Page 28 of Relics of the Wolf

Another howl sounded, so close that it made my pointed ears flicker. Duncan and I turned toward the driveway. Numerous humans, including the white-haired lean woman who was my mother, stood there. A blue-eyed white wolf, he who’d howled, sat at her side, watching us. Lorenzo. His gaze was cool when it swept over Duncan, the lone wolf intruding on pack territory.

Another whimper sounded. Duncan stepped off the wolf he’d downed.

More blood darkened the dirt road under my cousin, but he was hale enough to push himself to his feet and slink off after the others, his tail between his legs. He didn’t look toward the driveway as he padded away. Our observers watched us, not the wolves disappearing into the ferns.

I stepped forward to stand in front of Duncan, my tail out straight, my muscles taut. I had to make it clear that he was my ally, that I’d invited him to enter this territory, and, as a strong female wolf, I was prepared to fight for him to be allowed to be here.

Duncan came up to my shoulder, standing side-by-side with me. In a supportive manner, not a challenge. He would fight if I had to fight, but he was letting me take the lead in this situation.

The white wolf yawned, and his tongue lolled out in a display of indifference. That was fine. As long as he didn’t lead the rest of the pack into attacking us. There were too many.

“I am pleased to see you again as a wolf, my daughter,” Mom said, her voice weak, her power wan. She’d managed to walk out here, but her eyes were sunken with fatigue and pain. “But why have you brought an outsider to my home?” Her eyes closed to slits as her gaze shifted to Duncan. “Especially one who radiates dangerous power and the scent of…” Her head cocked. “Not only the Old World but an old time.”

An old time? What didthatmean?

Duncan looked at me, then lowered his torso while his hindquarters remained up. A play bow. A nonthreatening gesture of innocence.

I bumped my shoulder against his and might have snorted if that was something wolves did. Duncan could turn on his goofy side in lupine form the same as human form. In another moment, he would probably be flirting with my mother. But that would cause Lorenzo’s attitude to shift from indifference to something more dangerous.

The wolf magic sensed my need to change so that I could more properly speak with my family, and it faded. Soon, my body morphed, my fur disappeared, and I rose up to two legs.

The air felt chill against my bare skin, and I remembered that there hadn’t been time to remove my clothes. When I’d seen Duncan threatened, the change had come upon me with startling speed and intensity. Since clothes disappeared into the ether if they weren’t removed, I now stood before my family stark naked. Fortunately, I’d dropped my phone when I’d dived away from Augustus, so it was in the dirt instead of gone forever.

Next to me, Duncan also changed back into human form. He was as naked as I, save for a few smudges of dirt across his muscled torso, but he bowed to my mother without shame.

“Greetings, Luna’s family. It is an honor to meet you—mostof you.” Duncan looked in the direction my cousins had gone, but they’d disappeared, only the scent of their spilled blood lingering. Duncan held up a finger, then went to the van and retrieved his shoes and trousers. He must have started removing his clothes when the wolves had stepped into the road, knowing we’d end up in a fight.

“Luna?” Mom prompted, not responding to Duncan.

“I came—wecame—because of the attack.”

While Duncan put on his trousers and shoes, I explained how we’d encountered those men at the bar and that the blond had mugged my intern. With such a large portion of the family looking on, I didn’t mention the wolf case. For all I knew, Augustus had more allies among the half-siblings, nieces, nephews, uncles, and more cousins that stood with Lorenzo and Mom in the driveway. I finished with, “There’s more that I’d like to tell you later.”

“Yes. You will tell me everything in the cabin.” Her gaze flicked toward Duncan, as if to include him as part of thateverything.

I didn’t know how much of him I could explain. It wasn’t as if he’d been forthright in answering my questions. Such as why other paranormal beings kept sensing that he was something different from a typical werewolf.

As the family turned to head up the driveway toward the cabin, Mom walking beside the white wolf and resting a hand on his back for support, Duncan stepped closer to me.

“Are you all right? Do you want to borrow a shirt?” He lifted a hand to touch the back of my head, fingers stroking through my hair as he gazed at me.

The intimacy surprised me, though it shouldn’t have—before and after a change, one’s passions rode close to the surface. I caught myself leaning into his touch, appreciating it more than I should have. Especially when his fingers slipped through my hair to massage my scalp. By the moon, that felt amazing.

The memory of waking up naked with his hand on my bare skin came to mind, the aftermath of our hunt the week before. What would it have been like if we’d done more than hunt that night? What would it be like if we slipped into his van and…

No. There would be no slipping. We were standing in the middle of the road in front of my mom’s place. This wasn’t the time to let him make me feel amazing or anything else. If I was wise, I wouldn’tletthere be a time. Not until I knew that he wasn’t still using me to find that case.

“Youdon’t even have a shirt.” I swatted his chest, intending the gesture to be playful and nothing more, but my hand ended up resting on his abdomen. The warmth of his taut skin under my palm and the ripples of his chiseled abdomen invited exploration.

“I can get one. I wasn’t quite done undressing when your odious cousin sprang upon the hood of my van, leaving claw gouges in the paint. He’s lucky I was able to keep from slaying him for such impudence.”

His tone was teasing, but there was a modicum of truth to the words. I knew very well how hard it was to restrain one’s wild instincts when in wolf form. Based on my past experiences, I might not have been able to.

“I thought you got pissed and changed because he sprang atme,” I said. “His claws were threatening to gouge holes inmypaint too.”

“That would have been equally unacceptable.”

“Only equally, huh. I guess it’s good to know where I rank in relation to your van.”

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