Lakin’s brows shot up as I rolled my eyes. “Is there something I’m missing?” he asked.
“I had the bright idea that we should pretend to be a lesbian couple when we went to buy the tickets, so that it wouldn’t be so weird that two girls were walking into a gambling club by ourselves.” I swatted Annia’s hand away. “Since so many people saw us, we have to keep up the ruse.”
“Well that explains the dress,” Lakin commented, and Annia raised her brows at the hint of jealousy in his voice. She gave me a questioning look, but dropped it when I jerked my head to the side emphatically. This was work, not a date, and we would play our roles accordingly. Annia had certainly done her part – she was wearing a biker’s jacket, jeans and kick-ass boots, and her long hair was slicked back from her forehead, revealing a pair of small steel hoops that winked at the top of her left ear. No one was going to mistake her for a girly-girl.
We hopped into the steamcar, Annia and I taking the front seats and Lakin in the back. I waited until we were across the bridge before I put on my illusion, turning myself into the petite blonde again.
“Whoa,” Lakin said when I turned around in my seat to look at him. “That’s really, really weird.”
“Yeah, well now it’s your turn.” I reached for him. “Give me your hand.”
Lakin recoiled. “What?”
I huffed impatiently. “You can’t go into an illegal shifter fighting ring as a shifter. I have to put a spell on you to make you look and smell human.”
Lakin glared at my outstretched hand. “I’m not comfortable with having spells cast on me.”
“Fine.” I turned to Annia. “Stop the car.”
“What?” Lakin demanded.
I twisted around in my seat to pin him with a glare. “If you’re not going to do this, then I can’t take you with us. This may be your investigation, Lakin, but if you walk in there as you are now you’re going to fuck the whole thing up and then we’ll never find those missing shifters.”
Lakin glared at me for a long moment, but I didn’t back down. I understood his fear of magic, but I couldn’t allow that to jeopardize our recon mission. If he wasn’t going to play by the rules, then he was going to have to go. Even if that meant I had to toss him into the bay.
Just when I thought that maybe Annia really was going to have to stop the car, Lakin finally lowered his gaze. “Alright,” he said, holding out his hand. “I trust you.”
“Thank you.” A heavy weight settled onto my shoulders with those words – trust was a heavy burden to bear. Clasping my hand in his, I closed my eyes briefly, envisioning the illusion I wanted Lakin to wear. It wasn’t strictly necessary to hold his hand, of course – magic could be done from a distance, without direct contact – but it was a little easier. A flow of warmth traveled from his hand to mine, but I ignored it, focusing on the spell as I murmured the words.
When I opened my eyes, the Lakin I knew was gone.
“Okay. What do I look like?” Lakin patted his hands over his face, and his eyes widened as he felt the softer cheekbones and the triangular jaw. “By Magorah, Sunaya. What did you do to me?”
Annia laughed as she eyed him from the rearview mirror. “Don’t worry,” she called, her eyes twinkling as I dug a compact mirror out of my purse and handed it to Lakin. “You’re fine.”
Lakin pursed his lips – which were fuller than his own – and narrowed his new cornflower-blue eyes as he studied his reflection. “You’ve made my face rounder, and my hair is black,” he muttered.
“I changed your clothes too,” I commented, and he jumped.
“What!’ He looked down, noticing that he no longer sported his long leather coat. Instead he wore a green corduroy jacket, and loafers instead of boots. I’d left his shirt and jeans the same – they’d been pretty generic.
“Come on,” I said, rolling my eyes at his outrage. “That coat you wear is really distinctive. I don’t want to leave any chance that someone will put two and two together. Your coat is still on your body, and when I lift the spell you’ll see it again.”
Lakin just shook his head at me. “I can’t get over this,” he said. “I smell the magic around me, so I know you’ve done something, but the fact that I’m looking down at myself and I don’t see myself –” he broke off. “If I think about this too much, it’s going to drive me crazy.”
“Well don’t,” I suggested, turning around so I could settle back into my seat. “Think happy thoughts, and enjoy the sunset while it’s still here.”