Bad Medicine: An Urban Fantasy Wolf Shifter Series (Kait Silver Book 4) Read online

  Bad Medicine

  Kait Silver book 4

  By Laken Cane

  Copyright © 2021 Laken Cane

  All rights reserved.

  Table of Contents

  Playlist

  Bad Medicine blurb

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Review Link and Newsletter

  About Laken Cane

  Playlist

  CAN YOU HEAR ME—(ft. Young Summer) Unsecret

  BAD MOON RISING—Morning Ritual ft. Peter Dreimanis

  CHAMPION—Neoni and Burnboy

  ARMS OF A WOMAN—Amos Lee

  THE COLD—Exitmusic

  BAD MEDICINE—Bon Jovi

  CALLING ALL ANGELS—Train

  START A WAR— Klergy & Valerie Broussard

  Bad Medicine blurb

  Do you know what’s stronger than a wolf shifter?

  A shapeshifter.

  A shapeshifter is stronger than a wolf shifter.

  When I discover a shapeshifting serial killer is targeting human women in my city, I have to go after him.

  Even though he's more powerful than me.

  Even though he says we're exactly the same.

  Even though there's a connection between us.

  He believes he's only taking out the trash, that the women he slaughters deserve their punishment. Too bad for him no one else agrees. They want him stopped.

  And too bad for us that stopping him is nearly impossible.

  The council sends me after him and tells me to bring him to them alive. They don't have to give me orders when it comes to the shapeshifter, because as long as he's free, he's going to be a danger to Lucy. And I'll do whatever I need to do to protect her.

  But things get complicated when Adam Thorne has his goons attack me...and guess who saves my life?

  Yeah. The shapeshifter.

  Add in a protective alpha who grows hotter with every passing night, a detective who is starting to remember things that may destroy him, and an enemy with a past that'll break your heart, and my life becomes one big chaotic mess.

  What's new, right?

  Then there's the dawning realization that my own past holds a long-buried secret, a secret my gut tells me I don't want to dig up. There are truths that will change everything I thought I knew about my father, my mother, and most of all, myself.

  I want to keep that secret hidden in the shadows, but it's creeping out.

  Slowly, inexorably, painfully, it's coming.

  It's coming.

  Chapter One

  “It’s like a muscle, Kaitlyn. You will become stronger and more skilled with time and practice.”

  I lay on my bed, staring up at the ceiling, my hands behind my head as I talked with Saul—my “handler.” I had put him on speaker, doing my irregular morning report, even though there wasn’t a lot new to report, and even though it wasn’t morning.

  I was currently complaining about the power that exploded inside me in times of severe, acute distress but refused to come to my call, and he reassured me that in time, I’d be able to use it when I needed it. I wasn’t so sure.

  “Government agents are everywhere,” I told him. “They follow me, sometimes. A couple of them came into my work and Joe and I had to throw them out. Seriously, Saul, if they cart me off to some secret lab in the desert, you’d better send a rescue team.”

  “The governments were aware of things that exist in the world long before Avis Vine, and they take steps to protect the nonhuman communities. The status quo needs to be maintained. They expect the occasional blip, and they step in to investigate and plan—and to do damage control. This is hardly the first time it's happened. You will not be carted off by the government.” He hesitated. “At least, it’s unlikely.”

  “The human governments are working with the nonhuman councils?” I’d probably been the most naïve nonhuman in existence. I’d believed we were the world’s biggest secret, and apparently that simply wasn’t true. The humans had officials in high places handling shit most people didn’t even know was there to be handled. “Maybe they all think it’s time for us to come out of the shadows.”

  “Slowly,” he agreed, or seemed to agree. “Gradually, the nonhumans will become a known and accepted reality.”

  “That’s hard to imagine.” Then Ash scratched at my door, and I heard Lucy murmur, “Patience, puppy,” before she called, “Kait? We’re coming in.” Usually she and my dog just barged into my room, so that was different. “I have to get ready for work,” I told Saul.

  “Expect a package today,” he said. “I’ll have it sent to your office.” Then he abruptly ended the call.

  I’d gotten used to him. His voice was familiar to me now, and I didn’t mind calling every couple of days to leave reports. There was something comforting about it, if I were being honest. I liked a bit of structure in my otherwise chaotic life. I liked having someone with whom to mull over the previous days’ events. I didn’t have to censor anything with Saul.

  Lucy opened my door and Ash rushed in, doing zoomies around the room to make me laugh before he finally jumped up onto the bed. He flopped to his back and grinned at me, waiting not so patiently for a belly rub.

  Lucy carried a mug from which the tempting scent of coffee wafted. “I made breakfast,” she told me, setting the cup on my bedside table before grabbing the remote. “But look what’s on the news.”

  A woman was currently in the middle of an interview, and both she and the anchor interviewing her were dressed in somber colors to match their gloomy expressions.

  “They’re attempting a cover-up,” the interviewee was saying, “but the truth will come out. Supernatural creatures are out there, and the proof is in the tragedy of Jakeston.”

  “They’re saying—” the anchor started.

  “I know what they’re saying,” the woman snapped. “I also know what they’re doing. What happened in Jakeston wasn’t the attack of a cult full of addicts. It wasn’t the work of angry conspiracy theorists. It wasn’t terrorists. It wasn’t a band of killers roaming the countryside rushing into cities to murder people for shits and giggles.” She leaned closer to the anchor. “It was vampires, just as we all knew it was
before the government came in to make us doubt the truth.”

  “You should know,” the interviewer said, her voice soft but hiding a sort of dark glee. “You were there, after all. Tell us, Christine, how did you survive your ordeal? Walk us through that night when you hid under a table and hoped you would somehow be overlooked, even as other diners fell to the vicious attackers. Tell us why you are still claiming vampires were responsible for the attack when the other survivors are either denying it, refusing to speak, or claiming they don’t remember what happened.” Her derision was loud and clear, and Christine would have heard it as well.

  My heart ached for the poor woman and her trauma. I could only imagine how she felt, living through something so horrendous only to be told later that what she’d seen with her own eyes was wrong, that her belief had been the result of hysteria, that vampires did not exist.

  “I know what I saw,” she said, and when she looked out at the world, her eyes were full of determination. “I’m not crazy. I’m not afraid, like the others are. I will speak the truth no matter what they do to me.”

  “Who do you mean by they?” the interviewer asked. “The people of Jakeston? The government? The men in white coats?” She smirked, and if I had been Christine, I’d have decked the bitch.

  “The vampires,” she whispered. “I was visited by them. I was given money, and I was warned. But let them come. Let them kill me. I refused to be silenced.” She pushed her fist to her lips but still a sob escaped. “They killed my best friend.”

  “You’ve since left Jakeston,” the anchor said, not a trace of pity in her eyes. “But let me just ask what I know our viewers are wondering. Why would the vampires visit you, talk with you, and even give you money? If vampires burst into that diner and killed all those people, why wouldn’t they just kill you to keep you quiet?” Then it was her turn to lean forward. “Or why wouldn’t they just turn you into a vampire?”

  “Turn it off, Lucy,” I murmured.

  She did, then sat down at the foot of the bed to join me in giving Ash belly rubs. “Do you think the vampires really threatened her?” she asked. “And tried to pay her off?”

  “Yeah,” I said grimly.

  She was quiet for a few seconds. “Why didn’t they just kill her?”

  I sighed, then climbed from the bed to get ready for my day. “Because Bastien does not want to kill humans.”

  “Does that make him a good vampire?”

  “No.” I took a drink of my coffee. “There are no good vampires.” But I wasn’t sure I really meant that anymore. “How are your dreams, Luce?”

  “What dreams?” She shrugged. “I think I’m subconsciously punishing myself by refusing to let the dreams through. Funny, when I never knew I had a choice.”

  “You don’t,” I said gently. I squeezed her shoulder. “You’re not a bad person.”

  “I guess. It’s just…” She blew out a hard breath and stared up at me. “Kait, I miss him. I miss a serial killer who kills women. Why would I do that if I’m not a bad person? I can’t move on from this. I can’t forgive myself for what I did.”

  “You kept his name to yourself for a little while,” I said. “You didn’t do anything wrong. And you know you don’t miss him—you miss who you thought he was.” But nothing I said was going to fix Lucy’s pain. She would come to terms with it in her own time, and all I could do was be there for her.

  “There was just something about him,” she murmured, “and I felt a connection.”

  “Him” being Samuel the serial killer, aka Ray Christian, Lucy’s former boyfriend. At the time, I hadn’t realized how she’d felt about him. I doubted she had, either.

  After Lucy had refused to see him again, he knew she’d figured out—somehow—who he was. I hadn’t asked her if she’d ever told him about her dreams, but I figured she had. Perhaps he’d loved the thrill of knowing she might discover his identity at any time. Maybe he’d believed she might not reject him for it, that she might accept him anyway. I didn’t know and couldn’t guess why he hadn’t taken her when he’d had plenty of chances. Why hadn’t he killed her? Only he knew the answer to that question.

  And maybe he would explain some things when Detective Rick Moreno caught him. It was only a matter of time. The police had a physical description, a first name, and an alias. They didn’t have his fingerprints, though. Samuel had been very careful not to leave any in my house, but he had to have left a trace of himself behind.

  Techs had gone over the house, Lucy’s car, and even my office, collecting hair, fingerprints, fibers, whatever they could find. An artist’s drawings had gone out to the city, and the picture was extremely accurate. Lucy said that whenever she’d wanted a selfie with Ray, he’d always gotten out of it. Not really a red flag. Some people just didn’t like having their pictures taken.

  He may have left the city and gone into hiding, but I didn’t think so. I believed he was right where he wanted to be—in Jakeston with his current fixations. Lucy, the detective, me—and a rich garden of blonde women from which to pluck his latest doomed flower.

  I took another gulp of coffee and then climbed from the bed. “Time to work,” I said, giving Ash a last pat.

  “Breakfast first,” Lucy told me sternly, as though if she didn’t stay on me I wouldn’t eat—which was a laugh.

  “I will eat everything,” I said.

  At that moment, a spirit fell into the room with such force I could actually hear the impact—though he was as insubstantial and airy as a ghost. He crouched on the wood floor like a wild, savage beast, his black hair covering half his face, and his heavy black and silver wings taking up so much space I could barely draw a breath.

  Ash went nuts, barking, growling, snarling at something he surely couldn’t see. He flung himself off the bed and shoved his body against my legs, threatening the newcomer with death if he so much as looked at me.

  “Great,” I said, proud that my voice was only a little shaky. “Another fucking angel.”

  Chapter Two

  “Nicole,” he growled, rising to his feet. “Where have you put her?”

  “Do I look like I might have an angel in my pocket?” I glanced toward my closet, unable to help it. My demon blade was in that closet. Dammit.

  He curled his lip, then pointed his finger at Ash. “Quiet.”

  Ash cut off his barking abruptly, then yelped and sat on my foot.

  “Don’t you hurt my dog,” I said, and my voice was cold, despite a fear that was natural and bone deep.

  “Oh shit,” Lucy whispered. “Kait. Even I feel this one.” And though she couldn’t see him, he looked at her, and she shuddered. “What is he?”

  I squinted. “You know it’s a he?”

  “Oh yes. There’s all sorts of bad, masculine energy slapping me in the face.”

  He was primal as hell, savage, otherworldly, definitely larger than life—but I wasn’t saying that aloud. I needed to maintain my composure. “Take Ash from the room. I’ll be out in a minute.” I put my stare on the dark angel and didn’t take it off him while Lucy took hold of Ash’s collar, and then, when he refused to budge, she picked him up and carried him toward the door.

  It broke my heart the way he whined. “Hush, Ash,” I soothed. “I’m okay, baby.”

  “I’ll give him a treat,” Lucy said, then hurried through the doorway, shutting the door behind her.

  “Where is Nicole?” he asked again. “I know she has shown herself to you.”

  “I don’t know where she is. She pops in to rest and then leaves again. She doesn’t tell me what’s going on or why she’s so damn sad. I didn’t know what she’d been through, what she was afraid of, or why she was running—until now.”

  He didn’t move when I strode toward him, but I could see a gleam of surprise in his eyes that I would dare. Honestly, I just wanted to get to my closet. I hadn’t locked the blade up, just placed it on the shelf inside the door. And from now on, I was sleeping with the damn thing under my pillow.


  I poked him in the chest, then gasped and took a step back when I actually felt his flesh. I looked at my finger. “What the hell?”

  “I’m a powerful being,” he said, his black eyes narrow. “Not a fucking ghost.”

  But when I gingerly reached out to touch him again, there was only air. Mentally, I shrugged. Who knew with spirits? “You need to leave my house.” I’d have to find out if there was something to ward homes against angels. I couldn’t ask Lennon, seeing as how she’d taken her traitorous, scarred face and headed for parts unknown.

  “I will leave this hovel when I have the answers I came for.”

  I edged around him and toward the closet. “I gave you the only answers you’ll get from me, Bruiser. Seriously. Get the fuck out.” It was hilarious, really. I didn’t believe he’d hurt me. He was an angel, after all. Angels helped humans—they didn’t hurt them.

  But just as I yanked open the closet door, he grabbed the back of my neck with a huge hand and slammed me face first into the wall. I felt my nose break, and blood spewed from the injured part as pain exploded through my head.

  Red-hot rage erupted inside me, and my wolf, feeling the threat, took over. She surprised the hell out of me. She also showed me, in that moment, that she was capable of winning her shift whenever she wanted to. Or maybe it was just the presence of the brutal angel. She felt the threat more strongly than I did. She felt everything more strongly than I did.

  When I was my wolf, I saw him differently.

  God, he was…terrifying. A sort of vicious nightmare I’d never felt before. He felt ancient, primal, and so unfamiliar I had no words for what he was. Except darkness. He was darkness.

  My wolf felt other things, as well—especially when she bit him. His blood inside her mouth was painful. Awful and forbidden and full of a taste that should never have existed at all, and maybe that blood would kill me if I swallowed it.