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“Yeah, not so easy to tell when it’s on a witch or fae. You guys already smell of magic, but on a shifter or human? Absolutely. Magic has this… I dunno, a spicy scent. It tingles my nose.”
“Well, fuck!” She gave a semi-hysterical laugh.
“I know, right? I just have to hope that I looked vastly different now than I did at twenty. He last found me but didn’t see me, just two years ago. I just have to hope no-one took any photos as they watched me. I already dye my hair. It’s lucky my eyebrows and lashes and uh… down there,” I pointed at my crotch, “were brown anyway.”
“That’s not your natural color?” Poppy asked, confused.
“Nah, more of a reddish-brown, so we went for a deep brown color and I used this creamy potion that got rid of my facial hair since it had a bit of red to it. Makes me look younger too. I get carded all the time.”
“Huh, hair removal potion?”
“Yeah, the council had a witch help me adjust my appearance. They had to put my face back together after the beating I took.”
I felt more than saw the comment land and winced as Poppy blanched. It was thoughtless to speak so carelessly about something so horrific. A witch and a fae had rebuilt my face with their combined magical healing. If I’d been human I would have died, but my wolf was stubborn, demanding we hold on because we hadn’t met our mate yet, and kept us holding on until Papa could get us help.
Closing the distance between us, I put my hand on her arm, “sorry Poppy, it’s a lot, my past.” I turned her to face me properly, “but look, I’m fine.”
She assessed me, “are you though?”
“Pft, of course, I am!” I said and then I tried to change the subject, “so about that beta smell? What did they say?”
Poppy let me redirect her, but not before she gave me a strange look. I needed to stay on task, though, because I was exhausted and still had to drive home before I could sleep.
Scanning her phone screen, she nodded. “As I thought, they gave the go-ahead. It’s a simple enough potion to put together, but it’ll be a few minutes. I need to see if we have everything in stock. Take a seat, Kade.” Poppy disappeared into the back room muttering to herself and clutching the pad of paper she’d written notes on.
I moved over to the armchair in the window, a sudden wave of dizziness making me glad I could sit down. A pain lanced through my head, a feeling akin to an ax coming down on me I imagined, and I slumped into the seat clutching my head. Breathing through the pain, I waited for it to stop and the world to straighten out. Several deep puffs of air later, everything settled, though there was an echo of the pain and my hands trembled.
Watching the street without really seeing, I got so lost in my swirling thoughts I didn’t hear Poppy return with a bag and I let out a yelp when she touched my arm.
“Shit, sorry!”
Clutching my chest and feeling my rapid heartbeat, I just about managed a weak laugh. “No, I’m sorry. Was in my own world there.”
Poppy patted my arm soothingly. I missed regular touch. “Okay, I’ve got a week’s supply here. Take it daily, when you first get up in the morning. I made a couple of spares for emergencies, but I want to see you here next week so you can let me know if there are any issues, okay?”
“Sure thing. Daily with some spares. Come back next week. Got it.” I tried to sound sure of what I was doing.
“Now, I want you to take one just now so I can see if there’s any reaction. That alright?”
“Yeah, no problem.” I reached into the bag she gave me and pulled out a small blue vial stoppered with a cork. Removing the cork carefully, I raised it to my lips before saluting Poppy with it and downing the tincture in one go.
I swallowed, but fuck was that vile and I gagged, “holy fuck! That’s rancid!”
Poppy had the nerve to look sheepish. “Yeah, sorry about that. There’s no way to make it taste better without damaging the potency.”
We waited for a few minutes, but nothing happened. “How do we know it worked?” I finally asked.
She glared at me. “When has one of my potions ever not worked for you, huh? Your anti-scrying still works and you’ve never complained about the taste.”
“That’s because it’s once a month and it tastes like lemon, Pops. I wonder if we can find a shifter on the street and ask.”
We both leaned to look out of the window, “There!” Poppy pointed, “that’s one right, I dunno what though.”
I looked at the woman she was pointing at and observed the way she walked, like she was floating. “Bird,” I said firmly and Poppy looked at me questioningly. “Most shifters in the city are either birds in the Aviary or cats in the Pride. She moves like a bird, I’d even say swan shifter.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, let’s ask!”
