Page 35 of Wishing for a Werewolf
“You tried to draw?”
He grins. “I did after I saw you doing it. Let’s just say I won’t be doingthatagain anytime soon.” His smile fades as he stares at his hands. “Maybe if I’d been able to start when younger…”
There’s a note of longing in his voice, one that strikes a similar chord in my chest. Like me, Shadow grew up trapped in his animal form, unable to shift while the doors of Faerie remained closed. Being a man is as new for him as it is for me.
“Stop worrying.” I bump my shoulder against his. “If you’re as bad at drawing as you say, I doubt more years would make any difference.”
A burst of laughter escapes him as Shadow turns startled green eyes on me, one hand pressed to his chest. “Did you just make a joke? Are you finally loosening up? Am I rubbing off on you?”
My lips twitch, but all thoughts of humor fade the moment I check on the women. Hannah and one of the other witches walk backward down the sidewalk outside of Slice of Life, their movements unnaturally jerky. Inside, Autumn crashes down onto her chair in an abrupt motion unlike her natural grace.
“Something’s wrong,” I growl.
“Kayla!” Shadow says, disappearing from view.
Damn cat’s going to walk the shadow roads and get there before me. I’ve never envied his ability more as I shove my small sketchpad into a pocket and race after him.
I barrel through the door, cross the café, and step into the bubble cast by the silencing candle burning steadily in the middle of their table. Shadow appears beside me. The werepanther must have listened for a few moments to gather information before making himself visible, which suits me fine.
A flicker of relief crosses Autumn’s pretty face the moment she spots me. Seeing that look from her warms my chest, making it tingle. Whatever’s happening to her, I want to fix it. I want her to look at me like this always, as if she’s glad to see me, as if she knows I’ll make everything all right. It’s more than my usual urge to protect—it goes beyond the physical. I don’t just want her safe.
I want herhappy.
“What happened?” I bark, worry making my voice sharp.
“Skye made a w-word, and my magic kicked in,” Autumn says.
“W-word?” Shadow’s green eyes glitter with amusement.
“You know, like we’re having a problem with a w-word swap right now.” Autumn points back and forth between the two of us.
“Do you mean wish?” I frown.
The witches gasp and hunker, Hannah crying out, “Everyone needs to stop saying that word!”
“But nothing happened,” I protest.
“It can’t be every use of the w-word,” a purple-haired witch says. “Autumn’s magic probably activates only for certain sentence structures, like saying: ‘I wish I held my phone in my hand.’” She reaches out, and magic ripples through the air, dissipating as the device appears on her palm.
“Kayla,” Hannah whines, “that was risky.”
“It wasn’tthatrisky.” Kayla shrugs. “I’m approaching this like entering a new video game. You have to try things to figure out how the system works.”
“You mean when your game avatar gets killed over and over while you try all those new things?” Autumn shakes her head. “We can’t afford to be that daring. This is real life.”
“Which is why I wished for something super innocuous.”
“Let’s worry about testing the theory later, once we get out of this mess.” Autumn jabs a finger toward her waffle. “Because if Skye’s wish expects us to actually ‘have lunch’ again, I don’t think I can do it.”
“I don’t know.” Skye pokes her waffle with a fork. “A stomach ache might be worth it, if it’ll free us of the spell.”
“Do you have to be the one that eats it, or is it only important that the food disappears?” Shadow asks.
“No idea.”
The werepanther catches my eye and tips his head toward the table. “Shall we?”
“Ooh, yes please. Save me from waffle overload.” Autumn looks up at me, and when I nod, adds, “Let me fix it for you.” She pours syrup over the top of the bready pastry,filling the square wells with golden-brown sweetness. Then she slices it into quarters, her knife poised to make smaller cuts.
