A wolf in a horse coat

"Wow, babe," Mooney said, a disconcerted look smeared across his beautifully rugged face. "What kind of costume shop did you get that 'werewolf' get-up from?"

Marissa put down the mask that she'd been holding up to her face. It was one of those professional Fx masks that was supposed to be glued on with spirit gum. She had thought it looked pretty darn good.

She glared at him and shoved the packaging at him before grabbing the mask back up. She turned her back on him and held the mask up to her face and studied it in the mirror.

"Babe, I don't want to piss you off, but even albino wolves have hair," Mooney said as he looked at the picture. "Maybe they sent you the wrong thing. That don't look like the picture." Marissa sighed, exasperated.

"You’re supposed to glue it on first and then apply the hair and paint. It's supposed to be life-like."

"I don't know no wolves that look like this so it can't be too life-like," he muttered doubtfully.

"Mom! Mom! Mom! Loki took my cape, Mom!"

"Did not!" came the responding scream.

"Guys, inside voices," Marissa said loudly, hoping to be heard over the brotherly spat even though she knew it wouldn't stop the bickering.

"All I'm saying is that this costume is silly," Mooney continued, not using his own inside voice so that he could also be bread over the twins.

"Mooney, we've been over this," she sighed as she caught Thor by the nape of his silver Marvel/Thor cape. "I'm not going to use a spell for a Halloween costume. It violates every known law of magic for a practitioner to use her gift on herself for self gain."

"Thor, the silver cape goes with the Thor costume. I thought you and your brother were going to trade identities for Halloween."

"But babe, this just looks terrible," Mooney said, sounding as petulant as the now pouting Thor, who was eight years old and expected to pout over everything.

"Mooney--" she began. A loud wailing "owchey" filled the hall, signalling Thor's decision to stop pouting and beat on Loki instead.

"Just a little spell wouldn't hurt anything, surely."

"You want a spell?" she said, finally losing her temper. She stalked up to him, scowling. "Fine. Here's a spell for you. Let all horse's asses look like horses!"

A loud crack echoed through the kitchen, accompanied by a flash of blue light.

"Mom!" a small voice breathed behind her. Marissa looked down at the two little boys who were staring at their father, stunned. She looked over at Mooney sheepishly. Before her where her husband had been stood a large black stallion, looking every bit as stunned as the boys.

He looked back at her and then pushed her out of the way so he could see himself in the mirror.

"I like it," he said, his voice sounding odd coming out of a horse's mouth. "So what are you going to be?"

Marissa stared at him, appalled at her loss of control. She watched the boys approach their dad carefully and begin to lightly stroke and pet him.

"Mom, can I be a horse, too?" Thor asked in a hushed, awed voice.

"Yeah," Loki said, sounding reverent. "Or no. I want to be a bighorn like Uncle Han."

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Thor hooted. "I want to be Uncle Bo! Please Mom? Pah-lease.."

Marissa looked at her boys, knowing she was going to cave. Nobody did puppy eyes quite as well as werewolf pups. She looked at Mooney and noted the horsey grin on his face. She was momentarily distracted when she realized he still had his own cornflower blue, round-pupilled eyes.

"Oh, yeah, babe. You gotta let them be Bo and Han for Halloween. It'll please Dad and Ellie and piss Nick off. I still owe Nick from last week."

"Moon, that's not a good reason for picking your kids' costume," she said with an exasperated sigh.

"I didn't pick; they did. We can put Thor in an EMT vest and Loki in a forestry service vest. Everyone will love it."

"Yesssssss!" the boys hissed gleefully before running out of the room without waiting to see if she agreed or not. They had their dad's support and knew full well that Dad had their back. He'd talk her into it so they were set.

Another, softer flash of light filled the room, letting her know that Mooney had figured out that all he had to do to go human wash shift the same way he shifted in and out of his wolf form. A human would have been stuck until the magic wore off but a natural born shifter already knew how to do it.

"So how long does it last?" he asked. She didn't answer for a moment, struck dumb at the sight of his very well-muscled, very naked body. Oh, damn, she had struck gold when she nabbed this hunky wolf. He was sex on a stick and he was all hers!

"Um," she said, watching him stretch and shake off the last tickle of his shift. "A month."

"So for the next month I'm a horse when I want to shift?" he asked, one eye brow cocked Vulcan-style.

"No," she said as she walked trance-like up to him and ran her hands down his chest from shoulder to rippling eight pack abs. "You are still a wolf. But for the next month, you can also take a temporary horse shape, as well. It's superficial; you still have a wolf's stomach so you'll have to eat in human or wolf form."

“Or eat meat as a horse?” he asked, a naughty look flitting across his face. Oh, damn. He could do whatever he wanted in his temporary horse form, including eat meat—and she knew that was exactly what he was planning to do, preferably in a way that would freak someone out—so long as he kept grinning at her like that! He started tugging her shirt up to gain access to some skin.

"And what are you going to be, my sexy, brilliant wife?"

She smiled as an idea came to her.

"Oh, I'm going to be Lady Godiva riding her stud down the street, clothed only in my hair."

"Your hair don't cover much," he teased, nuzzling her throat as she wrapped her arms around him.

"I'll grow it out for that night only."

"Oh, no!" he said in mock horror. "That's using your gift on yourself for personal gain!"

"Na, it'll be for cover from the elements. Besides," she said as she looked deep into his eyes. She licked her lips and pinched his butt, "I can't wait to feel your muscular back between my thighs."