Sure, I said as I stepped out of my overalls: in the interest of time, I didnt bother to retreat to the bathroom. I was wearing a full set of clothes underneath anyway. Just make sure Christy makes it over in time for the show so she can tell the pack what kind of place I run here. Oh, and tell her I took off with a hotlooking man.
He grimaced. Yeah, sorry about that.
Shed called yesterday, and, knowing how I felt about her, Tad had told her that Id gone out for a run. Tad doesnt usually lie, though since he is only halffae, he can, and he is a fair hand at misdirection. I had been in the garage bay, and hed answered my cell in the office, where Id left it.
Next thing I know, I was getting a call from Adam, who was mad because he thought that I had been running without protection. Grocery stores and other public places were unlikely spots for kidnapping the Alphas wife. Running I had to do with company for safetys sake. I regretted it, but I understood the necessity.
Id explained that Tad had been mistaken when he talked to Christy. I took the blame for itthus putting myself firmly in the wrong. The pack figurativelymaybe literally, for all I knowpatted Christy on the head for being so worried about my wellbeing.
Not your fault, I told TadChristy would have found something else to make me look bad anyway. Though this time you might mention that the handsome man is an armed police officer who will keep me safe as a fox in a henhouse.
Tad gave me a mock salute while I followed Tony out.
Trouble? Tony asked.
Adams exwife has a stalker, so she is living with us until we can figure out what to do about him, I told him as matteroffactly as I could manage.
He stopped and looked at me, and finally lost the odd distance Id sensedas if Id been a stranger hed been sent to fetch. Maybe he was worried that I had had a hand in Gary Laughingdogs escape.
Adams exwife is living with you? he asked incredulously.
Her stalker is dangerous, I told him. We are pretty sure he killed a man and burned down the building her condo was in. Until someone can find him and arrest him, Christy is staying with us because even a violent man might hesitate to face off with a pack of werewolves.
I had added the arrest him part because it sounded good. I was pretty sure at this point that any arrest would be postmortem. Maybe it had been a mistake because something in the last sentence put the distance right back between us.
I can see that, he said, and continued walking to his car.
I followed and, when he opened the passenger door for me, I got in. We sat in front of the garage for a minute, and I waited for him to ask me about Gary Laughingdogs escape from prison.
I saw what you became, he said instead. Over at Kyle Brookss house, when the body that was in the trunk of the car broke out, and you and Adam tried to chase it down.
I looked at him. Yep. That cat was out of the bag for sure. Id changed into my coyote shape to go chase after a zombie and had forgotten about all the people watching. Tony hadnt been the only one whod gotten an eyeful. Id grown used to having more people know what I was and hadnt even thought about what I was doing and who I was doing it in front of.
In most ways, it wouldnt matter if I shouted out that I was a coyote shapeshifter, a walker, to the whole world. I wasnt alone anymore. In other ways, though, it was possibly disastrous. If the public realized that the fae and the werewolves were just the top of the anthill of Other that lived hidden among the human population, it could be bad. Bad for humans and bad for everyone else, too.
Yes? I said. It was a question because we werent sitting in the car just so I could confess to being a coyote shapeshifter.
I asked Gabriel about it.
Gabriel had been my right hand in the garage before he went to college, and Tony had been infatuated with Gabriels mother for as long as Id known him.
He told me something about what you are. Tony met my eyes. You arent human.
No, I agreed slowly. Not completely.
He huffed an unhappy breath. If there was someone in the pack murdering humans, would you cover for him?
I sucked in a breath. You have a body?
You didnt answer the question. His reply had answered mine, though.
If we had someone going around killing people for the fun of it, I said, Id tell Adam.
And what would Adam do?
Silence hung between us. Id known Tony a long time. Long enough, I decided, to tell him the real truth instead of sugarcoating it. Adam would deal with it before the police could step in. The faes sudden retreat to the reservations has put the werewolves on trial in the court of public opinion. They we cant allow a murderer to stand trial or continue to rampage.
Are you a werewolf? he asked. I mean a werewolf who turns into a coyote. A werecoyote.
There coyote. I grinned at him and received a look . No. Im not a werewolf or werecoyotewhich I have never heard of, by the way. I have a different kind of magic entirely. Native magic, not European like the werewolves are. Mostly turning into a coyote is about all I manage. I wasnt going to explain to him about the ghosts or my partial immunity to magic, which was nothing I could count on anyway. It would be best if you didnt tell everyone about what I can do, though. Best for the public, who dont need to be looking at their neighbors and worrying if they are something from a horror show. If they think werewolves and fae are it, then everyone is safer.