to myself snidely. What’s gotten into you? This guy is still a suspect!
“Thanks for the compliment.” Alex glanced down at me with a smirk. A second or so later, the smile disappeared. “Do you really think I’m still a suspect?”
“Of course you are!”
With the cat still watching us and the snow falling even harder, Alex stopped me in front of a row of trash cans. “This’ll do.”
“Heaven forbid you go full werewolf, you know, somewhere warm.”
He grinned and faced me, taking my hand and steadying me as I berated my inability to hold my liquor. I was a lightweight and always had been. Snow slanted diagonally on the wind, and his longish black hair whipped across his face at nearly the same angle.
“Do you always complain this much?”
“Only when I’m cold.”
“And buzzed,” he added.
“Tipsy,” I corrected. “Chiefs of police don’t get buzzed.”
He chuckled at that, and stretched his neck a little, moving it in a circle around those wide shoulders. I heard something crack. Jesus, was that his neck?
“It was,” he answered my unasked question.
“Is it starting?” I was a little apprehensive. I even took a step back because I wasn’t sure if he required more space to complete his, um, metamorphosis.
“No,” Alex announced as he gripped my arm when I started to slip on the ice.
“Well, get to it,” I answered as I pulled away from him. “It’s not like it’s getting any warm…”
He suddenly jerked forward, gripping his stomach as he contorted in what looked like pain. I gasped. “It’s happening, isn’t it?”
“It is,” he answered, sounding like he was in agony. “Ah, it’s happening!”
“What should I do?”
“Run!” he yelled, turning to face me, as I found myself backing up. I nearly tripped over something buried in the snow. Alex’s lips curled into a snarl as he raised his hands in a sort of Nosferatu claw. “Run from the Wolfman! Growr!”
It took me a second to realize he was joking. After my heart slowed down, I walked up to him and faux smacked him. “That was not funny! You idiot.”
Alex couldn’t control the heavy chuckle that ricocheted through him as he swatted his thigh and appeared proud of himself. “You should have seen the look on your face!”
“And you nearly got your own shot off,” I announced, not very surprised to find I was holding the Colt. At what point I’d drawn it, I didn’t know.
“Would have been worth it.”
“Are you done?”
He did one more swipe with his faux-hooked hand, and another feigned growl, before his chuckling subsided. Then it died away altogether. “Okay, now, I’m done.”
Through all the laughter and silliness, one thing became evident: I was disappointed. Severely so. “So you can’t turn into a werewolf?”
I mean, I couldn’t say I was that disappointed. Because I never really thought he could. I guess I’d just wanted to believe there was still a little magic left in the world. Why I needed to believe that, I didn’t know. Maybe there’s just something inside all of us that holds out hope for something more. No, I didn’t believe in Bigfoot. And I didn’t believe in the Loch Ness monster either. In general, I didn’t believe in things that went bump in the night. But Alexander Johnson had gotten me to believe, even if only for a few minutes, that a man really could turn into a wolf.
The bastard.
I sighed and holstered my weapon just as a distant wolf howl pierced the calm night. I turned, looking in the direction of the far-off sound.
The town of Hope, at the very least, had a wolf problem. A pretty big one.
I was in the process of turning back to face Alex when I heard a very different kind of growl. Low and guttural, and seeming to come from deep inside a very big set of lungs.
I was too scared to think, or react, or even to reach for my gun, which was a first for me. Instead, a very small squeak escaped my lips as I completed my turn, and saw the same black wolf in front of me, its hackles raised and its massive canines glowing in the moonlight.
Chapter Seventeen
I glanced around for any signs of Alex, but there were none to be found.
Why? Because Alex was already standing on all fours in front of me, burly and covered in black, wiry fur. That and he was very busily growling. Somehow, and I had no idea how, but the bastard had actually managed to transform himself into a wolf.
Just. Like.