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A shadow fell over Julian where he knelt next to the neatly folded black slacks and white blouse. He had one of her ugly boots cradled in his arms like a baby.
“You’ve got it bad,” Neil murmured.
Julian couldn’t argue. He did have it bad. What he didn’t have was her.
Apparently, his brother—the murdering, rogue werewolf—did.
“We have to find them,” he said.
“Mmm,” Neil agreed, moving around the room, glancing into drawers, closets, and the refrigerator. “They obviously went running together by choice.” Neil gazed pointedly at the perfectly folded shirt. “He didn’t tear her clothes from her body and force her to do anything. There’d be blood somewhere other than the refrigerator.”
Julian growled.
“Calm down.”
“How can I when I’ve just discovered my brother’s been killing Inuit?” Julian set Alex’s boot on the floor and got to his feet. “And why is that?”
Neil began to sort through a pile of papers on the desk. “I only know why he killed the wise women.”
Neil calmly opened a folder and peered inside. When he didn’t continue, Julian snapped, “Why?”
“I thought you knew.”
“If I knew, Neil”—Julian drew out the name—“I wouldn’t be asking you.”
Neil frowned and glanced up. “Cade told me you knew, and that you were all right with it.”
“With what?” Julian ground between clenched teeth. Several empty beakers rattled, one of them burst into shards.
“Don’t get excited.” Though Julian could incinerate him if he was of a mind to, Neil’s voice and manner were nothing but calm. “You remember how Cade always had to talk to the local wise woman, shaman, whatever?”
“Yes. He wanted to know what they did.”
Neil nodded. “Which is why he ate them. That way all their knowledge became his.”
“That’s nuts.”
“That’s Cade.”
“And you thought I was okay with this?”
“Back in those days things were different. We were different. Besides, you never did anything about it.”
“I didn’t know!”
“That was probably why.”
“What the hell was I doing when this was going on?”
“Leading a boatload of Vikings. You had a lot on your mind.”
Julian ran a hand over his face.
“It wasn’t as if people weren’t dying, Julian. Back then, that was kind of what we did.”
“I don’t understand why he’d suddenly decide that killing someone, then eating them, gave him their knowledge. He was always talking to the local witch doctor types.”
“And he was always killing and eating them. He didn’t start when he became a werewolf.”
