Free Magic and Mayhem: Witch and Were (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Eliza Gayle

1
    " N orman , what the hell is wrong with you?" My stupid cat stood next to my head hissing and growling at me as I tried to sleep. "I refuse to open my eyes and wake up no matter what you do. So you might as well give it up and go find something else to do."
    Today of all days I wished for nothing more than the opportunity to stay in bed and hide from the world. Why you ask? It's simple really. Today is my birthday. Another milestone year for the record books I guess.
    The big 5-0.
    I had a dream I would wake up this morning and no longer look twenty-five. Of course it was silly, that's what dreams are. Witches don't age the same as humans, so there was little chance I would wake up looking any different than I did the day before.
    Norman hissed in my ear again.
    "Oh. My. Freaking. Goddess. What is your problem?" I opened my eyes to my white cat's bared fangs only inches from my face. "You act as if you've never seen me before. And I'm warning you now, if you bite my face, I will murder you in your sleep."
    A total lie, of course, but hopefully he didn't know that.
    I turned on my back and lifted my arm to stretch and froze, limb in mid air.
    What the hell?
    I blinked. And then blinked again. Did I get drunk last night and not remember it? Why was I currently looking up at the white furred paw of some strange dog instead of my hand with the fresh manicure in the perfect shade of pink?
    I tried to sit up and my body rolled awkwardly. Norman growled low in his throat again and this time I grew alarmed. Looking down, I clearly saw paws instead of hands and feet. And lots of white fur.
    I jumped off the bed and ran over to my closet door with the full-length mirror. There I did a double take at my reflection. I squeezed my eyes shut and counted to ten in my head. Whatever was going on, there had to be an explanation.
    An out of body experience?
    A drink spiked with mind-altering drugs?
    I took in a deep breath and slowly released it before once again opening my eyes. Nothing had changed. I still stood there looking at my reflection with the face of a while wolf staring back at me.
    Still too shocked to understand, I took a step right. The wolf followed.
    I moved back to the left. Same thing. I lowered my head and I'll be damned if the stupid wolf didn't mimic that too.
    I reached forward and touched the mirror, looking at the edges for some source of trickery. Clearly someone thought I needed a practical joke on my birthday.
    But who? My mother? My sort of best friend Lucy? Nah, she was the good girl in our relationship. If by good girl you mean the one always trying to get me laid because she was saving herself for the right guy.
    There was certainly no current boyfriend to blame. I shook my head. None of this made sense.
    I thought back to the early days of my witch training. My mother had done everything she could to help me strengthen my power to no avail. I could work a few spells and under extreme stress tap into a little more, but nothing else.
    What had she said about Shifters? I looked back at the mirror. I mean what else could explain it?
    I wanted to bang my head against that stupid piece of lying mirrored glass until it revealed the truth. Shifters were a strange thing. Always changing into animals and then back again. Ruining all their clothes and always having to buy new ones. Well, okay that part might not be so bad.
    My head popped up as a memory found its way into my mind. Witches were not Shifters. That's what my mother said. So this definitely had to be some kind of trick or spell.
    I still didn't like it. I had a very important meeting today.
    Crap on a cracker.
    I ran around the bed to the nightstand that housed my alarm clock and looked up. Thank goodness I still had my normal human abilities while looking like a ridiculous dog. The clock read eight thirty am. Oh no!
    I had barely an hour to make my meeting. I certainly couldn't show up like this. These investors were not magical so they couldn't understand