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The entire neighborhood didn’t catch fire, but the human abode burned spectacularly. As people in nearby dwellings came out, I forced myself to my paws, my forelimb painful and my ribs cracked. Numerous lesser injuries aggravated me, spots where fire had burned through my fur.

Before limping out of the yard, I had the presence of mind to peer through the broken fence to see if any of my clothes had survived the change. If I took my human form again, I would need them.

Unfortunately, they had disappeared into the ether. A glint in the smoldering grass caught my eye. The paw-sized device that I so often used as a human. Knowing it held importance, I plucked it up and carried it away.

Aware of people gathering out front, I departed through the broken fence behind the human abode. Sticking to the yards, I traveled several dwellings away before veering toward the street. I wished to check on my ally.

I could sense him and that he still lived, but he was moving slowly away from the flaming house. Had he also been injured? Severely burned? He’d been closer than I to the origins of that great destructive boom.

Between trees in front of another human domicile, one in which nobody seemed to be present, I spotted my ally. He had also changed, taking the form of a wolf rather than the two-legs, and he carried his jacket in his mouth.

Unlike me, he’d had the wherewithal to remove at least some of his clothing before changing.

Also, unlike me, he wasn’t limping. He hadn’t escaped unscathed though.

Blood matted his salt-and-pepper fur, and his movements were stiff.

Further, much of his right side was charred, fur burned away, revealing blistered skin.

The medallion that he’d worn under his shirt as a human, an artifact that belonged to my pack, had shifted along with him and hung around his neck.

It glowed faintly, bathing him with its magic.

As quickly as my injured forelimb allowed, I hurried toward him. We met under the trees and slumped against each other.

Sirens wailed, coming from the direction of the great vehicle passageway. Our pointed ears flickered with displeasure as the noise increased, the source coming closer.

The glow of the medallion intensified, wrapping around me as well as Duncan.

Though we were several yards away from the burning home, and most of the human observers watched the flames from the street out front of it, I worried the glow would attract notice.

Perhaps thinking the same, Duncan backed toward evergreen bushes at the side of the property.

Together, we found camouflage behind the leaves.

The medallion did more than glow. As it washed over us, the magic brought warmth that suffused my body. Though I doubted it could instantly heal our wounds, some of the pain lessened.

Duncan’s wolf magic faded before mine, and he crouched as a human beside me, naked except for the medallion. Like many other items with power, it did not fall away during the change, instead staying with its possessor.

“That was a hell of an explosion.” Gingerly, Duncan touched his side. As it had been in his wolf form, his skin was blistered and charred. “Did you see who threw the bomb?”

Understanding that he wanted to speak as humans did, I willed my wolf magic to fade. It would be easier to walk, anyway, since I only needed the back legs in that form. Nudity would be a problem, unfortunately. Humans had such strange conventions.

“I did in case you were wondering.” Duncan grimaced. “Not in time to get out of the house and completely out of the way, but when I saw that familiar armored SUV roll up…”

The pain didn’t go away with the change. If anything, it intensified after my body morphed, a reminder that humans weren’t as tough as wolves.

When I crouched naked in the bushes beside Duncan, he repeated his last words. They had much more meaning to my human mind.

“ Radomir’s armored SUV?” I asked.

“Quite. I hadn’t suspected that he had anything to do with the local brutes.”

I started to nod in agreement but remembered the magical hand device that one thug had used on me the last time I’d defended my parking lot. I also struggled to recall the words of the man we’d tracked down, those he’d spat out when I’d stood over him as a wolf.

“The old guy.”

Yes, he’d said that.

Duncan looked over, his eyebrows rising.

“The man we followed here said a few things before the explosion, that an old guy had ordered his gang to rob me. I think… they were supposed to get the wolf case, not necessarily the sword.”

“That could have referred to either Radomir or Abrams.”

“They’re working together. It hardly matters.”

“True,” Duncan said. “Radomir would be the more likely to recruit local people. Abrams isn’t from here, after all. Though I don’t know how long he’s been in the area.”

“Maybe Radomir bartered some magical tools, a prize for the thugs if they were willing to steal from me. As long as they were harassing me anyway, why not add some theft into the mix?”

“The tools were probably meant to help them get what Radomir wants, not as a permanent gift.”

“Either way, I’m going to consider them more dangerous now.

” I rose, cradling my arm to my torso and wondering if I needed to see a doctor for a splint.

With luck, my wolf magic and whatever the medallion had done would help my arm heal soon.

“Was Radomir the one driving the SUV? How would he have known we were hunting one of these guys? And why would he care, anyway?”

“I don’t think it was him, just his vehicle. He lets his hired hands drive it from time to time.”

“Such as when he needs someone rammed in the rear end and sent hurtling into the trees?” Fortunately, I’d managed to avoid that fate, but I felt resentment on behalf of my damaged truck.

“Yes. As to how he knew we were chasing that bloke, he might have glimpsed us or had someone at the train station keeping an eye out.” Duncan shrugged. “A lookout could have called Radomir’s men. Or maybe Radomir himself. He’s been in the area recently, as we well know.”

“Very recently. Maybe he and Abrams are lurking full-time in Shoreline now while they make fake offers on the apartment complex. We need to get back there before they try something else.” I straightened, determined to leave before the police arrived and found us loitering.

“Our nudity could be a problem on the return trip.” Duncan picked up his jacket. He, at least, wouldn’t have to navigate Shoreline in daylight stark naked. “Does that city train of yours have regulations about clothing requirements?”

“Yeah, but they have regulations about using stolen koi-pond coins, too, and that didn’t stop us before.”

“I entreat you to research coin toxicity and fish. I assure you, you’ll learn that my actions were heroic.” Duncan handed me his jacket, nodding for me to put it on.

I sighed, appreciating his solicitude, though it annoyed me that I hadn’t thought to shuck my own clothing. “Thank you. You are heroic.”

“Of course. But you are the one with contacts in the area. Perhaps you could call someone to pick us up.”

“Afraid of being arrested for nudity?”

“As we’ve discussed before, Americans are terribly repressed in that area.”

I picked up my phone, glad I’d thought to grab it as a wolf, even if I had to rub saliva off the screen.

“The problem with a lack of pockets,” I murmured, pulling up Bolin’s contact information.

“I’m not sure what to do next about our problems, Duncan.

We can’t hunt down and kill Radomir and Abrams in the dark of night, can we? ”

Maybe I shouldn’t have sounded wistful when I asked that.

“Not without locating them first. Does your esophagus have any insights into their location?”

“No, my esophagus is as battered and burned as the rest of me and may not have insights on anything for a while.”

“Not even chocolate?” Duncan leaned over, poked into one of the jacket pockets, and withdrew a few espresso beans covered in half-melted speckled white chocolate, then offered them to me.

I leaned on him, glad to have him at my side. I almost said something mushy and oozing with feelings of warmth and gratitude, but then I remembered my conversation with Abrams, that Duncan might be dying. I really didn’t know what to do next.