The town

How the fuck did a cat get in the room? was Gavin’s first thought when the caterwauling started. It took only another second to realize he was getting a call. His phone sang the old Purina cat commercial song, which involved a lot of meows, which drove his inner wolf mental.

Bloody Broderick. The irritating feline had gotten his hands on Gavin’s cell somehow and put it as his ringtone. Gavin had yet to figure out how to change it.

I’ve really got to try that brownie recipe I found on the Internet but replace the marijuana with catnip. The resulting blackmail video might atone for some of his pal’s pranks.

Sliding out of bed, leaving the warm and cuddly body of his mate—after last night she’s mine, even if she doesn’t know it yet—he padded naked, but for the phone in his hand, to the bathroom and shut the door.

“What do you want?” he answered, forgoing a hello.

A tad grumpy? Damned right. He’d harbored other plans for waking up that didn’t involve speaking to his friend while a naked delight waited in bed.

“Good morning to you, too.”

“It’s not morning yet.” Not even close.

“Doesn’t matter. You need to get up. Where are you?”

“Does it matter?”

“It could. I don’t suppose you’ve got a certain lady with you?”

In the past, Gavin might have bragged, but this was his woman. Things were different now. “I don’t see that it’s any of your business.”

“I’ll take that as ‘yes’ and hope there are witnesses, since her apartment was set on fire last night in what the cops are calling ‘an attempt to conceal a crime scene.’”

“What the hell are you talking about? Her place was trashed, yes, but to accuse her of torching it is nuts.”

“I don’t know anything about her place getting ransacked. I’m talking about the body.”

Turning on the water tap to muffle his conversation in case Megan awoke, he asked, “Rewind. What fucking body?”

“The one you apparently don’t know about yet. About eleven p.m. last night, an off-duty fireman, coming off shift, smelled smoke coming from Megan’s place and grabbed an extinguisher from the hall to put it out. Given he had to kick the door in to spray the place, he was the one to spot the body inside. The very dead and obviously murdered body of a male.”

Good thing Gavin knew where Megan was or the news might have sent him off. As it was, the revelation of more shit aimed his mate’s way didn’t sit well.

“Any idea who the body belongs to?”

“You’re going to love this. It’s Jacques Lamontaine.”

The name seemed familiar. “Isn’t he a bookie?”

“Yes, and he works for—”

“Fabian.” Funny how the case had veered back in Gavin’s creator’s direction. “What the hell was Jacques doing at her place?”

“The cops have a theory, but you’re not going to like it, as it just reinforces the case against Megan.”

“Tell me.”

“They think that Jacques hired Megan to kill Pierre as a public example of what happens to people who shirk on their debt. They think Megan called him over to her place to extort money from Jacques, except he refused to give her more money, so she shot him.”

“Well, their theory is wrong. Not only did Megan not kill the guy, but she didn’t set fire to her place either.”

“So you can alibi her?”

“Yeah, me and a bunch of others. Not to mention the hotel we’re holed up in has cameras on all the floors and in the elevators for security. I can easily prove she didn’t leave this room after we entered it last night just after seven.”

“Good thing, because someone’s got it out for the lady.”

“No shit. Question is, who? Fabian swears he’s not involved.”

“And you believe him?”

Much as it pained Gavin to admit? “Yeah. It’s not his style. He’d either do it himself and not leave any evidence or make it so subtle no one would suspect murder in the first place.”

“Good point. Whoever is behind this isn’t afraid to get their hands dirty and has it bad for your little secretary. What are you going to do?”

Apparently, go furry, because, even over the sound of the water running there was no missing the distinctive thump as the hotel room door got kicked open, and he somehow doubted it was room service.

Of more concern, though, was who slept defenseless in the room.

Megan!

“I gotta go. We’re being attacked,” he said as he tossed the phone down without bothering to hang up.

As he was already naked, it took Gavin but a moment to let the adrenaline surge until claws popped from the ends of his fingers, fur sprouted from his skin, and teeth elongated.

With a howl, he rammed into the bathroom door, cracking the frame and slamming it into the wall. Teeth bared, he lunged to meet the threat and surprise his mate.

More like she surprised him.

What the fuck is she doing?