Page 60 of Dead Heat

“That’s the current plan, but it would be helpful to them if they could see an imminent threat. Officer Lindley…”

Phaedra cut me off. “Officer Lindley was alone in the forest. Even if she’d understood what she was up against, she wouldn’t have been able to defend herself.”

“Officer Leo was at my house when the Erinyes attacked me. He couldn’t see them. If they had attacked him, he wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

“What exactly are the Erinyes?” Ashley asked, so I enlightened her. The young woman’s eyes grew wider and rounder with each new tidbit of information. “Why would a woman want to shift into an ugly dog with bat wings? Most women try to get rid of those.” She extended an arm and pinched the excess skin, not that she had much in the way of flab. Ashley still had youth and muscle tone on her side.

“If you want to be terrifying, you can’t exactly make yourself cute and fluffy,” I replied. “Nobody’s scared of adorable.”

“The Hounds of Hades,” Phaedra mused. “Do you think they’ll be back?”

“It’s likely.”

“You said earlier there were multiple incidents.”

“The Corporation made another move.”

Ashley glanced from me to Phaedra. “What does a company have to do with supernatural threats?”

“The Corporation isn’t an ordinary company,” Phaedra explained. “They specialize in avatars.”

Ashley’s face brightened. “LikeThe Last Airbender? I dated a guy who was obsessed with that show.”

“I don’t think it’s like the show,” Phaedra replied. “The Corporation turns humans into gods and uses their powers for their own greedy purposes.”

“The Corporation is obsessed with power and control,” I added. “And I’m fairly confident that, right now, there’s agroup of executives in a boardroom developing a plan to bring me in against my will.”

Ashley released a quiet, “Whoa. That’s intense.” Her eyebrows drew together. “What would happen to Nana Pratt if the company took you away?”

“She’d stay tethered to the property forever.”

“Even if someone else bought it and tore it down?”

I bristled. “Why would somebody choose to tear it down after all the hard work we’ve put into it? There’s a working moat.”

Ashley shrugged. “Just a hypothetical.”

“The building itself is immaterial. She and Ray would roam the property until the end of time.”

Ashley appeared panic-stricken. “We can’t let The Corporation take you.”

“I have no intention of letting them.”

“But you’re concerned that they’ll put people in danger,” Phaedra said.

I nodded. “They’re smart. They’ve already started identifying my weaknesses to exploit them.”

Phaedra observed me. “And those weaknesses are the people of Fairhaven?”

Ashley flinched. “So, should I act like I don’t know you if anyone asks?”

I wanted to laugh, except it was actually a good idea. “Unless it’s someone you recognize from town, then yes.” Although I wasn’t sure it would matter to The Corporation. They’d likely picked up on the fact that if I was willing to risk myself to protect Aite, who’d put me in harm’s way, then I’d be willing to risk myself to protect innocent strangers.

“How imminent is this particular threat?” Phaedra asked.

“This week they had a foiled kidnapping plot and sent a recruiter. She tried to woo me first, which didn’t work, thenshe flexed her powers, but I don’t think she was authorized to do any more than that.”

“Authorized?” Ashley queried.

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