My Enemy in the Water

h was still on mine wh

helter of the fish market's closed stalls, and for an hour I had forgotten the plant, the pack, the corrosion in the pipes. Her hands had been warm against the cold coming off the water. When she kis

the mark beneath my c

that?"

I said. "An

cuse about the night shift. I walked her to the guesthouse, kissed

running slow and patient in the dark, and the security panel above the main door flas

to it. "Intake hall

my way. Do not go down

down

s my own heartbeat, and the concrete steps were slick with the tide's leavings. Halfway down I caught it. A sc

just a shift of weight behind my ribs,

elt that in

nst metal. A valve turning. I took the last flight quietly, keeping

hem the low water lay flat as a sheet of pewter under the moon. In the middle of it all, on her knees besid

and a canvas bag at her fee

down,"

ed, set the wrench on the floor, and turned her head to look at me over her shoulder. Her e

hief," she said. "I th

ere I can

like someone used to being found and never caught. "You have rust in this valve,"

hat's in

trouble." She nodded at

. I had signed off on that pipe three weeks ago, and it had been sound then. I stepped closer, and my boot came d

etting worse," she said. "I s

ak my eq

buys time." She tilted her head. "You're not

wrist where a cuff had been, and I wanted very badly to know why I coul

t you?"

t door now, and you're going to let me, because if I don't come back at the next low tide, this pipe will split before the weekend and

to block

"You're on

of

thinks standing in a do

mong them, and the pack had kept it that way for three generations. I took a step toward her, and sh

t again,

ll scar in her left eyebrow. "You have the mark on your throat. Your eyes are the wrong col

resting her, and my fingers closed around the w

rey and clean as the corrosion pulled back from her the way the tide pulls back from the sand. My wolf rose up inside m

er breath caught, and her free hand ca

said. "No,

asdair. I'm at the top of the sta

rtbeat through her palm, fast and strong, and mine h

io, and my voice came out stra

ted quietly, and pulled

ng over the clean metal like frost forming on a window, and she was already moving toward t

at way," I said. "Th

open, and the cold sea air came rushing

sounded on the

y fist aro

and I heard the question in it before he

nd patient, and I could still feel my wolf where it had woken, pac

e word tasted like a lie, "