Magic and Mayhem: Witch and Were (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Free Page A

he stood and backed toward the door. "No harm, no foul. Right?"
    "Ha! How about both, wise guy? Now get out before something else I can't control happens."
    He started to laugh, an easy rumble that sounded deep in his chest and made my body zing with appreciation. He disappeared through the door and I pressed my forehead on the cool marble tiles of the floor. What the hell was happening to me?
    "Here you go, hon." My mother had returned with an armful of clothes. "I wasn't sure what would work so I brought plenty of choices."
    Less mortified with only my mother in the room I sat up and started to rifle through the options.
    "Holy crap, Patience. What happened to your hair? Is that why you came in wearing that silly hat?"
    "Yes. Apparently a side effect of whatever is going on." I settled on a pair of skinny jeans from some designer I'd never heard of and the T-shirt with the least amount of sparkle. Goddess bless her, after all these years my mother still thought all her clothes needed crystals and sequins.
    I had picked up some hair dye on the way over so I could deal with it. I scrunched my hair in the mirror and stuck my tongue out at my reflection. "This white is horrible."
    "I think you look fantastic with it," Mick said from the hallway.
    I turned to my mother. "Is he seriously listening through the door?"
    "No, Shifter hearing," he said. "I could be in the kitchen and still hear every word."
    I glared at my mother. "He's a Shifter? Are you kidding me?" I ran my fingers through my hair. "Your new boyfriend is a Shifter." I shook my head. "I thought you learned your lesson last time."
    "He's not my boyfriend," she hissed. "He's my handyman."
    I rolled my eyes again. That sounded like code for bed buddy to me. "Whatever, Mom. I don't care what you do with your conquests. I only came here to see if you could explain what the heck is going on with me. Waking up as a wolf and spontaneously shifting with no control is not supposed to happen. I'm fifty. Not a prepubescent teen. If I was a Shifter wouldn't this have happened a long time ago?"
    "Not necessarily," Mick's muffled responses from the hallway were getting on my nerves.
    "You might as well come in, Mick."
    "Mother!" I grabbed a handful of hair and held it up.
    "Oh right. Never mind, Mick. Stay out there. Patience has an issue with her hair. We'll be out soon." She got up and opened the door and stuck her head out. "Be a dear and grab Patience's bag by the door, won't you."
    "Of course, Charlene." He moved down the hallway and I breathed a sigh of relief. Him being close had a muddling effect on my brain and I needed a clear head to think about what should happen next.
    "You should talk to him, Patience. He says he knows of someone who can help. Some sort of whispering woman or something like that."
    I scrunched up my face in disbelief and gave my mom the look in the mirror. "Please tell me you are not serious."
    Her eyes narrowed in response. "I know you've not been as strong a witch as others, but I think it's high time you stopped looking down your nose at it. If it's good enough for you to use to make your fancy face creams on one hand, then you can't try to smack it down with the other."
    A knock sounded at the door a moment before it popped open. I threw a towel over my hair before his gorgeous face appeared through the door.
    "Here you go," he said, handing over my oversized shoulder bag that I used to practically carry my entire life around.
    I grabbed it and pushed him out the door. "No boys allowed."
    "Sweetheart, I haven't been a boy for a very long time." The deep husky tone of his voice made my insides quiver.
    Cheese and rice.
    He needed to stop doing that shit.
    "Yeah, yeah. I hear you. Now leave me in peace to fix this mess."
    "I think you should leave it," he said.
    Apparently the door between us wasn't going to shut him up.
    "You're nuts." I opened the box and laid out all the items before looking at my mom. "Please tell me you know how to do