Page 10 of A Wolf's Heart

I turned to face Patty, and she froze, her eyes taking me in. “Don’t let them take number three,” I whispered through myteeth. I didn’t wait for her response before I was running out of there.

The fresh air was exactly what I needed, ensuring all the bones stayed in their respective spots. This didn’t make any sense, even with the paperwork. I had worked with the federal government on more than one occasion, and they didn’t just swoop in and take over. They would work with me, create a task force if needed, and if the case required, they would assist financially. They’d never just taken the case and shut me out before.

I pulled out my phone and tried to call Rodney a few times, but each time, it went to voicemail. I eventually gave up when they started wheeling the bodies out and into the hearses.

The drive down to the station was short, but it still gave me enough time to think about what I was going to say to Rodney and how I was going to figure out this entire clusterfuck.

I didn’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to see that shit had hit the fan. I wasn’t sure what in the report I had sent the city precinct set things on fire, but a brigade of five black SUVs parked around the station was a massive red flag.

Had I blown things out of proportion? No. I mean, I was glad we had the help and could solve this case, but this seemed like total overkill.

I parked and rushed into the station, only to be completely overwhelmed with scents and sounds. “Lila.” The receptionist called me over the moment I keyed through the locked door. “You should go to Chief Nix’s office. I think they are working at your desk.”

“My desk?”Oh, deep breaths, Lila. I took a few steps into where all the officers had their desks in an open communal room, and sure enough, three men wearing black suits crowded around my computer.

I didn’t know how well I held my speed, but one minute, I was across the room, and the next, I was behind them.

“This is a complete breach of privacy!” I yelled at them.

The crowded room, once stifling with chatter, now fell silent.

“We have a seizure order,” the man in black, who was on my computer, said.

“Okay, yes, maybe for the homicide case, but I have other active cases on my computer you have no rights to.”

“Actually, we have the rights to your entire computer.” Once again, I was hit with another goddamn notice of seizure.

I spun around and marched to the chief’s office, banging the door open as I shouted, “Roddy! What the hell is going on?!”

It wasn’t the fact that a man who wasn't Rodney stared at me with the utmost surprise and confusion that made me pause. There was a feeling I wasn’t used to that cooled my anger almost instantly.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, I fought with myself to keep my claws from slipping out, and my legs burned. Everything inside of me screamed,run.

My eyes locked with the man across the office, leaning against a cabinet. He wore a dark grey suit with an off-white shirt. He had his hands tucked into his pockets. A lock of his dirty-blond hair fell into his eyes, which had been locked on me the moment I stepped through the door.

A smirk spread across his lips as I kept my gaze on him, afraid if I looked away, he would attack.

“Lila.” Rodney cleared his throat. “Detective Evans. This is—”

“Weylin Cridhe.” The man stood, and, instinctively, I stepped back. Shifter. I tried to pinpoint his scent, but there were so many new people all around me, I couldn’t figure it out. I didn’t miss the flare of his nostrils, though, or the slight dilation of his pupils. He had scented me.

Weylin pulled his hand back to his pocket, having extended it with the intent to shake my hand. He gave a tilt of his head, and I knew from his body language that he was assessing me.

“Sprinkles?” Rodney asked, holding out a half-eaten box of donuts. “The walnut ones are fantastic, but if you’ve never had Miss Becky’s donuts, then I would really go for the coconut.”

For fuck’s sake, Roddy. I was torn between running out of here or getting ready to throw hands with another shifter, and here he was talking about donuts. Ugh. He was the reason police officers got a bad rep.

The smirk on Weylin’s face turned to a smile, his tongue running over his canine tooth briefly before he turned and took a coconut donut out of the box.

“Detective…Evans, is it?” Weylin asked, taking a bite of the pastry.

“Yes, yes. Lila is our best detective. We don’t have many cases around these parts, missing children in the forests, at times. She’s fairly quick at finding them. She’s had a number of solved cases in other jurisdictions now, haven’t you, Lila? Lila?”

“Hm?” I couldn’t take my eyes off this stranger. Though He acted so calm and collected, everything inside of me told me he was anything but. That I couldn’t turn my back on him. “Yes. Cases. I’ve solved many.”

Weylin smiled at this, taking another bite of the donut, finishing it off. “Yes, well. Sorry about your lack of leads on the John Doe files. Rest assured, they will be solved.”

A short, perhaps slightly hysteric, laugh left me. “You think you can solve it? Just like that?”

---