Page 2 of Triumph of the Wolf (Magnetic Magic #6)

I didn’t answer Chad’s call, nor did I check the voicemail that he left. Whatever he wanted, I wasn’t interested.

My ex-husband was the one who’d originally propelled Duncan into my life.

Even though that had turned out better than expected, it wasn’t due to anything Chad had done.

He’d hired Duncan to steal the magical wolf-lidded case from my apartment.

That was after years of cheating on me, rarely contributing anything to the family’s finances, and even, before his final departure, leaving me in debt he’d created and wiping out the kids’ college funds.

If he ever showed up in Seattle again, I might tear his throat out—whether I was in my wolf form or not.

My frustrations fueled my energy to clean up the storm debris, and by the time Duncan showed up in early afternoon, the lawn looked good again.

He gave me a cheerful wave as he headed across the grass toward me, his aura noticeably similar to that of the boy’s.

The sun highlighted his twinkling brown eyes, the three days’ worth of beard stubble framing his strong jaw, and the only slightly creased forehead that looked extra appealing now that the scar he’d had all his life had disappeared.

When it had linked him to that control device Abrams had held, I’d worried if I could trust Duncan not to turn on me.

That had, more than once, kept me from inviting him to my bedroom, even though I often woke up in the night, wishing for his company, stirred by urges that I’d thought I was, at almost forty-six, past having.

“Greetings, my lady.” Duncan paused a few feet away to bow. “I do love it when you gaze at me with avid lust and longing in your eyes.”

“You’re imagining that,” I said, even if that was exactly the look on my face. I couldn’t admit it to him. He was already full of himself.

“That can’t be. Over the course of my life, I’ve bestirred lust in many a woman. I know the look well.”

“You’re awfully cocky for an itinerant treasure hunter who rarely discovers more than rusty shopping carts and bike frames.”

“You know I’ve found more than that during my adventures.

” Duncan winked and lifted a chain around his neck, pulling a medallion with a wolf head out from under his button-down shirt.

Despite the brisk January air, the top couple of buttons were unfastened, and I glimpsed the swell of his pectorals. My libido hummed with renewed interest.

Hell, he was right. I was lusting for him.

Duncan smirked at me, released the medallion, and unfastened another button. His eyelids drooped, and he gazed invitingly at me through his lashes. He read me all too well.

“Didn’t you only find that because of a vision my case and my mom’s medallion gave you?” I asked, trying not to feel flustered. Or horny.

“Not only , surely. I was hot on the trail and only slightly aided by those events.”

“I see.”

“Though your intervention most certainly made my life easier and quite interesting as well.” Duncan beamed a smile at me and waved at his forehead.

“I hope you’re not talking about how I, in a huff of lupine frustration, destroyed that control device, which resulted in you being cursed to die.”

“That was more alarming and distressing than interesting. Fortunately, all is resolved, and I’ve been feeling quite fit and hale these last few days.

” Duncan gave me the lids-drooped, bedroom-eyes look again, then lowered his voice.

“I was admiring you from around the corner for a few moments before you noticed me.” His gaze descended toward my chest to suggest exactly which parts of me held some fascination for him.

That turned me on more than it should have. He’d essentially been ogling me while spying on me from a distance. I should have been affronted, but damn if it didn’t feel good to be ogled, especially at my age.

Oh, I’d been feeling fitter, and even younger, since I’d stopped taking the potion that sublimated my magic, but that didn’t mean I didn’t look my age and have two grown sons.

Having someone drawn to me made me feel young and hot again.

And Duncan… He’d been at my side, helping me with all my problems—and all my enemies —since realizing he liked me a lot more than he did my ex-husband.

That alone was enough for me to want to invite him to my bedroom… or behind the nearest rhododendron.

Only the fact that my mother, every time we visited, kept trying to urge us to mate so Duncan could get me pregnant made me hesitate to do exactly that.

Each time Mom had brought that up where he could hear, he hadn’t looked thrilled.

Even if his near-brush with death had prompted him to reconsider fatherhood, what kind of guy wanted to be manipulated into a relationship by his potential girlfriend’s mother ?

“You did sneak up on me,” I said into the silence, aware of his brazen gaze roaming over me. “Like a stalker.”

He lifted his gaze to my face—checking to see if I minded his perusal? “You’ve admitted before that me stalking you doesn’t disturb you as much as it should.”

“I know I have. And it doesn’t. I want…” I lifted a hand. I wanted him .

His eyebrows rose.

“To let you know that if we were to do anything right now, we would have a spy.” I shifted my raised hand to point toward the woods. “Did you notice?”

His brow creased. “Did Abrams send men? I’ve worried he would bother you.”

“Sort of. Your half-sized doppelg?nger has been lurking among the pines.” I waved toward the stump where I’d placed the slices of salami. Since my heritage enhanced my eyesight, even from a distance, I could see that the lunch meat had disappeared.

Had Lykos gotten it? Or the crows? For that matter, Duncan might have smelled it and helped himself. Werewolves had excellent noses—and voracious appetites.

“Ah. I haven’t yet sensed him, but if he saw my van arrive, he would have a good idea about how far away I can detect paranormal beings, so he could have slinked off, roughly out of range.” Duncan scratched his jaw. “Actually, he knows exactly what my range is.”

“Must be weird having a clone.”

“It is, yes. Let me go see if he’s out there and wants something. Later, perhaps, we could…” His gaze swung back to me, lust lingering in his eyes.

“Go on a date to a nice restaurant?” I asked.

“I… was thinking we could skip to getting horizontal, perhaps in a romantic setting, but I do enjoy eating and am always amenable to doing so with you.”

“Would the horizontal romantic setting be the twin bed in the back of your equipment-stuffed van?”

“It could be.”

“In the crowded presence of SCUBA gear, metal detectors, and enough magnets to short-circuit your genetic material?”

“Such things definitely put me in the mood. And I’ve told you before that magnets aren’t a threat to our virility.” Duncan winked at me, but his head swung toward the woods. He must have caught the aura of Lykos. “Keep that in mind. I’ll be back soon.”

“Keep your… virility in mind?” I asked after him.

“Always.”

I snorted and finished the last of my clean-up, then walked toward the parking lot so I could get my truck and haul the debris-filled cart to the composting facility for disposal.

On the way, I ran into Bolin heading from his SUV to the leasing office with two coffee drinks in his hands and his leather man purse draped over his shoulder.

He’d had the strap repaired since our last parking-lot battle against hoodlums.

“Is Jasmine coming to visit you?” I nodded toward the whipped-cream-covered and caramel-drizzled mochas, thinking one might be for her, though she hadn’t mentioned coming by.

“I wish.” Bolin glanced at me. “Though I wouldn’t invite a friend or even girlfriend to come visit me during work hours, of course.”

“Of course. That wouldn’t be professional.” I avoided looking in the direction that Duncan had gone.

“These are both for me. I was up late practicing…” Bolin glanced around, spotted a tenant with a laptop bag cutting across the lawn, and lowered his voice. “My art.”

As if those vague words had needed to be delivered in a whisper.

“You didn’t get your usual pair of giant caffeine bombs first thing this morning?”

“I did, but I already drank them, and the caffeine has worn off. Like the resurgence of animals and vegetation surrounding Chernobyl after the meltdown, my natural state has returned.”

“Interesting metaphor. Is that the kind of poetic imagery that Gen Z women dig?”

“You mentioned bombs. Naturally, I thought of exploding power plants.”

“Naturally.”

“The grounds look good.” Bolin sipped from the left-hand beverage. “The real estate photographer will be pleased.”

“I do ache to satisfy him.”

Bolin choked on his beverage.

I waited to see if he needed the Heimlich Maneuver—he did not—then pointed toward my truck.

Before I could walk away, Bolin raised a finger. “My father wanted me to warn you that some new prospective buyers will be coming for a tour this evening.”

“Great.” I bared my teeth to let him know that it wasn’t great .

Bolin didn’t skitter backward or fumble his drinks.

He’d either grown accustomed to me—and my grumpy streak—or his burgeoning druid powers gave him confidence that he could handle himself if my wild instincts overtook me.

And maybe he could . Not only did he have a collection of potions that he always carried in his bag, but I’d witnessed him calling up vines from the ether—technically, the parking-lot pavement—to halt a two-ton van.

He was halfway on his journey to turning into someone badass, the gilded-leather man purse notwithstanding.

“Do you need any more invitations to networking events?” Bolin offered. “Even though I look forward to moving on from my internment in Shoreline, I know you like this area and might want to continue to live in your unit here.”

“Internment? It’s not a concentration camp. It’s a beautiful apartment complex that hasn’t been pestered by crime in almost a week.”

“It’s not horrible, but…”