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And when she got bored, she started setting fires. Already, I could see the lightshow through the vinyl tent walls. This material should have blocked out all outside light, but her divine power was just that potent.
I shook my head and turned back to the books around me. One of them had to have a record of an undead shifter. Maddox couldn’t be the only one of his kind.
Could he?
Maddox
The receptionistat the front desk greeted me with a tight smile, disappointment in her eyes. That was enough to make my stomach drop and hit the ground with a sickening splat.
“There was another call, wasn’t there?” I asked.
Her expression slipped from grim to confused for a moment. Then realization dawned in her eyes. “Oh, no. It was a surprisingly quiet night, actually.”
“Then what’s with the look?” I gestured up and down at her.
“I just…I didn’t expect to see you so soon. I know you and Bastien were close. Shouldn’t you take some more time off? I’m sure you need to grieve.”
I’d forgotten that I’d filed a missing person’s report and then quickly pushed it through to declare Bastien as dead. There were perks to working in law enforcement as a supernatural. It meant that I could quickly cover up Bastien’s death.
However, that also meant that people were watching me now. Not because they suspected me, but because they expected me to have more of an emotional reaction. After Paige, my ex-wife, passed, I’d been a wreck. At least I could use the excuse that I hadn’t been married to Bastien. Of course, my reactions wouldn’t be the same.
I gave the receptionist a half shrug and continued on in. Thoughts of Bastien soon drifted past as I explored the implications of no emergency calls last night. There was a chance that I really was the one responsible for these deaths.
Addie’s presence had grounded me last night. My beast didn’t want to be anywhere else so long as she was around. That meant I could remember every moment of the night. There were no black spots in my memory like there were in other nights. I didn’t wake somewhere in the mountains, but in my own home for once.
I couldn’t rely on having Addie around at all times. It wasn’t like I could invite her to move in with me as a roommate. For one thing, she wouldn’t be able to put up with how I live. She clearly hated my messy organization. I didn’t want to put the burden of my beast on her shoulders, either.
Addie didn’t have to leash me. It wasn’t her responsibility to watch over me and keep me from losing control. She didn’t have to fulfil the beast’s carnal urges either.
Though, remembering her moans in the hallway made me thankful that there was a desk over my bulging groin. I adjusted my pants and did my best to shove those thoughts back down. There was no escaping my needs, though.
Addie’s towel had slipped earlier. I’d caught a glimpse that hadn’t been meant for me. The stolen sight excited me. The smell of clean skin and my soap on her skin had been enough to drive my beast wild. She didn’t know how good she smelled. It was intoxicating.
I ran a hand over my face. I hadn’t come to work just to fantasize about my friend. There was a case that needed to be solved. If I didn’t get moving, then I would never figure out if I was the monster or not.
After doing some of the paperwork I’d left for myself the day before, I grabbed my jacket and set out again.
“Going home like I suggested?” the receptionist asked with a perky grin.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I was doing more work, so I just smiled and nodded on my way out the door. The drive out to the neighborhood where we’d found the ghost didn’t take long. I pulled up to the curb near the house that the ghost had been staring at—according to Addie.
It was a simple, cookie-cutter house, not at all the type one would assume to be haunted. I could feel the cold brush of death lingering in the air, betraying the ghost’s presence. Tense, I waited for her to come at me with anger and hatred.
When nothing happened, I realized that if I’d killed her, it would have been in my wolf form. The ghost wouldn’t recognize me like this, like a human.
I’d never felt more like a monster before. All this time, I’d been ignoring what I’d become. The fact that I could possibly kill, then hide in plain sight left me unsettled. I realized that’s exactly what the other wolf had done.
The undead wolf that’d bitten and changed me had been a murderer in life. He’d gotten away with it by hunting human women while in his wolf form. I reached for my shoulder where the bite scar had healed over and wondered if he’d passed that vicious trait on to me.
The thought made my heart clench. If something like that could be passed from shifter to shifter, then I didn’t want to be a part of the supernatural community. I knew what that meant, even if I didn’t want to say it yet.
Instead, I approached the house’s neatly painted front door and knocked. There was some rustling inside. A male voice calmly asked a child to move so he could reach the door. The man who appeared was haggard. He looked a lot like me after Paige passed away. Immediately, I knew I’d reached the right house.
He looked me up and down and made a quick assessment. He must have spoken to a detective recently because he clocked me almost instantly. His lips parted with hope that I was about to crush.
Quickly, he threw himself out the door and shut it behind him. When the child inside asked what was going on, he gently assured the child that everything was all right and that they should go back to playing.
My beast stirred with my discomfort. I didn’t mean to get this man’s hopes up. He wanted to hear good news, or maybe even closure. I didn’t have either.
