Page 36 of Kin of the Wolf

“There are other dangers.” After contemplating me briefly, he started removing his clothes.

“Do you want me to change too?”

If he could sense the magic of the cave, we could probably find it without a map, but the calm evening didn’t have my skin pricking with the need to change. Unless a threat presented itself, I didn’t know if I could.

“Not unless you want to. I’ll lead.” Clothes removed and draped over a boulder, Duncan stepped to the side, the change sweeping over him.

In the dark, I couldn’t see much of his nudity—the physical attributes that my mom had praised—but that was fine. I hadn’t come out here to ogle anyone. My senses did perk with awareness as his power fluctuated along with his body, growing more lupine, more noticeable. He dropped to all fours as he became the wolf.

Though I hadn’t admitted it to him, I was relieved he hadn’t turned into the bipedfuris. It might have been because he’d lost control and attacked me in that form, but it might also have been because two-legged werewolves weren’t anything I’d grown up around. It was the stuff of legend, and, in this age, seemed closer to a monster than the noble wolf. I would have been uneasy walking beside him that way.

Duncan, the silhouette of his pointed ears just visible in the lingering daylight, looked at me, as if he knew my thoughts, then padded upstream. I hurried to catch up, resting a hand on his back, the cool lushness of his thick fur comforting. He was the wolf, nothing else. Nothing that was a danger to me.

Soon, I sensed what he had. Magic. Multiple kinds, as he’d said, though all coming from the same general area.

Some reminded me of artifacts but others felt like magical beings. Would this cave be guarded? Maybe it wouldn’t be as safe to visit as I’d assumed.

Duncan paused, his head cocking as he looked upslope. The walls had steepened with great trees growing at the top. Their evergreen branches stretched over the gully, almost as if intentionallyhiding this place from above. No satellites or helicopters would have a view down here.

A pair of red dots glowed from between two trees, and I twitched. Eyes.

I hadn’t turned on a flashlight, nor was any other illumination around, nothing that could have reflected off eyes to make them appear red. Those were truly glowing.

I remembered the night Duncan and I had battled dogs and wolves that someone—I suspected Augustus—had sent to attack us. Could my cousins be in the area?

For the first time, my skin heated, magic sweeping through my veins. The hint of a threat was stirring my blood, offering the ability to change.

Not certain if it was wise, I attempted to tamp down the magic. Since I was holding Mom’s map and wearing her medallion, I would prefer to remain in human form. A werewolf artifactshouldchange with me, rather than disappearing into the ether like my clothes, but the possibility that I could lose a magical heirloom that had been handed down for generations scared me.

Duncan’s head turned toward another slope. Partway up, a different set of eyes looked toward us. When he focused on them, whatever animal possessed them darted off, the foliage rustling. A fox? Or would there be mongrel dogs out here? The animal hadn’t seemed large enough to be a wolf.

I folded the map and put it in my pocket. It was too dark to read anyway unless I pulled out my phone’s flashlight. Instead, I wrapped my hand around the medallion, willing it to guide me.

Silver light leaked out between my fingers, shining into the gloom and reflecting off the water of the stream. Power emanated from the medallion, warming my hand, and coursing through me, almostinfusingme with even greater magic than was inherent in my blood. It reminded me of the witch’s locket that Duncan and Ihad found, but this had much more power. I had the urge to let my head fall back and soak it in.

I felt Duncan’s gaze upon me, and he shifted closer, his furry shoulder against me. Drawn to me? He’d said he was before, but it might have been the magic of the medallion that pulled him in, nothing about me.

But his eyes were locked to mine, not to the artifact. A flush of warmth swept through me that didn’t have anything to do with magic. For some reason, my mom’s words came to mind about him being an appropriate mate. She’d been too blunt, and far too interested in me having more children, but a part of me was glad she approved of Duncan. Because I wanted him. It hadn’t always been wise—maybe itstillwasn’t wise—but I had all along.

I blew out a breath and looked away from Duncan’s steady gaze to focus on the way ahead. Maybe it was good that we were in different forms and wouldn’t be tempted by each other’s allure. Not unless he changed back or I took my wolf form.

“Maybe later,” I murmured.

Like moonlight, the medallion’s illumination cast the world in shades of light and dark instead of allowing one to see color, but I did notice something glowing blue near a tree stump. Mushrooms. They registered as very faintly magical to my senses.

Duncan pulled his gaze from me and continued forward. I stayed close to him.

So far, I didn’t get the feeling that the glowing-eyed animals were warning us to stay away, but would that change? I imagined a pack guarding the cave entrance.

When we reached the rockier area, the silver light beaming over mossy boulders, the ground and ferns strewn with damp fallen leaves, I felt stronger magic coming from the steep slope on the opposite side of the stream. It was almost a cliff, long tree roots dangling down from twenty feet above. A dark crack might have been a cave entrance.

Light on his paws, Duncan hopped over the stream and headed toward the cliff. A shadow moved on a boulder near it, and glowing red eyes stared at him. Something growled. It did sound like a fox.

He growled back, and it sprang away. It leaped up boulders to the top of the cliff, the silver light catching its bushy tail before it disappeared.

When Duncan reached the crack, he looked back at me. Waiting.

Was that the right spot? The entrance was only a few feet high and a couple of feet wide, barely enough for him to slip through as a wolf. I’d expected something larger and more grandiose. But I could sense more magic inside, so I didn’t hesitate to hop over the stream. I had to lower into a crouch, almost on my hands and knees, to squeeze through the crack after Duncan.

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