Page 27 of Dewitched

“Are you feeling okay?” Fenix asked as they followed everyone out of the room and down a dark hallway to the lobby. “You look flushed.”

“Just the excitement,” he lied. “That was fun.”

“It actually was. Thanks for talking me into it.” His mate still looked concerned, though. “Let’s take a break and get something to drink.”

Since his throat felt like he’d been gargling glass, he agreed easily.

Winding their way through the throng of bodies, he tried to focus on their destination, but he kept getting distracted by the conversations going on around him. Most of them didn’t pertain to anything in particular. Plans for the next day. The weather. Someone wanted tacos, which sounded pretty damn good to him. He wondered if they’d invite him to join them.

When he heard a young couple talking about the puppy they had just adopted, however, it stopped him in his tracks. He’d never had a pet of his own. Like most kids, he’d always wanted one, but his parents had been strictly against it.

To get his cuteness fix, he’d volunteered at his local animal shelter for a while, but it hadn’t been the same. In fact, it had only made things worse knowing that the animals he fell in love with would eventually go on to other homes. Great for the pets, but not so much for him.

“Owen?” Fenix cupped his chin and tilted his head up. “What is it?”

“I want a puppy.”

The shifter looked at a loss for words, but he recovered quickly and nodded. “We can do that.”

“I want to pet a puppy.”

“Of course.”

“Now.”

Fenix blinked. “Are you sure you’re feeling alright?”

No, he definitely wasn’t okay. His entire existence had become consumed with the irrational idea of being allowed to pet something soft and fluffy.

Right. Fucking. Now.

“Can you shift?”

“Here?” His mate’s eyes widened, and his gaze darted around the lobby. “Maybe we should go back to the cabin.”

Owen didn’t want to go back to the cabin. He wanted to pet a puppy.

“Shift.”

He’d meant it as a joke—kind of—but his tone lacked the necessary playfulness. Rather, it resonated, deep and commanding, ringing throughout the cavernous space. He didn’t even know he was capable of producing such a sound.

To his utter horror, Fenix dropped to the grassy floor right in front of him. He writhed in apparent pain, his body contorting as bones and muscles reconfigured themselves. A thick coat of silver fur grew to cover his skin, and his eyes glowed brightly with an ethereal light.

Once the transformation had reached its conclusion, a wolf the size of a horse with paws as big as hubcaps towered over him. The beast chuffed a couple of times and shook his massive head as he settled into his new body.

Although stunning and impressive, Owen had only seconds to admire his mate’s beauty because, at that exact moment, all hell broke loose.

Throughout the lobby, shifters started dropping, crying out in pain and confusion as their bodies cycled through a forced transition. Cats and canines of all sizes and colors. Birds of prey. Bears. Even the werewolves hadn’t been spared. Only, insteadof a full transformation, they had become trapped in their half forms.

Scared and disoriented, many of the hotel’s guests reacted accordingly with displays of aggression. Growls, screeches, and hisses filled the air, adding to the tension that blanketed the situation. The only saving grace to the disaster was that everyone appeared to have retained their senses.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the princess’ Guard move in to surround her, using their furry bodies to protect her from possible threat.

“Owen,”Fenix barked inside his head.“Go. Get out of here.”

He couldn’t move, though.

Paralyzed by fear and mortified by what he’d done, he stood rooted to the floor, soaking in the sheer horror. Not only had he caused a mass shift inside the hotel—something emphatically against the rules—but he seemed to be affecting the Manor itself.

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