get you back inside.”
“I can carry you both.” Callum hesitated, giving Fenrir a dubious look. “Unless you’re going to shift. Don’t want you falling off when we’re two hundred feet up.”
Fenrir shook his head. “Won’t. I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?” Darcy asked, as Callum shimmered into his pegasus form. “The serum must be wearing off by now.”
“I’m sure. Don’t worry.” Fenrir boosted her up onto Callum’s back, then swung up behind her. His thick arms encircled her waist. “Everything’s going to be fine now.”
Chapter 30
“So the Big Bad—that is, the Big Black Wolf said, ‘Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down.’” Fenrir stopped, frowning down at the book. “What? That can’t be right.”
“Huff puff,” Beth insisted. She snuggled further into the crook of Fenrir’s arm. “Huff puff, Fifi.”
“Hmph. This book is teaching very poor hunting strategies.” Fenrir turned the page. “So he huffed and he puffed and he huffed and he puffed, and the house of straw fell down. That seems unlikely.”
“Hey, it was built by a pig,” Joe said absently, not looking up from his tangle of yarn. “What did you expect? Hard to hold a hammer in trotters.”
“Had assumed he turned human.” Fenrir tilted the book to inspect the back cover, brow furrowing. “All the animals are wearing clothes and talking. Isn’t this about shifters?”
“It’s just a story, Fenrir,” Diana said from her seat next to the fireplace, concealing a smile behind her own book. “Go on.”
Fenrir still looked dubious, but he opened the book again, finding his page.
“And the Big Bad—the Big Black Wolf gobbled up the first little pig,” he read. He paused, then added, “Which was right and good, because all creatures need to eat.”
“I am agog to find out what he makes of the ending,” Wystan murmured as he set a cup of coffee down next to Darcy’s elbow.
Darcy grinned. “You should have heard his take on Little Red Riding Hood yesterday. It was quite something.”
“I can only imagine.” Wystan peered over her head at her laptop screen. “Missing child reports?”
“Yep.” Darcy stretched, rolling her cramped shoulders. “And newspaper archives. Everything I can find from Montana, plus all neighboring states, going back three decades. Which makes a depressingly large number of cases to review.”
Wystan looked puzzled. “Perhaps I’m being obtuse, but I don’t see how this connects to Lupa. She’s never threatened a child. Quite the opposite, in fact. When the captured members of her pack were questioned, it emerged that she specifically ordered her hellhounds not to harm children. Or parents, in fact.”
“Yeah, which I find very interesting. For an evil demon-summoning hellhound, she seems to have a weird soft spot for families.” Darcy took a sip of her coffee. “But anyway, Lupa can’t have been responsible for any of these cases. They’re all from fifteen to thirty years back. Unsolved cases with boys between the ages of seven and twelve. I’m looking for Fenrir.”
“Fenrir?” Wystan shook his head. “That’s impossible.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because he can’t have been turned as a child,” Wystan said, with utter confidence. “I’ve never heard of someone becoming a hellhound before adolescence.”
“Crap,” Darcy muttered. “Are you sure about that? I mean, do you know any cases where a hellhound tried biting a kid, but it didn’t work?”
“Well, no,” Wystan admitted. A small shudder of distaste crossed his face. “Fortunately. It would take a truly depraved hellhound to even make the attempt. But leaving aside the moral repugnance, I can’t believe it would be biologically possible. The body simply isn’t mature enough to accept the change.”
Darcy groaned, slumping to put her head in her hands. “Shit. So much for my theory. And that was my last lead. I’m fresh out of ideas, Wystan. Everything I’ve tried has ended up a big, fat nothing.”
“Do not feel downhearted. This was always a long shot, right from the beginning. Given that Lupa has had no difficulty evading trained, talented shifter agents, it’s only to be expected that you would—ah.” Wystan cut himself off, flushing.
“That I would fail,” Darcy finished for him, wearily. “It’s okay, Wystan. I know that you guys never expected me to actually be able to help. You just wanted an excuse to throw me together with Fenrir.”
Wystan went even redder. “I can only beg your forgiveness for the deception. I hope you are not too angry with us.”
“Not going to deny it, I was pretty pissed off when I worked it out.” Darcy waved a hand, cutting off his half-formed apology. “But I’m