Page 69 of Kin of the Wolf

“What I’d like to know isheropinion on my mom’s medallion… and if Augustus ever said anything about trying to get it for her.”

Maybe that had been a lie and he wanted it for other reasons.

“Do you think she’d be honest about it if they were scheming?” Jasmine asked.

“No, but if they’re separated andnotscheming together, she may be happy to throw him under the bus.”

Jasmine looked at me.

“It’s how separation works. Trust me.” I looked at the time—7:20—and sped up, following winding, tree-lined roads that led to Augustus’s property. If I wanted to get there and accomplish my mission before Duncan arrived with explosives, I had to hurry.

“Up there.” Jasmine pointed to a short stub of a road that veered off the main thoroughfare and down to the lake. “It’s at the end. Big lot. Castle.”

“Itisa castle? I couldn’t tell from the satellite imagery.”

“Yup. There’s a fountain in the yard with a dragon squirting water from its nostrils.”

“Well, that ups the class level. I was worried by your description of the contents.”

“Did you imagine Augustus living somewhere classy?”

“No. Not on a lake either. Werewolves are supposed to be into… well, not austerity necessarily, but what kind ofwolfcraves a pampered lifestyle?”

“He has a lot of money these days. He told my dad he started his own business.”

“Extorting local entrepreneurs, yeah. I hear that pays well.” As we rolled closer to the property, the stone walls covered with ivy hid much of the lot, but the gray stone towers of the main home—thecastle—were visible beyond them. I wondered how manypeople my cousin extorted every month. To pay for this place, it had to be his full-time job. Either that, or he divvied up the extortion duties with his siblings. Given how often he’d been lurking around my apartment complex of late, it was hard to imagine him having time to personally wander all over two counties, acting like a brute while collecting payments.

I stopped the truck in front of a wrought-iron gate, a tidy green lawn and numerous sculptures visible beyond the bars. And, yes, landscaping lights shone upward onto the promised dragon fountain. The air was misty with fog creeping in from the lake. I couldn’t see around the hulking castle to the dock and boathouse but thought of Duncan. If Ididneed his distraction—his help—he shouldn’t have trouble getting close if he came from the water.

I eyed the lawn and tried to tell if the grass held magical security devices similar to the ones that had zapped me at Mom’s cabin. I didn’t sense anything similar, but we would have to be careful. Here, in his abode, Augustus had all the advantages. And I had...

“A pocket full of druidic bath bombs,” I muttered.

“What?” Jasmine asked.

“Nothing.”

I slipped my hand under my shirt to rub the locket Duncan and I had found together weeks earlier. A longevity talisman that had been made by a witch, it had a little power and had seemed to bolster me with energizing magic the times I’d touched it. Tonight, I could use all the help I could get.

After rubbing the locket, I pressed a button under a speaker on a cement post beside the driveway. “Pizza delivery.”

“Nobody ordered a pizza,” came a prompt reply.

It wasn’t Augustus. Did he have a butler?Minions?

“Mysterious and magical wolf-case delivery,” I said with an eye roll.

There was a longer pause before a panel on the post flipped down, and a camera extended out. It focused on the driver’s seat, then shifted slightly to point its lens at Jasmine. After that, it lifted up on an articulating arm to peruse the rest of the truck, including the bed.

Someone was checking to see if I’d brought Duncan along.

The camera retracted, and the gate swung open.

“Guess we’re invited in,” I murmured.

“Looks like.”

“Does he have servants?” I asked quietly as I navigated the truck inside, wondering who manned the security station.

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