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I ignored that and took what I needed from the bag. “You’ve seen what I can do. You’ve seen me fight. I know you feel protective over me, but that doesn’t actually mean I need your protection. And task or not, I need to end this. One of them has Ren, or have you forgotten?”

He growled, watching as I quickly mixed the body oil we’d used before. “The tattooed runes should be enough to protect you.” I looked up, and he didn’t look happy. Nothing new there. “You think you can hold him down long enough for me to exorcize him?”

“Yes.”

“Is he watching us now?”

He lifted his chin, scenting the air. “Yes. He’s stalking us.”

Fuck. “I better move quickly then.”

A few minutes later, I was naked in a salt circle, rubbing oil all over my body, and we had a plan. Edric howled close by, very close, and goose bumps lifted across my skin.

He was about to make his move.

Warrick had been pacing around me, still in his human form. At the sound of that howl, he stopped, and with his broad back to me, tilted his head to the sky and howled in return, the sound filled with warning, with rage, communicating what would happen if he came closer.

Chest pumping, preparing for the fight, he looked at me over his shoulder. His face was a mask of fury, still mostly man, but his hound’s muzzle elongated his jaw, and his canines were extended and impossibly sharp. “Do whatever you have to do to keep yourself safe,” he said, his voice blending with the beast. “And if it looks like he’s winning, run and don’t look back. Call Relic.”

I dipped my chin and he turned away. No fucking way. If he looked like he was losing, I was using my blade, and I’d make damned sure he didn’t lose.

A rustle came from the right, and Warrick collapsed onto all fours, his body exploding into his hound form—

Edric burst through the trees and Warrick charged him. Their bodies collided with a horrific sound. They tore at each other, rolling around the clearing, massive jaws gnashing, claws tearing. I didn’t wait, I grabbed my bag of salt and Thornheart cemetery dirt and sprinted to the edge of the campsite, then stabbing a hole in the bag, ran it around the perimeter, to trap the spirit inside, like Warrick and I had planned.

Warrick slashed at him and Edric sprang away, making a run for the edge of the clearing right as I closed the circle. He came to a jarring halt, flying backward, falling heavily to his back.

I sprinted for my smaller salt circle, leaping over body parts and scattered camping equipment, sliding in gore and blood. Edric got to his feet and spun, his red gaze locking on me as I made it to safety.

He snarled and charged me. Warrick slammed into his side, knocking him down, and they went at each other again. I lowered myself to my knees and started chanting, saying the words of the spell that would draw the spirit from Edric.

He fought harder, making a sound that lifted the hair on the back of my neck, thrashing against Warrick. I raised my voice as I lifted my hands, the words coming faster, louder.

Edric roared; it was earsplitting and filled with anguish. All Edric, not the spirit.

I snatched up the urn and used the small hand brush I’d brought to sweep away a section of salt, then held out the urn in front of me. Wind whipped around us, the roar coming from Edric mirrored by the soul now searching for a new host and only finding one.

The dead rat in the urn shrieked, and I slammed on the lid, screwing it tight. “I’ve got it.” I turned to Warrick, and my heart smashed against the back of my ribs.

Both males were on the ground and had shifted back. Warrick stared down at his brother, and Edric’s harsh breaths burst through gritted teeth.

“Talk to me, brother,” Warrick said.

The other hound fisted his hair, then smashed his fist into the side of his own head. “Kill me,” he snarled.

Warrick shook his head. “You’re safe now.”

Edric grabbed Warrick’s shoulders. “What I did…what I’ve done. Women…children. I killed them all, their screams of fear, of agony, they’re in my head. Kill me. Please.”

Warrick searched his gaze, and I could tell he was going to tell him no.

“I’ll kill again…I’m barely holding on,” Edric rasped, eyes flashing to the brightest of reds.

He was about to go feral.

Warrick’s expression was made of stone as he pressed his open palm against Edric’s chest, right over his heart. “I’ll send you home, brother.”

Edric nodded.