Page 98 of Spring L.A.W.
She straightened and crossed her arms as if ready to prove him wrong. “Where were we when Lioness first asked us to join the league?”
“Nice one, Joell, but it was Sahara who encouraged us to meet Bas at a restaurant near Saint Petersburg Beach, Florida. You had a drink called a Hurricane. I remember thinking you were tempting fate, but we returned home without causing one.”
Her eyes remained wide, but she eventually relaxed, set her gun down on the dresser, and came over to sit beside him.
“How is this possible? Have you been a shifter all this time?”
“In a way, yes. Certain witches who are special have familiars that are special too.”
She brushed off the last crumbs of his breakfast still clinging to the hair on his head and smiled. “I’ve always known you were special. I really don’t know how or if I could have gotten along without you.”
She set her warm hand on his thigh, and the contact made him tremble inside. Crowe thought he’d better tell her everything as soon as possible.
“Once I shift, I can never shift back.” He hung his head. “I must now surrender the honor of being your familiar.”
“You don’t want to be my familiar anymore?”
“It’s not that at all. If it were possible, I’d stay by your side until my ninth death. I love you, Joell.”
Her expression turned soft and radiant, then she reached for his hand.
“But my role as a familiar is over. I can’t be a dumb cat to everyone else who looks at me. I treasured my role as your secret intelligence agent, your protector, and your champion. I’d never have shifted, except that I needed to speak, to warn you?—”
At that moment, he heard the rattle of the key card in the door and someone turning the handle. There was only one person that could be.
The door opened to allow Rick entry. He stopped in his tracks and stared at the two of them sitting side by side on the bed. It must have seemed a little strange, she fully dressed and he fully naked.
“Oh, well, isn’t this a cozy scene? I’m downstairs working, and this is what I come back to? My woman and some naked stranger. Who is he, Jello? The janitor?”
Crowe felt her posture straighten. He had to tell her about him, even if he had to do it right in front of Rick’s face and hope he wouldn’t shoot him.
“Joell, I think you should know that Mr. Righteous Indignation here had a threesome with a couple of women who seemed to be judges in the model contest.”
Rick’s face betrayed shock, then quickly turned into anger. “Who the hell do you think you are to make up crap like that? You’re not too bright, are you? How could you possibly know that unless you were right here when it happened?”
“He also called you a rich bitch and joked about how he needed a new sugar momma. He said he’d dump you if one of the women could offer him the same material comforts with less attitude.”
Rick shook his head. “Come on, Joell. Just ignore this psycho. We need to get back to the mansion. We have a job to do, remember?”
Joell rose. “The job is done, Rick, and so are you.”
“You can’t be serious.”
Her eyes flashed with dark storm clouds. “I’m quite serious. Crowe is a shapeshifter.”
His eyes darted to Crowe. He must have seen the last of the Meow Mix in his hair or something, because he held up both hands and backed away.
“Why don’t you lend Crowe something to wear, and we’ll be on our way?” Joell asked nicely.
“Why should I?”
“Because if you don’t, I’ll sic all eight of us on you. I don’t think you’d want the League as your enemy. Especially now.”
Rick crossed himself, moved swiftly to the dresser, and opened it. He tossed a pair of bikini briefs onto the bed.
Crowe just had to razz him a little. “I don’t suppose you have a larger size, do you? I think your underwear is too small to accommodate the, um, amount I have to cram in there.” He glanced down at his nice big unit and shrugged innocently.
He grimaced and said, “Go commando.” Then tossed a gray sweat suit in Crowe’s lap.
