Page 16 of Just in Time
I sighed heavily and pulled myself up onto his back. “Hi- ho Silver,” I said, causing Brody to stamp his foot impatiently. I held onto his mane and off we went, galloping through the trees and brush.
Brody was careful to not buck me off his back. Or to like… hit me on branches or anything.
The ride there was bumpy and uncomfortable. I knew that he’d shifted and everything, but the no saddle thing was seriously hurting my thighs.
When he finally stopped, I slid off his back and he shifted back into his human form. I pulled his clothing from my bag and he’d no sooner stepped into his jeans than a low growl sounded from the bushes beside us.
He placed one arm protectively in front of me, glaring around as a brindle colored wolf stepped growling from the bushes.
When the wolf shifted in front of my eyes, I almost didn’t have time to look away. But I did, glancing up into the treetops as the man in front of us sneered. “Who the hell are you?”
“Not looking to fight, buddy…” Brody said softly, but there was a low growl in the back of his throat that he usually only used when we were getting down and dirty in the sheets. So I was having all kinds of conflicting feelings right now.
“Then why are you in my woods,buddy,” the other shifter countered, his voice low. Warning us. “And why do you smell like strangers? And what the hell happened to your hands???” Brody was in the middle of tugging on a pair of gloves to cover up his missing appendages.
I glanced down then, taking in the top half of the other shifter’s body and as much of the bottom half of him without… gawking. He was tall. Muscular. Covered in tattoos. And eyeliner.
Apparently, that was a thing in the 80s, though. No judgement. Bowie was awesome.
“We’re just… passing through,” Brody said, pulling on the last glove with a flourish and a look that said ‘don’t even ask’.
I rolled my eyes and stepped back in front of him, causing the other man—the naked one—to take a step back. “I’m a time witch. I’m here to repair a timeline. He’s my muscle. You gonna let us pass, or do I have to like… go back in time and erase one of your siblings or something?”
He gulped, looking me up and down with something akin to hunger. I thought for a minute he was gonna tackle me to the ground and rip open my stomach or something.
But he didn’t.
“A time witch?” he asked instead. “Never met one in the flesh before.”
“Well. Today’s your lucky day. Unless you fuck up and I have to go back and erase your memory.”
“Your powers work that way?” he asked, seemingly impressed.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I asked, smirking. “You wanna… shift into some clothes, there, wolfie?”
“Right…” he said, swallowing thickly and reaching up to push his hair back from his face. He had a lot of it, now that I was looking. Long, sleek and straight. Down his back. Dark brown.
He had crooked teeth. Not so crooked that it was distracting, but crooked enough that it made his smile look a lot less threatening. His cheeks reddened as he pulled on a pair of jeans. No underwear. Just like Brody.
Brody said they got in the way of a clean shift, apparently this man agreed.
The other man buttoned his jeans and placed his hands on his hips, watching both of us as Brody finished pulling on his pants as well. Brody shook his head when I handed him his shirt, opting instead to flex his pecs and crack his knuckles in Guy-liner’s general direction.
“You got a name?” I asked suddenly, tilting my head in what I hoped was a quizzical manner.
“Indy,” he replied, pulling his hair back over his shoulders.
“As in Indiana Jones?” I asked, laughing a little.
“Oh hahaha, I’m so sure I’ve never heard that one before,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “It’s short for Indigo. And it’s Payne. Not Jones.”
I pressed my lips together and nodded. “Indigo,” I repeated, a slight smile starting to creep over my face. It was an unusual name, but I kind of liked it. It definitely suited him.
“Yeah, well… my parents smoked a little of that wacky weed. In a real way,” he said in defense. “It was the sixties, cut ‘em some slack. What about y’all?” He nodded to the two of us.
“Lily,” I replied.
“Just Lily? Like Cher?” he asked, seemingly impressed.
“As far as you need to know… yes,” I replied. I glanced back at Brody, who was staring in awe at the man in front of me, and yeah, okay… he was hot, but not render me speechless kind of hot. It wasn’t until I caught his gaze that I realized it wasn’t the complimentary awe, it was something else. Something I didn’t often see in my boyfriend’s face. Fear. “This is Brody,” I replied. “Like Prince.”
Indy grinned, looking very much like the least scary person in the entire world. “Bitchin’.”
