So I wait for my captor to show up and mark the end of the story for one of us.
***
By the time I hear footsteps getting down the stairs, I feel sharper and ready. Is it weird that I feel more relaxed tied in a basement at an unknown location than I did in my kitchen trying to figure out if I got the quantity of sugar right? You can’t just say one hundred fifty-six grams of sugar as if everyone has a metric-system weighing machine lying around in their houses,yourbakingqueen777.
Dominic isn’t looking as chirpy as he did a few hours ago. He still looks confident, but there’s a tiny frown between his eyebrows. The guy is under stress.
“We’re hurrying the plan along,” he declares. “But we canstillhave fun, can’t we?” he says, his face all smug.
“Oh yeah? I didn’t keep it quick with your girlfriend,” I say.I need him close and distracted for this to work. My chances of survival will go down to nil if he comes at me with his claws out at werewolf speed.
The change in his expression is instant. He’s furious now. Yes, be angry, focus on being angry. “You son of a bitch.”
I laugh. “You got caught, didn’t you?” What else could he be this worried about if he’s been planning his petty revenge for what has to be over a year? Histax returns?
“They will give me awards when they know who I disposed of,” he claims.
I laugh again, more mockingly. “Oh, and how are you proving I even did anything? Because what, I bought somemedicine?”
He smirks and walks toward me. He leans in again. “Notthe human police,” he says.
But I’ve heard enough out of him. I leap, swinging the rope behind his neck. Before he realizes what’s happening, I have it looped around him twice. I kick the chair back to have some space to move.
I kick at his knees until he goes down. He thrashes, claws out, trying to attack me.
I’ve trained to keep the claws away. Even with my body at its weakest, they’re not getting me. Not today.
When he tries to headbutt me in the chest, I tighten the rope.
His hands go around the rope, trying to cut it off. But it’s too late. That’s why I didn’t choke him all the way immediately. I needed to keep his claws away from the rope until he was desperate. Now, he’s just injuring himself.
His body starts to give out.
A loud bang upstairs distracts me. Footsteps thunder down. Then Nicholas is standing there with a gun trained on us.
Everything happens in slow motion, or maybe my brain freezes when I see him here. Dominic claws through the rope, which is now drenched in both of our bloods. He flips us so he’s standing behind me and pulls me against his chest.
All thewhile, I stare at Nicholas and the end of the barrel of his gun. Then I feel a sharp claw against my neck.
No, no, no, no, no. I wasso close.
“Dom, you don’t have to do that,” Nicholas says carefully. He looks tired and unkempt. His hair tussled, as I’ve only seen in the mornings. He’s frowning hard. At least, I got to see him before I died. His eyes are trained on Dominic behind me.
“I have to. But you already know that,” Dominic says while I try to stand as still as possible. “He killed my girlfriend andso manywerewolves. You were investigating the case. You stalked him formonthsbecause you suspected him.”
Iknewhe wouldn’t want me once he realized what I was. But knowing heneverdid? That crushes my cold, dark heart to pieces. An unrelenting heaviness weighs me down, my eyes watering.
“But this is not the right way,” Nicholas says, his voice breathless. Hestillwon’t look at me.
“What, you want to protect himevenafter knowing everything you know?”
“No, we need to bring him in. Punish him the right way,” he says. “You don’t want to be like him.”
Dominic does snort. “You know they’re just going to tangle the entire case in paperwork. The Bureau is nothing but a bunch of pansies working to keep the humans happy and quiet,” he says with so much hostility I’m surprised he hasn’t stabbed me yet.
“Okay, okay. You’re right,” Nicholas says. Iknewthis was coming, but hearing him read out my death declaration still makes something cold drop to the pit of my stomach. The worst part? He still won’t look at me,the fucking coward.
“You’re right, they’ll just delay everything,” Nicholas continues. “But you still can’t stab him with claws. I have LAPD officers coming here. Didn’t know what I was going to find. So, it has to be with a gun. Easy to explain away.” Then Nicholaswinksat him.
