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Duncan grinned and pointed at his chest—hisheart. The amusement didn’t entirely reach his eyes, and I shivered at the reminder of why he’d given the gift to me.

“Thanks for arranging for those lessons, by the way,” I said quietly.

“You’re welcome. Anyway, Radomir, it turns out, was irritated with Abrams for casting me into said ditch.Herecognized my value and that I’m a true gem.”

“Uh-huh. Do you call himmy ladyand kiss the back of his hand?

“I call himmy lordand, when the magic compels me, drop to one knee in front of him.”

“Gross.”

“It is irritating to be forced to do so. Magic can be a vexing impediment to freedom of choice.”

“I’ll bet. Look. I drove up here in my truck. It’s well-stocked with provisions—Doritos and chocolate-covered crickets that my son gave me for Christmas.” I didn’t mention that the latter weren’t delicious and I’d only put them in my truck to serve as emergencyrations in case I ran out of gas. “If I try to finish rescuing you—or maybe I’d bekidnappingyou—would you allow it?”

“Ihave no objection to you kidnapping me. You could take me all the way to your bedroom in Shoreline, if I had my way.”

“But you don’t?” I raised my eyebrows.

“Well… I’ve chosen not to exert my willpower to its fullest to break away. Not yet.”

I couldn’t tell if that was a lie. Maybe he’d tried to escape their magical control and it hadn’t worked, and he didn’t want to admit it. Duncan had a history of being evasive with me.

“Are you waiting for a dramatic moment?” I asked.

“When Radomir explained this quest to me, I wasn’t entirely against it. As you ascertained, that bauble isn’t what he sought.” Duncan pointed to the tree medallion.

“Yeah, an ancient artifact imbued with magic and embedded with emeralds. What a useless tchotchke.”

“I’m sure it’s not that, but it’s not what he’s looking for.”

“Do you have any idea what it does?” I sensed magic in the medallion but couldn’t tell anything about it.

“For all I know, it’s a fancy paperweight.”

“I doubtthat.”

Duncan flicked his fingers in dismissal. “What RadomirhopedI would find is the mate to your mother’s medallion, the version your pack once held that was made for male werewolves to wear.”

“My mom did mention that there is such a thing, but she thought it was lost a long time ago, maybe before the pack even came to America.”

“Radomir believes it wasn’t lost that many generations ago and that it’s still in the Pacific Northwest.”

“Are yousurehe didn’t tell you about his nefarious plans for the artifacts?” I asked.

It seemed like Duncan knew more than he’d implied about what those two masterminds were up to.

“I’m sure, but Radomir didn’t deny that they’re specifically seeking werewolf artifacts and also tomes written about and by our people.”

“Were there a lot of books penned by werewolf scribes in the past?” Other than Jasmine’s computer-geek father, I’d heard of very few scholarly-inclined werewolves in my life. Sadly, my cousin Augustus had been a more typical representative of our kind.

“Not that he’s discovered. Hence the focus on artifacts. As I was saying, I would have been delighted to find the male version of your family’s medallion. I don’t know what it does, but I thought if I located it, I might then test and break the magic of the compulsion and come to you. Together, we could visit your mother and lay the medallion at her feet.”

“I do need to visit my mother.” Recalling Lorenzo’s request, I felt guilty that I’d driven up the highway, passing not that far from Monroe on the way, and hadn’t stopped in.

“If I was responsible for finding it, I figured she might think kindly of me and allow me to visit without siccing your pack on me.”

Only my cousins had attacked him. Mom hadn’t had anything to do with it.