The Patient Wolf (Wicked Urban Fantasy #1) Read Free

house.
    ~~~
    Once inside the house, Chris sagged against the hall table he and Shannon used to hold the mail and all the usual clutter of daily life. He was suddenly exhausted. “Shannon, I’m back.”
    “Good, I was starting to get worried,” his sister said, coming down the stairs. “What took you … you’re hurt. Your pants are ripped. What happened? Did you find …”
    “I had a run-in with a very large dog.”
    “But your leg. You were bitten! Oh my God!”
    “No, no I wasn’t bitten. I slipped. It’s just a scrape. No bite marks on me. This time.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 3
     
    As Ana walked to work the next morning it was hard for her to believe the events of the previous evening. The menacing feeling and darkness from the night before had been replaced with bright sunshine, a cloudless deep blue sky, and a crispness in the air that hinted at cooler days to come.
    Mrs. Andres, a plump widow in her seventies who lived three doors down from Ana’s house, was already outside busily decorating her porch with pumpkins, black cats, and fake cobwebs. She stopped to chat as Ana walked by.
    “Did you hear what happened last night?” she asked avidly.
    “Yes, I was part of it.”
    Mrs. Andres threw down her handful of fake spiders and gave Ana every last bit of her attention. Mrs. Andres was the neighborhood busybody and Ana knew if she didn’t tell her the story now Mrs. Andres would soon hear enough rumors to make up a tale of her own. Better to head her off right now with the truth, she thought.
    “What do you mean, you were part of it? The dead man?”
    “A dead man? What do you mean?” Ana asked weakly.
    This time it seemed that Mrs. Andres really did have news.
    “It’s all over the television this morning. There was a man found dead in Mitchell Park. They think he was killed by a mad dog. That’s only two blocks away from here. I don’t know what things are coming to. This used to be a nice neighborhood. No one is safe anymore. But you said you were a part of it. Were you walking in the park? Oh my dear, are you all right? What happened? You must have been so terrified.”
    It had always been difficult to get a word in when Mrs. Andres was talking, now that she had something really interesting to discuss, Ana thought she’d never be quiet. She broke into Mrs. Andres’s monologue ruthlessly.
    “A dog. I was attacked by a dog coming home last night. It seemed vicious, but I never thought…and the police never said…Oh my god, what if Chris…”
    Mrs. Andres’s eyes gleamed with interest.
    “What did you see? You said the police were called?”
    “Yes, I was walking home last night after class and this huge…animal…dog…” Ana stumbled over her description. “Well, whatever it was, I’d never seen it in the neighborhood before. It attacked me. Right in front of my house.”
    “I bet it belongs to that new woman. The one who bought the old place over on Westbridge. Why a single woman would want a house that size and in that condition …”
    “Well it can’t be hers,” Ana broke in quickly. “Her brother’s the one who chased the animal away, and he’d never seen it before. He was out for a walk, heard the commotion when I was attacked, and came running.”
                  “Her brother. Really. A grown woman living with her brother. And this mystery dog gets loose last night and he shows up just in time. How very interesting. Well, it all sounds extremely strange to me.” With just a few words Mrs. Andres managed to imply all kinds of scandal: Doubt as to the veracity of Ana’s facts, a possible illicit relationship between the unknown new neighbor and her brother—or whoever the man Ana had met last night really was, and a connection between Chris and the animal.
    Ana felt a bit guilty she was amused by the conversation. She ought to be horrified that this animal had killed someone, she thought, not giggling over Mrs.