Page 24 of Triumph of the Wolf (Magnetic Magic #6)

The first time we’d visited the cave in the gully at the back of Mom’s property, she’d given us a map, and we’d stumbled our way to it, navigating past rough terrain, magical mushrooms in nooks, and raccoons and other critters with glowing red eyes.

This time, the medallion around my neck drew me straight toward our destination, the magic almost insistent that we maintain a quick pace without pauses or detours.

The artifacts were manipulating us, but what choice did we have? It was what Mom wanted too. Besides, it was just a cave with a magical pool and paintings inside. What was the worst that could happen?

“I could get zapped and knocked on my ass,” I muttered as we descended a slope toward the stream that meandered through the gully.

That had happened last time, the magic hurling me back and knocking me unconscious. Poor Duncan had been worried and rushed back to get my mom and Rosaria. Would those events repeat?

He must also have been thinking of that night because, when he looked at me, he didn’t ask for clarification. “I’ll be ready this time and catch you if there’s zapping or knocking.”

“Thank you. You’re a good werewolf.”

“As I’ve been assuring you for some time.”

“Well, I’m convinced now.”

“I assumed from your enthusiastic lovemaking.” He winked at me, then led the way along the stream.

This time, I noticed a hole in the rocky slope on the opposite side and thought of old mine shafts and the real estate people who’d swarmed all over the nearby land.

Would the cave be destroyed if they got their wish and developed the place?

No. I wouldn’t allow that. As my mom had said before, it had held meaning to our people for a long time, ever since the pack originally left the Old World and settled in this area.

When we reached the entrance, tucked into the steep rocky incline on the far side of the stream, I stepped across the waterway and took a bracing breath before walking inside.

Thanks to the glow of the medallion, I didn’t need to activate my phone’s flashlight app.

The illumination shone onto the rocky paw prints painted on the sides and roof of the cave, and it also reflected in the pool in the center.

On the way here, we hadn’t seen any animals with glowing eyes, but I trusted they were out there, drawn to drink the magical water.

I caught Duncan eyeing it when we stood still to look around.

My gaze was drawn to the paw prints, specifically the one I’d touched before.

The one that had knocked me unconscious.

A thrum emanated from my medallion, and it gave me the impression that I should head toward it. “Better than drinking the water, I suppose.”

Duncan looked at me.

“I’m chatting with my medallion and mentally bracing myself,” I said.

He cocked his head. “Does your medallion chat back?”

“No. But it sometimes gives me vibes.” Like the come-touch-the-painted-rock vibe.

“Yes, that’s what I’ve received from this one too.” Duncan tapped the wolf head on his chest. “And it was also the source of the… intense urge to join with you yesterday.”

“Yeah. I got that too.” I headed for the paw-print painting, flexing my fingers at my sides.

Duncan had promised he would catch me, and he stayed close.

The paintings glowed warmly, inviting me to touch them. I drew a deep breath, hesitant to reach out.

Duncan rested a supportive hand on my shoulder. Both of our medallions flared brighter, and I sensed… satisfaction, at least from mine. This was what it wanted.

Though the manipulation made me uneasy, I had to trust that the medallions were looking out for the pack. Of course, they might not be as concerned about looking out for individuals in the pack, but…

“Here goes,” I whispered.

Duncan brushed his fingers along the side of my neck—a gesture of support?

—then returned his hand to my shoulder and bent his knees.

Bracing himself? Just how hard had the magic thrown me last time?

Since it had knocked me out before I’d landed, I didn’t know, but he’d mentioned me being in the pool several feet away.

“All right, tell me where I can find Izzy and Jasmine, please,” I said to the wall or medallion or maybe both. “Someone’s been kidnapping werewolves, and Mom thinks you can help.”

I gripped the medallion with one hand and rested the other on the wall. The stone should have been cool, but tingling warmth spread from it to my hand, then flowed up my arm. It infused my entire body. The edges of my eyesight flickered, and a dream swept over me. A vision.

In it, I stood atop a cliff overlooking the forest with the snow-capped Cascade Mountains to one side of me.

Below, I could make out the shingle roof of Mom’s cabin as well as a couple of small homes owned by Rosaria and other pack members in the area.

Between them, the road meandering back toward civilization was visible.

In the vision, the medallion glowed on my chest as I held up the wolf case, the lid open. The mushroom-shaped artifact, glowing even more than my medallion, floated into the air.

It beamed a feeling of dismissal at me. At least it hadn’t zapped me.

After the dismissal, a sense of resignation came from it, and the artifact descended toward the ground.

A foot from the edge of the cliff, the mushroom stem nestled itself into the earth.

Once settled, the artifact pulsed waves of energy—or maybe magic —outward.

They had a purple tint, making them visible as they flowed out, one concentric circle after another stretching over the land for several miles in all directions.

Eventually, the magical and visual disturbance ceased, the forest returning to normal.

Or did it? Insects buzzed, squirrels chattered, and birds chirped, as if nothing had happened, but I had a sense that something had changed. The cabins and cottages and trees appeared the same, but the road had grown… fuzzy. It was still there, but something hazed it, making it hard to make out.

Strange.

More light glowed around me, filling the cave and shining on my skin.

You will place the protector , a female voice spoke into my mind. It seemed to come from the medallion, but I sensed the magic of this place enhancing it, giving it power it hadn’t demonstrated before. Like speaking .

The protector? I asked silently.

Though I was vaguely aware of standing in the cave, Duncan close behind me, I felt detached from my body, and my mouth couldn’t have voiced the words.

In my mind, the vision continued, and I saw myself on that cliff, still holding the case and standing behind the mushroom artifact as it did who knew what.

It was made to protect humanity from our kind, but we shall use that to our advantage, the voice said.

How so?

Place the protector.

Uh, okay, but I’m not sure where that cliff is, and I have something else I need to do. Family I need to retrieve. Can you tell me where the kidnapped werewolves are? Do you know?

You are the future of the pack.

Glad to hear it, I said, even if I wasn’t. The kidnapped wolves? Do you know?

You will ensure the protector remains and that the power of the Old World reinvigorates the line and gives the pack the strength to withstand an uncertain future.

Behind me, Duncan eased closer, his hand sliding from my shoulder to my waist and then around it. His chest pressed against my back, and a zing of awareness swept through my body.

Since the wall hadn’t tossed me across the cave yet, I doubted he felt he needed to be close to keep me from being knocked unconscious.

More likely, the medallions were using their magic to influence him.

To influence both of us. I caught myself leaning back into him, reveling in the heat of his hard body molding itself to mine.

I don’t object to helping the pack, I said, trying to keep my thoughts straight as Duncan’s mouth lowered to the side of my neck.

My nerves zinged with pleasure as his teeth teased my flesh and he inhaled deeply, as if he’d never breathed in anything as amazing as my scent.

But Jasmine is part of the pack. I need to help her. Do you know where she’s being held?

Maybe neither the magical cave nor the medallion had any way to know what was going on in the suburbs. Whether real estate developers or Abrams were behind the kidnappings, it had little to do with our artifacts.

“Luna,” Duncan growled, sounding more animal than man. His arms tightened around me, one hand straying to my waistband. “I need you.”

The growly words and his powerful grip made my body thrum with desire, and I caught myself rocking back into him as he pushed into me, his powerful frame trapping me against the wall.

When I turned my head to look at his face, hunger burned in his dark eyes, sparking my own passion, a need to have him take me.

Where’s she being held? I tried to ask silently one more time even as I gave into my desire and kissed Duncan.

Our lips were demanding, our need rising with such intensity that I forgot where we were and why we had come.

Even with the medallions glowing between us, I lost my awareness of being manipulated.

When he unfastened my pants and slid his fingers into me, I gasped and bucked, savage wildness leaping into me.

I twisted in his arms, grabbing him as I mashed myself against him, a frenzy of need leaving me panting, magic mingling with passion, manipulation with true love. Such a desire to sate myself with him swept into me that I snarled and cried out. All animal. All werewolf.

We bit and clawed, instincts ruling us instead of our rational minds. Such pleasure rocked into me that I hardly cared. When Duncan tore our clothes away and plunged into me, we howled.

The cave walls hummed and glowed with magic, with power that wrapped around us as we came together again and again.

Never had I known such intense pleasure.

Never had I wanted more to be with someone.

If this was what protecting the pack involved, I would give my everything to have it again and again.

The lupine howls that tore from our throats when we crashed together for a final time, an explosion of magic leaving us shaking, must have been audible outside of the cave and miles into the forest.

Panting with our hearts pounding, we finally sank to the ground, entwined and exhausted. The medallions continued to glow, satisfied, as if they’d shared in our joining, our pleasure. Their light gleamed, reflected in Duncan’s eyes.

His hand slid over my womb, fingers splaying.

As my rational thoughts returned, I realized we hadn’t used contraception this time.

Even if I’d had the wherewithal, something told me the medallions and the magic of the cave wouldn’t have allowed it.

They’d wanted to secure the future of our kind, to leave me with a werewolf child that had our power, the power to protect the pack into the future.