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Maddox sucked in a hissing breath when I kicked him but otherwise showed no signs of pain. To be fair, I hadn’t kicked him hard. Though I was being sassy, I didn’t really want to hurt him.
He turned to let me by but didn’t move out of the way as I passed. “I’m not saying you look bad…quite the opposite. That dress looks very good on you. I didn’t realize that passed as dressing up, though.”
Despite my desire to argue, my face heated and my words left me. I’d forgotten how damn good that man was at flustering me.
He opened the passenger door of his car for me. I paused and cocked my head. This wasn’t the same old sedan that he’d camped in outside my house weeks ago. I stared into the fresh new interior of an SUV hot off the production line. It had to be the newest model.
“I needed a bigger car,” was all Maddox said.
He left me to go around to his own side of the SUV.
“For what?” I asked incredulously. “What do you need to haul? I fit all my camping equipment in my little sedan. What would you need to fit into a car?”
He stopped and gestured to himself like I’d missed the point entirely.
It took several breaths for me to understand what he was implying. Then my jaw dropped. “You don’t need to fit your wolf in there! What are you going to do? Drive in your wolf form? If you insist on getting into this car while shifted, it’s going to smell like wet dog eventually.”
Maddox laughed and got into the driver’s seat, leaving me standing outside on my own. It dawned on me that he’d been joking. He didn’t get the SUV because of his new wolf form. If that was the case, then why did he want such a big car? And why beat around the bush about it?
Instead of pressing the conversation, I got into my seat and closed the door. Moving about in a dress was awkward and unfamiliar. It took a lot of effort to remember to keep my knees together.
And when Maddox’s gaze drifted over to my closed knees, I felt a blush rise over my face again. In that moment, if he reached over and touched them, I wouldn’t have stopped him. I would have savored his rough fingers on my bare skin. I would have let my legs part just for him.
But Maddox didn’t reach for me. He kept both hands on the steering wheel all the way out to his city in the mountains. The closer we were, the clearer the skies became. Though there wasn’t much to pollute the skies in Syracuse as most of the factories had shut down, there was something about the city that seemed to emanate its own kind of gloom.
Perhaps I was projecting because my experiences with the city were filled with stress and discomfort. Because of my ability to see ghosts and feel the presence of death, I could find no peace in the city. The mountains had become my refuge of silence.
Which is exactly how I met the detective behind the wheel. While camping, I’d stumbled upon the corpse of a woman that looked startlingly like myself. As it turned out, another Reaper had been killing people like myself in order to use their power for his own gain. That made me wonder just how many of the victims I might have been related to.
“These calls,” I said to change the subject. “What makes you think they aren’t prank calls?”
Maddox cleared his throat like there was something that he’d been about to say, but he forced it back. I studied his profile, but it gave away nothing as usual.
“We’ve had about three separate calls so far. Each time they’re placed by a different number. The person on the line is different, too. They claim that there is something stalking them. The call goes silent right before there’s a scream. Then the call dies.”
Yeah, I could understand how that could feel real. There’s still a chance that someone is screwing with the local station, though. I bit the tip of my thumb between my teeth while I considered the possibilities.
We have no evidence that anyone has died. I found it hard to believe that a body could be hidden for that long. It was incredibly difficult to hide bodies these days with people everywhere. No part of the world around us was left untrodden. Even the nooks and crannies of the mountains weren’t safe from people.
“Have any kids been in trouble for vandalism or loitering?” I asked.
Kids wouldn’t think twice about placing illegal prank calls. Though, I wondered how creative they could get with it. Would kids really go this far? Would they create such odd scenarios? I kind of doubted it, but I still had to point it out as a possibility.
Maddox shook his head. “Not that I know of. It’s been quiet here, lately. It’s like the town is lying low because they instinctually know there’s something out there.”
A chill ran up my spine. “Do you think it’s…supernatural?”
“There’s only one way to find out.”
Maddox
I wasn’t goingto buy Addie alcohol while I needed her to work, but I could buy her a coffee at the very least. That way, when I handed her a giant collar and leash, she might be a little more willing to hear me out.
She stared at the offered collar and leash with a completely dumbfounded look on her face. My own cheeks warmed. I knew that people used things like this behind closed doors and that it could have deeply intimate implications.
“It’s not like that,” I grumbled.
The corner of her mouth lifted into a sly grin before she raised her coffee to her lips. She took a long drag from the iced drink all while holding my gaze.
