Page 53 of Kin of the Wolf

“It’s cashmere.”

“I bet that picks up fine particles well.”

Duncan gave me an aggrieved look. “More appropriate would be if you kept everything tucked away in a drawer. Then, in the event of my death, you would have my clothing as mementos to cherish and look at any time you were pining for me.”

He scraped his fingers through his wavy hair to comb it, as if removing any reminder of the great wild creature he’d been the night before. No, notthatwild. He’d been scarier than he was in his wolf form, but he’d changed to help me, and he’d known he was doing it in the midst of all that roaring and raking with claws.

“They’d be more useful as dust rags,” I said.

“You’re a sentimental sort, aren’t you?”

“As all werewolves are.”

When Duncan stood, ducking to keep his head from hitting the bicycle mounted horizontally from the ceiling, he didn’t appear to be favoring anything.

“You didn’t answer if you’re okay. My cousins sent you flying afew times, and then…” I held a hand out.ThenI didn’t know what had happened. Since his disappearance, I’d been assuming his creator’s call had worked, summoning him back to the north.

“Their meager blows did little to affect me.”

“What happened after that?” By now, I was used to him being evasive with me, but I wanted to know if he’d been horribly mentally tortured. Or… My gaze drifted to the scar on his forehead. Or if they’d done something to increase their ability to control him and he was, even now, serving their wishes. I decided to move the case out of the glove box in my truck later.

“It’s a bit of a blur.” Duncan sat on the bed again and patted it to offer me a spot. “A call even stronger than that of the moon drew me away from you. It startedduringthe fight, but I was able to tamp down its pull while you were in danger. But once it was clear we’d gotten the upper hand… I couldn’t resist anymore. I did try, but my body betrayed me. In that form, I seem particularly susceptible to magical compulsion. I kept trying to change to my wolf or human form, in case it would be easier to resist, but it wasn’t until I reached those lavender fields that I was able to pause. I heard howling—the boy. My younger self.”

I joined him in the van, but he looked out a window toward the north instead of at me.

“There was a warning in that howl,” he continued, “and then… I’m not sure what happened, but a number of armored cars left the compound. I think those with the magical device were in one of them. For a moment, its hold on me faltered. I was able to change into a wolf, and then the pull of other magic affected me, the call of the moon. I took off to hunt, that instinct overriding the control magic.” Duncan shrugged. “I’m not certain why the men departed at that moment, but I managed to leave the farm, satisfy the need to hunt, and return here. My paws—feet—are tired from all the miles I put on them though.”

When he looked at me, I tried to appear supportive, notworried or suspicious, but I couldn’t help but think it had been awfully easy for him to escape. Why, after he’d been compelled to travel twenty miles or more had the compulsion lessened? It was hard to believe a howling eight-year-old could have been responsible for anything. Duncan had said it had been a blur. Was it possible hehadn’tbeen able to stop when he reached the field? That he’d gone to his would-be masters, and Lord Abrams had done something to him? As I’d just been thinking? Even now, he could be theirs again.

“That was my day.” Duncan slapped his palms on his thighs. “How was yours? Less eventful? I trust you got away from your cousins without more trouble?”

“For now. The rest of the night and day was fine.” I yawned, reminded that I’d yet to sleep. “I cleaned out an apartment. Rue might be moving in this weekend.”

“She may be an interesting tenant.”

Movement outside a window drew my eye. The two young ghost hunters had come out and were setting up equipment between the parking lot and the greenbelt.

“They’reallinteresting tenants these days.” I pointed out the window.

Duncan followed my gaze. “That looks like equipment for seeking out the paranormal. I wonder what they’re looking for.”

“Naked werewolves.”

“If that’s true, that meter should point toward this van.”

“Undoubtedly. Do you want me to tell them?”

Duncan started to answer but shifted to look at something else, a delivery car pulling into the lot. Leaving it running, the driver got out with a package in her arms. She started toward the walkway heading to the buildings but paused to consider something on the label. Then she looked around the parking lot until she spotted the Roadtrek and headed toward it.

“You’re getting mail here now?” I asked dryly, wondering ifhe’d ordered more clothing. We’d both had a number of accidental changes lately.

“I didn’t order anything. I didn’t know it was possible to have packages delivered to a van.”

The woman came closer, readFull Moon Fortune Hunteron the side of the Roadtrek, then knocked on the frame. She also noticed the open sliding door, her gaze drifting to the ceiling lamp that illuminated the interior, its yellowish-orange glow not quite the same as what one would get from a regular LED light.

“Greetings, my lady.” Duncan hopped out and bowed to her.

She took a step back, looking more alarmed by his old-fashioned greeting than pleased by it. “I think I have something for you. What’s your name?”

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