Season of the Witch (Claws Clause 2)

ody sprawled out on the ground.

The female’s back was to him. Her clothes were disheveled, the white material covered with large, dark stains. The source of the blood? It had to be. Shifting back to his two-legged shape, he perched on the tips of his toes, crouching low as he moved around her, careful not to disturb the scene.

She was dead. It was obvious, but it wasn’t what he noticed at first.

His heart stuttered. His claws slipped out, his fangs lengthening as he got his first look at the body. Petite. Slender. An olive complexion and thick, glossy curls that were matted with blood, covering half of her face.

Her eyes were closed.

Were they purple?

Shea stopped wearing her glamour months ago. He’d know her eyes anywhere.

Were they purple?

Before Colt lowered himself, anxious to lift the dead female’s lid, he breathed in again. He pulled back, shaking his head, forcing himself to focus.

His nose was right. Though his eyes nearly tricked him, showing him Shea’s pretty face when he looked at this battered female, he knew in an instant that she’d been a human.

Poor thing had also been brutally murdered and drained.

* * *

He forced the wolf to sprint back to his house.

As soon as he was back inside, he shifted back to two legs. He didn’t bother reaching for clothes, in case he needed to shift again; instead, he grabbed his phone. He needed to report his find to his Alpha and pass it off to the rest of the pack.

It was a test, Colt decided, and not just that. The Nightwalker who dropped its kill just outside of Colt’s territory was making a statement. They wanted Colt to find the body without actually crossing the lines.

Another casualty of an unclaimed war? Or a Nightwalker killer out having its kicks?

Colt didn’t know, but he had to call this in. He let out a frustrated snarl when the phone rang and rang and rang. Fifteen rings later and he was still waiting.

He should’ve expected that. Despite being the head of the entire Eastern Pack, Terrence Wolfe wasn’t the biggest fan of modern tech. For Alpha’s sake, the old bastard still preferred his landline to the cell phone Sarah insisted her mate carry.

So his dad carried a cell phone. Didn’t mean he answered it.

Colt killed the call. No point in leaving a message that Terrence would never listen to.

Instead, dialing another number, he called Maddox. He only hoped his brother saved the nagging about Shea until after Colt filled him in on the latest pack business.

Just like with Terrence, the phone seemed to ring forever. Colt was beginning to think that dealing with the murdered female was going to be his problem after all when Maddox finally answered the call with a snarled, “Can it wait?”

“Well, hello to you, too, asshole.”

“Sorry, Colt. I didn’t mean to bite your head off. It’s just, you called at a bad time.”

“What happened?”

Colt could hear echoes of the outside through the phone’s speaker. Crickets chirping loudly, the wind whipping past Maddox, the crunch of dead, brittle leaves, and frozen ground as Maddox’s boots pounded against it. It sounded like he was booking it through the forest that bordered the back of his secluded cul-de-sac.

“We had someone scratching at our wards.” Despite his speed, he wasn’t out of breath at all. “I had to convince Ang to stay locked in our room while I went out to see what was going on. I’m out back now, doing another perimeter check. What’s up?”

Colt decided his problem could wait for a second in the face of what Maddox had just said. In case he’d heard that wrong—because what the fuck was an alpha wolf shifter doing surrounding himself with witch wards?—he had to double-check.

“Wait. You have wards?”

“Yeah,” Maddox said, a defensive note finding its way to his wolfish rasp. “After the shit that went down with Cilla, I’m not taking any chances. I used to have ‘em when I first courted my mate, but they weren’t strong enough. Luciana did the job herself this time. If Cilla tries to get at my Angie again, she’s gonna have to save up enough power to break through the most powerful wards I’ve ever seen before. Luciana did good work. They held tonight.”