Page 35 of Midlife Shifter Unexpected

The last thing I heard was a howl erupting from my lips as I came crashing out of the shower.

Chapter 24

“Bianca, Bianca, wake up,” Jane’s French accent lured me out of the aching darkness.

I opened my eyes, groaning. My head was a splitting mass of nerve endings. I was in my room. In my house. Somehow Jane was with me.

“Wolf,” I said, reaching down to feel if I had any clothes on.

“I’ll get Mae,” Jane said. “She is here too.”

I didn’t know how much Mae was going to help. The last thing I remembered was being in Matheus’s shower and now here I was in my own bed.

I held up my fingernails. They were raggedy and broken and covered in dirt. There was a bitter taste of copper in my mouth.

I didn’t know what happened while I was a wolf, but I had a sickening feeling in my stomach that I didn’t want to know.

“Matheus is a satyr,” I blurted out as Mae walked into the room.

“Yeah, he’s in the books as being a local resident,” Mae nodded.

“You don’t think you should have told me something like that?”

Mae shrugged. “Most supernaturals keep to themselves or only socialize with supernaturals. I didn’t really think it would be an issue until you know, well, until Matheus showed interest in you.”

“Where is he?” I asked, panic edging at my voice.

Mae and Jane exchanged a look. “You showed up in the middle of the night,” Mae said.

“I need to call Matheus,” I said, grabbing my phone and quickly texting him.

Where are you?

There was no answer. I stared at my phone for another minute. Still no answer.

“Can we go over the Waldorf?” I asked. “I want to see if he’s working.”

“Yeah, we can go and look for him, but we also have to figure out what to do about the dead harpies,” Mae said.

“My concern is not with the people who are already dead,” Jane answered, shifting her eyes toward me. “My concern is with those who may be dying soon.”

“Quit pointing at me and saying I’m going to die soon,” I said. “It’s hard enough being in my forties and not thinking about that anyhow.”

“Sorry,” Jane said, pursing her lips.

“We went down and saw the harpies yesterday,” I said. “I didn’t know what they were, but Matheus knew them. He knew the two who had been killed. The harpies didn’t recognize the symbols that were drawn on their chests at all.”

“We need to get the photos of the symbols on the chests again.” Mae said.

“I have those.” I quickly texted the image to her.

“We still can’t answer the question as to why they were killed.” Jane said. “They were murdered in such a horrific manner.”

I felt a sickening feeling in my stomach as I glanced at my phone again. Where was Matheus?

I jumped out of bed and pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. “Let’s just go down to the Waldorf and see if they’ve heard from Matheus.” Nerves made my hands clammy. Why couldn’t I remember what I did in my werewolf form last night?

Maybe something had happened. Maybe, maybe…I’d killed them.

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