Wolf Tales V by Kate Douglas Read Free Book Online Page B

the edge of the park, near Nineteenth Avenue, the wolf disappeared into the bushes. I went back and got my car. Figured I’d look farther down the road. A few minutes later, a woman dressed in dark clothes stepped out into the crosswalk. I hit her. Didn’t see her in time and I ran right over her.”
    Xandi felt Keisha’s gasp in her mind. Burns shook his head, rubbed his hand across his eyes. “Of course, I recognized her immediately. I was driving an old, beat up car already covered with dings, so one more didn’t make a difference. No one ever found out who killed her. I parked a block away and went back. I was already a reporter, so I had my camera. I waited in the bushes. I thought she might shift when she died, but she didn’t. She just lay there in the center divider, caught up in the landscaping. She might have looked like a woman, but I knew better. I knew she was just an animal. Made me think of road kill. That’s all she was. Road kill. A dead wolf on the side of the road.”
    Burns stood up and walked away, disappearing into the shadows. His voice echoed out of the darkness. “I knew she had a kid. Figured, like mother, like daughter, but I never could catch the little brat shifting. All those years… the story could have made my career.”
    Oh my God .
    Keisha’s agonized cry echoed in Xandi’s head. Keisha, it’s okay. He’s nuts. Totally nuts. Where are the police ?
    I don’t know. He killed her. He killed my mother !
    Honey, hang in there. We’ll get him. Just hang in there .
    You’re the one tied up. I need to get you out of there, need to …
    No! Just wait. Please. Just wait . Frantic, Xandi tried to follow Burns’ movements in the shadows while she begged Keisha to stay out of sight.
    “But I finally figured it out. Decided that she could shift, she just didn’t know it.” Burns wandered back into the narrow beam of light. “I waited for years, waited and watched.”
    He squatted down in front of Xandi once more. “I hired two of them. Not sure where the third guy came in. They were only supposed to scare the crap out of her, not rape her. Scare her good enough that she’d shift. I figured there might be sort of a ‘fight or flight’ reaction, ya know? I was there. I watched it all. It was pretty ugly, but it worked. I took a lot of pictures, but then when the little bitch shifted and killed them, I panicked.”
    He stood up, brushed his hand across his face. “God. I was so damned stupid. Would you believe I actually burned the film? I was so afraid someone would connect me with the murders… with her rape. That film could have made my fortune and I panicked.”
    Burns whirled around, his eyes wide. “Where the fuck are you? I know you’re here somewhere. Show yourself, damn it. Shift!”
    No! Keisha, no !
    Xandi sensed Keisha’s outrage, her uncontrollable anger. She ripped at the handcuffs binding her wrists, tugged at the cords holding her to the chair, but it wasn’t enough. There was a loud crunch against the door. The sound of scratching and panting. Another loud cracking noise.
    Burns yanked a knife out of his pocket and slashed the rope holding Xandi to the chair. With her hands still cuffed behind her back, it was all she could do to rise without stumbling. Burns looped another rope around her neck and dragged her to a door at the opposite end of the room.
    The door behind them creaked, wood splintered. The hinges groaned.
    Keisha? Don’t let him see you !
    Sensing only blind, animalistic rage, Xandi tripped over her own feet. Burns twisted her around, holding tightly to her cuffed wrists and tugging on the rope cutting into her throat. Even if she wanted to shift now, she couldn’t risk it. He literally had her leashed.
    Burns grabbed a camera bag in his free hand and slung it over his shoulder, then shoved the door open.
    With a final curse, he pushed Xandi out into the darkness and slammed the door behind him. Pushing and pulling, he forced her across the