Gooseflesh raced down my arms as a short woman with pale skin paced into view. Between one frame and the next, Charybdis disappeared. At the same instant, the woman jolted as if spooked, rubbed her eyes and exited the screen in a daze. Pen tapping against a pad of paper, I added more notes to the growing pile.

Did the marshal see Charybdis? Is she available for questioning? What is the timeline on this video? Why did she walk past the portal? Did she discover the breach? Or was she a part of the security detail making rounds after the fact?

Eyes dry and itchy, I massaged them with my fingertips, wishing Graeson or Dell could lend me a second pair, but all information pertaining to the video was classified, which meant I was on my own. When I lowered my hand, Graeson stood in the doorway of my bedroom. Hindquarters wiggling, he leaned forward until his wolfy elbows hit the floor while a massive yawn cracked his jaw. I rolled my eyes, and his tail wagged once, as though asking for permission to join me.

“Not on the bed.” I made a no-way, no-how gesture. “I only have two sets of sheets, and I’m not doing laundry tonight.”

One of the downsides of living in such cozy quarters was the limited closet space. Two sets of sheets—one for the bed and one for the laundry pile—was as luxurious as it got around here.

Polite as could be, he walked over to inspect my desk and laptop. He sniffed the keyboard, dismissed it and dropped his head into my lap instead. Taking the hint, I scratched under his chin until his hind leg twitched. His sudden bark made me jump to my feet, which must have been his point since he darted from the bedroom, blazed through the kitchen and scratched on the screen door’s frame until I opened it for him.

He was a pale blur as he leapt from the steps and hit the dirt, initiating his change the second his paws touched earth. This change was slower than others I had witnessed, but in under a minute Graeson sat bare-cheeked in my yard. Careful to keep my eyes north of his collarbone, I gathered his clothes and waited for him to come claim them.

“Did you enjoy your nap?” I called.

With a grunt, he rolled to his feet, and then he was jogging toward me, ignoring the pile of fabric in my hands as he climbed the steps. “I did.” He smiled down at me, eyes slumberous. “I haven’t slept that well in weeks.”

Returning home to the place where his sister had been murdered couldn’t have helped his restless nights.

“Is there a reason you decided to introduce yourself to my family while wearing your fur suit?”