Page 45 of Way of the Wolf

“I have no doubt.”

Duncan snorted, but he accepted the squares.

“Those are orange dark chocolate. They’re meatless but good. Bring me that potion at only five percent above cost, and I’ll make you one of my famous desserts. My boys love it. Chocolate-covered beef jerky rolled in honey-toasted pecans. It’s also popular with…”

A tenant walked out the door and headed toward the parking lot, glancing our way.

I finished with, “carnivores,” instead ofwerewolves.

When I turned to head into the office, Duncan stopped me with a questioning, “Luna?”

“Yes?”

“Tomorrow’s the full moon.”

“I’m aware.” I didn’t and wouldn’t mention the increasingly strong urges I’d been experiencing these last few nights.

Duncan glanced back to make sure the tenant was out of earshot. “Would you like to go for a hunt with me tonight?”

My belly fluttered with nerves. He was asking me on a date. Werewolf-style. This was how our kind did it.

“I mean, if you can,” Duncan added. “Er,canyou? If you haven’t gotten that potion yet, you could be… you, right?”

You could beyou. As if I’d been an inauthentic person my entire adult life. I knew he hadn’t meant it as an insult, but I couldn’t help but wince.

“Not that we couldn’t hunt if you were human,” he added, maybe noticing my reaction. “I don’t have anything vested in seeing you change. It’s just that I didn’t notice any guns in your apartment. I’d guess you would have trouble bringing down a ten-point buck as a human.”

“I do have that reciprocating saw.”

“If you bring that along on a hunt and try to stab a deer with it… I would feel fully justified in recording the confrontation to upload to my social-media sites.” Duncan tapped the phone in his pocket.

“Aren’t you and your silvering pelt a little old for social media?”

“My pelt is merelyhighlightedby silver right now, and of course not. I have to document my magnet-fishing and metal-detecting adventures.”

“People get excited seeing you pluck rusty forks out of lakes?”

“Oh yes. It’s the accent, you see. Bacon isn’t the only thing you Americans love.” He winked at me.

“Uh-huh.” I turned, intending to get to work, but he stopped me with another prompt.

“A hunt?”

I started to shake my head, but hadn’t I been worrying about visiting my family and joining the entire pack for a hunt? And how dangerous that could turn out to be for me? Assuming I could successfully change at all, after all this time, and I didn’t yet know if I could.

Going with Duncan the night before the full moon might be a low-key way to test things. To see if I could still change, to see if I had the power and stamina I’d once claimed, enough to take down a buck—or another predator turning on me. I could go on my own, but if something went wrong… maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have someone friendly around to help. Oh, I still didn’t trust that Duncan wasn’t here on a personal agenda, but I didn’t get the vibe that he intended me any harm. Not like my awful cousin. Duncan hadprotectedme from Augustus. From all of them. Maybe Duncan wanted something from me, and it would be easier to get if I was alive, but maybe he actually liked me.

“Okay,” I said, the nerves once more teasing my gut.

“Excellent.” Duncan bowed to me again, popped some chocolate into his mouth, and fired up his metal detector. “I’ll see you tonight.”

I hoped I wouldn’t regret my decision.

15

After the office hours ended,the plumbers were gone, three locked-out tenants had been let in, and Bolin had gone home for the day, I turned to the computer to look up Duncan online. Since he’d given me his full name, I could have researched him before, but it hadn’t crossed my mind until he’d mentioned having social-media sites.

The Duncan Caldwells that came up didn’t match my lone wolf, leading me to wonder if that was truly his name. Then I typed in the text on his van, which I assumed was his business name, if hehada legitimate business.Full Moon Fortune Hunter.

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