Page 49 of Way of the Wolf

“It’s my contribution to tonight’s gas money.”

“That’s not necessary.” Duncan peered toward my purse. “How many envelopes are there?”

I closed it. “Enough.”

“Huh.”

He didn’tsayI was weird, but I’d heard it before, so I had no trouble interpreting that grunt. I ignored it, as I’d learned to do. The hell with what anyone thought. My budgeting had gotten me out of debt, and I intended to have an investment property of my own within the next few years.

As we took the exit, the clouds parted, and the nearly full moon shone down upon us. Of its own accord, my body shifted toward that light, almost straining at the seat belt. My blood sang, and my nerves fired with the longing to change.

I’d worried that I might not be able to after all this time, that the lingering effects of the potion would keep me human, but my entire body ached with the need to answer the moon’s call. I yearned to yank off my clothes, spring into the woods, and let the wolf overtake me.

Duncan looked over at me, the moonlight gleaming in his eyes, and I knew he felt the same thing. He nodded at me. Tonight, we would hunt.

16

We didn’t makeit far from the freeway exit before Duncan stopped the van on a bridge that crossed over a shallow river, a sign for a trailhead on the far side. This late in the day, there weren’t any cars parked there, but we could make out lights in the town on the other side of the freeway, and I could hear traffic noise.

“We might want to go farther up the mountain for a more peaceful hunt,” I said.

“Oh, I’ve no doubt, but I sensed something, and this is such a likely spot.”

“A likely spot for what?”

Duncan grinned as he pointed at a sidewalk to one side of the road that crossed the bridge, then turned off the ignition and slipped into the back of the van. A couple of clunks and a click sounded before he hopped out the side door with one of his huge magnets on a rope. He also carried a pole with a net at the top. It looked like a modified pool strainer. And was that his magic detector, as well?

Whistling cheerfully, Duncan leaned the tools against therailing and pointed the magic detector at the river. A soft beeping reached my ears.

“Hah,” he said in triumph, then trotted off the bridge and down to the bank. He thrust his net into the water and started fishing around for whatever he’d detected.

Judging this might take a while, I climbed out of the van. A car heading down from the mountain appeared, the passengers looking curiously at Duncan as they drove across the bridge. He, I decided with certainty, was weird too.

“Is this howyoupay for gas?” I asked.

“Most certainly. Food, gas, and van maintenance.”

“Do you pay taxes on what you earn from what you find?”

“I’m not a citizen.”

“Even in the UK?”

“I grew up somewhat off-the-grid.”

I side-eyed him at that. “So, no taxes?”

“I don’t even exist, as far as the government is concerned.”

“Mysterious.”

“Oh, I am. Toss the magnet in if you like,” Duncan offered as he continued to fish about in the area his detector had drawn him to. “Magical stuff isn’tusuallymagnetic, but sometimes it is.”

The moon called to my blood, and testing my ability to change and hunt was more on my mind than fishing in a river for rusty forks or whatever treasure he sought. But, since he’d driven, I felt obligated to be patient. To humor him, I hefted the cylindrical magnet and tossed it off the bridge to land near where he was probing. It splashed water up on Duncan on the bank.

“Thank you,” he said dryly.

“You’re welcome. I can’t imagine you get to shower often when living in a van.”

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