a tiger last night.” My mouth felt very dry.

  “And you’re lucky I did. You have no idea how dangerous those werewolves were.”

  “Werewolves? Wh-what did they want?”

  “See? We’ve come back to the subject of the bracelet again. It’s what they want. It’s what I want. So why don’t you hand it over so I can go on my merry way and leave you to your normal life?”

  “Brenda!” Mom called from the hallway outside my closed door. “You up?”

  I tensed. “Yeah.”

  “Breakfast is almost ready. I made blueberry pancakes.”

  I gulped. “Super. Just a moment.”

  “I’ll bring you up some orange juice to start.”

  “No, that’s not really—” But I heard the footsteps on the stairs, indicating she’d already headed back down to the kitchen. Great. Today of all days my mother decides she wants to hand-deliver me some vitamin C.

  I blew out a long breath. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t as if I was hiding anything other than a little kitten in my—

  I turned around and nearly screamed, stopping myself only by clamping my hands over my mouth.

  The kitten was gone. In its place was not a tiger this time, but a boy with tawny-colored hair and dark blue eyes. He was bare-chested and had my sheets pulled up to his waist. I had the sinking feeling that was all he was wearing.

  “Comfortable,” he said, pressing on the mattress. “I could get used to this. Haven’t had a bed for a while. Being on the run has a tendency to mess up your sleeping patterns.”

  He said it flippantly, but there was a strange slide of emotion through his eyes. Something like envy and a little sadness.

  I pried my hands off my mouth for a moment. “You’re a shifter.”

  I’d never met a shape-shifter before, but I’d heard plenty of stories about them. Most of those stories made me positive I wanted to stay very far away from them.

  “Good guess. What was your first clue? The fact that I can shift form? Brilliant deduction, Brenda.”

  “Don’t call me that.”

  “It’s your name, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, but ... but I need you to go away.”

  “My name’s Owen, whether or not you think it’s cool enough for you. My mom—may she rest in peace—thought it was pretty cool seventeen years ago, so it’s good enough for me. So, it looks like we’re all bonded together now. I have this strange compulsion to be close to you. So annoying.” He actually rolled his eyes. “Witches. Honestly. Think they rule the world.”

  I wrung my hands. “If you’re a shifter, you can’t be my familiar.”

  “The spell that shopkeeper put on us seems to challenge that theory.” He placed his hand casually over his stomach, and my gaze followed. Owen was fairly gorgeous, actually, with a thin but muscular body. He looked like a runner. I could even count his abs. You know, if I wanted to.

  And I didn’t.

  “You need to get out of my bed right now.” Words I’d never actually spoken together in that sequence.

  “Sure thing, boss.” He began to move and the sheets started to slip over his bare left hip. I turned my back to him so I wouldn’t see anything else.

  “No, wait! Stop, just stop. Just change form again.”

  “Back to my kitten? Or the tiger? Or I can be a full-sized regular cat—that’s the best for staying incognito. Perhaps a Puma would be fun, though. Or a leopard. Choose your kitty-cat, Brenda.”

  “Just the kitten is fine!” There was an edge of hysteria in my voice as I heard the stairs creak. My mother was coming up with my orange juice. I turned and looked at Owen. “Please change back!”

  “Because if mommy dearest sees me here like this...” His lips curled. “That would probably look bad for you, wouldn’t it? She’d think her darling daughter is a naughty little witch?”

  “Yes!”

  “So I’m guessing you don’t have a lot of guys sneaking into your bed in the middle of the night?”

  Even though I was freaking out, I had enough time to send him a withering glare. “That’s none of your beeswax.”

  “You didn’t just say beeswax. You couldn’t have.” He laughed and the sound was low and throaty. “That’s so completely adorable I could seriously die.”

  My cheeks were blazing with heat. I always said the lamest things when I was nervous. “Change! Now!” It was more of a frantic whisper than a shout.

  His smile faded as if it had never been there in the first place. “I want the bracelet.”

  “Okay, okay. I’ll get it for you, but it’s not here.”

  “You hid it somewhere else?”

  “Yes!”

  The door opened the next moment, and my mother walked in carrying a small glass of orange juice. I nearly passed out. When she saw Owen, there was no way I could ever possibly explain having a naked boy lying in my bed. I’d be grounded till I was thirty. There was no possible—

  “Oh!” she exclaimed. “How adorable! But I thought you said you didn’t get anything last night.”

  I whipped around to see that the boy in my bed was gone, replaced by a tiny, striped kitten. A tiny, striped, purring kitten.

  “No, uh, you must have heard me wrong. I got one, obviously.” I frantically waved my hand at the kitten. “But I don’t have any supplies for it yet.”

  Still holding the juice glass, she picked the kitten up in her other hand and nuzzled it against her face. “So precious. Excellent choice, Brenda. I approve. Does it have a name?”

  “Yes, it’s, uh, Owen. And it’s a he.”

  “This means you’re excited to start your training in magic?” Before I could say anything, she continued, “I know you’ve resisted, thinking you don’t have the natural talent, but I know you do. You’ve already shown it in the few lessons we’ve done. You simply need to believe in yourself. And now that you have this darling little friend to help you, I think the sky’s the limit, Brenda. I really do.”

  My mother was nothing if not encouraging. I couldn’t help but feel guilty for constantly making up reasons why I couldn’t study witchcraft along with my regular high school classes.

  “I don’t know if I can say I’m excited,” I said hones
tly. “But I’ll give it a try.”

  She smiled and handed me the juice and gently put the kitten back down on the bed. “It’s a start.”

  So I’d devote myself to learning to be a witch. If I failed, then she couldn’t very well hold it against me. Fine. It was decided. No more excuses.

  However, I had an excuse for today. I needed to get the bracelet for Owen so he could get out of my life. And Mrs. Timmons thought I was a troublemaker. Right.

  Mom left my room and I saw, out of the corner of my eye that Owen turned back into his human form and was still in my bed.

  “I need clothes,” he said.

  I didn’t turn to look at him full-on, but I knew he was right. He couldn’t very well wear my bed sheets all day, could he?

  “My brother’s in college right now, but he’s got a closet full of clothes here. I’ll get something for you.”

  “You’re so accommodating.”

  “I get the bracelet, and you leave me alone right?”

  “I get the bracelet, I deliver the bracelet to the person expecting it, and then we need to get this bonding spell between us removed.”

  “I don’t feel anything,” I said honestly.

  “That makes one of us.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He sighed. “It means that because of this spell I feel this need to be close to you. And I have this crazy sense that I ... belong to you, and only you. And I don’t think I like that very much.”

  When I turned to look at him to see if he was messing with me, he’d already changed back into a kitten.

  ***

  Behind the house, Owen changed into an old pair of my brother’s jeans, Reeboks, and a blue T-shirt, before we set off for the alley where I’d stashed the bracelet last night. Then I had to get to school.

  “So, Brenda,” he said my name as if taste-testing it. “You’re a witch-in-training, are you?”

  I glanced at him sideways. “You could say that.”

  “Can you do magic?”

  “That’s kind of the point, isn’t it?”

  “But can you?”

  “Not really.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because of the ‘in training’ part. I need to practice.”

  “Like playing the piano.”

  “Sort of. Only completely different.” I nervously crossed my arms, feeling the weight of my backpack pull at the shoulder straps. “And you’re a weretiger? Werecat?”

  “Just shifter is fine.”

  “I thought you might be a werewolf.”

  “No. Werewolves are a breed unto themselves.” There was a sneer in his voice. No love lost there. “They can only shift into one form. I can be any size or kind of cat I want to be.”

  Even though I found it unsettling, I couldn’t help but be slightly impressed. “Shifters like you and werewolves fight like cats and dogs. Seems kind of appropriate.”

  “My pack and theirs don’t get along and never will.”

  “And you don’t want them to get the bracelet.”

  “Nope. They got wind of me having it, and they’ve been tracking me for days. I was fine inside the magic store since everything inside was protected with a magical ward.”

  “You were hiding out in there?”

  He nodded. “The owner had no idea. I just sneaked in and made myself at home. Not bad. Lousy food, but not bad. That woman who gave me to you? She seems like a bitch on the surface, but she’s actually really nice when there’s nobody there but the animals.” He sighed. “Thought I was okay for a while, but then you had to single me out.”

  “‘Half-dead runt,’” I repeated what Mrs. Timmons had said about him.

  “It’s a look I was trying to perfect. Who knew that was your type?”

  My type. I suppose you could say that.

  He didn’t look like a runt at the moment. In fact, he was almost a whole foot taller than me, so that put him at a few inches over six feet. He wasn’t hugely muscular, but he was solid and lean. My brother’s clothes didn’t fit him perfectly, but they looked pretty good, all things considered.

  “Yes?” he asked, making me realize that I was openly checking him out.

  I cleared my throat. “Nothing.”

  Owen swore under his breath, his eyes now on the sidewalk ahead of us. I looked with alarm at what had caused this reaction. Someone stood there, leaning against the fence next to the sidewalk as if waiting for our approach.

  He was tall, lean, with tawny-colored hair a lot like Owen’s. Only this guy was easily a few years older.

  “Brother,” he said, and a wide grin spread over his face. “Long time no see.”

  I jumped when I felt Owen’s hand on the small of my back, and he leaned toward me to whisper, “Play along, please, or this is going to go badly.”

  He then pulled me fully against him until I was pressed against his hip, his hand sliding around to my side. “Jeremy.”

  “Is that any greeting for me?”

  “Sorry, I guess after our last brotherly chat I’m not really feeling the love.” Jeremy spread his hands. “It had to be done, you know that.”

  “Right.” There was a tightness in Owen’s voice.

  “Who’s she?” Jeremy nodded at me.

  “This is Brenda,” Owen said. “She’s ... my girlfriend.”

  I raised my eyebrows with surprise. Girlfriend?

  “She’s a witch,” Jeremy said. “I can sense it.”

  “Your point?”

  “No point.” Jeremy drew closer, his gaze assessing me from feet to face. “So you’re dating my little brother, are you?”

  Play along. Owen had nearly begged me a moment ago.

  “I ... am. Yes, that’s right.”

  “Pretty little thing.” He grinned. “Owen has good taste. Who knew?”

  “Listen, Brenda, I’ll catch up with you in a sec, okay?” Owen said, leaning closer. “Just go on ahead. I need to talk to my brother alone for a minute.”

  “Okay, I’ll just—” But I couldn’t finish my sentence because Owen kissed me, taking my breath completely away. His lips felt soft, but a bit demanding, as if he wanted some sort of response from me. I kissed him back, confused by what was going on, confused by how good this felt.

  Owen pulled back from me after a moment, and there was confusion on his face as well, his brows drawn together. I touched my mouth with my fingertips.

  Good kiss. Very, very good kiss. By the look on his face, I think he might have agreed with me.

  “Get a room,” Jeremy said dryly.

  Owen gave me a gentle shove to propel me a little down the sidewalk. I “played along” and started walking away.