Kiss Me Deadly: Tales of a Paranormal Romance

I pried my hands off my mouth for a moment. “You’re a shifter.”

I’d never met a shape-shifter before, but I’d heard plenty of stories about them. Most of those stories made me positive I wanted to stay very far away from them.

“Good guess. What was your first clue? The fact that I can shift form? Brilliant deduction, Brenda.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“It’s your name, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but ... but I need you to go away.”

“My name’s Owen, whether or not you think it’s cool enough for you. My mom—may she rest in peace— thought it was pretty cool seventeen years ago, so it’s good enough for me. So, it looks like we’re all bonded together now. I have this strange compulsion to be close to you. So annoying.” He actually rolled his eyes. “Witches. Honestly. Think they rule the world.”

I wrung my hands. “If you’re a shifter, you can’t be my familiar.”

“The spell that shopkeeper put on us seems to challenge that theory.” He placed his hand casually over his stomach, and my gaze followed. Owen was fairly gorgeous, actually, with a thin but muscular body. He looked like a runner. I could even count his abs. You know, if I wanted to.

And I didn’t.

“You need to get out of my bed right now.” Words I’d never actually spoken together in that sequence.

“Sure thing, boss.” He began to move and the sheets started to slip over his bare left hip. I turned my back to him so I wouldn’t see anything else.

“No, wait! Stop, just stop. Just change form again.”

“Back to my kitten? Or the tiger? Or I can be a full-sized regular cat—that’s the best for staying incognito. Perhaps a Puma would be fun, though. Or a leopard. Choose your kitty-cat, Brenda.”

“Just the kitten is fine!” There was an edge of hysteria in my voice as I heard the stairs creak. My mother was coming up with my orange juice. I turned and looked at Owen. “Please change back!”

“Because if mommy dearest sees me here like this...” His lips curled. “That would probably look bad for you, wouldn’t it? She’d think her darling daughter is a naughty little witch?”

“Yes!”

“So I’m guessing you don’t have a lot of guys sneaking into your bed in the middle of the night?”

Even though I was freaking out, I had enough time to send him a withering glare. “That’s none of your beeswax.”

“You didn’t just say beeswax. You couldn’t have.” He laughed and the sound was low and throaty. “That’s so completely adorable I could seriously die.”

My cheeks were blazing with heat. I always said the lamest things when I was nervous. “Change! Now!” It was more of a frantic whisper than a shout.

His smile faded as if it had never been there in the first place. “I want the bracelet.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll get it for you, but it’s not here.”

“You hid it somewhere else?”

“Yes!”

The door opened the next moment, and my mother walked in carrying a small glass of orange juice. I nearly passed out. When she saw Owen, there was no way I could ever possibly explain having a naked boy lying in my bed. I’d be grounded till I was thirty. There was no possible—

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “How adorable! But I thought you said you didn’t get anything last night.”

I whipped around to see that the boy in my bed was gone, replaced by a tiny, striped kitten. A tiny, striped, purring kitten.

“No, uh, you must have heard me wrong. I got one, obviously.” I frantically waved my hand at the kitten. “But I don’t have any supplies for it yet.”

Still holding the juice glass, she picked the kitten up in her other hand and nuzzled it against her face. “So precious. Excellent choice, Brenda. I approve. Does it have a name?”

“Yes, it’s, uh, Owen. And it’s a he.”

“This means you’re excited to start your training in magic?” Before I could say anything, she continued, “I know you’ve resisted, thinking you don’t have the natural talent, but I know you do. You’ve already shown it in the few lessons we’ve done. You simply need to believe in yourself. And now that you have this darling little friend to help you, I think the sky’s the limit, Brenda. I really do.”

My mother was nothing if not encouraging. I couldn’t help but feel guilty for constantly making up reasons why I couldn’t study witchcraft along with my regular high school classes.

“I don’t know if I can say I’m excited,” I said honestly. “But I’ll give it a try.”

She smiled and handed me the juice and gently put the kitten back down on the bed. “It’s a start.”

So I’d devote myself to learning to be a witch. If I failed, then she couldn’t very well hold it against me. Fine. It was decided. No more excuses.

However, I had an excuse for today. I needed to get the bracelet for Owen so he could get out of my life. And Mrs. Timmons thought I was a troublemaker. Right.

Mom left my room and I saw, out of the corner of my eye that Owen turned back into his human form and was still in my bed.

“I need clothes,” he said.

I didn’t turn to look at him full-on, but I knew he was right. He couldn’t very well wear my bed sheets all day, could he?

“My brother’s in college right now, but he’s got a closet full of clothes here. I’ll get something for you.”

“You’re so accommodating.”

“I get the bracelet, and you leave me alone right?”

“I get the bracelet, I deliver the bracelet to the person expecting it, and then we need to get this bonding spell between us removed.”

“I don’t feel anything,” I said honestly.

“That makes one of us.”

“What do you mean?”

He sighed. “It means that because of this spell I feel this need to be close to you. And I have this crazy sense that I ... belong to you, and only you. And I don’t think I like that very much.”

When I turned to look at him to see if he was messing with me, he’d already changed back into a kitten.

* * *

Behind the house, Owen changed into an old pair of my brother’s jeans, Reeboks, and a blue T-shirt, before we set off for the alley where I’d stashed the bracelet last night. Then I had to get to school.

“So, Brenda,” he said my name as if taste-testing it. “You’re a witch-in-training, are you?”

I glanced at him sideways. “You could say that.”

“Can you do magic?”

“That’s kind of the point, isn’t it?”

“But can you?”

“Not really.”

“Why not?”

“Because of the ‘in training’ part. I need to practice.”

“Like playing the piano.”

“Sort of. Only completely different.” I nervously crossed my arms, feeling the weight of my backpack pull at the shoulder straps. “And you’re a weretiger? Werecat?”

“Just shifter is fine.”

“I thought you might be a werewolf.”

“No. Werewolves are a breed unto themselves.” There was a sneer in his voice. No love lost there. “They can only shift into one form. I can be any size or kind of cat I want to be.”

Even though I found it unsettling, I couldn’t help but be slightly impressed. “Shifters like you and werewolves fight like cats and dogs. Seems kind of appropriate.”

“My pack and theirs don’t get along and never will.”