Page 61 of Relics of the Wolf

“I… don’t know how big an Amalfi Coast lemon is.” I’d never even heard of the variety.

“Perhaps, one day, we can take a trip to Italy, and I can show you some in person.”

I started to shake my head, but… couldn’t I travel somewhere exotic now? With the boys gone, I didn’t have to worry about their school or sports schedules, and I’d dug myself out of debt, so I could hypothetically take a vacation. I even had an intern, at least for the moment, who could take over my work for a few days.

“You seem like someone who could use a vacation,” Duncan offered, glancing at the map. Outside, the scenery along the freeway had transitioned from the lights of suburban houses to dark fields and trees.

“Tell me about it.”

A phone rang, startling us enough that we both twitched. It wasn’t my ringtone. Since Duncan looked in confusion at the car display, it probably wasn’t his either. The call didn’t pop up on the screen, so the phone wasn’t paired to the Tesla.

As the phone rang again, I peered around and patted between the seats. Finally, I spotted the lit screen in the seat well behind Duncan, next to one of the rifles that had been used to shoot at me.

I picked it up but hesitated. “We probably shouldn’t answer, right?”

Duncan shrugged and took the phone from me, hitting accept before it dropped to voicemail.

“Yeah?” he answered in a flat tone, not bringing the phone close to his mouth. Was he trying to subdue his accent?

“Is this Dox? Or Ballinger? You get her yet?”

My blood chilled. It was the voice of the raspy guy who’d called the office after I posted the ad.

“We’ve got her,” Duncan said. “We lost Dox.”

I grimaced, sure his attempt at an American accent wouldn’t be enough to fool the caller. The guy would recognize the voices of his subordinates, surely.

“Is the male werewolf dead?” Maybe the speaker didn’t care about his subordinates.

“Yeah,” Duncan said.

“Okay. Bring her up. The scientist thinks she’s the key to figuring this amulet out.”

Amulet? Did he mean my mother’s medallion?

“Okay.” Duncan hit the hang-up button, then looked at me. “Did I sound like the guy whose phone that was?”

“How should I know?” I had no idea which of the men Dox and Ballinger had been.

“The caller is either going to be waiting for us with open arms or semiautomatic weapons loaded with silver bullets.”

I leaned forward, tempted to drop my face between my legs. “Do you think two grenades, a lock-picking kit, and a magnet will be enough to allow us to be victorious?”

“I’m hoping those will get us inside when we reach our destination. It’s our two sets of werewolf fangs that will allow us to be victorious.”

“I’m not sure I’ll be able to change again so soon. I don’t have to tell you that the magic bleeds off, and it’s usually a once-a-night thing. For some, it’s only once a night during a full moon.”

“You’ve got a lot more power than that. I can tell. And so do I.” Duncan reached over and touched my arm. “We’ll be all right.Andwe’ll get the artifacts back for you and your family.”

“I hope so,” I whispered, watching the dark landscape outside as we headed farther north and into farmland. Farmland and, apparently, at least one perfume factory.

17

As we tookan exit that would lead us toward the town of Arlington, my phone rang. My first thought was that Mr. Raspy was calling back, but this was my phone, not the one we’d returned to the back seat. Jasmine’s name popped up, and I answered, hoping she or her father had learned something useful. According to the GPS map, we were only twelve minutes from our destination.

“Are you okay?” Jasmine asked before I could utter ahello.

“Did you hear about the attack at the apartment?” I guessed, though I didn’t know how she would have, unless my cousins were still spying on me. Reminded of the wolf we’d heard howl near Ballard, I considered that a possibility.

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