Cloaked In Fur
By: T.F. Walsh
Publisher: Crimson Romance
Published: Aug. 5, 2013
Genre: Paranormal Romance
As a moonwulf, Daciana never expected to fall in love with a human. Hell, she never imagined that she’d abandon her pack, endanger everyone around her, and break the worst rule possible. But she did.
A rogue werewolf is killing Daciana’s friends, and she sets on capturing the creature. She’ll do whatever it takes to stop the beast. The police and her boyfriend, Inspector Connell Lonescu, are starting to question her involvement in the murders, which is endangering the pack’s secret existence. But when the pack alpha kidnaps Connell, revealing the awful truth about the creature and its connection to the pack, Daciana must choose between saving the man she loves and saving her pack family from certain death.
The phone’s strident ringing woke me up, and I glanced over at the bedside clock blazing
5:13 A.M. Too damn early for anything.
Tempted to dive back under the covers, I checked the caller ID: Connell. Crap. The previous night’s events came pouring back: me turning into a wulfkin outside the full moon, running with the pack all night, collecting my keys from the woods, and ditching
Connell again. On top of that, I never retrieved the old books for the elixir. Double crap.
I pushed my legs over the edge of the bed, scrunched the sheet in my fist and answered the call. “Hi.”
“Where are you?” The panic in his voice turned my stomach.
“At home.”
“What happened to you last night?”
My throat dried up as my mind whirred with excuses. “I uncovered something in my research and got stuck into it, not realizing it was past midnight when I checked the clock. I didn’t want to wake you and went straight home. I’m sorry.”
“I suspected you wouldn’t come. Looks like I was right.”
“Come on, Connell, give me a break. I’m working on something majorly important.
When you’re on a case and spend nights in the office, I don’t give you shit about it.”
“That’s not what pisses me off. It’s that you never tell me anything. Send me a message if you’re going to be late or not turn up, anything to let me know what’s going on. It feels like you’re only staying with me on until something better comes along.”
“That’s not true. I only want you.”
Silence.
I lowered my head and stared at the dirt beneath my toenails from the previous night’s run.
“I don’t want to talk about this now,” he said. “We found two more bodies this morning. The victims were located on the opposite sides of the city.” He paused. “Why would a wolf bolt across the city after a kill? They attack in packs, don’t they?”
A shiver rippled down my spine. The possibility of two more dracwulf kills made me furious. There was no convincing myself the attacks weren’t related to the others; I felt the truth in my gut. Worse yet, I wondered whether the dracwulf was simply hungry or territorial, and Sandulf had to know. I flopped onto the bed and curled into a ball.
When I gave no response, Connell continued. “I need you to review the reports from the previous attacks today and visit the new scenes to see if you believe it’s the same animal.”
I cringed at the innocent wolves who could lose their lives over Sandulf’s stupidity.
“Your team can test the evidence and see if it’s the same predator without me.”
“We have limited testing resources in this country, so we need your expertise to move things along.”
The way he said “your” sounded full of contempt, and it pained me to hear him talk like that.
“The chief wants a hunting party issued this weekend, preferably with Romania’s Animal Research Institute’s approval. He’s already spoken with your boss, Vasile.”
I climbed up and paced the room, shaking my head. Typical Vasile to agree to anything the cops asked.
“If I could leave you out of this, I would, but I can’t. Trust me, I tried.”
“I appreciate that. Where should we meet?”
“Piaţa Sfatului. Half an hour?”
“I can do that.”
He hung up.
A snarl ripped past my throat at the terrible start to the day. Who could blame Connell for being upset? I’d be livid if he kept avoiding me.
I threw on a pair of Levi’s, boots, and a gray hooded top. The bathroom mirror reflected gray wolf eyes from my recent transformation, and already the silvery color was fading into a darker shade. I pulled every strand of my nest-style hair into a ponytail and rushed outside into the morning twilight.
T.F. Walsh emigrated from Romania to Australia at the age of eight and now lives in a regional city south of Sydney with her husband. Growing up hearing dark fairytales, she’s always had a passion for reading and writing horror, paranormal romance, urban fantasy and young adult stories. She balances all the dark with light fluffy stuff like baking and traveling.
