Heartland Park is a swell of hills nestled just below the heart of the city. The buildings and skyscrapers towered above us like metal giants. Legally, the park would be closed to visitors at eleven in the evening. It was about twenty minutes until nine, so we had plenty of time.

 Lauren was silent as we walked down the three flights of stairs that led to the pond. The path wove intricately around the large body of water. Old-fashioned lamp posts arched above the winding path, and what the lamps didn't illuminate, the lights of the city brought into view. 

I walked across the wooden bridge and stopped for a moment to enjoy the view. The lights and foliage reflected off the water like a surrealist's painting, bent and distorted, but no less beautiful for it. The path led us on an incline up the side of the hill and around the pond. The smell of juniper was strong on the breeze. I ducked away from a spider's web as we walked under an old wooden archway. Lights that were set into small stone pillars replaced the lamp lights.

 Lauren stopped and turned to look at me. I almost bumped into her. She'd taken her gloves off and left them in the car. Her fingers brushed my neck as she tenderly guided the tresses of hair behind my shoulder. I could feel the effects of the wine flooding warmth throughout my body, calming my mind like a comfortable blanket.

 Her eyes were dark as she looked at me. She reached up, hesitantly at first, and when I didn't step back, she touched my face. I had a moment to wonder if she was going to kiss me before her eyes cast downward. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. 

She stared at the pulse in my throat like it was something she wanted to unwrap. I stepped back then. "Oh no," I said, "just because you bought dinner does not mean I have to open a vein and provide you with yours." Before she could open her mouth to speak, a scream ripped through the night air like the wild and terrible cry of a banshee. 

Lauren snapped out of her trance as she turned and looked into the night. I watched as her nostrils flared slightly. I felt the hair at the back of my neck rise. Goose bumps marched down the length of my arms. Another cry pierced the silence, and the fear in that one cry rode so thickly in the air that I thought I was going to choke on it. I felt my senses sharpen. The wolf stirred in her den, peeking out into the world with eyes that were my own.

 I couldn't think as a sense of helplessness and fear slammed into me. I couldn't shield against it. I flung off my heels and I began running toward the garden, leaping over a flight of steps and landing on my feet. I didn't stop running. The trees stretched toward the sky. I slipped silently between their trunks.

 I could hear small helpless sounds from within the dense gardens, but those weren't the only sounds I heard. A low guttural growl vibrated through the night. Hands caught me and shoved me against one of the trees. Lauren was suddenly there, pinning my shoulders. I whispered, "What are you doing?"

 "You are not the only wolf in this park," she said. I placed my heel against the trunk and pushed off. "I know." She saw the movement and moved away so quickly that I stumbled. I looked between the trees. The light in the area beyond was scarcer, but by the light of the crescent moon and the wolf's keen night vision, I could make out two shapes.

 Lauren kept her voice at a whisper. "What are you going to do?" she asked. "Swoop in and save her? Risk exposing yourself?"

 "No," I said as I began taking off my coat. "I'm not going to expose myself." I started unlacing the bodice of my corset. "But I am going to save her." Evan? I wondered. Could it be? I shrugged out of the dress. It fell in a heap of cloth at my feet. If it was, I would find him. I would stop him. I knelt on the ground wearing only my undergarments.

 I didn't care if Lauren was staring at me. I let go of all of my cares. I drew the smell of the night into my lungs. The smell of juniper clung to me. I opened myself, like I'd open a door, a window, or the lid on a box. I had to open something in my psyche to let her out. As soon as I opened that part of myself that kept her inside, she came running down the line of my soul and out of my physical body. Once it had been painful. It had been so painful I'd passed out. Now I gave myself to the shift like a woman giving herself to orgasm. 

Every muscle in my body clenched like a fist a second before the change took me under. There was a second of agonizing pain as every muscle went rigid, and then the wolf pushed out against the surface of my skin, breaking free of her fleshy prison. Distantly, I heard the sounds of my bones grinding and popping. I felt my nails lengthening, pads forming where palms once were, felt things moving like a wave gathering in the ocean, and spilling, spilling out of my skin, spilling out of my mouth in a howl and a tidal wave of white fur.

 I collapsed on my side, snout in the dirt, maw agape, panting, trying to catch my breath, to remember how my lungs worked. I stood on my rear paws and turned to look at Lauren. I couldn't hear her breathing. My ears swiveled in her direction, listening for a heartbeat and not finding one. Her emerald eyes met mine, and there was something in them that I couldn't read.

 I lowered myself to the ground, and flung myself through the trees. I had forgotten how good it felt to feel the earth colliding under my paws, to feel the world as it melted into so many scents and sounds. The wolf's growl grew louder and my hackles rose to attention. My paws hit the ground like war drums. The gray wolf grew in my vision. I lowered myself and pushed off the earth with all of my might. I flung my furred body into the air and hit the other wolf like a bullet nailing its target. The impact sent us both scattering to the ground. 

Another scream pierced the air. I scrambled to my paws as the gray wolf did the same. A deep bass growl sent a shudder of power down my spine like a line of hot flame. I drew my lips back, snarling, but I did not spare a glance at the screaming woman. 

Slowly, the gray wolf in front of me stood on its hind legs and erased any doubts from my mind that it might not have been a he. By rising, bipedal before me, his maleness dangled in plain view. I made a disgusted noise low in my throat.

 "Small," I said very carefully with the wolf's tongue. It is possible to speak in animal form, but the words always sound distorted. A wolf's mouth is not made for human words. It is our human selves that give us the capability, our knowledge of words and shaping vowels. 

He took a step toward me. "Bitch." I gave a bark of laughter, drawing my ears back in challenge. "Obviously." He leapt. I flung my body to the left, rolling across the grass and springing to my feet, trying to dodge the blow. He was there, suddenly, clawed hands seeking my face. I growled, snapping, just barely managing to evade his attack. My heart sped. I'd never fought another wolf in wolf form. I knew how to fight hand-to-hand combat. I knew how to fight with knives and how to use a gun. I'd hunted in wolf form. I'd dominated Dinah, but at this I was untried.

 The gray wolf saw it and took advantage, putting me on the defensive. His massive furred body sank low to the ground and his gold eyes watched me as he circled, predatory and deadly, more like some great cat waiting for the right moment to leap in on its unsuspecting prey. The wolf and I saw that look, and her power sailed through me like a physical blow, forcing me to dig my clawed hands into the earth. I had pushed her down in human form, but this form was hers and she would not be distracted or banished, not now.

 I closed my eyes for the briefest moment. She did not doubt. She was not afraid. She was not uncertain. She was the power of the full moon and no eclipse could stop her. I opened my eyes and rushed the gray wolf, slamming into him again in what I knew was a blur of motion. My claws found him first, cutting skin like incredibly sharp blades. He reared back and howled in pain, exposing his neck in a long line. I dove and sank my teeth in. 

The blood burst in my mouth like warm syrup. Claws raked down my arms, causing my jaw to slacken as I stifled a howl of pain. His claws sank into my skin and I bit harder, jerking my head back and tearing his throat out in a shower of hot blood. I felt the piece of his skin dangling from my lips. I tried to look at him. A moment of panic washed over me. There was blood in my eyes, obscuring my vision. I heard him coming. Kicking out with my legs, I caught his body. Claws the size of small knives raked across my hip. In the heat of battle, the pain was dull. I swiped at him again, catching the side of his face. I tried opening my eyes again but all I could see was red.

 I shook my head, reached up to wipe my eyes with clawed hands. He caught me off guard and my breath went out in a whoosh as I hit the ground. I felt the tension string his body like a bow on top of mine, like a snake just about to strike. My own body tensed, but this time, in fear. The air above me was suddenly empty. A heartbeat later and the sound of something heavy and solid sent a shudder through the ground beneath me. 

"Get up." It was Lauren's voice. I sat up, wiping blood out of my eyes and blinking. A pile of werewolf huddled at the base of a large oak tree some ten or fifteen feet away. I managed to lift myself to all fours. "Where's the woman?" I asked. "She ran when you interfered." I began slinking toward the wolf man's body. I heard Lauren say, "I won't save you again." But the wolf and I weren't looking at Lauren. No, we were looking at the gray wolf at the base of that wide tree. 

The wolf thought Kill, and I didn't disagree with her. Lauren was suddenly blocking my path. I looked up into her misty eyes. A growl of warning trickled from my lips. "Camila," she said very slowly, very carefully. "Camila, control your beast. You cannot allow her to make this kill, not if you wish to live in accordance to your human laws." I growled at her. Lauren was quick. She was faster than my eyes could follow. So much faster that I had a flicker of a thought—were all vampires faster than werewolves? Her hand sank into the fur at the back of my neck.

 She grabbed a handful of my scruff and jerked me roughly to her. Her other hand caught my jaw in a near-bruising grip. "No," she said, and there was command and power in her tone. A weight of cool power pressed heavy against my mind. I flinched as she shook me. "No." I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, focused on drowning out the wolf's cries for vengeance, for justice paid in blood and death. When I opened my eyes, Lauren asked, "Do you have control?" I did, but somewhere inside me, in this wolfish body, the wolf paced unhappily. "Yes." The word was only slightly tinted with that edge of growl. She was right. I couldn't kill him, even if it was Evan.

 If I'd been in human form, and had a gun, then I was Camila Cabello, P.P.I. and Paranormal Huntress, but right now I was the wolf. I heard the sound of sirens far off in the distance. Lauren turned her face toward the direction from which they sounded. "We need to go," she said. 

"Who?" I asked, but she was pulling me to my feet. I looked at the wolf huddled beneath the base of the oak. The sides of his furred body rose and fell with each inhale and exhale of his shallow breath. I stood, torn. Did I run or did I stay and make sure the cops found him? Lauren went and picked up a bundle of something from the ground. It took a moment for me to realize that the bundle she carried was my clothes.

 "Camila, you cannot stay," she said, as if reading my thoughts. "We must go, now." I made my decision and turned away from the pile of unconscious werewolf. If I stayed, I knew what would happen. I was wounded, but I was still a shape shifter, and more than likely, shape shifter was all the cops would see. The sounds of sirens drew nearer, several blocks away, but quickly approaching.

 Lauren fished the keys out of my coat pocket. My nails clicked softly against the pavement. I stayed close to her. It wouldn't exactly hide me, but in the dark, someone might mistake me for a Great Dane. She turned and walked to the driver's side door. I tilted my head, looking beyond the reflection of snowy fur and through the tinted glass.

 I sat back, waiting for her to realize that she was going to have to open the door for me. I watched as she slid behind the wheel. She looked at me and seemed to understand. The door opened and I hopped into the seat. I tried to get comfortable, and finally settled for sitting like I normally would, with my butt in the seat and feet on the floor. 

My clothes and shoes were a small heap in the backseat of the car. She started the car and I made a noise low in my throat, almost a growl, but not quite. "Happy?" she asked after putting her seat belt on. "Yes," I said and put mine on, though it was awkward and uncomfortable brushing up against my fur. She put the car in drive and hit the gas. Before I could say anything she was turning out of the parking lot. I leaned my weight against the turn to avoid hitting the door.

 "Watch it!" I growled. Just because she was a vampire didn't mean she had to drive my car like a bat out of hell. I grunted as the Tiburon lurched over a bump in the road, wondering which was worse: near-death experience by policemen with silver bullets, or possible near-death experience with Lauren driving. 

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  Lauren's driving improved. I wasn't sure if it was because I'd told her to drive more carefully, or because we were trying to look like good citizens, and not a vampire driving with a werewolf passenger. She made a left onto a street I didn't recognize. "You're going in the opposite direction of my apartment," I said. "We are not going back to your apartment."

 I tilted my head to look at her. "Where?" I knew she wasn't going to the Two Points. In order to get to the Two Points we had to hit the service road and go farther north into the city. We would've taken the service road and gone south to get to my apartment. "Where I live." She stopped as the light turned red and looked at me. "Why?" 

"Do you really want your neighbors seeing you thus?" She had a point. I settled back in my seat. "Dinah will meet us there. She will bring some of your clothes." I stared at her in disbelief. "I'm staying the night?" She looked genuinely perplexed. "Why not? How long will it be until you are able to shift back?" Instead of focusing on the "why not," I answered the other question. "I could shift now."

She gave a reserved smile. "Are you bragging at long last?"

 "No. The only reason I'm not is because of the side effects." I didn't always experience side effects, but I kept that part to myself. It was usually only when I forced myself to shift back after a full moon shift that the side effects kicked in. The body aches and tiredness were similar to having the flu, and so not my idea of fun. 

"Most lycanthropes cannot shift so soon." She glanced at me. "I have known only a few that were capable of such a feat."

 "Are you saying I'm abnormal?" I growled. "I never said such a thing." Her voice was more than calm. It was damn near soothing. "I am only stating that you have an ability few possess." I grumbled unhappily, "I can go home later." 

"You are covered in blood and need a bath. By the time you shift back, you will be too tired to go home, correct?" The dark curve of her brows raised dramatically against paleness of her skin. I'd forgotten about the blood. I lifted my hand. The blood had dried around my face and neck, leaving my fur stiff and clumped with it. I tried to see the wound at my hip beyond the matted fur. It was already healed. I turned in my seat as much as the seat belt would allow, trying to examine the wounds high up on my arms. One was long and jagged, with blood still seeping out of the opening. 

The other  arm wasn't that bad, but this one looked angry. It was deep enough that it would take longer to heal. I ran my tongue across the wound, slipping it gently along the edge of the jagged cut. It stung, and I did my best to ignore the pain. The sweet metallic taste of blood helped me to slip into that quiet place within. It was a place inside my mind where I was able to turn small pains into pleasurable sensations. 

I rolled my eyes upward and met Lauren's wide-eyed gaze. I saw the hunger in her eyes a moment before she turned to look back at the road. It made me uncomfortable. I stopped trying to clean my wounds. "Are you healed?" she asked. "For the most part." Lauren offered a slight nod. I turned to gaze out the window. The lights of the city fell behind us as we drove out of its reach.

 I should've guessed she lived away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. "Do you think the police will find him?" I asked. A long pause followed my question. "I do not know," she said at last. I suddenly wished I hadn't shifted. I wished that I'd thought to carry a gun with me, but I never imagined that what had happened would happen. If I'd had a gun with me and pumped a few rounds of silver bullets into his chest and called it self-defense, would that have solved the murders?

 Of course, there was the possibility that there was more than one killer. I tried to remember what Evan had smelled like and failed. If I'd had a piece of clothing I might've been able to trace the smell back to him, but that didn't help me any. In the heat of battle, the wolf had overshadowed my abilities to think like an investigator. Why hadn't I just shifted back into my human form, donned my clothes, and waited for the police? After my fight with the bitch that infected me those three years ago, I'd practically had to beat the EMTs away from me with a stick.

 I'd narrowly averted the suspicion of my colleagues. I had hidden the pain and the blood and gone to Shawn. If I'd stayed and the EMTs had looked at me...they'd have suspected that I'd been infected. Even if I shifted back and waited, the cops would know that I'd been attacked. Also, there'd been a witness that had seen me in wolf form. The wounds might heal during the transition, but there's still the issue of being covered in blood. 

Sure, I could've jumped in the pond after the shift and washed the blood off, but personally, that would look suspicious to me. Cops are a suspicious lot. I don't blame them, but I don't want their suspicions directed at me either. If I showed up on a scene and found an unarmed woman still standing after a fight with a werewolf I'd be looking for one damn good explanation. 

Lauren being a vampire wouldn't work as that damn good explanation, especially if my wounds weren't healed. The whole thing pissed me off and made me bitchy. It was such a no-win situation. The only "win" we had was the woman's safety. Lauren drove in silence as I gazed out the window watching the white painted lines in the road streak by. I gave myself to my mood and dark thoughts. "We could have put him in the trunk," I said, giving voice to one of my thoughts. Lauren's eyes strayed from the road as she gave me a look. "And if he woke?" I thought about that. If we'd stuffed him into the trunk and he'd woken I'd probably be missing half of my car.

 I frowned. He'd still been breathing when we'd left, which meant his body was already beginning to heal. If he was awake when the cops found him, they were in a bunch of shit. I said a small prayer that the cops arriving on the scene would be safe. 

I had no doubts that the sirens we had heard were on their way to Heartland Park. "Someone must've called the cops," I spoke carefully. I'd started to ask her if she knew who had done it earlier, hadn't I? "My guess," Lauren said, "is the woman, as there was no one else there."

 "You're sure of that?" I asked. Lauren guided the car onto the highway. "Very sure."

I closed my eyes and whispered, "Thank Gods." I was glad that we had saved the woman. Yet the fact that the killer was still out there left a bitter taste in my mouth.

 It was the bitter taste of defeat, and I hated it.