Page 43 of Way of the Wolf

After another contemplative sip, Bolin said, “The wolf element on the case is what’s most interesting to me. It’s not anatypicaldruid symbol, but it’s not that common of one either.”

“Do you think there’s any tie towerewolves? Did they ever interact much with druids?” It was hard for me to dismiss the idea that Mom’s medallion and that box were somehow linked.

“Werewolves?” Bolin mouthed.

“Yeah, from the Old English werwulf, which meanswer,the old-school word for man, and wolf.” I gave him an arch look, wondering if he would be surprised that I knew that. Werewolves, of course, were more pertinent to me than tchotchkes, so I’d had occasion to read about them.

“Iknowabout the word origins—including the Frenchloup-garou, the Greeklycanthrope, and the Russianvulkodlak, among others—but werewolves don’t exist. They’re fictional beings from fairy tales. Not like druids.”

“You don’t think so, huh?” I was surprised that he couldn’t sense the magic in me, or at least in Duncan, whom he’d been close to now. After all, I could sense that Bolin had a smidgen of the paranormal about him. “There are words for them in a lot of languages.”

“Many classic fairy tales were retold in numerous languages.” Bolin shrugged and looked toward the parking lot as a familiar van pulled in.

I shouldn’t have felt a zing of excitement at Duncan’s appearance, especially when I’d been debating his likelihood of thieving thirty seconds earlier, but I caught myself smiling.

A plumbing truck rolled into the parking lot after him—the guys we’d called to fix the pipe leak in our tenant’s moldy apartment—and I headed out to meet them. I would have to deal with work first.

“Man the phones and answer emails, will you?” I called over my shoulder to Bolin.

“Like a dutiful secretary instead of an accountant with a collegedegree and numerous extracurricular activities?”

“Yup.”

“Okay.”

“Your parents will be pleased.”

Bolin grumbled something under his breath but stepped intothe office. What an odd intern. How could the kid believe in druids but not werewolves?

As I led the plumbers to the appropriate apartment, a whistling Duncan hopped out of the sliding door in his van with his metal detector in hand.Hedidn’t have bags under his eyes. If he depended on coffee to wake up on a gray Seattle morning, he’d already had it, because he cheerfully waved the metal detector at me before brazenly going over the lawn right in front of the leasing office. Well, Ihadgiven my permission for that.

After I got the plumbers started, I joined him, standing on the walkway and watching him wander through the dewy grass, shoes growing wet as he swung the metal detector back and forth.

“I chatted with the local alchemist last night,” he offered.

“Oh?” An unexpected mixture of anticipation and dread made my gut squirm.

Iwanteda new stash of my potions. At least I was fairly certain I did. At the same time, Mom’s invitation floated through my mind.If you come hunt with the pack, perhaps you will find what you seek.

If only I dared. If Augustus and Marco were indicators of how most of the family felt about me, hunting with them would be dangerous. Hell, even turning into a werewolf after twenty-five years of sublimating the magic could be dangerous. What if my temper and ability to control those powerful animal emotions was as bad as it had been back then? Or worse?

“She’s going to search for a formula and get back to me soon,” Duncan said. “She didn’t think it would take long. She has a lot of grimoires and cookbooks—whatever potions recipe books are called—on her shelves. Along with shrunken skulls, bundles of dried herbs, and decorations made with desiccated chicken feet. Her home is a quirky place.”

“Says the werewolf who lives in a van decorated with giant magnets and magic detectors. I’m surprised you sleep in therewith that stuff. Don’t you worry about all that equipment unraveling your DNA or something?”

“Magnets aren’tradioactive. And the van isn’t decorated with them. It stores them for everyday use.”

“Which isn’t quirky.”

“Nope. It’s useful, and so am I. As you’ll see when I deliver your potion to you at cost plus ten percent.”

“That sounds reasonable.”

“As I strive to be, my lady.” Duncan swept the metal detector out wide so he could bow to me.

One of the plumbers leaned out of the apartment to call, “I turned off the water to replace pipes, but there’s a leak in the sewer line too. You need to let me in to the upstairs place to cut their water off too, or you could have shit flooding this place.”

“There’s a reason I’m bemused when you call memy lady,” I told Duncan before heading off to help the plumbers.

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