Page 24 of Kin of the Wolf

“There’s a chance.”

I started to smile, but the store owner stepped into view. I took a deep breath, bracing myself for whatever he had come to talk about. That the couple had known where to find me was distressing but probably not surprising since his wife had the blood of a paranormal being. A witch? Maybe a clairvoyant. They were good at finding people, especially others with paranormal tendencies.

“We don’t have any vacancies right now,” I told the man, “but I’m starting a waiting list if you want to be on it.”

He blinked a few times, looked at his wife, and then back tome. Thenhetook a bracing breath and met my gaze. Maybe he wasn’t here to extort me.

“I have come to thank you for perhaps saving my life and without a doubt the contents of my cash register,” he said, surprising me, “and also to ask you for a favor.”

“Uhm. You’re welcome.”

He looked at his wife again. She nodded firmly at him, though she remained in the car. Why did I imagine her prodding him in the back with a stick to direct him toward a lion’s cage? Or… a wolf’s den?

“I am Minato. That is my wife, Mayumi. We have two daughters that are in college, and everything we earn from our store, we give to them for the great expense of having a fine education in this country. We take very little for ourselves, only enough to live modestly in our home, which we can only afford because we purchased it more than thirty years ago, when we first came to America.” He held up a phone with a cracked screen and a photo of a family of four posing in front of a tidily maintained 1950s rambler of about a thousand square feet. They proliferated in the area.

I nodded, though I didn’t know where this was going. He couldn’t think I was wealthy and could give him money, could he?

“We are currently paying…taxes—” his face twisted with distaste, “—to the Snohomish Savagers.”

“Oh.” My shoulders slumped as I remembered Francisco, the bartender and owner of El Gato Mágico, also complaining about having to pay money to my pack. He’d been apprehensive about me when I’d walked in, believing the family had sent me to collect an extra payment.

“Are you a lone wolf? Do you perhaps fight the injustice of that pack?” Minato raised his gray eyebrows hopefully.

“I, ah. I’m actually… Well, I know that pack well. And I think I know the guy who’s been coming to demand taxes from you.”

“Augustus,” his wife said, leaning out the window. “A noble name for such anignoblebrute.”

“I agree.” I glanced over my shoulder, noticing Duncan walking across the lawn.

Was he heading toward the maintenance shed to get the bags? Damn, I was starting to like him for more than his willingness to protect me.

“We cannot afford what he demands of us,” Minato continued. “And these payments have not thus far come with the protection he promised. He saidthe pack would improve the neighborhood and drive off the gangs and criminals that have moved into the area, but he only shows up when he wants money. From what we have seen, he doesnothing, and the only violence that is averted is that which he threatens us with if we do not pay promptly.”

“Augustus doesn’t even live around here,” I said before realizing I had no idea where he currently made his home. This was barely Savager territory though. As the name suggested, the pack mostly considered Snohomish County theirs, and the convenience store was a few miles into King County. El Gato Mágico, in the heart of Seattle, wasmorethan a few miles into it. “Is he only extorting people with, ah, paranormal tendencies?” I looked at the wife—Mayumi—wondering if she would admit to having magical blood. A lot of people didn’t. Some didn’t even know they had it, other than being aware that they, for some reason, had psychic gifts.

“That is what we have heard.” Minato nodded. “Maybe, because we sense their kind and understand their power, we are more… susceptible to their threats.” He grimaced. “It is possible they extort others as well.”

“They’re hugebullies,” Mayumi said out the window.

“I know. What do you want me to do?” I didn’t blame them for seeking a solution to their problem, but I didn’t know how to get Augustus to stop being a bully. If I did, he wouldn’t be lurking inthe greenbelt, poised to steal the artifact as soon as I left it unguarded. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think the whole pack is behind the extortion. Augustus and some of his siblings are taking it upon themselves to be…”

“Penises,” Mayumi said when I didn’t find an appropriate word quickly enough.

Minato said something stern to her in their native language. Not cowed, she answered equally sternly and gesticulated for emphasis.

Minato faced me again. “They are using their supernatural strength to threaten and take advantage of us. Months ago, we tried to call the police, but they did not believe us when we mentioned these miscreants were werewolves. The law enforcers in this area areveryignorant about paranormal threats.”

I grunted noncommittally, glad the police didn’t believe in werewolves. Thus far, that had helped me avoid being implicated in anything.

“Did you call the police today?” I asked.

“Only to make a report for our insurance provider. We did not mention anything paranormal.” He looked frankly at me. “Or lupine.”

“That’s good.”

“As we’ve observed, the police are unhelpful to us overall. Even when they make arrests, the justice system here often allows criminals to walk free.” Minato shook his head. “This was not the way when we first moved to this country. This recent trend is woeful.”

“Yes.” I kept my face neutral and didn’t show my relief at learning they hadn’t told the authorities about me. That meant there wasn’t a police sergeant somewhere perusing video footage of me changing into a wolf in the potato-chip aisle.

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