Page 17

“What else do you have to report? Anything new going on? Besides the elf.”

Ryder furrows his brow. He’s a stoic man, and his features are more square than my own. Our hair is the same midnight shade of black, though his is longer and more unkempt than mine. I don’t think he even owns a comb, just uses his fingers to brush it back out of his face.

At fifty-five and thirty, we appear to be in our twenties thanks to our non-human slow aging. To a human, seeing us two together, they would guess us to only be a year or two apart. However, Ryder lacks the smile wrinkles a person of his age would normally have since he doesn’t smile often. His mouth forming a perpetual flat line. I, on the other hand, smile constantly. I’ve always been an optimistic kind of guy, friendlyand personable. It makes the whole shaking hands and kissing babies part of my job easy, I suppose.

My brother dislikes the presence of the elf as much as I do. Shortly after my initial welcome to the yellow-eyed cocky bastard, Ryder made one of his own. Received the same treatment and short, clipped answers as I did. Neither of us discovered his exact reasons for being in town. Although we both have our suspicions.

“Nothing notable. I did, however, notice something strange last night,” Ryder says, pulling my attention to him.

I am immediately focused on only him and the next words out of his mouth. I don’t like strange things happening in my town without my knowledge. There are many things we do that are normal to us and strange to humans, so if there’s something strange to us, I need to know about it.

“And what would that be?”

“You weren’t at the cabin last night, were you?” he asks.

“No,” I answer immediately. “I haven’t been to the cabin in weeks. Why?”

“I passed by there on a run last night and noticed a light on. Thought you might have been there for some reason.”

An unsettling feeling rolls through my gut. Not another thing to deal with. This week is not going the way I planned. I frown at my brother, and my knuckles crack as I curl them into fists on my desk.

“No, it wasn’t me. Did you ask Ginger?”

“No. I saw her in town for dinner last night, and she said she was going to her apartment to do some late-nightwork.”

By work, he means hacking and searching for any information online about us that she needs to erase. It definitely wasn’t her then. Once Ginger gets in her zone, there’s no stopping her for hours. She’ll sit at her computer glued to the screen until sunrise.

“I can go check it out,” my brother offers.

“No,” I interject. “I’ll go. I need to run, so I’ll check it out, sniff around, see what’s going on.”

Ryder nods. As my beta, he does as I decide without argument. Something as simple as checking on the cabin is no big deal. If there are people squatting in there, it’s just as easy for me to remove them as it is for him.

“Anything else I should know about?”

His eyes go out of focus as he stares at my desk between us. “There’s something different in town. Just a vibe. Dottie seems more excited than usual, which, of course, has me on edge. It’s always something bothersome if Dottie is excited.”

“What kind of vibe?” I ask.

Non-humans, especially shifters, pay attention to vibes, sensations, and feelings. It’s an instinct thing; we follow them.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t feel good or bad, just…something.”

“Okay. I’ll keep an ear out. Thanks.”

We finish with our weekly debrief going over the status of everyone and everything in town, ensuring all is well. After Ryder leaves, I last only another hour before I decide to leave for the day. The itch to shift is too great, and thinking of someone in the cabin sits on my mind like an anvil. I need to go.

I leave the office and drive home. When I pass by the turn-off to the cabin, I crane my neck to try and see down the path, knowing damn well I can’t see anything from here. The road curves, blocking any line of sight. I’ll just have to wait.

Pulling into my driveway, I park my truck and step out. Not wanting to waste any time, I strip naked on my large wrap-around porch. Folding my clothes neatly on the bench by the front door. No one lives around us for miles, so there’s no one to catch me in the buff.

Besides, most non-humans are used to shifter nudity. Our clothes don’t magically shift with us, unfortunately, so nudity isnormal. If I were to stay dressed and shift, they would rip off like the Hulk, and ruining my clothing is unnecessary in this instance as I have ample opportunity to remove them.

The shift takes over as soon as I’m naked. Rolling up my spine and prickling at my neck where thick black fur sprouts and grows. When I was a pup, shifting took longer, getting used to reshaping bones and rearranging muscles. As I got older, it became easier. Now, the shift takes less than thirty seconds and with little pain. Sometimes, less than ten seconds if I’m motivated. My body, having long ago, acclimated to the process.

I stand on all four paws in my wolf form and shake my head, settling into the body that is just as much mine as my human form. Sounds intensify, and colors sharpen. Scents overwhelm my nose and something faint and sweet drifts on the wind. Something I’ve never smelled before.

Lifting my nose, I scent the air. The smell comes from the forest, and without much thought, I instinctively follow the smell.