Page 10 of Triumph of the Wolf
“And the magical cave.”
“Yeah, but normal humans wouldn’t know about that and wouldn’t be able to see the glowing mushrooms or anything.”
“Could they see the red eyes of the animals who’ve drunk the water?”
“I don’t know, but, even if they could, that wouldn’t be aselling point. It’s creepy.”
“I suppose that’s true. Maybe that frog pond has some appeal. Is that on the property?”
“I wouldn’t think so,” I said. “That’s quite a ways from the cabin. Besides,pondsaren’t exactly a rarity up here in the rainy Pacific Northwest.”
When we reached the long driveway, Mom and Lorenzo weren’t standing at the end of it this time. I sensed them in the cabin back behind the trees. Whatever was going on with the pack, it couldn’t concern them too much.
Or… My stomach knotted. It might be that Mom was too weak to walk down the driveway, even if somethingdidconcern her. And would she be too proud to ask Lorenzo to carry her? Likely.
After we parked in front of the cabin, Lorenzo stepped out onto the porch. This late in the day, it lay in shadow, despite the blue sky. With tall trees looming on all sides, the cabin didn’t get a lot of natural light, but Mom probably preferred it that way, the scents of mossy fir, cedar, and pine all around when she opened a window.
Lorenzo lifted a hand toward me, nothing on his face suggesting he was surprised by or objected to Duncan’s presence. We hadn’t had a chance yet to see if the rest of the pack would accept Duncan wearing the medallion, but Mom and Lorenzo had said they didn’t mind.
A distant howl came from the direction of the road, the direction those vehicles had been going. Others joined in. It sounded like the wolves might have stopped where the forest ended and the more civilized—and more densely populated—farm properties began.
“They must have succeeded in driving those men away.” Lorenzo gazed in that direction as we joined him on the porch.
“They seemed to be enjoying themselves as they did so,” I said.
“It was an opportunity for them to take out their frustrations.”
“What’s been going on?” I asked.
“More properties that are owned by the pack have been listed for sale. Renata has said she’s felt like she’s been playing, what was it called, oh, a game called Whac-A-Mole to follow the legal process of alerting the listing agents that they’ve been fooled and the parcels arenotfor sale. Numerous agents have been involved, not all the same one, but she believes a single entity may be behind the listings.”
I looked at Duncan, wondering not for the first time if Abrams might be behind this. ButRadomirhad been the businessman. Abrams wasn’t from this country, and I doubted he was even here legally.
“With Radomir gone, would Abrams be making real estate plays?” I asked Duncan.
“I think Radomir was the mastermind behind the attempt to try to get your property. Unless this was all set up before his death…” Duncan waved at the surrounding woods, then tilted his palm toward the sky.
“You have property?” Lorenzo asked.
“No, not me. Duncan meant the apartment complex where I live and work. I don’t have a financial stake in it, but it also had some schemy stuff going on recently. We resolved that though.” Again, I thought of Radomir dead at the bottom of that cliff. A most definite resolution. “I’m skeptical that it was related to this.”
“We’re confused aboutwhysomeone wants the properties back here,” Lorenzo said. “They are large in acreage, but the often-steep terrain would make development difficult, and the existing homes are very rural and rustic. The timber has some value, but lumber isn’t worththatmuch, and there’s a lot of it in Western Washington.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, as stumped as he.
“The parcels back here rarely go on the market,” Lorenzo said. “Most of those not owned by the Savagers are in family trusts that have held them for decades. Those mundane humans use them for much the same purposes as we do—hunting and recreation—and are never keen to give them up.”
“Jasmine’s mom will get to the bottom of things,” I said.
“Yes.” Lorenzo nodded. “Even if someone does want to acquire a large contiguous piece of land for some reason, they will find thatwerewolvesare not easy to drive off their properties.”
“No, I haven’t even been able to drive this one out of my parking lot.” I tilted a thumb toward Duncan.
“You’ve not tried as hard as you could have, my lady.” Duncan bowed to me. “Despite numerous threats of towing, a truck has yet to show up for my van.”
“I’ve been busy. I’ll yet have it towed. I saw your hose out, mooching water from my spigot again.”
He grinned at me.
