Dark Wolf (Spirit Wild) - By Kate Douglas Page 0,34

Auras don’t exist. They’re pseudo magic. Auras have as much validity as palmistry.”

“So you say.” Sebastian slowly raked his gaze over his father. Nothing. No hint of an aura, no sense of anything about the man, though the oily, evil stench felt stronger. He turned away. He really had to get out of here.

“There was another one, you know. Early this morning.”

Sebastian stopped, turned slowly, and stared at Aldo’s bland expression. “Another what?” But he knew. Damn it all, he knew exactly what the bastard was talking about.

“Another young woman murdered.” He shrugged. “Depending on when you left Ms. Cheval’s home on Marina, you probably just missed it. Her body was found on the grounds at Fort Mason. Raped, mauled by animals. Wolves. Or wolf. One very strong wolf might have managed the kill. One who could shift could have raped her as well.”

“Don’t just prance around it, Dad. What exactly are you implying?”

“What time did you leave Ms. Cheval’s?”

“A little after four.” Damn. Why did he automatically answer the bastard? It was none of his business.

His father smiled. Sebastian clenched his fists to keep from punching that smile off his face. “Reporter said she died between four and six this morning. I hope you have a good alibi.” He paused. Raised one expressive eyebrow. “Should you need one.”

There was nothing to say. Not a damned thing. Sebastian spun around and left the room. Alibi, hell. Like anyone would believe him if he told the truth. When he left Lily’s bed, he’d driven straight home and then walked back to Ocean Beach to watch the sun rise.

Except it had been foggy and the beach was empty, and he’d sat there feeling like shit, knowing he had to face his father. Knowing he had to find out if the man was using some sort of mind control, but as always, Aldo had turned everything around.

Turned it around until Sebastian was left wondering if he’d done as he thought. Had he really spent the early morning hours sitting alone on a beach, freezing his ass off? He’d lost almost half an hour last night while running with Lily. Behaved in a manner that was the opposite of the man he thought himself to be, and yet he remembered none of it.

Had he somehow shifted and murdered a young woman? Was he capable of living an alternate life, one entirely separate from what he knew as his own reality?

In the past, when he’d run as a wolf, he’d retained his sentient thought processes. His senses had been enhanced, his ability to see and hear and smell so much stronger that it was intoxicating. Even so, he’d never lost time during a shift.

Or had he? Had he murdered and raped that young woman?

And if he had, she wasn’t the first. Hell, he didn’t know anything anymore. His life was spinning out of control, and the one person he’d found, the only one he’d felt any sort of connection to in all his thirty-nine years could be in danger because of him.

He’d already shown her he couldn’t be trusted.

But neither could he trust his father. The man was much too smug, too pleased with himself. Sebastian had sensed something familiar in his mind just before Lily collapsed. But what? The memory was lost in fog.

He tried to recall that blank period from last night. Something had happened. Something he’d recognized at the time, a trigger of some kind, though that sense of recognition, of familiarity, was gone as well. But something had affected his behavior. Something that teased the edges of his memory.

Sebastian raised his head. He caught his father studying him with an expression that could only be described as a self-satisfied smirk. Aldo wiped his expression clear the moment Sebastian caught his gaze, but there was no doubt Aldo Xenakis was terribly pleased about something.

Destroying his son’s life, perhaps?

But why? And to what purpose?

What if Sebastian’s suspicions were groundless—rooted in nothing more than paranoia?

No. This was too real, too deadly to be mere imagination. The answers were out there. He merely had to find them.

But until he had answers, he would stay away from Lily. She already meant too much to him. He wasn’t about to put her at risk again.

“Lily? Are you all right?”

Lily stared at the screen on her phone, at her father’s frantic expression, the way he rubbed his fingers over a heavy silver spoon he held in his right hand. He’d developed the habit of holding something to keep