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“Of course I am. You’ve been aching for me since I told you I don’t have any debt.”

“So almost ten minutes.”

“Yup.” He smiled, but it faded as he considered the toy. “That did seem easy and… unlikely.”

“Do you think we should bring more backup?” If the thugs were lying in wait and had rifles loaded with silver bullets, having another werewolf along might not be enough. Worse, I could get Duncan shot.

“Do youhavemore backup?”

“Uhm, I could call Bolin. Or the ladies in my book club. One of them has knitting needles like fencing rapiers.”

“You could call your family.” Maybe that was who he’d had in mind in the first place.

“Oh.” I grimaced at the thought of asking my sick mom for help. And the males of the pack… Other than Lorenzo and the injured Emilio, there weren’t many prospects who might assist me. “If someone with silver bullets shows up, I don’t want to get more werewolves into trouble. Besides, I’m not sure who among them I could trust to help.”

“I guess it’s the two of us then.” Duncan picked up the toy with a bemused smile and examined it.

“And the knitting lady if I call her.”

“I think we can handle it. What shall we do to kill time until eight?”

“I have another leaky faucet to replace.” I waved to a box sitting on the desk. “The tenant works the evening shift so I was waiting for him to head out before going over.”

His eyes crinkled. “Can I help?”

“I’m still waiting for you to rake the leaves out there,” I said, though I’d done that myself when the forecast for winter weather had come. It was much easier to rake leaves when they weren’t covered with snow.

“Ah, yes, I remember you assigning me that duty.”

He hadn’t done it, though, since that had been rightbeforeI’d overheard him speaking to Chad on the phone the first time—the time I’d believed it a great betrayal. After that, I’d driven him off.

“As I recall,” he added, “you were enticed by the idea of me doing it shirtless.”

“AsIrecall, it was Grammy Tootie I promised would be enticed by that.”

I grabbed the faucet and headed for the door. There was time to complete the task, and I felt obligated to finish everything on my workday to-do list before taking off to attempt to hunt artifact thieves. That was, after all, the kind of thing one did after hours.

Duncan followed me out of the office, but I paused before taking more than two steps. Three matte-black Teslas were rolling into the parking lot, the license plate lights dark so they weren’t legible. I sensed magic about the vehicles—or maybe in those riding inside—and my instincts reared up, warning of danger.

“It’s those men again,” Duncan said, though he couldn’t have seen through the tinted windows. He pulled me into bushes to the side of the walkway. “The man on the phone might have seen through your ruse and been calling to verify that you were here.”

“Then that saves us the trip of having to drive to Bothell,” I said with determination.

If the blond thug wasone of the people in those cars… This time, I would catch him and question him.

The Teslas stopped, and two windows rolled down enough for the muzzles of rifles to stick out.

“Silver bullets,” Duncan warned, his grip tightening on my shoulder. “Get down.”

How he could be certain, I didn’t know, but I didn’t want to be shot withanytype of bullet, so I let him push me lower and behind a garbage can that would offer more cover than the bushes. Two more muzzles appeared, bringing the total number of rifles to four.

One of the car doors opened, but the interior was dark, and we couldn’t identify who was inside. Not by sight, at least. Duncan, crouched close beside me, inhaled sharply. Maybe he couldsmellthe occupants.

“Get inside, girl,” someone called through the open door. “Come with us, or we’ll shoot up this place and kill your tenants.”

Duncan stirred. “They didn’t come for an artifact. They came for you.”

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