Page 24 of Triumph of the Wolf
Chad’s gaze swung back to me, his mouth drooping open. Huh, I’d guessed right. Maybe it shouldn’t have surprised me. Who else in the area would have been purchasing werewolf artifacts?
“How would you know that?”
I wanted to say,I killed him,but Chad could be recording the conversation. Even if Duncan and I had been defending ourselves from Abrams and Radomir and all their thugs, it wasn’t as if I could claim we’d run Radomir off the road—off thatcliff—purely in self-defense.
“I know a lot related to the werewolf artifacts in the area,” I said.
“Even if what you say is true, there are other buyers around.” Chad laughed shortly. “If what you say about the translation is true, the people I’m working with now might even buy it.”
Hell,washe legitimately up here on some kind of business? Whatbusinesswould have to do with werewolves? Most people didn’t even know our kind existed.
Chad took another step closer. “Why don’t you go get it, and we’ll sell it together? Even thoughI’mthe one who found it, I admit that my means for retrieving it weren’t that ideal.”
“No shit.”
“Make things easier on me now, and I’ll cut you in. Half of what I make. I remember what you earn working your ass off here, that little pittance. I know you could use the money.”
My fingers curled into fists, the temptation to punch him rearing up again. The suggestion that I had a problem with money angered me more than anything else he’d said.Hewas the only reason I’d ended up in debt in the first place, andhewas why the kids hadn’t had money for college when they’d been ready. All along, I’d been putting some aside, saving it for them, and he’d stolen it before I’d ever spoken the worddivorce.
“If you’re going to throw money around,” I said, “Cameron and Austin are the ones who could use it for school.”
Well, Austin had found another route now via the Air Force, but maybe Cameron would still like to go.
Chad glanced toward the parking lot, then focused on me again. “There’d be plenty for that. If you just get the case and bring it here. Don’t be selfish about it.”
“I told you that I gave it to its rightful owners.”
“I don’t believe you. You’ve never been a good liar.”
My knuckles tightened, my face red, and the first tingle of magic swept through my veins. I swallowed, irritated that he was getting a rise out of me. Thelastthing I wanted to do was change into a wolf in front of him. Less because I cared if I lost myself to the moon magic and my wild instincts and more because I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing it.
“You turned into a wolf in front of Austin,” Chad whispered, as if he knew my thoughts. He could probably see the rage in my eyes, maybe even sense, in his mundane human way, that I was close to changing. “You never did for me.”
“I never needed to saveyoufrom kidnappers.” I wondered how much of the story Austin had shared.
Chad smiled tightly, not looking surprised—or concerned at all that Austin had been threatened. “It would have been handy for the debt collectors.”
“Which we wouldn’t have been harassed by if you hadn’t been keeping women on the side and been so infrequent with the money you brought in. If not for the so-calledpittanceI made here, we wouldn’t have gotten by at all.”
He watched my face as I glared at him, then inhaled, as if our confrontation was invigorating him. Did he have no idea how badly I wanted to punch him? That if he goaded me and I turned into the wolf, I might do muchworsethan punch him?
“You’re still sexy when you’re angry. You always were, but it’s more magnetic now.” He lifted a hand, as if to reach for my chest.
If he touched me…
“I always wanted this,” he said, his voice husky. Was the bastardaroused? “Wanted the wolf,” he added.
“I know what you wanted, and you’re not getting it. Leave now before I do something…” That I would regret? That was the saying, but I wouldn’t regret it. I would enjoy lashing out at him. Never in all the years we’d been married had I tried to hit him, but with my magic no longer sublimated, the pull to unleash my temper and mypowerwas stronger than ever. “…that’ll get me arrested,” I finished.
Chad laughed. “You wouldn’t do that. You may be part animal, but you’re a good girl. You always obeyed the law. I just want to hear you howl.” He lifted a hand and touched my breast.
I punched him in the nose so hard that he flew backward. He cried out as he landed on his ass and rolled away.
“Shit, Luna!” he barked, jerking his hands to his face. “You broke my nose!”
I growled, tempted to spring upon him and break a lot more.
But I sensed Duncan running across the lawn toward us. I tried to still my anger, not wanting to lose my equanimity completely, to be an animal in front of him.
