Page 42 of Kin of the Wolf

All eyes were turned toward me. Me and Duncan.

He walked calmly at my side. Augustus sneered when their eyes met.

“Don’t you go anywhere without that scruffy loner?” Marco asked me.

“No. I like him.” I stopped near my truck, not getting too close to my cousins.

Augustus’s sleeves were rolled up to show off his muscled forearms. He looked like he had come to fight. With Duncan’s help, I’d defeated my cousins before, badly enough that they would befools to attack while he was here with me. But Augustus might have more than muscles up his sleeves.

“Do you think you can change again tonight if we need to?” I asked Duncan quietly.

“Easily.”

The medallion had stopped glowing, but Augustus noticed it around my neck. His sneer shifted to a scowl.

“Presumptuous of you to wear that. Did you ask permission?” He looked toward the porch.

“I asked her to take it to the sacred cave,” Mom said calmly.

She saidthe sacred cavelike she expected Augustus to know all about the place. Maybe it wasn’t the secret I’d believed. Abruptly, I realized that Augustus might have known about it and its magic for a long time. Maybe, as I’d been thinking earlier, hehadtaken water from that pool to feed the pack of wolves and mongrel dogs that he’d sent at me. That could have accounted for their glowing eyes.

“What brings you here tonight, Augustus?” Mom asked. “Lorenzo and I told you not to bother Luna further.”

Augustus raised his chin. “She has been badmouthing me and besmirching my honor.”

I snorted. “What honor? You’re a toad.”

Augustus pointed at me. “Like that. She has spoken this way to outsiders, to others with power.”

“If you mean I’ve told others that you tried to kill me, I didn’t think that was a secret.” I actually couldn’t think of many people I’d complained to about Augustus. Since I hardly told anyone I was a werewolf, I couldn’t admit that I had annoying lupine cousins. “And what honor did I besmirch?” I glanced at Mom and Rosaria. “You’re the one making a bad name for the pack by acting like the mafia.”

I willed Augustus to reply in such a way that would verify that.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Augustus said, “butyou’ve been telling anyone who will listen that I’m not fit to lead the pack.”

I waspositiveI hadn’t brought that up to anyone.

His eyes narrowed. “I intend to prove myself fit. To redeem my honor in the eyes of my relatives, I challenge you to a battle.One-on-one.” He glared at Duncan as he said that last.

I opened my mouth, tempted to accept the challenge without thought—since the last dose of the werewolf sublimation had long since worn off, I believed I could best him. But he had to have treachery in mind. After I’d knocked him off the train trestle, he couldn’t be certain he could best me in a fair fight. What was he up to?

“You hesitate, Luna?” Augustus asked softly. “It’s possible you’re not an appropriate heir for that medallion.”

“It’s possible you’re an asshole.”

“Ididn’t turn my back on my heritage and abandon my people and my ownmotherfor more than twenty years.”

“She probably wishes you had,” I grumbled before I could catch myself. He was bringing me down to his schoolyard-bully level, and I didn’t want that. Not in front of Mom or Duncan—or myself, for that matter. “I haven’t besmirched your honor or spoken of you at all, but I’m not afraid to fight you one-on-one if you need to prove something. Though I don’t think you’ll find a battle against me will come out in your favor.”

“We shall see.” Augustus took a few steps back and pointed to the open driveway behind him. “Come and face me. If you’re not afraid.”

“He’s up to something,” Duncan said.

“Oh I know.”

Augustus removed his shirt and tossed it onto one of the trucks. “Are you game, Luna? Let us settle this like wolves.”

His challenging words and stare made me want to roll my eyes and walk away, but my wolf blood felt differently. Detecting thethreat, my instincts summoned my magic, and my skin pricked, flushing with warmth, with the promise of a change.

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