Chapter 34

I took the Suburban back to work. Work was my salvation; I needed to keep busy until Connor was home, then I could fall apart with him.

I walked into the office and sat heavily in Gunnar's spare chair. Sidnee was still on the computer, leaning forward, her chin on one hand and typing with the other hand. She didn't look at me as she shoved a sheaf of papers towards me. ‘These are the people who've been known to hustle others. It's been slow going but we're getting there!'

When I didn't take it or say anything, she looked up at me. Then, in an alarmed voice, she demanded, ‘What's wrong? Is it Sig?'

I shook my head and sighed. ‘No, she's fine as far as I know. It's my mother.'

‘What's wrong? Is she cursed too?'

‘Ha. I wish,' I said drily. But I didn't, not really. After everything she'd done to me, I still couldn't bring myself to wish her harm. I was the most pathetic vampire on earth.

‘What happened? Bunny?'

I rubbed a hand across my face. ‘My father was the one that paid the vamps to turn me. And Mum deliberately caused accidents that hurt me during my childhood to awaken my magic. Oh, and she's the one who cursed Fluffy. Can I come stay with you until Connor gets back?'

‘Oh my God, Bunny. That's a lot for you to deal with, hon. Of course you can stay with me. Any time, you know that.' Her eyes looked a little wild; I think I'd shocked her.

‘Thanks. I did tell her to get out of my house, but I don't want to be there right now.'

‘She can stay in the hotel,' Sidnee agreed. ‘And you can stay with me as long as you need.'

‘It probably won't be long. Connor should be back soon. I don't want to be alone.'

Fluffy whined and I stroked his head. ‘I know I'm not really alone when I have you,' I said to him. ‘But it's not quite the same. In this form, you can't talk to me, you know?'

Sidnee watched, eyes wide. ‘So what did she curse Fluffy with?'

‘Oh, apparently he's a werewolf. Mum transformed him into a "lesser threat", which was a skinny, underfed German Shepherd.'

She shook her head as she took it in. ‘Fluffy's a werewolf? Under all that fur is a human trapped in dog form?'

I nodded. ‘Yeah.'

‘That's awful.' Sidnee looked horrified and I couldn't blame her; I was horrified too. She turned to Fluffy, ‘I'm so sorry, dude – whoever you are.'

‘I honestly can't get my head around it all. Do you want to take a break? You've already been here for hours and your shift has barely started. Wanna grab some food then go see Sigrid and Stan together? I need to do something.'

‘Yeah, let's do that,' she said too quickly. She was worried about me. ‘It's been slow. I'll put up the sign and see if April wants some extra hours. Hold on.'

She texted April then finished what she was doing on the computer. We left Fluffy and Shadow to man the fort, mostly because the Garden of Eat'n didn't love it when you brought in your pets. Also, I wasn't sure how I felt about Fluffy. He wasn't a smart, loyal dog – he was a werewolf, cursed by my mother. It was a wonder he'd shown me such compassion over the last few months. Now I didn't quite know where I stood and I needed space.

I shot him an apologetic look as we locked the brand-new front door and put up the ‘gone to lunch' sign. Just before we walked out, Sidnee checked her phone then looked relieved. ‘April texted that she can come in at ten. I'll work until then and turn it over to her.'

‘Great.'

We headed to the diner and sat in our usual booth. After we'd eaten, we went to the hospital. The patients both still needed lots of potions daily to help them regain their strength and heal their cursed bodies.

When we checked in to see Stan, he was dozing. His colour was up and he looked a lot more solid. Jeff was in the room next to him looking like skin and bones and not much else. It felt like the Grim Reaper was loitering in the corner of his room and I could see why Anissa had said it was touch and go if he would live.

I was desperate to see Sigrid; I hoped she was on the way to recovery like Stan, but she was no shifter.

She looked washed out but at least she was sitting upright. ‘Bunny, Sidnee!' She greeted us with a huge smile. ‘My gorgeous girls.' She was super thin and gaunt, but she was on the mend and we had to focus on the positives.

Sidnee rushed to her and gave her a gentle hug, and Sigrid squeezed her back. Gunnar was relaxing in an easy chair next to the bed.

‘How are you feeling?' I asked Sigrid.

‘Much better, thanks, Bunny. They might release me early,' she said eagerly.

‘That's great news!'

‘She's weak as a kitten,' Gunnar rumbled.

‘Oh, nonsense,' Sigrid protested.

‘They have her and Stan up and walking and doing PT several times a day. She can barely make it down the hall,' he continued. ‘Stan's zonked after his session. She's not much better.'

‘I'll be better at home,' she said. Gunnar threw up his hands.

‘You need to go back to work,' Sig said to him, which was a different tune from the one she'd been singing when he'd been ill; then she'd insisted he rest or stay home. She widened her eyes and jerked her head at her husband.

I grinned then turned to my boss. ‘I'm rather stalled on the investigation into who cursed them. We could use another set of eyes. Sidnee's put together a list of people who've attempted to run a protection racket, but there are quite a few names. We could check through them together.' I was hoping to engage him and get him out of the hospital for Sigrid's sake.

‘I can do that. I'll come in tomorrow.' Gunnar sounded eager; he must have been missing work as much as we missed him. We'd be back to three people in one office, but hopefully Connor would be back later today or early tomorrow with the computers. We could bring in some folding tables to work on; hell, I'd have worked on the floor at that point.

I got my own cuddle with Sigrid but, as always, she saw too much. ‘Everything okay?' she whispered.

I smiled. ‘Everything will be fine.'

‘That's not the same thing.'

‘No,' I agreed blandly. ‘It's not.'

She fixed me with a firm look. ‘You talk to me or Gunnar when you're ready.'

I nodded. We talked for a few more minutes but it was obvious that Sigrid was wracked by exhaustion, so we soon made our excuses and left.

Sidnee set me up in her house then went back to work. I took my list of racketeers and started making appointments to see them during my next shift; it wasn't the most exciting part of police work but it might help me to find the curser.

I wished I'd bought my fire elemental tome with me because it would have been the perfect time to look through it. I watched TV for a bit, then finally crawled into Sidnee's spare bed and fell into a restless sleep a couple of hours later. Before my eyelids closed, I wished I had Fluffy with me.