by Kathy Lyons
It was enough to silence Cecilia, and it was a damned impressive show of control. No other shifter that he knew of could consciously halt the change midway. For everyone else, it was all or nothing, and Hank couldn’t suppress a grudging respect.
Cecilia, on the other hand, was walking closer as she studied the alpha. And she was patting the pockets of her tunic as if looking for her phone, which was mercifully still in his car. Fortunately, she’d gotten close enough that he could grab her arm and hold her back.
“What are you doing?” he growled at her.
“You want me up to speed. This is how I get up to speed.”
He grimaced and turned to the alpha. “She is trying to help. Is there a wolf who could answer her questions? Someone young, perhaps, and not busy right now.”
There was a long pause as the wolf alpha stared at her, and Cecilia continued to inspect the man, clearly not nearly as intimidated as she should be. Everyone else remained poised, waiting for a response with seeming calm. Did no one else see the implied threat in the man’s furred face or long white teeth?
In the end, Wolf straightened, his expression turning cagey as he shifted back into human. Cecilia gasped audibly, her eyes practically dancing with interest. Everyone else pretended they’d seen that a thousand times before. Then the alpha spoke with sudden decisiveness, as if he were the one giving commands here.
“She will come with me. I will answer her questions.”
Hank’s bear reacted violently to that. It surged in his mind, roaring in a way that had his entire body prickling with fur. Or it would have if Hank hadn’t shifted last night. He wasn’t strong enough to change right now, and that was probably a good thing because it gave him a moment to control his reaction, though his words came out fast enough.
“She stays with me.”
The wolf grinned, his completely human teeth flashing. “Then come with us.”
Simon spoke, his voice so calm, it could have been a recording. “He stays with me.”
Mother snorted. “And you all can sit at my table and talk all you want. So long as someone is fixing my window and making sure those bodies are handled respectfully.” Her gaze narrowed. “Or maybe I’ll just find me a nice home in bear country and find other children to help.”
It was an empty threat. Mother had lived in this house for thirty years, and she had much more fondness for the dogs than the bears, probably because her husband had been a wolf. Plus the dogs popped out children like rabbits. Always a new puppy to care for, though they were completely human until adolescence. And though she’d cared for a variety of different breeds—Sammy being the most recent bear—she wasn’t going to up and move to Griz territory.
Meanwhile Wolf gestured with a single flick of a finger. Like the smallest tick of a tail, it was a signal to gather Antwone. “We will take our own.” His gaze landed on the more wolflike hybrid. “And that one.” His gaze slid to Simon. “Care for your own.”
“And my window?” Mother pressed.
He arched a brow at Simon. “Shared costs? They would not have come if the bears hadn’t been here.” He sneered as he said the word “bears,” as though he was referring to rats.
“Are you saying you can’t control your own? Because mine did nothing wrong.”
Wolf’s expression turned condescending. “You are a new alpha just arrived in Detroit. In this city, we share the burden.”
Simon didn’t say a thing. He simply turned to Alyssa who had been tapping on her tablet. “Not according to Nanook’s records. He’s detailed every dime he thinks is owed—”
“Nanook is dead,” Wolf snapped, his eyes flashing yellow as he referred to the old Griz alpha. The one Simon had killed two days ago. “There are no debts.”
“Agreed,” Simon said, his voice again excruciatingly calm. “New slate. No debt. But if I fix Mother’s window, her block and the ones north of her become mine.”
Every single wolf reacted to that. The ones who were wolves growled. One even howled. The humans bared their teeth and made sounds that had Hank’s skin crawling. But not a one moved forward, though Hank was braced for it. And Simon—coldhearted machine that he was—didn’t even blink. He kept his body relaxed and his attention square on Wolf.
And then one of Wolf’s men stepped forward. He was an older man with thick muscles and the slightest bit of gray around his temples. He didn’t speak, though. Simply waited for Wolf to acknowledge him, which took another excruciatingly long minute.
Eventually Wolf nodded. Then the man spoke.
“I will fix the window, Mother. In thanks.”
Hank had no idea what she’d done for the man, but it was enough to break the impasse. Especially when Mother smiled and added her two cents. “Your boys turned out to be fine men. I’d be grateful for the help.”
So it was done. The wolves picked up the dead Antwone with reverence. The wolflike hybrid, not so much. They had body bags with them, and whereas the wolf was settled with care, the hybrid was all but thrown inside. And given the smell, Hank really couldn’t blame them.
Cecilia opened her mouth to say something. Probably to ask to autopsy the bodies, but Hank squeezed her arm to silence her. She subsided with a mulish pout, and for that show of intelligence, he was profoundly grateful.
It took a surprisingly short amount of time. The werewolves were quick and efficient, as if they were used to picking up bodies and whisking them away. Meanwhile, Wolf turned his attention to Cecilia in a way that made Hank bristle from his bear’s protective instincts.
“What have you learned about the Detroit Flu?”
Cecilia shook her head. “Inconclusive so far, but I’m excited to take another look at our data. Now that I know more.”
“And who will you report your findings to?”
She opened her mouth to answer, but then abruptly frowned, her expression uncertain. She looked to Hank, but he couldn’t tell her what to say here. She was in on the shifter secret, but that only meant she was in the same vise of uncertainty that they all lived in. How to keep their existence a secret in a modern city?
“Who would listen?” she finally asked.
“You will send them to me,” Wolf said.
Simon interrupted. “Actually, she’ll send them to me, and I’ll pass them on to all the alphas. As part of my clan, she is my responsibility.”
Meanwhile, Cecilia had run out of patience. “Look, as fun as it is to visit feudal society, I’m here for the science. We all need a cure for the Detroit Flu, and I’ll happily email my results to anyone who will listen.”
Hank sighed. “No, Cecilia—”
“Agreed,” Wolf cut in. Then he pulled a crisp business card out of his pocket. “Here is my card.” He held it out to her but only by a few inches. It would require her to cross several feet to take it from him. She went without hesitation while Hank fought every instinct within him to let her go even that distance. He didn’t release her arm, though. And he was prepared to yank her backward if Wolf did anything suspicious.
He didn’t. But that didn’t mean Hank wasn’t ready to tear out his throat just for getting near Cecilia.
And then the bastard had the gall to smile at Hank. A slow, knowing smile that taunted while Hank fought his inner bear. Bears didn’t give way to wolves. Ever. But if a pack coordinated their attack, then an outnumbered bear would lose every time. And innocents could die in the process.
He wasn’t willing to risk Cecilia that way, so he kept a fierce hold on his instincts. And the moment she had Wolf’s card in hand, he jerked her back behind him. Meanwhile, the wolf alpha looked to her.
“I’ll have three wolves visit you tomorrow night, Dr. Lu, at your hotel. To answer your questions.”
“One,” Hank corrected.
Which is when Cecilia snorted, clearly impatient with the territorial posturing. “Two? Okay? Send two.”
To which Simon answered: “Agreed.” And since Simon was the bear alpha, Hank had no place to argue. But he coul
d assert some protections.
“And I’ll be there,” he said. Cecilia opened her mouth to argue, but he cut it off with a hard squeeze on her arm. “To help. With the science.”
Wolf exhaled loudly, the sound derisive, but he didn’t bother to argue. And a moment later, he turned on his heel and left like a damned military dictator. His men separated enough for him to leave first, then they filed out with paradelike precision. Men on four sides, wolves extending in a perimeter beyond.
Pompous ass.
Still, Hank watched closely to make sure every single one left. And while he was peering out the window, all his senses on alert, Cecilia rounded on him with a huff.
“And now can I use your phone? I need to record my impressions of that testosterone-fest. Was that just human male? Or are all you shifters prone to that kind of display?”
Hank didn’t bother responding. Turns out, he didn’t need to because both Mother and Alyssa answered together.
“Both.”
Chapter 12
I need to get back to the hospital.”
Cecilia had finished recording her impressions of the meeting on her phone, which Hank had handed over as soon as the wolves had left. Now she really needed to get to the lab for serious work. She was itching to look at the CDC’s existing data with her new understanding. Not to mention studying the data that Simon had emailed her. But she couldn’t start doing that until she had a computer larger than her hand.
“I can call an Uber—” she began, but Hank cut her off.
“I’ll take you. I just want to make sure everything here is settled first.” His gaze went to Mother where she was sitting and sipping tea. The man was obviously super protective of her and Sammy, and Cecilia couldn’t damn him for it. In fact, it only made him more attractive to her.
“Kennedy reports five more cases of the Flu, all fatalities.” That statement came from Simon, his tone so bland he didn’t even look up from the tablet he and Alyssa were using. And wasn’t that nauseatingly cute? Two people cuddled up together on Mother’s couch as they discussed personnel, whom they were protecting, and where.
Actually, that was cute. And reassuring. It felt good to know that Simon, in addition to the exhausted police, was looking out for Detroit’s residents. Meanwhile, Cecilia looked at Hank who was busy making omelets for everyone. And lord, they smelled heavenly. She was about to ask who was Kennedy when he answered as if he’d read her mind.
“Detective Ryan Kennedy. He’s one of us.”
“Grizzly?”
Hank nodded as he brought her a Denver omelet that had her stomach rumbling with hunger. One bite later, she nearly forgot everything else. “Oh my God,” she gasped. “This is good!” It’s hard to screw up an omelet, though she’d managed it a few times. But overall, that also meant it was hard to make an amazing one. Hank had done something to simple ham and eggs that made her taste buds weep. “Are all shifters great cooks?”
“Just my Hank,” Mother answered with a grin as she accepted her own plate.
The man in question grinned back as he ducked his head, obviously pleased and a little embarrassed by the praise. “Alyssa, you’re next.”
“Thanks a million, Hank.”
Cecilia watched the exchange, noting that he had served her first, Mother second, Alyssa third. The women first, starting with her. In most pack hierarchies, the alpha male would come first, but Simon hadn’t been fed yet. And she had no idea what it meant that Hank had given her food before any of the other women.
Clearly standard pack structure didn’t apply here, but in other things—like that bear versus wolf clash earlier—pack structure had been well in evidence.
She just wished she knew what it all meant. Hopefully her notes would make sense later. That’s what she did when she got too exhausted to make conclusions. She focused on details, wrote them all down, and tried to sort them out later. She sighed as she tucked into her omelet. Maybe they were right. Maybe she needed to eat first and mentally regroup before trying to sort through data she couldn’t fully process yet. She was still eating when someone drove up in a large truck, followed quickly by a police cruiser. Apparently, it was what everyone had been waiting for because Alyssa hopped off the couch, Hank left kitchen duty, and Mother said, “About damn time,” into her tea. Simon didn’t appear to react at all as he continued to study something on the tablet.
Two men climbed out of the truck’s cab, one so old as to be considered elderly, the other barely out of adolescence. But both had barrel chests and thick arms as they pulled a body bag out of the back. Behind them came a uniformed police officer who looked more like a California surfer dude than a cop, especially with his too bright smile.
Cecilia recognized that smile. It was the one she wore when she was so exhausted she could barely see, but still had to appear fresh in front of patients. She guessed this cop was on his very last legs.
Meanwhile, the three knocked politely on the door, though they could see straight in through the busted window. Hank opened the door and two headed straight for the hybrid’s body while the cop crossed to Simon’s side.
“Report,” Simon said, his voice almost casual as he looked up at the men.
The cop answered, his tone frequently betraying his exhaustion for all that he kept his words light. “Looting is contained but that’s because more people are home puking. We got reports of monsters everywhere, most hallucinations. A few not. And regular shifters—the ones who ought to be helping—are just mean.”
Simon nodded as if it were exactly what he expected, then he gestured at the cop’s uniform. “Since when do gang cops dress up?”
The man snorted. “Since we’re supposed to show that the police are everywhere.” He rolled his eyes. “Which we aren’t. We’re down to less than half now.” Then he turned and abruptly extended a hand to her. “Detective Ryan Kennedy, here to serve and protect,” he said. “And you are…”
Cecilia smiled. It was hard not to respond to his easy charm. “Dr. Cecilia Lu. CDC.” That was all she got out before Hank released a low grumble from her opposite side. Detective Kennedy quickly lifted his hands in a backing-off gesture.
Meanwhile, Simon started talking to the other two. “How are you two? And your families?”
The younger man flashed a quick smile. “We’re all bottled water, nothing else.”
“And beer,” the older one said with a grin. “You said we can drink the beer.”
“Anything that was made outside of Detroit.”
There was more byplay. Simon had gotten all the information he wanted. It was Alyssa who asked for more details about grandchildren and jobs. And then the younger one looked sadly at the hybrid before nodding at Detective Kennedy.
Ryan explained the exchange a moment later by holding up his phone to show to Simon. “We think we know who this is. Pretty sure this is the same kid.”
Cecilia stretched to look. She wanted to see what the person had looked like beforehand. And she was greeted with a smiling picture of a high school boy in his football uniform celebrating a win. The face itself hadn’t changed that much. Just added fur and those rounded ears. If you shrank the muzzle down, then it was the same boy. Especially since the tattered shirt he wore was the same as in the photo.
“He changed during practice.”
“You know the family?” Simon asked.
“Not well,” said the detective. “But enough to tell them—”
“You’ll come with me then.” Simon straightened and got off the couch.
“Where are you taking the body?” Cecilia asked
“Wherever the family wants,” Simon answered. “You got enough from him?”
The CDC needed data, always. But weighing that against the shifter secret and the family’s grief was hard. “We’d like the study the body if we can. In a lab. With—”
“They won’t let you,” Detective Kennedy said. He looked at Simon, but his words were for her. “They know about us. The boy’s mother has th
e gene, though she never changed. She knows to keep it quiet. Just bury the dead and grieve in peace.”
Simon didn’t answer. He just looked at her, his expression flat. It was like he was trying to tell her something, but she had no idea what. So she looked to Hank who was equally silent, but his eyes were filled with sorrow. Yet another dead child. Was this the one she’d killed? She wasn’t even sure because parts of last night were a blur. Plus, she’d been specifically blocking that information from gaining prominence in her brain. She’d studied the body as she would have any tissue. Disease first. Method of death, irrelevant if it didn’t pertain to the disease.
He’d been a violent monster ready to kill. She’d protected herself and others. And frankly, it wasn’t the first time she’d had to put a sick animal down. Her PhD research had been on monkeys and she’d inured herself to killing them years ago. It was simply part of the job.
But now she saw that the hybrid monster was a boy who had played football and had a family who would grieve. Sure, she’d known in her clinical brain that his higher cortex was all but gone. Even if there had been a cure, he would never regain human function. Closest analogy was that he was a rabid animal and had had to be stopped.
But she hadn’t thought about the family. Or that he’d been playing football just a day or so ago.
“Dr. Lu?” Simon pressed. “How important is it for you to study this body?” A simple question asked without emotion.
“Not.” She swallowed. It was a lie. They always needed more data, but she couldn’t be the one to dissect the body. Not now that she’d seen that picture. And she couldn’t trust anyone else to see what she would see now that she wasn’t blind to shifters. “Let them bury him however they want.”
Simon nodded then gestured to the men to gather the body. They worked as efficiently as the wolves while everyone watched.