“I love you, Hiro,” he whispered.
I squeezed him tight and kissed his neck. “I love you, too.”
Now that Bas and I were connected so fully, even when I was out workin’, he was constantly in my head. I’d thought that I’d hate it, but it was comforting knowing he was there. It wasn’t like he was constantly talking to me, but even in the silence, I could sense him and his emotions. It was nice to know that I’d be able to tell if he needed me and vice versa.
Jasmyn called me half an hour ago with a lead on a new mark. Bas didn’t really want me off coven land by myself, and since I felt the same about him, I’d compromised. Blaze was riding on my shoulder so Bas could pull himself to me using his Bond with the dragon if somethin’ happened. The little bearded dragon stuffed his head inside the collar of my shirt as I parked the car, and I gave him a few scratches while I got out.
My mark was a werewolf that was hiding out in a local park, so I needed to canvas the area. It was light out, so the guy would be in his human form, which meant he’d be pretty easy to capture with a tranq dart. At least in theory.
Reports said there was a naked man running around one of the baseball fields—a pretty good indication that it was my mark. But even if it wasn’t, he was a pervert running around where kids play, so I’d take him down either way.
You make it to the park? Bas asked.
Yep.
Good. Rasha’s painting my nails pink. She’s actually pretty good at it.
Yeah, she’s had a lot of practice on me and Ulma. Now leave me alone so I can concentrate.
If he was in front of me, I was pretty sure he’d be stickin’ his tongue out at me.
I totally would, he said, making me roll my eyes before he pulled back and let me be.
Takin’ advantage of my enhanced senses, I took a deep breath to see if I could catch anything odd. I didn’t at first, but as I moved closer to the backstop on the other side of the baseball field, I caught a whiff of blood. Maybe the werewolf had caught something last night during the full moon.
Rushing, I made my way closer to the stench and quickly realized there was a body on the ground.
“Shit,” I muttered as I ran and dropped to my knees. Her back was to me, so I gently pulled her shoulder to roll her over. The second I got a look at the front of her, I jerked my hands back and fell on my ass in shock. The girl was so torn up, I could see bone—lots of bones—and there was blood everywhere. I was pretty sure she was missing a shit-ton of her skin.
“Holy shit,” I whispered as I opened my eyes, wishing I could unsee the very, very dead body in front of me. Unfortunately, even my eyesight was jacked up to ten, so I could see the grotesque mutilations in detail. There was no way a werewolf did this. There were no teeth or claw marks. Where the hell did this body come from if it wasn’t from the were?
What’s wrong, Hiro? Basil yelled in my head, sounding as if he’d been tryin’ to get my attention for a minute.
Dead body. A witch, I think. I could still sense a faint witch-like essence to her. She’s torn up, Bas.
Fuck, it’s the serial killer. Fuck, fuck. Okay, stay there, I’ll be there as soon as I get Rasha to the big house.
Okay. I lifted a hand and wiped my nose, then jerked it away when I smelled blood on it. Goddammit, I had blood all over my hands and pants. I must’ve sat in it.
The hair on the back of my skin rose as an ominous essence filled the air around me, making me freeze to the spot, feeling like the prey to some terrible predator. Whipping my head around, I searched for whatever it was that was watching me, but I couldn’t see anything. All I could do was feel darkness. The same darkness I’d felt outside my house with Basil.
As suddenly as it had come, it disappeared, and it was as if the sounds of the birds and bugs and wind rustling trees came back to life. I scanned my surroundings again, but nothing seemed out of place. With no tangible evidence of which direction it went, no way to follow it, I decided to refocus on the poor dead girl in front of me.
Moving closer, I examined the wounds to see what kind of weapon was used. As long as I didn’t stare at her young, fear-stricken face, or breathe through my nose, I was fine. The wounds didn’t seem to be made by a knife. They were kinda round, almost like she’d been poked with a sharp stick all the way through her bones, but with her skin missin’—
“Put your hands in the air!”
I jerked my head around to find four BCA agents aiming guns at me. I’d been so focused on cataloguing the injuries, I hadn’t even heard them. Liftin’ my hands in the air, I called out, “My name is Hiro Grimsby, I’m a hunter. I was sent here to find a werewolf.”
What the fuck, Hiro? Basil asked, fear lacing his words.
Just some BCA agents. Don’t worry, love.
“Hands behind your head! Don’t move!” the woman yelled as all four moved closer to me. I did as she asked, and she jerked her head at the guy beside her and said, “Unload his weapons.”
The guy wore a fearful expression, so I said, “I won’t hurt ya.” That didn’t seem to help, so I kept my mouth shut.
When the man approached, Blaze hissed at him, and before I could tell the little dragon to chill out, there was a popping sound beside me. I only had half a second to realize it was Basil having pulled himself to Blaze before my viramore threw a shield over us.
“You’re not helpin’ the situation,” I said.
Basil ignored me and yelled over top of the agents shouting at him. “Anita, he’s my viramore, he found the body. Put your damn gun down.”
The woman agent said, “It’s not your call, Ellwood.”
Basil rolled his eyes. “We need to search the area for the actual perp, not arrest my partner!”
“He was found over the body, covered in blood. He’s coming in,” she said.
“Bas,” I said. “Don’t worry about it.”
He turned stormy eyes to me. “Don’t fucking tell me not to worry about it when they’re trying to arrest you for something you didn’t do!”
Calm down, love.
I am calm!
I winced at his shout in my head.
Anita said, “We have backup arriving in about two minutes, Ellwood, including the Chief himself, so unless you plan on killing us, you’re not getting away.”
“For fuck’s sake, stop being such a bitch,” Bas said, and I cringed. “We’re not going anywhere. Alec’s gonna be pissed at you when he gets here.”
“You’ll keep him in there with you?” she asked him, ignoring his Alec comment.
“Yeah. I wouldn’t want your meaty paws touching him, anyway.”
She ignored him again, but ordered one of the other agents to check the body. It was right behind us, but luckily, Bas hadn’t covered the body with his shield, so the other agent was able to look at it. I kept my hands on my head, still on my knees so no one freaked out and did somethin’ stupid.
Basil turned his gaze on the agent checkin’ the body, and I heard him mutter, “Sweet Mother of All, that’s Armina.” He made a choking noise. “I’m gonna be sick.”
“If you puke on my crime scene, Basil Ellwood, I’ll murder you,” Anita said.