Page 8 of Relics of the Wolf (Magnetic Magic #2)

8

“Did you ever find out who the white wolf was who spotted us when we hunted together?” Duncan asked as he drove through Monroe, heading northeast toward the winding forest roads that led to my mother’s cabin.

“That was Lorenzo. He and my mother seem to be an item these days.”

“That night, when I looked into the side mirror, he was giving me a squinty, dangerous look.”

“Because you were a lone wolf invading the pack’s territory, but he stood up for me after my cousins tried to take me out on the family hunt. I don’t think he’s going to be a problem when we get there.” During the first part of the ride, I’d filled Duncan in on what my niece had told me. “My cousin— cousins are more likely to be a problem. They’re not happy with me, and you already beat up Augustus once, so he’s really not going to be happy with you.”

“Such a lack of contentedness. Maybe we should be taking them Prozac instead of salami.” Duncan waved to the recently acquired gift boxes in the seat well at my feet.

The clerk at the farm store now knew my name and that I always paid in cash from the ENTERTAINMENT envelope. That was, alas, now empty. I’d delved into the envelope labeled GROCERIES and planned to put off my next shop until the new month. For now, I’d left my emergency fund alone.

“I don’t have a prescription for that.” With my envelopes in mind, I delved into my purse to extract the last of the gas money.

“I’ve heard it’s a simple matter in this country to acquire prescription drugs.”

“That’s sadly true. Do you think if we tucked antidepressants into the salami logs, it would improve Augustus’s mood?” I envisioned sneaking the pills into the meat, much like my tenants giving medicine to their dogs.

“If you use sedatives, his mood would absolutely improve.”

“Because he’d pass out in the driveway?”

“Nobody is crabby in their sleep.”

“Unfortunately, my surly cousins have all sneered at the man-made salamis. They prefer fresh raw meat.”

Duncan watched as I slid five more dollars onto the growing stack under his bobblehead doll. “You know I’m going to keep all that until I have enough to buy you something, right?”

“What you do with it is your prerogative.”

He’d tried to buy the gift boxes, but I didn’t want anyone paying my way or to depend on a man ever again. I didn’t admit it to people, but Chad’s many betrayals over the years had scarred me. Maybe a Prozac prescription wouldn’t be a bad idea. Or at least a therapist. My son Austin had suggested that. My older son Cameron had too, in his own way. A common refrain at home had been, You’re so damaged, Mom . Maybe that memory shouldn’t have filled me with nostalgia, but I’d been lonely since the boys had moved out.

“Excellent,” Duncan said. “After a few months of driving you around, I’ll have enough to buy you diamonds.”

“Micro diamonds, maybe. My monthly gas budget isn’t that much.”

“Then I might have to drive you around for years .” Duncan leaned forward, peering upward through the windshield.

Night was a long way off, so he couldn’t have been looking for the moon. Some sunlight perhaps. We’d gotten to the point in the drive where towering firs, pines, and cedars grew close to the sides of the road, and their evergreen boughs kept the pavement mostly in shadow, even on clear days. That was more true when I pointed toward the turn-off that would take us off the main road and onto gravel, only a few sunbeams slipping through to brighten the ground. Before long, the gravel would transition to pot-hole adorned dirt.

“I think you can magnet fish your way through all the bodies of water around Seattle before then,” I said.

“I don’t know. There are a lot of bodies here.” Duncan pointed to a pond to the side of the road, the trees leaving it in perpetual shadow. A beaver larger than most people’s pets rolled off a mossy log and into the water.

“I don’t think you’ll find any cell phones in that one.”

“Perhaps not. I…” His gaze returned to the road ahead. “I sense werewolves.”

“We’re about a mile from Mom’s cabin.”

“They’re closer than that.”

“Yeah,” I said, though I didn’t yet sense anything.

Even with the van’s new giant tires, Duncan had to drive slowly as we left the gravel behind, passing a sign that said NOT MAINTAINED BY THE COUNTY, and rolled onto the bumpy dirt road. Several more minutes passed before my instincts plucked at me, warning me of magic. Of beings with magic. My family.

I pointed to a driveway barely visible ahead, thanks to ferns and trees flanking it, and an address sign mounted on a tree.

“After you turn, it’s another hundred yards or so to the cabin. There’s parking…” This time, I trailed off. I’d spotted movement.

Duncan slowed to a stop as four big wolves padded out of the driveway and stopped in the road, fanning out to block access. Their cool eyes regarded us, especially Duncan. They focused on him through the windshield. I recognized the dark-gray wolf that was Augustus and three of my cousins. Two of the three had been on the railroad trestle and helped knock me into the river where those hunters had waited. Hunters, I had no doubt, that Augustus had arranged to be in that spot when we came through. When I came through.

“That I’m guessing I won’t be invited to use,” Duncan said to finish my sentence.

“I haven’t noticed that a lack of an invitation keeps you from parking places.” I smiled at him and reached for the handle, wanting to get out and talk to Augustus before they presumed to attack Duncan. It was hard to talk to a werewolf in lupine form, since our thoughts became that of a wild animal and human concerns grew difficult to grasp, but I knew he would understand me.

“It’s not my fault your parking lot is so alluring.” Duncan turned off the van and reached for his own handle.

“Stay.” I lifted a hand. “I’ll try to keep things from escalating.”

He eyed me skeptically. “Do you have the power to do that with them?”

“We’ll see.”

I dialed my phone as I slid out of the van, Jasmine’s number. But there wasn’t enough cell reception for calls. I’d forgotten that.

Palms damp, I tried to text her as I stepped in front of the hood and kept my eyes on the wolves. I hadn’t brought any weapons, unless I intended to club my cousins with salamis, and there weren’t any handy pool sticks to grab here. I didn’t want to fight my relatives, anyway. Not again.

“I’m here to see Mom,” I told the wolves, “and I have useful information about the men who attacked her.”

I had some information anyway. How useful it would be, I didn’t know.

Augustus’s cool eyes, more amber than brown in this incarnation, looked briefly and dismissively toward me. Then they focused on Duncan again. The eyes of all four wolves focused on him. For now, he remained in the van, but he would come out to defend me. I knew that about him by now.

But this, I realized as I watched my cousins, was about Duncan. Not me. A lone wolf had dared come into the pack’s territory. If I’d remained and become the female alpha, as my mother had once believed I was destined to be, I could have brought anyone with me to visit that I wished, but I was a stranger these days, nearly a lone wolf myself.

A growl emanated from Augustus’s throat. His gaze shifted back to me, and he charged.

My heart tried to leap from my chest. Two-hundred pounds of lupine savagery, he ran straight toward me.

I dove to the side, rolling into the ferns. My phone flew from my grip. Afraid Augustus would give chase, I leaped to my feet, fingers curling into fists.

Claws clacked on something hard. The hood of Duncan’s van.

The driver-side door flew open, and Duncan sprang out, paws hitting the packed dirt of the road. Yes, paws. He’d changed into a wolf.

He snarled up at Augustus, who whirled and leaped off the hood. Jaws opening, he angled straight toward Duncan.

“He’s with me,” I yelled. “Stop!”

The salt-and-pepper wolf that was Duncan leaped to the side, easily avoiding Augustus. As soon as my cousin landed, Duncan sprang in, his jaws a blur as they snapped for the throat. Augustus turned, meeting those snapping jaws with his own, and they gnashed at each other like fencers, teeth flashing in the dappled sun that made it through the trees.

Again, I yelled for them to stop. Again, it did nothing.

The other three wolves loped forward, clearly intending to help. I jumped onto the road again, trying to throw the power of the wolf into my voice as I ordered them to stay out of it.

A couple of them glanced at me, but they didn’t slow down.

“I brought him here to help! He’s my guest.”

The wolves crouched, jaws opening, almost smiling as they prepared to pile on, to take Duncan down.

Fury sizzled through my veins, along with the righteous indignation of being ignored. I was my mother’s daughter, damn it, and the blood of generations of alphas coursed through my body.

My skin pricked with heat as the call of the wolf swept into me. Before I had a chance to think about removing my clothes to save them during the change, I found myself dropping to all fours. Power surged through my veins, and a great lupine snarl erupted from my throat.

A yelp came from my side of the road. Duncan? No, Augustus. Duncan had knocked him into the ferns, but the others arrived and surrounded him, putting the odds at four on one. As strong as he was, Duncan couldn’t win against so many. But together… together we would prevail.

I sprang into the battle, biting one wolf in the flank. Another whirled toward me, but taking his focus from Duncan was a mistake. Lashing out with the power of a cobra, Duncan bit into that wolf’s shoulder. He could have gone for the throat, but our eyes met briefly with understanding. He knew this was my pack, my family, and wouldn’t try to kill them.

They didn’t deserve that solicitude, not when they were trying to kill Duncan .

The dark-gray wolf that was Augustus snarled and sprang toward me with loathing in his eyes. Muscles bunching, I leaped past my ally as he tore into two other wolves, and met Augustus’s gnashing teeth. His bites stung as fangs gored my snout, but I whipped my head past his attack to clamp onto his throat.

A howl sounded back on the driveway, startling me. It might have been the only thing that kept me from sinking my teeth deeper and finding the artery through which my cousin’s life flowed.

My grip loosened, and Augustus backed away with a snarl of frustration and pain. I let him go. Two other wolves were already slinking into the woods, leaving trails of blood. In front of the van, Duncan stood over the fourth wolf, who was down and whimpering, and met my gaze.

Another howl sounded, so close that it made my pointed ears flicker. Duncan and I turned toward the driveway. Numerous humans, including the white-haired lean woman who was my mother, stood there. A blue-eyed white wolf, he who’d howled, sat at her side, watching us. Lorenzo. His gaze was cool when it swept over Duncan, the lone wolf intruding on pack territory.

Another whimper sounded. Duncan stepped off the wolf he’d downed.

More blood darkened the dirt road under my cousin, but he was hale enough to push himself to his feet and slink off after the others, his tail between his legs. He didn’t look toward the driveway as he padded away. Our observers watched us, not the wolves disappearing into the ferns.

I stepped forward to stand in front of Duncan, my tail out straight, my muscles taut. I had to make it clear that he was my ally, that I’d invited him to enter this territory, and, as a strong female wolf, I was prepared to fight for him to be allowed to be here.

Duncan came up to my shoulder, standing side-by-side with me. In a supportive manner, not a challenge. He would fight if I had to fight, but he was letting me take the lead in this situation.

The white wolf yawned, and his tongue lolled out in a display of indifference. That was fine. As long as he didn’t lead the rest of the pack into attacking us. There were too many.

“I am pleased to see you again as a wolf, my daughter,” Mom said, her voice weak, her power wan. She’d managed to walk out here, but her eyes were sunken with fatigue and pain. “But why have you brought an outsider to my home?” Her eyes closed to slits as her gaze shifted to Duncan. “Especially one who radiates dangerous power and the scent of…” Her head cocked. “Not only the Old World but an old time.”

An old time? What did that mean?

Duncan looked at me, then lowered his torso while his hindquarters remained up. A play bow. A nonthreatening gesture of innocence.

I bumped my shoulder against his and might have snorted if that was something wolves did. Duncan could turn on his goofy side in lupine form the same as human form. In another moment, he would probably be flirting with my mother. But that would cause Lorenzo’s attitude to shift from indifference to something more dangerous.

The wolf magic sensed my need to change so that I could more properly speak with my family, and it faded. Soon, my body morphed, my fur disappeared, and I rose up to two legs.

The air felt chill against my bare skin, and I remembered that there hadn’t been time to remove my clothes. When I’d seen Duncan threatened, the change had come upon me with startling speed and intensity. Since clothes disappeared into the ether if they weren’t removed, I now stood before my family stark naked. Fortunately, I’d dropped my phone when I’d dived away from Augustus, so it was in the dirt instead of gone forever.

Next to me, Duncan also changed back into human form. He was as naked as I, save for a few smudges of dirt across his muscled torso, but he bowed to my mother without shame.

“Greetings, Luna’s family. It is an honor to meet you— most of you.” Duncan looked in the direction my cousins had gone, but they’d disappeared, only the scent of their spilled blood lingering. Duncan held up a finger, then went to the van and retrieved his shoes and trousers. He must have started removing his clothes when the wolves had stepped into the road, knowing we’d end up in a fight.

“Luna?” Mom prompted, not responding to Duncan.

“I came— we came—because of the attack.”

While Duncan put on his trousers and shoes, I explained how we’d encountered those men at the bar and that the blond had mugged my intern. With such a large portion of the family looking on, I didn’t mention the wolf case. For all I knew, Augustus had more allies among the half-siblings, nieces, nephews, uncles, and more cousins that stood with Lorenzo and Mom in the driveway. I finished with, “There’s more that I’d like to tell you later.”

“Yes. You will tell me everything in the cabin.” Her gaze flicked toward Duncan, as if to include him as part of that everything .

I didn’t know how much of him I could explain. It wasn’t as if he’d been forthright in answering my questions. Such as why other paranormal beings kept sensing that he was something different from a typical werewolf.

As the family turned to head up the driveway toward the cabin, Mom walking beside the white wolf and resting a hand on his back for support, Duncan stepped closer to me.

“Are you all right? Do you want to borrow a shirt?” He lifted a hand to touch the back of my head, fingers stroking through my hair as he gazed at me.

The intimacy surprised me, though it shouldn’t have—before and after a change, one’s passions rode close to the surface. I caught myself leaning into his touch, appreciating it more than I should have. Especially when his fingers slipped through my hair to massage my scalp. By the moon, that felt amazing.

The memory of waking up naked with his hand on my bare skin came to mind, the aftermath of our hunt the week before. What would it have been like if we’d done more than hunt that night? What would it be like if we slipped into his van and…

No. There would be no slipping. We were standing in the middle of the road in front of my mom’s place. This wasn’t the time to let him make me feel amazing or anything else. If I was wise, I wouldn’t let there be a time. Not until I knew that he wasn’t still using me to find that case.

“ You don’t even have a shirt.” I swatted his chest, intending the gesture to be playful and nothing more, but my hand ended up resting on his abdomen. The warmth of his taut skin under my palm and the ripples of his chiseled abdomen invited exploration.

“I can get one. I wasn’t quite done undressing when your odious cousin sprang upon the hood of my van, leaving claw gouges in the paint. He’s lucky I was able to keep from slaying him for such impudence.”

His tone was teasing, but there was a modicum of truth to the words. I knew very well how hard it was to restrain one’s wild instincts when in wolf form. Based on my past experiences, I might not have been able to.

“I thought you got pissed and changed because he sprang at me ,” I said. “His claws were threatening to gouge holes in my paint too.”

“That would have been equally unacceptable.”

“Only equally, huh. I guess it’s good to know where I rank in relation to your van.”

“I’ve known the van a long time. We’re still new.” Duncan smirked and lowered his hand, fingers brushing along my bare back and my hip before they dropped away completely.

The fleeting touch sent a zing of hot pleasure through me, and I stepped away, turning my back so he wouldn’t see the gooseflesh tightening my body. I didn’t want him to know I was attracted to him, that he could so easily have an effect on me. Not until I knew where he stood.

“I will take that shirt, thanks.”

His amused, “Indeed,” was too knowing for my tastes.