Page 11 of Wolf Bane
“Outside of both of our purview.And even if you complained, who would you take it to?The state board?”Cullen spread his long fingers out, letting the offense slip through like water.“Oh, please, I’d like to report a group of werewolves trying to ensure the preservation of their overarching community for using security measures to ensure no one is working against them knowingly or accidentally!”
“That isn’t what I sound like,” I groused, glaring.“And that’s not what y’all are doing.”
“Then tell me, Landry, whatisit we’re doing?”
Fucking with my life.Playing God.“Why does this make you think of Garrow?Why not turn one of the ICW researchers loose on this?”I asked instead, the name of the man who turned me into whatever I was, into this not quite human design, bitter like bile.So many deaths, so much torment and abuse… All for what?To create some perfect creature?Some eugenics-meets-Creepshow experiment that supported his own wild need for weres to be superior?
When I thought about it too much, it made my skin burn and my bones want to leap from my body, the knowledge that what I am is all because of greed and hate.
Cullen watched me quietly for so long, I wondered if he’d blacked out on me or something.Finally, he shook his head minutely and tapped the drive in front of him.“It’s here.All of it.All that I could get, which is more than Ethan knows.”
“The fact you didn’t tack on a snarky comment about his intelligence is kind of freaking me out a little here.”
“Good.Now is not the time to be blasé about anything.”
Outside, the sound of Mal and Mariska returning home from Mariska’s little scout meeting filtered through the open window with the cooling October breeze.Cullen glanced aside, a soft expression crossing his features for just a hair’s breadth of a second before he schooled his face back into bland, bored lines.“My concern is the grouping, primarily.I haven’t been able to dig very far into the details about the dead but the few I’ve found information on, they had some similarities that would be considered a rather large warning light for this situation.”
Here we go.“Such as?”
“Lan!Lan!Guess what?Hey!”
There was a thump then a muffledow heybefore Mal’s voice joined his daughter’s.“We knock first, remember?Uncle Landry told you a dozen times.”
Cullen raised a brow at me.“Uncle?”
“I didn’t tell her to do that,” I muttered, face warming.“She decided that on her own and I can’t convince her to stop.I’m pretty sure she’s doubling down now just to make me squirm.”
Cullen huffed softly.“That’s new though.Last time I spoke with her, you were still Doctor Babin.”
“Yeah.Well.”I shuffled the papers together as Mal knocked on the back door.“Just a sec,” I called.“Where are you staying?We’re not done here.”
“I’m staying in my condo on the shore of Lake Michigan,” he said, rising gracefully to his feet.“My flight back leaves at ten.Do not,” he said sharply, gesturing to the flash drive in my hand, “lose that.I’ll be taking it back in three days.”
Mal knocked again.“Landry?We can come back later, it’s no big deal,” he called.
“Sorry.Cullen’s here.Hold up.”
“Uncle Timothy!”Mariska shrieked.
I glanced back at Cullen.“And you’re giving me shit?”
He smiled faintly, giving me a sharp-toothed flash of annoyance as I opened the door for Mal and Mariska.She made a beeline for Cullen, all but climbing him as he gingerly held on to her so she could show him something she’d found outside while Mal lingered at my side.“It’s weird, but she’s happy, and he’s not that bad,” he muttered.
“If you say so.”
The visit wasn’t terribly long, mostly because Mariska was already a little ragged around the edges by the time they arrived.“I was going to take her in and get her to bathe while I made dinner,” Mal yawned, “but she heard Cullen’s voice.”He lifted a shoulder in a sheepish shrug.“Shifter hearing.”
I glanced at Cullen, who seemed occupied with Mariska’s show and tell of what seemed to be a very interesting rock, but I knew all the feigned indifference in the world wouldn’t keep him from overhearing me if I mentioned the potential virus to Mal.Instead, I nodded towards the fridge.“I was gonna make burgers if you want to hang out.Nothing fancy, just on the stove.”
“Oh, I don’t want to put you out?—”
“Burgers!Hell yeah!”
“Mariska.”Mal sighed.“I told you Tyler’s not the best person to repeat after.”
“You just said not to repeat after him when he says fuck.”
Cullen raised a brow at that.“Be precise, Malcolm.It’s the only way to achieve your desired outcome.”
