Page 22 of Curse of the Wolf

“Maybe I will go,” I told Bolin. “Who can pass up a shindig with an open bar?”

“Shindig,” he mouthed.

Presumably, it wasn’t a word Gen-Zers used with any frequency.

“Yeah, do you know the origins and how to spell it?”

“I canspellit. I… may need to research the origins. That was used less often than you might think in spelling bees.”

“I finally stymied my young intern,” I told Duncan.

“It’s from the Scottish gameshinty, I believe,” he said.

“I’ll research it,” Bolin said firmly.

“That means he doesn’t trust you as a resource,” I said to Duncan.

Duncan touched a hand to his bare chest. “I’ve traveled the world and read thousands of books.”

“Yeah, but you’re naked. That invalidates a lot.”

“Why would my dress state subtract from my wisdom? This is such astrangecountry.”

“Are you going to call it repressed again?”

“Hourly, yes.”

8

By the eveningof the networking event, my ribs and my arm weren’t bothering me as much. The pain had eased from excruciating to merely sore, and I could breathe without twinges of agony. I did still have bandages wrapped around my torso to support what had likely been broken ribs.

Thank the moon for the regenerative power of the werewolf—and that Radomir hadn’t directed any thugs to my door these past couple of days. Hehadsent an appraiser over, as if he were a legitimate buyer. I still couldn’t believe he wanted the place. Why was he going through such an elaborate charade?

“What a week,” I said from the passenger seat of Jasmine’s hatchback on the way to Bellevue with her.

Grimacing, I tugged at the collar of my mock turtleneck, one of a handful of items I owned that qualified as “dress clothing.” They’d all been purchased in another decade. They hadn’t been comfortable then, and they weren’t comfortable now. At least they still fit, though I wasn’t as svelte and sleek as I had been in my youth. Naturally, I blamed that on childbirth twenty years ago rather than my dark-chocolate addiction.

Jasmine glanced at me. “It’ll be fine.”

“Do I look nervous?”

“Yup.”

She wore a flowing emerald-green tunic and khaki trousers that looked fashionable, at least to my untrained eye. I kept up on the latest trends in paint, flooring, and window coverings but paid less attention to what people wore.

“Do you ever get phantom tail twitches?” Jasmine asked.

“What is that?”

“When you’re a human but you feel like you’re sitting on your tail or what you’re wearing is irritating it.”

“I don’t think so. I just get twitchy in general when I’m out of my element.”

“Tell me about it,” Jasmine said. “When people waste my time with small talk, I get urges to bite them.”

“Really? You always seem less…lupinethan a lot of the family. You have equanimity.”

“Wolves can’t have equanimity?”