Page 60 of Triumph of the Wolf
“I think so. He’s in love, after all.”
“Was it love that convinced you to consume such a dreadful liquid to findme?” He lifted his hand from the steering wheel to touch his chest.
My first instinct was to say something snarky, possibly about having his van towed, and the smile on his lips suggested he expected it. But I thought about all we’d been through together, how many times he’d come to my aid, and that I might even now have the beginning of his child—ourchild—within me.
“Yeah,” I said.
His eyebrows raised in mild surprise but only for a moment before he said, “I love you too.”
“Yeah,” I said again, smiling.
He pulled into the parking lot of Sylvan Serenity, and it would have been a great moment for a kiss, but Bolin stood on the sidewalk, waiting for us. He wore a backpack, a flak vest, and… was that a bandolier? It looked like it held vials rather than bullets, but that didn’t keep him from looking like a slender Rambo ready to tramp into a jungle to fight bad guys.
“Love drives men to do interesting things,” I observed.
A few kids of eight or ten were up early, playing on the lawn. Digging up earthworms drawn out by the rain, perhaps. I remembered encountering that crew before and that they’d been daring each other to eat such things.
“Oh, it certainly does.” Duncan might have said more, but Bolin jogged up to his window.
“Rue said she would have the elixir soon,” Bolin said when Duncan rolled it down. “Then we can go. But I need to be within ten miles of Jasmine before drinking it. Do you want to drive? Or I could. But… I don’t have any idea where the kidnappers took her. Do you?”
“We do have an idea. I need to go to the bathroom and grab something to eat before we take off again, but we can all go together.” I also wanted to see if I could sense my relatives, but that wouldn’t take long. I tilted my thumb toward the back of the van in an invitation to Bolin.
“Okay. I have a few more supplies to load.” Bolin held up a finger, then ran to his SUV, throwing open the back door.
“Do you think he might have stopped for grenades?” Duncan asked. “I haven’t had a chance to replenish my reserves.”
“I have no idea what kind ofsuppliesa geeky, spelling-bee-competing, violin-playing druid might bring.” I opened the door to slide out. “When Jasmine said she would bring provisions for one of our adventures, it was a bag of Doritos.”
“Did the chips keep you sated?”
“They at least let me wash the taste of that potion out of my mouth. I’d better bring something along for Bolin to do the same.” I was relieved that it sounded likeheintended to take the elixir himself. Of course, he didn’t have previous experience with the loathsome liquid to know how awful it was.
“I have a few chocolate-covered espresso beans left, but I’d intended to save those for you.”
“I do like to caffeinate myself before storming an enemy compound.”
“We all do. Is that… a Howitzer?”
I followed Duncan’s gaze. Bolin was levering something large and metal out of the back of his SUV.
“Probably not,” I said, “but it does look awkward.”
“I’d better help him.” Duncan hopped out. “And make sure he doesn’t load anything that might be dangerous to my van.”
“Good idea.”
I strode toward my apartment, thinking fondly of my espresso maker as I yawned for the thousandth time that morning. Distracted by my longing for coffee, I almost missed sensing a werewolf in the woods.
It wasn’t someone from my pack but Lykos. Uneasy, I stopped behind a lamppost and peered toward the trees, then looked toward the parking lot to make sure Duncan wasn’t in a potentially vulnerable position.
He was helping Bolin carry some kind of tripod with a barrel on it—I decided it probably wasn’t a weapon—to the van. Duncan must have sensed me looking because he met my gaze, tilted his head toward the woods, and nodded. Of course. With his superior senses, he must have already detected the kid out there.
Laughter came from the boys holding worms and, for who knew what reason, a hockey puck aloft.
Though Lykos was good at camouflaging himself in those woods, I got the sense from his position that he might be looking at the kids instead of at Duncan. Because he intended them some harm?
It was hard for me to imagine a clone of Duncan having a malevolent streak, but Lykoswasapparently here on an assassination mission.
