Page 43 of Werewolves Don't Howl
I stumbled back, horrified and stunned. The smell didn’t help, the caustic chemicals mixing with decomposition. How could anyone have done this? And why? Why would you kill someone and then put them under the stairs just a few yards away from where she’d been investigating the Lynx connection? If she hadn’t been investigating Lynx, why would she have had a cat with that collar?
“Isn’t that the other reporter?” Henrick said, frowning down at her.
I took photos while my stomach pitched and tossed, mostly from the smell, but also seeing Loren so dead hit me where the werewolf couldn’t block it. Finally, I couldn’t take any more and ran to the public restroom. I breathed through my mouth and tried to think happy thoughts while I crouched in a stall. It didn’t work. Loren wasn’t missing, she was murdered. But how did she end up in the hollow under the stairs? It seemed unlikely that the wall had just spontaneously fallen in. No, it felt planted, so it would be found by me specifically. Why? How did the Lynx relate to the beast? There had to be a connection that involved Cross.
I pulled out my phone and called him.
He answered after seven rings. “Hello?”
“Cross, Loren’s body’s under the steps where the Lynx constellation was marked. I was meant to find her. I mean, that’s how it feels, but why? What does any of this have to do with me?”
“Take some deep breaths. We’ll discuss this later. You’re already a werewolf. The beast can’t hurt you.”
“If he infected me, death or pain isn’t the problem. I can’t anticipate this kind of madness. Why would he…” I gasped a breath. I really was hyperventilating. I forced myself to take deep, even breaths.
“I sent Henrick to find you. He should be there any second. Everything’s going to be okay.”
“Not for Loren,” I whispered.
He sighed heavily. “You got a positive ID?”
I shook my head. “No. I’ll go back. I’m fine now.” My stomach twisted.
“Delphi, don’t push yourself.”
“I’m fine, Cross. It’s not like you to worry about my delicate feelings. I just called you to keep you updated. This monster is your obsession, not mine.” I hung up, wiped my forehead with the back of my hand, and went out to face the mirror and pull myself back together. Henrick didn’t come in. When I went out, he was in the circle of people around the body looking concerned. When I met his eyes, he looked disturbed on a deep level.
“Miss Era. They want you to look at the body again. I’m here in case you get faint or something.”
“That’s very considerate of you, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.” I took a deep breath before I stepped closer, getting around Joss’s figure to get a good look at the face again. I stared at the woman I’d never seen before. No, I did know that face, the blonde hair that I’d taken for Loren’s, but it wasn’t her face anymore. No, this was one of the missing women from Golden. I stood there staring at the face that wasn’t Loren’s, while my mind spun around in a tight little spiral of madness.
“Yes, I can give her a positive ID,” I said and pulled out my laptop. I pulled up the files with pictures and went through them quickly and pulled up the woman. “She’s one of the missing women I’ve been researching. Not Loren, my co-worker, but she does have some similarities. I was mistaken at first.”
“Mistaken?” Henrick grumbled.
No, she’d been glamoured to look like Loren, but now she looked like this other woman. This body had definitely been planted just for me. And I’d thought Cross was psycho. This is why I was a society reporter. This exact thing. It was like that time I’d spent two years tracking down the wolf who infected me, took down him and his pack one by one, only to find out in the end that he hadn’t been anywhere near me when I was infected. Futility, thy name is Delphi.
“You’ll have to take DNA samples and run them across this other woman,” someone said.
Detective Saito frowned at me. “Someone’s taking women you’re doing research on, and now she was put where you’d find the body? Sounds like a psychopath that’s targeting you. Do you have protection?”
I laughed a little too hysterically before I patted Henrick’s shoulder. “Sure. I’ve got protection. It’s probably a good thing that I’m going to be out of town for a few days.” Was I? I wasn’t going to the office. Now would be a great time to do that exposé on the senator.
She nodded soberly. “Yeah. I’d hate to see you on a slab. If you have anything else come up, give me a call.” She handed me her card and then gave me a taut smile. “Stay safe.”
I laughed again like that was so funny, and then turned and left the site, slipping through the people with Henrick keeping everyone from touching me. It was almost like he was worried I’d accidentally get injected with something that turned me into a werewolf again.
The goblin opened the door of a car and I slid in next to Cross. I stared at him and then climbed on his lap and wrapped my arms around him, breathing in the spicy carnation scent beneath his woodsy shaving cream. He smelled so good, a world away from decomposing corpses that changed faces.
He held me close, large arms swallowing me up, so I felt safe for the first time since I’d found a rabbit on my doorstep.
I closed my eyes and relaxed against him until all the stress had drained away, and I remembered him holding me in that cell so many years ago, his arms tight, like he could personally defeat the monster under my skin if he gave me enough hugs. He’d been doing it even then, giving the gnome hug therapy, because gnomes needed hugs. And he couldn’t let me die.
That’s when I realized that I was on the lap of Senator Silverton, the evil elf I despised. I stiffened up, and he immediately unwrapped his arms and put me on the bench beside him, giving me a look with those violet eyes.
“It wasn’t Loren, but one of the missing women?” he asked mildly, not mentioning my sudden snuggle.
I nodded. “The one she had on file.”
