Page 15 of Quest of the Wolf

“Too bad I’m going to come down with a cold that morning.” I shut the door firmly behind me and grabbed my robe before tapping on the phone to call Jasmine back. Since I’d been gone all day, the heat in the apartment wasn’t on, so I turned it up. A hot shower sounded appealing. “Later.”

“Hi, Luna,” Jasmine answered before it went to voicemail. “Did you listen to my message?”

“Not yet. I was… inconvenienced.”

“Does that mean you were furry?”

It was hard to hide that kind of thing from another werewolf.

“Yeah. Some idiots on motorcycles came to threaten my apartment complex.”

“That happens a lot, doesn’t it?”

“Kind of, yeah. I’m taking care of it.” I glanced at the sword leaning in the corner of the living room, wondering if events would have turned out differently if I’d had it, along with a few hundred lessons under my belt. With my tenants—and alchemist—being threatened, I probably would have turned wolf regardless.

“Let me know if you need help. I want to earn your recommendation for my résumé.”

“Let me know if you’ve got any leads on Duncan, and I’ll be sure to tell them what a good researcher you are. That comes in handy in the real estate industry, doesn’t it?”

“Oh, sure. Especially with atypical properties. You always have to dig up stuff. But Dad was the one doing your research. Here, I’m going to text you a list of addresses that the company owns in the Puget Sound area. I looked them up. None of them are on the MLS yet. Not the commercial listing services either.”

“Probably because the other facilities haven’t been raided by werewolves yet.”

“That type of thingcanprompt a property owner to sell. They hardly ever mention it in the notes though.”

“Odd.” I eyed the list that came through via text. She’d sent a number of them before, but some were new, with addresses located all over the Puget Sound area, everywhere from Tenino to Port Orchard to Issaquah to Deming. Wasn’t that a little town on the way to the Canadian border? “This is going to take some driving.”

“Do you want help?” Jasmine offered again. “Ilovedriving and cranking my music.”

I recalled Bolin’s request to acquire information that would help him woo Jasmine, but setting up young people wasn’t my priority. “It’ll be dangerous. You’d better skip this adventure.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind danger, and I’ve got time on my hands until I start getting job interviews. Oh, and I’ve got some networking events next week. Mom says I have to go so I can schmooze.” Jasmine’s tone shifted to mimic her mother’s. “You get jobs by being inproximityto people, not filling out applications on the internet.” In her own voice, she added, “That was her way of saying I need to go kiss some asses.”

“That sounds right.” I hadn’t needed to apply for a job in a long time—the internet had barely existed when I’d started working at Sylvan Serenity—but even back then, merely dropping off résumés hadn’t done much. “I may need to join you at those networking events if… things don’t work out here.”

“Because of the idiots?”

“No. Well, notonlythe idiots.” As I explained about my employers getting ready to list the apartment complex, I looked up the addresses, hoping one of the “street views” would show me a facility that jumped out as a likely place to restrain a werewolf. Something with barbed-wire fences, cannons mounted on crenellated walls, and a dungeon, ideally… Unfortunately, most of the addresses were for unassuming warehouses. I didn’t even see any barbed wire. What kind of evil-overlord lairs were these?

“Huh. Well, it could be cool if we went to networking events together. It’s easier to schmooze with backup. We could talk each other up.”

“You almost make it sound fun.”

The problem was that I didn’twantto leave my current job. Even if some of my tenants were weird and wandered around withPop Tarts and ghostometers, this place had been home for a long time.

“Itwillbe.” Jasmine said more, but my instincts twanged as I sensed someone magical approaching my apartment, and I didn’t hear the rest.

What now?

“Oh, by the way,” Jasmine continued, unaware of my distraction, “Emilio wants to know if you’re coming to visit the pack anytime soon. He craves salami and summer sausage.”

“Doesn’t he have a job and the ability to purchase his own salamis?” I walked to the window and peered between the blinds but didn’t see anyone.

Could it be Rue that I sensed? Already coming to deliver my potion?

“Emilio is pursuing a number of entrepreneurial ventures while living with his parents,” Jasmine said.

“That’s ano, right?”

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