Chapter 84 Wingman.

Chapter 84: 84 Wingman.

The wolf yelped and tumbled past me, rolling twice before finding its footing. It was hurt but far from done. Those coal-red eyes locked on me with renewed purpose, not desperation—not yet.

And then its partner broke through the frost line. I don’t know how it crossed so fast, really.

One second Ayra had it pinned near the tree line, and the next it was streaking across Juniper’s ice barrier toward the wolf I’d wounded.

The two met in the center of the field and something happened between them. The shadows trailing off their bodies merged, creating a pooling darkness that connected them like an umbilical cord.

"They’re linking!" Juniper shouted. "That might explain—Wait! Break the connection before—"

Too late. Both wolves surged forward as a unit. They were faster now. Stronger. The pack bond had cranked their stats to a level that made my enhanced reflexes feel sluggish by comparison.

One went for Ayra. The other came straight at me. The coordination was flawless. They hit us at the same moment, preventing either of us from helping the other.

My wolf feinted high, I parried, and then its partner broke off from Ayra and blindsided me. Claws raked across my ribs through my armor’s gap, and the pain was brutal. I staggered sideways, bleeding, and the first wolf was already coming around for another pass.

"Grey!" Elsa’s voice from the stump, pitched high with fear. "Use your blade, my Champion!"

I hurled my sword at the wolf bearing down on me. The weapon spun through the air with a whistle, but the Shadow Wolf dodged it. The blade sailed past and embedded itself in the ground thirty yards away.

"Return Blade!" I recalled it instantly and caught the returning sword, but the wolf had used those seconds to close the distance.

It hit me at full speed, a hundred-plus pounds slamming into my chest.

I went down hard, my back hitting frozen ground, and jaws snapped inches from my throat. Only my forearm, pushing broadly against its neck, kept those teeth from finding flesh.

The other wolf had Ayra backed against a fence post. She was swinging her hammer in defensive arcs, keeping it at bay, but a fresh gash on her thigh was bleeding freely and her movements were slowing.

Juniper fired arcane bolts at the wolf pinning me, but the shadow-stuff absorbed the purple energy like a sponge.

This was going sideways. Fast.

"Clementine!" I yelled, with absolutely no expectation that she’d respond. The wolf above me bore down harder. Its breath smelled like a crematorium.

From the porch, there was nothing. The wolf’s jaws inched closer. I could see individual teeth, each one trailing wisps of dark smoke.

Then I heard hooves.

I couldn’t see her from my position under the wolf, but I felt the bond activate, maybe by subconscious trigger. A rush of euphoric energy rushed through me, like someone had mainlined lightning into my spine in a good way.

The wolf on top of me heard it too. Its ears flattened and it twisted to look over its shoulder, which was the only opening I needed. I drove my knee into its belly, launching it off me, and rolled to my feet just as a streak of white tore across the field.

Clementine in horse form was nothing short of magnificent every time I saw her.

Her pure white coat was blazing in the moonlight, with her black mane streaming behind her, and her dark eyes locked on the wolf that had just been trying to eat my face. She made quick work of the fifty yards between the porch and my position.

I didn’t think. As she thundered past, I grabbed her mane and vaulted onto her back like Legolas in the Peter Jackson films, defying physics. The moment my legs locked against her sides, my whole world changed.

My perception went razor-sharp. Every detail sharpened into focus. I could see everything.

I could see the individual strands of shadow trailing off the wolves, the exact rhythm of their breathing, even the micro-adjustments in their stance that telegraphed their next move.

If you fall off, I’m not catching you, Clementine’s voice rang in my head. Also, I’m annoyed how hot you are when you’re fighting. Asshole.

Her voice was somehow sexier in my head, which was weird given the current reality of her physical form. "Right flank, the wounded one. Fast approach, hard turn at the last second."

I know. I can feel what you’re planning somehow. Stop thinking so loud.

She banked right and accelerated. The wounded wolf tried to dodge, breaking left just as I’d anticipated. But Clementine felt my intent and adjusted before I could even vocalize it, cutting the angle like she’d been reading my mind. Which, functionally, she had.

I threw my sword at the apex of her turn. From horseback at full gallop, Return Blade became something else entirely.

The momentum combined with my throw, the blade screaming through the air fast enough to hum. The Shadow Wolf never had a chance to dodge. My sword punched through its chest and out the other side, trailing black blood in an arc.

"Return!" The blade ripped free and boomeranged back to my hand. The wolf collapsed, its shadow-stuff scattering like dust in the wind.

I need to listen to Kansas more often.

The second wolf had broken off its attack on Ayra and was sprinting for the tree line. The connection to its pack partner had been severed, and alone, it knew it was outmatched. These were smart creatures.

Not smart enough, though.

Clementine pivoted and launched into pursuit, eating up the distance in enormous strides. The wolf was fast, but Clementine was faster.

I could feel her speed through our bond, a raw, primal exhilaration that wasn’t entirely hers and wasn’t entirely mine. She was built for this.

Every muscle in her body was engineered for exactly this kind of chase, and the joy of it radiated through our link so powerfully it almost drowned out my combat focus. She was built for speed.

In this form, anyway. In her other form...

And then it hit me like a sack of nuts to my sack of nuts. Her other form was designed to be attractive to me so that I could deepen our bond more easily. The System wanted me to fuck her. The System was, as it turned out, an incredible wingman.