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“I know wolf’s bane messes with your brain.” She shifts the box she’s carrying to one hip. “But gunslinger style isn’t cool in a deity town, and you have blood on your hands—literally not the literary mumbo jumbo. You look like crap, marshal.”
I ignore her comments on how bad I look because everything hurts and I would rather beg my mate to let me put my head in her lap and sleep a year than be here. My stitches must’ve given because Bunny’s right. I have blood streaks on my shirt, down an arm, and on my fingers.
At least my Stetson shields my throbbing eyes from the sun and the weight of my gun in its holster gives me a sense of security—no matter how false. I’ve been shot in this town once. I’d rather it not happen again.
“I’m not lost,” I tell her.
“You sure?” the rabbit asks. “I can help you back to the cabin if you want.”
I ignore that too. “This the House of Huntresses?”
“Yep.” The word comes out on a squeak. “No shifter with any sense comes this way.”
“You’re here.”
“To check on a work crew boarding up a wing of the House of Nymphs.” She jerks a thumb over her shoulder toward the distant sounds of hammers and saws. “The Huntresses called for collapsible solar panels so I brought a box to leave for when they get back from the assembly.” She hefts the box she’s holding a little higher.
“You’re not going inside to install them?” According to the talk I’ve heard in Syn City, there’s no maintenance or repair work that Bunny isn’t in charge of.
“Hell, no. No one goes into the temple except the Huntresses. It’s their sacred space.”
“That doesn’t strike you as weird?” Sure, marshal headquarters is a secure facility, but we at least have a waiting area.
“Nope. All the Houses are strange. Come on, we shifters look like cute, snuggly woodland creatures next to your mate and her Fury sisters.”
My heart misses a beat or seven. “Why would you think Sadie’s my mate?”
Bunny points to her twitchy nose. “Her scent’s all over you. Don’t lie to me. I’m a mom. I can sniff that stuff out in a second.”
“She broke our bond with a spell, but she swears she did it on accident.” Why am I telling the rabbit this?
“Magic here works funny. If she says she didn’t mean to, then she didn’t.”
“Just like that?”
“Why are you questioning her? No offense, but your mate would be more likely to hex you for not believing her than lie to you to save your precious feelings. The Furies aren’t known for being nice, especially not Sadie. Although I see she painted your arm with sigils the same as she did for me and my family. Gave us nifty little charms too like the one around your neck.”
So that’s where this mark on my arm and leather cord around my neck came from. I wondered after Sadie left—after I made her leave. In case it’d been my last gift from my mate, I didn’t dare wash away the painted marks or take off the strange necklace.
Bunny climbs the stairs to the temple and dumps the box of solar panels on the raised marble next to a column. “Can we go now?”
“You’re sure the Huntresses aren’t here?” I ask.
“Yeah, the Syndicate ordered all the Houses to report to The Rink for some big assembly. We think they’re announcing their plans to close the city. You and your captain leave first.”
“I heard.” Worse, Captain Zaleski sounded glad when she told me. I head toward the door, listening for any signs of someone inside before trying the latch. “Cocky Houses. They leave the front door unlocked.”
“Because no one’s stupid enough to go inside,” Bunny says on a hiss worthy of a snake shifter.
“I have a hunch that I need to check out.” Without anyone around. No matter how much the Furies insist that the Huntresses can’t lie, I know a wave of green movement flashed in the woods near Sadie’s garden right before I went down. If I find silver arrowheads inside, that’s it. We have our killers. “I’ll be right back.”
Bunny mutters curses. “I can’t let you go alone. You’re worse than my kids nosing around places you don’t belong while you’re still bleeding enough of a trail to lead the predators to you.”
“I am the predator.” My wolf gives a growl.
The rabbit’s not impressed. “Not here you aren’t. Come on. Let’s get whatever trouble you’re determined to find over with.”
“Then stay behind me.” I push inside the temple. The first room reveals absolutely nothing except tiled floors, tall columns, and stained glass ceilings that dome above us. My boots clip against the marble, echoing like gunshots.
