The metallic flavor of blood coated my mouth as I tore through the young mage’s windpipe, suffocating me on its heady scent for a moment before I spat the flesh and sinew out on the stained salt ground.
I’d given over to the hellhound for this battle. As terrified as I had been of losing myself within his rage and bloodlust, I was a hundred times more afraid that we might lose this fight. If that happened, I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I could have done more but held back out of fear.
The first few moments of my shift had been rough—a straight up battle of wills, one which I had won. So now here I was, in this form which was both as familiar as an old sock, yet as foreign as a ballerina tutu. And we were kicking some serious bloody ass.
Brother, a voice hissed through my mind, and I spun to search for who it had come from. Across the bloody battle, a creature sat atop an enormous demon horse. His entire form was encased in dark gray armor, and his horse’s eyes burned with the same flames my own eyes did.
Brother, at last, the voice hissed, and I had no doubts it came from this creature. We have journeyed these many realms in search of you for thousands of years, and here you are. At last.
I had no way to know if I could communicate with this thing, but nonetheless…
Who the bleeding hell are you, and what the shit do you want with me? I projected my thoughts over to the armored creature, and his mount reared up to paw at the air.
Fenrir, my brother, the creature continued, now that we have found you, we will stop at nothing to wreak vengeance on these insolent creatures who sought to hide you from us. None shall leave this realm alive, starting here…
The presence slipped from my mind, and I knew our link was gone. The thing was wasting no time following through on his actions either, as he swung his mighty blade from atop his mount and cut down two fighters at a time. He wasn’t discriminating on who he killed, either. Like his voice had told me, he was making sure none walked away alive.
Shit.
Using my flames, I torched the next three idiots who tried to take me on, clearing myself a path to try and get to the beast on horseback. But the battlefield was becoming crowded, not just with fighters, but with the fallen too. More than once, my paws slipped or stumbled on the bodies of the dead and dying, and I quickly saw the futility in my plan. I needed to help the fighters in my section, not go charging off in a rage at some wanker who was probably just talking smack to get a reaction from me.
Exerting the control I prided myself on, I turned my back on the mounted demon and dove for the wolf who had been about to pounce on Uncle Cam from behind. Sneaky fucker.
Tearing the animal’s throat out, I dodged the spray of blood and moved onto the next.
It had become clear when Bridget’s army appeared that several packs had aligned themselves to her, as wolves made up the majority of her people. Interspersed with all kinds of weird and mythological beings, that was. Somewhere to the far end of the battle, our frost giants were tangling with ogres, shaking the ground with every huge throw or hit.
Poor Wesley would be tearing his hair out that he wasn’t able to take the time to observe and document. There were several species on the battlefield that I knew hadn’t been named in his bible of supernatural beings, so it would be killing him to think they might die here without ever being recorded.
“Alpha!” Cole bellowed at me in dragon speech, swooping low on outstretched wings and torching two wolves on his way down. “Vixen needs reinforcements in her section. Try and tighten up this end to bring fighters in closer to the middle.”
I jerked my head in acknowledgement and spat acid at a mage aiming a runed spear at me. With him dealt with, I turned my gaze back to Cole in dragon form.
“Bridget is still alive,” he informed me with puffs of frost curling out of his nostrils. “No word on the fate of Vic or Lachlan. I will run another flyby to check on things.”
Another head jerk to show I understood, then I turned my back on him to start corralling the fight together. He and Vali were flying passes over all the sections to check who and where needed help and, given that we saw no one on the opposing side with wings, it was an advantage Bridget didn’t have.
But Bridget, still alive? That wasn’t good. Combined with the mounted demons, things were not looking up for our side.
I knew what I needed to do.
Despite the grudging, uncomfortable agreement we had found in order to use the hound form during battle—but not become the wild beast I had been last time—we were not a bonded unit. Not really. We were three parts of a whole, co-existing within the same body.
The human, the Alpha, and the Hound.
How the hell had I ended up like this?
The hound whispered at me that he knew but wasn’t telling, and the Alpha growled a threat at the other beast. I ignored them both, though. They weren’t equal thirds of me. I was slowly coming to realize that no matter how strong they were, it was I who was in charge. If they took over, it was because I had let them.
To that end, I needed to do away with the mental walls I’d erected between us all. They were no more than facets of me, so it was only harming us all to maintain such distance.
First thing, the cage had to go—before I lost my nerve. I’d been proud of myself for giving the cage a door that allowed the hound out—when I chose. Like now, when I needed the hound’s strength. But that wasn’t enough, and I was seeing it now.
A young wolf came flying at me, jaws snapping and drool flying, but I dispatched him with barely a thought. These juveniles didn’t stand a chance.
Glancing around and finding no immediate threats, I sent my thoughts inward. Wasting no time, I smashed the cage to pieces, then turned my attention to the various other mental wards I’d erected between the parts of me.
There was no finesse in what I did—Kitten would cringe and the twins would be horrified—but it achieved the goal I aimed for.
The second my wards were smashed, the three parts making my supernatural self slammed together as though magnetized. For a moment, my whole world exploded with color, and all sounds were too much to bear.
But when it faded, I was changed.
I was complete.
