“We’ll talk later.” Kendrick ended the call, rubbing a hand over his lips and chin.
“Are you mad at Miss Connie?” Larissa asked in a small voice.
Kendrick reached toward her. “Come here, sweetheart.” When she descended the last two steps and ran to him, he hugged her hard. “I’m not mad. I was just scared. What happened? Why weren’t you with the group?”
“I was looking at some pumpkins. Fancy ones, with skeletons and all. I went around the back because they were fancy on that side too. Miss Connie and Miss Amy were talking a lot and the kids were there, but then when I came back around there was nobody. They were all gone.” Her small chin quivered. “I didn’t know where they went. I tried to follow them but I got lost.”
He hugged her again, looking up at me over her shoulder, an echo of fear lingering in his eyes. “I’m so glad you came home safe, baby.”
“The dog helped. He sniffed the way.” Larissa wriggled loose and put a hand on her father’s arm. “Can we have a dog? I’m not allergic to dogs.”
Kendrick straightened with a nod my way. “I’m very grateful to you, Trent. How did you figure out where she lived?”
“Like she said, we followed her trail home. She was very brave.”
Larissa frowned at me. “Who are you? Do you know what the dog did? Is it your dog? How did you know about the bad boys?”
I hadn’t expected her to make the connection, but I didn’t know much about kids and when they got wise to things. I didn’t want to lie, so I said, “I was that dog. I’m a werewolf, and that was the other me.”
“You’re not a dog!” But she tilted her head. “I saw a video about werewolves. Those men were wearing underwear and they turned into wolves. Are you wearing underwear?”
I wish.Kendrick’s snort of laughter didn’t help my composure.
When Rick Brown arranged for wolves to be filmed shifting, for promo purposes, he had the guys wear loose boxers, to avoid nudity issues on camera. There were ten years of those promo videos floating around. Sadly, tonight, I was freeballing it under a plastic poncho while a hot guy laughed at me. I hedged. “Shifting forms in clothes gets me all tangled up.”
“Ooh, like when the furry wolves ended up in the underwear. One of them ripped his pants off and ate them.”
I doubted that. A stomach full of fabric was no one’s choice, although I could imagine “ripped them off” could be true. But I said, “Yeah, like that.”
“Can you be a dog again? I liked the dog better.”
“Larissa!” Kendrick scolded. “Mr. Trent saved you from being lost tonight. Be nice.”
“Iwasbeing nice. I like his fur.”
I intercepted with, “Fur is fun. And running fast and smelling things well as a wolf is fun. I was glad to help you tonight.”
“I was scared before you came.” She tilted her head. “I was scared of the dog a bit at first, but you were pretty and furry.”
I said, “Thank you.”
Kendrick was pressing his lips together. He asked me, “Do you need to head out?”
Do you want me to?But I wasn’t interested in walking the streets clad only in a rain poncho, even on Halloween. The cops wouldnotbe amused if someone called them to report a flasher. Shifting took energy, though, and I hadn’t had dinner yet, so going back to fur wasn’t an immediate option. “Can I borrow your phone? I’d like to let my party know where I am.” I winkedat Larissa. “Little Dylan will be wondering where his saddle-wolf went.”
“Can I ride you sometime?” she asked. “I think it would be fun.”
“Maybe sometime,” I offered. “It’ll be up to your dad.”
Kendrick gave me a steady stare but held out his phone. “Here. I owe you more than a phone call.”
I texted Nick.~This is Trent.Found a lost child and have seen her home. Go on without me and I’ll make it home on my own. Sorry to Dylan.
I wasn’t sure Nick would respond. These days, we all tended to shrug off texts that were not on Signal as spam. But after a moment, he came back with~Got it, Fifth. Thanks for the heads up.
At that point, I should’ve handed back the phone, but I was a little lightheaded from shifting, or so I would swear on my dying breath. So I went to Kendrick’s contacts, put in my name, number, and a quick selfie, then passed the phone back. “I didn’t send myself your number. That’s your call.”
Kendrick looked at Larissa, watching us with a “grownups are weird” expression, then tapped the screen a couple of times. “I sent it.”
