My nostrils flared at the information the pet could be gaining, while my shadows rioted at the images of himtouchingher.
For fuck’s sake.
I gritted my teeth and strode away. I didn’t want to be near her any longer than I had to.
After observing the training sessions and ranking five recruits in each squad, Alexei and I left with the Dreads to patrol and search the Lower City of Hoar Hollow for Damned Souls. Eventually, I commanded everyone to split up.
Alexei, MJ, and I circled the outskirts of Veil Forest, searching through the gnarled dark limbs. Spinewalkers crept through the mysterious, never-ending fog, their elongated black bodies as spindly as the trees. If not for their jagged spinal columns protruding from their ten-foot backs or the large ovals that represented their faceless heads, they could easily be mistaken for the trees themselves. Fortunately, the disturbing creatures were harmless—as long as you didn’t touch them.
The wind carried the Spinewalkers’ wails through the branches and snuck beneath our uniforms.
“MJ.” Alexei raised his gloved hands and batted his eyelashes. “Warm me up. I’m freezing my balls off, and you’re the only one who can fix it, sweetness.”
Sighing, I whipped up a wall of shadows immediately after MJ threw a fireball toward Alexei’s head. I was in no mood to see who would fry the other faster.
Alexei smirked. Bastard knew I’d step in.
“You know I’m not always going to be the buffer between you two. So you’d better come to terms with being shriveled and bald or refrain from taunting her.”
Alexei flashed a wry smile and flicked his fingers, sending tiny sparks of lightning crackling toward MJ.
He managed to duck before the next fireball singed his head.
A sharp scream pierced the wailing wind, ceasing their childish behavior.
Alexei drew his daggers, I unsheathed my swords, and MJ readied her bow.
“Why do the screams always come from Veil Forest?” Alexei muttered. “Isn’t the unnatural wind, fog, and Spinewalkers enough?”
“Don’t forget the Hellhounds,” MJ added.
“How could I ever forget those bastards? A pack of them is probably waiting for us to step into their domain and drain our blood.”
MJ shrugged and strode into the barren woods with balls the size of a Soulhound.
“MJ,” I commanded, stopping her in her tracks.
Sometimes, I wondered if she had a death wish. Her confidence bordered on recklessness these days. But after her cordistella waskilled, half of her soul died—and she no longer feared death. She sought it.
“Alexei’s right. We need to take to the sky first.”
She nodded, and the three of us summoned our wings. We shot into the air and circled the forest. The vile wind howled around us, a living thing that slipped beneath armor crafted to withstand the extreme cold of the Redemption Circle. Our uniforms never protected us from Veil Forest’s wind, whether above it or in it. For Alexei and me, at least. MJ, as a fire Power, never seemed to feel the cold.
“Look there,” MJ called out, pointing at a body dangling from the branches of a tree.
We flew to it.
Notit—her.
“Scout a circumference for threats. I’m going to attempt a body count.”
My second and third nodded before flying off.
I sent out a dark stream of my power and immediately battled against the wind. It blasted through my wispy tendrils, scattering them into inconsequential pieces. I pushed more strength into my shadows, and the wind roared, slamming me back. My wings strained to keep me airborne as the Veil Forest fought me tooth and nail. Releasing more shadows, I managed to weave a tendril across the forest floor, searching for blood, heat signatures, or movement.
It picked up a pool of blood beneath the female’s body and a trail leading away from her. Before I could follow it, the wind blasted my shadows apart. I pulled back my power, and the wind eased around my wings.
MJ and Alexei flew back.
