Page 14 of Triumph of the Wolf (Magnetic Magic #6)
“Threats in all directions, huh?” I eyed the sword, wondering if I should have lopped off one of the wizards’ ears. But, as brutish as they’d been, I wasn’t sure they didn’t have a legitimate grievance with my tenants.
Duncan’s pointed ears flickered. He was listening to me, but he didn’t take his eyes from the street.
“Why don’t you make sure those guys head home?” I pointed in the direction of the idling car. “I’ve fought Izzy before. If she does more than mark the bushes, I can handle her.”
Besides, I doubted it would take Duncan long to convince the wizards to leave fully. Ripping the fender off an old car would be a simple matter for a powerful wolf.
Duncan swished his tail and brushed his flank against my hip as he padded away.
“I don’t know if that was a bump of agreement or a promise that we’ll return to our date in the van soon,” I called softly after him.
He looked over his shoulder, tongue lolling out.
“Okay, I look forward to it.”
Tail up, he trotted toward the street.
My senses suggested Izzy hadn’t moved. Maybe, like Duncan’s little clone brother, she would start with spying on me to assess my strengths and weaknesses before she made an attempt on my life.
“As if she didn’t get to assess everything when we were rolling around on the floor of that closet,” I muttered.
Sword in hand, I headed across the damp grass toward the woods. I would have preferred to go back to my apartment, hide behind Rue’s protection potion, and ignore Izzy, but a larger part of me wanted to confront her and end the threat she represented.
At the edge of the lawn, on the trail leading into the woods, I stopped, catching the glint of a pair of eyes at wolf height.
“Do you want to discuss it?” I called. “I sent back Ivan’s bracelet. You know that, right?”
A growl emanated from the direction of the eyes. Izzy didn’t care about her half-brother’s werewolf artifact. She cared that I’d long ago killed Raoul, the werewolf I’d loved who had also been, as I’d only recently learned, her cousin.
“Your brother mentioned reward money,” I said though I didn’t expect anything and didn’t want to see Ivan again.
He hadn’t been a jerk, but he had hit on me.
I’d avoided dropping off the bracelet in person since I hadn’t wanted to encourage more of that.
“I don’t suppose you’re carrying a little envelope in your jaws. ”
Izzy growled again.
“I also accept Venmo and Zelle,” I offered.
The eyes moved. Izzy padded toward me.
My nerves tingled with the call of the wolf, the temptation to draw upon my magic to change.
The sword, its alloy imbued with silver, would have the ability to wound her, but in the dark, at the far edge of the influence of the landscaping lights, I would be more comfortable fighting as a wolf.
But, as a wolf, there was the danger that I would lose my rational mind to the savage magic that always lurked, prepared to come to the surface.
When that happened, as it had with Raoul all those years ago, I could kill without meaning to.
Rewards would be the last thing on Ivan’s mind if I slew his sister, and I didn’t need any more enemies.
Unaware of my thoughts, Izzy padded closer, her dark fur growing visible as she stepped out of the undergrowth and onto the trail.
The headlights of a car entering the parking lot made me glance in that direction.
It wasn’t the Corvette—I no longer heard its engine and suspected the drivers had spotted Duncan—but a large brown delivery van.
Given the late hour, that was strange, and I was immediately suspicious.
Was it bringing another package for Duncan? Something poisoned sent by an enemy?
With another growl, Izzy stopped less than ten feet from me. Her hackles were up, and she looked like she would attack, but she was also eyeing the sword.
“Our last battle didn’t go well for you,” I said. “If you want to kill me, you should have brought backup.”
In the parking lot, the uniformed driver hopped out of the cab of his vehicle. I would have only glanced at him, not wanting to turn away from an enemy, but he carried something that looked more like a weapon than a parcel for delivery. It reminded me of a Civil War Gatling gun.
“What the?—”
The driver leaped onto the hood of a car, lifted the big weapon, then started shooting.
Instead of cracks that would have signaled bullets firing, a rapid series of thwump, thwump, thwump sounded as oblong objects shot out.
They glinted, reflecting the outdoor lights as if they were made from glass.
They flew all over the grounds, some landing in the parking lot and shattering, and others coming down in the lawn.
“You’d better get out of here.” Using the sword, I made a shooing motion toward Izzy, then ran across the grass toward the parking lot.
Taking my own advice would have been wise, but this guy was a threat to me, my territory, and my tenants. My intent, as I ran toward him, was to confront him with the sword and words, but when he saw me and pointed his weapon straight toward me, lupine magic flooded into me.
As I ran, I tore off clothing and tossed aside the sword and my phone, not wanting to lose either in the change.
“Duncan!” I yelled. With the call, I meant to warn him and hoped he would come help, but it came out as more of a snarl than his name. Also, I no longer sensed him, so I doubted he heard it.
The driver fired his weapon again. One of those glass objects—was it filled with liquid?—sailed straight toward me.
I dove to the side, rolling as I hit the grass. With magic and adrenaline flooding my veins, the wolf came over me, and, when I sprang up, I landed on four paws.
The object he’d fired flew past me and struck a lamppost, shattering. Yes, there was indeed a dark liquid inside. An acrid scent wafted from it as it dribbled down the side of the post.
Broken vials all over the grounds were wafting the scent. It didn’t smell like the odor those metal bugs had emitted in the last lair I’d battled in as a wolf, but it reminded me of that. That scent had to represent danger.
The driver was still firing from the hood of a vehicle. I ran toward him, certain all who resided in my territory were in danger, but my instincts warned of a new threat. A dark wolf bowled into me from the side, sending me rolling in the grass again. Izzy.
She’d waited until I was distracted to take advantage.
Indignation and fury made me lash out, forgetting the shooter and biting into the wolf attempting to bite and pin me .
Twisting, I snapped my jaws rapidly, trying to catch her by the throat.
My fangs sank into her shoulder, and I managed to shift out from under her, my muscles strong, and my weight greater than hers, at least in this form.
The scent of her blood filled my nostrils, but that acrid odor was there as well, growing ever stronger.
Even as the wolf tried to jerk away, biting for me while I ground my jaws and pulverized her shoulder, I grew aware of a haze creeping over the grounds.
All those shattered vials were emitting vapors that gathered in a low cloud.
As we thrashed about, I managed to maneuver atop the enemy wolf. It helped that her movements weren’t as fast as I remembered from our previous encounter. More than that, they were sluggish. Only when I lunged for her and my head felt heavy did I realize that my movements were slow too.
The vapor. It was similar to what those bugs had emitted. Heavy numbness crept into my limbs, and when the enemy wolf snapped toward my throat, I barely evaded her. But it was as if we both moved underwater, strangely slowed. Even the world around us seemed slow, everything hazy.
A screech came from the parking lot. The parcel van leaving? No, it was still there, though its driver had climbed back into the seat. More human vehicles were entering, a couple of black vans that I had not seen before.
Seemingly oblivious to all the threats, the enemy wolf attacked me again.
When her snapping jaws came toward my face, I deflected her snout with mine, gouging her with my own fangs.
She stumbled and lurched sideways to catch her balance.
No doubt her limbs were as numb as mine.
I could have taken advantage, perhaps finishing her off, but I realized what she didn’t: we were in trouble from an outside threat. We had to get away from that haze.
I tried to bark a warning at her, though maybe I shouldn’t have cared if a proven enemy died, then turned and ran toward my den.
With my movements painfully slow, I reached the first building.
My den lay deeper in the complex, so I hurried around the corner but not before looking back.
Humans in black clothing and wearing strange coverings over their faces were running onto the lawn.
The haze made it hard to tell who they were or if I’d seen them before.
I expected them to run after me, but they spotted the other wolf and went to her instead.
She’d fallen upon the grass, injured and maybe unconscious after breathing too much of the vapor. When they surrounded her, she didn’t stir.
I paused, debating what I could do. Even though she’d declared herself an enemy, she was a werewolf, the same as I. And those humans would do… What would they do to her? What did they want?
With my brain as numb as my limbs, I couldn’t imagine. Were they enemies of mine or of Duncan’s? I had no idea but doubted they had come for Izzy. Did they know they were surrounding the wrong wolf?
They knelt, picked her up, and returned to the parking lot. I almost howled a protest, but if they believed they had me, it would be unwise to alert them otherwise. For all I knew, they would kill Izzy once they had her in their vehicle.
I turned, intending to continue into my den, but a flask of liquid in front of the door made me pause. Tendrils of blue vapor wafted from it. Something else placed by an enemy?
Confused, I backed away. Limbs heavy, I navigated toward another place in the complex that was familiar. The office where, when in my human form, I worked. Would it be locked? No. Using my jaws, I turned the knob to open the door.
Two humans lay on the floor inside, their presence startling me. But I recognized them as allies who’d fought with me before. The druid and my niece.
But like the enemy wolf, they lay unmoving. The haze had infiltrated the workplace, and they’d lost consciousness. Or worse.
I lay on the floor, my muscles too weak to support me any longer, and rested my head between my paws, fearing I was about to succumb to the same malady. Sleep. Or death.