Conner's Wolf by Jory Strong Page A

waste. There was no point in initiating a search or taking up an artist’s time to produce a sketch of the woman’s face.
    Scholes wouldn’t talk. If he did, he’d only come across crazier than he was already going to sound.
    Conner focused on Matt as though the injured teen was a lifeline anchoring him to sanity. His hand settled on the boy’s shoulder. “Hang in there. You’re doing great.”
    Khemirra kept her back to Conner. She told herself he just needed time.
    Once Matt was in the care of the EMTs and Scholes was in police custody, then Conner would realize the wolf had saved them, and he’d accept who she was, what she was. He had called her other self beautiful.
    She told herself that, but the longer the silence stretched between them, the more it felt like a lie.
    A slow pain began spreading through her chest, an ache that had her jaws clenching and her eyes burning. You knew there was a possibly this would just be a fling. There were never any guarantees you’d be able to soften his attitude or change his point of view about things supernatural.
    A police car came into view, then a second, followed by an ambulance. It was almost over now.
    She forced herself to concentrate on the positive. She had her life back.
    The kidnapping and murder charges would keep Armand Scholes locked up. And now that she knew how he’d been able to track her, and that he no longer could, it would be safe to contact the pack. The council of alphas could decide if anything further needed to be done about Scholes.
    And the medallion… A shudder went through her at the remembered taste of it.
    She’d ask the alpha, but she had a bad feeling her options were limited to either retaining possession of it and preventing an accidental summoning, or finding a witch who could free the entity bound to it. Goose bumps pebbled her skin contemplating either choice.
    The police cars and ambulance drew closer, lights flashing and sirens screaming. Behind her, Conner said, “They’ll separate us to take statements. I’m going to tell them the truth, everything that can be backed up by facts .”
    She nodded to let him know she’d heard him then lifted her hands to show she was unarmed when the patrol cars screeched to a stop, the officers emerging with their hands on their guns.
    The tension dissipated with Conner’s identifying himself and telling the officers that Scholes had been the only threat. Emergency personnel rushed to the van then, and as Conner had predicted, within minutes of Scholes being put in the back of a police car, she was led to a patrol car by a female officer and her male partner while Conner accompanied another pair of policemen into the building where they’d been held prisoner.
    Lights came on in the compound, triggered by growing dusk. In deference to her desire not to be caged in the car, the officers allowed her to remain outside their vehicle as she told them what she could, not defining or expanding on her relationship with Conner other than to say she’d helped him on a case in Florida and he’d gone out of his way to try to help her.
    They asked for clarification a couple of times, grimaced and shook their heads each time she said the word werewolf, but their scents told her they didn’t doubt the truth of what she said. And whether by intention or accident, they revealed they’d gotten a radio call confirming two bodies had been found outside Conner’s cabin.
    Relief grabbed hold of her as it hadn’t earlier, bringing fine tremors noticeable enough that the male officer told her they were finished, while the female said she’d go see if Conner was done giving his statement.
    As the officer headed toward the building, Conner emerged from it. He didn’t glance in her direction.
    Khemirra’s throat went tight with acceptance of a truth she didn’t want. Earlier she’d been willing to lie to herself about what his refusal to look at her meant, but now she read it for the rejection it was, the