Page 26 of Curse of the Wolf
As I headed toward Ivan, he walked up to an elegant woman in her late thirties who stood near a cheerfully blazing gas fireplace. She’d brought a girl of seven or eight, her daughter presumably, who was assiduously tapping away on her phone.
I paused, startled. Both mother and daughter had a feral vibe. Alupinevibe.
I wasn’t the only werewolf at the party.
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The momwith the lupine vibe looked in my direction, our eyes locking. She squinted, then frowned. Picking upmyferal vibe? Worse, she tapped Ivan on the shoulder and pointed at me.
“Really?” he asked, turning in my direction.
The woman nodded. Now, they both squinted at me, suspicion in their eyes.
I froze, debating between continuing forward to talk to them and springing toward the elevator to flee. But I wasn’t, I told myself, doing anything wrong. I had an invitation to the party.
That didn’t keep me from breaking out in a sweat when they walked toward me, the mom gripping her daughter’s hand. The girl complained and waved her phone, a game open on the screen. But when she noticed me, she lowered it and grew quiet.
“Good evening,” Ivan said. “May I get you a drink refill?” He waved to my glass, which I’d barely sipped, then lowered his voice to add, “Or something to eat? A raw steak perhaps?”
The woman’s eyebrows didn’t so much as twitch. She eyed me up and down, as if she thought we might fight later and wanted to gauge my strengths and weaknesses.
Ihopedthat wouldn’t be necessary. I couldn’t imagine that turning furry in the middle of a cocktail party would help me get a new property-management job. If anything, I needed a kitchen faucet to spontaneously spring a leak, giving me the opportunity to fix it in front of everyone.
“I only eat raw food that I’ve hunted myself.” I kept myself from glancing to the side to check on Jasmine. If the werewolf mom hadn’t noticed my niece yet, I didn’t want to draw attention to her.
“What’s your favorite prey?” The woman had a sultry voice.
“Elk.” I eyed her. “What’syours?”
“Javelina is delicious.”
I blinked. Where was she hunting javelinas? “I haven’t tried that before.”
“It’s a sweet, mild, pork-like meat. Javelinas are common in Arizona.”
I didn’t know what to make of the factoid until Ivan said, “My half-sister, Izzy, is visiting from Scottsdale.” He tilted his head toward her. “I got her into real estate a few years ago, and now she owns more than two hundred units in the Phoenix metro area.”
“I bet she doesn’t have any trouble collecting rents,” I said.
“I don’t.” The mom—Izzy—flashed her teeth, including canines as sharp as mine.
The kid looked back and forth between us.
“What brings you to my little event…” Ivan trailed off, prompting me for my name.
“Luna Valens.”
“You haven’t been here before, have you?” Ivan gave his sister a significant look.
Only then did I realize he might believe I’d had something to do with the theft. A werewolf might naturally be interested in werewolf artifacts, after all.
“I haven’t, no. I work for the Sylvans.” I looked around and was relieved to spot Rory and Kashvi stepping off the elevator with Bolin.
I lifted a hand toward them, but Bolin beelined straight for Jasmine without noticing me. Fortunately, Rory saw me and returned the wave. Some acquaintance of Kashvi’s intercepted her and drew her off, but Rory walked over.
“Evening, Ivan, Luna. Bolin said you might come.” He nodded to me before looking toward the host.
“This is my half-sister, Izzy,” Ivan said to Rory. “Good of you to come. Davenport is pitching your property to his syndicate. You might be amused and also offended by what he sent out in his email.”
