Page 56 of Bad Medicine

“Jared!” he called, and thoughhe didn’t seem frantic, he was definitely perturbed.

Jared stood. “Tell me.”

“There’s a recently killedhuman female hanging from a tree behind your house. She appears to have been murderedby someone with a grudge. He fucked her up badly.”

I dropped my fork and stood.“What color hair?” I asked.

Eli kept his stare on Jaredwhen he answered. “Blonde.”

“Kait?” Jared frowned at me.“What is it?”

“The shapeshifter,” I told him.“He’s here. Most likely he shifted into someone you all know and just drove inwith the body in his trunk.”

“We’d have smelled a dead humanwoman,” Eli said.

“How many wolves came hometonight smelling of bloody humans, Eli?” I surveyed the room. “He could be anyone of them,” I said quietly. “I’ll have to notify the detective.”

Jared stiffened, but finally,he nodded. “The shapeshifter will smell like the person he becomes. How are wesupposed to find him?”

I wondered how many wolves werethinking that once again I’d brought trouble and humans into Shadowfield.

“I don’t know,” I told him.“But he’s not here to hurt the wolves—unless you have a blonde mother who’sabusing a boy child. Then all bets are off.” Then I remembered something. “It’ssaid that dogs hate shapeshifters. They’ll know when one is near. Maybe.”

“Worth a shot, I guess,” Elisaid. He gestured at two of the warriors behind him. “Gather some dogs and walkthem around the compound and have some brought into the alpha’s house.”

“And here,” I said. “There area lot of people in here.”

“Youare in here,” Jaredsaid, his voice softly dangerous. “This is where he’ll be.”

I nodded, then remembered Ashwas in the kitchen. I sent Lucy a quick text to put a leash on him and bringhim to me. I didn’t want him running after a shapeshifter if he caught hisscent.

When she rushed into the room, small,pink-cheeked, and very blonde, Ash pulling her along, I realized how much atrisk she really was. Despite what he’d said—that he would never hurt her—Samthe shapeshifting serial killer didn’t know everything about Lucy.

He didn’t know she’d sent herbaby brother away when he’d been embarrassing her in front of her friends, orthat the kid had found a gun and shot himself under her watch. Would it matterto him that it was not even close to being her fault, or that she’d been achild herself when her brother had died?

Sam wasn’t exactly running onlogic and calmness, and I was afraid that no, it wouldn’t matter at all. If hediscovered the truth about her past, Sam might hurt her. He might kill her. Andhow could he find out? How could he borrow her memories?

By becoming her.

He could become any of us, andthere wasn’t a thing I could do about it—except hunt, capture, and kill the sonof a bitch.

Somehow.

ChapterTwenty-Seven

She peered up at me, frowning,worried. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

I took Ash’s leash. “Lucy, Samis here. There’s a murdered woman behind the alpha’s house.” Frustrated, Istared at her, half angry with her, but unsure why. “I don’t know how toprotect you from him.” And that scared the hell out of me.

Her expression cleared andincredibly enough, the corners of her lips lifted in a barely-there smile.“Oh,” she murmured. “Kait, I wish you wouldn’t worry about me. Believe me whenI say that I’m safe. Sam won’t come after me. Iswear.”

My heart quickened with hope.“You had a dream?”

She hesitated before nodding.“Yes. Yes, I had a dream. And now I know that he is not going to take me. Notlike that. He’s not going to hurt me.” There was utter conviction in her tone.

I wasn’t sure how to feel.Somewhere along the line, Lucy had stopped seeing Sam as the enemy, and I wasafraid that was my fault. Sam had rescued me, had saved my life. She thoughtthat made him the good guy. She neededhim to be the good guy.

But he was a killer. He was ashapeshifter, and shapeshifters were not like any other creature on earth. Ijust didn’t know how to make her understand that.