Page 26 of Way of the Wolf

“You’d be distressed if magic sizzled up my arm and blackened my handsome features?”

“I’d be distressed if I had to explain to the police why there was a dead werewolf on my bedroom floor.” I raised frank eyebrows as I shifted away from the duct. It had felt daring saying that, and Iwas curious what his reaction would be. He knew I was a werewolf, and I knew he was a werewolf, but it was the first either of us had spoken the word.

Duncan didn’t show signs of surprise, only taking my place on the floor. “You can tell them we were having sex, and your great beauty and vigor roused me to such a frenetic extent that I had a heart attack.”

“There’s no way I’m saying that for a police report.” After thinking for a moment, I added, “I’d probably put gloves on and roll you out into the woods.”

He laughed as he slid his arm into the duct. From the awkward position, he met my eyes. “You’re a more interesting person than I expected.”

“You expected to meet me when you showed up in the woods next door?”

“Well, no. When I first saw you, I thought you were pretty, but I didn’t imagine you having, you know, personality.” He winked at me, but he looked a little flustered.

“You didn’t think someone carrying a toilet across the parking lot would have personality?”

He laughed again. “I suppose I should have.”

Something about his comments seemed off—had he expected to meet mebeforehe’d arrived to metal detect out there? I was about to probe further, but his eyes lit with excitement.

“Ah! I’ve got—” He jerked his arm back, delight turning to pain as he gasped and winced. “Something that does indeed defend itself.”

“I’ll get my oven mitts.” I headed for the kitchen.

“To roll my body out to the woods?”

“To insulate your hands, in case it helps.” I had no idea if padded mitts could protect one from magical zaps, but they couldn’t hurt.

When I returned, Duncan had pulled his arm out of the ductand fished a small tin out of his pocket. It was the kind of thing lip balm came in, but the contents glowed a faint violet. He rubbed some over his hand, held up a finger, then slid his arm back into the duct.

“You came prepared.” I laid the mitts on the dresser.

“You never know when a little anti-magic cream will come in handy.”

“Uh-huh.” I had a feeling my first hunch about Duncan had been correct, that I was right to be suspicious of him. “What’d you say you were looking for in the woods over there?”

“Treasures.”

“I think you’re full of shit, Duncan Calderwood.”

“I’m touched that you remember my name. Your attentive interest makes me want to fulfill your every desire later.”

“You can start with the raking.”

“Shirtlessly, yes.”

“That’syourchoice.”

He shifted his arm deeper. “Got it.”

He grimaced but didn’t wince as deeply as before as he pulled his arm out. He held a weathered ivory case about six inches long and four inches wide, with decorative vines, leaves, and flowers carved on all the sides except the top. The lid held a wolf with its snout tilted toward the moon, its jaws parted to reveal its long, sharp teeth.

A chill went through me, the certainty that it wasn’t an accident that the case had been hidden in myapartment. But by whom? And when?

I’d been in this apartment for more than twenty years. The building was decades older than that, but the ducts had been cleaned four or five years back. If the case had been there then, it would have been discovered by a bewildered HVAC technician.

Chad was the only person I could imagine who might have stashed something in here during that time frame, but wherewould he have gotten a magical case? And why choose something with a wolf on top? He’d always been into werewolves, but he hadn’t collected lupine tchotchkes, as far as I knew, when we’d been married. This was more than atchotchke, but it was easier imagining it appealing to my kind than a mundane human.

Could someone in my family have come by when I’d been gone and tucked the case into the vent for safekeeping? In a place where the rest of the pack wouldn’t look? It could make sense. Since I’d ostracized myself, my family members probably didn’t spend any time thinking about me—or my apartment.

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