Page 55 of Way of the Wolf

Drizzle startedon the drive back. When we returned to Shoreline, Bolin was waiting outside the leasing office, two coffee cups in hand, one again chilled and topped with whipped cream, the other a hot beverage with steam wafting through the hole in the lid. He also had a thick book with a leather binding tucked under one arm, a placeholder ribbon dangling from its yellowed pages. Did that have to do with the case?

I recalled having it appear in my mind when I’d been a wolf, along with the certainty that I would learn something if I examined it while in that form.

“There you are,” Bolin said as I walked up, though Duncan had managed to get me back five minutes before office hours began.

He’d parked his van in a staff spot and watched me head up the walkway. When I looked back, thinking of our interrupted kiss, he lifted his metal detector, as if promising he would be around if I wanted to visit later. My gut flip-flopped with nervous anticipation at the thought of a lunchtime break in his van. He’dsaid he would leave soon, but we’d had a moment after that, hadn’t we? Maybe he would linger longer.

“Here I am.” Forcing my attention to Bolin, I pointed at the book. “What’s in there?”

“Instructions on how to get rid of fungi.”

“Fungi? Did a tenant complain about mushrooms sprouting by their patio?”

“Not mushrooms. The mold you asked me to look into. It’s a fungus, remember?”

“Oh right.” I couldn’t keep the disappointment out of my voice. Even though moldwasthe scourge of the Pacific Northwest, and eradicating it from the complex was always a priority, I’d hoped Bolin had found more information related to the case. “Is there anything about magical remediation in there?”

“There is. I’m still researching, and I’ll need to find another spell to retard growth if there are leaks again in the future, but there’s an enchantment in here that can eradicate fungi and at least temporarily keep it from coming back. IthinkI know how to place it.” Bolin bit his lip. “Hypothetically. I’m a neophyte in this area.”

“If it turns out that you can wave your hand, murmur druidic words, and magically deal with mold, I may not let you walk away from this job.”

“This job? You mean this unpaid internship that I’m doing so I can learn a good work ethic, gain real-world experience, and prove myself to my parents?” His nose crinkled with distaste, and I had no doubt some of that was a direct quote.

“Maybe I could ask them to pay you.” I hadn’t wanted an intern, but that had been before I’d believed he could be useful. “And mold is so insidious in Seattle that you could start a lucrative business going around to apartment complexes and applying that magic. I suppose you couldn’ttellpeople you were usingparanormal remediation means. Maybe you could claim it’s a new chemical process.”

Bolin leaned against a post for support. “Driving around Seattle to remediate mold isnotthe kind of travel I’m interested in doing.”

“St. Lucia might have mold too,” I said, plucking out one of the places he’d mentioned where his parents had property.

Bolin gave me an aggrieved look.

I lowered my voice and stepped closer to him. “Do you still have that wolf case at your father’s house?”

“Yeah. I got the impression that you didn’t want it on the premises here.” He glanced toward Duncan’s van.

I hadn’t told him anything about Duncan’s keen interest in it, and certainly hadn’t mentioned the cameras, but Bolin was smart enough to figure out more than I’d said. At the least, he knew that such a rare magical artifact had value—he probably knew that better than I.

“Will you bring it back tomorrow?” I asked. “Or tonight would be even better.”

With the full moon due that evening, it would be easier for me to change. The day after, I was less certain about.

“Tonight? You want me to drive all the way home and then comebackhere?”

“Yeah, it’s called working late. Interns have to do it all the time.”

“Fetching a trinket for you isn’t in my job description.”

“Are you sure? Long ago, when I was an intern, I had to do all sorts of gopher jobs. Well,go-forjobs is what I think we called them.”

Bolin sighed, looking like he would prefer to be anywhere but here after five p.m.

“Bring it back to me this evening, magically eradicate the moldin that apartment, and I’ll tell your parents that you’re a fine intern and I’ve taught you everything they wanted you to learn.”

He sighed again. “Do you know what the root of the wordbriberyis?”

“You might not have guessed because of the intelligence gleaming in my eyes, but I don’t know the roots of many words.”

“Except werewolf.” Bolin’s eyebrows twitched. “I heard Animal Control swung by because a tenant reported big gray dogs fighting on the lawn. Wolves, she told them, but he put coyotes in his report.”

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