Page 24

24

“If it helps,” Jasmine said as we reached the Maple Falls gas station and store, a building with a modest clock tower on the roof, “the address he sent is on the internet, listed as an Airbnb.”

She waved her phone, but with night encroaching and the snow coming down hard, I didn’t glance over.

“Can you find anything about a contest that mentions it?” I asked. “One that would have closed and declared a winner a week or so ago?”

It hadn’t occurred to me to look that up before. Of course, I hadn’t imagined Austin would be in danger before. If those bastards did something to my son and his friends because I’d had the audacity to take back artifacts they’d stolen from me , I would kill them. I’d turn wolf, go completely savage, and kill them without a single regret.

I turned left onto the road heading toward Silver Lake.

“Nothing on Google or Facebook that I can find.” Jasmine shrugged. “But something like that might not list the address of the prize. Even if you book a vacation rental yourself, you don’t usually get that information until you’ve paid. ”

“Yeah,” I said though a niggling feeling in my gut made me wonder if this had been set up as a trap from the beginning.

Radomir knew where I lived and where my mother lived. Given his fondness for spying on my family, it wasn’t hard to imagine he’d learned Austin was home for the holidays. I might have found it suspicious if my son had won a contest out of nowhere, especially if he hadn’t entered anything, but his friend, Oakley? From what I remembered of the kid, he wasn’t a genius. I was fairly certain he’d gone to college on a sports scholarship. The thought that Radomir had researched my family so thoroughly that he’d learned about Austin’s friends and arranged all this disturbed me greatly.

“Stalker creep,” I muttered.

“What?” Jasmine lowered her phone.

“Just a hunch.”

I glanced at my phone still mounted to the dash next to Bolin’s. Duncan’s dot had stopped moving near the southern bank of Silver Lake. I imagined him hoisting Austin over his shoulder and taking him to Radomir.

Frustrated, I grabbed my phone again. We hit a slick spot, and the van swerved before I could get it back under control. Something rolled out from under the passenger seat, and Jasmine looked down.

“Do you want me to try calling him again?” Bolin crept up to our seats and reached for my phone, looking like he would snatch it from my grip whether I agreed or not.

For the safety of my passengers, I put my hand back on the wheel. “Reply to his text, will you? Tell him… we slid off the road and blew a tire in the snow, but we’ll be there in an hour.”

“I hope that’s a ploy in case his captors are monitoring his phone,” Bolin said, “and not a prediction.”

“Let’s hope.” I waved at the map.

We were five minutes from the address, but, as I’d noted, Duncan had stopped to the south of it. That looked like a park, all forested with no houses nearby. If he’d dragged Austin in that direction, and Radomir was waiting there…

Should I go there first?

Jasmine patted around at her feet and lifted whatever had rolled out and bumped her. “You brought salami for the incursion?”

“I brought a couple in case I needed to bribe family members to let me in to see Mom.” I was surprised Emilio hadn’t slipped in and snatched the salamis while we’d been inside.

“I guess it’s good that we’ll have rations if we slide off the road and get stuck in a snowbank.” Jasmine lowered the meat log to her lap. “Better than having to eat each other to keep from starving.”

Bolin laughed. Nervously?

Jasmine looked back at him.

“I’d think that more of a joke if I didn’t know…” He glanced at me. “Things.”

“Are you missing the days when you didn’t believe in werewolves?” I asked.

“A little bit, yes.”

A plow passed us coming from the other direction, but it hadn’t scraped our side of the road yet. I bit my lip as we approached the turn for the park, tempted to drive in and search for Duncan, but my phone rang.

I reached back and snatched it from Bolin’s grip. Austin’s name was on it.

“What’s going on?” I demanded.

Austin hesitated. I imagined someone with a gun pressed to his head.

“I’m being asked to request that you make sure to bring a magical case and medallion.” His words came out calmly, but he spoke quickly. He was worried and in trouble .

“Your kidnappers should have made that request before we started driving to that address,” I said.

“You don’t have either?” a male voice asked.

That wasn’t Radomir, whom I’d originally dubbed Mr. Raspy. Nor was it Abrams, who had an accent not unlike Duncan’s. This sounded like a garden-variety thug. I hoped that was all we would have to deal with, but I doubted it.

“Who am I talking to?” I eyed the GPS tracker on Bolin’s phone again.

Duncan’s dot remained in the same spot in the park by the shoreline. Or maybe he’d gone into the water for some reason? It was hard to tell.

“If they don’t have any of the artifacts, there’s no point in any of this.” It sounded like the guy was talking to someone else, not me. How many thugs were there?

“I don’t have the medallion.” I did have the case. Normally, I wouldn’t announce that, but if that was what they wanted, and they decided to kill Austin because I hadn’t brought it…

“What about the wolf case?” the man asked. “You have it?”

“Austin, are you okay?” I asked. “What’s happening?”

“I’m—” He broke off with a grunt of pain.

“If you bastards hurt my son, I’ll kill you all,” I shouted. No, it was a scream. The frantic protection instincts of a mother had kicked in, and my skin pricked as my emotions threatened to bring forth the wolf.

Jasmine looked over at me with concern. I wouldn’t be able to drive as a wolf—or control myself. But imagining them hurting or killing Austin… I almost didn’t care.

Something broke in the background—it sounded like a vase or dish hitting the floor.

“I told you to stay put or we’ll throw your dead body in the lake,” someone said. “All we need is her kid.”

Jaw clenched, I glanced at the map again. We were almost to the cabin. The breaking vase implied that was where they were, not the park. Duncan’s dot hadn’t moved much in these past minutes. Maybe Radomir was waiting at the park with him, intending to send him in when I arrived.

“Do you have the case or not?” the first speaker said into the phone. “Your kid is fine. For now .”

I wanted to threaten him further, to reach through the phone and strangle him, but I needed a few more minutes to get there. Better to keep him talking.

“I have it.”

“Okay, good. That’s the most important one, they said.”

“Radomir and Abrams? What do they want it for?”

“A memento. You bring it, and we’ll trade it for the kid and his dumbass friends. You screw around and— Here, tell your mommy what we’ll do, kid.”

An agonizing moment passed in silence, and I imagined Austin licking dry lips.

We’d reached the first of the houses along the lake. Many were dark, no lights on, no tire marks in the snowy driveways. Probably unoccupied vacation homes. The lots were large and treed, the driveways winding back from the road before reaching their destinations. I forced myself to slow the van so we wouldn’t miss the Airbnb cabin.

“I’m okay, Mom, but they clobbered Mark. There are a lot of guys, inside and out. And there’s a shaggy wolf that almost killed Oakley when he tried to escape out the back.”

Damn it, was the GPS wrong? Was Duncan at the cabin?

Thank the moon I hadn’t wasted time pulling into that park.

I envisioned Radomir with his controller, standing in a snowy yard and ordering Duncan to attack my son’s friends. It would be against his will, but that wouldn’t make it any better. An image of blood drops spattering all over the snow entered my mind.

“We’re stuck inside and?— ”

“That’s enough,” the speaker said, cutting Austin off. “Bring the case, Valens. Put it on the porch, and we’ll let the kids go. If not, the wolf will tear out your son’s throat.”

The call ended before I could snap a furious rebuttal.

“Duncan won’t do that,” Jasmine tried to assure me.

“Three more houses, and we’re there.” Bolin pointed through the windshield. “That should be the driveway down there.”

There were car tracks on the snowy road ahead. We weren’t the only ones driving around out here tonight.

I turned off the headlights and pulled over before we reached the driveway, then cut off the engine. The odds of us sneaking up on those guys, especially with a werewolf helping them, were low. But if we drove right up to the cabin, they might open fire immediately. There was no way they would give me my son after I dropped off the case. It wouldn’t be that easy.

“Bolin and I will go around to the back and come in from the lake.” Jasmine reached for the door handle. “We’ll try to surprise them and give you an advantage. Or at least a distraction.”

Potions clinked in Bolin’s pocket as he climbed out of the van with her.

“Be careful,” I warned. “They may have guns with silver bullets.”

“Those… shouldn’t be extra harmful to me.” Bolin frowned and looked at Jasmine.

“They wouldn’t be any less harmful than normal ones,” she pointed out.

“True. We will attempt to avoid them.”

Wishing I had bulletproof vests to distribute, I hopped out of the driver’s seat, the chill night air startling after the warmth of the van. I debated whether or not to grab the case. Leaving it in here wouldn’t be safe, but neither would taking it up there. If they didn’t see it in my hands, they might shoot Austin .

Grimacing, I grabbed it and headed for the driveway. Already, adrenaline flowed through my veins—adrenaline and magic. Taking a deep breath, I willed the latter to subside.

If I turned into a wolf in front of my son… I didn’t know what would happen. Would he be shocked? Disgusted? Feel betrayed that I’d kept the secret from him his entire life?

The snowy driveway curved between trees as it led to a timber-sided A-frame cabin with a covered porch. A light was on by the door, and more lights glowed inside, but the curtains were drawn, keeping me from seeing in. A shadow stirred at one of the windows. Someone looking out? Another window was dark, but I could make out the muzzle of a gun in a gap in the curtains. The thugs must not have believed my text that I was an hour away.

I walked slowly to give Jasmine and Bolin time to get around to the back of the cabin. But not too much time. These guys would be watching the backyard too.

I passed a lit mailbox shaped like a snow-capped mountain and walked up the driveway, the snow crunching softly under my shoes. It covered ferns and salmonberry bushes dotting the front yard between the trees.

With my eyes focused on the windows and doors, I almost missed a furry wolf padding out to stand in the driveway. Duncan? A warning growl emanated from his throat.

Anger rather than fear suffused me. How could he be working for those assholes? And why couldn’t he fight the magic?

As the wolf turned to face me fully, my thoughts of betrayal halted. It was too small to be Duncan. Besides, I knew him well and would have sensed him this close. Maybe the GPS tracking app had been correct and he was back down at the park. This was another powerful werewolf, one as strong as—and oddly similar to—Duncan, but…

“Oh. ”

It was his clone. The kid I’d traded a chocolate bar with in exchange for my mom’s medallion.

Maybe those growls meant he didn’t believe it had been a fair trade.

He padded toward me, jaws parted, and I tensed, the urge to change coming over me. The urge to defend myself, to fight .

Could I take him? Maybe. When the kid was full-grown, he would be as strong as Duncan, but I doubted he was now.

But I didn’t want to fight Duncan’s clone. What if I lost control and killed the kid?

“Are you under their magical coercion too?” I held my arms out to appear unthreatening. “I know you’re young and probably haven’t been out in the world much, but you don’t want to work for those guys.”

The wolf padded closer, growling. I backed up the driveway, debating how to get him out of the picture without changing to fight him.

Still gripping the case, I wondered if the lid would open if the kid drew close enough. Probably not unless he changed into a bipedfuris. Even if it opened, the artifact inside would only heal me from a bite or poison, not help in a fight.

At the cabin, one of the curtains stirred. A familiar face peered out. Austin.

I could make out someone big looming close behind him. It wasn’t one of his friends.

“They’re jerks, and they don’t want the best for our kind,” I told the wolf. “Have you met other werewolves, or have they kept you isolated?”

The wolf paused and cocked his head, one ear flickering.

“You’re probably lonely without any friends to play with. If you come with us instead of working for them, I can introduce you to some of the young wolves in my pack.” I hadn’t seen any of the kids since returning, but I had little doubt that some of my younger half-siblings or maybe nieces and nephews had children. “What are you? Eight years old? You should be playing instead of working for bad guys.”

That elicited another growl. Maybe he didn’t believe Abrams and Radomir were bad guys ?

“You should have a chat with Duncan about them. Have you met him yet? Spoken to him? He can tell you all about Abrams. He’s your brother, you know.”

The statement drew another pause and head cock.

“The age difference is probably confusing, but you could ask him all about it. He’ll talk to you. I’m sure of it.”

The wolf looked to the south. In the direction of the park. Did he know Duncan was down there?

From here, I couldn’t detect him, but if the kid had the same kind of power as Duncan, he might have a longer range when it came to sensing magic.

“Have they been feeding you well? I have some salami and summer sausage. Would you like one? You might enjoy a meat snack better than dark chocolate. That’s an acquired taste.”

The wolf looked back to me, nostrils twitching. Sniffing?

“It’s in the van. I can get it.” I imagined tossing a sausage log into the woods to distract the kid while I ran for the front door. That might work with a Rottweiler. And Emilio. But I didn’t know Duncan’s clone well. “I’ll be right back.”

Hand raised, as if that would prompt him to stay, I backed into the street and strode toward the van. My senses told me that he remained in the driveway. I set the case down and grabbed a sausage log, but, as I turned to walk back, a whisper of magic crossed my skin, raising the hair on the back of my neck. It felt similar to what I’d sensed before when someone had been using the device to summon Duncan—to control Duncan. They were using it on the kid.

When I reached the start of the driveway, I waved the sausage. But the magic plucked at my senses again, and it seemed to wrap around the wolf. The fur on his back rose, and he snarled and charged at me.