Page 37 of The Baritone's Rival

On the faded planks of the porch lay a bird. A crow, by the look of it, although Trent wasn’t a bird person. It wasn’t moving.

“Guess he ran into the window.” Trent glanced around the front lawn. “No other signs of anyone?”

“No.” Oscar peered into the surrounding forest. “But I don’t like it.”

“It’s just a bird. You said Freddie made sure nobody followed us.”

“He did.” Oscar pressed his lips together into a thin line.

Trent shrugged. “It was startling, but there’s a simple explanation. The crow didn’t see the window and crashed into it.”

Oscar’s face didn’t relax at Trent’s reassertion of the obvious. He squinted, peering into the trees and sniffing the air. Trent couldn’t smell anything, but maybe Oscar’s vampire senses could detect what he could not.

“The ashy smoke of a young vampire.” Oscar frowned and crossed his arms, the expression of displeasure at odds with his large, expressive eyes. “And something else. A sweet, musty smell.”

“It’s probably Justin.”

“I know what Justin smells like.”

“Or smoke from our wood stove, Oscar. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

Trent walked back to the door, but Oscar headed down the steps onto the front lawn as he scanned the surrounding copse of trees. Trent followed his line of sight out into the dense woods, and at the edge the underbrush shook slightly.

Was it a rabbit? Some other animal?

A furry mass burst from the leaves, and god, it wasmassive. Night-black fur adorned with silver stripes covered an enormous beast. It must have been four feet tall, and its huge muscles shifted as it bounded toward them.

Trent gripped the knife in his hand. It was a wolf. A fucking wolf.

Without thinking, he was moving down the steps to Oscar. Could the vampire probably defend himself better than Trent could? Sure. Did that thought slow Trent’s powerful instinct to protect him? Absolutely not.

As he reached Oscar, the wolf stopped in its tracks. About ten feet from them, it cocked its head, observing the two. Trent opened his mouth to tell Oscar that they should back away.

The thingshifted.

Trent had never seen anything like it. With a series of pops and cracks, the bones and muscles of the wolf began to change and transform. It reared up on its hind legs as its whole body mutated, its fur thinning to reveal the face and form of a tall, muscular woman. She appeared to be in her thirties and had long, jet black hair with a single streak of silver.

She was also very naked.

“You two belong to Anthony’s coven?”

Trent found himself unable to say anything. He didn’t consider himself a prude, but somehow standing in front of this nude, intimidatingwolf-personhad really thrown him. Luckily, Oscar did not have that problem.

“We are,” he said. “You’re from the Scopan Lake pack?”

“Ayuh,” she said. “Sorry to surprise you on your dooryard. I’m the alpha, Rhonda. Stopped by because we’ve been picking up some unusual scents today in the surrounding woods. Wanted to let you know. We try to look out for Anthony and his people.”

“I’m Oscar.” Oscar gestured to Trent, who had relaxed slightly but was still having trouble forming words. “This is Trent. You probably picked up our third, Justin. He went out on patrol.”

Rhonda turned her head, peering back into the woods and squinting. “I’d be surprised if it was just him. I’d bet on two or three at least. There was an undercurrent of something in the scent that I didn’t like. Cruelty? I don’t know, but the animals and birds are skittish.”

“One of them flew into the bay window,” Trent said, finally finding his voice. “A crow. It scared the shit out of us.”

Rhonda grimaced and walked closer toward them. She seemed totally unperturbed by her own nakedness, and Trent did his best to respect that. If she didn’t find it strange, why should he?

“I don’t like it,” she said. “I’ll have one of my betas patrol around the cabin for the next few days.”

“That is incredibly kind,” Oscar replied. “We don’t have anything to offer in return?—”

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