Swans Are Vicious
We woke to my phone buzzing and a knocking on the back door.Declan growled and the knocking stopped.I tried to crawl out of bed but he snatched me back, holding on tight.
“Let go.Somebody wants me,” I whispered.
“I want you more,” he grumbled.
“Aww, but seriously, I need to go.The day’s a-wastin’.”
My phone started buzzing again, so Declan leaned over me and grabbed it.I saw Osso’s name as he swiped it open.“What?”he growled.
“Sorry to wake you both, but it’s almost ten and we really need to talk to Arwyn,” he said.
“Who’s we?”Declan asked.
“Sophia and Kaknu are with me.Actually, you should probably be a part of this discussion too.”
“We’re coming down,” I shouted into the phone as I rolled out of bed.
Declan disconnected and tossed my phone to the side of the bed closest to where I was rooting through my closet for clothes.“You should run around naked more often.I approve.”He got out of bed, picked me up around the waist, and carried me into the bathroom.“We both need a shower.There are two shifters down there.Their sense of smell is quite good.”
I grimaced.
“Is the hair getting washed or going up?”he asked.
I looked at myself in the mirror.“Whatever Dad did to it last night, it looks great.I kinda hate to undo it.How does it smell?”
Declan leaned in and took a whiff.“Like me.We’ll wash it.”
Declan was ready first, naturally.He went down to deal with our visitors while I dealt with my hair.Dressed, with my hair still occasionally dripping, I jogged down the stairs and out to the deck.The sun and wind would help dry it.Declan met me at the door, no doubt hearing me coming, with my pearl in his hand.
“I thought I left that at home.”
“You did.”He picked up my hair from my neck and back so I could do the clasp.“I ran back to get it for you.”
“Thank you.”I sat down on the bench beside him and turned to Osso.“So, what’s up?”
“A few things,” Osso grumbled.
Hernández said, “First, we want you to know that Milo Swan was released on bail Sunday.”
Declan’s arm went around me.“I thought you said the bail was set too high for that.”
She tipped her head to the side.“It should have been, but a judge reviewed it and agreed it was unfairly high and lowered it significantly.”
She had a look on her face that had me leaning forward.“You think something shady happened?”
Osso and Hernández shared a look.He said, “This is a tight-ass judge who never does this kind of thing, so we’re wondering if Catherine Swan might have hexed him or something.”
“We also have the mayor breathing down our necks,” Hernández added.“He flipped out when he heard that not only were multiple murder victims found at an abandoned camp, but we had brought in a psychic to help investigate.The yelling in the captain’s office was epic.”She rolled her eyes.
“We’re wondering,” Osso took over, “if Swan being released has anything to do with making problems for our psychic so she’s not involved with the camp case.”
“That seems stupidly indirect,” Declan commented.“Why not order you all not to ask Arwyn for help?”
Hernández huffed a laugh.“Exactly what I said.”
I held up a finger.“Speaking of Swans, you guys are sitting on top of a bag containing a seagull who was tortured in a black magic spell.”
