Kitty Takes a Holiday

They were dogs. Some kind of dogs. Canines. Wolflike.

I made a noise like a sob.

I had to get out of here, but 1 couldn't, not yet, not until I'd gotten Ben through the full moon. But the walls were closing in. And there weren't even walls out here. The dead eyes all stared at me. Get out.

'Kitty?'

'Who hates me this much?' I started crying. Tension, exhaustion, uncertainty—in the space of a few days my whole life had fallen apart, and 1 didn't know what to do about it. It all just came out.

I stumbled back, away from the mess, and bumped into Cormac. Then I leaned into him. He was close, and I needed a shoulder, so I turned to his. Eyes leaking and nose dripping on his T-shirt, I let it all out, feeling profoundly embarrassed about it even as 1 did. I didn't care.

He put his arms around me. He held me firmly without squeezing, moving one hand to stroke my hair. For some reason this made me cry harder.

I didn't like being an alpha. For the last couple of days, I'd been pulling out alpha left and right. Now, though, Cormac was willing to take care of me, at least for a little while. I was profoundly grateful.

'We'll figure it out,' he said softly. 'After tomorrow, we'll work on figuring this out.'

Tomorrow. After the full moon. After we got all that sorted out. I held on to him.

Arm around my shoulder, he guided me inside, shut the door, and set his gun on the desk. 1 stayed close to him. I didn't want him to pull away, and he took the hint. We stood there for a long time; I clung to him, and he kept his arms around me. I felt safer, believing he could actu­ally protect me from the horrors outside.

'You're being very patient with me,' I said, murmur­ing into his T-shirt.

'Hm. It's not every day a woman throws herself into my arms. I have to take advantage of it while 1 can.'

I made a complaining noise. 'I didn't throw myself into your arms.'

'Whatever you say.'

I chuckled in spite of myself. When I tilted my head back, I saw he was smiling.

'You'd better be careful,' I said. 'You're getting to be downright likable.'

I could kiss him. Another two inches closer—standing on my toes—and I could kiss him. His hand shifted on my back, flattening like he was getting ready to hold me steady, like he wanted to kiss me, too. Then the hand moved away. He touched my cheek, smoothed away the tears. He pulled back.

'I'll start some coffee,' he said, and went to the kitchen.

Part of me was relieved. All of me was confused. I covered up the confusion with my usual lame bravado. 'There, you're doing it again. Being nice.'

He ignored me. Cormac, back to normal.

We discussed the situation at the kitchen table over cups of fresh coffee.

'Whoever's doing this doesn't want to kill me,' I said.

'But that's some pretty twisted stuff out there. It's all aimed at you, and it's escalating.'

'What's next, if I don't listen to it now?'

'Listen to it? What's it saying?'

'Leave. Get out of here. Someone doesn't want me to be here. You'd think they could just write a note.'

'Just because they haven't tried to kill you yet doesn't mean they won't. If you don't leave, and if they get des­perate enough.'

'Could it be that simple? They just want me to leave town?'

'That probably means it's somebody local,' he said. 'Shouldn't be too hard to track down somebody local who practices that sort of voodoo.'

Ah, the charm of the small town. Everybody knew everybody. We just had to find out which ones were the squirrelly ones. Besides, you know, everybody.

I smiled grimly. 'I think I'll give the sheriff a call. Have him clean up that mess.'

Sheriff Marks was not happy. In a really big way, he was not happy. He only gave the hanging carcasses a cursory glance, wearing a stone-faced tough-guy expression to prove he wasn't grossed out or unduly disturbed.

I sat on the porch steps and watched him survey the clearing—this involved standing in the middle of it, circling, and nodding sagely. He didn't even bring along Deputy Rosco—I mean Ted—to take pictures of my car this time.

Cormac stood nearby, leaning on the railing. Lurking.

I ventured to speak. 'We think it might be somebody local trying to scare me off.'

Marks turned to me, his frown quivering. 'How do I know you didn't do this? That this isn't some practical joke you're playing on me?'

I glared back in shock. 'Because I wouldn't do some­thing like this.'

'What about him?' He nodded at Cormac. 'What did you say your name was?'

'I didn't,' Cormac said, and didn't offer.

Marks moved toward him, hands on hips. 'Can I see some ID, sir?'

'No,' Cormac said. I groaned under my breath.

'Is that so?' Marks said, his attention entirely drawn away from the slaughter around us.

Cormac said, 'Unless you're planning to write me a ticket or arrest me for something, I don't have to show you anything.'

Marks was actually starting to turn red. I had no doubt he could come up with something—harassing a police offi­cer, loitering with intent to insult—to pin on Cormac, just out of spite.

I stepped between them, distracting them. 'Um, could we get back to the dead animals?'

Marks said, 'If I'm right, I could have you up on a number of cruelty to animal charges.'

'Should I call my lawyer?' My lawyer who was inside, asleep, recovering from a werewolf bite. 'Recovering' was my optimism talking.

'I'm just giving you an out, Ms. Norville. A chance to Tess up.'

'I didn't do it.'

'I'm still looking for the hidden cameras,' he said, peering into the trees.

'Oh, give me a break!'

He jabbed his finger in my direction. 'If you think being famous keeps you safe, lets you do whatever the hell you want, you're wrong.'

If I'd thought this situation couldn't get any worse, I was obviously mistaken.

'Sheriff, I'm being harassed, and if you're not going to help me, just say it so I can find somebody who will.'

'Good luck with that.' He started back for his car.

'Hell, I could do a better job than this clown,' Cormac said. 'At least I can admit when I'm in over my head.'

He didn't even try to say it softly, so Marks couldn't hear. No—he raised his voice, so Marks couldn't help but hear.

Marks turned around, glaring. 'What did you say?'

Cormac scuffed his boot on the porch and pretended he hadn't heard.

'You'd better watch yourself,' Marks said, pointing. 'You so much as breathe wrong and I'll get you.'

The hunter remained slouching against the railing, as unflappable as ever. He wasn't going to be the one to shoot first in a fight. I wasn't sure Marks knew that.

Marks started back to his car.

'Sheriff, what do I do about them?' I pointed at the dogs. Some of them were swaying gently, as the trees they were tied to creaked in a faint breeze. A garbage bag or a quickly dug hole wasn't going to clean this up.

'Call animal control,' he said. The sound of his car door slamming echoed.

I fumed, unable to come up with a word angry enough for what I wanted to hurl after him.

Hearing steps in the house, I turned around. Ben emerged, standing just outside the doorway and staring out. 'Holy shit, what's this?'

'Curse,' I said.

'Yeah, I guess so.'

'I don't suppose anyone's up for breakfast,' Cormac said.

'Are you joking?' I said. He smiled. My God, he was joking.

'You two go inside. I'll take care of this.'

'Sure you don't need help?' Ben said.

'I'm sure.'

Ben hesitated, like he needed convincing. 1 pulled his arm, guided him inside. He said, 'Does this sort of thing happen to you a lot?'

It was starting to seem like it. 'I don't know.'

'Is it because you're a werewolf or because you're you?'

Now that was an excellent question. I didn't really want to know the answer.

When my phone rang later that day, I almost screamed, because the noise was like claws on a chalkboard. Mom's call.

Cormac hadn't come back yet from taking care of the mess outside. Ben had gone back to bed. I didn't know if he was sleeping.

I curled up on the sofa. 'Hi, Mom.'

'Hi, Kitty. Are you okay? You sound a little off.'

A little off. Ha. 'I'm about the same as the last time we talked. Things could be better, but I'm hanging in there.' Hanging. I shouldn't have said that. Didn't want to hear about anything having to do with hanging.

'What's wrong? I wish there was something I could do to help. You'll let me know if there's anything I can do—'

'Thanks, Mom. I can't really think of anything. Unless you know something about blood magic?'

She thought for a couple of beats, and I couldn't guess what kind of expression she had. 'No, 1 really don't.'

'That's okay.'

'Kitty, tell me the truth, are you all right?'

My eyes teared up. 1 would not start crying at Mom. If I started I wouldn't stop, and then she'd really worry. And she was right to worry, I supposed. I took a deep