Free Going Under by Lauren Dane Page A

if it is.” One brow rose as she took him to school.
    “Underneath the subtle but feminine perfume and the pretty clothes you’ve got the
     heart of a predator.” He smiled.
    “I’m not going to allow anyone to make me feel inferior. If a human received a death
     threat, they’d go to the cops. Why should I do anything different?” She held a hand
     in his direction. “Let me see it.”
    “No. It’s ugly. Hateful and ugly and you don’t need to see it. I’ll handle it with
     the police.”
    “Here’s another fact about me, I don’t like to be handled or managed. I may be new
     to the death threat game, but I’m not going to pass out because I’m fragile. Let me
     see it. I’m the one making the police report, I have to know what it says.”
    Stubborn. Damn, he liked it.
    He handed it over and she scanned it. He’d have been lying if he denied being impressed
     with how she took another person threatening to disembowel her and let crows eat her
     guts. She read it calmly, though he caught the way she’d paled and made notes before
     looking back to him.
    “Tell me why you feel this isn’t credible. I’m not arguing, I just need to know your
     process.”
    “Partly it’s the energy of the message. Hate, yes. If the sender saw you on the street
     he or she might yell at you, might picket outside a building you were in, but there’s
     no intent.”
    Her eyes widened and she leaned closer. “You know this how?”
    “It’s part of my gift. It’s not infallible, it’s a gut feeling and it needs to be
     backed up by other evidence. Sometimes it doesn’t work at all, especially when it’s
     a letter or over the Internet. But when it pings my magick, it’s usually because it’s
     got a lot of intent. We have a checklist of things we use. This particular threat
     is one we’ve received a few times already. Pretty much word for word. It’s almost
     like an Internet meme. He’s hateful, but not serious.”
    “That’s incredible. What an amazing gift you have. And of course it’s a gut feeling,
     that’s where your magick lives.” Her eyes looked so damned blue. The expression of
     wonder she wore made her even more beautiful.
    He was struck by the sudden and intense desire to haul her close and kiss her senseless.
    He shoved that desire far away and decided to stick with amused and flattered. Far
     less likely to get slapped that way.
    “I never really thought I’d have call to use it. It’s not something we had to deal
     with before. Death threats and the like, I mean.”
    She sighed and folded the paper into her file. “I’ll take this to the police with
     me.” She stood and he caught the scent of her magick, just a brief breath of it. Enough
     to bring the hair on his arms to stand from the electricity of it.
    He followed, standing too close, but not moving. “We’ll call them and have them come
     out. Let’s get you to the studio first. Faine and I are switching places today and
     probably tomorrow.”
    “Is he all right?” She cocked her head, looking up at him.
    “You’re a very public face on Owen. You’re a high-profile target for a lot of attention.
     Meriel came by with Dominic to discuss this issue. Lark and I feel you’d be better
     with one of us. Faine is great and damned good at his job.” He took her hand and squeezed
     it briefly. “But I’m better. I have magick, he doesn’t.” Though certainly one couldn’t
     underestimate the power of shifting into a giant wolf with razor-sharp teeth and claws.
    “I’m sure you have better things to do with your time than babysit me.”
    “No, not really. This meeting later with Warden is huge for us. It’s important I be
     there anyway. And in the wake of the piece in the
Times
today, it’s important you continue to represent us in the media. So my being there
     is important too.”
    “That’s a lot of important, right there.” She said it low, with a teasing smile on
     her lips and the air between them