Page 70 of Criminology of a Character

“No!” Olivia leaped for him with a string of curses, racing to grab a towel before skidding to a stop beside him. “Ewan, call an ambulance!” she shouted as she shoved the towel against Eamon’s bloody wrist, but her boyfriend didn’t move. “Ewan, what are you doing? Call 911 now before he bleeds to death.”

“He’s not going to call.” Eamon slipped a gentle fist around Olivia’s forearm and pulled her hand away from his wound.

“Stop!” She fought him to no avail. “We have to slow the bleeding.”

“No, you don’t.” Eamon tugged the towel from her grip and tossed it into the sink. “Look at the skin.”

“This isn’t funny?—”

“Look at my skin,” he repeated, and Olivia finally registered the already regrowing flesh.

“What?” She grabbed his hand and yanked it closer to her face. “How?”

“Because I’m telling you the truth.” Eamon turned on the faucet, and pumping dish soap into his palms, he scrubbed the blood off both his and Olivia’s hands, erasing all signs of the injury save for the stained towel. “Ewan and I aren’t human, but we are Isobel’s best shot at survival. And for now, I need you to accept what we are, because your partner is in danger, and I’m afraid she’s facing something worse than death.”

“I can’t believe you,” Olivia repeated.

“Griffin does,” Eamon answered.

“What?” she glanced at her boyfriend. “He knew before me?”

“He doesn’t know about Ewan, only me, and he isn’t aware of the specifics,” Eamon said, “but you can call him. He’ll tell you I speak the truth.”

“Oh, I will.” Olivia pulled her phone out of her pocket. “But you swear Bel isn’t dead.”

“Yes.”

“You’re sure.”

“Absolutely.”

“Oh god.” She ran her hands through her hair as the tears came harder. “I can’t believe I’m saying this because you’re scaring me, but I want you to be right. I want her to be alive… So, I’ll help. She texted me the afternoon before the accident. She had a theory about Hyde’s identity, and she was searching for proof.”

“Alone?” Eamon asked.

“Her plan wasn’t dangerous. We thought Anne Blaubart was Hyde, and she was planning to stop by her husband’s practice and ask them to dinner.”

“I know Isobel. Are you sure that’s it?”

“Yes. Unless she made any last-minute decisions, all she did was visit a doctor’s office.”

“Well, it’s a starting point,” Eamon glanced at Ewan. “Let’s go.”

“I’m coming with you.” Olivia grabbed her issued sidearm and shoved her feet into her sneakers.

“No,” both men said in unison.

“You don’t talk,” she growled at her boyfriend. “You lied to me, but Bel needs help, so I’ll work with you. But this is far from over.”

“Okay.” Ewan followed her out of her apartment. “Just know I love you.”

“I don’t want to hear it.” Olivia stormed after Eamon as he unlocked his car. “So, if he’s a shifter, what are you?” she asked.

“I’m something older.” Eamon’s black eyes darkened, and she unconsciously stepped back at the danger wafting off him. “Something worse.”

Bel pried her eyes open.Why had someone glued them shut? And why was her bed so hard? She’d gone home… hadn’t she? Her mattress was normally so comfortable, so why did it feel like she was sleeping on a metal slab? And where was Cerberus? His soft fur always kept her warm, but this bed was freezing. She felt like a corpse on an examination table, bare and stiff and frigid. Was she dead? Was Thum about to autopsy her body? She couldn’t do that. Not yet. Bel was still here. Still inside her soul.Where was Eamon? He’d tell them she was still there. He would make them believe.

“Eamon,” she whispered, only no sound came out of her mouth. She was silent as death. He couldn’t hear her. How would he know she still inhabited her body if he couldn’t hear her? “Eamon, please,” she begged in silence. “Don’t let them cut me open. Don’t let them forget me.”

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