Page 63 of Curse of the Wolf
“Do you think doing so would prove my worth to the medallion?” His hand drifted to the wolf head hanging from his neck. “Ass kicking traditionallyishow the alpha position is taken.”
“I don’t know what’s in the minds—do medallions have minds?—of these artifacts. Too bad that one wasn’t around when we were thumping my cousins. That should have proven your worth.”
“Youwere the one to defeat the nefarious Augustus,” Duncan pointed out.
“Maybe, but I wouldn’t have if you hadn’t been hurling explosives about.”
“Maybe I’m supposed to defeat your current alpha,” he mused.
“Lorenzo? Duncan, you can’t kick the ass of the old guy looking after my sick mother.”
“No? I may be at an impasse as far as proving goes then.” He lowered his hand.
“Don’t worry about the medallion. We’re going to force Abrams to lift the curse.” I nodded firmly at him and didn’t mention my doubts about the address on the GPS. Our enemies had somanyaddresses that it would be sheer luck if we stumbled across them there. But maybe if the glowing mushrooms were delivered to that destination, it meant it was another potion factory. The kind of place where magical substances were made and where help for Duncan might be found? I hadn’t heard anything from Rue about discoveries she’d made along that line, but Abrams and Radomir’s operation was a lot larger.
“If only I could prove myself by finding a great treasure in the depths of a mysterious and hard-to-access body of water.” Duncan sighed fondly at a magnet nestled on the pile of junk in the seat well.
“Are you going to obsess about this the whole way up there?”
“Maybe. It’s not that long of a drive, is it?” He waved at the GPS map offering directions and a time estimate to our destination. “We’ll be there before dark. I need something to occupy my thoughts until then.”
“We could stop for an early dinner along the way.” I didn’t know if it would matter if we visited this place during daylight hours or at night. It might be easier to sneak in under the shroud of darkness, but who knew if it would even be worth sneaking into? Scoping it out first seemed wise.
“Are you asking if I’d like to join you for a restaurant meal? We haven’t done that since our first date.”
“That hardly counted as a date. You fished a rusty fork out of the lake, and we had to battle mongrel dogs and wolves on a dock.”
“Mylady, whatelsewould you want to do with a handsome gentleman? The teriyaki chicken skewers weren’t without appeal, but they were made much tastier by the hunger we worked up beforehand.”
“By battling wolves and rusty forks.”
“Precisely. You were at my side for both. It was wondrous.” He gazed over at me.
“I’m not sure whether to think you’re odd or to be pleased that you enjoy having my company for such endeavors.”
“Bothshould delight you, I would think.”
We chatted amiably until we’d turned off the highway and were drawing closer to Maple Falls and our destination. Now and then, nerves intruded as I let myself think about what would happen if we didn’t find a solution for Duncan, but I mostly managed to distract myself. His flirting, if that was what one would call it, helped. Maybe he was doing it intentionally, knowing I was worried. It seemed like I should be the one trying to distract him. Maybe we managed a bit of both.
Our banter had more lapses as we passed through town. Despite my earlier suggestion, we didn’t stop for dinner. I didn’t want to dillydally. After everything that had happened lately, being away from Sylvan Serenity made me uneasy. Radomir might even now be rounding up thugs to more forcibly search my apartment, thugs who could endanger the tenants. After all the violence on the premises, I was surprised more people hadn’t moved out.
The GPS led us up a winding road that climbed into the hills. Fortunately, it was paved, and, now and then, we spotted residences through the trees to either side. With twilight descending, a couple of the homes had lights on. Judging bythe number that didn’t, this was another second-home area, probably sparsely populated by full-time residents.
Since we’d last been through Maple Falls, the snow on the ground had melted, but the white blanket covering Mount Baker was visible at various points as the van climbed in elevation. To our left, there was a cluster of mailboxes, followed by a lit gate with a sign proclaiming the name of a community and that it offered kayaking, fishing, and hiking, as well as resort amenities.
“Guess that’s not our destination.” I nodded to the map, the GPS wanting us to continue for another mile.
“It didn’t look like the type of locale where one would set up a potion factory.”
“You don’t think Abrams likes to take breaks from mixing magical ingredients to hop in his kayak?”
“I believe he’s reached the age where kayak-hopping may be contraindicated.”
“But evil-overlord, take-over-the-world activities are fine.”
“Oh, you can engage in those atanyage.” Duncan waved airily as we continued on, the headlights of the van the only illumination now.
“You’d think a certain amount of youthful ambition and vigor would be required.”
