by Kali Harper
“You’re wrong.” As I went over everything that had happened since the day Maggie died, Ivan took whatever notes he could. I told him about Thomas Seeton, the dragon shifter with a rift between himself and his animal form. I told Ivan about Thomas’ sleepshifting and how, in the end, Thomas had no control over his dragon half because the two of them fought for control over a shared body. “Now do you see why this is a problem?”
Ivan set down his pen and pad of paper. “You’re afraid because Lance has held back his wolf for so long, it’ll lash out. I can see why you’d think that, but I also know he shifts on occasion. Privately.”
“What if he bites someone?”
“Again with the biting,” Ivan said with a sigh. “Our pack doesn’t do it. Even if we did, we don’t have that strain of the virus. We’re incapable of infecting others. Some packs have it in their DNA, but we don’t.”
“Then how do you recruit others?”
“A serum. A lot of the law enforcement in our towns can shift between their human and stronger animal forms. The serum was made from a bite.”
“Then you aren’t real shifters.”
“Not in the way you think of us, no. As for Lance shifting in private, I caught him changing in his room at my place a few times after he thought I’d gone to bed.”
“He couldn’t scent you?” Sammy asked.
“If he did, he wouldn’t have done so until after the shift. By then, he probably figured there was no sense hiding it. I never brought it up and neither did he. He probably shifts like that all the time, locking himself away until the itching stops, then shifts back.”
“Kind of like how Kat does with her fox,” I said, smiling at her.
“Though I do it to keep from stealing,” Kat admitted.
“Ivan,” I hedged, “is there any reason a shifter’s animal form would take over and leave them with no recollection of where they’ve been if they aren’t suppressing it?”
“How do you mean?” he asked, brows furrowed above his ice-blue eyes.
“Kat’s fox was outside my place last night. I didn’t know it was her at the time, but I hoped it was. She couldn’t talk or anything until she shifted back the morning after I’d locked her in my bathroom.”
“And now, I can’t communicate with my fox,” Kat added. “I’ve read everything I can, but nothing explains what I’m going through.”
Ivan scrubbed his face, looking over his notes as he spoke. “All of this started last night?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“Except for Joe getting bitten by the stray,” I said, craning my neck to read over what he wrote.
“And you’re sure it was a stray,” Ivan said without looking at me.
“According to Marcy. She’s his wife.”
“If there is a shifter running around, the two could possibly be related. Our animal instincts can sometimes take over if we feel threatened,” Ivan said.
“But enough for Kat’s fox not to communicate with her?” I asked.
“It’s possible. I’d like to see Ida if that’s okay.”
“I’m sure we could pay her a visit,” I said, taking out my cell phone so I could send her a text about Ivan’s visit.
“I’d also like to see where you spotted this gray wolf,” he added.
“That… might be an issue. Max has most of the town closed off. The Laughing Bean is probably overrun with cops.”
“You forget,” he said with a sheepish grin on his face, “I’m a detective. If Max is as against working as Lance made it out to be, then he’ll be thrilled to have another detective around.”
Alarm bells went off in the back of my mind as Kat and Ivan talked amongst themselves. Sammy, being the wise familiar he was, sat in my lap and pawed at the phone I held in my hands after texting Ida.
Then, realizing Ivan wasn’t paying attention to either one of us, I used the text on my screen to quietly talk to Sammy. It was cumbersome and didn’t compare to when we could speak mind-to-mind, but at least it was better than not having someone to talk to at all.
Does anything smell off? I typed into my phone. When Sammy shook his head, I typed some more. Don’t you find it the least bit suspicious? His timing in all of this? How he shows up in the nick of time to save the day?
Sammy stood on his hind paws and nuzzled my ear. “Lance was late yesterday because he was filing papers for Ivan’s arrival, remember? He was coming before any of this started.”
“I guess,” I spoke under my breath, turning off the screen to my phone before shoving it in my pocket. I’d never cared for cell phones, but I clearly needed one after everything that had happened since my awakening.
“Everything check out okay?” Ivan asked, passing me a knowing smile. “It’s okay to suspect me,” he said, helping me to my feet. “I would too. The timing’s perfect, right?”
“It is.” I dug at the dirt under my fingernails even though there wasn’t much there.
“Lance told me he had a deputy in training,” he went on, gathering his pen and paper from the floor before placing them in his pocket. “He never said anything about his deputy being a witch. A beautiful one, if you don’t mind my saying it.”
“Well, I do mind, and I’d appreciate it if you’d focused on your investigation instead of what I am or am not wearing.”
Ivan held his arms up in defense. “Whoa, I meant no offense. Just saying Lance knows how to pick them is all.”
“You should probably stop,” Kat said, ushering him away from me before I could punch him in the nose.
“Ignore him,” Sammy said, standing in front of me. “He comes from big California. Whoo woo.”
My sentiments exactly. “At least Lance isn’t that full of himself.”
“If he is, he does a good job at hiding it… among other things,” Sammy agreed.
Other things such as his ability to turn into a wolf.
“Yeah, let’s not talk about that right now,” I said.
“What should we talk about?”
“Ivan’s timing and where Lance could’ve gone. The wolf we saw this morning wasn’t him, but what if the one who killed Kyle’s cow was? What if Lance killed it without realizing, got back to the office and did business as usual, then found out about the attack hours later?”
If Kat was having a hard time keeping tabs on her fox, could Lance have gone through the same thing? Could he still be going through it?
“There’s only one way to find out. We need to talk to Kyle.”
Chapter Eight
Ivan’s wolf ran beneath us as Kat and I flew toward the outskirts of town. After not seeing Kyle at the town meeting, I knew exactly where we needed to go. As for Sammy, he was as thrilled about riding my broomstick as before, gripping the wood in front of us with his body pressed against my lap.
“Maybe we should build you a sidecar,” I said with a laugh. “I could always fit you inside my old backpack.”
Sammy’s ears swiveled in my direction, but whatever he planned to say never made it past his lips. Instead, he sunk low against the broom and hugged it the best he could. No doubt I’d find claw marks all over my broom by the time we were through.
“I’ll hang back here,” Ivan said, keeping under the tree line as we neared Kyle’s farm. “I’m sure the last thing this farmer wants is to see a wolf on his property.”
“So shift back,” I offered, landing beside him so Kat and Sammy could get off before dismissing my broomstick.
“I’m a stranger to him. You go on ahead, but call out if you need any backup. I can’t smell anything, but that doesn’t mean this wolf or whatever’s responsible for killing this Kyle’s cow isn’t still around. I’ll check the entire property line to be sure, but as of right now, it smells safe.”
“Sammy?” I asked, trusting my familiar’s judgment over a shifter.
“All I smell are cow droppings,” he said with disgust.
He wasn’t the only one. “Call, howl, or do something if your instincts say otherwise,”
I said to Ivan, turning on my heels to leave.
“You’re just as lovely walking away,” he said, bowing his head apologetically after the fact. “It’s my wolf talking, I swear.”
“Get him neutered.” I stormed off, doing whatever I could to ignore the very obvious wolf-whistle behind me. “You sure you know this guy?” I asked Kat once we were out of earshot.
“He’s having fun. Lighten up.”
“Lighten up? Lighten up? Kat, Lance is missing!”
“I know, and Ivan’s just trying to make light of a bad situation. He gets goofy when he’s nervous. A lot of shifters do.”
“Yeah, well, he sure has a funny way of showing his concern.” In fact, if you asked me, Ivan was almost as bad as the Henderson kids, and they weren’t even here.
Kat didn’t say anything after that, keeping to herself as we made our way over the fence and across the field toward Kyle’s barn, avoiding cow-pies along the way. Sammy was less impressed, doing whatever he could to avoid the stinky landmines. I almost laughed when he stepped around one and barely ran into another.
“Couldn’t we have flown on your broom a while longer?” he whined once we reached the side of the barn.
I gasped. “You hate my broom. Besides, where’s the fun in that?” I asked him, walking around to the front where Kyle had let the cows out to run. There, in the mud, I spotted a set of paw prints too large to belong to a dog. “Look over there. You think those—”
“Belong to a wolf,” Kyle said, walking up from the opposite side of the yard. He had a shovel in one hand and carried a white bucket in the other. His jeans were torn at the knees, a reel of chicken wire leaning on the building behind him. Brown hair covered his eyes which he quickly pushed out of the way before meeting my gaze with one of his own. “If you’ve come for more of Maggie’s favorite ice cream, I’m afraid I’m all out,” he said, placing his tools inside the barn. “I’ve lost two cows now.”
“Two?” I asked, peering inside the barn where a pair of stalls had blankets draped in front of them. “I thought it was only one.”
“At first, yes. The dang thing came back before dawn and picked off another one. I’ve tried locking the barn, but it still got in. Look here,” he said, pulling the barn door shut so he could hold up the padlock and chain he used. “I can lock it up nice and tight, and when I come out, this is on the ground. The key is with me at all times.” Rust-free, the lock looked as though it hadn’t been used at all.
“Is this lock new?” I asked him, feeling the weight of it in my hand.
“Sure is. Lance suggested I get it replaced in case the other one was faulty.”
“Do you still have the old one?”
“Here,” Kyle said, opening the doors back up so he could take the old lock and chain off the wall. “Not sure what use you’ll get out of it. Everything looks fine to me.”
It was better than fine. Aside from the rust all around the lock and the usual wear and tear, there was nothing wrong with it at all. It locked when I closed the top and didn’t budge when I tried to open it.
“You’ll need this as well.” Kyle handed me the key, then ran his hand through his hair once I opened it back up.
“You said you keep the key on you at all times?” I asked him.
“Yes.”
“And none of the other doors are unlocked when you get up in the morning?”
“What are you saying?” Kyle asked, taking a step back. “You don’t think I’d do this to my own cows, do you?”
“Not at all,” I said, patting down the air.
“I’m going to tell you the same thing I told that detective. I come out in the morning and the lock’s busted without being busted. Everything in and around the house is the same. I wake up in my bed, in my nightclothes. I’m not naked and I don’t wake up in the field or nothing.”
“Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you, it’s just… we haven’t been able to get a hold of Lance, and because you were the last to see him—”
“He came, walked around twenty minutes, then left.”
“Any chance you know what the wolf looks like?”
“You can check the video if you want. It’s in the front office inside the barn. I’d join you, but I’d like to get this new fencing up before sundown.”
Kyle didn’t wait for a response, gathering his clippers, a round of barbed wire, and his tractor before driving off to the other side of the field.
“He seems friendly,” Ivan said, walking up behind us in his wolf form once Kyle had gone. “Any news?”
I offered Ivan the original lock and chain. “He’s lost two cows so far.”
“And let me guess, he’s expecting a third,” Ivan said, shifting as he looked over what I’d handed him.
“He replaced the lock, but when he came out this morning, it was on the ground. The key never left his place.”
“Then we’re dealing with a shifter. Possibly a hybrid if they can unlock this without the key. How about those cameras? Any chance he caught it on tape?”
“Only one way to find out.”
Going back through Kyle’s security footage is about as boring as it sounds. Let the cows in. Let the cows out. Hoist the bales onto the truck. Take them down. On, and on, and on it went until we finally reached the segment from early this morning.
“There,” Kat said, leaning forward to point at something on the tiny monitor.
It was smaller than expected but definitely a wolf. The shine of its eyes were visible until it walked out of the frame.
“He has cameras pointing at the house and outside the barn, but not the barn door?” Ivan asked, sounding somewhat annoyed.
“We don’t live in a big city like you,” I told him. “Besides, what difference would it make?” I rewound the footage to the day before until we spotted the same wolf again, always walking out of the frame after making eye contact with the camera.
“Because if this is a shifter, we’d be able to see their other form,” Ivan explained, walking back outside once we’d finished looking over the video. “You can tell it’s sentient. He looks right at the camera, then slowly gets out of the camera’s line of sight.”
“Maybe Kyle should turn them the other way for tonight,” I suggested.
“That won’t be necessary,” Kyle said, walking up to the group and pointing the barrel of his shotgun at Ivan. “I knew something was funny about your visit and now I know why.”
“Whoa. Kyle, what’s going on?” I asked, surprised when my voice still worked.
“I’d seen that wolf when you flew in and thought it might’ve been ready for round three. Imagine my surprise when it happened to be with you.”
“It’s not… Ivan’s with me, yes, but he isn’t the wolf in your video. It’s gray.”
“Which you can’t see in black and white,” Kyle told me, his eyes narrowing in Ivan’s direction.
“No, but Ivan’s a timber. There’s a big dark patch on his back. Here, see?” I waited for Ivan to shift, then gestured at his fur. “You can even have him walk in front of the camera if you like. He won’t be the same wolf. Promise.” I was sure of it. The wolf in the video matched the one I’d run into in town. Or, well, the one I thought I saw. If not for the blood on its chest, it would’ve looked exactly the same.
Kyle gave Ivan an incredulous look, then lowered his gun. “Did I hear you say something about a hybrid?”
Ivan gave him a nod, then shifted back into his human form. “It isn’t common, but if a witch or wizard take on the life of a shifter, it’s possible to do both magic and use their other form. This is rare, however, as few survive the transition unless they were born a hybrid.”
“What if a witch was infected?” I asked. “Not by a bite, but some other way.”
“Like a serum?” Ivan balked.
“No, another way. I don’t know. If a witch is infected by accident, would they realize what’s going on, even in human form?”
“You mean would there be a lac
k of communication between them and their animal?” Ivan shrugged. “My knowledge on hybrids as a whole is terribly limited.”
What about Lance? I wanted to ask but thought better of it with Kyle still around.
“Then why suggest it?” Kyle cut in, his tone hard.
“Because while we may see a wolf on video, it would take someone with an Unlocking spell to break through that lock.”
I met Kat’s worried gaze. “Who in town can break through locks?”
“Anyone,” she said. “It’s one of the first spells listed in Magic 101. I thought you read it.”
“I skimmed it,” I admitted.
“It’s a basic spell meant for folks who always lock their keys in their car,” she said matter-of-factly. “It was never intended for something like this.”
“And you’re sure it can work on any lock?” I asked, taking the chain and padlock back from Ivan to investigate it further.
“I’d imagine so.”
“Kyle, do you mind if I—”
“Keep it,” Kyle said, cutting me off. “I’ll take your suggestion for the cameras under advisement. I’m glad to see someone’s taking the time to look into this. Aside from Lance, no one’s come up here to check on me.”
“Everyone’s gathered in the town hall,” I told him. “Max didn’t call you?”
“Oh, he did, but I can’t leave. If I do, I’ll probably come back to no cows at all.”
“Fair enough, but call me if you need anything, okay? I have my cell on me most of the time now.”
“Do I have your number?”
“Here.” I held out my hand for his phone, then punched my number into his phone book. “Now you do.”
Kyle smiled and pocketed his cell. “If the one responsible for killing my cows really is a shifter, I’d like to have a word with him once you’re through.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” I lied, knowing that if it was a shifter, its only trip would be inside a cell.
After thanking Kyle again and getting everything we needed, I summoned my broomstick and waited for Kat to climb on. As we were about to leave, I spotted something near the tree line Ivan had been under no more than half an hour ago. Not wanting to alarm anyone, I focused on it with my magic, calling forth a ward I usually used on myself.