Bad Wolf

That’s all it would have taken but my impatience got the better of me. Impatience and an unrealistic compulsion to keep everyone at arm’s length. The truth was staring me straight in the face now. My own stupidity and the arrogant assumption that I was untouchable were what landed me here, tied to a chair with my own blade buried to the hilt in my right thigh. I’m sure my face didn’t look good either. Even if I had a mirror, my eyes were both near swollen shut, making it a little hard to see.  

Three months ago, my biggest responsibility was remembering to brush my teeth every morning. Mind you, my life is far from boring, but uneventful in the grand scheme. 

That’s mostly thanks to my boss. 

Kade Walker is the only person I’ve never minded taking orders from. I respect him and if we’re being honest, he probably saved my life. A few months ago, I got into some trouble and found myself a guest in a lovely eight-by-eight, concrete-and-steel suite hosted by New York’s finest. I’d been brought home by the police before but this time I was facing assault charges.

A werewolf loaded on whiskey had gotten a little handsy while I was at the bar. Since I’d already given him a fair warning in a previous encounter, he knew what was coming when he chose to lay hands on me. I sliced him with a knife laced with paralytic ointment a witch friend made for me, then proceeded to beat his face to a bloody pulp. To say I don’t like attention I didn’t ask for is a bit of an understatement. 

When the bouncers and cops pulled me off of him, he was unconscious and I’m told I was laughing hysterically. I don’t know if that’s true or not. The details are a little fuzzy. They hauled me off to the station to be charged and I was sure I’d be facing at least a few years behind bars. 

But then Kade swooped in to the rescue.

He had been at the bar and watched me take the werewolf down. He walked into that precinct, waved a wand or performed some kind of voodoo black magick, and the next thing I knew, I was being released, free and clear. 

Later that night, he informed me that my record had been wiped clean, with no trace of the arrest. The guy I took down was a member of one of the local werewolf packs. My ability to knock his sloppy ass to the ground had impressed Kade, and he told me as much right before offering me a job. Being only five-foot-four, I’m the last person anyone would expect to drop a werewolf. 

That night changed my life.

My job didn’t really come with a specific title. Basically, I would do whatever random task Kade or one of the witches need. Most days, it's as simple as delivering packages or riding along for errands, but there were days here and there where I was required to get a little dirty. 

If Kade had business to attend to that required a little extra backup, no one would ever suspect the pretty little thing on his arm of being hired muscle. If I ever did have to bloody someone up, they wouldn’t exactly be rushing to the nearest intercom to announce they got their ass handed to them by a girl. It was a pretty sweet gig, and I totally would have spent the rest of my life doing that job. 

Kade and his friends had other plans for me.

The events leading to this moment, and what will almost certainly result in my death, all started with the formation of the Executioners Guild.

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