Two shifters had been killed. The pack blamed me for the first. If they blamed me for the second as well, I couldn’t let myself be caught by them. Not without Lachlan by my side. Shifters were hotheaded, full of emotion. I could fight with the best of them, but I didn’t want to fight a bunch of people who were grieving a loss.

The other option was to fly out the window and go home. But what would that get me? I’d be farther from the action, and it was already nighttime.

I went to the window to see if I could spot anything outside. Surely something was happening out there.

With shaking hands, I unlocked the latch and pulled it open. Immediately, I felt the difference from before. A protective charm now barred the window, put there to keep me from flying out again.

Damn it.

They really were keeping me prisoner. In nicer accommodation, but still, a prisoner. I spun around and went to the door, trying it even though I knew it was locked. I had a few potions that could burn through the metal, but now wasn’t the time.

I needed a plan.

I turned back to the window, then stumbled away, surprised.

There, sitting on the ledge, was that damned raccoon.

He grinned toothily, his bandit mask dark against his pale gray face. He held out an Aero bar.

Surprise flashed through me. “What’s that?”

He waggled the chocolate, clearly offering it.

“It’s for me?” I approached slowly, unable to help the smile that stretched across my face.

He shoved the bar through the protective barrier, yanking his little hand back as soon as the magic sparked his fingers. The candy fell to the floor, and I picked it up. “Thank you.”

But why the hell had he brought me a candy bar?

You’ve had a bad day.

My eyebrows shot upward. “Can you read my mind? Are you psychic?”

No, I’m Ralph.

Ralph. I could hear him inside my head, which meant he had to be my familiar. Carrow had one, too. Only she and her mate, Gray, could hear hers.

Why was I suddenly getting a familiar?

“How long have you been following me?” I asked.

He shrugged. Don’t know. You didn’t need me until now.

“I needed you to stop stealing my candy bars.”

’Fraid I can’t do anything about that.

He wasn’t even going to try, but I wasn’t about to argue. “What are you doing here?”

Here to help break you out of the pokey.

“I’m not sure I should leave just yet.” An idea flashed. “Could you do a little recon, maybe?” I needed to find out what had happened to the victim. Guilt at the idea that he was dead because I hadn’t stopped the killer nagged at me.

You sure you want to stay? Hard to get chocolate bars when you’re locked up.

“I need answers. And as much as I want to charge out there and get them, it’s a tower full of shifters who will be happy to tear me apart before I can get any. But you, on the other hand, are perfect for the job.”

He preened. I am very sneaky. But I’ll require payment. His gaze fell to the candy bar in my hand.

I sighed. “You just gave this to me.”

It’s the thought that counts. Now give it back.

Reluctantly, I did. “Be careful.”

They don’t know I’m with you. Anyway, it’s the Shifters’ Guild. I’ll fit in great.

He disappeared, and I watched him scamper away along the wall, then down a chimney, straight into the belly of the tower.

I leaned back.

I had a familiar, and he was out there doing recon for me. True, he had waged a war of sweets-stealing terror against me, but he was helping me now.

Not so bad, overall.

The next hour passed at a glacial pace. Every five minutes, I debated trying to break through the barrier on the window to escape, but I didn’t have the tools I needed. Anyway, Ralph was my best bet.

Finally, he scampered back up to the window and sat on the sill. It was full dark, and he looked like a little bandit.

“Well?” I asked.

Not poison. A blade, straight across the throat of a shifter named Bill MacDougal. Everyone seemed to like him a whole lot, not like Danny. They’re all really sad.

Sorrow hit me.

Bill MacDougal. I remembered his name. Even his face. A nice guy with sharp cheekbones and a flop of dark hair. Hadn’t he been friends with Lachlan and Garreth?

Damn, that sucked. My heart ached for Lachlan. For all of Bill’s family and friends.

“Anything else?”

They’re planning a memorial for tonight.

“Already?”

They won’t bury the body yet. Just an hour in honor of him. And the other guy. Shifters are an emotional lot. You know how it is.

I did, though Lachlan definitely disproved that rule.

“Thanks for your help, Ralph.” I frowned, thinking. “Could you do me one more favor?”

He nodded. I know where to find payment.

He had to mean my stash, but at this point, I’d buy him a ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. “In my workshop, near the back wall, there are rows of potion ingredients in glass bottles. A yellow one labeled Mercanthia should help me break the barrier on this window.”

On it, boss. Ralph saluted, then turned and scampered down the wall.

My mind spun as I waited for him, never leaving my post at the window. A few shifters passed by, but the courtyard stayed mostly empty.

At one point, the door behind me opened. I spun around to see a tray get shoved inside, and then the door slammed shut and locked.

Lachlan.

It hadn’t been him, but I was sure the food had come by his orders. Feeding me, but still keeping me locked up. I grabbed a sandwich to eat while I waited at the window, and I’d just taken my first bite when Ralph reappeared.

His eyes went right to my sandwich and gleamed.

“Let me guess, more payment required?”

He nodded.

“Push the potion through, and it’s yours. Half of it.”

He grinned, then set the potion on the wide stone sill and pushed it through the barrier, hissing when his fingertips touched it. We were lucky that things could pass through, even if people couldn’t.

Quickly, I took the bottle and opened it, then deposited a thin line of the powder all along the windowsill. Once it was in place, I shooed Ralph away. He scampered to the side, and I blew on it, sending a cloud of dust into the invisible barrier.

It sparked brightly, and I grinned. “All good.”

Ralph jumped back onto the windowsill and came through. I gave him half the sandwich, and we sat at the window, watching the shifters set up for the ceremony to come.

Lachlan

 

I watched from the back, my skin itching, as Bill’s family and friends spoke words of memory at the front of the crowd. Every inch of me itched, in fact. I couldn’t stand still.

The ceremony was necessary. Not just for the purpose of grieving, which plenty of people were doing, but because I wanted everyone in one place at one time. I’d spent all evening interviewing anyone who’d been near the tower, and I’d come up with nothing. This was my chance to speak to the entire pack without arousing suspicion. None of them would like the idea that I might suspect one of our own.

But two members of my pack had been murdered, and Bill’s murder took it to the next level. Beyond the fact that he was well liked, he’d been killed in his flat inside our tower.