asked with a wolfish grin.
The elevator brightened as the clouds revealed the rest of the moon.
Ainsley moaned loudly, causing the coroner to look away from Grace.
Time slowed to a crawl. Grace’s heart constricted as she prepared for him to see the tail and rip the sheet off the gurney.
She could kiss any hope of ever becoming sheriff goodbye.
Julian reached out his hand and jostled Adam’s coffee cup.
The steaming black liquid splashed all over the coroner’s white lab coat. Adam cursed and tried to wipe it off himself.
“What’s going on?” the nurse asked.
Grace almost jumped out of her skin, she had nearly forgotten he was still standing beside her.
“Oh, wow, sorry, man,” Julian said in an innocent voice.
She quickly pressed 1. There was a ding and the doors slid open.
“I thought you said this patient was going to the morgue,” the nurse said as Grace, Julian, Ainsley, and the gurney raced out into the main lobby of the hospital.
“Her prognosis has improved,” Julian called back.
Grace had her eyes on the front door. Twenty paces. They could make it. They would make it.
“What’s going on with this patient?” the blonde at the front desk asked, pushing her pink glasses up the bridge of her nose.
“Police business,” Grace flashed her badge.
“What do you mean- ” the blonde began.
Julian raised one hand in the air and waved to her.
“Ignosce,” he murmured.
The pink glasses dropped down the bridge of the blonde’s nose again but this time she didn’t bother to push them up. Instead she turned back to her computer monitor with a confused expression.
Grace pushed and ran. The automatic glass doors opened before them and the cold night air washed over her skin.
Ainsley pounded past them toward the trees that separated the parking lot from the open space beyond, bordering the falls. Well, good for her, she’d made it. She’d get back to Tarker’s Hollow on foot. Or on paw, or whatever.
Grace turned the gurney toward the rear lot where her car was parked and took off as quickly as she could without endangering the furry body on the gurney. Julian jogged alongside in companionable silence.
Grace had to ask.
“Did you Jedi mind trick that receptionist?” She couldn’t help but grin. Really, in spite of the circumstances, it was hard not to geek out. Julian was amazing. Really, really amazing.
“Sorry, I don’t really get the reference. I’m not a Star Trek fan,” he replied.
A squirrel raced up one of the weeping cherries that lined the parking lot and Sadie’s tail moved slightly with what Grace prayed was just a breeze.
“We have some movies to catch up on,” Grace said as they took off to her car at a run. She tried not to think about what it would be like to have the elderly wolf wake up in her Civic.
CHAPTER 12
A insley crashed through the college woods in the form of a large red wolf, taking the long way home to end up behind Princeton Ave so she could sneak in her own back door.
She hadn’t anticipated shifting, and now she had no clothes waiting at the edge of the woods. She figured a wolf sneaking into her yard would raise fewer eyebrows than her naked human form.
Erik would have known that she would need to shift and would have helped her plan better. She tried not to think about how many things would be different if Erik were here.
The kids next door were inside, but crowing so loudly she could hear them from the other side of the picket fence where she was crouched. The fact that they were awake was a good thing - it meant the parents weren’t sitting around staring out the window.
Quick as a thought, she leapt over the fence, landed in the middle of the backyard and sailed from the foot of the porch stairs to the backdoor in one bound.
The neighbors’ German Shepherd exploded in a hurricane of rapid fire barks.
Crap.
Ainsley instinctively growled back.
Immediately
The elevator brightened as the clouds revealed the rest of the moon.
Ainsley moaned loudly, causing the coroner to look away from Grace.
Time slowed to a crawl. Grace’s heart constricted as she prepared for him to see the tail and rip the sheet off the gurney.
She could kiss any hope of ever becoming sheriff goodbye.
Julian reached out his hand and jostled Adam’s coffee cup.
The steaming black liquid splashed all over the coroner’s white lab coat. Adam cursed and tried to wipe it off himself.
“What’s going on?” the nurse asked.
Grace almost jumped out of her skin, she had nearly forgotten he was still standing beside her.
“Oh, wow, sorry, man,” Julian said in an innocent voice.
She quickly pressed 1. There was a ding and the doors slid open.
“I thought you said this patient was going to the morgue,” the nurse said as Grace, Julian, Ainsley, and the gurney raced out into the main lobby of the hospital.
“Her prognosis has improved,” Julian called back.
Grace had her eyes on the front door. Twenty paces. They could make it. They would make it.
“What’s going on with this patient?” the blonde at the front desk asked, pushing her pink glasses up the bridge of her nose.
“Police business,” Grace flashed her badge.
“What do you mean- ” the blonde began.
Julian raised one hand in the air and waved to her.
“Ignosce,” he murmured.
The pink glasses dropped down the bridge of the blonde’s nose again but this time she didn’t bother to push them up. Instead she turned back to her computer monitor with a confused expression.
Grace pushed and ran. The automatic glass doors opened before them and the cold night air washed over her skin.
Ainsley pounded past them toward the trees that separated the parking lot from the open space beyond, bordering the falls. Well, good for her, she’d made it. She’d get back to Tarker’s Hollow on foot. Or on paw, or whatever.
Grace turned the gurney toward the rear lot where her car was parked and took off as quickly as she could without endangering the furry body on the gurney. Julian jogged alongside in companionable silence.
Grace had to ask.
“Did you Jedi mind trick that receptionist?” She couldn’t help but grin. Really, in spite of the circumstances, it was hard not to geek out. Julian was amazing. Really, really amazing.
“Sorry, I don’t really get the reference. I’m not a Star Trek fan,” he replied.
A squirrel raced up one of the weeping cherries that lined the parking lot and Sadie’s tail moved slightly with what Grace prayed was just a breeze.
“We have some movies to catch up on,” Grace said as they took off to her car at a run. She tried not to think about what it would be like to have the elderly wolf wake up in her Civic.
CHAPTER 12
A insley crashed through the college woods in the form of a large red wolf, taking the long way home to end up behind Princeton Ave so she could sneak in her own back door.
She hadn’t anticipated shifting, and now she had no clothes waiting at the edge of the woods. She figured a wolf sneaking into her yard would raise fewer eyebrows than her naked human form.
Erik would have known that she would need to shift and would have helped her plan better. She tried not to think about how many things would be different if Erik were here.
The kids next door were inside, but crowing so loudly she could hear them from the other side of the picket fence where she was crouched. The fact that they were awake was a good thing - it meant the parents weren’t sitting around staring out the window.
Quick as a thought, she leapt over the fence, landed in the middle of the backyard and sailed from the foot of the porch stairs to the backdoor in one bound.
The neighbors’ German Shepherd exploded in a hurricane of rapid fire barks.
Crap.
Ainsley instinctively growled back.
Immediately
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