His tail flicks with displeasure. “Oh, no, the Widow Hardcastle was very clear. She limited my shifting abilities to inside the shop. If I get even a few steps outside the shop, I’ll shift back into a cat.”
“Show me.”
He huffs, throws open the door, and leaps dramatically over the stoop onto the cobbles below. He throws his arms out dramatically. “See?”
“Rafe, you’re still a human.” His tail swishes. “Mostly.”
He peers down at his body with interest. “What? That’s never happened before. I swear.”
Before I can stop him, Rafe takes off running,naked, across the green. His pale butt glows in the moonlight like a flare. He gets to the other side, in front of the new age shop, before he collapses into the dirt as a Siamese cat. Luckily, no one is around to see.
He flattens his ears, howling with indignation. I march across the green towards him. When I get about five metres away, he transforms back into a man.
“It seems to be proximity to you that’s giving me the ability to shift.” His tail flicks with interest. “I wonder if that’s because I’m your familiar now. Does that mean you can change me back?”
I shove him back towards the shop before someone sees me standing on the green with a hot, tattooed, naked cat burgler. “Old Widow Hardcastle thought this form improved you. Far be it for me to argue with a dead old woman.”
“You seriously won’t help me? For the last thirteen months and twenty-two days, I’ve been her cat. And when she carked it, I thought that might break the curse, but nope. Instead, I’ve been stuck in this shop forweeks, resorting to stealing scraps from next door and running zoomies up the curtains. But it’s such fortuitous luck thatyou’re my new tenant. It’s fate! It’s kismet! Now, if you could be so kind as to break the curse, I’ll beeverso grateful.”
“I can’t.”
He stops in his tracks, studying me with those intense azure eyes. “You’re a witch. Isn’t there a spell you can recite that’ll stop me growing whiskers?”
“I’m ahoney witch. I do garden spells and make my bees happy, and in exchange, they give me beautiful honey. I don’t know about curse magic, especially not the kind that can turn a human into a cat.”
“Can I offer you anything to change your mind?” Rafe waves his arms around, his pale skin glowing in the moonlight. I glance over at the pub, hoping no one sees me talking to a mad dancing naked man. “Unfortunately, my worldly possessions have probably been absorbed into the criminal underworld by now, so all I have left to offer is my body. But it is a fine body?—”
I shake my head, even as my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. A couple of bees hover lazily nearby, even though they should be back in the hive by now.
You’re not tempted. You’re not.
You’re still technically married, remember? Warrick’s missing. They haven’t said he’s dead.
“Are you sure? I’m a generous lover, and you look like you could use—oh, I know! Ever have an orchid you’ve absolutelydyingto possess? Or a rare painting? I’m good at nicking paintings, too, especially now that I’m small enough to wiggle through air vents. I’ll grab you a nice Picasso, asmallone, don’t go crazy, just enough to set you up with a perfect retirement somewhere sunny, and then you turn me back.”
“Honestly, I don’t want anything except for you to get back inside, and to open my meadery.” I march inside and turn back to my wall as the bees dance past my face. I’ve had enough trouble from the animal world as it is. The paint is starting to dry at the edge. I run the roller over it before I get a streak. “You could help with that?—”
“I’ll help,” his voice drips with honey as he ducks back through the low door. “Ifyou find a wayto break my curse.”
I sigh. My impossibly long list of tasks rattles around my skull. I don’t have any friends or family in the village. Mum and Grandmother Mags are dead, and all my high school friends moved away, and Warrick preferred to hang out with just the two of us. Celeste and Mina have been lovely today, but we barely know each other, and they have their own shops to run. It would be nice to have someone to help.
And it doesn’t hurt that Rafe is gorgeous.
Plus, he’s clearly going to be hanging around being a menace, whether I want his help or not.
Surely I can find something that will help Rafe? Or maybe one of Grandmother Mags’ old witch friends will have answers? She must have an address book somewhere.
If all else fails, I could brew him a mead of dandelion and motherwort. For acceptance.
I turn back to him, blinking because looking at him is like staring into the sun.
“I’lltryto help you,” I say. “But I can’t promise anything. I’ve never touched curse magic before. I don’t know how it works or whether we can even break the curse now that Widow Hardcastle is dead. Were you here when that happened? Did you see anything? That could be a clue?—”
He shakes his head. I think I catch a flicker of sadness in his eyes, but it’s gone before I can confirm it. “I was otherwise occupied on ICB.”
“ICB?”
“Important Cat Business. I’d decided to brave the nocturnal world, and was busy helping Luna and Mr Muffins overturn a garbage can to get out the tuna someone had dropped in the bottom. I heard something at the shop, and I ran back as fast as I could, but by the time I got here, it was too late. She was lying right there, and her killer had fled.” Rafe wrinkles his nose. “The killer left a scent trail behind – sulphur and bergamot. It smelled familiar, but I can’t remember where I had smelled it before. My senses are all messed up from being a cat.”
