My mother would have had a fit of epic proportions if I’d—

I lifted a leg and the sheet fell the rest of the way off. My legs were longer. How was that possible? Longer, muscular yet still unbelievably feminine. I pointed my toes and let out a soft sigh. I was going to look fabulous in heels.

I’d always wanted to wear heels. Another no-no taboo I was about to break. Even after I was kicked out of the church, I’d tried to live the tenets. Just in case they let me back in.

I caught my lower lip with my teeth. Maybe this was it. This was the slide into a den of depravity I’d always been warned about. First I’d dye my hair, then I’d wear heels. The next thing you know, I’d be shooting people and taking their money while I whored myself on the street corner and kicked puppies as they ran by.

“Stop it, you know that’s ridiculous,” I said out loud. I slapped a hand over my mouth. My voice wasn’t even my own. I pulled my hand off and cleared my throat. “Alena.”

Saying my name didn’t sound right. My tone was huskier, and sensual, like my voice should have been whispering naughty things into the confessional closet at church. Things that would make Pastor Wrightway want to renounce his vow of celibacy.

“I’m going to hell,” I purred.

I sat like that for a few minutes, not thinking. Just breathing and taking the fact in that I’d actually allowed myself to be turned. That I was one of the monsters now. Tears prickled at the corners of my eyes and dripped down my nose.

“What have I done?”

The whoosh of a door opening, reminding me far too much of my hospital room, brought my head up. Merlin stood in the door, deep-brown hair slicked back as before. No suit jacket, though, just the white shirt and bright-red tie. The throat of his shirt was open, showing a little of his skin, and the tie was loose as though he’d just gotten off work. I realized I sat there naked as the day I’d been born. That is, if I’d been born a fully grown and rather well-endowed woman.

An undignified “Eeeek” escaped me as I lunged for the sheet on the floor, yanking it up to my neck.

Merlin smiled. “I’ve seen it all. Some of my best work, I believe.”

“You’ve seen me naked?” The words were a strangled squawk of disbelief and horror. “I’m a married woman!”

“Well, not really. You see, there is a fine point of the law.” He stepped farther into the room and began a slow pace back and forth. “Even though you didn’t die, the government can’t acknowledge you are still alive. If they did, they’d have to acknowledge there is a cure for the Aegrus virus. Which is why part of the deal when I turn someone is I have to make them look different enough that they won’t be recognizable. To those who know you well, they’ll know you. But to the world, you are no longer Alena Budrene. Just Alena now.”

Merlin stopped and held a hand out to me. “But that’s not really the point. The point is by law you are now a widow. Even though you were the one who died.”

Widow. “But I’m not dead. So my marriage vows still count.”

He shrugged. “Not in the eyes of the law. And now, you don’t own your house. Or your bakery. Or the bank account with all your money in it.”

I put a hand over my mouth while still clutching the sheet to my chest. Oh my word. What had I done? I didn’t even know what the judicial and penal system held for me as a Super Duper. A small part of me protested that Merlin had lied to me. He’d told me I could have my bakery. But now he’d just said that I didn’t even own it anymore.

Merlin walked across the room to a small door and flung it open. “Much as I personally love the look you have going on with the Greek goddess and a mere toga, you can’t go out like that. You’ll cause a ten-car pileup. Pick something out here.” He pointed at a closet. “It’s part of the deal, and we’ll get your starter package ready for you at the door.”

I slipped off the bed and wobbled a little as I walked to his side. He was a couple of inches taller than me, but I had no idea just how tall I was anymore. Maybe five ten, maybe taller. Closer to six feet actually, if where my head came to the closet door was any indication.

Inside the closet was an array of clothes in every color and kind of material. I reached out and brushed a hand over them: satin and silk, brushed cotton and leather. The selection of colors was big, but not the styles. “They’re all shirts. How am I going to make that work, exactly, without any bottoms?”

“They’re all dresses,” he corrected.

My jaw dropped and I spluttered, “I can’t wear these. I’ll be showing all my bits!”

He chuckled. “Buy what you want when you get out of here. But you have to wear something in order to leave. Unless you want to go naked?”

I reached out and touched the first dress that caught my eye. A tan color my mother would have chosen for me because of my brown hair and eyes.

“Not that.” Merlin pushed my hand away. “You have green eyes now, that color is far too bland for you.” He rifled through the closet a moment before pulling out a dress and shoving it at me. “Just try it on.”

I clutched the material to me and stared as he walked out of the room. At the door he paused. “And put on heels too. You’ve got a great ass, show it off.”

The door closed behind him, and I stood there clutching the frilly concoction he’d shoved into my hands. I dropped the sheet and pulled the dress on, moving on autopilot, doing as I was told. Strapless, the bodice was tight enough to push my new breasts into perfect cleavage. But it was the bottom that had me smiling.