Chapter 40

JACQUELINE opens her gritty eyes, blinking against the morning sun. Still in the desert. Still in human form. She drags herself to her feet and cheeks out the angle of the sun.

It is rising over the far mountain range, which means the Catalinas. So she's in the Tucson Mountains on the west side. Probably out in Marana somewhere, where the crackheads cook their meth.

Shes isn't the only one who knows how to research things online. Her minette thinks she's only capable of making soup. Minette.

She starts walking east. Her gait is clumsy at first, but after a dozen steps, her coordination rerurns. Her sensitive hearing detects the sounds of cars in the distance. Dieu merci. Too bad she's covered in blood.

It will make it hard to explain if she flags down a car. If only she could shift. She drops to all fours and closes her eyes, willing herself to shift. The trouble is, she hasn't shifted often enough in recent years.

To stay nimble, shifters must shift back and forth as nature calls. A