Chapter 14

The afternoon flew by, and even though she had promised James that she would finish work on time, she loitered for another hour after the telephone had gone to the answering service.

She filled this time with making up a few new client files; a folder with a strip for the client name. Then there was the first sheet, for details of the client.

The second sheet was for a summary for the building required, whether it would be residential or commercial, whether it would be single storey or would it have second or more floors.

The third sheet was for time frame, budget for the project and potential materials required.

And the final sheet was for whether James would continue with the project or hand it over to the client direct, or a building firm. Behind all of this was a large section where print offs for designs and blueprints could be placed for the client to see a hard copy when needed.

Iris kept two of the folders out, where she neatly wrote the names for the two meetings on the Friday.

She put a sheet in the front of each folder, with the appointment time and date, and a brief summary of the information which had been given to her in each case.

She placed these on James's desk and then she wondered around the office with a dust cloth and some polish.

She was mulling over her aunt's comments.

Iris and Laurie had always fought the change for as long as they could, but they had known that at some point they would have to endure it, and so had succumbed to it just before it was forced on them – or so they had thought.

But maybe if they chose the time, before the need became so compulsive, maybe if they decided when, rather than waiting for the full moon...

"I thought that you would be gone by now?" James's husky voice startled her from her thoughts, and she looked up at him with dark glowing eyes.

James frowned as he closed the door behind him, and stepped closer to her.

"Are you okay?"

Her lips parted, and her canine fangs slid down and as she held up her hand, he saw the blackness of her nails.

"Iris!" James snapped as he grabbed her wrists. "Not here – not now!"

The tone of command and authority pushed through Iris's awareness, and she blinked up at him in confusion.

"What?" she stammered, as a wave of fatigue rushed through her, and she slumped against James, who held her tighter to support her.

"What happened there?" James demanded huskily. "You were right on the edge of a transition."

She shivered with cold and fatigue, and as she realised what had happened she looked up at him anxiously. "My aunt," she stammered. "She visited me today, and she said something to me, that..."

She shivered again, and James guided her to her chair, and shoved her gently into it.

"Sit down, and wait for a moment whilst I fetch you a glass of water."

He took her coat from the coat hanger in the corner and draped it across her shoulders.

"Thank you," she whispered as she wrapped it tighter around her.

She sat lost in her own thoughts and only became aware again when James pushed a cold glass into her hands.

"Here, drink this," he instructed firmly, and she obeyed wordlessly.

James perched on the edge of her desk and watched as the colour slowly came back to her cheeks.

Her dull eyes began to brighten again and he gave a little sigh of relief when she fixed him with a fully aware gaze.

"I am so sorry," she said huskily. "It was foolish of me to be so careless ... if you had not come when you had..." her eyes filled with tears and she looked away from him.

"The full moon was so recent; and I know that you transformed then ... so what happened today, why were you so close to changing again?"

"It was what my aunt said, she mentioned that she had never lived by the rule of the moon, she thought it had been something for us to focus on rather than a real need ... I was thinking about it, and wondering if I just relaxed into it – the way that I did when the moon was full and I felt that the change was necessary..."

"And it worked – almost, had I not come along and interfered with you!"

She nodded. "It was foolish of me to experiment here, I should have known better."

"But it did almost work?" he persisted.

"Yes." she nodded again and her hair fell around her face, and so James reached out to gently brush it back.