Free Teeth of Beasts (Skinners) by Marcus Pelegrimas Page B

strange,” she said. “Good thing you took it out. If a Chupe was getting that ballsy, it wouldn’t have been long before it started going after more people.”
    “Thank you! Abby acted like I was a monster for putting that thing down.”
    “There’s a reason why we only use MEG for communications,” Paige told him. “They’re watchers. They like to listen for noises and try to figure out what’s being said. Skinners listen for noises so they know which door to kick in. Every now and then someone from MEG wants to tag along and see everything we do. If this one was so squeamish, it’s good that you took the wind out of her sails. No offense.”
    Cole rattled his pop can on the counter and watched the light bounce off the rounded edge. “It sucks that she had to be so nice. And cute. And fun.”
    “You did great. It turned out to be a perfect training run.”
    “Speaking of training, when are we going to spar again?”
    She shifted her right arm within its sling and said, “I’m not in any condition to spar. I don’t even know when this will heal.”
    “What if something happens and we’re not ready for it?”
    “Nothing’s going to happen. The Mongrels are so entrenched in KC that they’ll chase away any shapeshifter within four hundred miles, bring them in, or tear them up. On top of that, the cops are on the lookout for anything suspicious on four legs. Did you hear about all the dog fighting rings that have been broken up recently?”
    “No. Does that have anything to do with werewolves?”
    “Not at all. It just shows we’re not the only ones cracking down. If another Half Breed shows itself anywhere near Kansas City, it’ll get blasted to pieces by a SWAT team.”
    “So what happened to all those Half Breeds anyway?” Cole asked. “They were running wild through the streets and now they’re all gone. I know we had some help from the Mongrels, but we couldn’t have gotten all of them.”
    “Officer Stanze had some things to say about that.”
    Cole waggled his eyebrows and asked, “So you did spend some time with him, huh?”
    “He said there’s been a lot of dead Half Breeds turning up all over the place,” she replied, while ignoring the suggestive tone in Cole’s voice. “KC seems pretty clear, but after all the stuff that’s been on the news or plastered all over HomeBrewTV.com, most of the country considers the KCPD to be the authorities on freaky looking dogs.”
    “Are a lot of them turning up outside of KC?”
    “Yeah. Turning up dead. Even if half of the reports are just misidentified road kill, Stanze says there are still plenty more coming in that are similar to the ones from KC. He’s been pretty helpful, but I doubt even he knows how much footage the cops are sitting on so they can try and figure it out. A Full Blood smashed one of their cruisers. Somebody had to have gotten evidence of that.” Paige rubbed her sore arm and finished her drink. Finally, she crumpled the can in her good hand, missed a three-point shot at the trash can, and stood up. “Everyone’s all worked up about this Mud Flu thing, so maybe that’ll be enough to distract the public eye from KC for a little while.”
    “I heard that flu’s actually kind of bad,” Cole said. “You throw up, get this gunk in your throat, and there are even some reports of people getting some kind of dementia.”
    “Has anyone died from it?”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “Then it’s just another kind of sick,” she said. “The press always has to get worked up about something, so at least they’re not yammering about us. Right now, I just want to go to bed.”
    “Are we sparring tomorrow?”
    “Spar on your own.”
    “You can tighten that sling and go a few rounds. Come on!”
    “You heard me,” she shouted while marching from the kitchen.
    Cole followed her and said, “I thought you were recovering. What happened to that?”
    Paige’s bedroom was messier than usual and, despite the soap she’d