Page 7 of Heart Shaped Wreckage (standalone)

HEATH

“Throw that down to me,” Ambrose, who most of us called ‘Brose,’ yelled with his arms open below him. “I got it.”

“You sure?” I laughed, knowing full well that if I dropped it, he wouldn’t have it. He might have been a fairly big guy, but the tiles we were helping our friends with were heavier than he thought.

“You’re not the only Alpha in the pack, Heath.” He flexed his impressive biceps, and all I could do was chuckle. Brose was a great friend but kind of an idiot.

“Alright,” I pretended to be concerned. Sometimes you just have to let people make the mistake. “I carefully dropped one of the unopened boxes straight down into Brose’s open arms.

“FUCK!” I heard the box thud below. I was scared to look.

“You, ok?”

“It’s fucking heavy! I think I might have… Yep… Losing it!” I heard the box fall to the ground with a very loud thud.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah. My wrist is… I think I broke a finger.” Ambrose held up his middle finger.

“I warned you.” I slid down the pole easily and landed on my feet beside him.

“You made it look so easy.”

“I’m just stronger, dude,” I shrugged. When I slid into Heath’s body, I had been quite surprised by how strong and powerful it was.

My wolf form was closer than it had ever been to when I wore my own body.

Heath was a monster, and thankfully, a very handsome one.

I might have been scared of falling in love, but I had never been scared of fucking my anger away.

It kept me sane and happy most of the time.

Brose and I even tried it a couple of times, but he caught onto my vibe fast, and we both agreed we were better off as friends. Apparently, Heath was considered quite a catch in Leath, and many people were willing to try to tame me into monogamy and marriage. All had failed, of course.

I was not like Lamassa. I could not lose everything again.

I was not willing to feel that pain and loss every lifetime or more.

Heath was strong, and his body was made of magic since he was a shifter.

It would last me longer than a normal mortal.

Heath and I could possibly survive for a couple of centuries if I were careful with him.

I didn’t really mind the possession of the body any longer. I had become careful with those that I chose. But the finding of a vessel such as this was like discovering the Holy Grail at a flea market. I had gotten luckier than usual when Heath crossed my path.

“You need to cry about it, or are you gonna be a big boy?” I laughed and slapped him hard on the shoulder.

“I’ll show you, big boy,” Ambrose jumped on top of me and wrapped his legs around me as he tried to bring me down. I laughed and pushed him off and jumped on top of him. “Fine! I give! Damn… You’re heavy as shit.”

“You know it.” I flexed my bicep and growled.

The wolf could feel the new moon that was right around the corner.

I relished in it. My last two bodies had been unable to change, and the beast part of me was trapped inside.

Sometimes I thought it might drive me mad.

I wasn’t an ordinary supernatural or magical being; I was one of the original monsters.

From us came the magical world, whether we knew it at the time or not.

Our souls slid more easily into a magical entity because of this.

From us – they came. Children that we never meant to have spread across the world and mated with other humans.

Witches, shifters, and elves all sprang forth from the loins of the fallen.

Without meaning to, we had changed the course of God’s plan.

Or had we? Maybe it had always been what he wanted when he used to care.

His withdrawal from the plane could be felt by all of us who were once a part of his grace. The world was empty without him.

“I feel the new moon in my veins. I’m gonna shift and get someone pregnant this cycle. I feel it in my bones.”

“Veins and bones… Wow, you’re really full of yourself today,” I teased.

I grabbed my tool belt and fastened it around my waist. “See you tonight, Brose. If you try to hump me, so help me, I‘ll bite the fuck out of you!” I laughed and headed down the small lane that ran through the edge of town, where the houses were more scattered and had more room to breathe, unlike the rest of the village, where the buildings were built too close for comfort. I had always preferred to stay out of the middle of town. I’d had to leave quickly too many times before.

I walked past a few houses of other pack members, and they waved at me.

In this part of town, I knew almost everyone, and was grateful that I had people who cared for me, even if they had no idea about the truth I kept to myself.

I was just Heath from Leathe, and I was known around town for being someone that you could count on – to rely on in a pinch.

“Hello, Heath!” One of the witch sisters called as she hung up some laundry on the line to dry. The wind was barely blowing today, but the air was dry as a bone. “You’re getting a late start, eh, Gretchen,” I grinned as I kept on my way.

“As hot and dry as it is, Heath. Those sheets will be ready to fold in no time at all.” Have a great run with the setting sun. The moon is going to bring something special tonight. I feel it in my bones.”

“Hope it’s retirement,” I laughed and waved over my shoulder.

How could one retire when they didn’t really work?

I did a lot around the village, and I assumed that most people thought of me as a handyman, even if I never did ask for payment for my services.

What need did I have for money? I had more than almost anyone.

It wasn’t far to my small cottage, and I opened the kissing gate and unbuckled my belt as I walked down the paved pathway to my front door. My small garden had withered to brown leaves. I had forgotten to water them. I almost always forgot to water them.

I put my shoulder against the door, and it opened easily.

I laid my tool belt by the stairs and shut the door behind me.

I pulled off my wet t-shirt and threw it into the basket that sat on top of my washer and dryer.

I was going to need to eat before I shifted tonight.

If I didn’t, who knew what kind of animal I’d come home with between my teeth?

I was about to head into the kitchen when a knock on my door surprised me. Shit… Someone must have broken something and needed help. I wouldn’t have time to do much if I were going to run with the pack later.

I opened the door and put my arm up against the sill. The very adorable boy who must have knocked on my door by mistake looked at me wide-eyed. His mouth gaped open as he looked at me. Maybe he was a little…

“Hi!” He waved. “I was hoping you might know who I am?”

I didn’t even know what to say to that. I grinned. “I don’t. We haven’t… You know, before, and I forgot, have we?” I apologized.

“No, I… Well, I don’t actually know. You see, I don’t remember who I am.” He bit his bottom lip. It was too cute. He was too cute. If I had met him anywhere else, I would have definitely wanted him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in town before. Are you from here?”

“Maybe?” He shrugged. “I don’t… I know nothing.”

“Huh?”

“If you don’t know me, do you think you might be able to help me find someone who does? I’d really like to know my name, at least. It’s embarrassing to not know.”

Had he fallen and hit his head? “You have no idea who you are? You’re not fucking with me, are you?”

“If I were fucking with you, I think you’d know it.”

“Huh?”

“Fucking is a carnal act between two or more beings. Oh! I have a penis,” he stated proudly.

I smirked and crossed my arms. “You’re totally fucking with me.”

“I’m sorry, I… I guess I don’t say the right things. You’re the first person that I can remember ever talking to besides myself.”

“You’re not kidding?” I studied him and watched his body stay relaxed. If he was a liar, he was a good one.

“I don’t know if I am or not. Seems like a weird name, though.” He shrugged happily. This was too strange. “Are everyone’s muscles that big, usually?”

“No. I’m an alpha. Are you… What are you?”

“I wish I knew. I do remember magic, though. I think magic must exist because I know it does. But I have no idea how I know.”

“Let me smell your fingers.” I reached, and he placed his small, fragile hand in my own.

He stunk of it. Magic always left a smell, but this didn’t have the normal rotten egg smell I usually associated with human witches.

This was something else. A faint smell of the wilderness, of a predator much like my own.

But a magic as old as the legion of angels.

Familiar, yet surprising. What was it doing on a human witch?

“You really have no memory?” I slowly let his hand go, but his finger latched onto my own.

“Not that I can remember. Am I a baby?” He swung our hands gently.

“No.” I stared at the adorable man and smiled. “You are a full-grown man. A very handsome one.”

“I’m handsome? You think I’m handsome?” Our fingers unlocked, and I put my hand back on the door sill and leaned into it. I couldn’t help myself. I was a shameless flirt.

“Anyone would.” I couldn’t let him wander around on his own and get hurt, could I? He might have been an adult, but in this state, he was helpless. “Why don’t you come in?”

“That sounds nice.”

He walked underneath my extended arm and inside my small house. It was only a one-bedroom, but I did have a very nice kitchen, which I rarely used. I turned around and closed the door behind me.

“You probably shouldn’t just walk into anyone’s house. Not everyone is… good.”

“I know that. I might have been born today, but I have… common sense!” He beamed at me as he looked at the meager furnishings I had acquired years ago when I moved here.

I bought the place furnished, and I preferred the outdoors.

Now I wish I had spruced the place up a little. I did live here after all.

“It’s… uh… Sorry about the mess.”

“I think I like mess.”

“Then you should feel right at home.”

“Home? Do I have a home?”

“I don’t know.”

“I think I do. It tingles in my brain when I say the word. I wonder where it is?”

“I don’t think it’s here in the village, or I would recognize you, I think.”

“No… This place is… I’m sure I don’t know it.”

“Then how did you get here?”

“I was just here.”

“Hmm…” I scratched my head.

“You have really big muscles. Can I touch them?” His eyes brimmed with excitement as he took a step forward. I stiffened as he reached out with his hand ever so tentatively and placed it on my bicep.

Shit… Why did I have to have a type? Why was it always a twink?

He was too cute, and there was something about him that made me…

I mean, I let him in my house! I don’t normally do that.

There have been very few people who have ever crossed my threshold.

Protecting your space is an old magic, and once you let someone in, they can have power over you.

He was full of magic. But what kind? Did it belong to him, or was it something else? Something… A spell placed on him? Maybe the magic wasn’t his own?

He should see one of the doctors in town. They were used to dealing with magi spells and curses. “You don’t trust me, but…”

He squeezed my bicep, and shivers ran down my spine. “I do. Is that weird?”

“Very,” I growled. I couldn’t stop myself. “But… I think we should do a test to see if we can break your… condition.”

“Whatever you think is best.”

I reached out and took him in my arms and pulled him in closely. God, his breath smelled of flowers. I inhaled deeply. “Let’s see what happens.”

I bent down and placed my lips onto his, and his hand reached up and grabbed my hair tightly as he giggled. “I think I like tests.” His mouth opened.

I came unglued. My feet levitated off the floor. No, I’m not kidding… My heels rose off the ground, and only my toes kept me in place as his sweet breath ricocheted through me. His tongue pressed against mine, and he squirmed in my grasp as he tried to catch his breath.

A test—it was only a test to see if we could break the magic. I mean, it worked in fairy tales, and they all had some semblance of truth to them.

I pulled him gently from me before I couldn’t stop myself. He whined as I placed him back down on the ground.

“I like kissing.” He smiled widely, and his eyes twinkled.

“Anything different?”

He scratched his head and frowned. “No… I still know… nothing.”

The test might have failed, but my body knew I had succeeded. There was no way I could let him go into the world alone. I would not be running with the pack tonight, but the witch had been right. The night had brought something special to me.