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

Jasmine intercepted me as Duncan and I headed to the van, and I let her draw me aside.

Walking stiffly, shoulders tense, Duncan looked like he needed a release, not to stay and chat with my family.

Since I felt similarly, I couldn’t blame him, but Jasmine raised her phone, the text-message screen open, and I suspected she had more on her mind than commenting on the position that Duncan and I—and his hands—had been in when Lorenzo opened the door.

With luck, nobody else had gotten a good view of that…

“The reception is so awful up here,” Jasmine said, “but a message made it through from home. Mom has had Dad researching what’s up with all the land stuff, and he thought to look up the buyer of a property that previously sold in the area. It was last summer.”

Duncan disappeared into the van, and I figured I’d better give him a few minutes.

“Did he find anything interesting?” I asked. “The buyer wasn’t Radomir or his company, was it?”

“I don’t think so, no.” Jasmine held up a name on the screen.

“Golden Wildlands Development?” I read.

The name wasn’t familiar.

“Yeah. Dad checked out the parcel in the county records, and it’s recently been rezoned to rural business.”

“What does that mean they can do? Set up a zipline outfit or something?”

“I guess they could do that, but I have a feeling this is all tied together, don’t you? Someone got that property and wants more back here. All of this.” Jasmine waved a hand to indicate the forest around us, including the direction of the cave and gully in her gesture.

“Maybe your dad can learn some more.”

“Yeah. I’m sure he can. We’ll figure it out. Nobody is stealing the family’s land.”

“You ensured that when you bit the tires on that truck, didn’t you?”

Her cheeks flushed, but she looked more exhilarated than embarrassed. “Those guys will think twice about returning after that, but they’re just the agents. They probably don’t know much about what the potential buyers are really up to.”

“But you weren’t going to let them go without nipping at their heels?”

“ I didn’t start that.” Jasmine waved at her chest. “But people have to be warned away from werewolf territory. For their own good.”

“How many of their tires were flat by the time they made it to the pavement?” I glanced at the van, wondering if I’d given Duncan enough time to collect himself.

“Most of them.” Jasmine grinned. “They were running on the rims by the time they left the woods.”

“And missing a tailpipe.”

“Naturally.”

“Do you mention your hobby of vehicle destruction on your résumé?”

“I do not. Besides, you don’t put hobbies on your résumé unless you’re fifteen and have no work experience.”

“Bolin mentioned his violin and spelling-bee skills on his.”

“I’m sure his parents got him his first job. Wait, is working for you his first job?”

“I think so. Before that, he was focused on his academics.”

“How precious. I’m going to tease him about that. I’ve been working at least summer jobs since I was thirteen.” Jasmine wrinkled her nose. “I wish I’d saved more though. Then I wouldn’t still be living at home.”

“I guess I won’t hit you up to be a backer.”

“Backer for what?”

“Duncan suggested that I buy Sylvan Serenity.”

She wrinkled her nose again and looked toward the Roadtrek. “No offense, Aunt Luna, but you probably shouldn’t take investing advice from someone who lives in a van.”

“I told him it wouldn’t be possible. My net worth, sadly, isn’t much greater than yours.

” And I was more than twenty years older.

Trying not to grimace, I reminded myself that I’d pulled myself out of the debt that Chad had left me with and was making progress on saving for the down payment on a property I could conceivably buy one day.

“I guess you could technically put together a syndication and get a bunch of backers,” Jasmine said. “Since you’d still be running the complex, I assume, it could pencil out. Do you think the Sylvans would negotiate the price down for you? You’re mentoring their son, after all.”

“I’m not sure I’ve taught Bolin anything. He hasn’t even been willing to hold the wax ring for me while I install a toilet.”

“He’s coddled.” She smiled fondly. “I’ve told him.”

“I’m sure he appreciates your honesty.”

“I think he appreciates my boobs.”

“They can be useful assets in discussions with men. But no, I’m sure the Sylvans wouldn’t cut me a deal. They’re shrewd businesspeople. Even if they did, what would it be? Asking twenty-nine million instead of thirty?”

“That could make more of a difference than you’d think. Do you want me to math the place out for you? Figure out market rents, the carrying costs, and where it would pencil out? Is that the actual listing price?”

“No, no.” I waved my hand in dismissal. “I have no idea what they listed it for. It doesn’t matter. I don’t have a real estate portfolio of my own nor experience putting together deals and buying properties. As I firmly told Duncan, there’s no way I could talk people into investing with me.”

“I agree it wouldn’t be easy, but you have been running almost all aspects of the place for the last twenty years. And you’d be surprised how many people don’t have the needed experience but talk people into giving them money on the basis of being smooth talkers.”

“I’m not a smooth talker either, unfortunately. I get frustrated and show my fangs.”

“That could be more convincing than you might think.”

“Or it would prompt everyone to flee the room.”

Jasmine opened her mouth, but the door to Mom’s cabin opened again.

“You’d best not delay, Luna.” She stood in the doorway, Lorenzo at her side to support her.

I wanted to sigh in exasperation, but I also didn’t want to argue with a dying woman.

“We won’t,” I assured her and headed for the passenger door of the van.

“The cave.” Mom pointed behind the cabin, a reminder that there was a path, not a road. We would have to visit it on foot.

“We’ll head there soon,” I said.

Mom hesitated, but Lorenzo murmured something to her, and she let him guide her back into the cabin. A twinge of sadness swept through me. I didn’t want to accept that her end was near, but it was inevitable at this point.

Before opening the passenger-side door to the van, I removed the medallion from around my neck. I didn’t want to test Duncan’s libido— both of our libidos—again.

He wasn’t in the driver’s seat, and I peered warily into the back.

He’d gone into the tiny bathroom and closed the door.

I put the medallion in his cup holder and waited for him to come out, trying not to think about going back there to see if he needed a hand.

That I could do without the threat of impregnation and Mom getting exactly what she wanted—against both of our wishes.

But after talking with Jasmine, and with several of the pack loitering in the area, I was no longer in the mood for carnal activities.

Fortunately, Duncan soon came out. He’d also removed his medallion; I glimpsed it hanging from the spigot of the tiny sink.

When our eyes met, his face twisted in an expression somewhere between embarrassment and chagrin.

“I must apologize for my behavior, my lady.” Duncan managed an impressively smooth bow, considering the tight aisle space with cabinets looming to one side and the bed hemming him in from the other.

“There’s nothing for you to apologize for. I shouldn’t have taken you into the cabin where my mother could bring up mating and offspring again.”

He managed a faint smile and joined me in the cab, easing into the driver’s seat. “She has a singular focus, doesn’t she?”

“I think it’s one of the last things she’s hoping to see before she passes, but I resent that she’s trying to pressure you.”

“ Both of us, certainly.”

“Well, yeah, but I’m family. Mothers pressuring their children is par for the course. You’re new.”

Duncan gazed thoughtfully at me. “I’m certain that you’re disinclined to obey her wishes, out of an understandable desire to be independent, but if she were not requesting more grandchildren from you, would you consider it? Having another child?”

Before, Duncan had always shied away from the idea of children, leaving as quickly as possible when Mom brought it up, but his gaze was more speculative now. His near-death experience with the curse had changed something for him. Since then, more than once, he’d admitted contemplating fatherhood.

“I hadn’t originally, no. Because of my age, if nothing else. But Mom keeps assuring me that my werewolf magic means I get more years of fertility than an average human woman.”

“Your vitality and glow of power assure me that you’re still in your prime.” Duncan glanced at my chest.

I almost laughed, my conversation with Jasmine coming to mind.

“I do feel a little more vital these days, but I would have to make that decision soon if I was going to make it. It’s not like werewolves live any longer than the average person.

” Sadness returned as I gazed toward Mom’s cabin, reminded far more than I wished of our mortality.

“Raising kids is a lot of work for a long time. It could kill me.”

“It can’t be any more trying than cousins trying to end your life, bad guys robbing your apartment, motorcycle thugs attacking you on a weekly basis, and tenants demanding repairs and making complaints at all hours of the day.”

“That latter can be vexing.”

“ Just the latter?”

My phone buzzed, distracting me from responding. A text from Bolin had slipped past the poor reception.

Someone here desires to see you.

Someone? I texted back, slumping in the seat, worried Chad had shown up. Do they have a name or other identifying characteristics?

Bolin didn’t respond. He was either busy dealing with someone , or the mediocre reception ensured the signal was heading up to the nearest satellite via carrier pigeon.

“I’d better go deal with that.” I showed Duncan the message.

“Before visiting the cave?” He tilted his thumb in that direction.

“Mom just wants us to visit with those medallions so the magic makes us get vigorously horizontal.”

“You think that’s the vision she mentioned?”

“You must be used to women having dreams about you.” I waved at the wheel. “If Chad is at the apartment, I need to…” What? Tell him to beat it? That was more or less what I had in mind. Perhaps while kneeing him in the balls. “Show him how good I’m getting with that sword,” I finished.

Eyebrows rising, Duncan turned the key in the ignition. “That could be entertaining.”

“Are you going to watch me prong him?”

“I enjoy seeing you wield my gift.” His half-drooped eyelids assured me that was an innuendo.

“Chad will be furious.”

“As people so often are when pronged by swords.”