24
ADDIE
Maddox didn’t wait for an answer before shifting. While he’d kept from wiping his hands on his borrowed clothes, the fool paid no mind to how he burst the seams when shifting. I stumbled back to give him room. His form nearly took up every square inch.
Thankfully, the door was made of a pliant vinyl that zipped shut like a tent door. I pulled the sipper and greeted the fresh air that swam through.
Maddox tossed his head, gesturing for me to get on his back. Already, I could feel his presence tugging at my arcana. Though I’d used up my life force earlier, my arcana uncoiled from its endless spool and flowed into Maddox.
He raised his head high as if refreshed by my arcana. The ghostly wolf grew even larger—at least it seemed to. Just when I thought Maddox wouldn’t be able to fit through the door, he leapt.
I felt the tug on my power as he opened the portal to the afterlife. Together, we plummeted into it before ever touching the ground. I squeezed my eyes shut and buried my face in his fur. Cold rushed over me. It pressed at every inch of my body until I thought I would be crushed under its weight. Voices, near and far, all sounded at once to become a cacophonous roar.
Then, we stepped out into the mortal plane again. I gasped and slid off Maddox’s back. He quickly caught me in his maw before I could hit the ground. He lifted me and set me on my feet where I could see the trash that I’d nearly thrown myself into.
I scratched the back of my head and realized I didn’t have anything to use as a veil. “Shit.”
That explained why the voices beyond the portal had been so loud. I hated doing the leap with him. If I could, I would have turned down the offer and used my car to meet him out here. However, this was faster, and we’d appeared right on top of Maddox’s forgotten clothes.
“What is your uncle going to think when he sees the ripped clothing in his tree stand?” I asked.
I turned away while Maddox shifted back. Faintly, I heard him sniff his clothes and groan. They must have reeked from being left here all day.
“He’ll probably think that I ripped your clothes off and had a wild time.”
I rolled my eyes and turned with an argument on my lips. My words failed me when I came face to face with Maddox’s bare chest. This time, it wasn’t his nakedness that made me fumble. There were scars crisscrossing his skin that weren’t there before.
My jaw dropped. Guilt punched me in the gut.
“You’re not healing properly,” I said breathily.
Maddox looked down at himself. He shrugged. “It’s fine. I don’t feel anything, if that’s your concern. For all intents and purposes, the wounds are healed. There’s just a memento leftover.”
“Normal shifters don’t heal like that! They don’t get scars unless…unless it’s a near death experience.” I thought of the scars that split Ryder down the middle.
“Don’t worry. I wasn’t near death,” Maddox assured me.
It wasn’t very reassuring, though. I still bit the inside of my cheek and worried that I would get this man killed. He’d been in the middle of a zombie attack, gotten bitten by an undead wolf shifter, and fought that same shifter that refused to die. His track record while alongside me wasn’t looking great.
It was time that we went our separate ways. We had to or else he would die, and I did not want Maddox’s life on my hands. I wanted him to get a second chance at love and to live alongside his future mate.
But when Maddox shoved his hand into his coat pocket, pulled out a piece of paper, and held it to his nose, his expression made me set aside any thoughts of leaving. His eyes went wide. He mouthed a single word:
No.
He pulled the paper away from his nose and stared down at it. His eyes were still just as wide. They trembled as if his rage was rising. I took a step towards him then stopped myself. I wasn’t qualified to calm a shifter’s anger. Who did I think I was? His mate?
“W-what is it?” I asked, instead.
Maddox crumpled the paper in his fist. “The killer works for my precinct.”
Startled, I blinked.
“I need to go to the office. I’ll be able to sniff the killer out there. Once I find him…” Maddox trailed off.
His skin paled. I heard his breath rush out of him like someone had punched him in the gut. He closed his eyes and rocked back on his heels.
“What? What is it?”