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My eyes still closed, I take a deep breath and do as he says. The wolves that haven’t been in the direct view of the light have run inside to fight the enemy while we recover. While I’m not the only one left outside, I’m fairly certain that Gavin and Alyssa are already in.
I try to open my eyes but quickly change my mind. The skin around them is sore as if the light itself burned through it.
Use the Darkness, my wolf says, his voice calmer now that I’ve gotten a grip on myself.
An idea occurs to me, although I’m not sure that’s what he meant. I clench my hands into fists, needing an anchor to help me focus as I channel my dark friends. The shadows answer immediately, slithering their way up my arms like snakes. They settle themselves around my eyes like a caress, offering them pitch-black protection like a blindfold. Their cold presence soothes the sore burn and allows me to open my eyes. Since the shadows throw a curtain over my eyes that’s as black as the darkest night, the Night Vision activates itself, allowing me to see without being affected even by the light that the Lightbringers are manipulating against the witches.
Pulling myself to my full height, I finally enter the room to join the fight. Not wanting to be easy prey, I have a thin shield of shadows around me, ready to thicken upon impact.
I’ve walked into chaos.
Wolves are fighting wolves. Witches are fighting wolves.
While Graham was right about the enemy’s numbers, he was wrong about them being only witches. It looks like that Hekate managed to lure even more rogue wolves to join her.
The chants of spells fill my ears. Screams of the injured pierce the air. Cries of the dying strengthen our resolve to fight.
The fireballs, gusts of wind, and ice storms rage between those four walls of a mostly open space floor. Light penetrates the darkness, creating shadows for us to manipulate. Ice and fire collide, determining the survivors based on their brute strength and stamina.
Those are the rogue wolves that Gavin’s been hunting, my wolf recognizes them, connecting the dots with the fact that they have more than one ability. Gavin warned us that Felix and his followers have sold themselves to the witches in return for more powers.
“Alyssa,” I mutter under my breath when I finally find her, fighting at the far end of the room.
The magnetic pull demands that I cross the distance. My heart says the same, so I won’t even bother to resist.
As I take the first step toward the belly of the beast, I’m finally noticed. It’s one of the rogue wolves that comes my way, and though he stands tall, his eyes are wide with fear.
Time slows down as I tilt my head to the side, forcing myself to give him my attention. The wolf isn’t much older than Graham, but I shouldn’t underestimate him and what the witches did to him.
I lift my hand with my palm up, then bend my fingers in the universal gesture of invitation. I’m only going to give him one chance to make his move and even then, I’ll only do it because I’m not sure what to expect from a mutt like him.
The rogue wolf must’ve seen my gesture as disrespectful and insulting because the fear disappears from his eyes and instead, they narrow to thin slits. He opens his mouth wide, showcasing his sharp fangs, and lets out a loud, piercing roar with enough spit to water a garden.
“For fuck’s sake,” I mutter under my breath, my face contorting with disgust.
Thanks to his heightened senses, the rogue wolf catches every word as well as seeing my expression. It’s as if this was the last straw for him because, at that moment, he pushes himself off the floor into a jump and comes half-flying my way.
His fury has blinded his mind and made him want to release his pent-up anger through physical means, getting it out blow after blow. Though I didn’t plan for him to react that way, I certainly don’t mean to throw away the advantage he’s given me.
With a swift flick of my wrist, I call on the shadows nearest to me and wrap them around the rogue wolf’s ankles while he’s still in the air, then yank him downward fast and hard. He crashes against the floor with so much force that his eyes roll back into his head, all the anger extinguished from them.
Finish him, my wolf growls, sending enough angry darkness over me to blind me from right and wrong. Even if he hadn’t done that, I doubt I’d hesitate to deliver the final blow.
Pulling my hand back, I lower just enough to allow the newly extended claws to graze the rogue wolf’s neck. I don’t wait for him to die. The wound is too deep for his wolf to be able to heal it before he bleeds out.
As a soldier on a mission, I focus my senses on Alyssa again. She’s still fighting in the corner, using Darkness to counter the witches’ spells. Blaine’s by her side, doing a good job of covering her back.
Stepping over the dying wolf’s body, I don’t make a lot of progress before I sink to my knees, my throat constricting as if being squeezed with brute physical strength. As the air gets cut off from my lungs, I lift my hands to my neck, but there’s no enemy to be fought. It’s the worst kind of witchery.
On your left, my wolf warns, following the trail of magic toward the grey-haired witch twice my age.
The witch’s eyes are locked on me, unblinking and unwavering as her lips move in the rhythm of the spell that she’s casting on me. I need to break her eye contact before I lose consciousness.
The high-pitched ringing in my ears makes it hard to concentrate and the dark, tunnel vision isn’t doing me any favors about focusing on her, especially since I momentarily lose her out of sight whenever I blink.
Even though it goes against the basic instinct to let go of the neck while it’s under attack and hurting, I force myself to overpower the primal urge and reach with my hand toward the witch. My vision has gotten so bad that I’m not sure I’m taking aim straight at her, so I’ll have to spread wider with my one and only move, my last Hail Mary.
Together, my wolf says with a barely audible tone as he’s getting weaker with me.
