Page 29 of Way of the Wolf

“So… you came to chat up a ghost?”

“I came becauseyoudidn’t show up at the park.”

“What would have happened if I had? What do you want?”

“Totalk.”

I resisted the urge to point out that the conversational skills he was displaying wouldn’t make anyone eager to show up to chat with him. I didn’t need to go out of my way to insult him. His words,you are dead to the rest of us, were chilling. I’d had suspicions but hadn’t fully realized the family had been that deeply affronted by my choice. What if it was only because of my mother that the pack hadn’t donemorethan ignore me these past decades? She wouldn’t live forever. What then?

“I’m here, and you’re here.” I shrugged. “Talk now.”

“It’s a private matter. Send the lawn boy away.”

Duncan didn’t budge.

This wasn’t any of his business, and I would have preferrednotto have an outsider witness me arguing with a family member, but Augustus’s eyes held a dangerous glint. If hehadbeen the werewolf howling the night before, and hehadsent those four-legged minions, that meant he either wanted me wounded or dead. Conversing alone with him could be a bad idea.

“Just tell me what you want, Augustus,” I said. “Duncan is only visiting and doesn’t have a pack of his own. It’s not like he’s going to gossip about our family to his kin.”

Duncan’s face twisted in a quick pained wince before he recovered, putting his insouciant mask back on. My words had only been a guess, and I hadn’t meant to offend him, so I winced myself. I should have known that a lone wolf might have a troubled past. Few left their packs of their own accord. Usually, they had to depart because they’d challenged an alpha and lost or because they’d been ostracized for other reasons.

Augustus’s nostrils twitched as he looked past us and into my apartment. What he was smelling besides the lingering aroma of coffee, I didn’t know, but his senses were keener than mine.

“Send him away, and let’s go inside,” Augustus said, meeting my gaze. “Youwillspeak with me.”

He lifted a hand, as if to push me back into the apartment.

I tensed, ready to attack the bastard, however suicidal it might be. But Duncan sprang first, blocking him.

My cousin turned on him, grabbing for his throat. Duncan ducked the snatch and bowled into Augustus. They crashed to the ground, rolling and grabbing and snarling like the wolves they could be. Like they wouldbecomeif this escalated.

“Augustus, stop!” I blurted, not wanting Duncan to be hurt because of me. “I’ll talk to you.”

But the men didn’t listen. Maybe they didn’t even hear me.

I ran inside and opened my toolkit, grabbing the largest wrench I had.

“A proper property manager should pack heat,” I grumbled, running back to the doorway.

For twenty years, I’d never felt the need to own a weapon in Shoreline, but the last two days had brought biker gangs, an enraged cousin, and magically controlled strays. It might be time to rethink that choice.

Wrench raised, I sprang onto the walkway. A loud snarl rang out, alupinesnarl.

Two wolves snapped and writhed on the lawn in front of my door. Savage snarls and growls emanated from the fight.

The combatants were huge, a dark-gray wolf that had to be Augustus and his salt-and-pepper furred aggressor—Duncan. Though Duncan was older, he was as heavily muscled as Augustus and just as large. Maybe larger. As men, they hadn’t been the same size, but more powerful magic sometimes created a larger and more powerful wolf. Duncan was the one driving my cousin back, using speed and strength to his advantage. Already, a gash in the gray wolf’s shoulder had spattered blood onto the walkway.

Someone in an upstairs apartment screamed.

I winced. Ofcoursethere would be witnesses.

The noise startled Duncan more than Augustus, and my cousin took advantage. He charged, bowling into the bigger wolf, and they tumbled into a rhododendron. Leaves flew, and branches snapped.

“Hey! I’m the landscaper, you idiots.” I raised the wrench but had no idea how to break up the fight.

Neither wolf glanced at me nor looked up again as a woman in an upstairs apartment yelled at someone to call Animal Control.

Yeah, that would work.

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