Page 37 of Quest of the Wolf

I thought about promising him an invitation to my bedroom if he returned, bribing him with a more carnal pleasure. But the continuing glow of his scar left me uncertain about whether he could disobey that control device, even if he truly wanted to, and I didn’t voice the offer.

The passenger-side door of the Jeep opened, and a brute got out, a rifle in his grip. He squinted at Jasmine and me before looking toward Duncan and whispering something to the driver. He also glanced at the tank-SUV, though nobody had stepped out of that yet. I could just make out the driver, another brute with a similar magical aura to the other, and he nodded and pointed at us. Or… at me?

I couldn’t tell if these guys were among those who’d been at the compound the night Duncan and I had fought our way out. After turning into the bipedfuris, he’d killed a lot of those security guards. But even if these men hadn’t been there, they might have been given a photo of me, and they might have orders to collect me.

Duncan held up the medallion he’d found. The small emeralds glinted, reflecting the headlights.

The brute opened a back door and pointed for Duncan to get in.

“Turn around first,” Duncan said. “Both rigs.”

“We’ve got something to collect.” The brute looked at me.

I stepped behind the truck, waving for Jasmine to duck low. I didn’t want my ride to be shot up, but I wanted my niece shot up even less. And I would prefer not to end up bullet-ridden myself. If the men were supposed tocollectme, they might not shoot me, but I wouldn’t bet a stick of gum on that.

Two doors on the tank-SUV opened, and another pair of muscled riflemen stepped out.

My stomach twisted with unease. If those firearms were loaded with silver bullets, the men might be a match for us, even if I turned wolf and Duncan shifted into his more powerful form.

“Nice of her to join you out here,” the first speaker said, “so we can get both at once.”

“Radomir doesn’t want her anymore,” Duncan said.

“Oh, he does. We just confirmed that.” The man nodded toward the driver of the Jeep. Maybe the guy had called their boss to ask. “We’ll even get a reward for finding her.”

“If you want this, what your bossreallysent you out to collect, you’ll leave her alone.” Duncan swung the medallion in the air.

He and I knew it wasn’t what Radomir wanted, the match to my mother’s medallion, but Duncan had to believe the thugs wouldn’t know one magical artifact from another.

“We’ll have itandher.” The first rifleman pointed his firearm at Duncan’s chest.

My skin heated, magic tingling through my veins as the desire to protect him tried to bring forth the wolf. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea. Even if they had silver bullets, we would have a better chance of dodging gunfire and fighting the men as wolves.

“Oh, I can ensure youwon’thave it.” Duncan drew the magnet out of his other pocket and held it close to the medallion, as if it were an old hard drive, and he could wipe its data. The dangling artifact didn’t stir, which I assumed meant it wasn’t made from anything magnetic, but Duncan’s confident expression implied he could do something to it. “This’ll steal the magic and make the bauble useless. It won’t help Radomir’s plans, and he’ll be very angry about losing it. There’ll be a punishment, not a reward.” His eyes narrowed. “And I know you’ve felt his punishment before… and how unpleasant it is.”

The men exchanged looks.

“I’ll get into the Jeep with you,” Duncan said, “but you leave the women alone, or I’ll destroy this.”

Faint murmurs came from the back vehicle. One of the men speaking on a phone to someone? Radomir?

If so, he might think to ask one of the brutes to get a good look at the medallion and describe it. He might also know that amagnetwouldn’t do anything to a magical artifact. At least, I doubted it would. Maybe Duncan truly did have something that could affect the medallion.

During the call, the riflemen kept their guns pointed at his chest. One of them continued to eye me as well. None of them were paying attention to Jasmine, who was doing as I’d asked, staying low behind the cover of the truck. But her jaw was clenched, her eyes determined, and I suspected she also felt the pull to change, to deal with a threat. She was, after all, a werewolf.

“All right. Fine.” The thug who’d opened the door for Duncan lowered his rifle. “We don’t need her. But, you, get in.”

Duncan gazed at all of the riflemen. They put their weapons in the vehicles and climbed in.

After giving me another look over his shoulder, Duncan tucked the medallion and magnet into opposing pockets in his jacket and headed for the vehicles. As the tank-SUV drove in reverse until the driver found a spot wide enough to turn around, Duncan got into the back of the Jeep. It also turned around, the headlights finally out of our eyes.

“Why do they wantyou?” Jasmine asked as the two vehicles bumped down the road, heading back toward the highway.

“I’m not sure. When I met their bosses before, they had me touch some wolf artifacts, including my mother’s medallion and a chalice that gave me a vision, but I don’t think they knew about that.”

Actually, I had no idea about if they did. Wasn’t it possible the chalice had shared that vision with the whole room? In it, abipedfuris—it might even have been Duncan—had been standing next to a waterfall and holding the cup aloft. If Radomir and Abrams had seen that vision, maybe it had prompted them to call Duncan and start sending him to check waterfalls in the area. Especially if they’d scrounged up some other research that had offered similar clues.

“Well, they seemed to want you back. I guess I’m glad nobody wantedme.” Jasmine waved to herself. “Even if that’s kind of insulting.”

---