I gasped. “Another—Who?”
Liam swung his gaze toward me. “The coroner.”
“The coroner?” Mom exclaimed, looking over at Dad, who seemed just as flummoxed as she was. “He’s a shifter?”
Liam closed his eyes and breathed in his son. When he opened them, they glowed a bright amber-yellow. “He wasn’t. Until he was bitten.”
The crackling logs in the chimney became the only source of sound in the house.
Mom stepped close to my father, who put an arm around her waist and pulled her into him. “Are you saying—are you saying wolves can be made?”
“Not wolves, Mom,” Niall said, unlacing his boots. “Halfwolves.”
“I don’t understand,” Mom said.
“Someone’s been biting humans, and somehow, those humans can now transform into halfwolves.” Nolan dropped an arm that smelled like wolf and snow and fire around my shoulders. I was guessing he’d spent a lot of time in fur today.
“I thought biting didn’t transfer our magic?” I said.
“It usually doesn’t.” Liam ran his son’s smooth curls through his fingers.
“Where’s the coroner?” I asked.
“In the bunker. Along with his wife, who called the cops after he bit her. Nate managed to be the first cop on the scene. He’s with them now.”
“Shit,” I whispered.
Mom must’ve been really shocked because she didn’t admonish me.
“That’s crazy,” Adalyn said.
“Do you think that’s why the first halfwolf was bitten?” The words rushed out of me. “Not because of a settling of scores but because the wolf who bit her wanted to change her genetic makeup?”
Liam’s throat dipped. “Itisbeginning to look like someone’s creating a new breed.”
“We really need to find Shifter Zero.” When we all frowned, Nash added, “You know . . . like Patient Zero?”
Niall shrugged out of his coat. “Looks like your trip’s not going to be of the short-and-sweet nature.”
Liam sighed, and although it was totally wrong of me to rejoice he’d be sticking around, my heart performed a little backflip. I burrowed into Nolan’s side, hoping no one would pick up on the crash and thrum of my pulse. Thankfully, they were all much too absorbed by the fact that a shifter had managed to create wolves, which really should’ve been my point of focus as well.
After dinner, once the source of my attention departed with his child, I finally turned all that had happened around and around in my head.
One thing stuck out over everything else: Shifter Zero wasn’t targeting wolves; they were targeting humans. Which meant wandering off the compound was no longer a risk.
Chapter 8
I’d worked late into the night to finish a commission, so I’d ended up missing breakfast. Dad had gone to Pondside,and Mom for a walk around the compound with Storm, leaving me home alone. My house was so rarely quiet it was eerie. I couldn’t decide if I liked it or not. On the one hand, it was sort of relaxing. On the other, it was sort of lonely.
As I zapped leftover sausage links and scrambled eggs in the microwave, I called Adalyn to find out what everyone was up to. She was at the hair salon with her grandmother, having come to the same conclusion I had about it not being dangerous for shifters; Liam and Nash were at the bunker; Nolan was at work with Dad; and Niall . . . well, he was probably passed out in some girl’s bed.
The youngest of my brothers was easy like that, a real Casanova. Nash had been, too, until a mating bond had snapped between him and Adalyn. Now, he’d joined the ranks of my other two brothers, who were both tight-lipped about their relationships. Especially Nolan. I’d never seen him lock lips with anyone.
“Dinner and drinks tonight at Seoul Sister?” I asked Ads over the phone.
Seoul Sister, which was owned by Bea’s family, was one of the most popular places in town, a South Korean-American fusion eatery that operated year-round. This wasn’t the case for most restaurants in the area that shut down the minute the snow melted.
“I really need to meet someone.”
