Mikayla pushed into her room before kicking the door closed behind her. She flicked the light switch with her elbow, then set Ciar down on her bed.
“This is where you’ll sleep for the time being,” she told him before striding into her connecting bathroom.
Mikayla grabbed her bowl full of cotton balls and dumped the contents out. After rinsing the bowl, she filled it with water and set it on the floor in the bedroom.
“If you get thirsty,” she called.
The dog hesitated at the edge of her bed, looking down at the distance to the floor. After a few false starts, he finally flung his small body from the mattress. His landing wasn’t exactly graceful but he quickly found his feet and trotted to the water bowl. After a drink, he sauntered into the bathroom and sat down to watch her.
Mikayla cast him a smile before turning back to the mirror. She stared at her black-lined eyes and red lips. Normally she wasn’t much of a makeup girl but tonight she’d made an effort. She’d wanted Ciar to see she was more than her magic. What a smashing success.
Mikayla cursed her reflection and reached for a washcloth.
Once she’d washed her face and brushed her teeth, she strode to her closet and pulled out her blue nightgown.
The poodle leapt onto the bed, watching her with definite interest.
She touched the hem of her tank top, then glanced uneasily back at Ciar.
“Are you sure there’s nobody home in that little doggy head of yours?”
In response, he rolled onto his back, twisting his body as if to make her laugh.
No way would Ciar ever act so silly, she thought, pulling her shirt over her head.
The dog froze, his head tilted at an unnatural angle as he watched her.
Frowning at the poodle, Mikayla turned her back to him as she slipped the black lace bra down her arms. She tossed it into the laundry hamper before undoing her jeans. As she stripped out of her clothes, she couldn’t help but feel self-conscious. She knew it was only a dog on her bed, not Ciar watching her with burning eyes. Still, knowing Ciar was with her, in any form, was like stripping for a lover.
After kicking her jeans into the closet she reached quickly for her nightgown. Despite the logic that told her she was as good as alone, Mikayla couldn’t fight the urge to cover herself. The silk floated down her body to her ankles, accentuating her slender form. Glancing down at the scooping neckline and the tiny straps of the nightie, Mikayla acknowledged it’d been a long time since she’d dressed for anyone other than herself. Once she fixed Ciar, she was going to have to move on. She was finally getting the memo. Nothing good came from wanting a demon.
Mikayla switched off the light before heading for the bed. As she snuggled under the covers, the dog made his way to her side.
“Goodnight, Ciar,” she whispered, scratching his ears. “I swear I’ll fix you. You have my word.”
Here’s hoping I’ll be able to keep it.
Chapter Three
“Is he…is he sparkling?”
Wyn looked down at the whining dog on the table. “I believe the question should be, is he pink?” she replied.
“What the hell did you two do to Ciar?” Mikayla demanded.
In the middle of their table stood a bright-pink toy poodle with tiny sparkles stuck to his fur. Even for a dog, he looked decidedly annoyed.
“Man, I know we can’t let him remember anything, but come on, we could blackmail him for centuries with this.” Wyn chortled.
The dog growled at the grinning witch.
“Hush, pup,” Wyn told him. “Or no more people food for you.”
“Tamsyn?” Mikayla asked, exasperated.
With a wave of her hand the spell reversed, changing Ciar’s fur back to its natural white.
“Right, well, as fun as that was, we’re hitting nothing but roadblocks here, ladies,” Wyn said, moving back to the stove to the potion she was brewing.
Tamsyn nodded. “We’ve pretty much exhausted all the magical texts we have.”
“We can’t give up,” Mikayla protested.
“No,” Tamsyn agreed. “But, honey, maybe we have to wait for the spell to run its course. Obviously you were working some heavy magic last night to craft an enchantment this strong. There must have been a reason.”
Mikayla sighed, dropping into a chair. The dog struggled to find his balance perched on her knees. “I just need to remember the damn incantation.”
“In the meantime,” Wyn said, spooning her blue potion into three glass vials, “I’ve got something for each of us.”
She handed out the vials.
“What is it?” Mikayla asked, tilting the blue vial up to the light.
“A forgetting potion,” she replied. “On the off chance that we actually manage to reverse the spell and get Ciar back to his natural form, I figured we’d better have some on hand. There’s no telling what he’ll remember. It could be nothing, but it could also be an insatiable lust for puppy chow. Better safe than sorry.”