Page 37 of Patrick’s Seduction

Patrick nodded. “Any other zoos that you still need to check out?”

“Nope. No leads there.”

“Not surprising,” Patrick said with a shrug. “I spoke to Nicholas earlier, and he said it’s impossible to train a wolf. Our theory that somebody could have trained a wolf to kill that jogger and rip his heart out is dead in the water.”

The elevator doors opened, and he and Benjamin headed for the command center. When they entered, several of his colleagues were already assembled. Their conversations quieted, and they turned their heads to look at him and Benjamin.

“Hey, guys, thanks for coming,” Patrick said, greeting them.

“We’ve been here a while,” Eddie said with a look at his watch.

“I know. Apologies, but when you hear what I’ve found out, you’ll understand.”

That he’d had sex with Fallon, and that was the reason why he was late, was something he’d keep to himself. It would only distract from the problem at hand.

He cast a long look at his colleagues. There weren’t as many assembled as he’d hoped, but it would have to do—for now. Besides the hybrids Sebastian, Benjamin, Nicholas, and Ryder, several pure-blooded vampires were present: Eddie, Amaury, and John. It appeared that everybody else was out on assignments.

Patrick took a deep breath. There was no way to break the news any other way than coming right out with it.

“We have a situation. There’s a werewolf roaming San Francisco and its surrounding counties.”

For a fraction of a second, it was completely silent in the command center, and apart from the humming of the computers, nothing made a sound, not even his own heartbeat. Maybe because his and his colleagues’ hearts had all just skipped a beat.

Amaury was the first to find his voice. “Are you shitting us?”

“I wish I were. But I’ve not only seen him, I know who he is, and where he lives. And I have reason to believe that he attacked and killed our vic.”

He caught Nicholas nodding to himself. “That would track with the size of the pawprints I found around the body, and the black wolf hair Buffy found under his fingernails.”

“How about you fill us in on the whole story,” John said calmly, his southern accent just as pronounced as always. “I have the feeling that you didn’t just run into a werewolf by accident. And trust me, you don’t wanna get involved in anything to do with werewolves. They are ruthless, uncivilized, brutal creatures. And where there’s one werewolf, the pack isn’t far.”

Amaury jerked his thumb at John, grunting, “What he said.”

The vampire who was as massive as a linebacker crossed his arms over his chest as if he was a bouncer standing in front of a club, intent on letting nobody enter.

Patrick nodded. “I get it. Trust me, I’m aware of the danger werewolves represent. I’ve heard the stories from all you old-timers.”

Amaury narrowed his eyes and grunted. He was one of the old-timers, a vampire who was over three hundred years old.

Patrick lifted one hand as an apology. “And that’s exactly why we have to get involved. We don’t want a pack of uncontrollable werewolves roaming our city. Can you imagine the bloodshed?”

He shifted his gaze from Amaury to John and then to the rest of the assembled. Nobody replied.

“That’s what I thought. We’ve gotta deal with this before it gets worse. So, hear me out. Anita brought me a case of a young doctor who’s being stalked and threatened by her ex-boyfriend. At first, I wanted to reject it, but Anita is very persistent, as you all know.”

A few grunts bounced against the walls.

“After Fa—uhm Dr. Doyle was attacked by someone or something two nights ago, I looked into her ex. I saw him tonight, and I recognized his aura as that of a werewolf. I researched his background. His family is wealthy and owns properties all over the Bay Area, mostly in Marin County. But there isn’t much information about them anywhere.”

He looked at Eddie. “Maybe you can dig around a bit, see what you find? Their last name is Gallagher.”

Eddie nodded. “I can do that.”

“So far I don’t see any evidence,” John chimed in. “At best, it’s circumstantial. I hate seeing a werewolf in San Francisco as much as the next vampire, but we can’t just pin any crime on him, no matter how much we’d like him gone.”

“No, there isn’t a lot of evidence, not yet. That’s why I called this meeting. What we do have is what the autopsy tells us: our victim was killed by a wolf, who ripped the heart clean out, and most likely ate it, since we couldn’t find any trace of it. And since Nicholas confirmed with his contact at Yellowstone National Park that wolves cannot be trained like dogs, the attack couldn’t have been perpetrated by a regular wolf. That leaves us with the only possible suspect: a werewolf. Now, I’m not saying that Cameron Gallagher is the werewolf who did this—” Though he really wanted him to be the killer, because it meant that he could justify eliminating him. “—but as you pointed out, John, where there’s one werewolf, the pack isn’t far. My guess is that the pack lives in Marin County.”

“That’s all well and good,” Amaury said, nodding, “but that’s still not gonna tie him to the Presidio murder.”