Page 73 of Kin of the Wolf

My skin tingled, magic trickling into my veins. My wolf blood sensed the threat and felt I needed to change. With my other cousins creeping closer, it was understandable, but I needed my human mouth to get the confession.

I eyed a suit of armor on a stand against the wall behind me.Its empty gauntlets were wrapped around the hilt of a sword, the tip resting on the base of the stand. They gripped the weapon loosely enough that I might have been able to grab it to defend myself, but I ruefully admitted I should have brought the sword Duncan had given me if I’d wanted to do that.

“Do you already have the other wolf artifacts?” I asked Augustus.

He’d been about to grab for the case, but he paused and glanced at his allies. The wolvesandthe humans cocked their heads.

“What artifacts?” he asked.

“That’s why you went to see Francisco, thelobisomem, right? For his South American artifacts?” I sent a silent apology to the bartender, hoping nobody harassed him because this implication got out.

“I went toseehim because he presumed to do business near our territory without asking permission or giving an offering.” Augustus stepped over to the sofa table and grabbed his beer.

It was all I could do not to hold my breath, stare at it, and will him to take a big swig. “Yeah, but he has that back room with the glowing wolf heads. You didn’t sense them when you were there? Your buyer would probably be interested.”

“Radomirwouldbe interested,” Orazio put in. “He said he’d pay for anything magical and werewolf-related that we found.”

I scratched my temple to hide a glance toward Jasmine. She stood behind the others, who clearly didn’t believe her a threat, and had her phone out. Camera recording? She nodded at me.

“Shut up, Orazio.” Augustus drank from his beer but only a shallow swallow before glancing at it, his brow furrowing. Shit, the elixir had to have changed the taste.

Orazio snorted. “Why? She’s not walking out of here alive.”

I’d suspected they’d planned that, but a chill rushed through me at the naked admission.

“What the hell did you put in my beer?” Augustus threw the can at my feet, the amber liquid spattering the marble tiles.

“Why are you betraying our people and our heritage to some smarmy rich humans?” I demanded, backing toward the suit of armor.

“He’s got to pay the insurance on this place,” Orazio said with a short laugh. “Lake houses don’t come cheap.”

“Aren’t you extorting enough people to pay for your ludicrous castle?” I took two more steps toward the armor.

“Give me the damn case.” Augustus roared and lunged at me.

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As Augustus lunged for me,I leaped back, spun, and snatched at the hilt of the sword held by the suit of armor. But the grip wasn’t as loose as I’d hoped, and I tugged the whole statue away from the wall. Augustus reached me and threw a punch. I ducked behind the armor, and his fist clipped its metal shoulder.

“Look out, Luna,” Jasmine yelled.

She’d leaped behind the breakfast bar and was eyeing a block of knives. With Augustus, two wolves, and my other two cousins charging me, that wouldn’t be enough to help.

A meaty hand snatched for me—no, Augustus was trying to grab the case. I shifted farther behind the suit of armor and snaked my arm out on the other side, still trying to pull the sword free. When it didn’t come, I shoved the armor at Augustus. It was heavy and crashed to the floor, but he wasn’t slow enough to be caught under it.

Orazio and the wolves reached me. He grabbed my arm and yanked me away from the wall as their jaws snapped at my side. I twisted, managing to evade sharp fangs, but Augustus snatched atthe case, mashing my fingers painfully as he ripped it and my glove free. He stepped away, slammed the artifact down on the sofa table, and waved at the wolves.

“End her.”

Magic surged through my veins, the change coming. But with Orazio holding me and the other wolves ready to tear my throat out, the last thing I needed was to be vulnerable. And that’s what I would be in those seconds before I could change.

A bang came from the kitchen, startling the men into looking. Jasmine slammed a huge stock pot down on the counter, then threw it toward my cousins.

I managed to wrest one arm free and thrust my hand into my pocket. I grabbed the first thing that my fingers brushed. One of the vials that Bolin had given me.

I threw it onto the floor between the two wolves and held my breath as I tried to lurch backward. But Orazio tightened his grip, holding me fast. As the vial shattered, green liquid spattering and vapors rising, I thrust into my pocket again. This time, I found one of the spheres I’d been calling bath bombs.

As the wolves backed away from the green haze wafting from the broken vial, their noses wrinkling, Augustus glowered at me with hatred in his eyes.

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