Page 78 of Kin of the Wolf

“Of course,” I muttered, running across the patio and into the yard.

As I trailed Jasmine down a path toward the water, I sensed Duncan’s aura fluctuate in the castle behind us. Was he turning into the bipedfuris again? Since I couldn’t change into a wolf two times close together, his ability to do so surprised me, but maybe he felt he would keep the dogs at bay more effectively in that form.

Jasmine reached the boat first, finding it among reeds near the destroyed dock, and pushed it into the water. It was an open motorboat, and I jumped in after her. Roars and barks came from the house as we floated into the lake. She started the motor and, with the experience of someone who’d done it before, navigated us out into the water.

“Let’s wait for him,” I said when we were twenty or thirty feet from shore, boards from the destroyed dock bumping against the hull of the boat.

Magic pricked at my skin. Familiar magic that I’d felt before. The last time it had whispered past me, Duncan had been pulled away, up to the north to those who wanted to use him once more.

A boom came from the house, and orange flashed behind the windows, blowing several out. Another of Duncan’s explosives? Did he have the wherewithal to detonate them while in the bipedfuris form? It was hard to imagine. Maybe one of my cousins had charged in with grenades.

“This is chaos,” Jasmine whispered, taking her phone out and recording, though we couldn’t see much of the fight from the lake. Wecouldsee fire burning inside the house now.

“Tell me about it. How much did you get recorded before?”

Wood snapped in the castle. A beam breaking and falling? I willed Duncan to come out, to leave the mongrels behind and join us.

“It’s mostly audio since my phone was in my pocket anytime someone was looking at me, but I got Augustus and some of the others talking about selling the artifacts.”

“Okay, good.”

Numbness crept into my limbs as the fact that I’d killed Augustus sank in. What would the rest of the pack think? Would they understand or swear vengeance on me? I hadn’t intended to kill him. I’d never wanted that.

In the castle, the barks and roars died down, leaving only the crackle of fires burning. Movement in the yard drew my eye. I expected one of the red-eyed guard dogs, but a furry figure on two legs loped across the lawn.

I lifted an arm, hoping to wave Duncan toward us, but he didn’t look in our direction. The magic that beckoned him whispered past me again, raising the hair on the back of my neck.

“Duncan!” I called as loudly as I dared. “Fight it! Stay here!”

His head didn’t turn in my direction. Drawn by his creator’spower, the bipedfuris leaped over hedges and the stone wall surrounding the property. Soon, he disappeared into the night.

I slumped down in the boat. No red-eyed animals ran out of the castle to attack us now that Duncan was gone. Maybe he’d taken care of them before letting himself be drawn away.

Sirens wailed in the distance.

“Where to?” Jasmine asked.

“Not far.” I waved to a neighbor’s dock. “I need to circle back and get my truck. Ideally before the firefighters and police and whoever else arrive.” Reminded that I was naked, I hurried to put my jacket on, checking my pockets for the truck keys.

“Okay.” Jasmine navigated the boat along the shoreline. “Is he, uhm, going to come back?”

“I don’t know.”

“At least you and I survived the night, and Augustus…” Jasmine looked toward the smoking mess of the castle. “Well, he won’t keep trying to kill you.”

“One small boon,” I murmured.

“I’ll show the footage to Lorenzo and the arbiter and everyone. Then they’ll know… Well, they’ll just know.”

We hadn’t gotten the detailed confession that I’d hoped for, but I thought what Augustus and Orazio had revealed would be enough. They’d been doing even more vile stuff than I’d realized, not only bullying the paranormal beings of the Seattle area but helping artifact thieves steal from their own people. Even if Augustus hadn’t been behind the attack at Mom’s cabin, he’d been colluding with those who had been. The elders would agree that his end had been warranted, and they might force his siblings out of the pack too.

I should have been happy, or at least relieved, but as I gazed off to the north, I felt like more uncertainties than certainties remained.

“Yes,” I said, aware of Jasmine watching me. Maybe she alsofelt uncertain and hoped for reassurance. “Thank you for your help.”

“You’re welcome. You’re a really badass wolf, you know.”

Badass was the last thing I felt in that moment, but I said another, “Thank you,” as we turned for a dock.

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