Page 10 of Kin of the Wolf (Magnetic Magic #3)

10

This time, when we drove past Monroe and into the woods where my mom lived in her two-room log cabin, no surly werewolves sprang out of the driveway to block us. I was almost surprised, but maybe Augustus was still lurking around Sylvan Serenity, waiting for a chance to raid my apartment and find the wolf case. Such an effort would prove futile since the artifact was in my glovebox, nestled atop two recently purchased bars of dark chocolate.

At the start of the driveway, magical items in the brush to either side pinged my senses. Whatever they were, they hadn’t been there before. I couldn’t see anything through the fern fronds, but I felt their presence.

“Your mother has added magical defenses,” Duncan said.

“Is that what they are? She mentioned getting ready in case thieves shooting silver bullets raid her property again.”

“Let’s hope that, whatever the devices are, they don’t attack helpful lone wolves who’ve done nothing to deserve having magic flung at them.”

“Nothing? After you beat up my cousins, you pinned another of my relatives to the wall of the cabin. I think you dislocated his shoulder.”

“Those attacks were warranted.”

“Do you want me to tell the magical devices that if they start pummeling you with sonic rays?”

“I would appreciate that, yes.”

I glimpsed something glowing softly under a tree as the cabin came into view and wondered whom Mom knew who made and installed defensive magical artifacts. Maybe I could put some in around the apartment complex, though I would have to make sure the devices knew who to attack and who not to attack. After everything that had happened, I didn’t need a magical landmine going off when one of the tenants’ dogs peed on a bush.

When we arrived at the cabin, Mom’s Jeep was parked in the driveway beside a twenty-year-old Subaru. I didn’t know what Lorenzo drove but hoped that was his car. He wouldn’t have a problem with me visiting, and he’d seemed okay with Duncan. At least, he hadn’t attacked Duncan.

But when I knocked on the front door, an older woman answered, her gray hair dangling in a braid over her shoulder. I recognized the wise wolf who’d tended Emilio, removing the silver bullet that had lodged in his torso, and concern tightened my throat. Rosaria was her name, I remembered, though I hadn’t had cause to interact with her often in my youth.

“Is Mom okay?” I blurted for my greeting.

“Good evening, Luna. And…” Rosaria looked toward Duncan. “Lone wolf who smashed Rocco against the wall of the cabin.”

She’d seen that? She must have been peering out the window at the time.

“Duncan. And I’m sorry you had to witness such violence.” He bowed apologetically to her.

“Werewolves are not bothered by violence. More tedious was setting his dislocated shoulder later. He was a dreadful patient. ”

“He was a dreadful opponent as well.” Duncan nodded. “So very surly.”

“Yes, that sounds right.” Rosaria smiled faintly at him before looking at me again.

I leaned forward, more worried about Mom than Rocco.

“She is… not in the best of conditions,” Rosaria admitted quietly. “She is a somewhat surly patient herself, refusing the human treatments and medication and rarely accepting even the tinctures and potions I offer to ease her pain.”

“I don’t want my pain eased,” came Mom’s voice from the kitchen. “I like my pain. It tells me I’m still alive.”

“Surly,” Rosaria said again.

“She’s proud,” I offered. “She always was.”

Rosaria sniffed. “Proudly surly.”

I spread my arms, unable to argue with that. “Is there anything I can do? I’ve wondered…” I looked at Duncan. “Is it possible a magical potion might be able to help her? We know an alchemist.”

“One who specializes in werewolf pharmacology?”

“Uhm.” I’d had no idea there was such a thing as werewolf pharmacology. “She has a lot of books on a variety of topics.”

Rosaria pressed her lips together in a thin line. I decided it wouldn’t be a point in Rue’s favor if I mentioned that she could make potions that sublimated werewolf powers.

“She’s human with some magical blood,” I said, “but I don’t know what her background is.”

“I do not think it likely a potion would have the power to stop the spread of the Taint and destroy the corrupted cells.”

“The Taint? Is that your term for cancer? That’s what Mom has, right?”

“That is what the human doctors call it, yes.”

“And there’s no cure that she would accept?” A thought came to me. “Do you know about her medallion? That couldn’t help heal her, could it? ”

To be a treasured family heirloom handed down from mother to daughter over the centuries, it surely had to do something more than glow brightly.

“I do know about it, yes. Your mother never disclosed its powers to me, but I had the same thought and asked her to wear it when she rests. It hasn’t yet healed her, unfortunately, but it does seem to soothe her somewhat. From what I have learned of its power, it’s meant more to protect the pack and our territory than heal illnesses or injuries. And its power is diminished currently since the matching medallion disappeared.”

“There’s another one?” I asked before remembering the history Mom had given when she’d first shown her artifact to me. She’d mentioned that hers was for female werewolves and one that had been designed for males had been lost.

“There was once, one that the alpha male usually wore. It disappeared long ago. It may not even have made it to the New World with the pack. I am uncertain. Your mother may know more, but, either way, I fear the medallion won’t cure the Taint. We can only do what we can to ease her pain.” Rosaria looked over her shoulder into the cabin, her voice growing louder and sterner when she added, “Inasmuch as a dreadful patient such as she will allow a wise wolf to ease her pain.”

“Let my daughter in, Rosaria,” Mom called. “I sense that the lone wolf is with her, and I wish to meet him.”

“You need rest, Umbra.”

“If I rest any more, I’ll get bedsores, and you’ll have to rub one of your creams all over me. The one that smells like dying skunks, perhaps.”

“Dreadful patient,” Rosaria repeated, shaking her head as she descended the stairs from the porch.

“It sounds like Mom’s in a good mood and wants to see you.” I waved for Duncan to follow me .

“That’s a good mood?” he asked, though he sounded more amused than concerned or reluctant at meeting my mother.

“I didn’t hear her throw anything across the room.”

“My diminished state makes throwing heavy objects more difficult these days.” In her room, Mom sat propped up in bed with a book, her long white hair loose about her shoulders and what looked like a whiskey tumbler on the table next to her. A twist of lemon floated on the ice cubes, and the amber liquid inside did have the sharp smell of alcohol.

“Aren’t sick people supposed to drink orange juice?” I stepped inside, not sure if she wanted Duncan to come into her bedroom or to meet him in the living area.

“Juice is cloyingly sweet.” Mom made a face. “I like a drink that kicks you in the throat a few times on the way down.”

“She is a tough lady,” Duncan remarked from the doorway.

Mom squinted at him.

“Mom, this is Duncan, a lone wolf from… the Old World.” I couldn’t share the tale he’d given me in confidence, but that didn’t seem too much to offer. He’d told me that much long before he’d admitted to the rest.

“I could have guessed that.”

“From my melodious accent?” Duncan bowed to her.

“You emanate power like a sun, have the chiseled physique of an alpha, and have abs taut enough to deflect bullets.”

Duncan’s jaw drooped open. “I… hadn’t realized my abs could indicate my birthplace.”

“All the old-world werewolves I met in my youth were more impressive than the pups born here today.” Mom waved vaguely to indicate our pack’s territory, or maybe all of America. “More impressive and more dangerous.”

She leveled an assessing gaze at Duncan.

“Maybe having their abs pelted with bullets makes them irritable.” Duncan rubbed his stomach as he made a face .

Mom looked at me. “He’s goofier than you are.”

“I’m not that goofy,” I said. “But he tries to disarm people with affable charm.”

“Before he ruthlessly slays them? And I’ll remind you that you put tinsel on my tail one year during the human winter holiday.”

“I haven’t forgotten. And Duncan thus far hasn’t ruthlessly slain me, so that speaks well of him, I should think.”

“Quite,” Duncan murmured, though his eyes grew dark for a moment. Was he thinking of the control device and how he’d attacked me? I hoped that as long as we kept our distance from Abrams, Duncan wouldn’t be susceptible to its power.

I mulled over a way to shift the topic to my cousins, but Mom wasn’t done speaking with Duncan.

“What are your intentions toward my daughter?”

Duncan and I blinked in surprise.

He recovered first. “I’ve been attempting to woo her into my lair for a healthy adult frolic, but she’s thus far evaded my advances.”

I groaned. I’d always heard Europeans were more open about sex, but there were some things one shouldn’t bring up with a woman’s mother. And my mother didn’t look amused.

“My daughter doesn’t need to frolic like a horny teenager,” she said. “She needs a suitable mate to breed healthy werewolf pups with before her fertile period ends.”

My second groan was even louder, and my hand came up to cover my rapidly heating face. By all the howling wolves in the forest, there were also things one shouldn’t discuss with a guy one had just met. Even I hadn’t known Duncan long enough to bring up pups .

“We haven’t discussed that possibility yet.” Duncan looked at me, his eyebrows up.

“No, we have not. And we’re not going to.” I faced Mom. “I have children, grown children. And I’m forty-five. I’m too old to have more.”

She lifted her eyes toward the wooden ceiling planks, as if I were the dimmest of her offspring. “I already told you, Luna. Werewolves are fertile longer than humans. Nature intended that. In our quests for dominance and quality hunting grounds, we kill each other off left and right. We’re much more aggressive than our unmagical lupine kin. Further, the threat we represent makes us targets for other species as well. As I’m sure you’ve noticed. Our creators gave us a long span of fertility so we’d have the ability to have numerous pups to replenish our species.”

“That’s fine, Mom, but?—”

“And your human babies are…” She flicked her hand, as if she were tossing garbage over her shoulder. “Inconsequential.”

Indignation and anger on their behalf made me lift my chin and snap, “They’re anything but that. Their father may be a loser, but they’re good kids. Austin is serving in the military as we speak, ready to defend this nation in time of war.”

“This human nation.” Mom flicked her hand again. “Werewolves do not recognize arbitrary borders created by human conflicts and politics. To us, it doesn’t matter which of them thinks they rule over this land. We claim this territory and will defend it.”

“Augustus is claiming more than the territory the pack has historically patrolled,” I said, jumping on the chance to move the topic away from my fertility. “Do you know about his mafia habits, Mom?”

She frowned at me. “Mafia?”

I explained the bartender and convenience-store owners and how Augustus was demanding monthly taxes from people. “He apparently claims it’s for their protection, but he’s a shitty protector.”

“Given his fighting prowess, I wouldn’t trust him to protect a goldfish bowl,” Duncan murmured .

Mom waved a hand. “Bella coddled and over-praised her children when they were growing up. Against my wishes, she even fed them substandard fare.” She curled her lip. “She kept Fruit Hoops in her cupboard.”

“Froot Loops, you mean?”

“Breakfast candies for children. Human children. Werewolves consume meat, bone, and organs for breakfast. For all meals.”

“I’ve seen you eat dark chocolate, Mom. I know you’re not completely carnivorous.”

“A tiny amount of sweet indulgence is permissible after a nutritionally satisfying meal has been consumed. Not after Fruit Hoops .” Never had someone mispronounced the popular breakfast cereal so scathingly.

I didn’t mention that I had, on numerous occasions, given in to my sons’ whining at the store and purchased those as well as Cocoa Pebbles for them. That would only lead Mom to think them even more inferior.

Duncan scratched his jaw. “So, we can blame malnourishment as a child for your cousin’s brutish behavior as an adult?” he asked me.

“It sounds like it was a collection of things.”

“He also grew up without a father,” Mom said. “As you did, Luna. This is not atypical in werewolf society though. Often, it’s only the alphas who stick around, leading the pack as well as their household. Your father would have been an excellent alpha if he’d stayed.” She looked wistfully toward the window.

I cleared my throat, more interested in the present than the past. “I want to stop Augustus, Mom. I don’t visit downtown Seattle and that bar often, but nobody deserves to be strong-armed by werewolves. And Shoreline is… my territory.”

I didn’t necessarily consider more than the apartment complex my territory , but she would understand the notion.

“You will challenge him?” she asked .

“Do I need to? He’s dragging the pack’s name through the mud. I thought you and Lorenzo and maybe the other elders might… kick him out. Maybe kick all of them out.” I waved toward the forest to imply the rest of Augustus’s bully siblings.

Mom didn’t answer right away, only gazing steadily at me. Why did I have the feeling she’d wanted me to answer her question with yes , I would challenge him? Had Augustus been the only one making trouble, I would have been willing, but he hadn’t thus far allowed me to face him one-on-one. The word honor didn’t seem to be in his vocabulary.

“The other elders might be swayed by Lorenzo or the arbiter to take such action,” Mom said, “but your cousins are young and strong, so there might be deaths if the issue were forced. If that is to be, it’s to be, but I believe the arbiter would require evidence of their wrongdoing before choosing that route. In addition to the possibility of deaths, to ask so many to leave would diminish the power of the pack.”

“They can’t be adding that much value.”

“They hunt and patrol our territory.”

“ More than our territory,” I muttered before catching myself, worried Mom would point out that I’d been away from the pack for too long to include myself in that our . “What kind of evidence would I need to present?”

I didn’t have any idea who the arbiter was these days. Had there even been one in the pack when I’d been young? I couldn’t remember.

“Something convincing.” Mom got out of bed, clasped her hands behind her back, and walked to the window. “I have heard that Augustus is separated from his wife at this time. He has acquired a large home on the lake in Sammamish, and it is reputedly quite lavish for a werewolf. For anyone .”

“He’s probably using the money he collects in taxes to pay for it. ”

“That may be a possibility. Several of your cousins also spend time there, but they, I believe, have only part-time employment in the human world, so they may not be contributing to the rent.”

“Then Augustus is going to have a hard time making the payments if someone stops him from extorting people.” I touched my chest.

“Likely so, but I will not shed a tear. A werewolf does not need a luxury human home.” Mom sniffed disdainfully. “Until recently, our kind usually lived in caves.” She curled a lip as she considered the log walls of her cabin. “We have grown soft, I fear. I blame the waning of magic in the world, but perhaps we’ve at least partially done it to ourselves.”

“It’s probably the effect of the Fruit Hoops,” Duncan said.

Mom shook her head and returned to her bed, leaning against the pillows again. “Do what you must, my daughter. Just know that it is unlikely the pack will turn against those boys without evidence of their wrongdoing.”

“I understand.”

“And be careful. Augustus is a brute but also a schemer. There’s one in every family.”

“Every werewolf family, maybe.”

“Our kind tend toward orneriness.” Mom gazed thoughtfully at me. “Lorenzo and I did tell Augustus to leave you be, but I am not surprised he has gone against our wishes. He has tested Lorenzo often and made it clear he desires leadership of the pack for himself. Lorenzo doesn’t care whether he leads or not and has only stepped in since we had a succession of alphas and no clear leadership for a time, but he will not back down to an upstart.”

“Good.”

“And, as of yet, neither Augustus nor any of your cousins has challenged him in open combat.”

“Because they’re not good fighters,” Duncan suggested. “They’re strong, but they lack agility and cunning. ”

Mom’s thoughtful gaze shifted to him. “I suspect you find that true of most wolves you fight. Most anyones. Were you to seek to mate with my daughter, I would grant my approval. With you, she would have superior offspring.”

“ Mom … Look, I get that you’re probably thinking about your own mortality and trying to set things straight with your legacy right now, but I’m not having any more children.”

“You must. Your blood is greater than that of my other offspring. You are the only child I had with your father, and his blood… He was magnificent.”

“If I challenge Augustus,” I said sturdily, determined to keep the conversation on track. “And things get… heated…” I thought of the times my savage wolf instincts had taken over completely and I’d killed. “Would you forgive that? Would Aunt Bella?”

What if the whole family turned against me? Before, when I’d left and been taking the sublimation potion, they’d all ignored me, for the most part, but this could be worse. They might openly hunt me to drive me out of Washington altogether.

“She might not forgive you,” Mom said, “but you know what I believe. Only the strong survive. That is the way of the wolf.”

“Yeah. I guess I figured you would feel that way.”

“Were the arbiter and the other elders to decide he and the others had to go, Bella would have to accept that or leave with them.”

“So… getting evidence to condemn him should be my first strategy.”

That idea struck me as more appealing than possibly killing a relative, even a live-by-the-fang-die-by-the-fang werewolf relative, but would it solve the problem? Or would it start a war within the pack? If Augustus and his siblings challenged Lorenzo and ended up in charge of the Savagers…

“Deal with him, one way or another, if you can,” Mom said. “It might ultimately bring harmony to the pack. There is tension now between the elders and the youths. Such is not uncommon among our kind, but it has been years without resolution and grows tedious. If Augustus or Marco or one of the others desires to be our leader, they should challenge Lorenzo openly. Instead, they mutter and scheme. More than once, I have been concerned that they would plot his demise through some seeming accident rather than challenging him openly and nobly.”

“Like they’d cut the brake lines in his car or something?” I could imagine it. The turds.

Mom took a long drink from the whiskey glass. Most of the ice cubes had melted while we spoke.

“I fear that is possible,” she said after draining it. “I would miss Lorenzo, as he has become a faithful companion to me these past years. He is also a stabilizing force for the pack.”

“I’m glad he’s taking care of you, Mom.”

She squinted at me. “I am not so old and infirm that I am unable to care for myself.”

“I’m certain that’s true.”

“Two nights ago, I took down a buck by myself.”

“You’re a fit and virile female wolf.”

“You’re humoring me. Come closer so I can slap you for your impertinence.”

Since I caught a smile in her eyes, I didn’t think she meant it.

“I’d better not,” I said. “Duncan defends me from threats.”

“Does he?” Mom looked more approving than concerned.

He bowed again to her. “With my bulletproof abs, my lady.”

I snorted. That wasn’t a body part I’d yet seen him sling at my cousins.

“Good,” Mom said. “Step outside for a moment. Refill this while you’re there.” She lifted the empty whiskey glass and held it toward him.

“With orange juice, right?” Duncan accepted it with a smirk .

“Your impertinence is also deserving of slaps,” she said sternly, but, yes, that was a smile in her eyes.

“I get that a lot.” He lifted the glass, then walked out, closing the door to give us the privacy Mom wanted.

I eyed her warily, afraid my fertility would come up again.

Instead, Mom opened her nightstand drawer and withdrew the black-velvet-covered box that held the medallion. I tensed, afraid she believed her death was coming soon and she meant to give it to me now.

“There is a cave not far from here.” Mom opened the box, and the golden wolf-head medallion with its equally golden chain glowed softly.

I remembered how it had blazed when I’d touched it in front of Lord Abrams and Radomir.

“Several generations ago, the first of our pack to enter into and claim this territory left paintings and sprinkled potions and other magic about the cave. It has been a sacred place for a long time for the females of our line. Had you stayed and mated with an alpha, I would have shared its location with you many years ago. Much of the lore has been lost, and I do not know what all the paintings signify. I do know that this—” Mom lifted the medallion from its resting place, “—glows more strongly there than I have seen it do anywhere else. I always felt some secret was in the cave and that, if discovered, it would teach us to more fully use the medallion’s power to strengthen our pack and protect it from outsiders.”

“It does seem like the pack needs more protection these days.”

Her eyelids drooped. “Some of those men with silver bullets returned. They did not leave their vehicles and remained on the road, but they used binoculars to peer in this direction. I believe they sensed the newly placed magical defenses near the driveway and decided not to attack at this time, but they are still after this.” She jingled the medallion chain.

“I’m sorry. ”

Between his grenades and his raw strength, Duncan had nearly destroyed the security forces at the potion factory, but Radomir was probably wealthy enough to hire brutes by the dozen. Or the hundred . Maybe there was, even now, a “Thugs Wanted” sign on the community board at El Gato Mágico.

Sooner or later, I would have to deal with Abrams and Radomir if I wanted their subordinates to stop trying to steal werewolf artifacts, but I could only handle one set of evildoers at a time.

“Before you go, I want you to visit the cave. See if you, perhaps with that one’s help—” Mom pointed her chin toward the door, “—can learn more about the ancient magic within it.”

I was more interested in handling my cousins than going spelunking, but, after disappearing from her life for so many years, I owed it to my mother to obey her wishes. All except the creating-more-offspring one, anyway.

“It’s possible that what you learn there will assist you with facing your cousins,” Mom offered, as if she knew my thoughts. “It may also help you figure out why those people want this.” She held the medallion out to me.

I drew back. “You’re keeping that until you pass, right?”

“I will, but take it for tonight. The cave will respond to it. You may learn more if you carry it inside.”

“Okay.” I accepted the medallion, though its cool weight in my hands made me uneasy, as if this exchange were signaling Mom’s death. I vowed to bring it back before going home. “You say this cave is nearby?”

“Yes.” She delved into her drawer again and withdrew a pen and a journal. “I will draw you a map.”

“Okay,” I repeated.

“Take the old-world werewolf with you.”

“Duncan.”

“Yes. ”

“You trust him now?” I asked.

She hadn’t when he’d first come with me to visit her. She’d warned me to watch out for him.

“Trust? No. But, as I said, he is an ideal male with whom to produce offspring. Despite being slightly past his prime, I believe his virility will ensure his seed takes with only a few matings.”

“My exact thoughts when I met him.” I couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of my tone. I wished she would knock this off.

“If only you were in earnest.” Mom looked up from her map drawing to shake her head sadly at me. “I have hope that you will see the truth. I believe he is drawn to you.”

“It’s my boobs.”

I expected another head shake, but Mom nodded. “The females in our line have always had appealing anatomy.”

I snorted, accepted the map when she tore it out of her journal, and opened the door. Duncan stood there, the refilled whiskey glass in hand. With his hearing, he’d probably caught every word of the discussion. He set the glass on the bedside table, then walked out with me, glancing at the medallion and piece of paper.

“My mom offered me a quest,” I said. “Do you want to come?”

“You drove, so I think that’s required.”

I considered the map, the directions starting at the back door of the cabin. “This looks like a walking quest.”

“Ah. I always enjoy an amble with a fine lady.”

“Good. Thanks.”

“Since you are seeking a mission,” he said as we headed into the woods, “it’s kind of the world to keep offering them to you.”

“I suppose.”

“Will you need a mask and cape for your mother’s quest?”

“I think capes are optional at sacred caves.”