"So we hear. " Mandenauer eyed Malachi as if he wanted to take him apart and see how he worked.
"How did you hear?"
The old man's gaze switched to me. "I've been in town for more than one day. "
A light went on in my brain. "You shot Balthazar. "
He shrugged. "Someone had to. "
"You couldn't tell us you were here? Clue us in on what was happening?"
"We do our best to complete our job and disappear. The less people know about monsters, the better. "
"There'd be a panic," Elise explained.
"Oh, let's not have that," I muttered. "Much better for me to be locked in a cage with a werewolf. "
"But you aren't," she said, "and I have to wonder why. "
I opened my mouth, then shut it again as my face heated. How could I tell them that sex had saved me?
Well, not sex - I reached for Mal's hand and squeezed it tightly - love.
"He was cursed by a witch to become a beast," I said.
"Another curse," Elise muttered. "I hate those things. "
"There've been others?"
"Several. Each one has to be broken differently, and no one's ever kind enough to leave instructions. "
"Instructions on breaking a curse would kind of negate its being a curse, don't you think?"
Elise's lips curved. "You've got a point. So how did you break this one?"
"I was cursed because I could not love," Malachi said. "Claire showed me I loved her, and when I turned that love into. . . " - he searched for a word - "something tangible as I fought the call of the moon, the curse was broken. "
"Tangible love," Elise repeated; then her brows lifted. "You did her during the eclipse?"
"If you want to be crude," I said.
"Sometimes I can't help myself. " She paused, mouth pursing as she considered what we'd done. "Because he couldn't love, he became a beast, but loving made him human and able to resist the curse, and in resisting it was broken. "
"That's the theory," I agreed.
"Pretty dangerous theory. What if it hadn't worked?"
"I knew it would work. " I met Malachi's eyes, and in his I saw a reflection of the love in my own. "I never had a doubt. "
"Which might be why it worked," Elise said slowly. "Faith is pretty powerful, too. "
"Hmmph," Mandenauer muttered. "Touch him anyway, Elise. "
"Touch him?" I repeated.
"Werewolves can. . . feel one another," Elise explained. "If my skin touches his in human form, I'll know. "
She held up her tattooed palm like a crossing guard miming, Stop. "Your hand please?"