Ruined it!What does he think?
Liar!What does he think!?Liar! Liar! Liar!
What does he think?
What does he think?
What does he think?
What does he think?
What does he think?
What does he think?
WHAT DOES HE THINK?
What does he think?
I’ve messed up!
I watched in horror as Paul’s eyes widened in shock. His emotions poured out of him, nearly filling the entire room. There was no more brick wall now.
First came the disbelief. Then confusion. Then anger. Then doubt before it went right back toanger. He had every right to it, but I just wanted to get him to safety.
“Paul, look, I?—”
What could I possibly say to justify what I’d done? When I first told him I needed to see the crime scene, the whole thing had been rather abstract. And then, I’d gotten so caught up in the puzzle that I let the idea of solving it trump everything else.
In the end, though, I didn’t get the chance to think of any feeble excuse, because someone cleared their throat behind us. We both turned to see possibly just about the worst person it could be.
I guess there’s a reason why she’s called the Whisper. She can even sneak up on a wolf shifter.
“Hey,” I said, dragging the word out. God, my voice sounded strained even to myself. “Just how long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough to know you lied to me.”
“Yeah, I was afraid of that.”
Now the cat’s really out of the bag!
I didn’t waste a single second. I grabbed Paul’s wrist and dashed toward the closest window. It was a little higher up than I could leap and still carry the momentum to actually break it, but thankfully, Paul caught on right as I was about to launch myself up toward it.
He really was a perceptive fellow. It was a shame that I’d totally destroyed his trust in me, because I liked to think we’d make a great duo.
He hit first, glass shattering around us. I crossed my arms over my head as I followed him. Between the gymnastic lessons I’d taken as a preteen and the skateboarding, I knew how to take a proper fall. Tucking myself in toward my center, I pitchedforward into a roll, coming up in the middle of the street, where even more eyes turned on us at our rather dramatic entrance.
“Oh boy.”
Well, it looked like it was time for a real chase, which was a lot less fun and a whole lot more daunting in real life. Funny how that worked.
A loud bang had me nearly jumping out of my skin, and I whirled to see the rotted door being kicked off its hinges and flying into the street. The dozen or so men who had been sitting in the throne area had somehow doubled in number, and all of them were spilling onto the street.
“Run, Cherry!” Paul cried beforeexploding out of his own skin.
I’d seen shifter transformation in a couple of documentaries, but that was nothing compared to seeing it in person. One moment Paul was standing in front of me, a dashing man in his tank and tactical pants, the next it was like he split at the head, and a massive wolf tore its way out of what had once been.
He was huge. Trulyhuge. His head alone was the size of my torso, his thick, black fur bristling as he leapt at our closest pursuer, tackling the man to the ground. Howls sounded from within the building, and I figured Paul wasn’t the only shifter around. That didn’t exactly bode well for us.