22. Gravod

I parked on the quiet residential street, across from a large white colonial, and turned to Jake.

"Thanks again for doing this."

"No problem. Sorry we haven't been able to track Thylor."

My head swiveled as our prey came into view.

No, we couldn't track Thylor. But we could track him.

After leaving Jess, I'd spent all day Sunday following leads. Thylor was using burner phones to taunt us. We couldn't trace them. Jake's people hadn't seen him.

By Sunday night, I'd switched to a different target. One that was more attainable and would satisfy my need to protect Jess.

One that would be…entertaining.

Kevin looked pissed, scowling as he walked from the driveway to the front door. The house was his fiancée's. Big and secluded. Perfect for what we had in mind.

I looked at the clock. Four in the afternoon. It ought to be enough time to get this done and still meet Jess for dinner. My instincts clawed at me to be near her, take care of her. Being away from her, even for a day, was torture.

Jake started to open his door, but I raised a hand.

"You're sure about the forms?"

He shuddered. "Hell yeah. I'll be having nightmares for the rest of my life."

"Good."

Jake huffed a laugh.

The street was empty, but we still took precautions to go unnoticed, opening and closing our car doors with a minimum of noise. I followed Jake as he strolled casually behind a cluster of trees and bushes near the road, out of sight. Both of us took off our clothes and stacked them neatly on the ground.

I watched as Jake's body transformed.

He'd told me it hurt a little. I was pretty sure that was an understatement. It looked like his bones were breaking and reforming, and that had to be painful. But it was over quickly. In less than a minute, a wolf stood before me.

Jake's wolf was big, much bigger than a natural wolf would be, with thick gray hair. He looked at me with human awareness, eyes the same bright blue color, beast and man together. I knew he wasn't a danger to me, but that didn't mean I wasn't wary. It was a mistake to assume that he was tame, in either form.

He tilted his head, prompting for me to shift.

We'd agreed I should start with a Zemdga. I knew the species well after living among them for a year on a previous mission.

A human would compare a Zemdga's appearance to a giant snake or lizard. Their scales were a greenish color, faces blunt, with slitted red eyes and fierce fangs. Instead of walking on legs, they slithered on four tails. Each of their four arms ended in hands with long, claw-tipped fingers.

Shifting was a matter of muscle memory, and it was thorough. Everything from the Zemdga's dual hearts to its triple cock, hidden in an internal pocket. This was why Lydaxians were so formidable. Our ability to shift so completely was unparalleled.

The wolf took a step back and shook its head.

"You've seen it before," I hissed, my voice now the rasp of a Zemdga. "Come on."

The house was on the other side of the bushes, across a short expanse of grass. I went to the back door, while Jake went to the front.

The deadbolt was no match for my razor-sharp claws in this form. I sliced through it and opened the door easily. Then I lifted my body up high, whipping the four tails beneath me to propel myself farther inside, past laundry machines and a dark, empty kitchen.

Kevin was on the phone, and I didn't detect anyone else. He was the only one home. I followed the sound of his voice to the living room.

"They want me to resign? Are you fucking kidding me?"

The room was large, with an oversized white couch and prominent fireplace. He paced back and forth across a pale yellow rug, his back to me as he shouted into the phone.

"That bitch. I'm going to ruin her. She's never going to get another?—"

Kevin turned and lifted his gaze to me, and froze. The angry sneer that twisted his mouth stayed, but his eyes widened in horror.

He had been threatening Jess.

My vision clouded, the room around me disappearing as my prey came into defined focus. A foul, cowardly piece of shit in an ugly dress shirt. I could smell his fear, and I silently begged him to run. If he did, I could blame my predatory instincts for whatever happened. Like if I accidentally cut him to shreds.

Dammit. I'd promised Jake I wouldn't kill him.

The sack of shit blinked. He looked down at his phone and then back to me. Someone was talking, asking him if something was wrong. He hung up and stared at me, muttering under his breath.

"I didn't sleep well last night. This isn't real."

"Oh, I'm real, Kevin," I hissed, moving closer to him on my tails.

Jake had said the tails were particularly "creepy."

Kevin dropped the phone. I wrinkled my nose at the smell of piss.

In that moment of distraction, he made a dash for the door. I didn't bother to follow. As I shifted into another form, this time a spider-like creature from the Kit system, I heard Jake's growl.

Soon, Kevin was backing into me, hands raised. He didn't turn around, his attention on Jake's snarling, snapping jaws as the wolf herded him inside.

With his back against me, Kevin couldn't take another step. He was trapped. I could hear his heart thundering and his breath sawing in and out, see his chest rise and fall as he gasped for air. Slowly, cautiously, he reached an arm back to feel what was behind him, and his hand brushed the spiked exoskeleton of one of the ten legs I now stood on.

He crumpled to the floor.

I nudged him with the pointed end of a leg. He didn't move. Jake snorted and shook his head at the smell, then looked up at me expectantly. I stabbed Kevin in the arm.

Not deep, just enough to get his attention. He shot up, screaming, looked at my spider form, and promptly passed out again.

Jake sat back on his haunches, body shaking with what I assumed was the wolf version of laughter.

I lifted my leg to stab the fucker again.

I'd promised I wouldn't damage him. But I could still have some fun.