Page 42 of Relics of the Wolf

Jasmine laughed. “Like I said, I wanted to apologize. I knew your mom wanted to see you, but I should have realized things weren’t over between you and Augustus, and that he wouldn’t listen to Lorenzo. He respects Lorenzo, but he’s almost challenged him for the pack a few times. You can tell. I think it’s mostly because he doesn’t want to rile up your mom that he hasn’t. Not out of any wisdom or prudence on his part.”

“He seems to lack those traits.”

“Oh, for sure.”

I suspected the only reason Augustus didn’t want torileupmy mom was that he still hoped I would die—or be killed—and he could claim that medallion for his wife. I should have asked Mom more about what it did. Something told me Augustus knew more about its powers than I did. There was little doubt that it had value, perhaps value to more than werewolves, since outsiders had risked a fight with the pack to steal it.

At least I assumed those men were working for outsiders. For the first time, as I stared up at the bottom of a sink, it occurred to me that another pack might be behind things.

I hoped Bolin showed up with my faux artifact today. I ached to bait my trap.

“I didn’t want you to think I set you up,” Jasmine said in an apologetic tone.

“I don’t. I appreciate you calling me.”

“Emilio woke up and appreciates that you brought him a salami. If you ever need a favor, I think he’ll do anything you wish.”

“And Mom didn’t think my bribe would work.”

“Oh, hang on. Dad is calling. Maybe he’s got some information.”

Jasmine switched lines for a conversation that took a while. While I waited, I finished installing the new faucet, turned the water back on, and crawled out from under the sink.

Key tapping noises from the bedroom the tenant used as an office floated to me, promising he hadn’t lurked to listen to the rest of the weird call. Good. I should have taken it outside. As I put away my tools and considered doing just that, Jasmine returned to the line.

“Are you still there, Luna?”

“Yes.”

“Have you heard of a Discord server called The Elder Kinwalkers?”

“Oddly enough, that’s come up recently, yes.”

“Dad dug into the logs and found someone named Celtic Salves and Tonics saying they were in the market for moon-touched artifacts. That’s code forwerewolfartifacts. I’m sure of it. Dad thinks so too. He reached out to the poster but hasn’t heard anything back yet. He’s going to keep poking around though.”

“Okay, good. Keep me updated, will you?”

“Sure. Say hi to Duncan for me.” She giggled again. Maybe she was still imagining him naked.

The tenant leaned out of his office.

“I’ll talk to you later, okay, Jasmine?”

“Yup. Bye.”

“Sorry about that,” I told the tenant as I tucked the phone into my pocket, “but everything should be working now.”

“No problem,” he said as I turned on the new faucet to demonstrate the water flow. “Want a Mountain Dew?”

He lifted his own can of soda and gestured to the fridge.

“No, thanks.”

“Coffee?”

“I’m good.” I grabbed my tool kit, afraid he was thinking of asking me out. Considering how long I’d been a shrub to most males of the species, the last week had brought more interest in that area than I’d had in a long time. Of course, Chad’s possessive claim on me hardly counted.

“Okay. Here.” He stuffed a hand into his pocket and pulled out two crinkled twenty-dollar bills.

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