Page 41 of Triumph of the Wolf
“Decorations for a resort,” Chad said. “The ideal use for priceless magical artifacts.”
The guy he was speaking to snorted. “If you can prove there’s anything out here that’smagical, we can talk about what uses it might have. I’m just building the resort. Assuming we can get the werewolf infestation out of the area.”
“Two weeks ago, you didn’t believe werewolves existed,” the woman said.
“That was before Tommy got chased out of the area by a pack of them wrenching pieces off his truck.”
“So he claims.”
“Isawthe tooth marks in the frame. And the missing fender. He had some footage he took with his phone out the back window as he was ripping out of there. Biggest fucking wolves you’ve ever seen.”
“The biggest wolves are less interested in fucking than you’d think,” Chad said.
My cheeks heated at the suggestion that he meant me.
“Just figure out how to get the land from them. I don’t care if there are werewolves in the area—like I said, that should add mystique and draw in clientele who wouldn’t come for seaweed wraps and gold panning—but we need to legally own the land before we can break ground.”
“Isn’t the parcel you got enough?” Chad asked. “There are hot springs and mines right here.”
“I think we’re on the woman’s land at this point.”
The woman’s? Mom’s? It had to be.
“We’ve picked up a couple of smaller parcels,” another speaker said, “but this stream and all the way up that gully are hers. Another chunk belongs to what looks like a sibling. That whole family has been squatting out here for generations.”
“It’s not squatting when they’re the rightful owners.”
“Normalfamilies sell land when civilization grows out to it and the property increases a ton in value.”
The woman laughed shortly. “You’re not offering what the value is.”
“No, this wouldn’t pencil out if we had to pay a fortune for each acre. We need a deal.” Voice grim and determined, the male speaker added, “And we’re going to get a deal.”
The hell they were. I clenched my jaw.
“Someone might need to scare these blokes into changing their plans,” Duncan murmured.
“Are you offering to go furry and toss a few of them around?” Maybe I shouldn’t have found the idea appealing. Other than scheming, the developers hadn’t, as far as I knew, done anything terribly evil. Not like Radomir, who’d repeatedly sent men with rifles loaded with silver bullets after my mom and the family.
“I’d be happy to go furry. I—” A twig snapped, and Duncan looked in the direction of the speakers.
Movement stirred branches, and we eased off the trail the group had trampled on their way to the mine shaft. Foliage rustled, and people muttered, heading in this direction. We moved farther off the trail, ducking behind evergreen trees and bushes.
No fewer than ten men and a couple of women passed by, some pausing to take photos with their phones. The gurgling stream meandering through trees and around mossy boulderswaspicturesque, but I gritted my teeth at the thought of it ending up on a brochure for a resort built by sketchy means.
Chad wasn’t with the group. Had he stayed behind to look for werewolfrelics? I doubted he wanted to soak in a muddy hole, no matter how appealing the mineral content of the water.
Duncan pointed after the group and arched his eyebrows. Asking if he should do something to scare them?
I bit my lip, debating. I also wondered if Cameron was with Chad. By now, Cameron had heard all about my werewolf heritage, but the idea of changing and doing something savage in front of him made me wince. It had been one thing when I’d been saving Austin from kidnappers. But this would be… bullying, essentially. Arguably for a good cause, andDuncanwas volunteering to handle it, but still. I wanted to be noble and a good mom for my son, damn it.
“Let me talk to Chad first,” I whispered, assuming he was still back there.
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“And throw him over a car again?”
“It would take quite a throw to do that from here, but I’m game to try.”
