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I had no idea when I would see Austin again and couldn’t help but be disappointed. And sad. My other son barely spoke to me. Austin had been more understanding after the divorce. I would hate to lose my relationship with him.

“Ms. Valens?” Yuto prompted at my silence.

“Sorry. Yes. Idolong to put the pointy end of that sword into werewolves, but it’s been misplaced.”

It had beenstolenby a bunch of local thugs who had turned vandalizing Sylvan Serenity’s parking lot into a hobby.

“Misplaced,” Yuto mouthed.

“Temporarilymisplaced.” Duncan, now standing in the doorway, nodded firmly at me.

“Yes,” I said, hoping that would prove true.

He’d given the sword to me as a gift, and it had silver and magic melded into the blade, making it not only invaluable because it was a centuries-old artifact but because it could wound werewolves. Thanks to our powerful regenerative abilities, our kind tended to be hard to kill.

“How go the lessons, my lady?” Duncan acknowledged Yuto with a cheerful wave, then smiled and bowed toward me, managing to hold the metal detector out wide without clunking the door frame.

“I’m progressing, I’m told.”

Yuto nodded. “She is athletic and a pleasure to teach.”

This time,myeyebrow journeyed upward. “You just called me old.”

“Older.”

“I assumed you thought I would need a cane to leave the premises.”

“Only if you’re stiff and sore after exercise.”

No, I usually wasn’t, not since I’d stopped taking the sublimation potion that had dampened my werewolf magic for more than twenty years of my life. Even if my existence had turned chaotic since then, I did appreciate the perks the power conveyed. I’d also been sleeping better and had more energy, a good thing since I’d needed it to fight cranky family members and megalomaniacal bad guys.

“Perhapswecould spar for a bit?” Duncan pointed to me, touched his own chest, then waved toward wooden practice swords leaning against a wall. “It might be invigorating, and it’s good for your training to battle other types of opponents.”

“You know how to fight with a sword?” I asked.

“Ofcourse, my lady. A gentleman always learns how to duel.”

“A gentleman from 1703, maybe.”

“I’m not quite that old.”

I eyed his short salt-and-pepper hair. It was thick and lush, buthedidn’t bother applying dye to hide the grays.

“I’ll be happy to demonstrate my youthful fitness.” Duncan plucked up one of the practice swords.

Yuto stepped back, pulling out his phone to look at the time. “There is a class in a half hour. You can have the floor until the little kids start showing up.”

When Duncan put aside his metal detector and removed his shirt, my gaze snagged on his muscular torso. His assurances of his youthful fitness were not unfounded. The wolf-headed medallion he’d recently found, the match for the one my mom owned, lay nestled in the valley between his pectorals, drawing attention to the rounded muscles.

My eyes lingered longer than I intended, and Duncan turned to face me before I looked away. Had he caught me ogling him?

“You think you need to be shirtless to spar with me?” I asked.

“The better to distract my opponents, especially myfemaleopponents.” He winked.

Damn, hehadcaught me ogling him.

“Do you get a lot of women lunging at you with swords, wanting to duel?”