Shifter Magick (8 page)

She jumped when she heard a knock at the door. Kera pressed the tape back onto her skin and winced at the zings of pain. She put the present from her mother under her bed for another time. Her crutches were next to the bed but Kera didn’t want to use them. She went to the door and wished she had a peep hole.

Kera opened the door slowly and was surprised to find Maddox hovering in her doorway. “Hey, what are you doing here?” She asked him. How did he get into the girls door rooms? She wished she hadn’t needed to get him involved. Now she had to lie to him.

“
Can I come in?” He asked.

Kera noticed he looked tired. His eyes were a faded blue instead of a sharp ice blue that she loved. “I didn’t know what else to do.” She told him when he entered her room.

He looked around and rested his eyes on her crutches. Maddox looked down at her ankle and frowned. “You shouldn’t be walking on that leg.” Before she could protest, Maddox picked her up and carried her to bed. Kera gasped in surprise when he laid her down and held her breath when he stayed hovered over her. “What were you doing out there?”

Kera felt her heart pound against her ribcage obviously trying its best to get away from his question. She couldn’t tell him about her dream and the need she had to find out if it was true. He wou
ld think she was crazy then. She couldn’t tell him what really happened.

“You could have died.” He told her softly.

Kera put her hands against his chest and pushed against him. He took the hint and straightened over her. He looked down at her leg and examined her ankle from afar. “I asked her to show me.” Kera told him to distract him from her foot.
“I wanted to know more about what happened to you.”

Maddox looked back at her and she nodded to the empty bed. He sighed and sat down on the edge of her bed. “You could have called me.”

Kera felt her lower lip tremble. “She could have died because of me.”
The reality hadn’t hit her until now. Rebecca had so many pictures of her family and friends over her bed and Kera could have got her killed. What would have happened if Kera had been the one to be knocked out? Remembering the danger began to awaken the beast within her.

“Kera.” Maddox murmured then he pulled her up
from where she lay and
hugged her. His arms around her made her want to cry harder but it calmed her at the same time. Kera hugged him back and fisted his shirt in her hands.

She didn’t want to cry in front of him. Her hands shook as she forced the beast back from the forefront. She rested her head in the cro
ok of his neck and felt the heat
from his skin travel though her where her cheek touched his collar bone. She concentrated on the sensation and his scent.

Maddox rubbed her back and pulled away.

Kera wiped her eyes and apologized.

“Can you tell me what happened?” He asked her.

Kera told him what she told her father and the doctors. He listened but he seemed to grow
angrier
with every practiced word she spoke.

Maddox stood up and began to pace. “What did it look like?” he demanded.

“It was huge.” She told him. “Like a log really. I could barely pick it up but it worked when I hit the wolf on the head. I didn’t know what else to do.” She was getting hysterical.

“Not the stick Kera.” Maddox growled. “What did the damn wolf look like?”

Kera gasped and felt her face flush with embarrassment. “It was brown. He had
brown
eyes and sharp teeth and my blood all over its lips. What are you going to do Maddox go find it and check for bumps on his head? I didn’t know what else to do.”

Maddox narrowed his eyes at her and took a breath. He pulled out his pen and twirled it in his hands as he thought silently.

Kera grew angry.
“What do you want from me?” she asked him. It was a loaded question. She could mean from the beginning or right now. What did he want in the future if he even wanted something from her after today?

“There is something you’re not telling me.” Maddox returned to her side as he spoke softly. “You might not think it is important but subconsciously you know it makes a difference. I need to know what that is Kera. I need to know all of it.”

Kera felt exposed. She shook her head as hot tears threatened to spill. The beast sensed danger and wanted to come out to protect her. Kera didn’t know how to separate the emotions of mental harm versus physical harm. If he pushed the subject Kera could see herself telling him everything.

Maddox’s eyes were so dark now they looked black. He was waiting for her to respond.

Kera felt her heart jump into her throat and begin to pound frantically. She felt the pain begin and she reached out and grabbed his hand. Her back arched and her teeth ground together as she fought the beast back. Her eyes felt hot and she knew if she opened them he would see her secret.

“Are you
okay
?” Maddox sounded far away but at the same time his voice vibrated in her head.

She winced and tried to pull her hand from his before she crushed it.
“Go.” She demanded through her clinched teeth.

Maddox didn’t move from the spot he sat beside her. “Kera, I think you are having a heart attack.” He said calmly. “I can get you to the hospital faster than an ambulance.” His arms came around her and Kera knew he was going to pick her up and cart her the entire way back to that dreadful place.

She grabbed his shoulders and found his lips with her own. At first he tried to pull away but Kera wrapped her arms around his neck and moved with him. His lips became pliant and miraculously, he kissed her back. Kera melted into him. The heat from his hands was one thing but the poison from his lips drugged her. She moaned and was glad he was her first kiss. He was gentle and despite his earlier anger, Maddox kissed her with a tenderness she didn’t expect.

He ran one of his hands through her hair and pulled her close with the other between her shoulder blades. She felt her body press against him and she began to drown in sensation. His head tilted and he released another wave of poison into her with the deepening of their kiss.

Kera shivered and Maddox paused.

“You’re better.” He whispered against her lips.

Kera breathed heavily but realized that her beast was locked away. She used Maddox to distract herself from an almost
detrimental situation. “I’m sorry.” She apologized.

He shook his head and Kera knew she wouldn’t be able to elaborate. “It’s
okay
.” He promised her.

Kera readjusted herself and noticed that her leg felt perfect now. She blushed and felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“Kera, you don’t have to apologize.” He pulled her chin up so she would look at him. “It was just a kiss.”

Kera laughed despite the sting of his words. For her it wasn’t just a kiss. “Yeah.” She spat. “Just an awkward, out of the blue, Kera is freaking out again… kiss.” She looked away from him and blushed just thinking about it. She got worked up again just thinking about it. The kiss itself was breathtaking. She would never ever forget it.
And what was that intense feeling that soared through her when she kissed him. It seemed more than just a sexual attraction. It was supernatural.

“So you were freaking out?” H
e tried to distract her. “What about?”

Kera looked at him. “There are things about me you wouldn’t understand.”

Instead of getting angry, Maddox smiled. “You would be surprised.” He told her. “Try me.”

Kera felt the urge again, to tell him everything. He already seemed to read her like an open book. “Can’t you just forget about me
and all the trouble I caused?” S
he said the words with indifference but her heart ached.

“I can’t forget you.” Maddox turned all his attention to her. She noticed his heart beat faster as he leaned over and kissed her lips. “I can’t stop thinking about you.” He brushed her cheek with his hand and Kera felt her eyes close.

“Why is that?” S
he breathed.

He kissed her again. A quick press against her lips that ended too soon. “
I don’t know.” He answered her then pulled away and grab
bed her hands. “What is this?” H
e asked her.

Kera could feel the hot energy pulsing through her hands and tingling at her lips but he probably didn’t mean that. She was the strange one, not him.

“Your skin is on fire.” He looked between her hands and her eyes as he spoke.

Kera realized his eyes were ice blue again. She blushed as she remembered how captivated she was by him. She was falling for him. “What do you think it is?”

Maddox chuckled and examined her palms. His fingers tickled the lines he traced. “It’s indescribable.” He told her.

Kera felt her heart swell and pick up pace. “You feel something? The heat?”

Maddox gave her a curious look. “There is som
ething about your skin though i
t’s not just heat.” He looked down at her hand then back into her eyes. “You ground me.”

Kera blinked. “Do you do this to all the girls you kiss?” She asked him. He was a smooth talker but Kera couldn’t imagine he really felt anything unusual when he touched her.

“It’s not me Kera.” He refused. “It’s you. You have something special.”

Kera wondered if it could be her but if that was true, she would have felt it when she hugged her father.
Or when she shook Andrew’s hand.
The doctors and nurses would have kept her at the hospital for testing. Most likely explanation was that Maddox didn’t feel what she felt.

“Can I ask you something?” H
e asked seriously.

Kera tried not to freak out immediately. “Sure.”
She held her breath until he spoke.

“Will you stay away from the mountains?” He asked. “You were with Rebecca but I would rather you do something like that only if I’m around. You will call me next time you want to be curious right?”

Kera nodded in relief.
“Rebecca said your uncle owns a news paper, could you ask him to keep me out of the papers?”

Maddox frowned. “I don’t get along with that side of my family.” He looked away and Kera could swear he looked
like he
wanted to bolt for the door.

“I shouldn’t have asked.”

"I will see what I can do." Maddox looked back at her and smiled. “I have to go. I had your car cleaned. I need to go pick it up so I can fix the door.” He lingered for another moment his eyes focusing on her lips.

“You have my car?” Kera asked remembering the pool of blood on the floor of her car. “What was wrong with the door?”

“I’m sorry, but it was locked, I had to pry it open to get to you.” Maddox looked slightly nervous.
He pulled her phone out of his pocket. “Found this too.”

Kera groaned inside. “Why are you doing all this for me?” She was shocked he had taken so much upon himself. Especially before she kissed him.
He was having her car cleaned and taking it to get the door fixed.
He was definitely either a very nice guy or he wanted something.

Maddox smiled at her and touched a finger to her nose. “Let me be the hero
okay
?”

Kera cringed. “I forgot to thank you for that.”

He inclined his head to her and glanced at her ankle. “Let’s start with saying away from the woods.”

“Class can be just as dangerous.” She laughed. “Have you seen everyone clear out after the professor
dismisses
them?”

“You’re going to class?”

Kera nodded.

“Let me pick you up then.” He
looked back to her ankle. “In fact, I insist.”

How could a girl deny him anything?

Kera woke up alone with her mother’s voice in her ear. She deliberately ignored the present calling to her from under the bed.

She still wasn’t ready.

Kera unwrapped the gauze and tape from her ankle and took out her stitches. All that was left was the holes from the thread. Kera shook her head and remembered that her ankle hadn’t hurt one bit since the intense kiss with Maddox.

Now she had to pretend she was still hurt.

Kera grumbled as she picked out her clothes remembering that she had been wearing her favorite jeans in the woods. Once dressed, she picked up her bags and ran down stairs. When she got to the lobby Kera practiced her limp all the way to the door.

Maddox was exiting his car when she opened the door. His eyes went wide with worry and surprise and he jogged over to her. “Kera, you walked down the stairs by herself?” He chastised her.

“They gave me painkillers and it really wasn’t as bad as everyone thinks.” She told him.

Maddox snorted. “Right.” He said. “You’re forgetting I was there.”

Kera felt the color drain from her face. He was right. She did forget that he had been there. Had he looked at her ankle very carefully? “I’m being careful.” She whispered guiltily.