“Um . . . on TV. You know—on Uncharted World and stuff.”
“Oh, my God, the videos on that show are so doctored. Let me tell you what it really looks like. The average werewolf has four sets of claws as long as your fingers. Two-inch-long canines. Jaw pressure five times that of a human. And werewolves are fast. I’m talking a two-minute mile. Can you run that fast, Bruce?”
“Uh—”
“Can you shoot straight?”
“Uh—”
“Do you know how long it takes the average werewolf to tear apart a full-grown deer?”
“No—”
I smiled sweetly. The expression was lost on the radio, but the tone would carry through my voice. “The last time I did it, it took about five minutes. And I’m just an average werewolf.”
I swore I heard Bruce gulp over the line.
“Whoa.”
“Sorry, Bruce, it’s kind of against my own personal self-interest to do free advertising for werewolf hunters. You know what I mean? Thanks for calling.”
I did an inward shudder. People would not shut up about Cormac, and it was starting to get on my nerves.
“Next caller. Betty, you’re on the air. What’s your question?”
“Hi, Kitty. I just wanted to know, are you going out with that Cormac guy from last month?”
My jaw dropped. I took a full five seconds to recover and say, “What?”
“Are you going out with that Cormac guy?”
“We are talking about the same Cormac who tried to kill me on the air, yes? The guy who hunts werewolves for a living?”
“Uh-huh.”
“And you want to know if I’m dating him? Why on earth do you think that’s a good idea?”
“Well, I sort of sensed something between you two when he was on the show.”
“You sensed something. Are you psychic?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Empathic?”
“No.”
“Clairvoyant?”
“No.”
“Then why the hell do you think we would go out? Of course you sensed something! He hunts werewolves. I’m a werewolf. There’s this whole hunter-prey dynamic that happens. He wanted to kill me. I was ready to defend myself, claws and bullets on the verge of flying everywhere—things were tense. That was what you were sensing.”
“But he didn’t kill you. You worked it out. He sounded kind of nice. His voice sounded really cute. Was he cute?”
“Well, yeah, sort of. If you like guys who wear revolvers in hip holsters.”
“It’s just that you sound kind of anxious whenever anyone brings up Cormac, and I thought there might be unresolved tension there.”