Anger surged through me and I charged the pile of fabric, hoping to take out some of my aggression on a hidden assailant.
When I pulled the sheets aside, a tiny black head popped out. Ears back, yellow eyes trained on me, Lola’s cat, Miles, meowed.
Hot tears burned in the back of my eyes and I let out a labored sigh. I was relieved that it was just her cat but I was also disappointed the killer hadn’t waited around so I could serve up some justice.
I squeezed the knife handle and quickly checked the rest of the room. Aside from the closet, there weren’t many places anyone could hide. The bed was in pieces and everything else was so scattered and broken it mostly covered the floor without the ability to cover a person.
“Enforcers! We’re coming in. If you’re in here, show yourself,” a male voice echoed through the apartment. It was amplified with magic and it sent a chill down my spine.
Another one of my shitty half shifter gifts: I could sense magic. Whole lot of good it did me now. Sensing it kept me alive on occasion but rarely gave me much of an advantage. It pretty much just helped me to know when a supernatural was pretending to be human or when an object was spelled. But I had to be pretty damn close to the thing in this city. There was so much magic everywhere that it was hanging in the air most places.
Usually I kept that skill turned off, not worrying about it unless I was hunting. But now that my senses were fired up, I could feel the magic residue hanging like fog in my apartment. It was never like this. Either the enforcers were using insane amounts of magic, or whoever had broken in had. Both thoughts sent my stomach in knots.
“Last warning, I can feel you. If we come to you, we will shoot first,” an enforcer called.
Fuck me.Can’t they give a girl a minute to get her senses? I glanced at Lola and my chest tightened. Who would do this to her?
I heard footsteps moving toward the room.
“I’m coming out,” I called. “I live here and I’m unarmed.” I slid my knife back into the pocket on my filthy pants.
Hands up, I walked slowly toward the front door where a group of enforcers was looking around what used to be my living room.
“My roommate is back there in her room.” I swallowed hard. “She’s dead.”
A female enforcer stepped forward, a pad of paper in her hands. “And you killed her for what purpose? Was it to send a message to her father?”
My brow furrowed. “What? I didn’t kill my roommate. I just got home and found this mess.”
“You seem real shaken up about it,” she said.
“You’re kidding me, right? Because I’m not bawling, I killed her?” Hot tears stung my eyes. “I got here five minutes before you. I’m pretty sure I’m still in shock.”
“Murder will do that to someone,” she said.
“What the fuck are you even talking about?”
“We got a call about a disturbance and a woman screaming,” another enforcer said. His eyes dropped down my body, then slowly traveled back up to my face.
That’s when I remembered that I was covered in blood from my hunt earlier. “I can explain.”
“You better,” the male enforcer said.
“I’m a hunter. Guild official, certification up to date,” I said.
“You were on a hunt tonight?” The female enforcer lowered her pad of paper. “Who was the target?”
I opened my mouth to explain about Vincent and no sound came out. My brow furrowed. I tried again. All I could do was sputter and grunt. No words.
The female enforcer lifted her brow. “Cat got your tongue?”
“I really was on a case tonight,” I said.
“Sure.” She picked up her pad of paper. “Who paid you to snuff out the princess?”
“I didn’t kill my roommate,” I said. “And her name was Lola, not princess.”Condescending bitch.
“Yes, Lola Vega, daughter of the High Moon Pack’s late alpha. Princess.” The female gave me a thin-lipped smile.