Page 11

By the evening of 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.

He had sent 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… lupine than a lot of the family. You have equanimity.”

“Wolves can’t have equanimity?”

“Since I stopped taking the sublimation potions, I’ve struggled to keep my alter ego from springing out and pouncing on people.”

“Cats pounce. Wolves maim and mutilate.”

“That doesn’t sound as elegant.”

“You’ve met the family, right?”

I snorted. Yes. We could be graceful during the hunt, but we did trend a touch brutish. More so than non-magical wolves in the wilds. They had equanimity.

“Almost there.” Jasmine pointed at the map on her phone.

Her car didn’t have a screen to tie into it, but neither did my truck. I was used to modest amenities when it came to transportation. And, unlike my truck, both of her fenders were attached.

“This is in an expensive part of town.” Jasmine eyed the high-rises as we drove past.

“I don’t think Bellevue has any inexpensive parts.”

“Well, there are places where the median home price is less than others.”

“So, under a million dollars?”

“Not that much less.” Jasmine smirked. “It’s why I’ll probably end up with a condo in Everett instead.

The kind that overlooks the freeway or an alley.

Probably an alley next to a freeway. That’s if I’m lucky enough to find something.

Home ownership isn’t exactly easy to swing in the Seattle area on a single person’s income.

I might have to move into one of your apartments and rent for a while. ”

“They won’t be my apartments for long.”

I didn’t point out that being the property manager didn’t give me a claim on ownership. She knew that.

“That’s a bummer. You’ve kept them up really well.”

“Thank you.” Since we were almost there, I delved into my purse and sifted through my budgeting envelopes. I pulled a few bills out of the one labeled GAS and tucked them into one of the drink holders.

“Is that a tip for good driving?”

“I’m chipping in for gas money.”

“Since I’m currently unemployed, I’m not going to be too proud to take it.”

“Good.”

At a stoplight, Jasmine slipped the bills into her purse. “The next owners won’t know what to do if your apartment complex gets overrun with werewolves.”

“Fewer landlords than you’d think know what to do in that circumstance.”

“I know for a fact that deer repellent doesn’t work on werewolves. Dad sprayed his fruit trees with the stuff, and, the first time Emilio and Alessio visited, they headed straight to the backyard. I think Emilio licked a leaf.”

“Must have dried blood in the mix. I’ve tried all the various repellents to keep rabbits from noshing on the pansies and petunias I plant around the grounds in the spring. I finally gave up and hung them in baskets instead of putting them in the ground.”

“This is a weird conversation for carnivores to have.”

“I’m not the one with a relative growing fruit trees.”

“Dad produces apple and pear cider with his fruit. Making booze appeals to carnivores as well as normies.” Jasmine nodded toward a turn ahead.

We were passing more tall modern buildings, one with walls appearing to be made entirely of glass, the western side reflecting the setting sun. “It’s just around the corner.”

Hopefully, taking this time away from figuring out what Radomir and Abrams were up to wouldn’t prove a mistake. Duncan had said he would keep an eye on Sylvan Serenity in case any trouble came by this evening, and the police patrol car was back in the street near the lot.

Such deterrents might keep the tenants’ vehicles from being vandalized, but they wouldn’t get me any closer to figuring out how to help Duncan or what Radomir and Abrams were up to.

We pulled into a parking lot full of sporty Porsches, convertible BMWs, and, for the more ruggedly-inclined luxury auto buyer, Bentley and Rolls-Royce SUVs.

I spotted a similar model G-Wagon to what Bolin had but in a different color.

It gleamed from a recent detail and lacked bird droppings of any kind.

At least I didn’t see any armored SUVs. I wouldn’t put it past Radomir to have figured out I was coming here so he could send his thugs to try again to kill me.

“Bolin’s car would fit in here more than mine.” Jasmine waved at a valet who was eyeing us like we were potential thieves. “Too bad he was driving his parents. He could have given us a ride.”

“He offered to bring us.”

“Yeah, but we might have ended up squeezed in the back with his mom and dad. That would have been weird.”

If Jasmine had accepted his offer, he probably would have shown up without his mom and dad. I smirked as I imagined him punting his parents out and telling them to get an Uber as he patted the passenger seat to invite Jasmine in.

“I wasn’t sure about riding with him regardless.” She glanced at me as she bypassed the valet and drove toward empty spots at the back of the lot. “I get the vibe that he wants to ask me out.”

“That might be an accurate vibe. You’re not interested?” I hadn’t asked that before. Maybe I should have instead of helping Bolin with his selection of rap music with which to serenade her.

“He’s… not horrible looking.”

“Don’t say that within his hearing, or he’ll have tremendous hope of his pursuit being fruitful.”

Jasmine made a face. “It’s just that he’s pretty geeky. Like if he were a wolf, he’d be an omega. It might be like dating my dad.”

“Your dad seems like a good guy. He keeps doing research for me for free, and he makes his own hard cider.”

“He is a good guy. You know, for my mom. For women who want to be married and have a stable life. I’m more into the alphas and betas. And I want someone exciting .”

“Bolin’s life has gotten pretty exciting since he started working for me.”

Jasmine laughed. “I don’t doubt that . My last few weeks have been pretty interesting too.”

She parked and grabbed a gem-studded green purse that went with her outfit, wisely adding a fur-trimmed jacket as well. Despite the atypical sun we’d had today, the light—and warmth —it emitted this time of year were wan, and it was already setting.

Hoping I wouldn’t have any urges to change during the party—the networking event—I grabbed a jacket of my own. Even if I didn’t adore my dress clothes, I also didn’t want to pay to replace them if something prompted me to get furry. Curling a lip, I tugged at the turtleneck collar again.

A doorman let us in without asking for proof of invitations, and we passed through a marble-tiled lobby with fancy fountains and chandeliers, each probably costing more than the alley-adjacent condominiums Jasmine had mentioned.

A uniformed elevator operator with the build of a bouncer asked to see our invitations. An email that Bolin had forwarded from his parents did the job, though someone else with a gilded envelope entered with us. The operator pressed a button to send us toward the penthouse before stepping out.

“I guess this is where you work if robots and automation make your job obsolete,” Jasmine murmured.

“I shouldn’t have to worry about that for a while. I haven’t seen many robots capable of replacing toilets yet.”

The woman in the elevator looked over at us.

Her expression wasn’t exactly scandalized, but I did get the vibe that this wasn’t the kind of shindig where one brought up such pedestrian items as toilets.

Considering it was for real estate people, that struck me as odd.

Surely, some of them had replaced bathroom fixtures as they made their way up in the world.

When the doors opened, the woman stepped out quickly, waving to acquaintances and hurrying away from us. The foyer up here was almost as fancy as the one downstairs, and only four doors marked units on the floor, one standing open.

“I don’t think I’m going to fit in here.” As we entered, I eyed servers with trays of one-bite appetizers and sparkling beverages in crystal glasses. The help was dressed nicer than I was, making me wonder if this was a more formal affair than Bolin had led me to believe.