Page 6 of Quest of the Wolf

“Any chance the prospective buyer has read the news and has concerns about the rising crime in the area? And the incident that happened here?” I pointed casually toward the parking lot, though I felt guilty about downplaying the night Duncan and I had changed into wolves to battle the thugs Radomir had sent to kidnap me. It had been self-defense, but there had beendeaths. Multiple deaths. Thanks to my crazed wild werewolf instincts taking over, I had been responsible for them.

“It did come up,” Bolin said. “The guy is negotiating and trying to imply that this place should go for a steal, due to those incidents, but my parents had me get out the financials and show them off. The complex is extremely profitable, great cap rate.”

I bared my teeth. Thatwassomething I’d always striven for, but, in this situation, it wasn’t a boon.

“It’s amazing how much work you do that they would normally have to pay contractors and other service providers for.” Bolin looked at me with bemusement, as if I were odd. “Was that part of your original deal when you first got the job?”

“No, but I’ve never seen the point in paying for things I can do myself.”

“I don’t know where you find the time, especially considering how busy your life is.” Bolin glanced at Duncan’s Roadtrek in the lot and also toward the greenbelt.

“It wasn’t that busy until recently.”

“Well, you’re a hard worker. That’s good.”

I squinted at him. “You don’t usually throw compliments around. Are you about to let me know I’m being fired? Or do you want something?”

“It’s in the job description of an intern to suck up to one’s superiors.”

“Two days ago, you didn’t know the meaning of the termsuck up.”

Bolin’s eyebrows flew up. “I know the meanings ofallterms. Suck comes from the Middle Englishsoukenand Old Englishsucan, to use the lips and tongue to draw liquid into the mouth. As for slang variations, those are more twentieth century and imply, er, sexual acts. Though the terms are removed enough in the present to rarely suggest vulgarity.”

“That’s a relief. What is it you said that you want from me? If not to warn me of my impending firing?”

Bolin hesitated, no doubt recognizing me trying to trick him into confessing. Ultimately, he shrugged and answered. “I was wondering how your niece, Jasmine, is doing. You know she asked me where I get my coffee, right? Did she go visit Rocket Espresso? And get an orange mocha? That’s my favorite drink. It’s the one I gave to her. She must have liked it, right?”

His expression reminded me of a golden retriever seeking attention. If he’d had floppy ears, they would have been perked with hope.

“I’m not sure if she’s been there.” I tried not to bare my teeth at the photographer as he put his drone into the air for aerial shots. Damn it, why had I removed all the moss from the roofs a couple of weeks ago? The place would lookgreatin his photos. He would doubtless take them in such a way as not to include the traffic-filled freeway on the other side of the greenbelt.

“Oh.” Bolin’s shoulders slumped.

Busy scowling at the drone, I almost missed his disappointment.

“She might have gone there.” I figured I should bolster my intern, not wallow in my own worry and distress. He’d helped me out numerous times. But, thus far, Bolin hadn’t proven himself to be the kind of guy that girls fell head-over-heels for. Or even thekind they noticed was flirting with them. “I can ask her the next time I talk to her.”

“That would be great. She’s pretty. And vivacious. I had to spell vivacious to win my fifth-grade spelling bee.”

“That was a good memory for you, huh?”

“Oh, yes. That was before the words got excruciatingly obscure and difficult and the competition stiff.”

“Before I talk to Jasmine, I do feel compelled to ask if you realize she’s my relative. And all that that entails.” I raised my eyebrows.

Bolin paused before answering. “More than that she inherited the same sense of sarcasm that you have?”

“Thatdoesrun in my family, but yes. More.”

“Your son didn’t get more, right? He seems normal.” Bolin had only met Austin in passing, but, as a fledgling druid, he had the power to sense if people were magical.

“Because his father was a normal human, yeah.” I refrained from making thata normal sleazy human who stole money and cheated on me. After all, I was working on my maturity today.

“And it takes two… unnormals to make… one of you.” He gestured at me.

“Essentially.”

“Or a bite.”

---