Page 9 of Relics of the Wolf (Magnetic Magic #2)

9

When we reached the cabin, we found Lorenzo in human form—an olive-skinned man in his sixties with thick white hair—waiting on the porch with the rest of the family. Mom had gone inside. Thankfully, my cousins hadn’t returned. I didn’t want to worry about them anymore today.

Cars I didn’t recognize filled the small parking area, so Duncan had to tuck his Roadtrek under a pine tree beside the driveway. His new enormous tires had no trouble rolling over protruding roots.

Duncan was fully dressed now. It helped that he had a closet—well, a cabinet—in his van that he could draw upon. He’d lent me a checkered flannel shirt and sweatpants that I’d cinched so they wouldn’t fall down. My underwear had disappeared along with everything else, and without bra support, I felt like I was wandering around in oversized pajamas. Duncan hadn’t had anything suitable for me in the undergarment capacity. Maybe that was good. I might have judged him if he’d whipped out a collection of women’s lingerie that former lovers had left behind.

A few of my relatives had noticeable bruises, and one had a black eye, presumably from the fight the night before. The silver bullets might have made the only grievous wounds, but it looked like numerous pack members had ended up involved. Even Jasmine—who might have gotten my text and been the one to bring Lorenzo, Mom, and the others up the driveway to intervene—had a puffy, split lip.

“Thanks for coming,” Jasmine whispered to me when we got out of the van. “Augustus was supposed to know better than to attack you. Lorenzo told him to leave you alone.”

I nodded. I’d been there when Lorenzo had issued that warning to him.

“He was attacking Duncan,” I said, though I wasn’t positive that initial charge hadn’t been meant to take me out.

“Hi, Duncan.” Jasmine waved shyly at him, then leaned in close to whisper to me, “He’s hot.”

“He certainly thinks so.”

Duncan snorted. I had no doubt his hearing was keen enough that he’d caught both comments.

Jasmine blushed and waved for us to head into the cabin. We climbed the steps together, Duncan walking so close to me that I could almost feel the heat of his body.

Considering the number of sour looks we both got, I didn’t mind having a bodyguard. It was possible the family wouldn’t have been as grumpy if only I had arrived, and that they were mostly feeling prickly because of the attack the night before, but I didn’t know that. It wasn’t as if my going on one hunt with them had changed people’s feelings about me. Augustus had a reason to dislike me more than the others did, but I suspected many felt similarly to him, that I’d betrayed the pack by leaving—and taking that potion for so many years.

“You wait outside.” Lorenzo lifted a hand toward Duncan as he nodded for me to enter the cabin. “This is a family matter.”

Duncan lifted his hands unthreateningly. “No problem. Mind if I sniff around to see if I can catch a trace of the guys who attacked?”

“ We already sniffed,” one of my relatives said, thumping himself on the chest. “They ran off into the woods that way before jumping into trucks that were waiting on the road.”

Ignoring him, Duncan looked at Lorenzo. “Mind if I sniff around?”

He might have picked out the white wolf as the pack alpha. I didn’t know if Lorenzo was considered that or not, especially given that he was on the older side, but he clearly had status with the family.

Lorenzo opened his mouth, looking like he might also say something dismissive, but he paused to consider Duncan, looking him up and down. He didn’t comment on Duncan seeming Old World or whatever others detected in him, but he did nod and wave a hand toward the woods.

“If you wish.”

When Duncan turned to head down from the porch, the young man who’d spoken moved to stand in front of him, chest puffed out. I’d been about to step into the cabin but paused. Was there already going to be more trouble?

“Take it easy, Rocco,” Jasmine said. “He kicked Augustus’s ass, and Augustus can flatten you with his hind legs tied by his tail.”

“He can’t take on the whole pack,” Rocco said. “And he doesn’t belong here. What are you doing here, outsider?”

“I’m Ms. Valens’ chauffeur,” Duncan drawled, looking and sounding unconcerned by the youngster blocking his way.

“She doesn’t belong here either,” someone muttered under their breath.

On the crowded porch, I couldn’t tell who, but my cheeks heated with the knowledge that my thoughts were correct. Augustus wasn’t the only one who resented me.

“ I asked Luna to come,” Jasmine said. “She has a right to see her mom anyway.”

The mutterer didn’t reply.

“Step aside, good chap,” Duncan said.

“It’s Rocco, and I’m not a chap.” The young man puffed his chest out even more and didn’t move. “You’d better be polite to us, bro. You’re all alone here, and you didn’t bring an offering.”

I lifted the gift box of salamis that I had brought, though I’d intended those more as presents to the wounded rather than offerings to appease the pack. Rocco didn’t look at me. Nobody did. They were watching the standoff.

A lupine growl emanated from Duncan’s chest.

People stirred on the porch, glancing uneasily at each other. I didn’t think they wanted to jump into a fight, but nobody made a move to stop it. Even Lorenzo only watched, that indifference in his eyes again. In his life, he’d doubtless seen dozens if not hundreds of young werewolves challenging their elders. It was, after all, the way of the wolf.

I was tempted to ask Lorenzo to intervene—poor Duncan had already had to endure one fight because he’d come with me—but I knew he wouldn’t.

“Move,” Duncan said softly, dangerously.

Rocco looked off into the woods, as if he was considering it, but then he threw a punch. It was so hard and fast that it would have flattened most men—most normal human men. But he didn’t feint first or do a good job disguising it, and Duncan reacted with the speed of a lightning strike. He caught the fist, halting it in midair, then slid his hand down to clasp Rocco’s wrist. Duncan spun Rocco as he hefted him off the porch, then jammed him face-first against the log siding of the cabin.

Snarling, Rocco threw an elbow back, trying to catch Duncan in the chest. But Duncan evaded it, then used his bodyweight to pin Rocco against the wall.

I watched the rest of the pack, ready to jump in if others joined the confrontation, but nobody else stepped forward. If anything, they snorted or rolled their eyes. Hopefully, they felt, as I did, that Duncan had already proven he wasn’t to be trifled with. Oh, if he threatened the pack or tried to kill Rocco, the others would spring in. This was the pack’s territory, after all, but they weren’t as foolish as this young pup.

“You’re an idiot, Rocco,” Jasmine whispered as he struggled ineffectively to escape. “If you want to pick someone to be a role model, don’t let it be Augustus.”

Rocco spat in her direction.

Duncan ground his face into the logs. “My ambitious young chap, aren’t you done being disrespectful yet?”

“Screw you.”

“A desire for that is behind your infantile display? Alas, you didn’t end up in the right position to enact such a gesture.”

Again, Rocco tried to free himself. His face was beet red, and his muscles strained against his shirt, but he couldn’t escape. Finally, he slumped.

“Are we done?” Duncan asked.

Rocco didn’t concede that, but he remained slumped, his body language full of defeat.

Duncan released him and stepped back. Not looking at him, Rocco straightened his shirt and slunk down the steps. He did glare over his shoulder at me before walking around the corner. I sighed, fearing I would yet regret bringing Duncan along. The pack was probably extra irritated after having intruders in here, shooting silver bullets at everyone.

Reminded of the injured, I raised a hand toward Duncan and stepped inside. As weary as Mom had looked in the driveway, I expected to find her in bed or collapsed in the easy chair in the two-room cabin’s living area. But chanting and the scents of essential oils wafted from the bedroom. Through the open door, Emilio was visible in bed, his shirt off and bandages wrapped around his torso. A woman with a strong aura of healing power attended him. A tray with medical implements rested on the bedside table, a bloody lump that had been extracted lying in the middle. The silver bullet that had struck Emilio?

“Come sit with me, my daughter,” Mom said from one of the hard wooden chairs at the small dining table.

The rest of the pack remained outside, and Lorenzo shut the door.

“Okay.” But I first held up a finger, removed a salami from the gift box, and eased into the bedroom. Careful not to disturb the healer, whose eyes were closed as she chanted with her hand on Emilio’s chest, I laid the salami next to the tray.

Emilio’s eyes were also closed, but his nostrils twitched several times. The salami was wrapped in plastic, but that didn’t mean no odor escaped. Without opening his eyes, Emilio flopped an arm onto the table. He patted about, found the salami, and grasped it, then brought it over to lay upon his chest, both hands over it, a contented smile stretching across his young face.

Since his eyes hadn’t opened, he might have done all that in his sleep, but I murmured, “You’re welcome,” on the way out.

“You seek to regain the allegiance of the pack through meat bribes?” Mom asked as I joined her at the table.

We had a view through a window into the woods behind the cabin, and I glimpsed Duncan out there, sniffing and gazing at the pine-needle-strewn ground.

“Regain? I don’t think I ever had the allegiance of the pack.” I hadn’t even been twenty yet when I’d left. Who felt allegiance toward teenagers? “I’ll be happy to give gifts to keep them from attacking me though.” And Duncan, I thought but didn’t say, doubting she approved of me bringing him up here any more than the others did.

“It may influence those who are young and have no reason to feel bitter toward your long absence and… choices, but they would not have attacked you regardless.”

“Maybe that’s why I like them.”

“Emilio and Jasmine are agreeable souls. That makes last night’s attack even more egregious.” Mom grimaced. “Those men were after me. The younger pack members weren’t wrong to come to the defense of their elders, but I regret that they were wounded.”

“Yeah. Why did the men come and attack? Do you know? I’m afraid it might have been retribution, but I’m surprised… I mean, I wouldn’t have guessed they knew where you live or anything about you. I didn’t even think they cared about me, just the case, and they already got that.”

“Case?”

Now that we had relative privacy, I told her everything.

Her expression changed little, though her lips flattened in disapproval whenever I mentioned Chad. I didn’t know if she was offended because he’d betrayed me or because I’d married a normal human in the first place. The last time I’d been here, she’d asked about my fertility , as if I might still return to the pack and birth werewolf young. At forty-five, with two grown sons, I didn’t feel any desire to try that, if it was even possible, but she’d suggested that the werewolf magic extended one’s years of vitality—and fertility.

“Interesting,” Mom said when I finished, not bringing up fertility in the story. “You say this wolf case was crafted with druidic magic?”

“Yeah. I’m not sure if it would be useful to werewolves in any way, but Chad is into our kind, so it might have more of a link than we’ve yet learned about.” He was a werewolf fanatic, Duncan had said, and that fit what I remembered about him. “I guess I could call and try to get some information from him, but I don’t want to speak with him.” I winced, knowing that made me sound weak and nonconfrontational. I expected Mom to call me out on that.

“No,” was what she said. “Through his actions and choices, he has declared himself your enemy. He will not answer truthfully, even if you confront him in the most logical manner. With your hand around his throat.”

I snorted, though I was pissed enough at Chad that I might be able to go that far. Only the fact that we had children together, and that the boys loved him, made me care whether he lived or died.

“ Forcing a truthful answer from him might be possible. But you say he is not in the country?”

“I don’t think so. Duncan said they crossed paths in Costa Rica.”

Mom looked out the window. Duncan was still ambling around out there, but he’d retrieved his magic detector. Its antennae quivered as he turned it left and right, heading through the trees.

“Duncan,” Mom said the name slowly. “That is what he calls himself?”

“Yes. It’s the name he gave me anyway.”

Her gaze shifted to me. “He has interacted with your former mate? That does not bode well.”

“I know. I told him to get lost, but then when the case was stolen… I thought Duncan might be able to help find it. I don’t trust him fully, though he did apologize and say he regretted taking the gig. Apparently, Chad hired him to find the case and retrieve it. He’s a professional… thing finder.” I winced, but I didn’t have a better term for it. “Treasure hunter, I guess you’d call him.”

“I am fortunate he was not among the thugs who came last night. Even without a gun loaded with silver bullets, he would have been difficult to drive off.”

“He is a good fighter, but he wouldn’t…” I caught myself from saying something like attack you or betray me . Hadn’t Duncan already betrayed me? And didn’t I keep reminding myself that I couldn’t trust him, that I needed to make sure I was with him when we found the case so I could grab it first?

Mom lifted her eyebrows. “You are attracted to him.”

“What? No.”

Her eyebrows climbed higher, and she glanced at my shirt. No, at his shirt. Even though she had to know I’d borrowed it because I’d lost mine in the change, she could probably smell him on it and maybe even tell that we’d been close of late.

“I mean, he’s handsome, but I’m not having sex with him. He already crossed me once, and I’m not a dummy.” My cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Was it a lie? I’d let him rub my head not twenty minutes ago. And I’d liked it. “I’m using him to help find the case. That’s it.” I glanced toward the window, not wanting Duncan to hear that, even if the words wouldn’t surprise him, but he’d disappeared from view.

“And what is he using you for?” Mom glanced toward my chest again.

I folded my arms and glared at her insinuation. “He says he regrets working for Chad and owes me. I’m fully aware that may be a lie and that he’s using me to find the case.”

Except… would Duncan need me for that? With his experience, he might be able to locate it, now that I’d perhaps foolishly told him it had been stolen, on his own.

“Hm,” Mom said. “Because he is attracted to you, he walks close and will defend you.”

“Oh, yeah. Middle-aged women are real catches.”

“That is not what you are. You are a powerful female from the strongest pack remaining in this part of the world, and, as a wolf, you are still in your prime.”

“Please don’t ask about my fertility again.”

“I suspect your fertility is fine. And now that you’ve stopped consuming that odious potion, your power is more palpable. Even if you hadn’t brought that one, your cousins would have been foolish to confront you.”

Since they’d succeeded in knocking me off that train trestle, I didn’t have her confidence in my ability to stave off their attacks. Not when they ganged up on me, and Augustus was proving that was the only way he operated.

“That one is far more dangerous than your relatives.” Mom waved in the direction we’d seen Duncan walking. “You would be wise to end your flirtation with him. Find the case on your own, and bring it here. I must consult my tomes and examine it, but I believe it belongs to werewolves, and since it was brought here, in our territory…” She spread her palm.

“It’s rightfully ours?” I asked skeptically, though I had no idea to whom it belonged. “Druids made it.”

“Yes, as they long ago made our family artifact.” Mom rested her hand on her chest. Was she talking about the medallion she’d shown me? That she intended for me to inherit? “They worked in conjunction with the werewolves of the time. Our two magics have always been complementary, both born of nature. Wolves are not strong crafters of artifacts, so we’ve made pacts with druids in the past, lending our power to theirs for the making. In exchange, we’ve guarded their kind, those who didn’t fear us and were willing to ally with us.”

“Oh. Huh. Maybe that’s why I like Bolin.” I liked that he’d used his magic to help de-mold one of the apartment units anyway.

“A druid?”

“Sort of. He’s my intern and just out of college, but he said his grandfather was an actual druid, back before he passed, and Bolin has learned a few things. He can use magic.”

“He may be a good resource then.” Mom leaned across the table and gripped my wrist. “I need your help, Luna.”

I blinked in surprise. Mom was so proud, the once- and perhaps still-alpha female of the pack. It was startling to have her ask for help from anyone, especially me.

“What can I do?”

“The attacks are linked by the artifacts.”

“The case and… your medallion?” I waved toward the bedroom. The last time I’d visited she’d retrieved its box from a drawer in there.

She grimaced. “They stole it.”

“Those thugs got in here and took it? Doesn’t it zap bad guys?”

“If they felt pain, they did not show it. Or they prepared themselves ahead of time. I have no doubt it’s what they came for. They weren’t certain where it was and ransacked my cabin as they shot at us.” She pointed toward a bullet lodged in one of the logs next to the refrigerator. “They tore everything up as I lay bleeding on the floor. I threw a butcher knife and lodged it in one man’s shoulder, but it wasn’t enough.” Her voice lowered. “Also, the change… eluded me. I struggle now to summon the magic sometimes. And the men… They were surprisingly strong.” There was almost a quaver in her voice when she admitted, “I was not powerful enough to stop them. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t enough.”

“I’m sorry, Mom.” I rested my hand on hers, wanting to comfort her, but I was also scared.

When I’d been a girl, she’d been a mountain. Strong, unflappable, fearless. A brave female werewolf from an era where you couldn’t show vulnerability or the pack would sense your weakness and drive you out. Or so she’d always told me. Even last week, when she’d admitted to her cancer diagnosis and that she was dying, she’d still seemed strong and powerful to me, the magic in her blood almost overcoming her body’s failings, her age.

Now, for the first time, she was showing her vulnerability, her distress at the world and how it was treating her. I didn’t know what to do, but I regretted having been away for so long. My cousins weren’t wrong—I had turned my back on my family and heritage. Not because of them but because of my own failings, of the knowledge that I was a danger to others, that I’d killed by accident—and that it could happen again. At the time, and during all those years in between, my choice had made sense to me, but now… Now I doubted it. And myself.

In that moment, I knew I had to help my mother. I couldn’t cure her disease, but if I could at least get the medallion back for her, she would rest more easily. She would know it would remain with the family, passing into my hands, whether I was worthy or not. I had to at least be more worthy to carry it than whoever the thieves wished to sell it to.

“Did they speak at all?” I asked. “Anything that could hint to what they wanted your medallion for? Both artifacts?”

Mom’s face hardened, the glimpse of vulnerability disappearing. “All they said was that it was open season on wolves. Then they started shooting indiscriminately.”

“I wish we’d caught the blond guy. I want to question him. Badly.”

“Jasmine has asked her father to use his computer skills to research paranormal dealers in the area, as well as members of the community, to learn if anyone else has had magical artifacts stolen of late. He has always been a quirky wolf who prefers spending time using technological devices instead of being out in nature, but in this case, it may be useful.”

From what Jasmine had said, her father was a game developer. I imagined him asking people about real-world magic while flinging fireballs in online realms.

“We’ll do our best to find the guys and get back what they stole,” I said.

“We,” Mom mouthed and looked out the window again.

Duncan hadn’t come back into view, but she knew who I meant.

“You should not spend more time with him,” Mom said. “Do not trust him. Lone wolves, in general, are suspicious. If he challenged an alpha, lost, and was cast out, he might make such a challenge in another pack again, perhaps less honorably, to ensure he won.”

“I’m not sure that’s what happened with him. He said he’s never had a pack.”

“He said . Did you not say that he lied to you? That he worked against you for the sake of your former mate?”

“Yeah. Like I said, I don’t trust him, Mom, but he knows about finding things. That’s the only reason I reached out to him.”

“If you work with him, you might help him in finding your artifact, only to have him disappear with them both .”

“I won’t let that happen, Mom. I’m strong, remember?” I said it half-jokingly, or at least self-deprecatingly, since I’d felt like a punching bag for life of late.

She was raising a good point. I should put together a plan, a way to make sure I could get the best of Duncan if he did turn on me. I didn’t want to believe he would, but…

“You are strong, but he is dangerous.”

“I know. I’ve seen him fight.”

“I have not sensed a werewolf that exuded such power before. Even your father was not that strong, and he was an alpha through and through, one who few dared challenge.”

“I’ll be wary of Duncan,” I assured her, then stood up, feeling the press of time in the weariness on Mom’s face.

If I wanted to return the medallion before she grew too ill to appreciate it… Well, I might not have that long.

Before leaving, I withdrew a salami log from the box and laid it on the table for her. Salty preserved meat probably wasn’t the ideal food for someone dying, but I also rested a bar of dark chocolate on it. Surely, that would help. It could only improve her mood.

Indeed, her eyes seemed to brighten a touch as she watched.

“I’ll get your medallion back for you, Mom. I promise.”