Page 12 of Triumph of the Wolf (Magnetic Magic #6)

Tonight, I wanted to relax with Duncan and let him know that I appreciated him leaping to my defense.

Usually, he didn’t turn into the bipedfuris for that, but maybe seeing Chad being a dick had made his beast come out of its own accord.

The idea that such a thing would move Duncan to that action pleased me more than it should have.

I shouldn’t want anyone to lose his equanimity or become violent on my behalf, and yet…

it touched me that he cared, that he wanted to protect me.

In addition to the popcorn, I grabbed paper towels and a newly acquired bar of dark chocolate with bacon bits to share with Duncan.

I also remembered that I’d picked up a few items from Goodwill for him the last time I’d visited.

We’d both lost clothing the night of our battle at Abrams’s laboratory.

On an impulse, I grabbed the sword too. If Chad showed up again, I would have it close at hand, perhaps forestalling the need for anyone to get furry.

“Ah, my lady has brought gifts,” Duncan said, pushing the passenger-side door open for me when I reached his van.

I leaned the sword inside and placed the stack of shirts and trousers on the seat for him. Even though he’d put on clothes, he would need more soon if he kept engaging in unplanned shiftings. His small home on wheels couldn’t hold that many jeans and shirts in its tiny cupboards.

Duncan didn’t comment on the sword, only picking up the stack of garments to examine.

“More experienced clothing?”

“You wouldn’t want to pay top dollar for inexperienced clothing that will end up vanishing into the ether.”

“Something that’s been happening a lot since I met you.”

“Do I test your self-control?”

“Oh, vastly .” After moving the clothes, Duncan waved me to the passenger seat, though he also gestured an invitation to his lap. “If you’re uncomfortable or cold by yourself over there, I’ve got room for you here.”

“I’ll bet you do.” I smirked at him as I rested a hand on the back of the passenger seat, intending to say I had no interest in sitting in his lap, but was that true?

The more time we spent together, the more I appreciated his companionship, his loyalty, his willingness to help and defend me, and… how desirable and sexy he was.

The memory of him grabbing me in my mother’s cabin came to mind, his powerful arms wrapped around me, his hands going expertly to the right places to instantly stoke my arousal. By the moon, that had been hot. He was hot.

“I think you’d enjoy watching a movie in my lap,” Duncan murmured.

My cheeks flushed with heat. Not embarrassment but desire. When he took my hand from the passenger seat and shifted it to his shoulder, my whole body heated with desire. I slid into his lap, his body taut through his clothing, and raised my eyebrows.

“I’m surprised I didn’t find you in the bathroom again,” I murmured.

“Seeing you punch that loser did get me excited.” Duncan slid his arm around my waist and stroked me through my shirt.

“Was that before or after you turned into the bipedfuris?” I hadn’t looked down when he’d been in that form to check.

“Well, your ex-husband was presuming to touch you when I first started across the lawn, so I lost my mind a bit there. Excitement isn’t quite the word for the savage desire to kill him that I felt.

It was more in the aftermath, while you’ve been gone, that I’ve had time to fully appreciate the punch. ”

“I see.” I shifted a bit in his lap. “And feel.”

He grinned wickedly at me, keeping his gaze on me as he delved into the bag of popcorn and tossed a couple of pieces into his mouth.

“Everything okay with your assassin?” I realized I hadn’t asked for an update on the kid.

The main reason I did now was that I wanted to make sure Lykos wasn’t out there in the woods, watching us through the windshield. It was late enough that not many tenants were passing through the parking lot, but that kid didn’t seem to have a curfew.

“When I didn’t walk into the trap he’d set, he asked me a few questions, took the tin and some chocolates, and left.”

I blinked. “He really did lay a trap?”

“Very similar to the one we’d discussed. He didn’t seem surprised when I didn’t step into it, nor did the failure to ensnare me noticeably concern him. But he did take a photo of the trap. To show Abrams that he’d attempted to capture and slay me, perhaps.”

“That kid may need therapy.”

“I’m certain of it. Being raised by a mad scientist will give you a few issues to work through.” Duncan’s lips twisted wryly.

“I can imagine,” I said with sympathy and rested a hand on his shoulder, brushing the strong tendon in his neck with my thumb.

His eyelids drooped as he shifted under me, snuggling me closer against him. The heat radiating from his hard body seeped into me as I inhaled, his masculine scent mingling with the popcorn aroma in the air. It was intoxicating. He was intoxicating.

“What movie shall we watch?” I murmured, though it hadn’t escaped my notice that he didn’t have anything paused on the phone. The screen wasn’t even on.

“I’ve got exactly what I want to watch right here.” He squeezed me, then freed a hand to offer me the popcorn bag.

“I’m not very exciting.”

“You know that’s not true. I just told you how much I enjoyed seeing that punch. Maybe I’ll replay it over and over in my mind as we exquisitely explore each other’s bodies.”

He slid one hand under my shirt and up to stroke my breast, sending a streak of hot desire through me.

There was no uncertainty in his eyes or hesitancy in his touch that suggested he worried that I might not want his hand there, that I would punch someone else tonight.

By now, he knew I was into him, that I longed for his touch.

Why had we waited so long to get to this moment?

I bent to kiss him, sliding my tongue along his lips, tasting the lingering salt and butter from the popcorn.

He returned the kiss, his mouth hard and hungry, and groaned as his arm tightened around me.

His free hand slid up to peel off my bra strap, giving him unfettered access to the sensitive skin of my breast. I might have groaned too, shifting my chest toward him so he could more easily touch me.

I gripped his shoulders, wondering why I’d insisted that he put on clothes, and reveled in his stroking fingers.

Already, I was thinking of requesting—or demanding—that he take me to bed.

This time, we weren’t wearing our medallions.

We longed for each other— lusted for each other—without the presence of their magic.

I pushed my fingers up into Duncan’s hair, using my nails to massage his scalp.

His roving hands slid my shirt off my torso, leaving it and my bra on the floor next to us.

Giggles outside made us both pause.

Duncan’s eyes opened, and he looked out the windshield. “Hm.”

I kept my focus on him, hoping that whoever it was would get quickly into their car without wandering in this direction. Perhaps, we should move into the rear of the van where equipment and tinted windows would block the view of the bed from passersby…

More giggles sounded, and I turned enough to follow Duncan’s gaze out the windshield.

Not ten feet away, the two twenty-something tenants with ghostometers and other paranormal monitoring equipment were setting up on the sidewalk.

Cameras on tripods pointed toward the woods, the grounds around the closest apartment buildings, and at the parking lot.

A weird funnel attached by a cable to equipment in a suitcase aimed right at Duncan’s van.

The girls were looking at something on one of their phones and might not have spotted us making out in the driver’s seat, but I wasn’t sure about that.

It could be that the camera feed of us was showing on their phone.

With a zoom lens activated? The thought made my cheeks heat in embarrassment and indignation, and I grabbed my clothes off the floor, hurrying to put them back on.

“Should I go over there and assure them that there are no ghosts in my van?” Duncan asked.

“I don’t even know if they’re looking for ghosts .” I recalled that one of the women had witnessed a fight in the parking lot where I’d turned into a wolf. She’d sent a photo to the police.

Duncan raised his eyebrows and touched his chest.

“We may well be the target of their investigation.” I didn’t know if they’d figured out yet that their property manager was the wolf they’d caught on camera. “It’s too bad they have good credit, pay their rent promptly every month, and don’t break any of the rules of the complex.”

“Meaning you don’t have an excuse to evict them?”

“Sadly, no.” I probably couldn’t justify going on a rampage and breaking all of their equipment either.

“We could adjourn to your apartment and a more private setting.”

“The bed in there is larger.”

“Just not surrounded by SCUBA gear and treasure-hunting equipment.”

“You say that like that’s a downside.”

“I do get excited by being among my favorite things.”

“I think I can get you excited even in the barren and inhospitable habitat that is my bedroom.”

“I suspect that’s quite true.” Duncan winked at me, tossed a couple more pieces of popcorn in his mouth, and reached for the door handle.

Before I could slide off his lap or he could open it, an engine roared.

I grimaced, afraid the motorcycle thugs were back. Hadn’t they learned at the movie theater to leave werewolves alone? Duncan and me specifically?

But the thirty-year-old dented Corvette that sped into the lot, possibly lacking a muffler, wasn’t familiar. It drove down the lane closest to the women and halted hard in front of their equipment. Their giggles stopped as they lowered the phone, glancing at each other and backing up.

Two big men got out of the car. Neither was from the gang of thugs who’d pestered the property before, but they carried tire irons and reminded me of them. There was just one difference. They had paranormal blood.

A guy with a ponytail who had muscles that bulged at the seams of his shirt emanated power.

The other man lacked hair entirely, his bald head gleaming under a parking-lot light.

And it wasn’t the only thing gleaming. When he lifted his hand, a glowing yellow light danced between his fingers. Was he a wizard?

Together, the pair advanced on the women with menace.