Page 63 of Quest of the Wolf

I glanced back as I opened the door to my apartment, though I pointedly looked at his face, not the rest of his body. That didn’t keep him from posing in an invitation to admire his physique. Like a magazine model, he put one hand behind his head and one on his hip as he tilted it for a shameless display.

A damp leaf was stuck to the back of his thigh. I plucked it off. “I’ve never seen someone so eager to have their trimmage looked at.”

“Only by certain people.” Duncan stepped past me to enter the apartment first, peering around to check for trouble.

“You wouldn’t pose for Bolin, then?”

“Certainly not.Hewouldn’t be impressed.”

“I barely even looked.”

“And yet… you’re impressed. I’m certain.”

“Yes, I’m on the verge of swooning right now.”

Nobody had come through to clean my apartment in my absence. Too bad. It also wasn’t cordoned off by warning tape and staked out by police officers, so that was something.

While I showered and dressed, Duncan made sandwiches with bread and deli ham in the fridge. Lots of sandwiches. Either he was hungry, or he was making extra for Bolin and me. I didn’t comment on his nude food preparation. One couldn’t be picky when someone else was making lunch.

In the bedroom, I grabbed a towel and plucked the wolf case out of the heat duct under the floor. After all we’d been through together, it still zapped me, its defenses active. At least the towel somewhat insulated my hand.

On my way to the kitchen, I looked sadly at the corner where I’d leaned the sword that I hadn’t stopped thinking of ashis, despite Duncan giving it to me as a gift. Its absence made me feel bleak, like I’d failed by allowing myself to be robbed. After I freed Duncan from Radomir’s control, I would come back and find it. I couldn’t stomach the idea of taking that awful elixir of location again, but the motorcycle thugs came by regularly. They couldn’t live that far from here. I only hoped they hadn’t sold the sword at a pawn shop. I also worried about that magical artifact the man had used on me.

All along, I’d thought of the local thugs as annoying but normal and not as dangerous as those who courted the paranormal. But if they had acquired magical items, they could prove more deadly going forward.

“Do you want to shower before we go, Duncan?” I waved to the bathroom.

“Another time, I would accept that offer, but your interns await.”

“Interns? I only have one.”

“Your niece knocked on the door. She mentioned working for you to earn your heartfelt recommendation for her résumé.”

“I told her she’s already got that. We even discussed fancy fonts with curlicues to convey that heartfeltness.”

Duncan spread his hand. “She believes she must do more.”

Ihadinvited Jasmine to come along, so I didn’t say more. When offered a sandwich, I accepted it and also raided the kitchen for coffee, bottles of water, and two salami logs—in case I needed to bribe any family members to get in to see Mom. Once packed, we headed toward the parking lot, Duncan finally hopping into his van to put on new clothes. As a werewolf herself, Jasmine wouldn’t have thought anything of him answering the door naked, but I was glad nobody else had come by the apartment.

“As I told you, my weapons were taken in the robbery,” I said when he rejoined me. “Do you have anything we could use?”

“For the discussion with your mother?” Duncan asked. “Is it likely to get spirited?”

“You know what else I hope will happen while we’re visiting my mom.” I held up the wolf case.

Duncan sighed but didn’t say he wouldn’t change. The wariness in his eyes did make me wonder if he knew something I didn’t know—and wouldn’t like. Such as that he might, in bipedfuris form, mercilessly attack someone who followed him?

“You lost the grenades as well as the sword, right?” Duncan asked. “I’m afraid I haven’t had a chance to buy more.”

“Yeah, sorry. I do still have the magnet you gave me.”

“Well, those come in handy. That’s good.”

“I used it to open a barred garage door.”

“Oh?” His eyes gleamed with pleasure. “That’s excellent, my lady.”

“Some people would chastise a woman for breaking and entering.”

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