Page 51 of Kin of the Wolf

“Ididgo.” Jasmine’s eyes gleamed as she sipped the coffee. “To be a mole.”

“Better than a snake, I suppose.”

“A mole as in aspythat is cleverly inserted into the enemy camp. To get hot intel for you.”

I hesitated, not sure if I should encourage such activity or worry that Augustus would find out Jasmine was relaying presumably secret information to me.

“I’m honored that you would want to do that, but… it’s a little dangerous for you, isn’t it? Augustus doesn’t seem to be above hurting family members.” Hell, he’d been trying tokillme.

“He doesn’t know I’m not loyal and happy to follow along with his schemes to overthrow Lorenzo and get rid of anyone who opposes him.” Jasmine pointed the coffee cup at me.

“I didn’t oppose him until he started trying to kill me. He brought that on himself.” True, but now that I knew he was extorting business owners all over town, I felt compelled to stop him for more reasons than self-defense.

“He brings it all on himself. He’s a dumbass.”

“You say he thinks you’re loyal to him?”

“Well, I once said it was lame that crusty old wolves were ruling the pack. I guess he took that to mean I wanted to be an undyingly loyal member of his new order.”

“Lorenzo and my mom aren’t crusty.”

“They’re old and totally ignorant about the way the human world works.”

“Because they don’t think werewolves should have much to do with the human world,” I guessed. I’d never heard Lorenzo’s opinions on the matter, but I well remembered my mother’s, and she didn’t seem to have changed much over the years.

“Yeah, but that’s not practical. Humans areeverywhere.”

“I have noticed that.”

“Anyway, just because I don’t agree with their old-school way of thinking and ruling doesn’t mean I want to support a dumbass or overthrow the leadership. I figure that’ll happen eventually—someone’s going to challenge Lorenzo for the pack because that’s just how it works.” Jasmine shrugged, appearing no more disturbed by theway of the wolfthan my mother. “But I personally hope it won’t be Augustus. He’s a jerk. I wishyouwould rule. You lived among humans for so long that you must get them, and you still remember what it’s like to be a wolf and what the pack needs.”

“Females don’t lead packs. They’re the mates of the males whodo. I don’t have to tell you that werewolves are pretty traditional when it comes to family relations.”

Jasmine snorted. “That’s just because males are usually stronger. You can kick a lot of the guys’ asses though.” She looked wistfully at me, as if she could will a desire to lead the pack into me. “But you do need to watch out. Augustus was trying to rally everyone who came to that meeting to help him get you. Some of the family protested and said he needed to fight you fairly if he wanted you out of the pack—or dead.”

“Advice he did not take to heart.” I touched my maligned shoulder.

“No kidding. At the end of the meeting, he pulled aside several of his siblings, the ones thatdidn’tsay anything about fair fighting, and I caught a few words before they moved away. They said they’re going to get rid of you, one way or another, as soon as they catch you without your protector. They’re majorly salty about Duncan’s arrival and resent you for conjuring him up.”

“I had nothing to do with his arrival.” If that vision could be believed, magic or destiny or something far beyond me had drawn Duncan, just as it had brought the wolf case up here to pack territory. “Though I’m delighted he’s vexing Augustus.”

“Me too. But they might go after him so it’ll be easier to get to you.”

That wouldn’t come as a surprise to Duncan, but I made a mental note to warn him. He had enough trouble worrying about his creator; he didn’t need Augustus gunning for him. But if Jasmine was right, Duncan’s actions on my behalf almost ensured they would.

“Do you have the address for Augustus’s house?” I asked.

He kept showing up at my home. Maybe it was time for me to visit him at his. I might be able to catch him off-guard there. Though, unless I wanted to outright kill him, I would have tocome up with a plan to get him to confess to his nefarious doings. My attempts the night before had failed.

“I do,” Jasmine said, “but some of his siblings hang out there too, so it’s not a good spot where you can catch him with his pants down, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I’m not sure yet what I’m thinking, but I promise it won’t involve his pants.” Unless I could get the alchemist Rue to make some delightfully horrible potion that I could fling if I did chance upon him with them down. Shehadmentioned an ability to afflict someone with genital warts. That probably wouldn’t stop Augustus’s life of crime, but I couldn’t help but think it would improve him on some level. “I’ll come up with something.”

“Okay.” Looking hopeful, Jasmine took her phone out and texted me an address.

Too bad my ally was MIA. I would have to come up with a plan on my own.

16

---