Gunmetal Magic: A Novel in the World of Kate Daniels

“Boys will be boys, Sheriff. You know how it is, they have fun and we pay the bills.”
    “You also have Jeff Cooper to deal with,” Beau said. “Mike’s dad. He’s in my front lobby fuming and making an ass of himself. He wants assault charges to be brought up.”
    I pulled a small plastic case from my pocket and showed him the disk inside it.
    “What’s this?”
    “Surveillance footage.”
    “The Steel Horse has surveillance cameras?” Beau came to life like a hungry wolf sighting a juicy, crippled rabbit.
    “The owner installed them after that scare they had with the pandemic.” A pandemic Kate had stopped before it could kill him and his wife. The Steel Horse welcomed Pack members with open arms, which was why they did nothing to help law enforcement when the Pack kids got in trouble. “He doesn’t advertise this fact. Besides, they only work half of the time, when the tech is up.” I flipped the disk between my fingers. “Shall we?”
    Beau took the disk out of its case and slid it into the computer on a small desk in the corner. Black-and-white images filled the screen. Three shapeshifters sitting at a table, with the girl next to Kamal. Two young guys at a table nearby with a collection of empty beer bottles said something. The shapeshifters ignored them. More taunts, this time with the waving of arms. The shorter of the two human teens picked up a basket of chicken bones and dumped it on Kamal’s head. Ascanio got up, picked the guy up, and hurled him through the window. Kamal smacked him upside the head. Ascanio shrugged. The third shapeshifter, Ian, dropped some bills on the table and the group left.
    “If Mr. Cooper chooses to press charges, we will do the same,” I said. “Please feel free to retain the disk. I’ve made copies. I do have to ask you to release the boys. I’d be in your debt and they aren’t a flight risk. You know where to find us: the big stone fortress just a few miles outside of town.”
    Beau walked to the door and stuck his head out. “Rifsky, get our shapeshifter guests processed out for me, will you? Also, Ms. Nash here is going to leave her information with you for Chuck’s to get his window squared away.”
    I suddenly remembered where I had seen the sword. It used to hang in Kate’s apartment. It was her guardian’s sword. Pieces of the puzzle clicked together in my head. She’d used it to get me out of jail. I felt ashamed.
    Beau turned to me. “Don’t leave town and all that, Ms. Nash.”
    “Wouldn’t dream of it.” Now I owed Beau a favor. Wonderful.
    Ten minutes later three guilty-looking shapeshifters met me on the steps. Kamal saw me and did a double take. “I thought Lika was coming.”
    I gave him my thousand-yard stare. He shifted uncomfortably in place.
    “Let’s try this again, from the beginning. You say, ‘Hello, Beta. Thank you for coming all the way here and subjecting yourself and the Clan to public embarrassment because of my stupidity.’ And I don’t break your arms off.”
    “Thank you, Beta,” Kamal and Ian chorused.
    I looked at Ascanio. He dropped his gaze to the stairs. “I’m sorry.”
    “Yes, you are.” I started down the street to the parking lot. The three boudas followed me.
    A man shoved the door open behind us. Beefy, in his late forties. His face had a lovely red color that probably meant he was about to blow his gasket. “Hey! Hey, you! I want to talk to you!”
    I kept walking. “You threw two humans through two different store windows. Enlighten me, what happens when a shapeshifter goes through a sheet of glass?”
    “Nothing,” Ian volunteered.
    “Stop,” the man snarled. “Stop, God damn it.”
    “What happens when a human goes through a sheet of glass?”
    Nobody wanted to answer.
    “I’ll enlighten you, then: they get bruises, possible broken bones, and multiple lacerations. And because they don’t havethe benefit of Lyc-V, their broken bones will take weeks to heal and the lacerations can kill them if the broken glass happens to slice them at the right place. You almost killed them over a bucket of chicken. What in the world were you thinking?”
    We turned the corner, hidden from the building by the stone wall.
    “We just wanted to intimidate them,” Ascanio said.
    The man behind us took the corner at high speed. “You fucking bitch, I said stop!”
    The beastkin-crazy Andrea was about to surface. I could feel it.
    I looked at him. “Jeff Cooper, I presume?”
    “That’s right.