Page 42 of Quest of the Wolf

“Okay.”

I thought Lorenzo might stick around, waiting in the main room, but there was a haunted look in his eyes, and he stepped outside soon after I entered. Not much had changed in the last day, I suspected. Or maybe Mom had gotten worse.

Uneasy, I stepped into the doorway to her bedroom. I smiled and rattled the bag of chocolates. Only when Mom glared in my direction did I realize it sounded like someone rattling a bag of dog treats to entice good behavior from a hound.

“I’m fine.” Mom sat in a chair at the end of the bed, working on the corner of a puzzle stretching across a piece of plywood set up to act as a table.

Despite her proclamation, there were bags under her eyes, herskin was pale, and a bandage wrapped her left hand. To cover one of the wounds Lorenzo had mentioned not healing as quickly as usual? A scar on the side of her neck, half-hidden by her white hair, was also new, though it had sealed up and didn’t need a bandage.

Ah, was that a jewelry chain around her neck? Maybe Lorenzo had given her the longevity talisman.

“And I don’t need atalkingto,” Mom added. “If you try to lecture me, I’ll boot you out faster than a fox in the smokehouse.”

Lorenzo must have admitted that he’d invited me up—and why. Or she’d sussed it out on her own.

“I came for advice, not to give a lecture.” I sat on the edge of the bed and groped for something I could ask that wouldn’t make that a lie. “And to deliver these chocolate-covered berries.”

“If my chocolate is going to cover something, I prefer it be bacon.”

“The berries have health benefits.” Reading off the back of the bag, I said, “They promote immune function, better sleep, and protect cells from damage caused by free radicals. They may even engender a feeling of wellness and calm.”

Judging by the baleful look Mom sent me, she didn’t put much stock in candies promising calm or wellness. And she thought I was an idiot for falling for the marketing hype.

“They sound like they’ll taste awful.” She picked up an edge piece to find a spot in the puzzle for it. That seemed to imply she would only half-heartedly pay attention to me if I brought up her solo bear hunt. Maybe she would ignore me altogether.

“They’re tart,” I said. “Not horrible. I would put them at the same notch on the delight scale as chocolate-covered crickets.”

“Those sound like they’d be better.”

“Do you want me to bring some up next time? I have a new supplier.” I almost mentioned Austin and that he had come to visitfor the holidays, but Mom barely acknowledged that my human children existed.

“No. What advice do you want?” She looked balefully at me again, seeing through that story. “And what the hell is afree radical?”

“Something malevolent that swims around in your bloodstream.”

“You have no idea, do you?”

“Not really. I’m trying to figure out how to get Duncan back from the artifact thieves.”

Mom put down her puzzle piece to look fully at me. Jasmine must not have mentioned our previous night’s adventure to the family yet. I couldn’t remember exactly what I’d told Mom about Duncan’s past before, so I summed up the magical control device, his scar, and his relationship with Abrams.

“They’re using him for his treasure-hunting skills,” I said to finish. “For some reason, they want him to find the male match to your medallion.” I waved to the bedside table where she’d been keeping it the last time I’d seen it. “They probably still want your medallion too.”

“Oh, I know they do. Now and then, their thugs drive slowly past the property and peer in this direction. I’m sure they’re waiting for an opportunity to attack when there isn’t much family present, but Lorenzo has pack members visiting around the clock to keep an eye on things. And onmenow.” Her mouth twisted.

Ah, maybe it hadn’t been a hunt that had prompted all the visitors outside. Or notonlya hunt.

I wondered if her sneaking away to confront a bear had been as much about what she perceived as overprotection and smothering as a desire to die on her own terms. Maybe some of both.

“We also have more of those booby traps that you triggered,” she added.

“Ididn’t trigger them. My cousins triggered them on me. There was a remote that Orazio used to zap me while I fought Augustus.”

Mom waved away the details. “Yes, yes. I know.” She lowered her arm and smiled slightly. “Though it was a shame to lose fit pack members, I’m glad you got the best of them. I knew you had the power to do so, if only you’d untether it.”

“Duncan helped,” I said.

“Have you mated with him yet?” She looked hopefully at my abdomen—mywomb.

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