Written in Red (The Others, #1)

by Anne Bishop

“Maybe he got run over by a tree,” she muttered as she imagined a log rolling down a hill and flattening a certain Wolf. It happened in some of the videos she had watched, so it could happen. Couldn’t it? The thought cheered her up, so she pictured it again, changing the log to a rolling pin that rolled out the Wolf like a furry piecrust.

“Crow in the front room, puppy in the middle room, crazy Wolf outside,” she muttered. “Could today get any better?” Apparently, it could. Fortunately, she noticed the bug Jake must have dropped in her tea as a peace offering before she took a sip.

Oh, chew a tail and spit out the fur. Sure, the boy could have one if the man was willing to knock on Meg’s door and beg for it. Right now, he would do a lot more than beg in order to get the cookie Sam wanted.

But you changed that. He couldn’t have a cookie as a Wolf, so he shifted to a boy. I couldn’t reach him, but you did—with a leash that isn’t a leash and a cookie.”

Wolves were big and scary and so fluffy, how could anyone resist hugging one just to feel all that fur? “Ignore the fluffy,” she muttered. “Remember the part about big and scary.”

She nodded. “Before he could hurt the girl, the police found him and caught him—and killed him.”

This was Monty – has to be, too much of a coincidence for it not to be.

“You weren’t afraid of me when I was Wolf,” he said. “Why are you afraid of Nathan?” “He’s got big feet!” Which was true, but beside the point. It was just the first thing that popped into her head. “What?” An insulted-sounding arrrroooo came from the other side of the door, a reminder that Wolves also had big ears.

“What happens if he bites a deliveryman?” “That’ll depend on whether he’s hungry.” She wanted to say, Ha, ha. Very funny. But she was pretty sure he wasn’t joking.