Something to Curse About (Discord Jones)

by Gayla Drummond

  “We need to clear the area and block it off,” Damian said, watching the wolves pass around a plastic bag with something in it. “What’s that?”

  Nick answered. “It’s a shirt she wore a couple of days ago. We’re going to spread out and see if we can pick up her scent.”

  “Discord doesn’t like to park her car inside the Palisades. If it’s here, she probably teleported,” Logan said. He had a tight grip on my collar, because I’d been growling continuously for twenty minutes. Doggy Me didn’t like the smell of any of the wolf shifters.

  “He’s likely right. I’m going to do a spell that will show us whether she did or not.” Damian knelt to open the dark blue duffle bag at his feet. I knew it held his department-approved spell paraphernalia. I even knew the spell he planned to do didn’t always work. Even though the odds were one in a hundred, if this spell got results, they were accepted in court, so it was worth his while.

  My witch buddies often said having a personal connection to someone helped, which meant the spell should work this time, especially with a focus object as large as my car. A good thing, since Damian didn’t have me and my abilities as backup this time—not that they always came through.

  While watching him set his things up, I tried to reach for my telepathic ability again. Damian?

  Nothing. I tried Nick, Logan, and even Schumacher, but none of them heard me.

  Disgusted, I leaned against Logan’s leg. He crouched down, his dark green eyes meeting mine, and proceeded to quietly lecture me for running off and scaring Terra.

  Schumacher approached. “Is the dog a shifter too?”

  “No, she’s a normal dog.”

  The beefy detective grinned. “Then she probably didn’t understand half of what you said. Maybe not even that much.”

  Logan sighed, his fingers closing around my muzzle to give it a light shake, and then he straightened. “Yeah. Guess I’m not used to normal animals.”

  “What’s her name?”

  “I don’t know. Found her last night. I’m Logan Sayer.” They shook hands, and the shifter filled him in on his attempts to find my imaginary owners. Schumacher held his hand out for me to sniff and patted my head after I’d done so. There were traces of burger on his skin. I hoped I’d eat one again, preferably as a human.

  “If you don’t have any luck, and decide not to keep her, let me know. My sister’s been looking for a dog. She’d take good care of her.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.”

  Meanwhile, Terra had edged closer to Damian, watching his preparations with interest. She cleared her throat. “What does this spell do?”

  “It’ll show time passing in this specific location, from about ten last night until dawn, like watching a video on fast forward.”

  The teen frowned, glancing up at the light post. I followed her gaze to a security camera mounted on it. “Why don’t you just look at the security camera footage?”

  The warlock snorted. “Because there isn’t any. That camera’s a fake.”

  “Oh.”

  We waited for the customers who owned the cars parked around mine to move them, until the area cleared enough for Damian to spray paint a gray circle around my car. Terra asked if the color was important, and Damian smiled.

  He loved answering questions about magic, and explained that gray was one of the colors conducive to vision and neutrality. “Which means I won’t accidentally influence a vision with what I want to see, but we’ll see the truth of what happened during the time we’re viewing.”

  “If you can see the past, can you see the future too?”

  Damian shook his head. “The future isn’t written. Or at least, not written in stone, though David—he’s a member of my coven—thinks there are some events that are. Only psychics with precognition ever catch glimpses of the future.”

  He finished spraying the circle and straightened. “You should come by the Blue Orb sometime. David owns it, and another of our coven members, Jo, works there with him.”

  The girl glanced at Logan, who smiled and nodded. “I’ll take you after we find Discord.”

  “This will take a few more minutes.” Damian traded his paint for chalk. I wished he’d call for Illy, but couldn’t remember him needing his familiar for this spell before. Maybe that’s what it’d take: Getting to one of my witch buddies’ familiars. I didn’t really understand what they were, other than not really the animals they appeared to be.

  After the episode with my dad, I was glad they all seemed to like me.

  Since I’d watched Damian do the spell before, I watched Nick instead. He’d taken my shirt back and sealed the bag. He spoke to another shifter, and I realized they looked quite a bit alike. Were they brothers? Nick hadn’t ever mentioned his family. He only talked about his pack in general terms, aside from his Alpha. Then again, he’d never really offered much information about him either.

  He’d made the suggestion that I visit, but I’d turned him down after learning a lot of them preferred skin to clothes most of the time.

  The other noticed my staring, and nudged Nick. “Dog’s watching you.”

  My boyfriend turned around, his eyes flashing to dark gold. “Would you take that damn dog home or whatever?”

  Logan patted my head. “She’s not going to do anything.”

  “Better hope it doesn’t,” the other shifter said. “We’ll rip it apart.”

  Terra whirled around, her light eyes narrowed. “And maybe I’ll rip you apart. How’d you like that, wolf boy?”

  “Come at me, kitty. I’ll tear your head off and use your skull to piss in.”

  Wow, what a freakin’ douchebag. If he was Nick’s brother, I already didn’t like him. Logan released his hold my collar, taking a step toward the other shifter. “Don’t threaten our Queen.”

  “She made the first threat,” Nick said, but he put a hand on the other wolf shifter’s arm.

  “I did not. He threatened Angel.”

  The other tigers, and Teague the lion, closed ranks behind the three of us. Nick’s brow creased, and brown flooded his irises, pushing the gold out. “The dog is a threat. It’s waiting for its chance to attack one of us.”

  Schumacher wandered over, stopping so that he stood between the two groups. “Okay, folks, let’s everyone calm down. We’re here to find a missing person, not argue over the pretty puppy who can’t help her instincts.” He looked at Logan. “Just keep hold of her, okay?”

  “Sure.” Logan patted his thigh, and I moved to stand beside him. He didn’t grab my collar, but his fingers rested on it.

  The beefy detective winked at us before turning his head. “Now, you…what’s your name?”

  Nick had to elbow his companion before the guy would answer. “Patrick Maxwell.”

  They were related. I studied him, and decided they were definitely brothers. They looked too much alike to be anything else. Patrick stood an inch or so taller than Nick, and he was a little heavier built. I thought he could be a couple of years older, and could almost smell the arrogance oozing from him.

  Definitely a douchebag.

  “Nice name, kid. Why don’t you apologize to the little lady here for being ugly to her and the puppy and we’ll call it even instead of starting some kind of shifter war?” When Patrick scowled, Schumacher drew himself up to his full height and spoke in a less friendly tone. “That wasn’t a suggestion.”

  “Discord likes dogs,” Logan murmured, so quietly Schumacher didn’t hear. But Nick must have, because he elbowed Patrick again.

  That did the trick, though Patrick’s sarcastic tone didn’t suit the flowery bow he executed. It looked silly with his cutoff jeans and muscle shirt anyway. “My apologies.”

  Terra hissed, but said, “Accepted.”

  “There now, see? No need for anyone to get their undies in a bundle.” Schumacher grinned, smacking his hands together. “Much better, kiddies. Let’s focus on business now, okay?”

  “I’m ready.” Damian’s ann
ouncement drew everyone’s attention. A few minutes of rearranging occurred, as everyone moved to find a spot to watch. I ended up standing between Logan and Terra, off to the warlock’s right side. The other cat shifters lined the edge of the circle from Terra around, ending with Teague standing between the tigers and Nick.

  Damian began chanting. The candles he’d placed at the four cardinal points popped, their wicks lighting. The breeze tried to put them out, but my witch buddies had long ago learned to combat the wind. They used the same wicks in their candles, which Jo and Ronnie made, that joke birthday candles did. You had to pinch them to put them out.

  Zing! The circle flashed and formed a half-bowl of swirling grayness, obscuring my car from view. With a little more chanting, the gray changed, becoming dark and then clearing enough for us to see an empty parking spot within a circle of yellow light.

  “So cool,” Terra breathed.

  Damian spoke a final word before telling them, “Now, we watch.”

  Several minutes passed with not much happening inside the impromptu theater, other than the light flickering and an occasional bit of dust skating over the asphalt.

  Finally, my car pulled into the spot and my former human self stepped out of it. The warlock said something, freezing the scene. “Well, she was fine that far.”

  I heaved a sigh, staring at myself, and heard an echoing, quieter sigh from Logan before he said, “She looks cranky.”

  From the other side of the magic theater, Nick spoke. “She must’ve been asleep. Her hair’s messy. I bet her tracking sense woke her with something.”

  Human Me’s long, brown hair did look kind of tangled with spots of fuzziness. Her narrowed eyes and faint scowl definitely indicated crankiness. I wanted to hide when I realized her tee was inside out.

  At another word from Damian, the scene began moving again. Human Me locked my car, dropped the keys into the inside pocket of my jacket, and disappeared. I’d never gotten to see myself teleport before. It wasn’t something you could watch yourself do in a mirror or anything.

  For about five minutes, my car sat there by itself, the sun eventually rising and overpowering the parking lot light, and then the magic dissipated, leaving my real car in the center of those watching.

  “Right,” Damian said. “She went into the Palisades. I’ll call Kate, see if she can pinpoint a location.”

  “We’ll go in, start looking for her trail.” Nick glanced at his brother. “In pairs.”

  “We’ll help.” By “we”, Logan didn’t mean Terra, her two guardians, or me. Our “we” was sent home.

  THIRTEEN

  Once home, Alanna and Terra filled in the hole I’d dug before leaving me in the backyard. I took care of a suddenly pressing need and then wandered around, looking for another way out.

  A whimper on the other side of the fence drew my attention. I trotted over to the gate and barked as quietly as possible, hoping my question was understandable. “Who’s there?”

  “Princess.”

  I hit my nose on the gate, trying to look through the wooden slats. After a few seconds of adjusting, I could make out white fur. “I’m Cordi. I’ve been looking for you.”

  The Chihuahua seemed to understand my whining without any trouble. “Why?”

  “I know your mom, Vera.”

  “You do?” Princess pressed her face to the other side of the gate. “I want to go home. Can you take me home?”

  Marveling at the difference being a dog made in communicating with one, I said, “Not right now, but as soon as I can. You need to find a way in here. I’m staying with friends, and they’ll take care of you too until we can take you home.”

  She yipped and began scrabbling at the ground. “There’s a rock.”

  “Yeah, I kind of dug out earlier. Let me see if I can move it.” Hooking a paw over the rock, I scraped at it. It moved a little. “I can. Wait a second.”

  “Hurry. I saw the bad man looking for me.”

  Still working the rock away from the gate, I asked, “What bad man?”

  “He took me away from Mom’s friend, Eileen. He had others in a place that smelled bad. I couldn’t open their cages, but I opened mine.”

  With a final hard pull, I managed to move the rock several inches back from the gate. It would’ve been a lot easier with hands instead of paws. “Can you get in now?”

  More scrabbling and Princess wiggled under the gate. She shook dirt from her fur before looking up at me with bright, brown eyes. “You’re big!”

  I debated telling her that I was actually a human, but decided against it. “Yeah. Do you know what shifters are?”

  “The animal people?” She shrank back against the gate, looking around while her ears flicked back. “They’re scary. The bad man’s an animal people.”

  What? Shifters were stealing dogs? “What kind of animal is he?”

  Princess sneezed. “Wolf.”

  Okay, I needed some time to think about that. However, I didn’t get it right then, as footsteps sounded in the alley. “Someone’s coming. Go hide.”

  The Chihuahua didn’t waste time, scooting away from the gate with her little whip of a tail tucking between her hind legs. I didn’t move, watching the gate and listening.

  “Last damn thing we need to be doing is looking for that yappy scrap of fur again.” A heavy thumping sound followed the words, and someone yelped. Pressing my nose to the gate, I sniffed.

  The person who’d yelped spoke. “I didn’t let it out of the cage.”

  “Dogs are stupid, they can’t open their own cages.” Another thump and yelp. “I swear, if he finds out, you’ll be the one getting your tail cut off.”

  They were coming closer, and the breeze carried their scents to me. A growl rose in my throat. They were wolf shifters. “Did you hear that?”

  “Yeah.” A few seconds later, the two were outside the gate. The larger one grabbed and shook it.

  I went nuts, snarling, barking, and throwing myself at the gate, saliva flying everywhere. My doggy instincts shrieked Kill, kill, kill!

  “Hey, looks like we got ourselves a candidate for the ring.” The gate rattled. “It’s locked. Step back.”

  “Wait, don’t you smell...”

  Behind me the door opened. I redoubled my efforts, aware that backup was on the way. I hoped it wasn’t just Terra. Splinters of wood peeled away from the wooden planks as I raked my nails down them.

  “Hey! Calm down.” It wasn’t Terra, but Teague. I spun away from the gate, dashing toward him, only to turn and run back, throwing myself against it again. The wolf shifters beat a hasty retreat down the alley.

  Alanna appeared in the doorway. “What’s going on?”

  “The dog’s lost its mind.”

  I stopped, cocking my head with my ears perked, and then gave a satisfied bark. “That’s right, run! Cowards.”

  “She hasn’t lost her mind. Can’t you smell them? There were wolves here a minute ago.” Alanna shook her head. “And they weren’t any of those doing the searching. Better call Logan and tell him we had visitors.”

  Teague sniffed the air as I turned around, scanning the small yard for Princess. The Chihuahua had shoved herself under a tangle of weeds, and neither of the shifters had noticed her yet. “You can come out. These animal people are my friends. They won’t let the wolves get you.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. Come on.” I walked toward her as Teague dashed back into the building. Alanna stayed, watching me, and sighed when she spotted Princess. “Great, another dog.”

  ***

  Terra seemed delighted I’d brought a friend home, swooping down on Princess to pick her up for a cuddle. “You’re precious. Are you hungry? I bet you’re hungry. You need a bath too. You’re a little stinky.”

  I settled on the floor to think about the wolf shifters. Why would they be stealing dogs? Who was the “he” mentioned? Their pack leader? Were they members of Nick’s pack?

  None of them seemed to like
dogs, but why would they steal them if they didn’t like them? To eat?

  A shudder worked its way down my spine. Surely not. I couldn’t see Nick eating someone’s pet, or being able to play dumb about our missing dog case if one of his pack had stolen Princess.

  I laid my head on my forelegs, watching Terra fuss over Princess. The smaller dog had stopped shivering, reveling in the attention. At least she was safe. I’d have to figure a way to get her home. If Logan would take her to the office, Mr. Whitehaven, Kate, or Nick would recognize her and that would take care of that.

  One case mostly solved. Not bad for someone who’d been turned into a dog.

  I still needed to figure out why those wolf shifters had taken her, for whom and to what purpose. Lying there, watching Princess chow down on the doggy kibble Terra poured for her, I sighed. She was registered, and there was that “excellent pedigree” to consider. Maybe they were stealing dogs to sell them?

  Wait. The larger shifter had said “candidate for the ring” when I went nuts at the gate.

  Dog fighting. They’d stolen Princess to use as a bait dog. I shuddered again, in spite of feeling glad the little dog wouldn’t be facing such an awful fate after all.

  Okay, then I had the “why” in addition to recovering Princess, but who were those shifters working for?

  I should probably be worrying about returning to human form instead of that, yet couldn’t stop wondering who the mentioned “he” was.

  When Logan rushed into the apartment a half hour later, I was still wondering.

  “Are you all right?”

  Terra frowned, busy drying off Princess, who hadn’t thrown a fit about being bathed. “Yes, why are you here? You’re supposed to be helping look for Discord.”

  “I was, but...”

  “There were only two of them, and they were wolves. Do you really think wolves are working with tigers?”

  Head up, I looked from her to Logan with my ears perked. Something was going on.

  “Less than half the tigers moving to Santo Trueno have approached us. Establishing a clan here with a Queen as young as...”