“That's not going to work, Carlo!” Kallan screamed. “This thing is big, and you're going to have to try to find a sweet spot, but that's not it.”
Nanshe stood and balled her fists. “We need to use a portal. Please, just trust me and we will handle it together.”
Carlo still attacked, fighting as hard as he could against the golem to get free. Teague lifted his head and bellowed out sound. His song was so powerful and strong, reverberating and sending leaves sprinkling off the trees and wood splitting with a resoundingcrack. The power in Teague’s voice was astounding.
Carlo dropped off the back of the golem with a whimpered flop, the noise hurting his sensitive ears.
Teague didn't apologize, though, blasting the golem with another barrage and sending the rocky monstrosity sliding back farther. Finally, more space for them to get out.
“Stop acting like a baby. It’s not that loud. Everybody runs for cover when I sing, but I swear I can be rock star.” Teague winked.
“Shut up, Fae.”
“I’m wounded, Carlo. I’ll have to sing for you sometime so you know I’m telling the truth.”
Carlo flinched when Teague let out a few lilting notes, and then he gaped at the Fae. It was fuckingbeautiful.
“Told you.”
Of course, the next instant he bellowed and destroyed earth as he attempted to attack the golem. Teague was indeed powerful.
“We gotta to do something, and do it now!” Lennox called out, frustration clear in his tone. “Follow me as best you can. I'm going to try to turn that motherfucker into liquid. Cover me if it doesn’t work. And I'm not fighting with you anymore about the Chaos Realm. We do what we have to do.”
Outnumbered by the others that were talking sense into his head, Carlo could do nothing else while Lennox poured fire from his palms, shooting it through the brush and setting the swampy area on fire. The orange and gold Carlo expected to see from the blaze was muted into crisp whites and darker shades of gray. The sight of it was startling as it spread. It was like they were in a black and white fucking movie. A firm grip landed on Carlo’s shoulder, and he swung his muzzle around, exposing all his teeth.
“Get over it, mate,” Nanshe admonished seconds before she clenched his fur and jumped into a portal.
Carlo screamed in his head, but it only came from his mouth as a whimper. They were hurtling once more through the miasma. Oily and inky power curled around his wolf and played with the sensitive magical energies his animal side contained. He could sense Nanshe wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him tightly to her warm body.
“Just listen to my voice,”she whispered into his head.
They slid from the other side, hurtling out of the portal, and Carlo struggled to his feet, shaking his head to get rid of the sudden sense he didn't know where he was.
I really don't like going to the Chaos Realm,he groused.
Nanshe had the class not to say anything.
As much as he might have thought they were safe for a moment, they’d just leapt out of the frying pan and into the fire. Black and white bodies coiled around them.
“Hollows!” Lennox yelled.
Carlo had gotten very familiar with them back in Encantado, and he knew he could fight these creatures with claws. He decided to run through them, biting and swiping as he went, fighting until his fur was covered in thick, black blood.
With these enemies, he could release some of his anger.
He could release the stress he felt from having to fight these things.
In battle, his head was clear.
Here, he could make sense of it all and do what he had to do.
He didn't have to worry about his fear. He didn't have to worry about having a sense he was failing everyone because of his own terror. No wolf liked to feel they weren't doing enough for their pack and their people. The Chaos and what it represented had locked Carlo in a never-ending slide of not knowing what to do.
Cool hands threaded through his thick fur, gripping the edge of his tail, and Carlo whipped around. But even as he did, Nanshe moved with him, staying out of danger from his sharp teeth.
“I'm here, mate.”
The calming sound of her voice spread through his mind, pushing away the panic until he could breathe. How she could keep up with his running wolf form and not miss a beat, even following him through battle, he would never understand. But she did it anyway, using what she had before when she’d protected Arturo.
