Page 19 of Jacob Michaels Is Not Jacob Michaels

“Who else can give me an idea if this woman was a werewolf?” I shrugged. “Maybe she’s part of his pack?”

“Oh, this is just ridiculous.” Oma shook her head. “Andrew ain’t got a pack anyway.”

“You got any better ideas, Oma?”

“Yeah.” She slapped the table. “Sit your dumbass down and finish your coffee and pretend it never happened. In a week, they’ll decide they don’t know who that lady is, give her a pauper’s funeral, an unmarked grave, and we’ll never have to worry about it again. You done nothin’ wrong.”

“We can debate the morality of all of this later,” I said. “But that woman’s family has a right to know what happened. Especially so they can claim her body.”

“You’re going to talk to Andrew, find out which pack this lady belonged to—if she was even a werewolf—and then tell them you killed her? Are you crazy? They won’t care that it was self-defense. And after you tell ‘em, you better hope you can burn a whole bunch of wolves at one time, because they’ll just attack you. No questions asked.”

“What?”

“If Andrew takes you to meet her pack—or even just her Alpha—they ain’t gonna take kindly to her killer amongst them, regardless of the circumstances.” She said. “You’ll be putting a target on your back. And mine!”

“That kind of changes things.” I sunk into my seat.

“I thought it would.”

“So…what do we do?” I looked up at her. “Besides act like it never happened, I mean.”

Oma shook her head in exasperation.

“I mean, can’t I at least go see Andrew and tell him we think some female werewolf wandered up naked and burnt and died on your lawn so he can tell the…pack…or whatever? So at least the police might find out who she was? I don’t have to say I did it.”

“Where’s the other two wolves, Robbie?” Oma snapped.

“The…”

“The other two wolves that was with her last night?” She clarified. “If that’s really who she was.”

“Um…”

“Exactly.” Oma gave an angry laugh.

“Them other two wolves already know where, who, what, when, where,” Oma said. “Obviously, they’ll know what happened to her and can tell her kinfolk themselves.”

Ernst was against my leg, his arms wrapped around my calf. I laid a hand on his shoulder to give him comfort. Lena was still hiding behind Oma but was looking up at her, terrified.

“They may just leave it at that, Robbie.” Oma sighed. “But we may have more visitors with paws before it’s all said and done. I don’t think you need to go lookin’ for trouble when it’s probably already headed our way.”

“Are you serious?” I gasped.

“Well, werewolves like to keep themselves secret, sure.” She chewed at her lip. “But those fuckers sure can hold a grudge. And they pass those grudges down through the generations. The chances of them forgetting about you barbecuing one of their pack members last night are pretty damn slim. Don’t know that they’ll start any trouble—but they sure won’t back down from any if it’s brought to their doorstep.”

“Fuck.”

“Mm.” Oma nodded and picked up her coffee mug. “So, drink your damn coffee and act like you’re Helen Keller. I hear you know a thing or two about acting.”

She said the last part with a smirk. I wasn’t in the mood to joke.