Page 28 of Property of Crypt Keeper

Silence stretched on the other end. Then he cleared his throat.

“You mean like a bond mark?” he asked slowly.

“Maybe,” I hedged, suddenly uncomfortable with this conversation.

“What kind?”

Hesitant, I dragged a hand down the back of my neck. Unable to think of a way to back out of what I’d started, I blurted out, “Looks like a tattoo. Burned in. Spine.”

Another pause. Longer this time.

“No,” he finally said. “That doesn’t happen.”

My eyes narrowed.

“Not with wolf shifters?” I didn’t think so, but I wasn’t sure. Most wolf shifter packs cast out a shifter that was a Rougarou. That was how my father ended up as the lone wolf he was.

“Not with any I’ve ever known,” he replied. “Mates recognize each other. Sometimes there’s a pull, instincts get louder. But marks? Something physical like that?” He let out a quiet breath. “No.”

My jaw tightened.

“Could it be because of us?” I wondered aloud. “Because of the curse?”

“The Rougarou line?” he echoed.

“Yeah.”

He was quiet again, thinking this time.

“I’ve never heard of that either,” he murmured. “But…” Another pause. “There aren’t many of us left, Dallas. Not enough to say what’s normal and what’s not anymore.”

That didn’t make me feel better. “You think maybe because my mother was an amplifier?”

A short, hissed inhale. To this day, bringing up my mother upset my father. Except because of my mother, I had the strange gift of being able to speak telepathically with other supernatural beings when in wolf form. Maybe there were other things.

“I have no idea. Amplifiers are as rare as we are. You said it burned?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“And the girl—she have one too?”

I didn’t answer right away. Didn’t like how easily he got there.

“Yeah,” I reluctantly admitted. “Same place.”

A low sound came through the line. Not quite a curse. Not quite anything I liked.

“That’s not nothing,” he muttered.

“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “I figured.”

Another beat of silence.

“I’ll ask around,” he promised. “Quietly. Anyone still out there from the Rougarou bloodline… maybe someone’s heard something like this.”

“Appreciate it.”

“Dallas,” he added, voice sharper now. “Whatever this is—don’t ignore it.”