Page 27 of Relics of the Wolf

“Stay.” I lifted a hand. “I’ll try to keep things from escalating.”

He eyed me skeptically. “Do you have the power to do that with them?”

“We’ll see.”

I dialed my phone as I slid out of the van, Jasmine’s number. But there wasn’t enough cell reception for calls. I’d forgotten that.

Palms damp, I tried to text her as I stepped in front of the hood and kept my eyes on the wolves. I hadn’t brought any weapons, unless I intended to club my cousins with salamis, and there weren’t any handy pool sticks to grab here. I didn’t wantto fight my relatives, anyway. Not again.

“I’m here to see Mom,” I told the wolves, “and I have useful information about the men who attacked her.”

I hadsomeinformation anyway. How useful it would be, I didn’t know.

Augustus’s cool eyes, more amber than brown in this incarnation, looked briefly and dismissively toward me. Then they focused on Duncan again. The eyes of all four wolves focused on him. For now, he remained in the van, but he would come out to defend me. I knew that about him by now.

But this, I realized as I watched my cousins, was about Duncan. Not me. A lone wolf had dared come into the pack’s territory. If I’d remained and become the female alpha, as my mother had once believed I was destined to be, I could have brought anyone with me to visit that I wished, but I was a stranger these days, nearly a lone wolf myself.

A growl emanated from Augustus’s throat. His gaze shifted back to me, and he charged.

My heart tried to leap from my chest. Two-hundred pounds of lupine savagery, he ran straight toward me.

I dove to the side, rolling into the ferns. My phone flew from my grip. Afraid Augustus would give chase, I leaped to my feet, fingers curling into fists.

Claws clacked on something hard. The hood of Duncan’s van.

The driver-side door flew open, and Duncan sprang out, paws hitting the packed dirt of the road. Yes, paws. He’d changed into a wolf.

He snarled up at Augustus, who whirled and leaped off the hood. Jaws opening, he angled straight toward Duncan.

“He’s with me,” I yelled. “Stop!”

The salt-and-pepper wolf that was Duncan leaped to the side, easily avoiding Augustus. As soon as my cousin landed, Duncan sprang in, his jaws a blur as they snapped for the throat. Augustus turned, meeting those snapping jaws with his own, and they gnashed at each other like fencers, teeth flashing in the dappled sun that made it through the trees.

Again, I yelled for them to stop. Again, it did nothing.

The other three wolves loped forward, clearly intending to help. I jumped onto the road again, trying to throw the power of the wolf into my voice as I ordered them to stay out of it.

A couple of them glanced at me, but they didn’t slow down.

“I brought him here to help! He’s my guest.”

The wolves crouched, jaws opening, almost smiling as they prepared to pile on, to take Duncan down.

Fury sizzled through my veins, along with the righteous indignation of being ignored. I was my mother’s daughter, damn it, and the blood of generations of alphas coursed through my body.

My skin pricked with heat as the call of the wolf swept into me. Before I had a chance to think about removing my clothes to save them during the change, I found myself dropping to all fours. Power surged through my veins, and a great lupine snarl erupted from my throat.

A yelp came from my side of the road. Duncan? No, Augustus. Duncan had knocked him into the ferns, but the others arrived and surrounded him, putting the odds at four on one. As strong as he was, Duncan couldn’t win against so many. But together… together we would prevail.

I sprang into the battle, biting one wolf in the flank. Another whirled toward me, but taking his focus from Duncan was a mistake. Lashing out with the power of a cobra, Duncan bit into that wolf’s shoulder. Hecouldhave gone for the throat, but our eyes met briefly with understanding. He knew this was my pack, my family, and wouldn’t try to kill them.

They didn’t deserve that solicitude, not when they were trying to killDuncan.

The dark-gray wolf that was Augustus snarled and sprang toward me with loathing in his eyes. Muscles bunching, I leaped past my ally as he tore into two other wolves, and met Augustus’s gnashing teeth. His bites stung as fangs gored my snout, but I whipped my head past his attack to clamp onto his throat.

A howl sounded back on the driveway, startling me. It might have been the only thing that kept me from sinking my teeth deeper and finding the artery through which my cousin’s life flowed.

My grip loosened, and Augustus backed away with a snarl of frustration and pain. I let him go. Two other wolves were already slinking into the woods, leaving trails of blood. In front of the van, Duncan stood over the fourth wolf, who was down and whimpering, and met my gaze.

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