Page 81 of Kin of the Wolf

“It involves me?”

“And how many toilets, in the time I was gone, he would see you carrying out of the parking lot while he was doing homework at his computer. I figured that since me and Cameron are all grown and gone, you’d take it easy. Maybe get an assistant to help out here. Or a real handyman. Then you could take up knitting or something.”

“I’m forty-five, not eighty-five.”

The confused look he gave me suggested that there wasn’t, in the eyes of an eighteen-year-old, much difference.

“And I can still carry a toilet,” I said.

“Howmanydid you carry? More than five?”

“Is that part of the bet?”

“Maybe.”

“You’re kind of a weirdo, my son.”

“I think that’s inherited.”

“I believe that’s true.”

Once in our apartment, Austin tossed his duffel bag on the bottom bunk in his bedroom, which, other than dusting and sweeping, I hadn’t touched while he’d been gone. Then, he managed to ask how work was, say the property looked like it was in good shape, and praise the presence of the espresso maker, since mess-hall coffee was apparently gross.

“Oh, let me get your present. You may want to eat it now instead of waiting for Christmas morning.” He smirked mischievously at me, ducked back into his room, and rummaged in his duffel before returning.

I waited curiously to see what edible fare he’d brought,courtesy of whatever airport he’d flown through on the way home from Mississippi.

“Here you go. Exotic chocolate. You’ll love it.”

“Oh? I didn’t know the South was known for exotic chocolate.”

Austin extended a tin clumsily wrapped in tissue paper and secured with enough tape that I almost needed to change into a wolf and use my fangs to open it. Since my sons didn’t know about that secret, I opted for scissors instead.

“I’m not sure it is, but they have a lot of big insects,” he said as I revealed what looked like a cricket on the front of the tin. “Since you love chocolate with bacon bits in it, I figured this would be in the same category.”

I looked dubiously at the offering. “Austin, I know you’re young and inexperienced in the ways of the world, but there’s no realm in which bacon and crickets are in the same category.”

“You’re going to try it anyway, though, right? I’ve never seen you turn your nose up at protein. Evencrunchyprotein.”

“I… suppose I might.”

If Duncan returned, I would share the gift with him.

Austin glanced at a text on his phone. Probably feeling he’d fulfilled his duties as a visiting son, he promised to return later and bolted off to visit his friend.

Though I was left alone in the apartment, it felt less empty, at least for the time being. I found myself looking around and missing Duncan’s company though. If he didn’t call or show up by morning, I would drive up to look for him.

My gaze landed on the sword he’d given me. I thought about tucking it into my bedroom closet so Austin wouldn’t wonder why I had acquired such a thing. But I considered the crime problem and wondered if the Sylvans would drop their interest in selling the complex if someone addressed that issue. I also thought of how little fighting expertise I had when I wasn’t in my wolf form. Duncan was right. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to learn to use theblade. Augustus might be gone, but I highly doubted my problems were over.

I took out my phone and tapped insword-fighting lessons, vowing to sign up somewhere after the holidays.

THE END