Accidentally Wolf (40 page)

“What is he?” I asked as I leaned over his shoulder to look at the images he had up on the monitors. “Cat, right?”

“Panther actually,” Harris answered, spinning in the chair next to Jennings to face me. “Probably one of the most common cat shifter types.”

“Any packs in the area?” Common wasn
’
t what anyone wanted to hear in an investigation, but I wasn
’
t going to let it deter me. In a few minutes we
’
d confirmed he was male and a shifter and now that he was a panther. This was huge progress that made the rest of the shit in my life melt away as I got lost in my job.

“Two, but cats don
’
t do the pack thing. Most live in clans and can share areas better than most wolves,” Harris explained, pulling out a map of Chicago. “They
’
re territorial but not freaks about it like wolves unless they
’
re tigers. Those are creepy scary with their turf. The two clans of panthers we have around here split the north and south side as their area. But a lot of cats, myself included, can be loners with no real affiliation so they can
’
t get all up on what
’
s their territory lines.”

“Okay, good to know, but I feel like you
’
re leading up to something,” I hedged, eyeing him over. Yeah, he totally looked like the cat that ate the canary… Literally.

“I am. I know both leaders and they
’
re on their way in to speak with us,” he replied, wiggling his eyebrows as he gave me a shit eating grin.

“You got them to come in at five in the morning?” How did he swing that one?

“One I know intimately,” he purred. “She
’
s more than willing to always visit me. And the other I know from
The Kitty Club
. Wolves have a few of their own clubs when they want to do their howl at the moon, monthly thing and jump on each other. But we actually go in to heat around our lunar cycle, so we tend to get a little friskier and like to play in our animal forms.”

“Eww,” a few of us said in unison.

“No, not
play
like sexual,” he grumbled, rolling his eyes. “That we do in human form. I mean literally play. It
’
s like an indoor habitat that we can go play around in. Think of the cat habitats at the zoo. Then we go to the other clubs and have sex to deal with going into heat. We need both during our time of the month.”

“Okay, so you
’
re kind of buddies with both leaders.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. I wasn
’
t sure I needed to think of one of my team playing in cat form and leaping in trees
then
going to sex clubs. Weird. “Is that going to be a problem when interviewing them?”

“No, I
’
ve seen both of them in their shifted form. I know it
’
s not either of them,” he answered firmly.

“Good,” I sighed, hating to have even asked him. His phone beeped and he pulled it out, smiling again.

“Simone is here,” he informed me as he stood up. I followed him out the door of the tech room and to the main lobby. I almost stumbled when I saw the woman standing there casually looking around the room. She could have been a model, and she screamed raw, pure sex. She was a little shorter than me, maybe five-eight, had long black hair that had a natural curl and bright green eyes that looked almost like fake contacts.

Her whole face lit up when she saw Harris walk in. “Michael,” she purred as she hugged Harris. “I was glad you called though you were strangely evasive on the phone.” She noticed me then and studied me in a way I wasn
’
t feeling too comfortable about. The color of her eyes really was unnerving, especially when she stared at me in the way she was now. “Is she your new moon mate? Is that why I haven
’
t heard from you in a while?”

“No, I
’
m his boss
,
” I chuckled, trying to ease the tension I could feel building and ignoring how she eyed me over as if I was competition. I walked over to her as they broke apart, my hand extended. “I
’
m Chief Thomas. Thank you for coming in on such short notice.”

“But you
’
re so much more than a Chief, aren
’
t you?” she asked, and I noticed that every time she spoke it was
as
if she was purring. Neat trick. She
’
d make a lot of money as a phone sex operator.

“Aren
’
t we all,” I replied, raising an eyebrow. She shook my hand, giving a firm shake, which knocked her up a level in my eyes respect wise. I hated when women gave me a limp shake like they were so fragile.

“That
’
s true but I smell more than wolf,” she said hesitantly as she sniffed the air. “Very odd.”

“Well, thanks for that, but Harris didn
’
t ask you to come down to discuss my scent.” I didn
’
t roll my eyes or get snippy, my voice was even and controlled no matter how tired I was. Score one for me.

“Yes, of course. What did you need of me?”

“Let
’
s step in to my office and talk privately.” I smiled as I opened the door to the main offices for her. She nodded and walked through, waiting for me to then lead the way. She had manners, which I liked as well, and wasn
’
t giving me any dominance crap. “Would you like some coffee or a pop?”

“Coffee would be wonderful. Michael knows how I like it,” she answered. I understood the innuendo behind her words. She knew Harris well enough that they
’
d probably spent time overnight at each other
’
s places and knew how they took their coffee. Message received. I didn
’
t care.

“I
’
ll grab some and the photos.” He darted a quick glance between us before heading off.

“Thanks, Harris,” I replied as we got to my office. We walked in and I gestured to the chair in front of my desk. “Please, have a seat.”

“Thank you, Chief Thomas.” I watched out of the corner of my eye as I took my own chair. Damn, the woman even made sitting down look like it was foreplay. I didn
’
t think I was butch or without my own feminine charms at times, but she had moves I
’
d never seen. “Your eyes are magnificent. I
’
ve never seen that color of blue before.”

“Thank you, I was thinking the same about yours. I have noticed mine are a darker blue than when I was human.”

“Yes, that happens most times when one is changed in to some form of paranormal,” she agreed with a nod. “It helps in drawing humans to us. If they find us enchanting, then they tend not to see us as a threat until it
’
s too late if need be. Call it part of our survival.”

“Interesting. I never thought of it like that.”

Her eyebrows shot up, and I didn
’
t think it was because of my comment. Realization dawned on her face. “You
’
re Serap
h
ine Thomas. The wolf that started so much trouble at the last wolf full moon gathering. That
’
s where I
’
ve heard your name before.”

“For the record, I didn
’
t start the trouble, more like was thrown into a trap
,
” I retorted, trying to keep the growl out of my tone. My wolf started tingling over my skin at just the mention of what happened.

“Yeah, I could see that,” she sighed, shaking her head. “Engle
’
s a douche-bag of epic proportions. One of the females of the pack and I are friends. She told me you offered her help to get away from her abusive, self-claimed mate.”

“I never got her name, and she hasn
’
t called me yet, but we
’
ve been trying to quietly get background on how other wolf packs function.” I didn
’
t want to show my full hand. “I won
’
t stand for beatings and rape just because the wolves say i
t
’
s okay. It will end.”

“When you take over the pack,” she replied firmly with a nod.

“What? No! I
’
m not taking over the pack
,
” I exclaimed, my eyes going wide. “I meant arresting the people responsible and helping the women who come forward.”

I could see that my statement had frustrated her as she eyed me over before speaking. “And then what? Be brought in to the human system? Human abuse shelters won
’
t let in a shifter for fear of what might happen while they
’
re there and scaring the already traumatized women. So you send a few wolves to the lycanthrope prison in California. Engle will just let it happen again and again. Beating down anyone who talks with you in the guise of keeping his pack in line, which is completely legal in human laws.”

“Fuck a duck,” I whispered, realizing how deep the rabbit hole that I had gotten involved in now went. “Okay, we
’
ll get back to this and I do want to talk to you more about it. But we
’
ve got more pressing matters. We
’
ve found two humans dead and now have a picture of the guy in shifted form. Harris said you would help us to identify him if he
’
s one of the Chicago panthers.”

“My clan would never kill humans unless they attacked us first,” she snarled, her eyes flashing and turning kitty. Interesting. Just a second ago she had seemed like a perfectly rational individual. From her reaction to what I had just said, I could tell she had a massive temper.

“I
’
m not saying it
’
s them. I
’
m saying if you can tell us either way, so we can focus our investigation instead of spinning our wheels and checking in to your people when they are innocent.” I paused as she started to calm down, nodding she understood. “Do you know anyone of either clan who can mask their scent?”

“No,” she hedged, hiding her reaction. Too late. I saw it. The news shocked her, and, while I can understand holding her cards close to her chest given why she was her
e
, her being surprised would help her case that it wasn
’
t anyone in her clan. So why school her reaction?

“What aren
’
t you telling me, Simone? If it
’
s not your clan, then help me catch him. I
’
ve got two murders and I doubt they
’
re the last. You know shifters committing murder splashed all over the paper and news is bad for us.”

“You sure the man you
’
re looking for is a panther?” she asked me instead.

“Yeah, we
’
re sure,” Harris answered as he walked in to my office. He handed Simone a cup of coffee and then one to me. I raised an eyebrow at him. “You
’
ve been up all night, Chief, and I doubt
you
’
re leaving the office to get some sleep anytime soon.”

“Thanks, Harris.” I gave him a genuine smile, glad he
’
d thought of something so small to try and make things a little better for me. He smiled and nodded before handing over the pictures to Simone. She set down her coffee and looked at them. I was glad the coffee wasn
’
t in her hand when she started shaking.

“No, he
’
s dead,” she gasped, her face filling with fear.

“You know him?” I asked, shooting Harris a glance. He shrugged as if not having a clue what was going on either.

“Only of him,” she answered, shaking her head. “He
’
s an assassin but was supposed to have died a few years ago.”

“You can be so sure of who he is from pictures taken when he was in half and half form?”

“You
’
re new from what I hear, so I understand the question. But I was born as a panther, Chief Thomas. People look as differently to me in this form as the members of your team do to you.”

I thought about that a moment. Interesting. I filed that away to think about
later
. “Fair enough. Do you know his name?”

“No, only the name he uses as an assassin, Black Vengeance.” Cute. I had to hold back the urge to roll my eyes.

“Have you ever seen him in human form? Could you describe him?” I asked, giving Harris a mental gold star when he pulled out his notebook and a pen.