Page 23 of Kin of the Wolf

“Oh, is it gilded?”

“No, but it’s self-incinerating.” He waggled his eyebrows, as if that might get me excited.

“So it’s as likely to hurl you through the windshield as the artifact.”

“Not quite. For your edification, not because I feel the need to prove the value of my chosen career to you, Ihavefound vaults before. Safes, at least. There was one that I swam down to pull out of a barnacle-covered sunken ship on the bottom of the ocean. In the dark and dangerous depths, I had to twist and turn through tight passageways, almost getting stuck more than once.”

“Was the ship guarded by a dragon?”

“A killer whale, actually.”

“Did it kick your ass?”

“No. Despite the name, killer whales are pretty mellow. This one showed off by swimming around with a dead salmon on its head like a hat. Apparently, that’s an orca trend that comes in and out of fashion.”

“I know a dead fish is something I’d enjoy wearing.”

“No sillier than high-heeled shoes, I’d think.”

I couldn’t argue with that.

“Anyway, when I pulled up the safe and drilled into it, it contained a pile of gold and silver coins from the 1600s. It was quite the lucrative adventure and funded all my expenses for some time. I was so chuffed that I used some of the proceeds to buybuckets of salmon for the whale. It ate them instead of wearing them, though.”

“You’re an interesting werewolf.”

“A fascinating one, I should think.”

Movement outside one of the windows drew my eye. A car I didn’t recognize rolled into one of the guest spots. I groaned because Ididrecognize the driver and his passenger. The owners of the convenience store.

I peered behind their car, anticipating a number of police vehicles trailing them into the parking lot. I didn’t see them, but the way the couple gazed intently through the windows at me promised they hadn’t come to ask about apartment vacancies.

8

“I sense your cousins again,”Duncan said.

I halted, my hand on the sliding door to his van. I’d been about to hop out to see if the convenience-store owners had come to extort, threaten, accuse, or—the least likely option—thank me. “What? Where?”

Duncan nodded toward the greenbelt. “You may want to hide the case somewhere more secure than your sock drawer.”

It had been in the heat duct under the bed, but if Augustus broke into my apartment with something like Duncan’s magic detector, he would be able to find it. It was also possible he would be able to sense its power through the floor.

“Imaywant to kick their asses,” I said, irritated that they were lurking around again.

“Let me know if I can help. There are three or four of them close enough for me to detect.”

I couldn’t sense any of them but trusted that Duncan could pick out magical beings from farther away. After all, he was an ancient glacier werewolf. The clone of someone who’d been borninto a far more magical time, his ancestors closer to the first of our kind that had been created.

“Let me see what these guys want first.” I nodded toward the recently arrived car. The woman remained in the passenger seat, but the man had stepped out and seemed to be waiting for me. “I’d prefernotto change into a werewolf in front of them again. On the off-chance that they were too busy being scared for their lives to notice exactly what happened in their aisles.”

Duncan had already said they’d seen me in the store’s mirror, but he nodded. “Okay. While you talk to them, I might saunter over to that path to glare menacingly into the woods.”

“Put some more dog-poop bags in the holder while you’re there, will you? I noticed it was almost empty again.”

He gaped at me. “How am I supposed to menace your foes while holding bags for the gathering of canineexcrement?”

“You can’t be bothered by such things. Not when you were just bragging about the opulence of your toilet to me. The bags are in the maintenance shed, shelf to the left of the door.” I thumped him on the arm before hopping out. “Thanks for being such a useful visitor.”

“Is there any chance my ongoing support is going to get me an invitation to your bedroom?”

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