Shift Happens (A Carus Novel Book 1)
away any further thoughts of the werewolves like a playa shaking off women with attachment issues.
    Circling the parking lot a couple of times gave me the confidence that the area remained wolf free. Midday on a work week, no norms or other supes milled around either.
    As soon as I touched down beside my car, I shifted back. Automatically my cat and wolf pushed forward, fighting to dominate my senses. A strong need to analyze the area emerged—to sniff out information like a hound dog or prowl around as an angry cat. Both tempting.
    I’d learned the hard way not to think of the wolf or mountain lion in falcon form. Being much smaller and different in nature, I struggled to keep focused. I didn’t want to shift into a hundred and twenty pound mountain lion mid-flight. Luckily, when I’d first learned this lesson, I’d been close to the ground and walked away from the “learning opportunity” with only a broken arm and splitting headache.
    I straightened up and eyed my car in dismay. The dilapidated rusty-red Ford Contour. I purchased it solely for its ability to get from A to B without drawing attention.
    Hah! Good luck with that now .
    It reeked of wolves and bums—not the Gluteus Maximus kind of bum, the homeless kind. They’d smashed all the windows save the front windshield and the trunk hung open at a weird angle. Multiple tickets caked the wipers and the one intact piece of glass. They flapped in the wind in greeting. Smells of urine, garbage and dirty sex radiated from the interior. A miracle my A to B car hadn’t been towed.
    The metal emitted a loud, nail-grating sound as I pried the trunk open farther. I peered inside. And groaned.
    Tipping my head back to look at the sky, I tried to calm down. Everything was gone, including my emergency clothes. They were probably outfitting one of downtown’s homeless right now. The instinctive predatory urge to track them down hit me. My cat hissed, clawing to get out. Settle down. They’re just clothes.
    Mine, she said.
    Ignoring the cat and her territorial issues, I ran through my options. I’d have to drive out of here naked as the day I entered life. When I opened the front door, I saw shards of glass scattered on the driver seat. Fuck.
    After brushing the majority of the glass off, I sat down. Despite being tempered, the curdled pieces dug into my ass, promising an extremely uncomfortable drive.
    I reached under the wheel and ripped the panel off. My spare set of keys fell out. If someone was motivated enough to get the panel off and hotwire my car, they may as well have the keys, because they were going to drive off with it anyway. At least this way there’d be less damage to the car if I ever recovered it. I looked around the interior of my molested car and sighed.
    A to B started right away, which surprised me. I patted the dash and thanked her, before reaching over to close the empty glove box. I didn’t want to listen to the door bouncing around.
    As soon as I drove over the first speed bump, the glove box flopped open. It swung back and forth, held in place by one hinge. I went over another speed bump. Swish, swish, swish . I ripped the glove box door off and flung it into the backseat.
    Too risky to go to my house. My insurance papers had the address on them and I assumed the wolves knew it. Too bad. I loved that place. Instead, I would drive as far as the gas in my tank would take me toward my safe house before I shifted to my falcon.
    I would have gone straight there after escaping from Wick’s stronghold, but my wing started to ache. I desperately hoped they’d missed my car, but Wick’s pack was thorough.
    The light turned red and I slowed to a stop. Maybe a thief had my insurance papers. My fingers drummed on the steering wheel while the wheels in my head turned over and over. I eyed the wires that stuck out from the centre console where my radio had once been. No music on this road trip.
    By now, Wick knew I escaped and would search for me with

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