Page 47 of Shadows of the Soul

I slammed the door closed and stretched my arms. I wasn’t solving anything sitting here and staring into heaven, not on an empty stomach. That was just stupid.

Me and the White Furry Menace made our way down the stairs, passing by a few new guests.

Maggie was checking in a couple I’d never met before. “Breakfast is served from seven to nine. But I can always grab you something if you guys aren’t early risers. I make a mean omelet.”

I grimaced. It was mean to make anybody eat it. They nodded and made positive noises as they took their key and darted up the stairs.

“We are full,” Maggie declared.

My stomach rumbled in disapproval. I patted it in sympathy. “I’m not.”

She frowned as she jotted something down in the guest book. She swiveled it to face me. I glanced down, my eyebrows hiking up. “Oh, I see. The house is full.”

She nodded and turned the book toward her. “That’s amazing, right?”

Amazing, but weird. We were never full. “Is there an event in town I’m unaware of?”

Maggie leaned forward and whispered. “Apparently there’s a party at the vampire castle.”

I swiped a hand down my face. “I know. But these aren’t exactly the type to join a political soiree.”

“No, don’t be silly. They seem much too interesting for that. I have no idea why these guys are here.”

God help me. Teenage shifters. “I’m going,” I stated. She blinked. “To the boring political party.”

She grinned. “Ooh, a chance to get dressed up. You’ll love it.”

She didn’t see the irony or the jab at my apparent uninteresting life. If only that were true.

The front door burst open, and Dangerous Dave blew into the foyer with the force of a hurricane. In his arms lay an unconscious and bleeding wolf.

“I need you now,” he growled as he ran down the stairs. His own wolf was close to the surface.

I darted after him and straight into my lab. He laid the wolf on my examination table. Vicious wounds sliced through her flanks and stomach. Her left eye was bloody and swollen shut, the same gouges across her face. I snapped gloves on and began inspecting her. She shuddered in pain. She should be healing, particularly in animal form—shifters carried a weighty magical source which was enhanced when in animal form. It heightened their senses, sped up their healing, and made them faster and stronger than their animal ancestors.

“What happened?” I asked, as I gently lifted her head and checked her skull. My fingers sunk too far. Dammit, her skull had been bashed.

Dave stood on the opposite side of the table, staring down at the wolf with a lost look.

“Dave,” I snapped. “If I’m going to save her, I need to know what happened.”

His eyes darted to mine, and he ran a hand through his hair. “Our holding cells have three, sometimes four, shifters in them. Two of them fought, Mary and Liam, and before we could separate them, he injured her.” And they didn’t have the doc because he was here cub sitting.

“Get the doc,” I said as my feet squelched in the blood spilling onto the floor. “I need an expert in shifter trauma.”

He ran out of the room, through my door, which led to the gardens. I tipped the wolf’s head back, exposing her throat. A chunk of flesh was hanging off. I grabbed some swabs and padded the wound to staunch the bleeding before moving lower. My hands tangled in sausage-like appendages. Her intestines were exposed and spilling out of her abdomen. I worked quickly, grabbing a bag of fluid, hooking it on a stand, and inserting a line into her hind leg.

The door banged open, and Norbert narrowed his gaze on the wolf. He glanced at Dave with a grimace.

“Wait outside,” Norbert ordered.

Dave shook his head. I gently pushed the intestines back into the wolf’s stomach. She whined, low and pitiful. Dave took a step toward me, his features sharp with the promise of violence.

“You are stalling her treatment every second you stay in this room,” Norbert stated.

Dave huffed and pointed at me. “This is your fault, save her or I will lay the blame at your feet. I will challenge you, Cora, shifter or no. You will answer for this crime.”

“Then get out, and let us work,” Norbert snapped.

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