Page 13 of Kin of the Wolf (Magnetic Magic #3)

13

Again fully clothed, Duncan and I walked out of the gully and toward the cabin. Once we climbed out of the depression, I could also sense other werewolves in the area. Mom was in the cabin, and the others were lurking in her driveway.

“It’s after midnight.” I’d glanced at my phone as we’d climbed. “You’d think they would have elsewhere to be.”

“Someone may have told them you were here.” Duncan slanted me a look.

Was he implying the pack wise wolf would have gotten involved? I was sure my mom hadn’t reached out to my cousins. She might accept it was the way of the wolf if I confronted them and died, but… she wanted me to live and be her heir. At that very moment, I wore the medallion she intended to leave to me. She wouldn’t have told them I was here tonight.

It must have been Rosaria. Or maybe chance had brought my cousins by—this did seem to be a favorite launching point for wolves heading out to hunt. I also thought of the magical driveway devices we’d passed and wondered again who had set them up for Mom. Was it possible they reported whenever someone came onto the property? Like magical security cameras?

A howl came from the driveway, raising the hair on the back of my neck. That was one of my cousins, one who’d helped Augustus attack me on the train trestle the night of the hunt.

At the cabin, two more trucks had joined mine in the parking area. No, not joined . They were hemming mine in. Trapping it.

I swallowed and told myself I could drive off road and escape if needed. There weren’t so many trees lining the driveway that I couldn’t find a route out. But I didn’t want to escape. I wanted evidence, or, even better, a confession. Ideally one that Mom would hear. Mom and Lorenzo. Was he around? No, I sensed five or six male werewolves in the driveway, but I didn’t detect his aura.

When we stopped out front, we found Mom on the porch of her cabin, the wise wolf still with her. These were enough witnesses, surely. If Mom and Rosaria told Lorenzo to kick Augustus and his trouble-making siblings out of the pack, Lorenzo would gather enough elders and less wayward young wolves to make it happen. I was certain of it.

Augustus, Marco, and two more of my cousins waited about fifteen yards up the driveway from the cabin. They were in human form, standing to further block the way out. Two more of their allies who were shape-changed into wolves lurked in the trees.

All eyes were turned toward me. Me and Duncan.

He walked calmly at my side. Augustus sneered when their eyes met.

“Don’t you go anywhere without that scruffy loner?” Marco asked me.

“No. I like him.” I stopped near my truck, not getting too close to my cousins.

Augustus’s sleeves were rolled up to show off his muscled forearms. He looked like he had come to fight. With Duncan’s help, I’d defeated my cousins before, badly enough that they would be fools to attack while he was here with me. But Augustus might have more than muscles up his sleeves.

“Do you think you can change again tonight if we need to?” I asked Duncan quietly.

“Easily.”

The medallion had stopped glowing, but Augustus noticed it around my neck. His sneer shifted to a scowl.

“Presumptuous of you to wear that. Did you ask permission?” He looked toward the porch.

“I asked her to take it to the sacred cave,” Mom said calmly.

She said the sacred cave like she expected Augustus to know all about the place. Maybe it wasn’t the secret I’d believed. Abruptly, I realized that Augustus might have known about it and its magic for a long time. Maybe, as I’d been thinking earlier, he had taken water from that pool to feed the pack of wolves and mongrel dogs that he’d sent at me. That could have accounted for their glowing eyes.

“What brings you here tonight, Augustus?” Mom asked. “Lorenzo and I told you not to bother Luna further.”

Augustus raised his chin. “She has been badmouthing me and besmirching my honor.”

I snorted. “What honor? You’re a toad.”

Augustus pointed at me. “Like that. She has spoken this way to outsiders, to others with power.”

“If you mean I’ve told others that you tried to kill me, I didn’t think that was a secret.” I actually couldn’t think of many people I’d complained to about Augustus. Since I hardly told anyone I was a werewolf, I couldn’t admit that I had annoying lupine cousins. “And what honor did I besmirch?” I glanced at Mom and Rosaria. “You’re the one making a bad name for the pack by acting like the mafia.”

I willed Augustus to reply in such a way that would verify that.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Augustus said, “but you’ve been telling anyone who will listen that I’m not fit to lead the pack.”

I was positive I hadn’t brought that up to anyone.

His eyes narrowed. “I intend to prove myself fit. To redeem my honor in the eyes of my relatives, I challenge you to a battle. One-on-one .” He glared at Duncan as he said that last.

I opened my mouth, tempted to accept the challenge without thought—since the last dose of the werewolf sublimation had long since worn off, I believed I could best him. But he had to have treachery in mind. After I’d knocked him off the train trestle, he couldn’t be certain he could best me in a fair fight. What was he up to?

“You hesitate, Luna?” Augustus asked softly. “It’s possible you’re not an appropriate heir for that medallion.”

“It’s possible you’re an asshole.”

“ I didn’t turn my back on my heritage and abandon my people and my own mother for more than twenty years.”

“She probably wishes you had,” I grumbled before I could catch myself. He was bringing me down to his schoolyard-bully level, and I didn’t want that. Not in front of Mom or Duncan—or myself, for that matter. “I haven’t besmirched your honor or spoken of you at all, but I’m not afraid to fight you one-on-one if you need to prove something. Though I don’t think you’ll find a battle against me will come out in your favor.”

“We shall see.” Augustus took a few steps back and pointed to the open driveway behind him. “Come and face me. If you’re not afraid.”

“He’s up to something,” Duncan said.

“Oh I know.”

Augustus removed his shirt and tossed it onto one of the trucks. “Are you game, Luna? Let us settle this like wolves.”

His challenging words and stare made me want to roll my eyes and walk away, but my wolf blood felt differently. Detecting the threat, my instincts summoned my magic, and my skin pricked, flushing with warmth, with the promise of a change.

Whether Duncan sensed the call coming to me or not, I didn’t know, but he looked over. “If you accept, I’ll make sure the others don’t interfere.”

“There are a lot of them.”

“There’s a lot of me .” His smile was almost savage. He wanted to fight them.

“I’m willing to take him on, but what I really want is to get him to confess in front of witnesses.” I nodded toward the porch.

“Confess to being an obnoxious ass who challenges females?” Duncan asked.

“To being an obnoxious ass who, in the name of the pack, extorts business owners when he’s not busy skulking about, waiting for opportunities to steal invaluable artifacts.” I glanced toward my truck, reminded that the case was in the glove box. By habit, I’d locked the vehicle, but I wondered if my cousins had sensed the artifact in there.

“He might not admit to that unless you’re standing on his throat.”

“He would look good with a paw crushing his Adam’s apple,” I said.

“Agreed.”

I bumped elbows with Duncan before walking forward by myself, my skin hot with the magic of the impending change. If I didn’t remove my clothes soon, I risked losing them, but Augustus couldn’t confess once he changed into a wolf.

“I’ll only fight you on your terms,” I said, “if you tell us all why you’re extorting business owners who have paranormal blood and doing it in the name of the pack. Not only in Snohomish County but in King County too. Why do you need money? You’re a wolf and hunt for your food.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Augustus said again .

I folded my arms over my chest. “Then I’m not fighting you.”

“That would make you a coward and not worthy to inherit anything from your mother.” Eyes challenging, Augustus looked toward the porch.

Mom didn’t say anything. After our conversation, I knew she believed my cousins were obnoxious pains in the asses, but I also knew she wouldn’t stop a formal challenge from playing out in her driveway. She would also think less of me if I didn’t accept it.

“If I were stupid enough to fall for whatever scheme you’ve cooked up, then I wouldn’t be worthy,” I said. “The bartender of El Gato Mágico knows who you are and can identify you. If you’re going to be a brutish thug, maybe you should use another name.”

A hint of uncertainty flashed in Augustus’s eyes, but he masked it by bending to remove his shoes. I hoped my mom had caught that look, that she believed what I’d told her.

“Also,” I added, “maybe you should actually stop crime in the area if you’re going to charge people for doing so.”

“Maybe you should start taking off your clothes and change so we can get this over with.” Augustus tossed his shoes and socks aside.

Behind me, Duncan removed his shirt.

Augustus had started to reach for his fly, but he paused. “This duel doesn’t involve you, loner.”

“I’m here to ensure the duel remains fair and under the conditions you proposed,” Duncan said coolly. “One-on-one.”

“And here I thought he was here to screw her,” Marco muttered, drawing laughs from the others.

Duncan turned his cold gaze on them. For a guy who was smiling and affable most of the time, he could do menacing well when he wanted. Maybe it was because we were all magical and could sense the feral power that emanated from him.

Marco and the others shifted to the side of the driveway, leaving Augustus standing alone. They didn’t go far though; they remained close enough that they could leap in at any time.

Duncan tossed his shirt over the railing of the porch. I took a deep breath, reassured that he could also jump in at any time.

“If I beat you, I want your word that you’ll leave the business owners alone,” I said.

“I still have no idea what you’re talking about, coz.” Augustus waved a dismissive hand, then removed his jeans. “We’re dueling tonight because you’ve besmirched my honor.”

“Do you even know what that word means?”

“I know a lot.” Now naked in the driveway, Augustus held my gaze. “And I know you’re not worthy to be welcomed back into the pack. You left us. You don’t have any right to be here now.”

I bristled, skin flushing even hotter. Part of it was magic, the call of the wolf, and part of it was anger. Anger and… shame. Even if I’d had a reason for leaving, I couldn’t help but feel that he was right on some level. I shouldn’t have abandoned my family, my mother.

“Wolves leave, and they come back,” was what I said. “If they’ve the power to earn a place in the pack, they deserve one.”

“Let’s see if you do.” Augustus beckoned with his fingers, then took a few more steps back and dropped to all fours, the change coming over him.

Frustrated that he hadn’t given a confession—if anything, he was doing his best to make me look petty in front of Mom and Rosaria—I felt the magic surging up within me, demanding to be released. Though I worried I was walking into a trap, I removed the medallion and my clothes. Duncan had my back, and I… I realized I trusted him. Even if our relationship had started with betrayal, I believed wholeheartedly that he would help me against my family. He would be here for me if I needed him.

And I probably would. As the magic transformed me, my last human thought was that I was most certainly walking into a trap. But the need to prove myself, to not back down in front of my mother or be perceived as a coward by the pack, drove me.

Skin stretching, torso changing, and fur sprouting, I dropped to all fours, paws feeling the compact dirt of the driveway. The magic prompted me to lift my head and howl.

Behind me, my ally remained in his human form, but he’d also removed his clothes. He could change quickly when the need arose.

The dark-gray wolf that was Augustus had backed farther down the driveway, making sure nobody was nearby as he waited, cold eyes intent. I padded toward him with determination.

It crossed my mind that he was pulling me farther from the cabin, from Mom’s witnessing eyes. But she wouldn’t stop this. She’d made it clear by not interfering thus far. As a devotee to the way of the wolf, she would stand back and watch Augustus kill me, if he could. In her eyes, if I couldn’t fend him off, I didn’t deserve to live.

As I drew closer, I sensed magic in the woods on either side of the driveway. I hesitated with confusion until a vague memory from my other form eased through my mind. The magical security devices to deter enemies of the pack. They’d been there before. Mom had ordered them installed. My cousins shouldn’t have had anything to do with them.

But as I padded closer, drawing even with the first of several devices in the ferns, and the dark-gray wolf’s jaws parted with smugness and triumph, I realized that might not be true. Augustus might have backed down the driveway, not because of Mom’s eyes or to give us more room, but to lure me closer to the devices.

I halted. My cousin had started this. Let him come to me.

Augustus took a few more steps backward before accepting that I wouldn’t follow him farther. He looked intently toward one of his observing siblings. Orazio. Did he have something in his hand ?

While I was trying to figure that out, Augustus charged.

I settled my weight, bracing myself, my gaze locked on his throat. His jaws parted as he sprang for me.

It crossed my mind to dodge, but he might expect that. Instead, I surged straight into him, using my snout to knock his aside as our chests crashed together. His weight was jarring, and fangs brushed my face, but I managed to deflect most of the bite. With his head pushed aside, I snapped for his throat. He tried to jerk his snout down to cover the vulnerable spot, but I got there first, fangs sinking into fur and flesh.

He pushed with his legs, trying to shove me back. If we’d been human, it would have worked, but we were close to the same size as wolves. I bunched my muscles and resisted as I dug my fangs in deeper. He snapped his own jaws, but with mine locked around his throat, he couldn’t find the angle to sink his teeth into me.

He tried rearing up on his hind legs, but I wouldn’t let him go. With the taste of his blood in my mouth, my savage instincts were taking over, demanding that I hold fast until my enemy died. But I needed a better angle to turn my grip into a death bite. When I loosened my jaws slightly to reposition, he dropped to his belly and rolled to the side. I almost caught him again before he could get away, but he whipped himself off the driveway and into the ferns.

I started after him, but the magical devices remained in my senses. I hadn’t forgotten them.

Neck bleeding, Augustus rose to all fours. He snarled at me from the brush, then turned his head, showing his neck. Trying to taunt me to jump in after him. There was a device behind him, and I had no idea what it did.

I backed a few steps toward the cabin and flicked an ear, taunting him .

Coward, I thought, though we had no way to communicate telepathically. With body language, I showed him my feelings .

He was the one to be lured closer, to run toward me. This time, I dodged, though I was careful to stay on the driveway. I didn’t know if it was a safe haven, but I wouldn’t risk getting close to the devices.

He snapped at me, but I was too fast and evaded him. He rushed past; then, as he stopped himself to turn, I whirled toward him. Jaws leading, I snapped for his flank. This time, I landed a series of fast bites instead of holding on. If I latched onto his back half for long, he would have space to maneuver, time to twist and sink his jaws into me.

When he tried that, I released my last bite and jumped back. The scent of his blood filled the air as it spattered onto the dirt driveway.

Panting, he faced me again. But he paused to glance toward our observers, toward Orazio, still in his human form. He nodded right before Augustus charged at me again.

Prepared, I was about to dodge, but purple beams shot out from the ferns on either side of the driveway. The magic slammed into me hard enough to knock me flying as pain scorched my torso.

I managed to evade Augustus’s jaws as he ran in, but my dodge turned into a clumsy tumble. I rolled off the driveway and into a tree.

The beams followed me, continuing to burn pain into me. Not giving me any reprieve, Augustus leaped after me to take advantage. Despite the pain, I met his jaws with mine, snapping with fury for his face, longing to gouge out his eyes and drive my fangs through his skull.

In his haste to take advantage and bring me down, he let one of the beams clip his shoulder. He cried out like he’d been electrocuted. Still enduring the pain, I lunged for his throat.

I would have gotten him, a clean and killing bite, but another wolf charged in from the side and knocked me flying. The one-on-one fight had ended.