Fair Game

Brother Wolf trotted down to the isolated bit of dirt that Leslie had pointed out and then followed it toward them with his nose on the ground.

A jogger approached them and stopped, jogging in place.‘Your dog should be on a leash,’ he said in politely disapproving tones. ‘It’s the rules. There are lots of kids here and a big dog like that might scare someone.’

‘Werewolf,’ said A

He stopped jogging and looked, his jaw dropping.‘Shit,’ he said. ‘You’re kidding me.’

‘It’s a werewolf,’ said Leslie.

‘It’s red. Aren’t werewolves supposed to be black or gray?’

‘Werewolves can be whatever color,’ A

He bent down, stretching his legs and breathing deeply.‘It’s beautiful. Hey, that’s where they found that little boy, isn’t it? I saw the police tape out here a couple of days ago. Are you with the police?’

‘FBI.’ Leslie gave him a sharp look. ‘You run here all the time?’

‘When I’m off duty,’ he admitted. ‘I’m a fireman. Missed the fuss, though.’

‘You get a lot of things wash up here?’

‘Yes, ma’am. Lotsa. New stuff every day, but we keep it picked up pretty well. His is the only body I know about, but I’ve only been ru

‘He is,’ said A

The jogger wasn’t disconcerted by her correction. ‘He work for the FBI?’

‘No. Strictly volunteer,’ A

‘Wicked,’ he said approvingly. ‘Wait until I tell the guys I saw a werewolf. He mind if I take a photo?’

‘Not at all,’ A

He popped his phone out of a pouch on his belt and stood still long enough to snap a photo.‘Cool. The guys are not going to believe this.’ He looked at the photo and frowned. ‘They’re going to say that I took a photo of a big dog.’

‘Charles,’ A

Charles turned and gave her a look.

‘Public relations,’ she suggested.

He turned his gold eyes to the jogger and then dropped his jaw in a wolfish smile that displayed fangs too large for any dog ever born.

The man swallowed.‘Werewolf,’ he whispered, and then, remembering what he was doing, he snapped another photo. ‘Thanks, man

wolf. Thanks. They won’t laugh at that.’ He glanced at A

‘We do, too,’ Leslie assured him.

He turned back to watch them a couple of more times before he sped up and headed off the island.

‘Doing a little PR?’ Leslie asked.

‘Never hurts,’ agreed A

‘I texted Agent Goldstein and told him where we’d be,’ said Leslie.

A

‘A lot of my work is like that,’ said Leslie.

Agent Goldstein sauntered up.‘Find anything?’

‘No,’ A

Charles trotted up and started to change, right in front of them. Right in front of anyone who happened to look over and see what he was doing. It wasn’t like him.

‘What do we do, Mrs Smith?’ asked Goldstein quite calmly.

‘Stay quiet and don’t touch, okay? This really hurts and touching him makes it worse.’

A

‘Remember, please, don’t look into his eyes.’ There were a couple of meaty pops and Leslie winced.

‘Yep. That hurts,’ A

‘Does this mean he found out something?’ Leslie asked.

‘I don’t know,’ A

‘It’s not as bad as it is in the movies,’ said Goldstein, sounding philosophical. ‘There’s no liquid or clear oozing jelly, for one thing.’

‘Ick,’ said A

Leslie turned away and swallowed.

‘Just kidding,’ A

‘Still,’ Goldstein continued. ‘I can see why no one has agreed to change in front of the camera.’

‘That whole changing naked thing that most of us have to do makes it awkward, too,’ A

‘I thought it took longer than this,’ Goldstein said, as Charles became mostly human.

Leslie was scared, but holding it together. Goldstein looked like he was ready to fall asleep.

‘For most of us, it does,’ she agreed. ‘Alpha wolves tend to be faster, and they can change more often. Charles is faster than most Alphas. We think it’s for the same reason that he can wear clothes when he changes – he’s got magic users on both sides of his parentage.’ They didn’t need to know that he was the only werewolf born.

‘For a secretive werewolf,’ observed Goldstein, ‘you are awfully happy to talk.’

‘The unknown is scary,’ A

‘Your husband is scary – wolf or human,’ said Leslie.

A

Charles had changed completely back to human, and was wearing jeans, dark leather lace-up boots, and a plain gray tee. He stood up, eyes closed and muscles tight as he worked through the last debilitating cramps of the change. He flexed his fingers a couple of times, then looked straight at A

‘Call Isaac. Tell him we need a boat and his other witch.’ His voice was gravelly.

‘Okay.’

He looked at Leslie.‘Call your medical examiner. See if we can get some hair from Jacob. Skin would work, but hair would be easier on the rest of us.’

‘I’ll have to tell him why.’

Charles raised a challenging brow.‘I’ll tell you why, and you can come up with a good lie. One of the little water spirits told me that the boy was taken from an island and dropped into the harbor. She made sure he came to rest here, which was useful to us, but I think she did it because she didn’t want the black magic to linger in her water. That kind of magic can attract some nasty things. It occurred to me that if his body still had enough magical residue to get Caitlin the witch all excited, then his death site might still have enough for a real witch to locate it – if she has a bit of Jacob to orient with.’

‘Water spirits?’ said Leslie, sounding dumbfounded.

‘That’s his shaman heritage, not a werewolf talent,’ A

‘I know the ME from my stint in Boston a few years back,’ said Goldstein after a moment of silence. ‘I’ll talk to him. Maybe do a bit of blackmail if it comes down to it. And we can get a boat.’

Charles shook his head.‘No witch I know would be caught dead on an official boat with the FBI. It’ll have to be one of Isaac’s people.’

‘I’ll call Isaac – and then Beauclaire,’ said A