Page 3 of Triumph of the Wolf
My ex-husband was the one who’d originally propelled Duncan into my life. Even though that had turned out better than expected, it wasn’t due to anything Chad had done. He’d hired Duncan to steal the magical wolf-lidded case from my apartment. That wasafteryears of cheating on me, rarely contributing anything to the family’s finances, and even, before his final departure, leaving me in debt he’d created and wiping out the kids’ college funds. If he ever showed up in Seattle again, I might tear his throat out—whether I was in my wolf form or not.
My frustrations fueled my energy to clean up the storm debris, and by the time Duncan showed up in early afternoon, the lawn looked good again.
He gave me a cheerful wave as he headed across the grass toward me, his aura noticeably similar to that of the boy’s. The sun highlighted his twinkling brown eyes, the three days’ worth of beard stubble framing his strong jaw, and the only slightly creased forehead that looked extra appealing now that the scarhe’d had all his life had disappeared. When it had linked him to that control device Abrams had held, I’d worried if I could trust Duncan not to turn on me. That had, more than once, kept me from inviting him to my bedroom, even though I often woke up in the night, wishing for his company, stirred by urges that I’d thought I was, at almost forty-six, past having.
“Greetings, my lady.” Duncan paused a few feet away to bow. “I do love it when you gaze at me with avid lust and longing in your eyes.”
“You’re imagining that,” I said, even if that wasexactlythe look on my face. I couldn’t admit it to him. He was already full of himself.
“That can’t be. Over the course of my life, I’ve bestirred lust in many a woman. I know the look well.”
“You’re awfully cocky for an itinerant treasure hunter who rarely discovers more than rusty shopping carts and bike frames.”
“You know I’ve found more thanthatduring my adventures.” Duncan winked and lifted a chain around his neck, pulling a medallion with a wolf head out from under his button-down shirt. Despite the brisk January air, the top couple of buttons were unfastened, and I glimpsed the swell of his pectorals. My libido hummed with renewed interest.
Hell, he was right. Iwaslusting for him.
Duncan smirked at me, released the medallion, and unfastened another button. His eyelids drooped, and he gazed invitingly at me through his lashes. He read me all too well.
“Didn’t you only find that because of a vision my case and my mom’s medallion gave you?” I asked, trying not to feel flustered. Or horny.
“Notonly,surely. I was hot on the trail and only slightly aided by those events.”
“I see.”
“Though your intervention most certainly made my life easier and quite interesting as well.” Duncan beamed a smile at me and waved at his forehead.
“I hope you’re not talking about how I, in a huff of lupine frustration, destroyed that control device, which resulted in you being cursed to die.”
“That was more alarming and distressing than interesting. Fortunately, all is resolved, and I’ve been feeling quite fit and hale these last few days.” Duncan gave me the lids-drooped, bedroom-eyes look again, then lowered his voice. “I was admiring you from around the corner for a few moments before you noticed me.” His gaze descended toward my chest to suggest exactly which parts of me held some fascination for him.
That turned me on more than it should have. He’d essentially been ogling me while spying on me from a distance. I should have been affronted, but damn if it didn’t feel good to be ogled, especially at my age.
Oh, I’d been feeling fitter, and evenyounger,since I’d stopped taking the potion that sublimated my magic, but that didn’t mean I didn’t look my age and have two grown sons. Having someone drawn to me made me feel young and hot again. And Duncan… He’d been at my side, helping me with all my problems—and all myenemies—since realizing he liked me a lot more than he did my ex-husband. That alone was enough for me to want to invite him to my bedroom… or behind the nearest rhododendron.
Only the fact that my mother, every time we visited, kept trying to urge us tomateso Duncan could get me pregnant made me hesitate to do exactly that. Each time Mom had brought that up where he could hear, he hadn’t looked thrilled. Even if his near-brush with death had prompted him to reconsider fatherhood, what kind of guy wanted to be manipulated into a relationship by his potential girlfriend’smother?
“You did sneak up on me,” I said into the silence, aware of his brazen gaze roaming over me. “Like a stalker.”
He lifted his gaze to my face—checking to see if I minded his perusal? “You’ve admitted before that me stalking you doesn’t disturb you as much as it should.”
“I know I have. And it doesn’t. I want…” I lifted a hand. I wantedhim.
His eyebrows rose.
“To let you know that if we were to do anything right now, we would have a spy.” I shifted my raised hand to point toward the woods. “Did you notice?”
His brow creased. “Did Abrams send men? I’ve worried he would bother you.”
“Sort of. Your half-sized doppelgänger has been lurking among the pines.” I waved toward the stump where I’d placed the slices of salami. Since my heritage enhanced my eyesight, even from a distance, I could see that the lunch meat had disappeared.
Had Lykos gotten it? Or the crows? For that matter, Duncan might have smelled it and helped himself. Werewolves hadexcellentnoses—and voracious appetites.
“Ah. I haven’t yet sensed him, but if he saw my van arrive, he would have a good idea about how far away I can detect paranormal beings, so he could have slinked off, roughly out of range.” Duncan scratched his jaw. “Actually, he knowsexactlywhat my range is.”
“Must be weird having a clone.”
“It is, yes. Let me go see if he’s out there and wants something. Later, perhaps, we could…” His gaze swung back to me, lust lingering in his eyes.
