Page 52 of Bonded Through Bite

“You said you were an office manager at a cleaning company,” he says accusingly.

“I was,” she snaps and then sighs. “How do you think I ran into vampires in the first place? Some of you leave quite a mess behind.”

I shudder at the thought. “You met a vamp at a crime scene?”

“Yep. She stared at me and quite adamantly demanded that I didn’t see her. Since the rest of the crew acted like they didn’t, I played along.”

“Compulsion,” Rafael says, frowning. “It didn’t work on you.”

She shakes her head and again turns toward the body with narrowing eyes.

“You didn’t tell me that either.” Rafael sounds hurt and I glance at him to make sure.

“Please,” Samantha huffs. “Like I wanted to paint a target on my back. I acted like I didn’t see her and then got the hell away from there.” She glances at Rafael. “And I think I did say you couldn’t compel me.”

“Okay, I think this is a conversation we can continue at a later time,” I interject before Rafael can push Samantha too much and she snaps. The mental note of “two days” hangs on my forehead. And we have a fucking body at our feet.

“Right, sorry,” Rafael says and some of the tension leaves Samantha’s shoulders.

“Can you turn her over?” she asks me.

“Sure,” I reply and gather the wolf in my arms, flipping her gently. I don’t see anything, but Samantha hisses, leaning closer to Rafael again.

“What is it, sweetheart?” he asks, looking worried.

“You don’t smell it?” She sounds baffled and looks between the two of us.

“Smell what?”

“The rot. Like something that has been dead for at least a week. Doesn’t look like it, but the smell… Those were the hardest cases. The stink even after the body was taken away. Sometimes we had to wait on the sidelines until the forensics… scooped everything up.”

“I don’t smell anything,” I say and lean closer to test it. There’s nothing but blood and wolf scents that my nose picks up.

“Me neither,” Rafael says but doesn’t move closer. We exchange a look. It’s not that we don’t believe Samantha, but she is newly turned. Her senses could be going haywire. Hell, it’s even expected until everything settles.

“Was it a vamp? It doesn’t look like that to me,” she says, pulling our attention back to her.

“I don’t think it was a vamp either,” I say. “Might have been another shifter, predator like a bear or cougar. Hard to say. These wounds are too ragged to see a pattern from a quick look.”

Rafael really needs to meet with the wolf pack, and soon. If there’s a shifter war brewing, we are definitely moving Samantha out of here.

“What are we going to do?” Samantha looks pale as she gets to her feet.

“You are going to go inside and take a hot shower,” Rafael begins and Samantha frowns.

“But—”

“Listen to him, little fangs. You need to get out of the elements,” I say and carefully reach out to push the wet hair out of her face. I give her all the time to flinch back, but she doesn’t. Her big, blue eyes track my movement, but there’s no fear in them now. “You might not feel the cold, but it’s draining your body,” I add.

She hesitates but then nods. “But we need to talk.”

“If you still want me in the house, I’ll be there.”

“Why wouldn’t I⁠—”

“You can hash all this out later,” Rafael says. “I’m going to go call our contact with the wolves and arrange a meeting. And Santiago is going to cover the body. We don’t want to move it more until the pack arrives. We’ll get a clearer picture if this was infighting or something more from their reactions.”

He’s right about not moving her, but I’m not loving the idea of letting Samantha out of my sight right now. Still, if this gets her inside, I’ll play along. Samantha appears like she wants to argue but then looks between the two of us.