CHAPTER TWO
Lance could hardly believe that he had shy Tina Bradbury on the back of his bike. Her arms tightened around him as they took a curve, and she flowed with him as if they’d done this a million times before. She was a natural, shocking as that was to consider.
He’d watched her in high school. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say he’d watched her watching him. He’d often caught her pretty green eyes following his every move when she thought no one was looking. He’d had a sort of sixth sense about it. He always knew when he was being watched.
That she was gorgeous and didn’t seem to know it had helped boost his self-esteem a bit. The other guys left her alone because she gave off a powerful vibe that was intimidating to fragile young male egos. That long, wavy chestnut hair and stunning green eyes made her a bit too much for a young man to handle. The fools who tried—mostly the blustery guys who thought they were God’s gift, and weren’t—got cut down by her rejection. The regular guys saw that and headed the other way. Still, she was the beauty of the school, even if she didn’t wield her potential power in any deliberate way. The fact that she seemed so unaware of her own looks made her all that much more attractive—and scary.
Like most of the guys, Lance had stayed far away from the tempting Miss Tina. He’d known all along that he wasn’t nearly good enough for her. Plus, there was something a little spooky about her. Every time they’d gotten close, he’d felt a sort of buzzing against his awareness—as he was, even now—that he couldn’t explain. It was like she had an electric current running through her body, and he was the only one who could detect it.
Lance still had no idea what that was all about. He wasn’t one to believe in superstition or myths. He was a practical guy. He’d had to be. He was an orphan who’d grown up in foster care. When someone had been through what he’d been through at such an early age, they either got tough or got crushed.
Lance had decided, long ago, he’d never get flattened by life, by his circumstances, or by anything else. He’d survive whatever life threw at him, no matter what.
Only… That goal wasn’t seeming so easy lately. He’d gone out to the desert, not sure why he’d bothered, only that he needed the wind in his face, the sun on his shoulders, the heat in his belly. He’d walked in the badlands by himself for a couple of hours, not sure if he was actually going to get on his bike and go back this time. He’d fought inner demons he didn’t really understand, but he’d managed to get back on the motorcycle.
He’d headed on down the road, back toward civilization…and salvation from those inner demons. At least, for a while. And then, he’d spotted her—Tina fucking perfect Bradbury, of all people—broken down on the side of the road. Lance wasn’t a big believer in coincidence. Whatever insane gods had put Tina on his path that day might just have given him the kick in the pants that he needed to get his head back on straight.
Or not. He still didn’t quite know how it was all going to work out.
One thing was for sure, though. He really liked having her arms around him. For the first time in a long time, he felt grounded. Secure. Part of the Earth, not hovering above, waiting to fly away. Odd as it all seemed.
Lance had no idea where the imagery in his head was coming from. It was so damned strange.
He tried to focus on reality at all times. He had never allowed himself to be a dreamer. Dreamers were suckers, and Lance had resolved, long ago, that he wasn’t going to be one of them. Not by a long shot.
But the reality of right now—being on his bike with Tina’s arms around him—made him want to dream for the first time in a very long time. He thought about what it would be like if she moved those little fingers of hers over his body in a sensual caress. He wanted to dream about her taking him and allowing him to make love to her. He wanted to fantasize of what it would be like to have her in his bed for always.
Whoa. Always? What the actual fuck?
They drove into the outskirts of town, and Lance realized he hadn’t actually found out where she needed to go. Stupid, buddy. You were so eager to get her on the back of your bike you weren’t thinking straight.
Instead of heading blindly into the center of the city, he detoured to his shop on the outskirts of town. They’d stop there for a few minutes while he found out where she wanted to go, and maybe they’d switch to a car, if she couldn’t handle being on the back of the bike with him in traffic.
Yeah, that sounds like a reasonable excuse. Lance congratulated himself on his ingenuity. He was stopping at his shop for her comfort, not because he had some weird need for her to see what he’d done with his life since graduating high school.
Tina wasn’t sure where they were heading when Lance turned off the main road, but she wasn’t too worried. Lance was innately good. She knew that much. He wouldn’t be taking her anyplace dangerous, no matter how industrial the area seemed.
There were businesses all around, and he drove right through a large metal gate that stood open, as if for his arrival. The yard was huge and filled with all types of vehicles. Very high-end vehicles. Foreign. Custom. Race cars and luxury cars. It looked like he had one of everything she’d ever seen on those rich-and-famous shows she sometimes caught while channel-surfing late at night when she couldn’t sleep.
He expertly guided his motorcycle through the yard and pulled up in front of what must be the office. It was utilitarian, but clean and nicely furnished from what she could see from outside. Lance stopped the bike and gestured for her to get off. After she had both feet on the ground again, he joined her. They took off their helmets in near unison.
“Sorry for stopping here, but I realized I hadn’t asked where, exactly, you wanted to go,” he said, surprising her. She hadn’t even realized that she hadn’t given him such an important piece of information. She laughed, shaking her head as he went on. “I also thought you might feel a little more comfortable on four wheels instead of two, but that’s totally up to you.”
“Is this your place?” She looked around, impressed anew at the setup. It was some kind of exotic car lot, but to what end, she couldn’t quite figure out.
“Yeah,” he answered, sounding nonchalant. She looked at him and realized he was far from it. His aura darkened as if he was actually concerned about what she might think. “I do custom work for select clients.”
“Engine work? Or body work?” she asked, sincerely interested.
“Both, actually,” he replied, looking at her more closely, as if surprised that she would ask.
“You have an impressive array of vehicles here. You must have one heck of a client list.”
Lance shrugged. “Word gets around, and more people come. I’ve had to hire a few guys to help keep up.”
As if mentioning his employees conjured them up, two guys came around the corner of the building at that moment and waved in a friendly manner before heading to one of the parked vehicles. They got in and moved the car around the back, out of sight. There must be workshops back there. The lot was even bigger than she’d first thought.
“It mostly runs itself these days,” he went on, shrugging as if it didn’t matter much to him, but she knew it did.
There was a feeling of pride in the spaces between his words. He was right to be proud of what he’d built here. She knew his origins. He hadn’t started with much. What he had now, he’d earned. It was truly impressive.
“So, two wheels or four?” he asked, looking at her speculatively.
“Maybe…four?” She gave him a crooked smile to go with her tentative words. “Not that I didn’t enjoy my first motorcycle ride, but now that I’m back on two legs, four wheels seems like the safer bet. Or, I could call for a cab if you’re busy. I really appreciate you bringing me this far.”
“It’s no problem. I can take you the rest of the way.”
“You don’t even know we’re I’m going yet,” she cautioned him playfully.
“That’s okay. I never abandon damsels in distress to their fate. And, I can send one of my guys with the tow truck to bring your car back here, if you want.” He gestured toward a shiny tow truck sitting in one corner of the yard that she hadn’t quite noticed yet. The truck looked nicer than her car.
“I honestly don’t think I could afford a place like this. It’s pretty clear you cater to high-end clients.” She looked around at the fancy cars parked in the lot again.
“Don’t let the flash fool you,” he said quietly. “They’re not mine. I just work on them. I don’t mind an honest, hard-working engine. Your car is basically sound, except for the fact that you neglected her.”
“It’s a she, is it?”
“Most cars are female,” he quipped. “Like boats. Trucks are male. Maybe.”
She laughed at the nonsensical conversation while he ushered her into the office. There was a desk with a bright-eyed young woman behind it answering phones and doing paperwork. She looked up when they entered, and Tina saw the telltale swirl of magic in the girl’s aura.
Shifter. The girl was a shifter. Tina blinked.
It wasn’t unheard of to run into shifters in the Phoenix area, but Tina didn’t really expect to find one working at such a pedestrian job. And in such close proximity to Lance. Did the girl-shifter know what sort of magic Lance had? Was there something going on between the two? Tina felt a sudden stab of sadness at that idea.
“Hey, Lexi, this is Tina,” Lance introduced them. “She’s an old friend. Her car is stuck out on the highway. See if you can get Joe and Pete to go take a look and bring it back.” He leaned over the desk and wrote down the location, make and model of the car for his employees.
“Sure thing, boss,” Lexi said, a hint of curiosity in her gaze as she watched Tina.
No jealousy that Tina could sense. So, Lexi and Lance weren’t involved. Satisfaction roared through Tina in an unseemly way. She had no claim on Lance. She shouldn’t be so glad he wasn’t seeing the pretty young shifter girl.
Lance kept walking into the back of the building, motioning for Tina to follow. He led her into a large office cluttered with stuff that just had to be his. There were plans for engines. Drawings and mechanical parts placed on a large conference table, as if he’d been going over them with someone not too long ago. There was also a drafting table set up for drawing and a large-scale schematic that looked about half-finished. Tina walked over to it.
“This your work?” she asked, truly intrigued. She hadn’t known he had an artistic or scientific side. He must’ve worked hard to hide it while they’d been in school.
“After high school, I went out on my own and got a mechanical engineering degree at Carnegie-Mellon, back East,” he admitted in a quiet voice, as if daring her to laugh or disbelieve his claim. She did neither.
“That’s amazing, Lance. I always suspected you were one of the smartest kids in our class. You just didn’t want anyone else knowing it.”
He shrugged. “It was easier to blend in than to stand out.”
She thought she understood, though she hadn’t faced quite the same challenges he had growing up. She’d had a supportive family. He’d been an orphan. That had always bothered her. A boy like Lance should’ve had all the love in the world in his life. Instead, he’d always seemed so alone.
“Now, where is it you need to go and how soon do you need to be there?” he asked, his tone businesslike.
She gave him the address, and he nodded, saying he knew the area well enough to get her there. “As for time, I just have to be there before quitting time at five. So, I have about an hour and a half.”
“Enough time for a tour?” he asked with only a hint of hope in his tone, though she suspected he was eager to show off his domain to her for some reason. “Or not, if it’s not your thing,” he said quickly, hedging his bets.
“Oh, no. I’d love a tour. I doubt I’ll ever get a chance to be this close to so many pricey cars ever again. I’d like to see what you do with them,” she told him honestly. It’s not that she didn’t like nice cars. It’s that she couldn’t afford anything better than the jalopy that had broken down on the side of the highway.
And so began one of the most interesting half hours she’d ever spent. Lance was at her side throughout, pointing out different things in the multiple buildings that made up his empire. He had his own giant paint booth and even his own car wash. He had multiple bays where mechanics worked on a much larger number of vehicles than she had imagined. This was a really big operation.
And almost every single one of Lance’s employees was a shifter of some sort. At least, every one that she got close enough to really look at was definitely a dual spirit. Shifters. Everywhere.
There was no way Lance didn’t know. When they got back to his office at the end of the tour, she felt she needed to say something. He had to realize—after all this time—that they were both part of the magical world, even if he hadn’t fully grown into his power back in high school. Neither had she. They’d just been kids, not really knowing their place in the world.
It was pretty clear that Lance had to have figured out where he fit in. Otherwise, how could he have attracted so many shifters to work for him? For all she knew, he was their Alpha!
The thought stopped her in her tracks. She turned on him and just blurted it out.
“Are you their Alpha?”
Lance stopped short, a quizzical expression on his face. “Their what?”
“That’s not going to work, Lance. You’ve gathered too many shifters around you to not be one of them. So, what are you? A wolf? They like having their Packs around them, I hear. Or some kind of big cat? I know the Southwest is teeming with cougar shifters, but I thought they usually stuck pretty close to Las Vegas.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lance protested.
“Seriously?” She shook her head. “Look, it’s okay. I’m a witch. I’ve known for a long time that you had magic. I just didn’t know what kind, and I was too shy and too unsure of my own powers in high school to approach you.”
“I have what, now?” Lance seemed truly confused. Could it be possible…?
“No way.” She walked a short distance away. “Do you really still not know?”
“Know what?” He looked confused and a little angry, at this point, but she was beyond being afraid. Lance would never hurt her. She knew that in her bones.
“This…” She lifted her hand, palm upward, and allowed a bright ball of energy to form in her palm. She watched carefully as his eyes widened. “Have you really never seen a manifestation of magic before?”
“Magic?” he repeated, watching the power in her hand as if it were fascinating in some way.
“Magic,” she confirmed, walking toward him slowly and taking his hand with her free hand.
There was a little tingle as their energies connected, and she knew it would be okay. His magic wasn’t rejecting hers. On the contrary, it was like they were oppositely charged magnets—attracting each other. Wow. Now, that was different.
She transferred the white ball of cool energy she had called to his palm, holding his hand up and coaxing the little ball of energy to go to him. It went and was enveloped in a golden flame as his power answered. It flared up and made them both jump a little, but she held his hand throughout, containing the magic as best she could.
She hadn’t expected the flare of his magic to be flame. It was almost the exact opposite of her ice, which she hadn’t counted on. No wonder she’d always been so attracted to him. They were opposites, and like those magnets she’d just thought of, they attracted. And how they attracted.
“What the hell was that?” Lance sounded uncharacteristically nervous.
“You’ve never seen your own magic before, have you?” she asked him, taking pity and dousing the little ball of ice, which made his flame retract, as well.
“My own…” he trailed off, seeming unable to finish the sentence.
“Magic,” she said to encouragingly. “I’ve sensed it in you since we were kids.”
“So, that’s why you were always watching me?” he asked, making her blush with embarrassment and move to put some space between them.
She looked down as she answered. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I wasn’t all that sure of my own power, back then, but I could always see auras. It’s only gotten stronger as I got older and learned control. That’s how I saw that everyone out there in your shop is a shifter. Even Lexi at the desk. You really didn’t know?”
“What’s a shifter?”
Oh, Goddess. He was still totally clueless. Tina felt a little amazed that, at least in this, she was way ahead of Lance.
“Shapeshifter,” she said, emphasizing the word. “You know. People who can turn into animals and back again.”
“You mentioned wolves. Like werewolves?” His voice rose on the last word. He still seemed to be having trouble believing, but it looked like, somewhere inside him, understanding was dawning.
“Got it in one,” she told him. “There are all sorts of werecreatures. Birds, cats, bears, wolves. Those are just the ones I’ve met. Most are pretty nice people. At least the ones I know.”
“Just to be sure, you weren’t escaping from a mental institution when I found you, were you?”
Tina laughed at his half-serious question. “I promise I wasn’t. I was on my way to a client’s to deliver a potion she asked me to brew for her.”
“Potion?”
She saw he needed more convincing. She reached into her purse and drew out the vial that contained the potion. It was glowing. Swirly blue light emitted from the clear glass bottle. She held it up for his inspection.
“This will help my client find something she lost. But it only works for twenty-four hours. If she doesn’t find the item in that time, we’ll have to try another solution.” She put the bottle away, and the glow went with it. “This kind of potion really isn’t my specialty, but I told her I’d try.” Tina shrugged. “Hopefully, it’ll work.”
“What is your specialty?” he asked, as if afraid of what she might answer.
“Now, that would be telling,” she said with a grin. “I can see auras, and my power is cold while yours appears to be hot. If you’re not a shifter, what are you?”
“I have no clue,” he told her, taking a seat behind his desk and putting his head in his hands. “I don’t feel normal anymore, Tina. And what you’ve just shown me…” He sighed and ran both hands through his hair before straightening to look at her. “It should’ve blown my mind, right? But, instead, it just feels like you gave me a piece to a puzzle I’ve been trying to solve my entire life.”
“You really don’t know, do you?” she said quietly, sitting in the guest chair across the desk from him.
“I haven’t the foggiest.”