Lycanthropy Files Box Set: Books 1-3 Plus Novella Read online

  I must have screamed because footsteps pounded into the kitchen.

  “Miss? Doctor Fisher?” An unfamiliar voice, one of the paramedics. “In here. She’s in here.”

  “Did she faint?”

  “Bring her out here. Lay her down.”

  “Not on the sofa. Put her in the chair.”

  Strong arms. No good. All went black.

  8

  I came to in the armchair with something acrid wafting into my nose: smelling salts.

  “Are you all right, miss?” The young paramedic’s eyes looked into mine, and I could see his concern.

  “I’m fine.” But I felt groggy, like someone had hit me over the head with a medical textbook.

  “Here’s some water.”

  “Thank you.”

  Gabriel stood by the fireplace with the sheriff. His feet were square to Knowles, but he kept glancing over his shoulder at me. I raised my glass to show him I was okay. He inclined his head, but his back remained tense.

  “Well, if that’s all, Sheriff, perhaps you can come take Doctor Fisher’s statement tomorrow,” he said. “I will be here all day as well if you think of anything else you’d like to ask me.”

  Surprisingly, Knowles took the hint. “I’ll be by in the morning.”

  Louise was gone, but the couch showed stains where she’d lain. Also gravel and grass. What had happened to the poor woman?

  Gabriel didn’t sit down until he had locked the door behind the last of Knowles’ crew.

  “I guess there’s no way to salvage the couch, is there?” I asked. Even before he said so, I knew the soft fawn suede had been ruined.

  “The sheriff asked me to keep it here until forensics can come and collect it. I can’t even try to clean it.”

  “What else did he say?”

  “That none of us are to leave tomorrow until he and the forensics team return. The driveway and grounds are also considered a crime scene. It seems as though Louise was dragged up the driveway.”

  I remembered the sickening sounds. “I heard it, but I didn’t know what it was.”

  “Me too. When I went out to investigate, all I saw was Louise lying in the grass. That’s when I brought her in.”

  “Poor woman.” I blinked to keep the tears from falling again and to not relive the whole encounter. The black wolf. How did it get here? How did it find me? I shuddered.

  In an instant Gabriel was by my side searching my face. “Are you all right, Madam?”

  “I am. Did you see it?”

  “See what?”

  “The black wolf.”

  “No, but I could smell it on her.”

  “Was it…” I couldn’t bear to say it.

  “No.” He leaned closer. “Don’t worry, it wasn’t Ron or Leo.”

  “Phew.” Some of the tension drained from my chest, although the other possibility was just as disturbing. “Where’s Lonna? I’m surprised she wasn’t woken up by all the commotion.”

  Gabriel smiled. “She was very upset last night and asked for something to help her sleep.”

  “Ah. Are you going to turn us all into addicts? Because I may need something.”

  “In your case, I’m going to say no. Warm milk, that’s it. You need to be alert when Sheriff Knowles comes to question you in a few hours.”

  “Oh, that’s right.” I rubbed my eyes and couldn’t help but think that dealing with Knowles was the last thing I wanted to do. “Warm milk it is, then.”

  “With a cookie?”

  “If you’re offering.”

  He rose, but I stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Gabriel?”

  “Yes, Doctor?”

  “Thank you. I’m glad you’re here.”

  “I am, too.”

  It was too quick to tell, but I thought I saw an extra sparkle in his eye. In spite of all the drama of the evening, I smiled.

  If I slept at all the rest of the night, I didn’t know it. My wrist throbbed from Louise’s twisting of the injury, and I couldn’t get comfortable. The absence of city noise magnified every small sound against the backdrop of silence. Not even the insects sang. Every time I was just about to drift off to sleep, some noise startled me awake. One time it was Lonna crying out in her sleep, and then I heard Gabriel get up and walk outside. I supposed he was as restless as I was. Or maybe he had other reasons to be out.

  Finally I gave up, put a different robe on, and walked to the balcony. Dawn tinged the sky in the east faint blue, then golden, and then a blaze of pink and orange as the sun strained to rise above the trees. I had to look away from the searing brightness when it emerged, and a large brown wolfhound on the lawn caught my attention. Its tongue lolled out at me, then it rolled on its back and stretched in the grass. In spite of myself, I laughed. It became blurry around the edges, rolled on its stomach, and gave a great heave. Instead of a wolf, I found myself looking at the fuzzy backside of a man.

  That was it. No going back now. I’d seen one of them change, and the fire inside me was lit.

  “How did you do that?” I called.

  “I wish I knew.” With a grunt, Gabriel straightened up from his hands and knees, rolled up one vertebrae at a time, and stretched, his back still to me. Bones and joints popped back into place under the smooth muscles.

  “Madam, would you mind?” He made a circular motion with his hand, and I obediently turned around. “All right, then.”

  He stood below the balcony in a plaid flannel robe.

  “What was that all about?” I asked. “I thought you weren’t going hunting?”

  “I needed to wash the scent of blood off. A mountain stream seemed preferable to a shower.”

  I shivered. “Suit yourself.”

  “Coffee?” he asked.

  “Would love some. Be right down.”

  I didn’t know much about werewolf etiquette at the time, but I later learned allowing a human to watch the transformation was one of the most intimate things a werewolf could do because of the moment of complete vulnerability mid-change.

  I ran down the stairs to the kitchen, where I found a full pot of warm, steaming, fragrant coffee. Thank God for coffeemakers with timers. I poured two cups and waited for Gabriel to come in.

  The Gabriel that walked through the door was not the same man I had become accustomed to. Rather than glance at me, then immediately away, his eyes raked me, and I felt them take in every inch of flesh under my robe and pajamas.

  “Um, coffee?” I asked. He came to stand by me, but he didn’t take a cup. His eyes still held a golden cast.

  “Gabriel, something’s different about you.” I stepped back. I held my coffee in front of me. Its scent mingled with that of crisp mountain air and the dampness of his clothes, and electricity crackled between us. Standing so close to his energy, his raw wildness, I felt my nipples tighten, and my panties became moist.

  “I don’t want any coffee, Madam,” he said. The look in his brown eyes told me exactly what he did want.

  “I don’t think I do either.” I put my cup down and held my breath.

  I could sense Gabriel’s usual self-control at war with the wildness and passion born with a dawn run and transformation. Envy blistered my heart. I wanted to run, to shed the responsibilities of convention, the grief and trauma of life as a human.

  I wasn’t a werewolf, but by God, I could get as close as possible to this one.

  I grabbed his robe and let my nails rake through the soft hair and along his chest as I pulled him to me. I felt his head tilt toward my neck, and for one exhilarating instant thought he would bite me and invite me into that world, but he merely nibbled without breaking the skin and kissed along the side of my neck to my earlobe. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he pulled me to him.

  “Well, isn’t this interesting?” Lonna’s voice, low and icy, broke us apart. “I get lectured for sleeping with the married lawyer, and here innocent little Joanie is dallying with the butler. How juicy.”

  I scowled. “Nothing happene
d.”

  Gabriel tied his robe back and looked at her with disdainful, hooded eyes. Guilt blossomed in my chest. Caught with my hand in the werewolf cookie jar.

  “At least he’s not married,” I muttered.

  “This time.”

  Gabriel raised his eyebrows. My cheeks warmed.

  “Didn’t she tell you? She was having an affair with her boss. Her married boss.”

  “He told me he was separated.” But the excuse sounded flimsy even to me.

  “I can see how the man would be tempted.” Now he was back to the old Gabriel, guarded and careful. “Pardon me, I think I shall dress unless you need me to fix breakfast for you.”

  “No thanks, we’re fine.”

  “Very good, Madam.” In spite of the awkward situation, he kept his back erect as he walked out of the kitchen.

  I slammed my coffee cup on the counter and tried to ignore the hot liquid that sloshed on my hand. “What the hell has gotten into you? I thought you were up here to help me, not judge and get in my way.”

  She sucked her breath in like I’d hit her. “You judged me first. Peter—”

  “Is our number one suspect for now.”

  “Which you’ve pegged him without even talking to him.”

  I wiped the coffee off my hand with a dish towel. “I did talk to him. And it took him less than a minute to threaten and try to bully me.”

  “He was only trying to talk to me. Some men don’t know how to do that with finesse.”

  “He’s a lawyer. He should know better.”

  “He’s a damn good lawyer. Remember the Oliver case?”

  The room spun. Déjà vu. My dream.

  With shaking hands, I poured more coffee into the cup. “Yes.”

  “Yes. Peter knows it. One of his law firm partners represented the parents.”

  “What?”

  “I didn’t know it, but his senior partner took on the case as a pro bono one. Cleared the father and pegged the teacher. With my help.”

  I sat down at the table. My head hurt. “So he’s one of the good guys?”

  Lonna laughed. “Good at some things. Don’t worry, I won’t let him fool me.”

  “Like Robert fooled me.”

  “You have to stop being so sensitive. Look,” she said as she sat beside me and put a hand on my arm. “There’s something about being up here that’s creeping me out.”

  “I feel the same way.”

  “By the way, why is the den such a mess? There’s blood on the sofa.”

  I filled her in on Louise’s mysterious appearance. And death. But I didn’t tell her about the black wolf. In the light of day, I doubted my own perceptions.

  Rather than showing any sympathy for my part of the ordeal, she only asked, “Why didn’t you wake me? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “You were drugged asleep. Anyone else would’ve woken on their own.”

  “Joanie, how the hell am I supposed to do my job with you withholding information like that? With you not letting me be involved?”

  “Shit happens, Lonna. You can either be involved or not. If you’re going to keep yelling at me for seeing and hearing different things than you, it’s going to be not.”

  “Fine, be that way.”

  “Hey, you’ve got the first shot at the crime scene. The sheriff didn’t do much to it last night.”

  She bit the corner of her lip and narrowed her eyes. “All right. Just don’t get in my way.”

  “Oh, yeah,” I told her back as she went out the door. “He also said none of us could leave today until he comes back with the forensics team and gives us the all clear.”

  She mumbled something I chose not to hear. I fixed another cup of coffee and went through the other door into the dining room and out on the back porch. The Adirondack chairs were still damp with morning dew, but I sat anyway, the chill against my back and legs helping me ground myself in reality. This reality.

  Most of the back lawn was still in shadow, but nothing out of the ordinary moved. My heart still thudded against my chest, anger warring with unfulfilled sexual tension. Deep breath, Joanie. Cool morning air. Waves of green trees. I had always loved the mountains in the summer but hadn’t seen them in the fall. I wondered if I would be up here for autumn this year to finally see the leaves change. My mother hadn’t allowed visits during the school year, and then in college and graduate school, I hadn’t had the time.

  I wished for my grandfather to be there. He had never looked upon me with judgment, had never given unsolicited advice. If he’d been there, he would’ve drawn my attention to the interesting aspects of the morning. Like the black wolf. And Gabriel’s transformation.

  It hit me, a lightning bolt of insight. The transformation. CLS intensified. I needed to talk to all the werewolves. And I needed to revisit that poor charred box. And see what data my grandfather had hidden in the house. Even though I hadn’t seen him in years, I knew he must have been looking into it from what Ron, Leo and Gabriel had said. Not that he’d made much headway, but maybe a fresh set of eyes—and more data—would help.

  I could go through the information without leaving the property, and something told me Ron and Leo would reappear today. With a plan in mind, I went back into the kitchen for a third cup of coffee.

  Gabriel was there eating a bowl of cereal while standing at the island. He had showered, and his hair hung in damp ringlets. Nothing like a shower to make one feel civilized. Had it been a cold one even after his morning dip in the stream?

  He looked up when he saw me enter, his gaze cautious, and my heart sank. It would be a while before this awkwardness subsided.

  “Breakfast, Madam?”

  “Just more coffee for now. I’ll be working in my bedroom if anyone needs me.”

  “If you would prefer, your grandfather left his study ready for you.”

  “Oh, okay. Thanks. I’ll get dressed and be in there. Just let me know when the sheriff arrives.”

  “Yes, Madam.”

  Happy with my plans, I walked up to him and quickly stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.

  “Madam, about this morning…”

  “I’m still figuring it out, Gabriel. We can talk later.”

  He nodded, but the frown that turned his lips contradicted his reply. “I look forward to it.”

  The study, the second room on the right after the library, was locked. I tried the smaller key that had been left by Galbraith, and it worked. The shades filtered the dim light, but even with such limited visibility, I could tell the room had not been opened in weeks. A stale smell hung in the air, and dust frosted every available surface.

  I opened my mouth to call Gabriel, but then decided not to. It was obvious my grandfather hadn’t even trusted his supposed confidant with access to this room, so I decided to respect his wishes. First things first, though. I opened the blinds.

  Dust motes swirled in the early morning light. An antique desk clock of polished wood and brass told me the time was seven twenty-five. I hadn’t been up that early since I’d gotten fired except for when Lonna woke me at the crack of dawn to come up here. If I’d known the trip would put such a strain on our friendship, I might have just slept in that day.

  I put my cup of coffee on a cork coaster and looked around. The large mahogany desk sat in the middle of the room. Behind it, two windows and between them a fireplace. That might be a nice start, I thought. The air was chilly. The desk was flanked by two small file cabinets, but I knew what I sought would not be in such an obvious place.

  Bookshelves lined the two walls. My grandfather had been an avid collector of rare, antique books and artifacts. One section caught my eye immediately. He’d collected books on werewolves, and along with more modern tomes was an early printing of Sabine Baring-Gould’s The Book of Werewolves, considered by many to be one of the definitive works on lycanthropy as far as the 1800s. The shelf also held works on related topics including doppelgangers, witches, and vampires. In front of the books sat a small wo
oden figurine of a cat with emerald eyes. It winked at me in the morning light, but when I pulled out the books that sat behind it, there was nothing.

  Puzzled, I replaced the book and the cat. The figurines my eyes had passed over previously stood out now, the books fading into the background. I had the silver cat on a chain, and then there was the wooden cat on the shelf. I thought back to how my grandfather and I would talk about the elements. Wood was an Earth material; silver could be Earth but could also represent air. So that meant I needed fire and water.

  The scientist in me laughed at such a silly game. Elements? I hadn’t inhabited the world of fairies, elementals, and magic since childhood. Nonetheless, I started at the window on the left and studied the contents of the shelves one by one. Although the next room was a large library, it was obvious my grandfather had kept many of his most beloved volumes here. There were books on herbs and plants, gardening, trees, and other flora. The next shelf held the journals that had published my articles. It appeared as though my grandfather had found my work and subscribed to the journals hoping to read more. Galbraith had told me that he followed my career closely, and that he’d done his own research as well, but this was concrete proof of his interest. It was almost better than a hug. Almost.

  The third shelf was the one with the wooden cat and werewolf books. Some of the volumes were in different languages including French, German, and some sort of Scandinavian language. He had done his homework on werewolf history and legends. The fourth and final shelf before the door held legal briefs and medical and psychological texts. On this shelf I found a glass cat candle holder, again with emerald eyes. I made note of it and didn’t touch it.

  The shelves on the right side of the room held yet more books. Statistics, research methods… Even more than I’d gathered in my graduate school and research careers. There I found a cat statuette made completely of tiny seashells. It even held a miniature plastic fish in its mouth.

  So those were my four… Mishka in the hollow of the tree. The wooden cat by the werewolf books. The candleholder cat with the psychology texts. The seashell cat with the research texts.