Page 90 of Quest of the Wolf

With Lorenzo waving for us to come into the cabin, I didn’t delay further, merely grabbing some snacks—bribes—and heading for the porch steps. I spotted Emilio in wolf form. He glanced at the medallion but focused on whatreallymattered to him and wagged his tail. I put a salami in his mouth, trusting his sharp teeth would be capable of removing the plastic wrap if he wanted to eat it in that form. A couple other wolves came up, blocking the steps until I also gave them meat gifts. When I ran out, they turned to Duncan, and he delved into his grocery bag.

“I’ll reserve the chocolate bars for those in human form,” he said, finding a way between the furry obstacles to set stacks of them on the porch railing. “I’ve not tried eating desserts in my lupine state, but I understand dogs can’t consume chocolate, and our GI tracts aren’t that different from theirs.”

“Theirs are far inferior,” came Mom’s voice from the cabin. She stepped up beside Lorenzo and leaned on him. Right away, her gaze latched onto the medallion in my hand. “They’re like vultures and crows, scavengers that will eat anything.”

“I think you can deliver the chocolate bars to her and her discerning palate,” I told Duncan.

“Yes. Come in.” Mom pointed at the medallion rather than the bars.Thatwas what she wanted delivered.

Duncan and I joined her and Lorenzo inside. Jasmine slipped out to give us privacy.

“You found it,” Mom said quietly as I set the medallion on the table.

“Duncan found it. I just drove up to pick him up afterward.”

I thought about mentioning the dramatic night rescuing Austin and his friends, but she’d made it clear that she didn’t careabout my sons. They weren’t werewolves, and thus, in her eyes, they were as inferior as dogs. We’d argued over that before, and I didn’t want to again. Besides, she looked rough this morning and leaned on Lorenzo again when he came over. There’d been a time—most of her life—when she wouldn’t have leaned on anyone for anything.

“It was a most delightful and perfect pick-up,” Duncan said. “Luna brought my own van to me. Quite thoughtful.”

I expected Mom to ignore him and examine the medallion more closely, but she only ignored his silliness and nodded politely at him.

“Where was it?” she asked. “It’s been gone my whole life.”

“In the chilly depths of Silver Lake near Maple Falls,” Duncan said. “I’ve magnet-fished in another body of water called Silver Lake that lies not too many miles north of Luna’s home. They don’t have the most creative or imaginative names for places here, do they?”

“Maybe you’d prefer the likes of Mukilteo, Puyallup, and Quileute?” I asked. “We have those names too.”

“I don’t know,” Duncan said. “Do they mean Silver Lake in another language?”

I snorted. “They might.”

“That you’ve found our pack’s missing medallion means a great deal to us,” Mom told Duncan.

“It was an honor to quest for something of value to Luna’s family,” he replied. “I was wondering… Well, we discovered that it has the power to nullify controlling magic.” He waved to his forehead but didn’t continue on. Maybe he didn’t want to admit to being susceptible to that in front of my mother?

I didn’t point out that she’d been there when he’d been clutching his forehead the day before and fighting not to give in.

“I wondered if I might borrow it for a while,” he said. “Luna did destroy the device that was being used specifically on me, butthose who held it have many other magical artifacts. Until we’ve dealt with those men, it would be ideal to have extra protection against such items.”

Mom picked up the medallion, turning it over in her hands several times as she examined it from all angles. I expected her to object, to say that the pack couldn’t risk losing it.

“I believe,” she said slowly, lifting it toward Duncan, “that you may be meant to wear it.”

He blinked. “Meantto?”

“You went on a quest to find it and succeeded when nobody else has, and you are of the Old World with the ability to turn into the bipedfuris. I believed before that you would be a good mate for my daughter, to give her powerful werewolf offspring, but now I think it is more than that.”

“Oh?” Was that wariness in Duncan’s tone?

Worried I knew where Mom was going with this, I didn’t blame him for it.

“You were meant to impregnate my daughter,” she said.

I slumped and groaned. Why did she have to bring that up every time Duncan was here?

“That’s really romantic, Mom,” I muttered.

“I was hoping for recreational hunting and frolicking before talk of impregnation came up.” Duncan’s tone was light, but his eyes had grown haunted.

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