Page 19 of Wolves Always Bite

"TakeNelsonwith you,”Gagesaid. “Idon't want anyone confronting the goblin alone."

Jeremypaled. "Whydo you think she'll come after me?WhatdidIdo?Imade her a thousand bucks.Istill don't understand why she went all crazy green monkey creature over that.Butyou think she’d try to hurt me too?Why?"

"Shewas close to killingAdrian,"Gagesaid.

"Oh, come on, it wasn't that close."Icrossed my arms.

"Ifshe'd been able to get a few inches closer to your neck, you wouldn't be sitting here."

"Holyfuck."Jeremy’sface was all white now except for his pale freckles. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

"Ithink you broke the human,"Isaacsaid toGage.Hereached over and pattedJeremy'sknee. "It'sokay, little guy."

Istared atIsaac’sfat paw on my human.

Jeremyblinked, seeming to come back to himself, and turned to me. "Areyou growling right now?"

Icoughed and pretended to clear my throat.Onthe other side of the motorhome,TeagueandNelsonexchanged cash.Theywere betting on something, something to do with me andJeremy.Inarrowed my eyes at them.

"Enough,"Gagesaid sharply, drawing everyone's attention back to him again. "Youthree go toWillowLakeafter you finish in the city.Wehave to check onDavinafirst, then we’ll all meet up there later.Theyare the ones who hired us, so this is all coming together.Giveus the boxes first though.Theguys can go through them and catalogue their contents whileIdrive."

"Whatare you?"Jeremyasked as he narrowed his eyes at us. "Somekind of magic police or something?"

"Hey, we should get badges with that on them."Isaacrubbed his hands together and grinned.

Gagesmiled.Hemight be a demon, but he always liked it when we were happy.

"Hehas a dimple."Jeremypointed atGage'sface. "Likewhat kind of demon has a dimple?"

Gage'ssmile dropped but everyone else laughed.Theguy was just too easy to tease about that dimple.

"It’ssomething like that,"Teaguesaid toJeremy, answering his earlier question about our work. "Wetry to do our part to keep everyone safe.Ourteam is made up of a diverse group of supes, so collectively we often sense things that others might not."

“Soyou just go around randomly helping people?”

“No,”Teaguesaid with a smile that suggested he was charmed byJeremy.Ibit back the urge to growl at him until he quit smiling. “Wedo some freelance work,Iguess you’d call it, but most of our jobs come through theSupernaturalCouncil, which is just like it sounds.Theyare a governing body for supes but, unlike the human system, they don’t have their own police force.Instead, they use teams like ours to investigate problems, if necessary.”

Jeremynodded at the explanation, but he kept staring at the demon’s cheek.Hisforefinger curled and uncurled in his lap, like he wanted to pokeGage’sface and examine the dimple more closely.Thenhe froze and his forehead crinkled.

“Waita minute, how are you here right now?”Jeremyreached forGage’sarm. “Didsomeone—” he cast a jaundice eye over the rest of us “—summon you from your home world?Areyou trapped here?Don’tworry,Mr.Dimples,I’llhelp you.”

Gage’seyebrows crept up his forehead.

“Uh…Jeremy?Demonslive here.Thisistheir world,”Isaid.

Jeremycontinued to stare at the demon as he leaned in close.Hishand tightened onGage.

“Blinkrapidly three times if you are under a spell and need my help.”

Hemay have whispered butIheard him.Gagedidn’t blink.Atall.Myeyes stung just watching his unblinking stare.

“Areyou sure?”JeremysqueezedGage’sarm again. “Ifyou need help, you let me know.”

Theidea ofGageneeding a human’s help was crazy—he was one of the most powerful beings on earth—butIwas impressedJeremyoffered to help a supernatural being, a demon in particular.Humanshadn’t been kind to demons over the years.

“I’msure.Letgo of me now.”Gageeyed the human warily andJeremyreleased his hold.Thenthe demon turned his attention to the rest of us. "Youknow what to do."

Thesharp look he shot at us made us jump into action.