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“How so?”
“Well, parents send their children and teenagers off to school with silver piercings from a qualified shaman like the one who crafted my and Stephen’s tattoos. Hormones, uncontrollable emotions—not a good mix.”
“You don't consider caging them in one form cruel?”
“Cruel,” he said, again glancing toward the tree line, “is watching your friend's son lowered into the ground because yours got angry about a prom date. Imagine then surrendering your daughter when the Otherworld deems her a community risk and demands her euthanized. Werefolk aren't any more used to or fond of killing than humans.”
“The Otherworld?”
“The supernatural community and its governing body.”
We trudged on underneath scattered moonlight. With blood seeping into my sock, I resorted to running my mouth to keep the pain at bay. “Steam’s not in the movies.”
“Change on a physiological level is work. Lots of energy, lots of heat.”
“Okay, and—”
“Look, I'm not here to educate you, Miss Davins. Your grandmother should have done that,” he snapped. “I'm here to keep your feet out of the grave that cat of yours is hissing at me from.” I must’ve made a face, because he cast a concerned glance at my leg. “You can sit if you need to.”
“I have more questions than pain,” I said. “My grandmother raised me human. Unless she left a book of secrets tucked away in a dusty corner of my attic, you’re my sole resource.”
He observed me with a scrutinizing intensity, then, as he had on the porch when we’d met, relented with a smile. “My apologies, Marcy. Ask me anything.”
“I’m sorry about Cho. Were you partners long?”
“Known him all of eight months, but that don’t make death easier or harder to cope with. There’s folks I’ve known my entire life whom I wouldn’t shed a tear for and folks I never met alive who haunt me to this day.”
“Literal haunting?”
Headlights stretched across the driveway into the backyard and empty woods. The sheriff dropped the body, dashed around and grabbed my arm before I stumbled over the corpse and into the light.
“Who are you expecting tonight?”
“Lisa.” I’d never called back. Where the hell had my phone gone, anyway?
By the time the engine cut off, Caelan was already halfway to the slider.
I stumbled after him. “Where the hell are you going?”
“To fetch my clothes,” he hissed.
“Says the man fresh from Countess Báthory’s tub. What’s clothing going to do? No, stay put. I’m grabbing the hose. I can explain away a naked man better than a bloody one.”
“And will she believe you?” he asked, hand on hip.
I scowled. “Seeing is believing. Besides, you must keep a wolf kit in your truck with a gallon of water, a clean outfit, and a couple of promiscuous excuses.”
He rolled his eyes. “My keys are in my pants pocket, which last I recall is at the bottom of your entry next to my cell, which I’ll also need to call you an ambulance.”
“Can't we tell them?”
He shook his head. “Humans don’t fare well against the supernatural.”
With a glance from Cho’s gaping throat to the hole in my bedroom wall, I added, “Neither do houses.”
Car doors opened and closed.
“Around back!” Caelan yelled and stepped inside. “Black bear with cubs emerging from hibernation, lured by food wafting through an open window. Mauled Cho prior to your opening the door. Got it?”
