Secret of the Wolf by Cynthia Garner Read Free Book Online

people panicking. We’d be right back to the days before the Preternatural Protection Act was enacted. Sons murdering their fathers, neighbors at each other’s throats…” He swiveled his chair to look out the window. “Just keep your ear to the ground and let me know what you hear about these werewolf incidents.”
    Dante knew a dismissal when he heard one. “Will do.” He pushed to his feet and left the captain’s office. Once at his desk, he booted up his computer and sat back in his chair. He had his report typed up within fifteen minutes. He printed it off and added it to his folder of pending reports, intending to file it with the clerk later.
    His cell buzzed. He pulled it out of his jacket pocket and glanced at the display. It was one of the Special Case detectives from District Four. Dante pressed the phone icon on the touch screen and put the device to his ear. “Hey, Manny,” he greeted.
    “Dante,” Manuel Rivera responded. “I hear you had some werewolf trouble this morning.”
    “Good news travels fast.” Dante put one hand on the back of his neck and rubbed the tense muscles there.
    “Yeah. In some ways Scottsdale’s still a small town. So?” The other detective’s voice held hope.
    Dante felt for the guy. Four werewolf attacks in a little under a week meant he was under the gun to produce results. Having the suspect handed to him would be a godsend. “I didn’t talk to the guy, Manny. Sorry.” Dante heard Rivera’s sigh and added, “But I can check with our werewolf liaison and see what she thinks.” He’d have to get over this lust thing he had going on for Tori. He had to keep things strictly professional between them so he could keep his emotional balance. For the time being, at least.
    “Hey, man, I’d appreciate that. We got nothing so far. No hair. Or fur as the case may be,” Manny added, his voice deeper with sarcasm that quickly turned to frustration. “No fiber, no usable DNA, no nothing.”
    Dante frowned. “If he’s biting people, how the hell can you not have DNA from his saliva?”
    “Bastard washes the wounds with bleach. Whatever DNA’s still present gets degraded, and subsequent tests are inconclusive.” Rivera muttered a long string of expletives in Spanish, then said, “He’s a clever mutt, I’ll give him that.”
    “How are the victims connected?” Dante remembered the case he’d first met Tori on, where a group of vampires killed other vamps. At first, there had seemed to be no affiliation other than the obvious, but then deeper connections had surfaced.
    “None that we can tell. First one is a twentysomething med student, the second one is a bricklayer, third one’s a stay at home mom, and this last one…” He sighed. “He’s a councilman from ward six.”
    Dante let out a low whistle. There’d be hell to pay on that one. And a local council seat to fill. Prets weren’t allowed to serve in human governments at any level. Equal but separate was the motto of the day. “Well, I can see where a wolf might have thought he could use the councilman, but, still…He had to know as well as anyone else that the man would lose his seat.”
    “You’d think so.” Manny sighed again. “Thanks anyway, amigo . Keep the faith,” he said with his usual farewell.
    “You, too.” Dante ended the call. He slid his phone back into his jacket pocket and pondered what Rivera had said. At first blush it seemed the attacks by the werewolf were random. Maybe it was a pret who’d snapped and couldn’t keep his fangs to himself. Maybe it went deeper than that. At the very least, Tori would have an idea if their guy from this morning’s attack was involved. He pulled out his phone again and speed-dialed her.
    “Hello.” Her dulcet tones pulsed through him all the way to his toes, pausing to dance along his cock for much longer than was appropriate at work.
    “It’s Dante.” His throat closed up. He cleared it and tried again. “Ah, it’s