Page 6

6

In the woods near the apartment complex, I waited between two trees for the wolf magic to fade. The battle with the humans had been unsatisfactory, and I longed to go off and hunt, but what if I needed to again defend my territory?

That thought kept me in place, though I would have struggled if I’d caught the scents of more than sleeping squirrels and smog as human vehicles passed on the other side of the woods.

As I sat on my haunches, a sense of loneliness crept over me. The last time I’d taken my wolf form, I hadn’t been by myself. Duncan, the male I had almost made my mate, had been there. In the ancient form of the bipedfuris, he’d fought with me, helping me battle my enemies. He’d been a good companion, and I missed him.

Sometime after Rue left the van and returned to her apartment, my magic faded. Soon, I crouched naked among the damp fir needles, the chilly air much more noticeable against my bare skin, especially with droplets of rainwater dripping from the branches above.

With my arms wrapped around my torso, I headed for the back of the complex, hoping to avoid notice. A few cars had rolled into the lot, tenants returning home late, but the girl who’d been taking photos or recording the fight had disappeared. In my lupine form, I hadn’t recognized her, but, as I considered the memory through the fuzzy thoughts of the wolf, I believed it had been one of the ghost hunters. At least I hadn’t killed any of the intruders this time.

A distant phone call, the ringtone familiar, made me groan and remember that I’d had the wherewithal to cast aside some of my belongings before changing. That was good, but now I needed to retrieve them from the puddle-filled sidewalk next to the cars.

“A task for after you’re dressed,” I told myself, continuing toward my apartment. But the rings continued, and I paused.

What if it was Jasmine? With urgent news about Duncan?

I peered toward the lot, didn’t see anyone around the cars or on the walkways, and darted that way. The grass cold and damp under my bare feet, I hoped I could grab the items and escape before anyone saw me.

It almost worked. After I snatched up my jacket and phone, only glancing to see that Jasmine had indeed been the one to call, I ran down one of the covered walkways toward my unit—until a man came around the corner ahead of me.

Even before he issued a high-pitched yelp of alarm, I knew he wasn’t one of the motorcycle thugs—or a physical threat of any kind. He carried a laptop bag and a Pop Tart. It was my fifty-something divorced tenant who’d once proudly shown me his Darth Vader toaster. Was that a faint Sith-Lord helmet imprint on the back of his Pop Tart? Probably.

“Ms. Valens.” He clutched his laptop bag to his chest, like I might be a mugger.

No, just a damp werewolf in naked human form…

“Yes. Sorry to startle you. I’m…”

He glanced down but jerked his gaze back up again, up and then some. Instead of locking his eyes onto my face, he studied the ceiling of the covered walkway.

“…practicing for the Polar Bear Plunge,” I finished. “It’s only a couple of weeks away.”

“You… went swimming?” He didn’t look down again to consider how damp I might be. “Without, uhm, a towel?”

“You need to harden yourself for the coldness of jumping into Lake Washington in January,” I said, glad he hadn’t asked where I’d found a place to swim this time of year. The pond by the convenience store where Duncan had magnet fished came to mind, and I felt the same twinge of loneliness I’d experienced in my wolf form.

Not the time, I thought firmly.

“I’m progressing well and looking forward to the event.” I scooted around my tenant. “I do believe I’ve earned a shower though. Excuse me.”

“Are there any tickets left?”

“I think it’s free to anyone who registers.”

He looked at my backside as I strode away, but when he noticed me glancing over my shoulder, he jerked his gaze to the ceiling again.

“Thanks!” He walked away with his face tilted up as he waved awkwardly.

When I’d fixed his faucet, he’d given me a big tip and also tried to offer me Pop Tarts. Or had it been Darth Vader toast? I couldn’t remember, but as I ducked into my apartment, I worried he would be at Matthews Beach on Polar Bear Plunge Day, looking for me.

“Too bad I’m going to come down with a cold that morning.” I shut the door firmly behind me and grabbed my robe before tapping on the phone to call Jasmine back. Since I’d been gone all day, the heat in the apartment wasn’t on, so I turned it up. A hot shower sounded appealing. “Later. ”

“Hi, Luna,” Jasmine answered before it went to voicemail. “Did you listen to my message?”

“Not yet. I was… inconvenienced.”

“Does that mean you were furry?”

It was hard to hide that kind of thing from another werewolf.

“Yeah. Some idiots on motorcycles came to threaten my apartment complex.”

“That happens a lot, doesn’t it?”

“Kind of, yeah. I’m taking care of it.” I glanced at the sword leaning in the corner of the living room, wondering if events would have turned out differently if I’d had it, along with a few hundred lessons under my belt. With my tenants—and alchemist—being threatened, I probably would have turned wolf regardless.

“Let me know if you need help. I want to earn your recommendation for my résumé.”

“Let me know if you’ve got any leads on Duncan, and I’ll be sure to tell them what a good researcher you are. That comes in handy in the real estate industry, doesn’t it?”

“Oh, sure. Especially with atypical properties. You always have to dig up stuff. But Dad was the one doing your research. Here, I’m going to text you a list of addresses that the company owns in the Puget Sound area. I looked them up. None of them are on the MLS yet. Not the commercial listing services either.”

“Probably because the other facilities haven’t been raided by werewolves yet.”

“That type of thing can prompt a property owner to sell. They hardly ever mention it in the notes though.”

“Odd.” I eyed the list that came through via text. She’d sent a number of them before, but some were new, with addresses located all over the Puget Sound area, everywhere from Tenino to Port Orchard to Issaquah to Deming. Wasn’t that a little town on the way to the Canadian border? “This is going to take some driving. ”

“Do you want help?” Jasmine offered again. “I love driving and cranking my music.”

I recalled Bolin’s request to acquire information that would help him woo Jasmine, but setting up young people wasn’t my priority. “It’ll be dangerous. You’d better skip this adventure.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind danger, and I’ve got time on my hands until I start getting job interviews. Oh, and I’ve got some networking events next week. Mom says I have to go so I can schmooze.” Jasmine’s tone shifted to mimic her mother’s. “You get jobs by being in proximity to people, not filling out applications on the internet.” In her own voice, she added, “That was her way of saying I need to go kiss some asses.”

“That sounds right.” I hadn’t needed to apply for a job in a long time—the internet had barely existed when I’d started working at Sylvan Serenity—but even back then, merely dropping off résumés hadn’t done much. “I may need to join you at those networking events if… things don’t work out here.”

“Because of the idiots?”

“No. Well, not only the idiots.” As I explained about my employers getting ready to list the apartment complex, I looked up the addresses, hoping one of the “street views” would show me a facility that jumped out as a likely place to restrain a werewolf. Something with barbed-wire fences, cannons mounted on crenellated walls, and a dungeon, ideally… Unfortunately, most of the addresses were for unassuming warehouses. I didn’t even see any barbed wire. What kind of evil-overlord lairs were these?

“Huh. Well, it could be cool if we went to networking events together. It’s easier to schmooze with backup. We could talk each other up.”

“You almost make it sound fun.”

The problem was that I didn’t want to leave my current job. Even if some of my tenants were weird and wandered around with Pop Tarts and ghostometers, this place had been home for a long time.

“It will be.” Jasmine said more, but my instincts twanged as I sensed someone magical approaching my apartment, and I didn’t hear the rest.

What now?

“Oh, by the way,” Jasmine continued, unaware of my distraction, “Emilio wants to know if you’re coming to visit the pack anytime soon. He craves salami and summer sausage.”

“Doesn’t he have a job and the ability to purchase his own salamis?” I walked to the window and peered between the blinds but didn’t see anyone.

Could it be Rue that I sensed? Already coming to deliver my potion?

“Emilio is pursuing a number of entrepreneurial ventures while living with his parents,” Jasmine said.

“That’s a no , right?”

“Correct.”

The being I sensed didn’t feel like Rue. It felt like a werewolf.

I grabbed the sword from the corner. So soon after a change, I wouldn’t likely be able to turn again. I might have to defend myself in the human way. “With a swift poke to the eye.”

“What?” Jasmine asked.

“Someone’s here. I’ll call you back.”

I waited for the doorbell to ring. It didn’t. As I leaned close to check the peep hole, I decided the werewolf’s aura was familiar. Someone from the pack.

When I peeked through the hole, I realized why my visitor hadn’t rung the doorbell. The big white male was in wolf form.

“Lorenzo?” I set aside the sword, tied the belt on my robe, and opened the door.

Maybe I should have found clothes to put on first, but after the fight and sitting in damp pine needles, I craved a hot shower. Besides, it wasn’t as if a wolf cared about human nudity.

“Where were you when I was hoping something would scare away the prospective buyer and real-estate photographer?” I asked.

From the threshold, he gazed at me with soulful blue eyes, and I regretted making a joke. Mud spattered his chest and paws. Had he traveled all the way here in wolf form? Had something happened to my mother?

“Everything okay?” I asked, certain it wasn’t.

Lorenzo turned his head to gaze toward the woods. To draw my attention in that direction? It looked more like he sought answers out there than that he wanted me to look at something.

“Is… Mom okay?” I clarified.

His bushy white tail drooped. By the moon, had she passed?

I gripped the doorframe. She’d been getting weaker from the cancer, but I’d thought… The last I’d seen her, she’d still been walking around and eating and drinking. It hadn’t been that long.

A hint of magic swirled around the wolf, and Lorenzo sat back on his haunches as the change overtook him. Once he returned to his human form, he straightened and met my gaze again.

“We need to speak,” he said.

“I was afraid of that.”