Chapter 16

16

Juno was in trouble.

My heart beat against my ribs as magic surged. My eyesight sharpened, claws lengthened, and I merged with the wolf inside of me under the light of that nearly full moon, letting her have full control for once and hoping Bronwen had my back.

Completing the shift mid-jump, I landed on the other shifter and gnashed out at its neck, teeth tearing into whatever I could reach. Four paws landed instead of two arms and legs.

The shifter roared at my attack and reached behind to slash at and remove me. With my wolf in control, my reflexes were faster than usual, and I twisted my body to avoid the blows, landing on all fours.

I bared my teeth and rounded on the shifter with a growl. Definitely a male, I confirmed with my next inhale. Male and furious. Unfamiliar. Almost as though his scent was masked from me with magic. What pack did he belong to? I didn’t know the smell but whoever he was, he had encroached on my territory and threatened one of mine.

It didn’t matter who he was. I attacked.

My blood thrummed and boiled, gaze fixed on the creature and his enormous shoulders. He glanced once toward Juno and ignored her frightened, keening wails.

I growled, teeth snapping. You keep your attention on me.

I didn’t take my focus from him although I felt Bronwen creeping behind me, silently moving to situate herself between the creature and Juno. He glanced toward her again and this time I yipped and took a step closer.

Neither of us stopped moving. It didn’t matter where I turned, the shifter was a step ahead of me. He breathed in the flow of the fight and after my first initial surprise attack, he never let me get close to him again.

Too bad he didn’t realize I had skin in the game. That made me dangerous.

We danced together with skill and precision, him making the first move and me attacking in return. My eyes did not stray from my opponent until Bronwen joined the fray. She threw herself at him the moment he moved to bite me. She was still in human form and in my opinion totally unprepared for the type of creature she faced.

I tried to warn her to be careful. The sound came out as a low whine.

She’d gotten out of the pack much sooner than I did. She didn’t know the art of the attack. Maybe she hadn’t been around for the bullying, the fights in the woods around our suburban oasis. Maybe she hadn’t learned how to scrap, how to play dirty.

The half-shifter slammed the back of his arm into her abdomen and sent her flying before she landed a hit. In the second my gaze left him, he kicked out. The heel of his foot hit my chest dead center.

I landed hard on my side. Each breath felt like swallowing glass. Except now there was blood in my mouth.

His attention focused solely on Bronwen struggling to her feet as I forced one inhale, then another. One hit and I felt ready to shatter. Great. Time to show him I didn’t break easily. When I got behind him again, eyes burning and the rest of me in pain, I lashed out against the shifter, pushed to let him know I was there while attacking with my right paw. My back legs kicked at him in tandem.

He didn’t pay any attention to me at first. He advanced on Bronwen with me trailing him. I snarled and whipped around to intercept him, leaping for his face. The shifter gnashed the air in front of my face. I landed a nip before he had me on the ground with his right rear leg. My head knocked into the snow hard enough for me to yelp, vision going blurry.

Too hard, my mind cried. He’d hit too hard.

I didn’t know how long I lay there trying to get my wits back. This wasn’t like past fights. This time I moved against a male in halfling warrior form. A shape I’d never shifted into before, and one I wasn’t sure I could call now. I got to my feet, shaking my head, tongue lolling and pain shooting down my spine. Was there any way to beat him as I was now?

“Stop!”

Juno’s cry had me turning to see Bronwen on the ground with the shifter’s foot on her windpipe. Crushing. Her hands were on his ankles trying to get him to yield before he killed her.

It was enough to make me detonate.

I whipped around and launched myself at him, dragging my claws against the back of his leg with deep vicious swipes to get him to release her.

Just like we’d done while practicing hunting with the pack. Except this one? He didn’t go down. No, he was furious enough to keep going no matter how wounded, no matter how much blood he lost.

He kept approaching Bronwen, his footsteps slow and crimson blood spraying from his wounds. And my friend couldn’t get up.

He’s going to kill her!

I made sure to keep between them, my gaze on his gaping muzzle with teeth like a bear trap. Worry soured inside of me until it blossomed into full-blown fear. Why did he keep focusing on Bronwen instead of attacking me?

My enraged growl finally got his attention and I dashed at him, ripping at his arm when he swung it in front of him like a shield. He stood a good seven feet tall with beige fur protecting him. Not to mention the claws and teeth.

I had to get through the muscle to get to him.

I charged.

The shifter tipped his head back and let out a screech of rage. Then swiped at the air where I’d been. I dodged and launched myself at his back, aiming for the kidneys. My claws swiped fiercely but slid right off of his ribs, basically accomplishing nothing.

Claws trailed over my shoulder but I didn’t stop. I turned and nipped at his stomach, expecting to find softness there but there was none.

The shifter had anticipated the move and leaned back to kick at me with both feet and the full force of his strength. I saw the move coming but there was no time for me to get out of the way. I went sprawling when the pads of both feet caught me square across the chest, sending me flying. The world swam when my head knocked against the snow-covered ground yet again. I curled into a ball, fighting for breath.

The shifter came at me with those lethal claws raised and jaws snapping. I didn’t move fast, but I moved, and the creature pounded a fist into the ground where I’d been.

At least I had his attention now.

Right. Then left. I dodged in a wide arc and landed a bite to his thigh. He snarled and backhanded me. I managed to stay on all four legs but only just. I had a feeling being hit by a truck would be less painful. I stumbled, blood dripping from my mouth.

He stared at me for a moment, bleeding from half a dozen places but not enough to slow him down.

That was when I knew I wasn’t going to win. No matter what I’d learned from Uncle Will and the rest of the pack, I wasn’t going to make it through this, not against a much bigger and stronger opponent. With my attention fractured between downed Bronwen and panting Juno, the best I could hope for was to bleed the shifter enough to get him tired. Then one of them would have to take over.

Focus!

At once I heard Uncle Will’s voice in my head. The one time he’d dragged me out into the woods alone, just the two of us before the pack began its alpha testing, and forced me to shift without the help and influence of the full moon. I remembered how he’d tried to guide me to fight on even when I felt it was no use, to keep fighting even when my muscles refused to cooperate, my energy sapped, my spirit broken.

You are never going to win unless you pull out all the stops. You think you can come out on top with a fair fight? No, Tavi, you can’t. They got your father because they took him by surprise. Ambushed. Nothing honorable about it. So it comes down to one simple choice. Do you want to fight fair? Or do you want to win?

Because the difference might be life or death.

Funny how the meaning of his words was so clear to me now.

The shifter kicked at me again and I dodged out of the way, transfiguring mid-jump so that my right paw became a hammer instead of a fist. A wolf with a hammer, ha. Bet no one else could do the same thing. I slammed the hammer down in the same place I’d bitten his thigh and watched his eyes go wide as he crumpled to his knees.

My bones screamed from the impact when I landed. But at least I’d gotten him on the injured leg, a vulnerable spot.

He screeched out a roar that I swore shook the bare tree limbs. I wasn’t finished. Unless I won this fight, my friends would die. I had to take this guy down and I’d do whatever it took.

He grabbed me while I was distracted and jerked me toward his gaping jaws. Instead of letting him get at my neck, I transfigured again, shrinking my body down just enough to loosen his grip, then I stabbed my fist against his throat. Quick. Accurate.

He gurgled and staggered, hurling me aside.

I expected a return attack. I definitely didn’t expect him to run away. Panting, I watched him grow smaller and smaller into the distance. This was my chance. I could follow him and finish him.

Then Juno groaned. I bared my teeth. Maybe he’d realized he couldn’t actually beat me. As hurt as I was, I’d still gotten a few good blows in, so I felt like I’d come out on top.

I shifted back into normal form when she cried out. Her eyes focused on me, flashing in the moonlight, between her physical form and air, but still alive. They were both still alive. I grabbed onto Bronwen and stifled a moan when the movement ached. Crap, my chest hurt. My everything hurt.

“Bron, come on. Speak to me.” I trailed my palm along her cheek. She was cold, but she was breathing.

I touched her neck and found a weak but steady pulse. She slowly opened her eyes. “Did…you win?” she managed to get out.

I gasped with relief. “You know I did.”

Helping her to her knees, I checked her all over for wounds and found a few badly bruised places but nothing serious. Nothing to be worried about. I forced myself upright, head dizzy and the rest of me ready to drop.

“Juno, are you all right?”

I tugged my pain around me like a garment, ignoring the bright spots of blood dotting the snow and praying none of them were mine. It took my mentor a long time to answer me, her butter-yellow hair looking dull. My gaze dropped to the arm she cradled against her and the smoke rising from the wound on her arm.

She stared at me with her mouth halfway open, as though she couldn’t find the words. Bronwen limped over and stood next to me.

“What’s wrong with her?” Bronwen asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

We stood for a moment longer, our breaths combining in a single white mist in front of our faces. It didn’t look like Juno was even breathing, but I knew she was an air elemental. Things might be different for her. Then there was the smoke.

“I don’t like the look of this. She needs help. Is there any place we can take her? Like a Faerie version of a hospital?”

Bronwen nodded shakily. “There is. Not like we have in the mortal world, but there is a building where the healers gather and tend to the sick. They’ll know how to help her,” she said.

Okay, think. I had to think even when my mind was in spirals. What happened, and what was the plan?

Juno must have gotten injured before Bronwen and I showed up. If we were able, we should take her to the hospital before anyone came to see about the commotion. We were running on the fumes of luck already.

“Okay,” I said to Bronwen, scratching the top of my head and wincing. “You know where this place is? If you’re able to get Juno there, I’ll stay here and clean up. There’s blood everywhere and we don’t need the authorities figuring out the types of creatures who were fighting here tonight.”

“That’s a lot of work. And she doesn’t know me. She won’t trust me. You take her and I’ll stay behind.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I don’t know where I’m going.”

“But you’ll have a better excuse if someone sees you together, since you know each other. Trust me,” Bronwen insisted. Her brown eyes looked like they were on fire. “I can take care of this. I’ve been maintaining a shield around us anyway.”

She had? No wonder we hadn’t attracted an audience.

I didn’t have a choice. With the next step mapped out, and comprehensive directions on how to get to the Faerie hospital, I looped my arm underneath Juno’s uninjured shoulder and gingerly stepped out of the courtyard, supporting her even as my own muscles screamed for rest.

“Come on,” I told her. “We need to go. Now.”

It was hell walking through the snow with my injured tutor and the secret between us. There was fear in her eyes, her teeth chattering, smoke still rising from the gaping wound in her arm. But no blood.

I had a lot to learn about the different species of Fae.

Each step was pure agony, pain shooting up through my ankles through the rest of my body as I picked my way down the steps from the courtyard. According to Bronwen, the healing center wasn’t far off, a few blocks over and down toward the café where Melia often liked to eat, famed for their zucchini blossom appetizer.

Man, when I told Meli what happened tonight…I didn’t know whether she’d be pissed at me or applaud.

“Thank you.”

Juno’s voice came softly and when I glanced at her, her eyes were watering. “Are you hurt very badly?”

She looked feverish and when she spoke again, her voice shook. “Yes,” she said. “I don’t know what happened. He…he took me by surprise. I didn’t see him out there and by the time I caught the scent on the wind, he was on me.”

When I glanced over again, hitching her higher on my shoulder to bear more of her weight, the skin of Juno’s face looked stretched too tightly over her features, making her look fragile. Breakable in a way I didn’t expect of her. She was always up for anything, pushing me to go harder, farther, faster.

At least she was still able to talk. “Thank you,” she repeated, letting her head drop. “For what you did for me tonight.”

I struggled to hold her upright, shifting to better accommodate her weight. “I couldn’t stand by and do nothing. If we’d gone for help, you would be dead.”

“I’m not sure how I can ever repay you.”

I knew how. “You can keep my secret.”

Juno glanced over at that, swallowing. “What?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. I fought for you tonight. You want to repay me? I only ask you to stay silent about what you know,” I said. I tightened my hold on her and ignored my own pain. “Please, Miss Ians. Juno. Please don’t tell anyone about me. I know you’ve been struggling with it and you haven’t made up your mind. Yet. I’m hoping tonight will be a turning point where you…decide to keep helping me.”

Her eyes darted back and forth across my face, her skin pale. Her lips were white and dark circles formed beneath her eyes. I saw the moment she relented. The moment when she finally gave in and let her guard drop. “All right, Tavi. I’ll keep your secret. I won’t tell anyone about your heritage. You have my word.”