Page 32 of Triumph of the Wolf
“Will you two do me a favor?” I put the sword aside and helped the women pack away their equipment. “And do your ghost monitoring elsewhere? This place is…”
“Reeking with chaotic energy and paranormal signatures?” one suggested.
“My home. And his territory.” I pointed at Duncan. Actually, it wasmyterritory, but if they hadn’t yet figured out I was awerewolf, I wouldn’t give that away. “We’re not looking to have it featured on social media. We try to keep it a safe place.”
“But it’s alreadyonsocial media. All kinds of cool stuff has happened here.”
Cool stuff? Like thugs burglarizing apartments and being killed in fights in the parking lot?
Her friend gripped her arm and gave a warning head shake as she glanced at Duncan.
“We get it,” she said. “We won’t ghost hunt here.” A mournful look at the equipment suggested that enough of it had been damaged that they would struggle to do so anyway.
I couldn’t be sad about that. It was possible I hadn’t reacted quite as quickly to defend the bashing of the equipment as I might have if something more important had been under fire.
“Thank you for helping us,” she added. “Forprotectingus.” She looked at her roommate. “I knew it wouldn’t be a mistake moving in here.”
They gathered their gear and headed back to their unit.
Still in wolf form, Duncan sat at my side and gazed into the woods. Unable to help myself, I licked my finger and tried to rub the glistening smear of grease off his fur.
He gave me a flat look, then pointed his snout toward the woods again. Was he trying to tell me that Lykos was out there? No, I realized as I sensed the presence of a werewolf. It wasn’t the kid but Izzy.
In wolf form? Or her human form? Probably the former. It was hard to imagine the wealthy real estate maven skulking in the woods as a woman.
Duncan’s head swiveled back toward the street. A noisy engine idled out there. The Corvette? Maybe we hadn’t successfully scared those guys away, and they were plotting their next move.
Arms full of their mangled gear, the women headed to their apartment.
“Lock your door,” I called after them.
They glanced warily back and quickened their pace.
Duncan looked toward the woods again. He growled in that direction. Though he hadn’t met Izzy, and I hadn’t explained much about her or her former pack, the Cascade Crushers, he might have caught her scent on the premises before. A few days back, Izzy had rather pointedly marked a rhododendron in front of my apartment. Presumably in her wolf form, but one couldn’t be sure.
Duncan growled toward the street.
“Threats in all directions, huh?” I eyed the sword, wondering if I should have lopped off one of the wizards’ ears. But, as brutish as they’d been, I wasn’t sure they didn’t have a legitimate grievance with my tenants.
Duncan’s pointed ears flickered. He was listening to me, but he didn’t take his eyes from the street.
“Why don’t you make sure those guys head home?” I pointed in the direction of the idling car. “I’ve fought Izzy before. If she does more than mark the bushes, I can handle her.”
Besides, I doubted it would take Duncan long to convince the wizards to leave fully. Ripping the fender off an old car would be a simple matter for a powerful wolf.
Duncan swished his tail and brushed his flank against my hip as he padded away.
“I don’t know if that was a bump of agreement or a promise that we’ll return to our date in the van soon,” I called softly after him.
He looked over his shoulder, tongue lolling out.
“Okay, I look forward to it.”
Tail up, he trotted toward the street.
My senses suggested Izzy hadn’t moved. Maybe, like Duncan’s little clone brother, she would start with spying on me to assess my strengths and weaknesses before she made an attempt on my life.
“As if she didn’t get to assess everything when we were rolling around on the floor of that closet,” I muttered.
