Page 68 of Quest of the Wolf

“Au naturel?” I suggested.

“Indeed.” Duncan took the turn off the main highway to head through town and toward the forested lands that held my mother’s cabin. As we traveled into the foothills of the mountains, the ground grew snowy. At the higher elevation, it had been sticking for a while. “Radomir had a map with lakes, ponds, streams, and rivers circled. He’d come across some rumors or lore about the medallion last being seen near a waterway.”

“Mom’s aunt said a lake specifically.”

Duncan nodded. “That’s possible. Back in the days before goggles and SCUBA gear, a relatively deep body of water might have been considered a decent place to hide something.”

“So if the wayward wolf who stole it from my pack knew he was being pursued, he might have thrown the medallion in?”

“Even if those trying to retrieve it could sense the magic,” Duncan said, “diving down and getting it out would have been difficult.”

“It would have been difficult for the thief to get it out too.”

“Maybe, at that point, he simply didn’t want to be caught with it and didn’t hope to find it again. Or he was naive about his ability to do so in a lake.”

“I guess it’s a good thing you’ve got a van full of SCUBA equipment.”

“Absolutely.”

“You should probably let Radomir call you to his garage, so you’ll have easy access to it.” I waggled my eyebrows. That would be a lot easier than trekking after a bipedfuris with a GPS tracker in my mouth.

“With you and your well-armed brute squad—” Duncan glanced back at the violin case, “—ready to jump out and attack him when we arrive?”

“Naturally.”

Duncan gave me a longer look. “Are you planning to kill him? Both of them? So they can’t harass your mother again?”

“I’m not a murderer.” I winced, well aware that Ihadkilled before. But that had been in self-defense, damn it. “And I’m more worried about keeping them from harassingyou.” That wasn’t entirely true. Ididwant to end the threat to my mother, ideally to the whole pack. “From controlling you anyway.”

“I’d prefer they not harassorcontrol me,” Duncan said wistfully.

“Good. I’ve wondered how hard you’re fighting them… or at least their quest.”

“As I admitted, this quest isn’t unappealing, but I would be happier searching by your side, with the intent to give the medallion toyou, rather than having anything to do withthem.”

“I believe you. I’m going to make suretheyleave the picture.” I set my jaw and looked out the window as we drove deeper into the forestlands, snow dusting the boughs of evergreens.

Duncan looked like he wanted to ask more, but he fell silent as we continued up the road. A for-sale sign that hadn’t been therebefore caught my eye. It was past the beaver pond and not far from Mom’s property, though it was on the opposite side of the road.

“Is that a bite taken out of that sign?” Bolin asked from the back.

“That happened the day it went up,” Jasmine said. “Thenight. Some of the pack members like to dissuade people from buying and developing the land out here, and normal humans aren’t dissuaded by the usual ways wolves mark territory.”

“Does that mean one of your family members…”

“They’ve been known to pee on such real-estate signs, yes.”

“I can see where humans wouldn’t really notice that.”

“Yeah, they’re obtuse. You should see what one of my cousins did to a land-development notification a little ways back down the road.”

“I’m not sure I want to imagine,” Bolin said.

“The pack knows those lands don’t belong to us, not in the legal, human sense of these things, but when you’re in wolf form, you know how it is.” Jasmine shrugged. Maybe she’d forgotten that Bolin wasn’t one of our kind andwouldn’tknow that. “You think like a wolf, not someone aware of property lines. At least the family still owns quite a bit of land back here. Your mom specifically, I think, Luna. My parents mentioned that once. Apparently, more than one real estate developer has approached your mom about selling. None of those meetings went well for them.”

“Were signs not the only thing bitten?” I asked.

“I think not.”

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