Page 11 of Howl Me to the Moon
No, a very good idea,my wolf countered.
“Everything okay?” Piper asked.
“Yeah, why do you ask?”
“Your face is doing all these weird things.”
Great. Did I have to spell my inner turmoil on my face?
“Just trying to differentiate the scents in here,” I said—not a complete lie.
“O-kaayy,” she said. “And what do you smell, bloodhound?” she teased.
“Patience, my little witchy woman. I need time to work.”
“And now we have nicknames for each other?”
“Just following your lead.” I motioned to my torso. “Besides, this is all wolf, baby.”
Her expression brightened and she burst into a laugh. “It sure is, wolfman.”
Unable to resist, I reached out and brushed her arm. “Yeah, I like that better.”
Her gaze met mine and remained there, lingering. My heart pumped with an erratic beat.
She broke eye contact and glanced around. “Should I leave you alone to do your sniffing?”
No, don’t leave.I tried to keep my voice level as I replied, “I don’t mind having you here.” I cleared my throat. “So where was the painting when you last saw it?”
“It was over here.” She walked over to empty wall space maybe ten feet wide between other stacks of paintings that were covered by white sheets. “I don’t understand how it could disappear. Not when I use magic to protect the artwork.” She shook her head and sighed. “It must be here somewhere. I’ll look through these, see if it was misplaced.”
“Good idea,” I agreed with a nod, although from what I remembered about the painting, it was larger than the ones here.
Once she began to search beneath the sheets, I sniffed around the site where the painting was last seen.
“The strongest scents I detect are vampire, which must be Marcel.”
“Yes, my boss,” she said, peeking over from where she’d been searching.
The next one was trickier, although I’d caught it around the ship. I asked about the only hint of it I could detect. “And…fox?”
“That’s Sloane, a fox shifter who works art auctions with me. You might have seen him at the art preview last night.”
“And…you.” I tried not to get all moony, but my voice dropped a level.
“I’m here,” she declared with a bright smile.
I tried to unravel the other scents. So many different types. “Who else comes here?”
She blew a strand of pinkish hair away from her face. “Just staff. I’m guessing that’s who Marcel is talking to now. We need extra bodies to move all these paintings back and forth to the gallery since it’s used for other events.”
“Maybe I can help.”
She narrowed her eyes at me, yet they sparkled with something mischievous. “Why would you want to do that?”
To be near you…I shrugged. “Just trying to make myself useful on this ship.” With a one-sided grin, I added, “So they’ll keep me around.”
“Could one of them have been involved?” I asked.
