Something to Curse About (8 page)

Doggy Me. Human Me likes him
. I wondered if being turned into a dog made me a better judge of character. People were always talking about how animals knew it when someone was bad. Nick could be damn bossy, and he was downright rude to Logan most of the time, but I didn’t think he was a bad person.

Then again, Doggy Me was part Border Collie, a dog bred to watch and tend herds, while Nick was a wolf, one of the hereditary predators such dogs guarded against. It could be that simple.

“I hope Discord’s all right,” the shifter muttered, twitching the leash. We walked to his truck in silence.

TWELVE

Logan didn’t drive straight back to his apartment. Instead, he stopped at a pet store outlet. “Finding your family is going to have to wait, girl, so we need to pick up a few things for you.”

By then, I’d begun to wonder why he talked to Doggy Me so much. A lot of people talk to their pets, but it wasn’t something I expected shifters to do. Whatever the reason, it was nice to find out he didn’t drop something the second it became inconvenient.

I did feel bad they were worried, but it was kind of funny too.
Here I am, right under your noses. I’m not nearly as lost as you guys think
.

We went inside, and Logan proved to be a fast, decisive shopper. His idea of a “few things” resulted in a mixed case of canned dog food, a large bag of kibble—the good stuff, not an off-brand—food and water bowls, a box of organic doggy biscuits, a big square dog bed, a brush, and four toys. Internally cringing at the total, I followed him back out to the truck while adding it to what I already owed him for the vet checkup.

I needed to return to human before taking care of Doggy Me emptied out his bank account.

Twenty minutes later, we pulled into the garage. A couple of other shifters helped unload and carry things upstairs, and he told them to clean up in order to go with him to help look for me.

“Discord’s missing?” Terra asked, looking up from the bags he’d placed on the table.

“Looks like it.” Logan unsnapped the leash then touched her back. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her, if she doesn’t handle whatever’s going on herself.”

I nosed his other hand, pleased to learn that he really thought I could take care of myself. He looked down with a smile. “I decided our new friend here is staying until Discord turns up. Would you mind taking care of her for a while?”

“I don’t mind, but what about going to the grocery store?”

“Alanna and Teague will take you.”

The teen nodded, emptying the bags. She surprised me by asking, “Did you try contacting her?”

“The second Nick said she was missing. She didn’t answer. I think there’s a limit on her telepathic range.” Logan began pulling tags off of the toys. “But I’ll keep trying.”

“What about her elf hound? Can’t he…”

“Nick said he can’t find her.”

I sat down as Terra’s face paled. “That’s not possible. He’s bound to her by blood magic. He should always be able to find her.”

“Yeah, I know.” They gazed at each other for several seconds. Logan shook his head. “There could be another reason for why he can’t find her.”

Than what reason?
I looked from her to him.

“So you think she’s still alive?”

Oh, that reason.

He smiled. “I won’t count her out until I see her decomposed body. Discord’s smart, tough, and powerful. It’s more likely someone or something is hiding her from Leglin. She’ll either escape, or figure out a way around it and call for help if she needs it.”

My tail started wagging.
You are my new bestest friend, Mr. Sayer
.

Logan glanced down and patted me on the head. “I need to get downstairs, let Alanna and Teague know, and head back to Arcane Solutions.” He pulled out his wallet, handing over a card. “Don’t go crazy over the junk food at the grocery store.”

Terra sighed, accepting the card. “I won’t.”

With a chuckle, he lowered his head to rub his cheek against hers, kissed her forehead, and headed for the door. I followed, but he gently shooed me back and shut the door in my face.

Curses, foiled again
.

The teen fed and brushed me after putting away my new belongings, and then took me downstairs to the yard. A woman came out before I went in search of a private spot. Since she asked if Terra was ready to leave, I decided she must be Alanna.

“Yeah. Do you think she’ll be all right out here while we’re gone?”

“Should be. I’ll tell Jake to check on her a few times.”

Terra knelt to hug me. “You be good and stay here. I’ll be back soon.”

I wagged my tail, seeing an opportunity. As soon as they went inside, I hurried to take care of business and began searching for a way out of the yard. Sooner or later, Kate would do a locator spell. Since I knew where the garage was, I could find my way back to where I’d left my car. Finding Doggy Me with my car should give them a hint.

The yard’s walls were cinder block, but the gate was wood, and there wasn’t anything but dirt under it. I couldn’t open it, but fifteen minutes later, I wiggled under it thanks to the hole I’d dug. After a good shake to rid my coat of the worst of the dirt, I took off at a run.

Daytime traffic proved daunting. Vehicles were a lot bigger when you were a dog. I had a few narrow misses before reaching the highway, and paused to catch my breath before braving the underpass. The strip mall waited on the other side. I couldn’t see my car yet, and hoped it hadn’t been towed, or worse, stolen.

“Hey!”

I looked over my shoulder and found Terra hanging out a car window three vehicles back.
Crap
.

Turning, I hurriedly looked both ways and took off across the access road as the light turned green. She yelled again, but I couldn’t make out the words over the sounds of engines revving. Thanks to the green light, I didn’t have to stop on the other side of the underpass, but kept going across the other access road and to the sidewalk around the strip mall’s parking lot.

It was full of cars, so I halted to look around. Of all the things to forget, I couldn’t remember exactly where I’d left my car. Under one of the lights, but there were a couple dozen or so of them.
I need to pay a lot more attention before I teleport
.

“There she is.”

Aw, hell
. Terra and company had followed, and were pulling into the closest entrance. I flattened my ears, aimed for the closest light pole, and plunged into the parking lot chaos. The sound of doors slamming followed me, as did Terra’s cries for me to stop.

Guilt was quick to rise at her frightened tone, but if I could find my car before they caught me, she would recognize it, and call Logan. It wouldn’t necessarily let them figure out Doggy Me was actually Cordi, but beggars can’t be choosers.

I do not recommend playing chase with determined shifters. The steady car and foot traffic was one of the reasons they didn’t quickly catch me. However, having three people chasing after me did provide enough incentive that I learned to jump. Mostly over Teague, who tended to dive for me each time he caught sight of me.

The other reason they were having trouble? Terra wasn’t the only one phobic about dogs. Teague did finally manage to grab hold of my tail, but when I instinctively turned with my teeth bared, he let go and backed away with wide eyes.

Alanna, a petite brunette with big blue eyes, called him a wuss as she shot past him, hot on my trail. I poured on the speed, only to slam on the brakes as Terra stepped out from between two parked cars. They had me sort of surrounded.

I turned, intending to dart between cars before one of them was close enough to grab my collar, and froze, the tip of my nose not eight inches from the front bumper of my beloved chariot.

“Bad dog!” Terra’s hand closed on my collar. “You scared me. Someone could’ve hit you. I’m going to buy a chain and…”

I looked up when she fell silent and felt a doggy grin spread. She’d noticed my car, and her mouth stayed open as her eyebrows slowly rose. She recovered quickly, closing her mouth and swallowing. “Teague, call Logan. Tell him we found Discord’s car.”

Yes!
I wanted to do a victory dance, but settled for wagging my tail when she knelt and hugged me, still staring at my car.

***

An hour later, I wasn’t nearly as pleased. I stood in the center of a knot of shifters, five tigers, a lion, and nearly a dozen wolves. Damian was present, with his partner, Detective Schumacher, and two uniformed cops.

Discord Jones had officially become a missing person, because they’d found my cell phone on the edge of the highway, four miles away. No sign of my clothes, wallet, or keys.

“We need to clear the area and block it off,” Damian said, watching the wolves pass around a plastic bag with something in it. “What’s that?”

Nick answered. “It’s a shirt she wore a couple of days ago. We’re going to spread out and see if we can pick up her scent.”

“Discord doesn’t like to park her car inside the Palisades. If it’s here, she probably teleported,” Logan said. He had a tight grip on my collar, because I’d been growling continuously for twenty minutes. Doggy Me didn’t like the smell of any of the wolf shifters.

“He’s likely right. I’m going to do a spell that will show us whether she did or not.” Damian knelt to open the dark blue duffle bag at his feet. I knew it held his department-approved spell paraphernalia. I even knew the spell he planned to do didn’t always work. Even though the odds were one in a hundred, if this spell got results, they were accepted in court, so it was worth his while.

My witch buddies often said having a personal connection to someone helped, which meant the spell should work this time, especially with a focus object as large as my car. A good thing, since Damian didn’t have me and my abilities as backup this time—not that they always came through.

While watching him set his things up, I tried to reach for my telepathic ability again.
Damian?

Nothing. I tried Nick, Logan, and even Schumacher, but none of them heard me.

Disgusted, I leaned against Logan’s leg. He crouched down, his dark green eyes meeting mine, and proceeded to quietly lecture me for running off and scaring Terra.

Schumacher approached. “Is the dog a shifter too?”

“No, she’s a normal dog.”

The beefy detective grinned. “Then she probably didn’t understand half of what you said. Maybe not even that much.”

Logan sighed, his fingers closing around my muzzle to give it a light shake, and then he straightened. “Yeah. Guess I’m not used to normal animals.”

“What’s her name?”

“I don’t know. Found her last night. I’m Logan Sayer.” They shook hands, and the shifter filled him in on his attempts to find my imaginary owners. Schumacher held his hand out for me to sniff and patted my head after I’d done so. There were traces of burger on his skin. I hoped I’d eat one again, preferably as a human.

“If you don’t have any luck, and decide not to keep her, let me know. My sister’s been looking for a dog. She’d take good care of her.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.”

Meanwhile, Terra had edged closer to Damian, watching his preparations with interest. She cleared her throat. “What does this spell do?”

“It’ll show time passing in this specific location, from about ten last night until dawn, like watching a video on fast forward.”

The teen frowned, glancing up at the light post. I followed her gaze to a security camera mounted on it. “Why don’t you just look at the security camera footage?”

The warlock snorted. “Because there isn’t any. That camera’s a fake.”

“Oh.”

We waited for the customers who owned the cars parked around mine to move them, until the area cleared enough for Damian to spray paint a gray circle around my car. Terra asked if the color was important, and Damian smiled.

He loved answering questions about magic, and explained that gray was one of the colors conducive to vision and neutrality. “Which means I won’t accidentally influence a vision with what I want to see, but we’ll see the truth of what happened during the time we’re viewing.”

“If you can see the past, can you see the future too?”

Damian shook his head. “The future isn’t written. Or at least, not written in stone, though David—he’s a member of my coven—thinks there are some events that are. Only psychics with precognition ever catch glimpses of the future.”

He finished spraying the circle and straightened. “You should come by the Blue Orb sometime. David owns it, and another of our coven members, Jo, works there with him.”

The girl glanced at Logan, who smiled and nodded. “I’ll take you after we find Discord.”

“This will take a few more minutes.” Damian traded his paint for chalk. I wished he’d call for Illy, but couldn’t remember him needing his familiar for this spell before. Maybe that’s what it’d take: Getting to one of my witch buddies’ familiars. I didn’t really understand what they were, other than not really the animals they appeared to be.

After the episode with my dad, I was glad they all seemed to like me.

Since I’d watched Damian do the spell before, I watched Nick instead. He’d taken my shirt back and sealed the bag. He spoke to another shifter, and I realized they looked quite a bit alike. Were they brothers? Nick hadn’t ever mentioned his family. He only talked about his pack in general terms, aside from his Alpha. Then again, he’d never really offered much information about him either.

He’d made the suggestion that I visit, but I’d turned him down after learning a lot of them preferred skin to clothes most of the time.