Page 68 of Kin of the Wolf

“Uh-huh. When do you need to be home?”

“Unless there’s a hunt, I have a one a.m. curfew.” Jasmine wrinkled her nose. “Auroradoesn’t have a curfew. She moved out last summer though. I’m saving to buy a condo, so I won’t haverulestofollow anymore, but I don’t want to throw money away on rent, so it’s going to take a while.”

“One a.m. is a reasonable curfew.”

“I guess. I can’t play my music loud past nine though.” She sighed dramatically, then turned on the truck’s radio.

“I think condos have similar rules. HOAs are as bad as parents.”

“Ugh, I know. Mom is in real estate. This truck doesn’t have CarPlay or anything?”

“You’re lucky it doesn’t have punch buttons for the programmed stations. I would have gotten an even older truck if I hadn’t been doing Uber on the side.”

“Anything older than this would be valuable because it’s a classic.”

“Not all old cars are classics. Trust me.” I brought up the navigation on my phone and followed the directions, heading south, toward Lake Sammamish and Augustus’s house on the east side of it. “If you want true independence, you could buy a duplex and live in one side and rent out the other half.”

“Duplexes are more expensive than condos. I’d be saving forever.”

Since I’d been saving for my future fourplex for ages, I couldn’t argue with that.

“Here we go.” Jasmine found a station booming rap and turned up the volume. “This will help us get into the mood for storming a castle.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, this station plays classic rap. Good stuff.”

Insane Clown Posse came on with “Under the Moon.” I found the lyrics a little too apropos for my earlier thoughts about Duncan and was relieved when the song was over.

“What’s the plan?” Jasmine held up her phone. “I’m ready to record, but how are you going to get him to confess to everything?”

I waved at the vials of potions rattling in the cup holder. “I have a number of truth elixirs. I intend to force, sneak, or otherwise inveigle one down his gullet. If any of my other cousins are around, I might do the same to them. They could be less stubborn about spilling their guts.”

“But you don’t want me to help you fight?” Jasmine looked at me. “I don’t doubt that you can take Augustus one-on-one?—”

I snorted since Augustus couldn’t, as far as I’d seen, fightanyoneby himself. He probably didn’t even take a leak without one of his siblings holding his hand.

“—but he’s not usually there alone.”

“He doesn’t live with his wife now, right?”

“No, they’re separated. But whenever I’ve been to his place, it’s been more like a frat house with his sibs and cousins around, mostly the guys. There are computers and giant TVs everywhere with video games, pool tables, and there’s a setup for gambling on sports and streaming them live from around the world. You can lounge all over the place in there. There’s a giant hot tub in the back with a view of the lake.”

“If he doesn’t live with his wife, why did he care if she inherited my mom’s medallion?” I’d questioned that before and wondered if my niece knew.

Jasmine only shrugged. “Maybe he’s trying to win her back.”

“The lifestyle of a computer-game-addicted online gambler is sure to renew her passion for him.”

I thought of our fight in the driveway. Since I’d been in wolf form for it, my memories were a little hazy, but I distinctly recalled one of his allies shooting at me with the same kind of magical silver bullet that Radomir’s thugs used.

“Have you talked to his wife lately?” I asked.

“Maybe a month ago. Now that she’s on her own and supporting herself, she’s trying to get into selling real estate, so she talks to my mom some. She wants to specialize in leasingapartments and selling houses to those in the paranormal community. Like finding stuff that’s specifically good for their unique needs.”

I thought of Rue’s problems and allowed that people with magical blood did have slightly different needs—or at least required more privacy—than the average human. “Are there enough paranormal people in the Seattle area moving at any given time for her to have a career?”

“I’m not sure. Do you want me to ask her next time I see her?”

---