Page 5 of The Tracker's Secret

Forget about the mage. Forget about mom.

Forget about the mage. Forget about mom.

Forget, forget, forget.

Except all the chanting in my head only made things worse. A rumbling built in my chest, and I fell in front of the bed on all fours, my back arching, my muscles spasming, and my face twitching. I stared at my fingers as they started shrinking, and brown fur sprang at the knuckles.

No, no, no!

Let me out,a separate voice seemed to yell inside my head.

No, go away!

A knock came at the door. “Ready to go? Aaron Blackridge will be in the office at eight sharp.”

I opened my mouth to answer, but afraid of what would come out, I closed it again and begged my body to relax, and my spine and fingers to go back to normal.

“Hey, Toni The Tiger, are you in there?” Rosalina’s voice acquired an edge of worry.

Please, stop. Please,I begged, staring at the disgusting hair that had sprung over my forearms.

It’s not disgusting, that other voice said.It’s just as it should be.

Shut up.

I didn’t need the wolf making things worse. I was supposed to be Little Red Riding Hood, and instead, I’d turned into the big bad wolf like in that movieRed: Werewolf Hunterwhere the protagonist gets bitten and turned into a werewolf.

“Toni?” Another knock.

I hadn’t told Rosalina what I was. She was my best friend, but I still didn’t know how to confess that I was a werewolf, one who knew nothing about being a shifter and could, with one wrong move, screw up everything we’d worked so hard to attain.Crap!Just when everything was looking up, when we’d accomplished what we’d set out to do, I couldn’t be counted on.

Hell, I shouldn’t even go into the office—not when my butt could spring a tail out of nowhere, and my wolf might decide to eat one of our clients for supper. We needed to cancel all our appointments until I figured this shit out.

The door opened and Rosalina stepped into the room. “Toni?” A pause. “Where did she go?”

I heard her step further into the room. My breath froze. I squeezed my eyes shut, begging the wolf to butt out.

“What are you doing?” Rosalina asked as she came around the bed.

I opened my eyes and stared at my hands and forearms. They were normal. No nasty hair all over them. Slowly, I glanced over my shoulder. Rosalina stood behind me, frowning at my behind, which stuck up in the air, as I was on all fours. She didn’t look freaked out, just annoyed, which meant I didn’t look different from any other morning.

“Um, I dropped my pen,” I said lamely.

Yeah, right,my wolf said.

Pipe down, Red!

My wolf bristled at the name.

“Well, leave it,” Rosalina said. “We’re going to be late.”

“Right.” I jumped to my feet and smoothed my Navy blue slacks.

Rosalina narrowed her eyes, staring at my chest. I tensed. Had I grown two more pairs of boobs? Because wolves worked like that, right?

“Nice blouse,” she remarked. “New?”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes. I bought it a couple of weeks ago and haven’t worn it.” It was an elegant blouse with flowing sleeves and a V neckline. It looked professional with slacks, and I could dress it down with jeans.