Page 353 of Castings & Curses

“She hasn’t shifted like this before,” Avery commented. “Not at a crime scene.”

Devi glared up at him, annoyed that whatever happened in the water had forced a change. In front of her old boss and temporary partner, no less.

“Well, she better get her butt back in human form because we still have another one to go and I don’t intend to babysit an oversize housecat all night.”

Hello… she wanted to say. But all she could do was hiss and pin back her ears. The thought of scratching her just to watch her bleed held some merit, but well… she didn’t want to take the chance if the woman was actually human.

Infecting someone with shifter traits wasn’t a good plan, even if she felt like dumping her ass head first into the swamp to see how she liked it.

“The swamp. You head out. I’ll finish up here. Devi, let me know if you piece any of this together. The crew has already started working the scene, so you might want to get a move on.” Avery was already moving toward a group of technicians.

Cappelli nodded. “Will do. From the preliminaries, it sounded like a rave gone wrong. But now, I’m not so sure.”

“Keep me in the loop, will you?” He barely looked in her direction.

“No problem, sir.”

A pair of eyes trained on Devi, and she fought the urge to squirm.

Her animal wanted to hunt, but she forced herself to focus.

The shift was painful, her muscles already tired from her previous change. Her clothes lay in a sodden heap at the edge of the water, and all she had was the towel she was swathed in.

“Well, this is awkward.”

“No kidding.” Devi peeled a blob of wet, silvery whitetresses off her face and wrapped the towel around her.

Nothing like being naked in front of your co-workers. It ranked high up on the fuck-this-shit list.

She had to move, but every part of her body protested.

Getting to her feet was a monumental task, but she did it. “I need you to take me to the nearest gas station. I need to change.”

A half hour later, they were back on the road, her damp mop of silver hair still smelling of swamp water and death.

Devi pressed her face against the passenger’s door and sighed.

She didn’t want to do this one. Something about it rang a little too close to home. And after the last stop in the suburbs, she was ready to hit the bar and down a few. Or curl up on her bed in the hotel room and shut out the world for a while.

Why had she scented Kate over the water? She hoped Gambian hadn’t tracked her down already.

Kate had to be safe or she would lose her ever loving mind.

She picked up her phone, debating whether she should be the one to break the silence, and put it down again.

Damn it.

She snatched up the phone and before she could talk herself out of it, sent Kate a text.

Something’s going down in the swamp. Felt your magic. Please be safe.

Goddess, her head was going to explode.

What the fuck had the woman been thinking?

Drowning herself in the swamp right in front of her?

The whole thing was fucked up and it was starting to mess with her head.

---