Laurell Hamilton - Affliction

We’d planned on Nathaniel changing shape and just going after the missing men, but I’d forgotten that these were officers who had never worked with shapeshifters before, and they had the western state attitude that allowed varmint laws to still include people like my lovers and friends in the same list as any nuisance animal. Which meant instead of looking for the lost men, we were reassuring the locals that Nathaniel wouldn’t eat them the moment he shapeshifted.

‘Everyone knows that werewolves have to eat fresh-killed meat as soon as they shapeshift. None of us want to be that fresh kill.’ This from Ranger Becker, who was as tall as Nicky and Ares; with her pale brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and the bulky jacket hiding her figure, she’d looked just like the other three forest rangers until I heard her voice.

‘It’s an old wives’ tale that all shapeshifters need fresh meat after they shift,’ I said.

‘Was that “old wives” comment aimed at me?’ she asked, her voice belligerent.

‘No,’ I said.

‘You can make all the girl comments to me you want, but I’m not the one standing on the mountain in the woods in hose and high heels.’

‘I’ve got jeans and boots in the back of the car with my execution gear.’

‘And why did you bring your execution gear if you were just here for emotional support for Sheriff Callahan’s son?’

‘Legally, I have to keep my kit reachable even when I travel for personal business.’ I turned to Al, who was standing beside me. ‘I thought you cleared this before we came up here.’

‘I did,’ he said.

‘Then these guys didn’t get the memo,’ I said.

‘Look,’ Al said, ‘do you really think if I didn’t trust Mr Graison to shapeshift and help us that I would have brought him up here? He’s our best chance at finding the Crawfords tonight, and I don’t know about you, but I want to know what could have taken out Henry and Little Henry.’

‘Ask Mr Graison,’ one of the uniforms called out.

‘Who said that?’ I called out.

There was a shifting among the men in the dark clearing, and then one of them stepped forward. He was tall, maybe six-five, or even six-six. ‘I said it,’ and there was that arrogance in his voice that some really big men have, because they’ve spent their life being the biggest dog everywhere they go.

‘What’s your name?’ I asked.

‘Travers,’ he said.

‘Okay, Travers, do you really think that my men had anything to do with this?’

He mumbled something.

‘I’m sorry, when you’re making unfounded accusations you’re loud enough. If you’re going to admit you’re wrong, that should be loud, too.’ Yeah, I’d about had it with the attitude.

I didn’t have to see his face clearly to know he was glaring at me. He stood up very tall and gave me the look that went with the deep, unhappy voice. ‘I said, I guess not.’

‘Since we have two men lost, maybe hurt, or worse, maybe you should stop wasting time saying shit you don’t mean.’

Nathaniel touched my back, lightly, reassuring and probably trying to help me calm down. I didn’t always like to be touched when I was starting to get angry, and I had to fight the urge to step away from his hand. When I realized I was thinking about stepping away from Nathaniel’s touch for any reason, I knew I had to calm down. For so many reasons I couldn’t afford to lose my temper.

‘Little Henry and I go back a long way. I want to find him and his dad,’ Travers said.

‘Then help us find them,’ I said, and my voice was calmer now, less likely to up the ante on the attitude.

Sergeant Michael Horton, one of the state troopers we’d met at the hospital, stepped out of the group and said, ‘If you’d brought Mike Callahan, then he’d be Sheriff Callahan’s son and the head of the Coalition. We’ve all seen him on TV and know that he has control of … the animal inside him, but Mr Graison here is an unknown. I trust your reputation, so if you trust him for this, I’ll just go with it, but some of the other men here need a little more reassurance before he changes into something big and carnivorous. He’s not one of us. He’s not even ex-military like Mr Ares.’ Apparently, Horton had assumed that I’d introduced the guards by last names. ‘Mr Nicky’s haircut isn’t regulation, but he’s a guy-guy.’

‘Are you objecting to Nathaniel on grounds that he’s not masculine enough or because of his sexual orientation?’ I asked, and didn’t try to keep the incredulity out of my voice.

‘No, that is not what I meant,’ Horton said, big hands spread wide in front of him as if trying to ward off the sensitivity lecture that someone would make him take if he didn’t backpedal pretty damn fast.

‘Horton,’ Al said, stepping up again, ‘just stop trying to explain that comment, okay? If you stop now, maybe we can all pretend you didn’t say it.’

Travers said, ‘Horton may have said it wrong, but why should we trust Graison? He’s a shapeshifter, he’s not a cop, he’s never been military; how do we trust that he has any control over the animal inside him?’

‘Tell them what his day job is,’ Nicky suggested.

Ares spoke low. ‘You say his job and he’ll lose all credibility with these guys.’

‘You got a better suggestion?’ Nicky asked.

Ares seemed to think for a minute and then shook his head. ‘No, sorry.’

‘I just need them to let me change and start tracking,’ Nathaniel said. ‘They don’t have to like me or respect me as a person.’

Ares frowned and there was enough light from various flashlights and car lights that I could see it. ‘Stripping is what chicks do, not men.’

I grinned. ‘Chicks?’

Ares looked embarrassed for just a second, and then he grinned back. ‘Hey, you knew I was a misogynistic pain in the ass months ago.’

‘Misogynistic,’ Nicky said. ‘I didn’t know you knew any five-syllable words.’

Ares flashed him his middle finger, using his hip to hide it from the other men. Nicky gave that deep, appreciative guy chuckle.

I raised my voice to the assembled men and said, ‘Nathaniel’s control is as close to perfect as I’ve seen.’ In my head I added, Except for Micah’s . ‘He dances on stage and shapeshifts within a few feet, down to a few inches, of the audience. If he couldn’t control his beast just after the change, he’d need a different day job.’

Travers said, ‘Dances on stage? What does that mean?’

Someone near the shadowy back of the crowd called out, ‘He’s a stripper.’

The woman, Becker, said, ‘Oh, my God, he works at Guilty Pleasures.’

‘How do you know that, Becker?’ one of the other rangers asked.

She looked embarrassed even in the dark.

There were more calls of, ‘How do you know, Becker? Did you take a road trip? … You seen him without his clothes?’

I raised my voice to be heard over it all. ‘Yeah, he dances at Guilty Pleasures.’

‘Why doesn’t he speak for himself?’ one of the Boulder officers asked.

Another officer said, ‘I heard some wereanimals lose the ability to talk like a person.’

‘If that were true, then Anita would have to do all the talking for everybody,’ Nicky said.

Ares sighed. ‘Great, now they all hate us.’

‘It’s what we are,’ Nicky said. ‘I’m not ashamed of it, are you?’

Ares gave him a very serious glare. ‘No.’

‘Then stop complaining.’

The two tall men looked at each other, and I was reminded that they didn’t partner each other much. In fact, I couldn’t remember ever having the two of them as a team. Nicky had broken Ares’ arm once in a fight. Ares hadn’t held a grudge, because Asher had used his ability to control hyenas to force the guard to attack Nicky. It had been one of the things that led Jean-Claude to exiling Asher.