Page 16 of Triumph of the Wolf (Magnetic Magic #6)

A pre-dawn text from Lorenzo relayed a question from my mother.

Have you visited the cave yet?

No, I hadn’t, and, after the strange night before, including Izzy’s kidnapping, it wasn’t at the top of my to-do list. Nonetheless, I texted back that I would talk Duncan into driving back up there with me.

Even though I suspected Mom’s motives for wanting us both in that cave while wearing the medallions…

one couldn’t deny the wishes of a dying woman.

Around breakfast time, I showed up at Duncan’s van with to-go cups of espresso, a basket of biscuits slathered with butter and peanut butter, hot bacon wrapped in paper towels, and egg sandwiches I’d made using toasted English muffins.

As I’d seen before, he had an appetite that rivaled that of a growing teenage boy.

Thanks to my heritage, I wasn’t the lightest of eaters either.

“You’re a wonderful woman, Luna.” Not surprisingly, Duncan went first for the bacon—werewolves did have carnivorous streaks after all.

“I am wonderful, but this is also a bribe.”

He surveyed the spread I’d laid out on the tiny table in his camper van. “One that doesn’t involve any chocolate?”

I pulled out a bar of dark chocolate with bits of reishi mushrooms and coconut flakes.

“Ah, that’s the kind of bribe I expect. But… mushrooms?” Duncan raised his eyebrows.

“I bought a stack of these for my mom. Just in case.” I pointed to a few words on the label that toted the health benefits of cacao and reishi mushrooms and suggested cancer-fighting properties. “They’re sufficiently rich and sweet and don’t taste medicinal. Or, er, fungal. I taste-tested them.”

“How many squares? A sufficient amount to know for certain?”

“Three bars. Maybe four. It’s been a hectic week.”

“I won’t deny that.” Duncan looked out the windshield toward the lawn, though all sign of the strange vapors had disappeared.

Later, I would take my hand broom and pan outside to sweep up shards of broken glass from the vials. Most of them hadn’t landed near the walkways, so I wasn’t too worried about tenants stepping on them. I wanted to get my mother’s request out of the way first.

“What’s the bribe for?” Duncan asked around a bite of a sandwich. “Oh, there’s more bacon draped over the eggs. Fabulous.” His eyes rolled back in his head.

Even though I’d never considered myself a talented chef, I had a few staples in my arsenal that were, in my opinion, delicious. It was always nice to see someone else enjoy my food.

“I’d like you to come up to the cave with me. And with this.” I lifted the chain around my neck to draw the medallion out from under my shirt. “And with that .” I pointed to the matching male medallion that he wore.

“Ah. Because you spent the night aching with need and want to seduce me there?”

“Because my mom wants me to seduce you there.” I grimaced. “Don’t worry. I’m not planning on that. But I… did pack condoms, just in case.”

Duncan arched his eyebrows.

“I’m not on birth control anymore,” I explained, though I didn’t know if that was his silent inquiry. “After my ex-husband left, and with me, uhm, not that interested in seeking out companionship, I went off it.”

“Makes sense. You didn’t know a new virile stud would come into your life.”

“Yeah, and then there’s you too.” I smirked at him.

“Ha ha. Unless you’ve a thing for Abrams, I’m not aware of any other virile studs in your life.”

“He is sexy in his medical scrubs.”

“And a mere seventy years old.”

“With all those potions he knows how to make, he could have all kinds of enhancements that belie his age.”

“I suppose that’s true. I’d rather not know about such details.

Regardless, I’ll certainly accompany you to the cave.

I haven’t yet figured out how to deal with the Abrams problem—mostly because I don’t know where he is.

After the chaos last night, I attempted to track Lykos back to him, but he must have guessed I would do that.

Lykos walked through water several times to hide his trail, and I lost him out on Ballinger Way. He might have gotten on a bus.”

“The preferred method of transportation for eight-year-old werewolves.”

“He’s informed me that he’s almost nine and is a force to be reckoned with.”

“Thus making him more of a public transportation fan?”

“Well, I don’t know if Abrams has a vehicle. We destroyed Radomir’s SUV, and he was presumably the moneyed half of that partnership.” Duncan finished his sandwich, licked his fingers a few times, and eyed the remaining bacon.

“Go ahead. I had a few pieces before coming out.”

Besides, if he’d been chasing the kid all over town last night, he would be hungry.

“You’re a delightful woman.” Duncan popped a piece in his mouth, then also took one of the biscuits. “Still warm. Excellent. Even werewolves enjoy peanut butter.”

“Who doesn’t?” I opened the chocolate bar and laid a couple of pieces on the table for his dessert.

“Nothing like washing a meal down with cancer-fighting properties.” He placed a square onto his tongue to melt.

“It’s always a good idea. Like brushing your teeth.”

“No doubt.” Despite his teasing, Duncan took the rest of the chocolate bar with him to the driver’s seat. “I’ve half-expected one of those black vans to return and toss the female werewolf out onto the lawn.”

“Izzy,” I corrected.

“Yes. By now, Abrams must know that his henchmen got the wrong wolf.”

“I hope he’s not planning to run science experiments on her.” I frowned as Duncan drove us out of the parking lot. “Even if I don’t like her, she doesn’t deserve that.”

“What we read in Abrams’s journal suggested he had moved on from believing werewolf blood would be useful for him, and he was focusing on the magical artifacts.” Duncan looked at me. “Are you bringing the case as well?”

“I have it.” I patted my purse where it lay nestled in a towel inside. “I did question whether I should or not. What do you think?”

“Depends on if you believe it’s safer with you or under the floor in your apartment.”

“It might be safer there, but I was thinking more about how the medallions, and every other magical artifact in the area, get extra excited when the lid is open. We might learn more if that happens, but I’m also not sure I want the medallions to be more excited and potent than usual when we’re in the cave.

” I looked somberly at him. “As much as I’d enjoy getting horizontal with you, I’d rather it not be because their magic is coercing us to do so. ”

“If the medallions had gotten their way in your mother’s cabin, I believe we would have ended up vertical . My thoughts, or urges, I suppose, believed the log wall looked like a fine place to…” He glanced at me, turning his palm apologetically upward. And were his cheeks a touch pink?

“Had the medallions gotten their way, I wouldn’t have minded.” I doubted I would have minded the wall—or anywhere else—with Duncan, magic regardless, but… “I’d just like things to be our idea if they’re going to go in that direction. In any direction.”

“I agree that free will is appealing. Especially given recent circumstances when I haven’t always had it.” Duncan waved toward his forehead, though the medallion, after it decided he was worthy of wearing it, had healed him of that lifelong scar.

“Yes. And I don’t want my pack’s medallions, or my mother’s plans, taking that from you. From either of us.”

“But we’re going to the cave anyway.” Duncan smirked at me, not looking like he minded that much.

“To fulfill my mother’s… request.” I didn’t make that dying request, but the term came to mind, a fresh lump forming in my throat.

“Besides, it’s possible her vision was about more than us having sex.

She mentioned something that could help our people.

Our people who are currently being schemed against by resort developers. ”

“Not as fearsome of foes as potion-enhanced thugs with silver bullets.” As he finished off the chocolate bar, Duncan navigated onto the freeway and picked up speed.

“No, but who knows what complicated and obscure legal methods they might know about to try to take the family land. I’m sure Mom and the pack would prefer that all humans forget that their territory exists.”

“For the sake of your family, I’ll hope that bringing the two medallions together in that cave can suggest some solutions.

” Duncan gazed pensively at me before brake lights on a car ahead made him focus on traffic.

“If the medallions only have a singular focus, I hope… Well, I give you permission ahead of time to do whatever you need to do in order to wrap my package.”

For a confused moment, I thought of the delivery-truck driver from the night before. No, not that kind of package.

“I’m a little concerned,” he continued, “that the magical compulsion will make… Erm, let’s just say that package wrapping wasn’t on my mind when we were almost, ah, overcome with ardor in your mother’s cabin.”

“Gotcha. Yeah, it wasn’t on my mind either.”

“It’s hard to be a responsible adult when magic wants to turn you into a sex fiend.”

“I haven’t noticed that werewolf magic is ever that concerned about responsibility.

” I lifted my purse, tapping the side by the case again.

“As long as there are no nefarious types about, we’ll leave this in the van when we visit the cave.

We could even leave it with my mother. She didn’t mention that she thought it should visit with us. The medallions were her only concern.”

“Yes, the true heirlooms that belong to your pack.”

I wondered if we would ever find out where the case, and the mushroom-shaped artifact inside, belonged. More than once, it had crossed my mind to give them to Bolin since the artifacts had been made by druids, and he and his father were the only druidic types I knew.