Misenchanted Shifter (3 page)

Eileen wiped her hands and lips daintily then picked up her fork for the first time during the meal.

Harris was watching her with his chin propped up on his fist and an expression of admiration for her. “I have never seen a woman eat with such a good appetite.”

“If you had any idea how many calories I burned getting my hair like this, you would not be so surprised at my appetite.”

He chuckled. “So, what drove you to the Crossroads?”

Eileen smiled. “Do you want the truth?”

“Please.”

“Fine. I am nearing my first heat and I need a mate. None of my kind is available, so this is the easiest way to find someone suitable.” She shrugged and stabbed at a grape in her bowl.

“First? No offence, but you are not precisely a teenager. May I ask what species you are?”

She wrinkled her nose. “I would rather you didn’t. It isn’t exactly something I am comfortable with.”

“Lowson claims you are a snake, but I don’t think so. You have a varied appetite and that isn’t something usually found in snake shifters.”

“It could be an off day.” She didn’t know why she was defending her food choices, but it was hard to be indignant with a wedge of pineapple in her jaws.

Harris smiled slowly and the expression lit up his broad features. “When you are finished slaughtering your fruit salad, would you do me the honour of a dance?”

She blinked. “You have seen me massacre a meal and you are eager to risk contact?”

“I like to live dangerously.” He winked one of his dark chocolate eyes.

Her fork clattered in the bowl, and she finished her coffee. The server brought the pay unit over, and before Eileen could swipe her charm over the icon, Harris had his hand in front of hers.

She scowled. “Why did you do that?”

“I always pay for entertainment. That was dinner and a show.” He smiled winningly.

She couldn’t be mad at that boyish charm. She really tried, but it just wouldn’t come.

“Fine. One dance and then I am going to check the population of fish in this particular pond.”

He nodded. “Fair enough.”

Harris rose to his feet and extended his hand to her.

She pivoted, took his hand and got to her feet with fey grace. She could see the hairs on the back of his hand standing upright at the slight contact, and she sighed. It had been a while since she had touched another shifter, and she had forgotten the effect she had on them. Fey magic clung to every cell of her body. It was as much a part of her as the rapid and varied shifting.

“Will you tell me why I tingle when you touch me?” Harris tucked her hand into the curve of his arm.

“Nope. Not until I decide if you are trustworthy.”

She was only three inches shorter than he was with her heels on. He seemed surprised by her height, but he straightened his shoulders and opened the door for her when they left the café. She could feel the gazes that clung to them, but with a delicate burp, she left the café behind.

The Crossed Star Bar was getting into full swing. Harris escorted her inside and straight to the dance floor.

The songs were upbeat but slow enough to close-dance to, and when Harris settled her in his arms, she moved against him with as much grace as she could remember from all of her dance lessons every weekend since she was seven.

She swayed and shifted with him as they moved around the floor.

“How is it that you are such a good dancer?”

Eileen smiled. “My mother raised me right and my grandfather was a stickler for protocol.”

When he tried to pull her tight against him, she locked her arms and remained at the appropriate distance.

“You are a good dancer as well, Harris.”

“Thank you. Coming from a woman of your skill, that is a compliment.”

The music came to a halt for a moment and she stepped back. “Thank you for that. It was just the thing to settle that burger.”

He looked like he wanted to insist, but instead, he gave in gracefully. “Thanks for the dance, Eileen.”

She walked to the bar and ordered a glass of malbec. The woman behind the counter filled her glass expertly and slipped it onto a coaster. “I absolutely love your dress.”

“Thank you. It is a side effect of online shopping and my hairstyle is caused by the dress.”

“Which makes the makeup rise to cover its own bases. I am Spike. I am here most of the time, and Chuck is here the rest. The owner’s wife is about to go into labour, so they are retracting from the daily grind of the bar.”

Eileen blinked at the babbling. Some folks reacted that way to her magical outer shell. It helped when she was teaching teens. Getting to the truth of things was a lot easier when confessing was all they wanted to do.

Eileen sipped at her wine and watched Harris romance other women on the dance floor. Those women were interested in getting far more than some light exercise out of the excursion. His ass was grabbed frequently.

Spike was nearby so Eileen asked, “How can they stand being groped like that?”

“What, the men?”

“Yes.”

“This is speed dating on a shifter scale. They want to meet someone who is compatible and grinding on them on a dance floor tells interest from disinterest in a matter of seconds.”

Eileen couldn’t fault the logic.

“Now, if you would just turn your attention to the group of men who have been trying to catch your gaze all evening, you might be able to learn a few things about the available shifters tonight.” Spike jerked her head over to the far edge of the bar where three men were staring at Eileen with focus and interest.

“Why haven’t they come over before?”

“Because you had no interest in being interested if that makes any sense. This isn’t the place for force or trickery. If a woman isn’t receptive, they leave her alone or suffer my wrath. Now that you have made eye contact, you are fair game.”

Eileen made a face at being tricked into that eye contact, but when the first of the three introduced himself and asked her to dance, she headed to the dance floor with him and an eye to locating a likely mate.

She shrugged mentally.
It could happen.

After Robert, Teddy and Leroy took her for chaste turns around the dance floor, she thanked each one in turn and returned to the bar.

She knew that they were not for her, but they were very close. After the dancing, she settled at the bar and had another glass of malbec.

“So, the Earth didn’t move?”

“Not even enough to wobble
Jell-O
.”

“You might consider engaging in bodily contact while you dance. Your grace is remarkable but the distance between you makes intimacy awkward. No connection can be created if you don’t touch.”

Sighing, Eileen put her hand, palm up, on the bar. “Put your hand on mine.”

Curious, Spike wiped her hands on a bar towel and put her fingers over Eileen’s. She jerked them back quickly. “Holy crap.”

Eileen shrugged. “I am stuck with it. It is mine; I can’t get rid of it. This is what the men feel when I touch them. Rubbing against them would have an unusual reaction to say the least.”

Spike put her hand on Eileen’s again. “It isn’t bad. It is just strange if you are not expecting it.”

“How can I warn against that? My touch may charge you? Kissing me may feel like frenching a joy buzzer? This is going to take some strategy, and I don’t know where to start.”

“It is your first day. Give it some time. You might find a guy who likes it.” Spike winked.

Eileen sipped at her wine and casually watched the other inhabitants of the bustling bar as the evening wore on. She danced several times and all of her partners rubbed their hands against their thighs the moment the song was over.

She sighed and returned to the barstool.

A familiar body took the stool next to her. “Are you having fun?”

She gave him a dark look and sipped at the wine that Spike gave her. “Yes, it’s delightful.”

Harris laughed. “It is your first day. Relax. It will get easier.”

Eileen frowned into the wine. “I don’t think it will.”

To her surprise, he took her hand and raised it to his lips. “It will. I promise.”

The small kiss sent tingles through her that ran from her knuckles, through her chest and all the way down to her toes. Her toes tried to curl in her shoes, but there wasn’t room.

“Uh, thank you?” She bit her lip.

He smiled and retained possession of her hand, though he rested it on the bar.

“Don’t you mind the…effect of my skin?” She wrinkled her nose.

“I am thick skinned, Eileen. I rather enjoy the sensation.”

She blushed hotly. “I haven’t heard that one before.”

“Finish your wine, Eileen. I will walk you back to your residence. I think you have had enough Crossroads culture for the evening.”

Eileen looked around at the new couples plastered to each other on the dance floor. “You are right. I have had enough.”

She finished her wine and got to her feet.

Harris tucked her arm in the curve of his once again, and he led her out into the night where the moon was up and full.

“Did you think it would be easy?” Harris asked her casually.

“I didn’t think about it at all. I was told that my rapid and random shifting was due to my approaching heat and that I needed to take steps. The Crossroads were the steps.”

“So, you don’t have a deep and abiding need for a mate?” Harris chuckled.

She pointed toward the bed and breakfasts and he altered their path. “I don’t think it was ever presented as an option. I thought my particular shifting pattern was a side effect of tampering with my magic as a child, but it seems to be completely natural. What you can feel on my skin is—”

“Fey magic. I recognize it when I feel it. There are a few fey in my territory, so the tingle is not unfamiliar to me.”

“Well, that explains why you can bear to touch me.”

“Can’t you have the enchanter remove the magic?”

She looked at him with surprise. “No. I can’t. It is embedded; though he did try when I was a teenager. He did not enjoy the result.”

It was the first time Eileen had seen lightning indoors.

He smiled, “I also have more than one simple form. There is nothing to be worried about. This is the one place where the unusual can be treated as normal. The playing field here is completely even.”

“You have more than one shape, too?” There was a lonely child in her mind when she asked him.

“I do. If you like, I would like to show you. Shall we have a picnic in the forest tomorrow?” Harris’s tone was casual.

“That sounds nice. Is the weather always this pleasant?”

“It has been for the time I have been here.”

Eileen pulled herself a little closer to him on their walk toward the Open Heart. “I think a picnic would be nice. Teal gave me a general idea of what is where, but I would like to see it for myself.”

“You are staying at the Open Heart?”

Their destination wasn’t in doubt. It was the last building on the path.

“I am.” She clued into the fact that he knew the name of the place. “You as well?”

He chuckled. “Apparently. I am sure that Teebie will set us up with a proper picnic tomorrow. She seems the type.”

“She is very generous. She agreed to look up my…condition for me. With any luck, she has found something.”

“You do have me curious.”

“I am sure you can stay curious until I find out more about what I am. The data that I have so far is woefully incomplete.”

He walked with her up the steps and to the large door with the inset stained glass window. Harris paused. “May I give you a goodnight kiss?”

She blinked. “You are asking?”

He smiled. “As my mother told me, manners matter.”

“Um, yes. Yes, you can.”

He leaned in and brushed his lips across hers so lightly that she felt the spark jump from her skin to his. His lips curved in a smile and he moved closer to her, increasing the pressure on her mouth. She parted her lips and ran a hand up his chest, around his neck and she held his head to hers as the kiss continued to spark a reaction from her mouth down to her toes.

Her breasts brushed against his chest, and he jolted. She let him go immediately and pushed away, running inside and up the stairs, past her startled hostess.

She closed the door to her room behind her and let the tears fall. Despite him saying that he didn’t mind the fey aura, he had still jerked back in response.

Eileen headed to the bathroom to repair the damage to her makeup and took a deep breath. She just had to wait until he entered his room and she would be able to go down and talk to Teebie.

She finished fixing her face and sat on the edge of the bed, fidgeting as she waited. A knock on her door brought her head up. “Yes?”

“Eileen, it’s Teebie. I found that book I was talking about. May I come in?”

Eileen got to her feet and opened the door. “Please. Come on in.”

A quick glance past the blue features of her hostess showed Harris leaning patiently against a wall down the hall.

He inclined his head and she jerked back.

Teebie moved into her room and closed the door behind her. The large book under her arm smelled of ancient hands and herbs.

A small table and two chairs appeared near the fireplace. The fire roared into a cheery blaze.

“Come on. Sit. I have to read this to you as I doubt you can read dragon.”

“You can?”

“Sure. My aunt taught me.” Teebie sat in front of the fire and lit an orb of light above her. She patted the empty chair. “Come on.”

Eileen settled in the chair and watched Teebie wrestle the book open and flip through the pages. “The book’s entry on chimera is fairly elaborate. You are one of the ancient magical creatures, but even when they were a little more common, your kind were still exceptional.”

Teebie found the image of the lion-goat-serpent and began to read.

An hour later, Eileen had a much better idea of what she was and an understanding of her immunity to fire.

“So, ancient species born in fire are fairly indestructible. At least there are some recorded chimera in that book.” She chuckled weakly. “I just have to avoid gargling lead.”