“You and Lily confer closely about things? Are you also a ‘full’?” I tried to throw in the pack vocabulary casually, but didn’t miss Eliza’s quick quirk of the mouth.
“Yes, I’m a full and we work closely together. Of course,” Eliza’s voice turned serious, “she also knows how personally invested I am in finding out who killed Mac.”
I nodded in grim agreement—though what help I could be, me, Ms. Fainting Librarian, I wasn’t sure. If only I were more than a dark moon wolf.
“Are there many fulls in the pack?”
“Lily, me, and a high school student named Dave. He’s one of Ian’s friends. We’re the only fulls right now. And, of course, Dave’s still a pup.”
“And how big is the pack? And what do you mean, a ‘pup’?”
“Fifty-three. No, fifty-two.” Eliza’s brow furled as she corrected herself and I realized she had forgotten, momentarily, they’d had another pack member murdered. “Dave and Ian are pups because they’re not eighteen yet, so they haven’t reached adult status within the pack.”
“Huh,” I said. “I bet Dave and Ian just love being considered puppies.”
Eliza shrugged. “Anyway, Lily said she and some of the other Weres will come over after the meeting to catch this guy’s scent.”
“How long will Guy’s scent stick around? Strong enough to be useful, I mean.”
“At least 24 hours, maybe longer. ‘Guy.’ “ Eliza snorted and I smiled back.
Chapter Seven
When Lily and the Weres arrived, the house seemed full of roiling energy and tense bodies. By my count, seven Weres had joined us, including the MacGregors and Lily, so it wasn’t an actual crowd of werewolves, but I sure felt that way. Lily was visibly in command and made quick introductions. One of the new werewolves was Dave Blythe, Ian’s high school friend and the other full. The others were introduced as Claire Bernard, a middle-aged woman, and Miguel Sanchez, whose drawn visage and name led me to assume he was the father of Carlos Sanchez, the pack’s latest murder victim. Dave stared at me without regard to rudeness, and I found myself wondering what Ian might have told him about me and Carson.
Lily gathered everyone into the living room to listen to Eliza retell the details of our encounter. At one point, she turned to me and asked for my version, although I had little new information for the group. I left out the part about me fainting.
“Dave, Eliza, Ian, Erin, Miguel. Outside and change.” Lily gestured and the others moved quickly. Dave stopped to give Lily a long, level look before proceeding out the door.
By the time the rest of us stepped out, five wolves ranged around the driveway. The differences between the wolves surprised me. Ian, whom I’d seen in wolf-form before, albeit briefly, was the darkest, his black coat nearly invisible in the night. Two wolves were shades of gray—similar to Carson, I remembered, shaking my head a bit as I once again confronted the fact my son was truly a Werewolf—one several inches taller than the other, one reddish-brown and lanky, and the last wolf was buff-colored. The buff one trotted up to me and pushed a wet nose into my hand, causing me to jump slightly before I awkwardly petted it on the head. It canted its head at me, tongue lolling in what must have been laughter, and I felt certain this one was Eliza.
The wolves communicated with each other in snuffs and jostled a bit, tracing the path of the struggle around the tree before they loped down the driveway—Eliza in the lead—presumably to the site where the truck parked. A pure white wolf leaped from the front stoop behind me and pounded after them. When I looked around, I was entirely unsurprised to find Lily wasn’t there. Of course she’d be a sleek, white wolf with enormous blue eyes. What else would I have expected?
Liam and Claire Bernard walked around the driveway and the tree, apparently taking in what scent was perceptible in human form. I joined them under the tree, not sure of my place in this whole investigation.
“So,” I said, “Does anything…smell familiar?”
Liam quirked his eyebrow at Claire before shaking his head for the both of them. “No. We’re definitely not working with someone local. After all, Roger and Carlos were both killed in Las Vegas.”
“Las Vegas?”
Liam frowned. “Yes, Vegas.”
I was shocked, though I realized a moment later I’d never asked where Mac was killed. I hadn’t asked for many details of his death—and the one detail I asked for, I regretted hearing. I wasn’t sure I would ever stop seeing Mac beheaded in my morbid mind’s eye. Now, I realized I needed to learn more, because whatever threatened the pack also impacted my safety and, even more importantly, the safety of my baby.
“Is there a pack in Las Vegas?” I asked Liam. Claire knelt in the dirt near where Eliza and Guy had scuffled, though I wasn’t sure what she could see in the dark.
“Not that we know of, although there have been rumors of a rogue or maybe two—that’s why Roger went there to investigate in the first place.”
“A rogue?” I prodded, though I thought I understood the term.
“A rogue is someone who isn’t part of a pack, who’s not subject to pack authority, and who disobeys general pack law.” Liam sighed, then turned his attention to me. “Sometimes Weres don’t get along with their native pack for whatever reason, and then a Were may become a ‘lone wolf’ and leave the pack. As long as he or she still lives by the same strictures as the rest of us, that’s no problem, and sometimes the Were finds another pack to join, eventually. But if the Were breaks pack law and endangers the rest of us, well, then the Were is dealt with. That’s what we mean by a rogue.”
“And that was one of Mac’s—Roger’s—roles, wasn’t it? As a private investigator, he checked on lone wolves. And rogues.”
“Yes, among other things,” said Liam.
It all clicked into place. “But this time, he was killed. The rogue got to him first.”
“Except he wasn’t killed by a rogue. Or any other Were.”
“You’re sure?”
“We’re sure.”
Our conversation was interrupted by the return of the other wolves. Lily loped off across the driveway. She called on the moon to pull shadows across her body, emerged in human form with not a hair out of place, and opened her hand to reveal a bullet, caked with blood and driveway dirt.
Eliza ran up to sniff it, hackles rising, and gave a low growl. She shook herself vigorously, then pulled on the nearby shadows as if they were blankets. She stepped out of their midst and smoothed back her hair.
“Can I have it as a souvenir, Lily?” she asked, peering down into the Full’s hand.
Lily raised one eyebrow. “Ballistics, Eliza.” Her voice expressed curt disapproval. “The police may be able to find something helpful.”
“But how will we explain it to the police? Eliza’s already healed.” I wondered aloud.
Lily ignored my question, but Liam answered, “The sergeant is pack, Julie.”
****
After the Weres compared notes for a few minutes, they dispersed. Ian and Dave disappeared up the stairs into his room, after a warning from Erin not to play their music too loud and wake up Carson.
“I don’t think they’ll bother the baby, Julie, and it’s good for Dave to be here. Ian needs the company and Dave needs… Well, Dave needs a home.” Erin sat down at the kitchen table with a sigh.
As the rest of us settled, Liam brewed a pot of decaf. Heck, I’d take the coffee anyway, and he had a point: it was waaaay too late to get caffeined up, even though I wasn’t so sure of sleep anytime soon, given the events of the day.
I frowned at Erin. “What do you mean Dave needs a home?”
“Oh, he has a home, of course. That is, he lives with his older sister, now, but she’s not the most stable influence,” Erin said.
“What happened to his parents?” I asked.
After a brief moment, Erin sighed again. “I’m not sure why I started this story. Surely we’ve had enough sadness for today.”
She shifted in he
r chair again and looked at me. “Dave’s parents died when he was twelve. Almost five years ago, now. His older sister Rebecca is a dark moon, but both his parents were half moons.”
I shook my head, not following. Eliza stared out the kitchen window; Liam messed with the coffee pot.
Erin continued, “You can imagine the consternation when his sister never changed—when it became clear she was a dark moon. Their mother had had an affair and Dave’s father, well, wasn’t Rebecca’s father. When his father discovered the truth, he went after the—the other man, the lover, who wasn’t pack, of course. The other man ended up dead. Dave’s father returned home to find his wife had committed suicide. Which isn’t easy, for a Were. It…it wasn’t a pretty sight.”
That poor boy. “And…Dave’s father?” I asked, not quite sure I wanted the answer to my question.
“He drove off a cliff,” Liam said from behind me, his voice causing me to jump.
“My God.”
Eliza turned back to the rest of us. “Rebecca hasn’t fully recovered from it all, but she’s of legal age and Dave insists on staying with her. Full has tried many times to convince him to move in with another pack family. But he feels—well, who knows what he feels. Full hasn’t pulled rank on the issue.”
Erin’s quiet voice spoke again. “Dave’s older brother Tony went wolf. Tore off the day after it all happened and hasn’t been seen for five years. He was strong, too. Both boys are—were—full moons, which is very unusual in one family.”
Erin rubbed her eyes and let out another sigh. “It was the worst tragedy our pack ever faced.”
“Until now.” Once again, I jumped at Liam’s voice. Perhaps because I didn’t expect it. Perhaps because of what I heard in his tone.
“Didn’t Dave’s sister—did she ever think of—of becoming a Were? Of being…bitten?” My voice cracked on the question, so strongly did I want to know.
Erin’s deep blue eyes caught my gaze and I couldn’t look away. “No.”
“Because…”
“Partly because she resented the pack. Still resents the pack, I suppose. She believes we should have known what was happening, that someone should have prevented it all.”
“Oh,” I said.
“Partly because she values her life and the risk is too great.”
I had never heard Erin sound so stern. She was right. Of course, I knew she was right and the cost would be too high. I opened my mouth, then closed it again, unsure what to say.
“Right,” said Eliza, suddenly all business. “Let’s―”
As she spoke, I heard Carson squawking from the upstairs bedroom.
“Hold that thought,” I said and darted up the stairs, counting on my if-I-reach-him-quickly-he’ll-settle-right-back-down theory. As I reached the hallway, I stopped in mid-stride, surprised to see Ian’s friend Dave at the door to Carson’s room.
A look of discomfort fleeted across his face. These boys, what, did they think it criminal to care about a baby? I gave him a warm smile, even warmer than it would have been if I hadn’t just heard his story.
“Oh, thanks, Dave,” I said, voice lowered as I moved past him. I squeezed his arm in gratitude. “I’ll go in, though, he’s probably hungry.”
****
This time, at least, my quick response theory worked and Carson settled down almost immediately. When I walked back into the kitchen, conversation halted mid-sentence.
“All right, that’s enough.” Eliza pushed her chair away from the table and looked at both Erin and Liam. “Julie’s involved as much as any of us and she needs the full story. Now.”
Liam took a sip of coffee and Erin nodded, mouth set grimly.
“You’re right, Eliza, and Full said as much herself at the meeting. I’m sorry, Julie, and please don’t take it personally. We have a fairly ingrained habit of keeping secrets from humans.” Erin patted the chair next to her.
Again, an offhand comment proved Weres didn’t consider themselves human. Strange, by that time, I’d seen several Weres in wolf form, I’d seen Eliza and Lily draw upon the moon to move shadows and distort light, I’d witnessed the incredible speed of Eliza’s healing, and I’d felt the strength concealed in her slim figure. And yet, I found it impossible to sit at the kitchen table with them and actually understand they were entirely other—they were somehow not human. Did Mac feel such a large gulf between himself and me? Was that part of the reason he couldn’t quite open up to me? If I’d told him I was pregnant, would he have told me he was a Were? If he’d known I was a dark moon, would he have opened up to me? Or would it have never worked out between us, because I was still…human? Not pack? The sadness of that thought welled up within me, and I fought hard to push it down. I couldn’t afford to get emotional over Mac. I needed to discover exactly what had happened to him and to find the people responsible. And make them pay. I set my jaw; oh yes, somehow they would pay.
Without further ado, Eliza began.
“Liam said you and he already talked about some of this, but I’ll start at the beginning. As you know, Mac was a private investigator. At times, he worked for human clients on normal cases, but his primary business was Were. Sometimes individual packs hired him, but more often, his business was at the request of the pack council. The council is comprised of the Fulls, the individual pack leaders, from all U.S. packs and it guards the general interests and well-being of the Weres, makes policy decisions, and sets pack law. Since Mac was a full, he was in high demand for…sensitive council cases. That’s actually what brought him to Oregon, too.”
“What was he doing there, anyway? You said there’s no pack in my area,” I said.
“I’m not sure. Lily might know, but she couldn’t tell you anyway. As I was saying, after working on the case in Oregon, he came back to Greybull for a few months.” Eliza smiled. “A bit of a vacation for him, lots of hunting, bonding with the pack, training the young ones. In January, the council met and asked him to take on a new case in Las Vegas and he left right away. The details I know from Lily are these: two murders occurred in the city within the last year, both chalked up to dog attacks. Both victims were found near the Strip, locals, not tourists. The Vegas police downplayed the two incidents, presumably because they didn’t want to hurt the tourist business and perhaps also because they occurred almost ten months apart. Both on the full moon, by the way. At the same time, the local news reported numerous sightings of a large wolf in nearby wilderness areas and the council worried a rogue was responsible. One registered lone wolf lived in the area, but she claimed complete ignorance of any other Were activity. She’s a waning moon, hardly able to conceal the truth from a stronger Were. Mac was instructed to make contact with the lone wolf—her name is Suzy Zhang—to verify her story and her innocence. From all reports, he met with her and did not believe her involved. The council then asked Mac to infiltrate the local scene and investigate.”
Eliza sighed and rubbed her forehead in a weary gesture. Liam and Erin stayed silent, drinking their coffee.
“None of Mac’s reports indicated anything unusual. He hadn’t caught any scent of a fellow Were—well, besides one or two on vacation—and there had been no further wolf sightings or ‘dog’ attacks. In fact, the council considered recalling him and closing the investigation, when Mac missed filing a report. Lily tried to contact him—as did Erin and Liam, of course, once alerted there might be a problem—to no avail.
“Four days later, the police found Mac’s body in the same alley the first murder had taken place. And,” Eliza’s eyes burned fiercely, “they found his head in a motel parking lot, the site of the second murder.”
I swallowed hard and set down my coffee mug before I dropped it. Meeting Eliza’s gaze, a moment of clear understanding passed between us. I pushed my curls behind my ear.
Eliza nodded in grim approval and continued. “They sent a message. Mac’s murderer knew his exact purpose. The method of his murder also proved they knew he was a Were: beheading is one of the only su
re-fire ways of killing us. However, that said, his murderer was not a Were. We had pack on the scene within twenty-four hours—Carlos Sanchez—and the body and the scene…scenes…revealed no evidence of Were.
“So,” Eliza leaned back in her chair. “Carlos and two investigators sent by the council have been in Las Vegas for the last three months. And, as you know, Carlos was found yesterday in a local park, also beheaded. Signs near his body indicated a struggle, nothing like the staged crime scene where Mac was found. And that’s where we are now.”
“Was Carlos sent by the council?”
“Initially, he was sent by the pack, to report back any details about Mac’s murder internally. The council knew his location, though, and asked him to coordinate efforts with their own investigators.”
“So,” I thought aloud, “anyone associated with the council would have known about both Mac and Carlos. Is it possible someone on the council is in league with…the responsible party?”
Eliza shrugged her shoulders, while Liam remained stone-faced.
Erin gave a huge sigh. “I certainly hope not,” she said.
“Hmm. The other two Weres sent by the council are still in Vegas?”
“Yes.” Eliza nodded approval at my line of thinking. “Tim Rogers and Kayleigh Anderson.”
A werewolf named Kayleigh. What was this world coming to?
My thought must have been transparent, because Eliza laughed and elaborated.
“Yeah,” she said, “Kayleigh is from a pack in California, near Yosemite. I’ve never met her personally, but I know Mac worked with her on a couple of cases.”
I nodded curtly, trying to take this in as new information and nothing more. Bitter thoughts boiled up in the back of my mind, though. A California werewolf—probably a tanned, long-limbed beauty, a sleek, gorgeous blonde who was also pack, who knew Mac. I think I hated Kayleigh.
Eliza leaned forward and tapped me on the hand. “Focus,” she said sharply.
“Right.” I pushed the crazy jealousy aside. “Kayleigh is from California. And Tim Rogers is the other council investigator.”
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