Lycanthropy Files Box Set: Books 1-3 Plus Novella

by Cecilia Dominic

I couldn’t handle their drama as well as my own. “I’m going to finish my coffee on the balcony,” I said and stood on wobbly legs.

  “Do you want some company?” Lonna asked.

  “No, but thank you.”

  I walked out on the balcony, sat in one of the Adirondack chairs, and took a deep breath. The sun peeped through a thick layer of clouds, its light watered down by the atmosphere. Every leaf and pine needle seemed extra green in the forest beyond the lawn. No ghostly parties filled my imagination this morning. Instead, my mind strained to recall small things, clues that would confirm or disconfirm what I had just figured out about Andrew. And then there were the vaccinations, the serial and lot numbers pointing in one direction. Had Andrew gotten a bad vaccine? Had it been something that he ate? Or was it something that would have shown up anyway? Finding out that he had CLS was like losing him all over again.

  My solitude lasted five minutes at the most. That’s when I knew from the prickling at the back of my neck that trouble had arrived.

  A black convertible car stood in the driveway. The sporty car’s low-slung body had sleek, European lines, and the tan top was pulled back to reveal a plush leather interior, the dashboard mock-antique. Kyra Ellison stood in the door and argued with Gabriel.

  “Kyra?” I asked. “Is there a problem?”

  “Ah, Doctor Fisher.” She raised her eyebrows in mock friendliness.

  “What brings you to my home?”

  The fake smile grew bigger, her ruby lips drawn back in an almost feral grin. “I believe that one of my friends has come up here, and I’m just looking for him. I have an important message from his brother.”

  “Which friend would that be?” I couldn’t help it, I sneered through “friend” so as to imply that it was actually more of a client. Probably not fair, but the woman’s attitude immediately put me on edge.

  “Leo Bowman. Or his cousin Ron. Have you seen them?”

  “Not recently.” As in, not in the last ten minutes. “Perhaps Gabriel or I could pass along the message if they do appear here.”

  “Just tell him to call Peter. I’m afraid that’s all I can say. It’s a matter of the utmost discretion.”

  “Who is this?” Lonna appeared in the door, and Kyra immediately snapped to full attention and charm mode.

  Kyra held out her hand. I couldn’t help but notice that it was not perfectly manicured. Running around in the woods at night could be rough on the paws, er, hands. “I’m Kyra Ellison. I live here in Crystal Pines. And who might you be?”

  “Lonna Marconi. I’m a social worker, I’m staying with Joanie. I believe I saw you yesterday.”

  “Ah, a social worker.” Independently wealthy versus overworked and underpaid: Kyra 1, Lonna 0. “And no, I don’t remember meeting you.”

  Lonna didn’t bite. “We didn’t meet. Not that it’s any concern of yours. What do you want with Leo and Ron?”

  “I have a message from Leo’s brother, Peter. Have you met him?”

  “Briefly.”

  I smirked. As in, in his briefs. Ouch. Kyra 1, Lonna 1.

  The fake smile disappeared from Kyra’s face. “I’m not sure what kind of little scam you all have going on here, but I will find the guys. And I have ways of doing it that you can’t even begin to suspect.”

  “Actually, the thought of you growing fur is very funny,” I said. She wheeled around and was in my face so fast I didn’t have time to step back. Up close, I could see the ring of yellow around the pupils of her deep green eyes.

  “And do you know what a she-wolf does to little flat-chested ivory-tower brats who interfere with her chosen mate?” Her voice was almost a growl.

  “No.”

  “Trust me, you don’t want to.” And with that, she whirled around, jumped in the car, and roared out of the driveway.

  “Did she just threaten you?” Lonna was at my side.

  “I think so.”

  Gabriel, a pensive expression on his face, followed the sports car with his eyes until it disappeared from sight. “She’s been a little crazy since she got up here. She used to run a modeling agency in Memphis until she got sick.”

  “With CLS?” asked Lonna.

  “Yes, Madam. Maybe she had a flu shot from the same batch that infected Leo and Ron. She arrived in Crystal Pines shortly after they did.”

  “That reminds me.” Lonna turned to me. “I need to go back to the office in Little Rock to access the vaccination database. I called, but no one has time to look it up for me. I think they want me back down there.”

  “I can’t say I blame them. You were busy before you came.”

  She gazed out over the mountains. “It’s certainly more peaceful here, in a sense.”

  I wondered if she was thinking about the fights we’d had, and I felt guilty, like it was my fault she was here.

  “I don’t have to be down there ’til two,” I said. “Come with me. You can pack a bag if you want, grab a change of clothes.”

  “You won’t mind if I tag along with you?”

  “I never do. The more, the merrier.” But in truth, the thought of the city with all the noise, people and traffic made my heart lurch.

  “Is she gone?” Leo found me in my room packing an overnight bag. Lonna and I planned to stay at her place and then drive back up to Crystal Pines the next morning.

  “Who, Kyra?” I’m not jealous, I’m not jealous. “Some brave wolf-man you are.”

  “I don’t have to be brave. That woman just doesn’t give up.”

  “You certainly seemed to be getting along well last week.” The mental image of him tucking her hair behind her ear popped into my mind.

  “I give in every once in a while. She’ll leave me alone as she makes plans, then when she notices I’m not following at her side, she comes back.”

  “She said to call Peter.”

  “Not right now. He wants to blame me for what happened to Lance. He probably has a trace on the line or something so he can find out where I am and send the cops.”

  “Because you weren’t there watching him?”

  “I guess.”

  He appeared as though he wanted to say something else.

  “And?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure, I feel like there’s something missing, some piece we’re not seeing.”

  “Welcome to my life.” I balled a shirt up and threw it in my suitcase.

  “Right. Sorry, I forgot.”

  “You don’t sound sorry.” But I sounded sulky, and I hated it.

  “Well, what do you expect? My life changes, and I get stuck with a strange disease that causes me to turn—not comfortably, mind you—into a wolf every so often. Your life turns upside down, and you end up with an estate in the mountains worth hundreds of millions of dollars and an interesting intellectual challenge.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “How do you know how much this estate is worth? Is that what you were in Galbraith’s office for that day?”

  He sat down and ran his hands through his hair. “No, I was in Galbraith’s office that day trying to convince him not to bring Gabriel back. I thought your grandfather wanted to have me watching over you.”

  “What?” I didn’t believe him. “You were arguing with him over who got the land.”

  “And I lost. But that’s not what’s important. Your grandfather was close to something; that much you do know. He said he had to do some field research and was going to bring you here to help work on it. Then he disappeared.”

  “Field research? You mentioned that last night.” I sat on the end of the bed and looked at him. “Is that why he was killed? To keep him from finding whatever is out there?”

  “I don’t know.”

  We were interrupted by the doorbell. I heard Gabriel answer it, and I cringed at the condescending tone of Sheriff Bud Knowles.

  “Is Miz Fisher in?”

  “Doctor Fisher is in, but she may not be available.”

  “He’s a good butler, I’ll give him that,” muttered
Leo.

  I put my finger to my lips. “I would be careful if I were you. I don’t think he’s looking for me.”

  Footsteps on the stairs, then in the hall. Even if I hadn’t heard the exchange at the front door, I would have been able to tell from Gabriel’s disgusted facial expression that he’d had to deal with Knowles.

  “Doctor, the sheriff is here.”

  “So I heard.”

  “What do you want me to tell him?”

  “I’ll talk to him. Just don’t say anything about Leo being here.”

  “Understood.”

  I found Sheriff Knowles in the foyer. “Can I help you, Sheriff?”

  “Well, Doctor, I was wonderin’, since you’ve got your finger in so many of the pies around here, if you could help me find someone.”

  “Who?”

  “His name’s Leonard Bowman. A couple of people saw you hangin’ out with him and his cousin Ron in town a couple days ago.”

  “I see. And what business would you have with Mr. Bowman?”

  “I need to bring him in to the station and ask him some questions about where he was when his nephew disappeared.”

  “If I see him, I’ll let him know you’re looking for him.”

  “So you don’t know where he is?”

  “Not right at this moment, no.” He could have left the bedroom by now.

  “You know, Doctor Fisher, I wouldn’t want to have to bring you to the station and ask you about a crime called obstructing justice.”

  He looked at me with his beady eyes, and I struggled not to look away. This wasn’t friendly Bud Knowles, mountain country sheriff. He was letting me see the shrewd character that had survived all those years in the worst parts of Little Rock.

  “That would probably be more trouble than it’s worth, Sheriff.”

  “Then you won’t mind if I let one of my boys watch the house in case Leo Bowman shows up here. He might be a dangerous character, if you know what I mean, and I wouldn’t want him to hurt you or the lovely Ms. Marconi.”

  “That would be fine, Sheriff. Ms. Marconi and I are actually traveling to Little Rock this afternoon and plan to be gone for the night, so an extra pair of eyes on the house would suit me perfectly.”

  “And what is the nature of this trip?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m going to meet with my solicitor about some estate affairs.”

  He chuckled, a wheezing, grating sound. “As you recall, a woman died here under suspicious circumstances this week, Doctor Fisher. Remember that little agreement we had? You were going to notify me if you decided to leave.”

  “Consider this your notification.”

  “And when will you return?”

  “Probably tomorrow. You may reach me through my solicitor, Lawrence Galbraith, if you need me before then.” I’d be damned before I gave him my cell phone number.

  “I’ll do that.” With a respectful tip of his hat, he was gone.

  “What are you going to do about…” Gabriel inclined his head up the stairs.

  “If he knows what’s good for him, he’s already gone.”

  Gabriel smiled and watched the sheriff’s car pull out of the driveway. “You should go as well, then.”

  “I guess I should.”

  “Please be careful.”

  “Can’t watch over me down there, huh?”

  “I shall be miserably bored while you’re away.”

  I stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. “I’ll be careful, I promise.”

  Leo caught up to us in the garage. He carried his duffel bag and walked with a determined step.

  “What are you doing here?” I glanced outside to see if the sheriff’s deputy’s car was there yet. “You know they’re looking for you.”

  “I said I was coming with you.”

  I glanced at Lonna, but she held her hands up. “I’m staying out of this.”

  “Are you out of your mind?” I fixed him with my sternest stare.

  “If the sheriff is looking for me here, then it makes sense for me to be somewhere else.”

  I couldn’t fault his logic.

  “Besides,” he added. “I need to go by UAMS and get Ron’s and my medical records. I have a release-of-information form from him in my bag. That way we can see if we got flu shots from the same batch.”

  “Didn’t you get them at the same time?”

  “No, we were on different rotations and had opposite schedules.”

  “Okay, so you have a valid reason to go. But what about me? Knowles said something about obstruction of justice.”

  “If we get caught, I’ll tell them I forced you to take me. Look, I’ll hunch down in the back of the car until we’re out of town.”

  “There’s no way you’ll fit.”

  “Then put my duffel in the trunk.” He unbuttoned the top button of his shirt…and kept going.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I couldn’t help it, I watched him undress. Fine black hair covered his chest and stomach, but I could still see the tense muscles underneath. Running through the woods might not be good for the paws, but he was in excellent shape. I’d never been much for hirsute men, but damn!

  “Ah, Joanie? Perhaps we should give him a moment of privacy.” Lonna grabbed my arm, and we walked back into the hallway.

  “There you go, ruining the show.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I don’t think I want to see that show.”

  We heard a whimper, and a moment later, something wet licked my hand. I looked down into Leo’s eyes but with golden irises in a black canine face. The world tilted, but something told me this wasn’t the black wolf I’d seen earlier.

  “I guess we’re going to have to take you now, aren’t we?”

  The wolf’s lips parted in a snarl.

  “Okay, okay!”

  He barely fit in the backseat, let alone the well, but we covered him with a blanket. A casual glance wouldn’t reveal too much, I hoped.

  “Are you ready to do this?” I asked.

  “Ready as I’ll ever be. Leo?”

  A noise between a bark and a yip came from under the blanket in the back.

  “Does this mean I’ll be able to say whatever I want to you, and you can’t talk back?”

  “Not necessarily, elf-girl.” The words brought me back to seeing them that night on the lawn with the deer, and I remembered that I was dealing with a predator whose animal brain was now in full gear.

  “Gotcha. And don’t call me elf-girl.”

  “What?” Lonna looked from me to the blanketed lump in the backseat. “I didn’t call you elf-girl.”

  “No, but he did.” My heart skipped a beat. “What did you hear?”

  “Just a woof or something.”

  “So I can understand them and you can’t.” Just like I had understood my brother from the cradle. I remembered my father yelling at him, telling him to speak like a human boy. I had tried to protect Andrew because his speech sounded muffled, but I could still make out what he said.

  I didn’t breathe easily until we got out of the Crystal Pines gates and on the road. Even then, I felt uneasy about our passenger and the trip in general, especially with this new revelation. Did that mean I was genetically predisposed? Or did I have some other, more sinister talent?

  15

  Grief has a funny way of sneaking up on you. It’s like one day you’re out getting groceries or something, and then wham! It punches you in the middle of the chest, or maybe the solar plexus, and it would bring you to your knees if you weren’t afraid of dropping the eggs.

  It’s a good thing Lonna was driving when it happened to me. Leo snoozed in the backseat, still in his lupine form. I was watching the road signs as I used to when I was little, looking at the towns we passed, their posted populations, and trying to remember which had been the smallest when I had been a lot smaller. For a moment, I was back there with my mother, her perfectly manicured hands tight on the wheel, her knuckles white, and her t
eeth clenched with the desire to be away from “that godforsaken place.” It seemed like every town, no matter how small, put a new obstacle between me and Wolfsbane Manor, the only place where I felt loved and protected.

  I snapped back to the present when Lonna asked if I needed a bathroom or coffee break.

  “You looked like you were in another world there,” she said.

  “I was.”

  “What were you thinking about?”

  “Nothing.” But the images crowded my mind, and the words caught in my throat in their rush to be the first ones out. Would I tell her about the pretend balls my grandfather and I held, when we would go down into the ballroom and dance with our candles, which would cast weird shadows on the ceiling and make the eyes of the painted woodland animals glow? Or should I tell her about the long hikes we’d take down to the river and the stories he’d tell me about the trees and bugs? What about his patience for my hundreds of questions? It had always taken me a few days to wind down and get used to being quiet after my visits up there.

  “We’ll be going back soon,” she promised me with a pat on my arm.

  I nodded, too choked up to say anything. Leo gazed up at me with expressive canine eyes, his losses echoing my own. It seemed that we had all lost something up there. Or had maybe found something but hadn’t been able to hold on to it. The only question would be what Lonna would have to sacrifice.

  Lonna dropped me off at Galbraith’s office at five minutes until two, then drove off to take Leo to her apartment, where he could transform back to human and dress. Then she’d drive him to UAMS and go to her office, which was right down the street from the hospital complex.

  The air inside Galbraith’s foyer was stuffy, and I wondered if the air-conditioning was broken. If so, that would motivate me to get this meeting over with quickly. I hesitated at the door, all too mindful of what had happened the last time I was early. Leo seemed to be a different person every time I saw him, which made dealing with him unpredictable and oh-so-exciting. I was happy to hear that the relationship between him and Kyra Ellison was one-sided, as much of a bitch as that made me.

  Galbraith opened the door himself. “Doctor Fisher, there’s no need to stand outside in the heat. Why don’t you come in?”