off its hook and thundered down, landing on Dali's skull. I winced.
Dali whipped about, her eyes completely wild, and met Jim. He stepped in her way and stared.
Dali shivered. The fur rose on her haunches. She snarled.
Jim simply stood. His eyes were pure emerald.
With a heavy sigh, Dali hugged the ground and lay down.
Alpha of the cats in action.
Jim knelt by Dali. «Can you change shape?»
The tigress whined low. I took it as a no.
Small streaks of blood seeped from Dali's huge paws, vivid against her white fur. Given her
aversion to blood, she probably wouldn't even lick her injuries. I fetched the med kit Doolittle had
used to patch me up, fished out a pair of tweezers, and settled down by her feet. She offered me one
enormous paw. I opened the bottle of antiseptic, poured some on a piece of gauze, and wiped the
blood from the huge pads. Three glass shards sat embedded in the flesh, trophies of her glorious
battle with the lamp.
«I want you to keep trying to revert to human shape,» Jim said. «Don't strain yourself, but keep a
steady pressure.»
I hooked the first shard with the tweezers and plucked it from her paw. Blood gushed. Dali
jerked, pulling me with her. Fire laced my side. I winced. There went Doolittle's patching.
«Hold still, please.»
Dali whined and let me have her paw. The cut didn't seal. I swiped at it with gauze. Still open.
Shit. She and Derek now exhibited the same symptoms: an inability to shift and retarded
regeneration. I deposited the bloody piece of frosted-white glass onto the lid of the first aid kit.
«Let's talk scents.» Jim's voice was smooth, soothing. «Did you smell anything odd off the
bodies?»
Dali rocked her head side to side.
I plucked another shard from her paw. «Aside from shape, do you feel any different?»
Dali whined. That was the trouble with shapeshifters in animal form: they couldn't vocalize and
most couldn't write. Yes and no questions were our only option.
I hooked the third shard, but the tweezers slipped. The sucker was deep in there. «Dali, spread
your fingers for me if you can.»
Huge claws shot out from her paw as she spread her toes.
«Thank you.» I pinched the shard and pulled it out.
The tiger flesh boiled under my fingers and I found myself holding a human hand.
«Oh my God.» Dali's voice hit a trembling high note. «Oh my God.»
«What did you do?» Jim leaned forward, focused as if he sighted prey.
Tears swelled in Dali's eyes. «I thought I would be stuck in animal form forever.» She looked
around the room. «I wrecked the place. And your wound . . . I'm so sorry.»
«Don't worry about it,» I mumbled, focused on the shard. It looked yellow to me. The tulip lamp
had been frosted white. «Happens all the time.»
I grabbed the first aid kit, held it under the tweezers in case I dropped the shard on the way, got
up, and carried the sliver of glass to the window. The shard sparkled, casting a faint yellow shade
onto the white first aid box. Hello, Mr. Clue.
Jim frowned at the shard. «Topaz?»
«I think so. What do you want to bet this is a piece of the Wolf Diamond?» It made sense. The
Reapers wanted the Wolf Diamond so they could use it as a weapon against shapeshifters. Two plus
two equaled a bloody chunk of silicate in my hand. «Do you think it prevents transformation?»
Jim swiped it from the tweezers and sliced the flesh of his palm with a quick flick of his nails.
He slid the shard into the cut.
Green rolled over his eyes. His lips trembled. A shiver ran through his body, raising the hair on
the back of his arms. His gaze had gone jaguar-wild, but his shape remained human.
Without a word, he extracted the shard and dropped it into the lid as if it were red-hot.
This was it. This was the weapon the rakshasas needed to destroy the Pack. The gem couldn't be
stolen; it had to be won or it would bring a curse upon its thief. They entered the Midnight Games
so they could get the gem, and once they got it, they would carve it into a thousand pieces and use
the shards to prevent shapeshifters from assuming their animal or warrior form. Without
shapeshifting and regeneration, the Pack would become filling for the rakshasa meat grinder.
«I must've stepped onto the shard when I touched the body,» Dali murmured.
«You mean, when you stomped all over it.» Jim shook once, as if flinging water from himself.
«The kid has one inside him somewhere. But the m-scanner isn't picking it up.»
Dali touched the shard with her fingertip. «It's so small. The scanner might not be sensitive
enough to detect it with low magic.»
«I don't want to slice him to ribbons looking for it. He might not make it. There has to be another