Shauna jumped in before he had a chance to answer. “You know I’m the wolvens’ Keeper, Paul,” she said. “It’s important that I be involved in this.”
“Uh…okay.”
Grateful that they didn’t have to explain further, Danyon asked Paul, “Any problems?”
“Just that you took too long. Other than that, nothin’.”
“Good.” Danyon held a flashlight out to Paul. “Hang on to this. When we get back there, I’ll need you to aim the light where I tell you. I want to—”
“When we get back where?” Paul asked, frowning.
“To Simon. I want to take a closer look at his body, make sure we’re not missing any—”
“Whoa!” Paul jumped back as if the flashlight was ready to strike out and bite. “Why…why you gotta do that? They’re gonna do all the examin’ over at the morgue, right?”
“Not with Simon in that condition they’re not,” Danyon said. “We can’t let anyone see him that way.”
“But somebody’s gonna start asking where Simon’s at anyway,” Paul said, pacing a short, two-step path. “Somebody’s gotta eventually see him.”
“Word will get out to the wolven soon enough, but nobody else needs to know right now. We take care of our own, remember? I’ll make sure Simon’s well taken care of, don’t worry.”
Paul whimpered and paced faster, almost spinning in place. “Danyon, I—I know…I know we need to take care of him. I know we gotta, but I can’t do it. I’m—I’m—I been sittin’ here like you said. I been doin’ good, so don’t make me, okay? D-Don’t make me hold the light. P-Please, I can’t—don’t make me hold the light.”
“I’ll do it,” Shauna said. She held a hand out to Danyon. “I’ll help with the flashlight and whatever else you need help with. Looks like Paul’s been through enough today. Maybe he should go home.”
“Yeah, like she said.” Paul gave an enthusiastic nod. “I should go home. Like now, okay?”
“You really don’t want to see this,” Danyon said to Shauna. “Trust me, it’s far from pleasant.”
“If I wanted pleasant, you think I’d be here?” Her hand still extended, she wiggled her fingers. “I’m doing it, so you might as well hand over the light.”
The determination on her face told Danyon any further discussion would be futile. He sighed, then signaled to Paul that it was okay for him to leave. The young were didn’t have to be told twice. He was gone in a nanosecond, obviously scared Danyon might change his mind.
“You sure about this?” Danyon held a flashlight out to Shauna.
She took it from him. “Positive. Now where’s Simon?”
He aimed his flashlight to the right. There was no missing the small arc of blood near the edge of the thicket. “There.”
“Got the tarp, boss,” Andy said, coming up behind them. “Where you want it?”
Danyon redirected the beam of light. “Stretch it out on that patch of grass. We’ll lay the body on it once we get it out of the thicket.”
Andy paused mid-step, and Danyon could almost hear his thoughts.
Body? Thicket?
To the man’s credit, Andy snapped back into action and did as he was told without saying another word.
When the tarp was in place, Danyon handed Shauna his flashlight. “Can you manage both? I need two hands to help pull him out.”
She nodded, looking a little green around the gills.
“You okay?”
“Yes…fine.”
Suspecting she had chosen bravery over telling the absolute truth, Danyon headed for the thicket.
“The body’s under heavy brush, so we won’t be able to lift it,” he said to Andy. “We’ll have to each take a leg and pull him out.”
“Got it,” Andy said.
Danyon squatted beside the arc of blood. “Here. Just reach in and grab hold.” He didn’t have to instruct Shauna on lighting. She already had both flashlights aimed perfectly.
Andy hurried to Danyon’s side, dropped to his knees and reached into the thick brush.
Finding Simon’s right ankle, Danyon wrapped both hands around it, glanced over at Andy. “Ready. You?”
A frown had settled over Andy’s face. “Uh…yeah, but something don’t feel right, boss.”
“I know. Just pull on the count of three, okay?”
Andy nodded, then bit down on his bottom lip.
“One, two…three.”
The body slid out a lot more easily than it had gone in. Once it was in full view, a beam of light settled over Simon’s face, and Danyon heard Shauna gasp.
“Sweet mother of pearl,” Andy said, breathing hard, his voice a hoarse whisper. He dropped Simon’s leg and quickly scrubbed his hands on his jeans.
Suddenly blinded by light, Danyon threw the back of a hand over his eyes. “Hey, Shauna, light!”
“S-Sorry,” she said, and corrected her aim. “I—I…
God, he—” Her mouth snapped shut, and Danyon understood. Sometimes, when faced with something horrible, it seemed a little ridiculous to state the obvious.
“Let’s move him onto the tarp,” Danyon said to Andy.
“You take his feet. I’ll grab under his arms. Then we lift on go.”
Stationing himself at Simon’s head, Danyon locked his hands under Simon’s arms, then he nodded and waited for Andy to grab both ankles before counting down and saying, “Go.”
In less than a minute, they had Simon settled on the tarp. Shauna stepped closer but stood over to one side, so the flashlight beams weren’t obstructed by Andy’s head.
Her eyes were wide, and she, too, was breathing hard.
“I don’t get it, boss…I don’t get it,” Andy said. “How come he’s still…?” He glanced over at Shauna, then back at Danyon. He lowered his voice. “How come he’s still were?”
“You don’t have to whisper, Andy. She sees him, too. She knew about it before she even got here.”
Andy nodded as if he understood completely, but the furrows in his brow said differently.
“The fact that he’s still were is what has to stay quiet,” Danyon said to him. “It stays on the QT until we have a chance to figure out what happened and who’s involved. Got it?”.
"Yeah.”
No matter how hard he’d tried to steel himself, seeing Simon’s body again had kicked up a cloud of emotions in Danyon. He saw the same thing happening to Andy, so he cleared his throat to get the man’s attention.
“Get the hacksaw and wire cutters, will you, Andy? Gloves, too.”
When Andy left to get the supplies, Danyon looked over at Shauna. She was standing ramrod straight, arms out, flashlights swaying.
“Why him?” she asked quietly. “Why do you think they chose Simon? I mean, look at him. There’s so much blood. I don’t understand how anyone could do this.”
“None of it makes sense.”
“Damn straight it doesn’t,” Andy said, returning with a large duffle bag. He set the bag on the ground, opened it and pulled out a hacksaw. Without saying another word, he took the saw and went to work on the cable wrapped around Simon’s ankle.
The sound of metal shrieking against metal made Danyon cringe. He dug through the duffle, found a package of latex gloves and two pairs of work gloves. He chose the latex, opened the package and slipped on a pair. Then he walked over, positioned himself near Simon’s head and started working his fingers through the blood dried fur, feeling for other wounds.
The shriek of metal seemed to go on forever as Andy cut through layer after layer of thick cable. When he finally cut all the way through, he breathed a choice expletive and sat back on his haunches.
“What?” Danyon asked, getting to his feet. So far, save for the missing fangs and claws, he’d found no other wounds.
Andy pointed to Simon’s ankles. “Look at that. Like the kid didn’t go through enough.”
Danyon signaled for Shauna to bring him one of the flashlights, then he knelt at Simon’s feet and aimed the light where Andy had indicated. As he’d suspected, a thin, silver wire had been wound about Simon’s ankles beneath the cable. Not enough silver to kill him, but enough to burn through fur, flesh and muscle before lodging into bone.
As he studied the damage, Danyon heard a deep guttural sound, felt its vibration, heard it change quickly to a low growl. And he knew all too well what it meant.
Anger over the injustice of what was laid out before him was getting to Andy. Without intervention, it would soon take over and force his transformation to were. Once that happened, the anger would turn into full blown rage, causing Andy to lash out at anything within clawing distance. Including Shauna.
“Steady, Andy,” Danyon warned.
“Steady as she blows, boss.”
“Sounded like you were getting a little itchy on me.”
“Not itchy one bit.”
“Good. You’ve got to keep a handle on it. I need you.
And I need you with a cool, clear head.”
“Oh, it’s clear, boss,” Andy said, his voice now raspy. It was already changing tenor. “It’s clear I’m gonna kill the sonofabitch that did this to him.”
“Uh…Danyon…?”
Danyon heard Shauna, but didn’t dare turn toward her. Not only had Andy’s voice changed, his forehead had begun to protrude, and his neck muscles were bulging. If he lost Andy’s attention now, he knew he would have a seriously pissed-off were on his hands. And given Andy’s size, he would probably have to kill him to stop him.
Danyon quickly stripped off the latex gloves, tossed them to the ground, then grabbed Andy by the forearms, forcing him to look into his eyes. Andy growled and snapped at him, incisors already twice the length of a human’s.
