Wolves at the Door - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,19

on the council. Even if I probably would also have a hard time mauling him, because he was clearly more powerful than me.

Damnit.

We wolves were nothing to him. Animals. Lesser beings. I didn’t have a hot temper, but that would have been hard for any man’s pride to take. Jake and I had worked hard all our lives to help our families and our community. What had the wizard council really done for anyone lately? What right did some rich warlock have to claim we didn’t do any good in the world? He was welcomed into a leadership role only on the strength of his family name.

Helena’s mother had knit my skin and bones back together, but it would take a lot more time for the pain to leave me. Several weeks, probably. Magic wasn’t always perfect. I didn’t have time for this, but it would be worse without the healing, so I guess there was that.

I did a few stretches, rubbing my calf, and then tried to walk off the pain. It didn’t really work. I had to take the stairs slowly. Graham and Byron were looking at me.

“Are you all right?” Graham asked. “I heard about the fight.” He sounded genuinely concerned. His shirt was also torn into tatters and he had bloody scratches on his face.

“On the mend.”

“That’s good.”

“Is everything okay here?”

“We fought some ghouls,” Graham said. “Helena is fine. I got the worst of it.”

My image of him as a slick human professional was quickly fading, and I had to give the guy some grudging respect. He was taking all of this in stride.

“Good morning,” Byron said, also trying to be friendly.

“It’s three o’ clock,” Jake said.

“Ah. Well, that makes sense.” Byron shrugged. What did a ghost care? It wasn’t like he had appointments.

“Helena is checking out the house, I guess?” I asked. “Whose truck is that?”

“There have been some complications,” Graham said.

To say the least. He relayed the story and then Jake tilted his head toward the side of the house.

“Let’s scope out the land,” he said. “We’ll come in through the back.”

Of course, Jake was always interested in a good piece of land. It was a perk if we had some hunting grounds to roam while we were flipping a house. We liked to keep our wolf instincts honed, and a fresh rabbit made for a good dinner too, although Helena might not appreciate the catch. We’d behaved ourselves at Lockwood House, but Jake was ready to show her who we really were.

The house was surrounded by a cleared area to support the gardens and outbuildings and some overgrown pasture for horses. In fact, in the far distance I saw a man riding a horse, but he was so far away he must be a neighbor. I still wasn’t sure I liked the idea of neighbors in view. If he was human, he could be trouble. If he was a wizard, even worse.

Old live oak trees drooping heavy branches toward the ground, shading everything. I smelled swampy water and I could tell we were near a river or lake. I saw what might have been an old path, wide enough for a carriage, disappearing through some trees. Maybe that led to the water. No thick forest for hunting, though.

Jake pointed in the other direction, toward the square of iron fencing that circled an old graveyard, the moss-covered vaults sagging in uneven directions over lumpy soil. There must be flooding here now and then since the tombs were all above ground.

“We’re looking for Byron’s bones, aren’t we?” he said. “I wonder if that spot has anything useful. Maybe his friends buried him where they already had a plot?”

“Sure, maybe,” I said. “But count me out.”

“You afraid of old bones?”

“About as much as you are,” I said. “Which I have a feeling is a decent amount.”

As we were speaking, several big white swans flew down and landed on the tombstones, staring at us.

Swans? What the hell were swans doing hanging out on the tombstones? It would have been less creepy to see ravens. They were here just to weird us out.

“Graham can do it,” Jake said.

“Exactly.”

Jake hustled to the screen door in the back and tried the handle of the solid door behind it. It was locked, but after a second, Hel opened it. I limped behind him as fast I could, cursing under my breath the whole way.

Was it just my wishful thinking, or did Helena’s whole face brighten when she saw us come in?

“Hey