Page 93 of Hoofin’ It

“Welcome to Chicago. The CPD looks the other way because it would cost more than they’re willing to spend to get the bodies out of there. They only interfere if a witness sees someone dumped in, and even then, they only check the grates for the body. All part of the whole ‘you mind your business, we mind our business’ mentality shared by Upper and Lower Chicago. Anyway, the current is pretty strong, so the CPD assumes if the body doesn’t wash up there, it’s gone.”

“My opinion of Chicago gets worse every time you open your mouth.”

I thought about it and shrugged. “It is what it is. I visited New York, and a corpse fell on the car I was standing next to. A few bodies in the canal doesn’t seem so bad after that.”

“That was gruesome. I was surprised by how nonchalant you were. You didn’t even grimace when you put the car in park. You were blinking rather like an owl, though—a bloody owl.”

“I was more concerned about preventing the vehicle from taking out some pedestrians than getting more blood on me. I’d already gotten splattered, so a little more didn’t matter. Not the first time I’ve seen someone killed because they decided to improvise on their windshield.”

“Is that what happened? I’d thought the windshield had buckled in a bit easy, but I wasn’t sure since the body had fallen so far. I wasn’t really in a position to get a good look.”

“Window glass shatters into large lethal shards, where safety glass, the kind used in cars, either pebbles or sticks together. When the vic hit the windshield, it broke into shards, which is pretty damning evidence someone had put the wrong type of glass in the windshield. You don’t deal with a lot of traffic incidents in the FBI?”

“Not in my division, though I’ll be transferring to violent crimes soon. That’s part of why I’m here; I get paid leave because of the botched operation plus they’re figuring out where I’ll best fit. When I go back, I’ll train for my new division.”

“You’re being pushed out?”

Marian snorted. “No. I volunteered for transfer. I may have done some additional research into lycanthropy and decided I didn’t want to find out if you had inherited a lycanthrope’s base tendency to slaughter threats to people close to them. There’s surprisingly little research on what happens when a shifter bites a lycanthrope.”

“Well, I’m not a lycanthrope.”

“I didn’t know that then.”

“So what does happen when a shifter bites another shifter? I can tell you exactly what happens when a lycanthrope gets someone in their sights.” Sliding my hand along her back, I propelled her towards the underground mall.

Marian’s cheeks turned pink. “I should have asked before biting you.”

“I didn’t ask before I bit you, so I think that makes us even.”

“But I knew what biting does!”

When an opportunity presented itself, a wise man took advantage of it. “And you had a double dose of sex demon. So what? I’m assuming you laid some sort of claim on me, which means I get watch you model white dresses and openly indulge in admiring a woman I find very pretty. Since I’m a lycanthrope’s son, I’m well aware of what happens when a boy lycanthrope meets a girl human and is a pushy bastard until she says yes and is stuck with him until the day they die. Now, if I wanted to be a pushy bastard about it, I’d just tell my mother you were the one who gave me the guns and the permit and let her worry about the details. She’d have us married within a day, and knowing her, she would resort to cruel and unusual methods to accomplish her goals. As I’m a gentleman, I gave you sufficient chances to escape. I’m afraid you failed to escape, so now I’m going to enjoy hunting you.”

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

Grinning, I nudged her in the direction of the nearest mobility store. “Immensely. First, you gave me a pair of guns, then you tricked your way into my apartment. I think I’ll just have to keep you, since you warm my bed and make it more comfortable. Your sales pitch was successful. You’ll just have to deal with it. I’m not sure I bit you hard enough, so I’ll have to do a very thorough investigation of your person later. But first, you’ll have to model white dresses for me. It seems fair, because you’ve seen me in a suit before the completion of the bet.”

“Most of the time you’re shy, but then you make it clear you’re not nearly as dense or oblivious as you appear to be.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m dense, but your hands-on approach makes it pretty clear what I’m supposed to be doing. It doesn’t hurt my parents and the rest of society are very vocal about what I should be doing. You didn’t have to work very hard to convince me, and my only problem with you biting me is how long it’s taking to heal. It’s still sore.”

“Well, it’s my turn to deal with it for a few weeks, so you’ve gotten your revenge. Magic works in mysterious ways.”

“Excellent. I’m pretty sure you owe me an apology for biting. You can apologize the same way you thanked me. I enjoyed that.”

Marian laughed and elbowed me in the ribs. “You don’t need to catch up for lost time.”

“What sort of nonsense is that? Of course I need to catch up for lost time. Right now, however, I need to buy a phone and get you to model some dresses for me. Once I’m certain I’ve run the cab bill to horrific levels, we’ll go rescue my parents, and since I’m a considerate gentleman, I won’t tell them your biting has more significance than rough foreplay.”

“You sneaky, manipulative bastard.”

I laughed.

The easiest way to get rid of unwanted tracked cell phones was to toss them into the canal, which I did with a certain amount of glee. Marian watched me, her arms crossed over her chest. “Is there any reason you didn’t toss them before we hiked to other side the mall and back?”

“More time on Larry’s meter.”

“Do you like or hate Ernesto? I’m really not sure.”