Page 30 of Curse of the Wolf
I didn’t want to tear my gaze from Izzy, not when she was on the verge of changing, when she radiated loathing as well as magic. She must have held this pain, this grudge, for more than twenty years. And for the first time, she saw the opportunity to act upon it.
“Yes?” Out of my peripheral vision, I could see Ivan looking expectantly at me.
“I’d like your opinion on a security matter. On a theft I recently suffered, in truth.” Speaking in a calm, matter-of-fact voice, Ivan didn’t notice that his sister was glaring daggers at me and on the verge of changing into a wolf. Of course, as a mundane human, he wouldn’t sense the magic. He’d clearly been born to only one parent withlycanthropic blood. He was, like my sons, perfectly normal. “If you’ve a way to track down robbers, I could make it worth your while. Monetarily or by putting in a good word with whomever.” He waved airily, as if either would be a simple matter and wouldn’t bother him.
“I’ll be happy to have a look.”
Izzygrowled. It was too low in her throat for her brother to hear, but she could spring at me at any moment.
This might be Ivan’s home and party, but I doubted he had the power to stop her if she turned into a wolf. I would have to fight her, and then what? My senses told me I was probably stronger than she was—though they also suggested she was the kind of person to fight dirty and take advantage of distractions—but that didn’t mean I would win. What if I lost my rational mind and killed her, right here in her brother’s bedroom with a hundred people outside the door? A hundred potential witnesses? Hell, my employers were out there.
“Great,” Ivan said. “In here, please. Step aside, Izzy, will you?”
She didn’t, not until the bedroom door opened and her daughter peered inside. “Mom? Can druids change into bears? And would it be agrizzlybear? Or like a black bear?”
Izzy clenched her jaw. “Quit pestering that boy. He’s not powerful enough to even draw a bear.”
I bristled on Bolin’s behalf, but the girl waved for her mother to come look at something. Had Bolin managed to slip away with Jasmine? He’d looked harried and probably would have slipped away withanyone, especially if it meant avoiding being outed asa quirky person with paranormal abilities in front of a roomful of people he might have to interact with in the coming years.
Izzy didn’t want to leave me, but when her daughter held up something magical—hah, was that one of the bath bombs?—she frowned in concern and stalked away from me. Maybe the kid would accidentally drop it at her feet and entangle her. Were such actions frowned upon at upscale shindigs?
I took the opportunity to step into the room-like closet with Ivan.
“I’ve recently had something stolen.” Ivan pointed toward the safe, the warped door now open. An air purifier hummed in the corner of the closet. The torching of the side of the safe had probably left an odor, though I didn’t notice anything now. “And a lot of thingsnotstolen.” He gave me a significant look.
“How do you think I can help you?” I crouched to peer into the safe where envelopes, presumably full of cash, leaned against one side next to what looked like a fancy USB drive but was probably a crypto wallet. Tubes of coins—gold or silver?—also lay untouched.
“It was a peculiar thief.” Ivan looked at me, as if to imply I was also peculiar, so it would be right up my alley.
Since I’d hoped to gather information on this very burglary, I wouldn’t complain.
“And a peculiar item,” he added. “A bracelet that grants—that’ssupposedto grant—the wearer the power of a werewolf for a time.”
“Do you get such a thing at the same place where you buy your gold and bitcoin?”
“Of course not. All such artifacts were crafted centuries ago. You have to go to a dealer or buy them on the black market. Or go on a quest to hunt one down that was lost in a shipwreck or some such.” He sounded wistful, as if he’d always wanted to do the latter.
Something told me this guy wasn’t much like Duncan though. “I’m guessing you got it from a dealer.”
He smirked wryly. “It was one of the first things I bought when I started making decent money.”
I wagereddecent moneywas seven figures a year.
“I was always a little envious of…” Ivan glanced toward the door, his sister’s voice floating in to us. She was lecturing her daughter on accepting weird gifts from strangers. “Well, I suppose you can tell, and I needn’t be coy with you.”
“No.” I hadn’t missed his earlier correction about the artifact and suspected he’d used it from time to time. “No need for coyness here.”
“The bracelet doesn’t have the power to let a person change into a wolf—a bummer since that would beamazing—but it makes you strong and agile and fast for a while. Or it’s supposed to.” He shrugged elusively.
“Are such traits useful to a real estate developer?”
“Sure, if you want to carry toilets around.” Ivan winked. “I’ve had the bracelet for twenty years, and it’s sentimental to me. Also helpful on the tennis court.”
“Where it’s useful to be strong and agile?”
“It is. Though I’d never put such a tool to use. That would be cheating. But because it’s sentimental, I would pay to get it back.”
“I… might come across it. I’ve been dealing with artifact thieves of my own.” I wished I’d taken photos of Radomir and Abrams, if only to see if this guy had ever chanced across them. “It’s possible they’re the same thieves that robbed you. They’re collecting artifacts related to werewolves for reasons I haven’t yet figured out.”
