Page 9

She frowned at my answer. “The bird men keep away from us. How did you meet his kind?”

“I rescued Rasmus from a bunch of military scientists. That’s how I met Ben as well. Rasmus has left me several times, but he always returns. And as I’m sure ya know, Ben hired me.”

The woman laughed then, and it sounded like music. I could see why Ben found her intriguing.

“Then I was right—you have enslaved him. Well done, witch. His kind is very powerful.”

Rasmus returned, smiled at both of us, and held out my shoes. I dropped to the concrete steps in front of the house andswitched them out. “I’m not sure why ya’re smiling at me that way. Ben’s wife thinks I’ve enslaved ya.”

Rasmus scratched at the stubble on his chin as he grinned at both of us. “From a certain perspective, she’s not wrong.”

“Oh, stop,” I said with irritation as I stood. I reached up and scratched his stubble myself. I’d seen him shaving, but his human disguise didn’t fool everyone. “She knows you’re not human, Rasmus. Her comments weren’t meant as a compliment to either of us.”

It was bad enough that I’d met Ben’s wife wearing nothing but a man’s shirt, but her admiration of my relationship with Rasmus wasn’t any less bothersome. While he’d been retrieving my shoes, Rasmus had pulled on a clean shirt exactly matching the one I was wearing. Having duplicates was such a human-male thing that I couldn’t help sighing.

It wasn’t like I wanted Rasmus to be more human. Or at least, I didn’t think I did. But it was the little things like having two identical shirts that made him less intimidating. It made me forget he wasn’t like me.

He probably did things like that on purpose. I knew not to trust his appearance or his human actions, but I couldn’t shake my urge to want him to be simply what he seemed.

The three of us walked toward the grove in near silence. Rasmus and I looked like odd twins—or that’s how I felt we looked.

Ben’s wife gave us a few side glances and sly smiles, but her smile instantly switched off the moment we neared my sacred space. Her gaze swept the area, taking in my fire pit, seating, and a greenhouse that smelled of magical herbs.

“You put him in your sacred space to protect him.”

It wasn’t really a question, and we both knew it. She was a powerful enough witch to destroy all the wards on our property, yet Ben had never discussed her magick with me. That meanthe knew from the beginning what I was and that I would have understood his life, but he’d chosen to keep her power a secret. Since I’d done the same to him about Conn and myself, I had no room to complain. However, knowing might have spared us having to replace our driveway gates.

I smiled at Ben’s wife. “His beast form was too big for any building except the barn. I put him here to cloak him from outsiders. In his beast form, he could probably protect himself in a fight, but I was trying to give him some temporary peace from having to. He said he could be like this for days before reverting to human.”

“The longest I’ve known him to take his beast form was a week.”

With that pronouncement, Ben’s witch wife strode into the grove, careful to keep a respectful distance from my firepit. She walked under the canopy of branches and stared up into the leaves.

“Benjamin,” she called in a near shout. “Get down here.”

All twelve feet of Ben landed close to her with a loud thump that shook the surrounding ground. A low growl rumbled through him as he stared at her. He thumped his chest with a giant fist, growling loudly each time his fist connected. It was very Tarzan of him.

But I guess his wife didn’t find it as romantic and sexy as I did. To my amazement, she drew back her arm and punched him hard in his gorilla stomach with her fist. I had to laugh when the monster doubled over and groaned.

“You could have had them call me, Benjamin. I was worried sick, you old fool.”

“Sorry, Felicity,” Ben said roughly, still trying to get back his breath.

“First, it was the stupid fairy betraying you. Now I have broken the wards of the witch you bragged so much abouthiring. Because of your thoughtlessness you must n ow pay to replace their entrance gate. Consider it your punishment for forgetting your wife.”

Ben gaped at her. Felicity's name escaped his lips with a mixture of annoyance and anger. “Felicity… you could have just asked them about me. What did you do?”

“Why do you use that tone with me? I’ve had enough of your lies, husband. We will retire from the military nonsense, you said. The two of us will sip cold tea and swim in the pool you insisted on having installed.” She swept out a hand, indicating the grove. “Yetthisis what we get instead. You have once again turned into your beast and have to sleep in trees. And your military is likely after you again.”

Ben moved away from her. A disconcerting symphony of choking animal sounds accompanied his knuckle-walking. It was only when I noticed the menacing set of fangs that I realized he wasn't a real gorilla.

Ben’s wife grunted in disgust. “Should I take a dangerous job as well? Is that what you want for us? I am not young any longer, Benjamin Benson. I am now thinking I chose the wrong man to commit to. Skills in bed are not enough—I told you that when we met. When you left your military job, you promised me a peaceful life so I could practice the magickal craft of my people.”

Her words caused Ben to speed up to a knuckle run while the noise he was making grew louder. Any fool could see he was putting distance between him and the witch he’d married. Her glare could have leveled a building. Was he gorilla laughing at her rant?

Ben would need to watch his human back when he returned to normal. His wife might stick a knife in it. Goddess bless, those two seemed married worse than Jack and I had been. Yet, I couldn’t help but grin at the two of them.

“Did they mix yer monster cocktail with saber-toothed tiger DNA, Ben? Ya don’t read as a total primate to me. The more I’m around ya, the more curious I get about what ya are. Those fangs don’t belong to a gorilla.”