Kitty and the Midnight Hour (Kitty Norville 1)

I had my elbows propped on the desk and was rubbing my temples. I’d been losing sleep. My head hurt. Whine.

“Yeah,” I said, straightening and taking a big swallow of coffee. I’d have time enough to stress myself into an ulcer later.

Could werewolves get ulcers?

The two-minute break ended. Matt counted fingers down through the window. The On-Air sign lit, the lights on my caller board lit. Headphones on, phone line punched.

“Welcome back to The Midnight Hour. We have Sarah from Sioux City on the line.”

The woman was in tears. She fought not to cry, a losing battle. “Kitty?”

“Hi, Sarah,” I said soothingly, bracing myself for the onslaught. “What do you need to talk about?”

“My husband,” she said after a shuddering breath. “I caught him last week. I mean, I spied on him.” She paused, and I let her collect herself before prompting her.

“What happened, Sarah?”

“He—he turned . . . into . . . into a wolf. In the woods . . . behind our house. After he thought I’d gone to bed.”

“And you had no idea he’s a lycanthrope.”

“No! I mean, I suspected. The business trips once a month during the full moon, eating his steaks rare. How could he keep something like this from me? I’m his wife! How could he do it?” The woman’s voice quavered until she was nearly screeching.

“Did you confront him? Talk to him about it?”

“Yes, yes. I mean, I asked him about it. He just said he was sorry. He won’t look me in the eye anymore!”

“Sarah, take a breath. That’s a girl. I know this is a blow, but let’s look at it together. How long have you been married?”

“Six—six years.”

“And did your husband tell you how long he’s been a werewolf?”

“Two years.”

“Now, Sarah, I’m going to ask you to look at the situation from his point of view. It was probably pretty traumatic for him becoming a lycanthrope, right?”

“Yes. He was working the night shift alone, locking up the store, when it happened. He—he

said he was lucky he got away. Why didn’t he ever tell me?”

“Do you think maybe he was trying to protect you? You had a good marriage and he didn’t want to mess things up, right? Now I’m not saying what he did was right. In a great marriage he would have told you from the start. But he’s having to keep this secret from a lot of people. Maybe he didn’t know how to tell you. Maybe he was afraid you’d leave him if he told you.”

“I wouldn’t leave him! I love him!”

“But people do leave their partners when something like this happens. He’s probably scared, Sarah. Listen, does he still love you?”

“He says he does.”

“You know what I’d do? Sit down with him. Tell him that you’re hurt, but you want to support him if he’ll be honest with you from here on out. Before you do that, though, you have to decide whether or not you can stay married to a werewolf. You have to be just as honest with yourself as you want him to be with you.”

Sarah was calm now. She hiccuped a little from the crying, but her voice was steady. “Okay, Kitty. I understand. Thank you.”

“Good luck, Sarah. Let me know how it turns out. All right, I’ve got lots of calls waiting, so let’s move right along. Cormac from Longmont, hello.”

“I know what you are.”

“Excuse me?”