Page 63 of Kin of the Wolf

“Bring the case tonight. Eight p.m. If you don’t have it with you, you’re not getting past security.”

“What, have you got a castle with an alligator-filled moat?”

“Something like that.”

I remembered the magical defenses at my mom’s place—and my painful realization that he’d been behind them, or he’d at least colluded with whoever had installed them. That same person—probably another of my cousins—might have littered the grounds of his lake house with them.

“I’ll have the case,” I said. “You just make sure you have the antidote.”

“I do, but if you bring the bipedfuris, you’re also not getting in.”

“I need to give him the antidote as soon as I get it.”

“You’renotgetting in with him. I’ll be at the gate to check in person.”

“Fine,” I growled.

“And I have magical devices that will let me know if someone with old-world werewolf blood tries to sneak in.”

“He’s not sneaking anywhere. You poisoned him. He can barely get out of bed.”

“What a shame. Deal’s off if you bring him.” Augustus hung up.

I stopped the recording and lowered the phone. “Part One of my plan is complete.”

Too bad I hadn’t been able to get him to agree to meet on neutral territory. I worried this wouldn’t go well.

19

After I finished cleaningthe vacated apartment, returned inquiries by phone and email, and helped a couple of tenants with problems, I called it a day and headed to the parking lot. The Roadtrek had recently appeared there, back from wherever Duncan had gone during the day. Magnet fishing, probably.

Since he’d been gone, I hadn’t yet had a chance to run my plan by him, but I’d called Jasmine and given her the details. I’d also asked her, in the event of my death, to warn my mother that Augustus was after her medallion and that she shouldn’t trust her driveway alarms.

If Mom had a phone, like a civilized person, I could have shared that warning myself, but there wasn’t time to drive up to her cabin. Sammamish was in a different direction, and I planned to show up at Augustus’s lake house early. Ideally before those he’d invited to his shindig arrived. I had a feeling his guests would be his loyal lackeys, happy to jump in and clobber me.

While I’d been working, I’d had second and third thoughts about agreeing to go to Augustus’s house. I wished I’d come up with something else. But if I’d negotiated too much, whenDuncan’s life supposedly hung by a thread, my cousin would have been suspicious. He’d believed he’d had all the leverage. I wasn’t sure that belief was wrong.

I knocked on Duncan’s sliding door.

“Do you have any grenades I can borrow?” I asked when he opened it.

His eyebrows rose. “One doesn’t typicallyborrowgrenades. They’re difficult to return once they’ve been used.”

“It’s possible I won’t need to use them.”

“Where are you taking them?”

“To my cousin’s house.” I showed him the map I’d pulled up of the address. It was a long lakeside lot with a dock extending into the water. An ivy-covered stone wall and gate blocked StreetView from seeing the house, but it appeared large on the satellite imagery. Maybe itwasa castle.

“You’ll need them then.”

“Yeah, probably so. I’ll rephrase. Do you have any grenades that I canhave? I can pay.” Not sure how much grenades cost, I delved into my purse and sifted through my budgeting envelopes. After hesitating, I held up the one labeled ENTERTAINMENT.

“Is that what blowing up your cousin would fall under?” Duncan asked.

“It might. It’s either that or MISCELLANEOUS, but I never put much money in that one. I prefer to categorize carefully and accurately. That envelope has always seemed like an excuse to be undisciplined.”

“What a terrible thing to be.” Duncan's eyes twinkled as he waved for me to put the envelopes away. “Unfortunately, I can’t be your grenade dealer. I haven’t had a chance to replenish my supply.”

---