Page 66 of Relics of the Wolf

From Duncan’s fight came the sound of a fist connecting with flesh, then another thud. Something heavy toppled and clattered to the cement.

“And yet, I took care of the guys who were originally driving that car,” I said.

For the first time, a hint of uncertainty darkened his eyes.

“Where are the wolf artifacts?” I asked.

“I have no idea.”

“Who’s your boss? Do you have any idea about that? About who signs your paychecks?” I squinted at him. “And forces you to drink those potions that make you limp and give you the runs?”

A grunt of pain came from the fight—it didn’t sound like Duncan. Another crash followed.

Maybe thinking he was out of time, the guy in front of me leaned to the side, as if he would run to the left to escape me. I shifted the gun to track him, but he lunged back in and dove for my midsection.

Cursing, I fired.

The bullet took him in the top of the shoulder, but he still rushed in close, barreling into me with one arm wrapping around my torso. He took me down, but he thrashed at the pain of the shot and cried out in my ear. I drove my knee up into his groin, cracked him in the head with the handgun, and managed to squirm away from his grip.

As I rose to my knees, ready to shoot again if needed, Duncan sprang into view behind my attacker. Fury burned in his brown eyes. He had to be on the verge of changing too.

But it was with human hands that he grabbed my foe under the armpits and threw him into the tractor with stunning force. These men weren’t the only magically enhanced people here.

Duncan leaped after him, slamming the heel of his palm into our enemy’s jaw. His head jerked back, cracking the metal frame of the tractor. The man slumped, the fight going out of him, but Duncan grabbed him again and threw him past me and into stacked barrels. When he struck them, they tumbled, and he collapsed with them falling on top of him. He didn’t move.

I pushed myself to my feet. “I was trying to question him.”

“Did I get in the way of that?” Duncan looked me up and down for wounds, but the blood on the floor was theirs.

“Him being a turd and attacking me got in the way of it.”

“I had a similar experience with the other bloke.” Duncan led me back to the car and picked up his magnet, rolling up the twine to tuck it back into his pocket.

The man he’d been fighting lay bloody and not moving. I didn’t ask if he was dead.

Duncan also picked up the rifle. “That was noisier than I would have preferred. Whoever runs the security at this place is going to know we’re here.”

A blinking red light in the shadowy corner of the ceiling caught my eye, and I pointed to what had to be a camera. “I think they already know we’re here.”

Duncan grunted in agreement. “They probably did before we arrived. When the car took over.”

“Yeah.”

He looked around the garage, pointed at a man door in the back, and led the way toward it. By now, there might be more armed people heading to the garage from the front.

“Let’s see what we can find in that direction,” Duncan said.

“Before the rest of the security detail catches up with us?”

“Exactly.” He paused with his hand on the door and tilted his head.

Somewhere nearby, a wolf howled. Ayoungwolf.

The voice didn’t sound familiar, not like the wolf who’d called when I’d been walking around Seattle with Duncan. This wasn’t one of my pack; I was fairly certain.

“We won’t have much time before reinforcements arrive,” I said when Duncan didn’t stir for a long moment.

A hard-to-read expression had crossed his face—maybe he recognized or was trying to place that howl?—but he only nodded and pushed open the door.

---