Page 9 of Triumph of the Wolf (Magnetic Magic #6)

Dread filled me as we turned into the parking lot back home.

Duncan, who kept fondly patting the rusty tins he’d found, didn’t seem nearly as concerned.

Of course not. Chad had only been a brief acquaintance for him, not someone who’d been a part of his life for twenty years and whose name evoked memories of pain, frustration, and betrayal.

As we parked, a howl greeted us. A young howl.

“Your assassin is here.” I looked toward the greenbelt.

“I hear that.”

“He stays up late. Doesn’t Abrams impose a curfew?”

“Assassins usually ply their trade after dark, so this isn’t unexpected.”

“Kids need to go to bed early so they can be perky and alert for early-morning cartoons. It’s a parenting rule.”

“Interesting. I have much to learn about such things.” Duncan pointed toward the woods, as if to imply he would go practice parenting again but said, “I’ll come with you to see your ex-husband before checking on Lykos.”

The howl came again. It sounded more lonely and full of longing than threatening.

“You can go see what he wants first.” I poked in my purse and pulled out a half-consumed bag of dark-chocolate-covered almonds. “Here, share these with him. You can bond over them.”

Duncan eyed the bag. “He might be luring me out to a poisoned bear trap that I’ll step in, immediately incapacitating me, and giving him an opportunity to slay me without much risk to himself.”

I stared at him. That was oddly specific.

“Last time, Lykos suggested that as a possible means of fulfilling his mission for Abrams.”

“He probably shouldn’t have informed you about it ahead of time if that’s what he’s planning.”

“Exactly what I told him. He waved and said he was already thinking up other better plans, so it didn’t matter if I knew about that one.

” Duncan accepted the bag of chocolate-covered almonds, then picked up the Mickey Mouse tin.

He’d dumped the nuts and bolts into the other canister and wiped out the Disney one.

“I’m going to offer him this, as well. Children enjoy cartoon characters, right? ”

“Absolutely. Maybe he can store his assassination tools in there.”

“Everyone appreciates good tool storage.” Duncan opened the door. “I’ll check on him briefly, then come lend moral support to you with your problem.”

“Don’t forget about the maiming.”

“I’m always available for that if needed.” He saluted me with the tin, hopped out, and trotted toward the woods.

“Watch where you step,” I called after him, though I was already looking around for Chad.

This late at night, there hadn’t been much traffic on the drive back, but forty-five minutes had still passed since I’d spoken with Bolin. After taking a long breath that wasn’t as bracing as I wished, I slid out of the van and headed toward the leasing office.

“There you are,” came a familiar voice, if gruffer and crankier sounding than when last we’d spoken. Chad must not have come because he’d been pining for me all this time and wanted to reconnect. That was a relief.

“Here I am.”

Shoulder muscles tense, I tried to loosen my arms as he stepped out from between Bolin’s G-Wagon and a tenant’s car that I recognized. Chad glanced at the protective bubble around the Mercedes SUV before looking at me. Whatever rental car he’d driven up here didn’t stand out to me in the lot.

With short brown hair that he hadn’t allowed to go gray, a mustache above full lips and a clean-shaven jaw, and an aquiline nose, Chad hadn’t changed much since the last time I’d seen him.

He might have put on a few pounds, but he remained strikingly handsome, with blue-gray eyes that I’d once likened to storm clouds.

Back in the day, I’d thought that exotic and appealing.

“What brings you to Seattle?” I asked after a long, silent moment, eyeing his loafers, khakis, and brown leather jacket.

He was checking me out as much as I was him, his gaze lingering on my curves. Once, I would have found that flattering, but, now, I was tempted to punch him and tell him to look at my face.

He squinted slightly. Trying to determine if I was noticeably different now that I wasn’t taking the sublimation potion? To someone with magical blood, I was, but I didn’t know if a mundane human would be able to sense my aura , as we werewolves called it.

“Besides wanting to get into my apartment when I’m not there?” I added, raising frank eyebrows so he would know I knew he’d been skulking about. “If you’re still looking for that case, don’t bother. I gave it to a druid family.”

Yes, it was a lie, but after all the lies he’d told me over the course of our marriage, I didn’t feel bad about prevarication.

“You what?” His eyebrows flew up as he met my gaze.

“After doing some research, I learned that druids long ago made it, so I figured it belonged to their kind.”

“And there are so many druids in the Seattle area,” he snapped, looking around, as if he might catch me in a lie and spot the case in the crotch of a tree.

No, it was in my heat duct…

“Of course there are druids here. It’s got a similar climate to their old-world origins, and it’s full of trees and nature.

Druids love nature.” I kept from glancing at the bubble around Bolin’s SUV to protect it from bird droppings.

I didn’t want to do anything that would lead Chad to learn that Bolin was a druid and might know something about the location of the case.

“It has a wolf on it,” Chad said. “It has to do with werewolves .”

“Actually, the artifact inside the case was designed to protect against werewolves. Didn’t you ever have the inscription translated?”

“Yes, of course.” Chad hesitated. “It said it has to do with poisons, venoms, and werewolf bites.”

“Not has to do with but protects people from them.”

He worked his jaw back and forth, a gesture I’d almost forgotten that he did when he was stewing over something.

It made him look like a cow chewing cud.

I wondered if whoever had done the translating for him had come up with a different interpretation than Bolin’s father.

I was more inclined to trust my druid allies’ translation, especially since I’d now seen the artifact in action.

“You wouldn’t have given something so valuable away,” Chad said.

“It’s not that valuable. You only paid a few bucks for it from a street vendor.”

He opened his mouth for a quick retort but didn’t issue it. “How… do you know where I got it and what I paid?”

I’d both overheard him discussing it when he’d spoken to Duncan and seen the purchase in a vision. I decided to smile cryptically rather than sharing the information. Let him think I had supernatural powers. Technically, I did.

“That ass Calderwood told you.” Chad looked toward the Roadtrek we’d arrived in. “Is he here? Is that his van? Are you screwing him?”

“Wow, it only took you thirty seconds to get crude and into my business. You used to at least pretend to be a suave gentleman.”

And I’d fallen for it, for a time. That galled me.

“I’m not here to prove anything to you.”

“Why are you here?” I asked. “Why is that case so important to you?”

“It’s not.” Chad shrugged. “I had a buyer lined up, but I haven’t been able to get in touch with him lately.” He shrugged again. “I came to Seattle about something else. Business. I got called in by someone who wanted my expertise.”

I couldn’t keep from scoffing. “What expertise do you have?”

He smiled, looking me up and down again. “I know a lot about werewolves.”

“Whatever you believe you know, it’s less than you think. Trust me.”

His eyes narrowed, and he stepped closer. “I’d know more if you hadn’t been so determined to hide that half of yourself during our whole marriage.”

That step closer made me want to skitter back, but I refused to be intimidated by him. I did, however, lament that I’d left the sword in the apartment. Chad would look quite fine with the tips of his ears lopped off. Maybe some other appendages too.

“I wanted to be a normal human being for the sake of our children.” And my haunted past. The memory of Raoul’s face still lingered whenever I thought of that time.

“I always figured you’d get over that, feel the call of the moon, need to throw your head back and howl.”

“I know you wanted that.”

“You almost did, sometimes, you know. In bed.” He smirked at me. “You were wild and exciting, but you never quite went the whole way.”

My cheeks heated. This was not what I’d come to discuss with him. I hadn’t wanted to discuss anything at all.

“Because of that potion, right?” Chad continued. “You’re not taking it anymore. I can tell.”

So, he could tell. Even without paranormal blood. Huh.

“It’s been an eventful winter,” was all I said. “If you’re not here about the case, why are you here?”

“Like I said. Wolf business.” Chad looked toward my apartment.

He had to be lying. Otherwise, he wouldn’t keep sending longing gazes in the direction he believed his case was located.

“What kind of wolf business? I know nobody in my pack has reached out to you. Most of them don’t even know you exist.”

He curled his lip. “They might soon.”

I frowned at him. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing you need to worry about here in the city.” He looked smug.

Why?

My fingers twitched. Would it be wrong to throttle him while asking questions? He glanced once more toward my apartment.

“If Radomir is your buyer, he’s dead now,” I said.

Chad’s gaze swung back to me, his mouth drooping open. Huh, I’d guessed right. Maybe it shouldn’t have surprised me. Who else in the area would have been purchasing werewolf artifacts?

“How would you know that?”

I wanted to say, I killed him, but Chad could be recording the conversation. Even if Duncan and I had been defending ourselves from Abrams and Radomir and all their thugs, it wasn’t as if I could claim we’d run Radomir off the road—off that cliff —purely in self-defense.

“I know a lot related to the werewolf artifacts in the area,” I said.