Telling him that would only cause him to dig his heels in further. I’d dealt with enough male testosterone poisoning in the military. I needed to talk him away from the ledge. Lead him to the outcome I wanted. Be diplomatic, the voice of reason.
“Just give me a couple nights to verify my theory. Knowing your enemy’s strengths and weaknesses gives you a better chance of surviving.”
“Wolves are dying. My people won’t just sit idly by waiting to be picked off one by one. We move tonight.”
“You’re being an idiot. I’m sure they don’t want to be slaughtered either. At least give me until tomorrow.”
So much for diplomacy.
Brax snarled. “We go tonight. You have a few hours and then me and mine are going hunting.”
This time he was the one to hang up.
“Brax?”
I looked at the dead phone in my hand.
Shit.
I threw it in the cup holder.
“Bad news?”
I gripped the wheel tighter and shook my head in frustration.
“The wolves are going after the draugr tonight.”
Peter whistled. “They don’t stand a chance. With the creature’s ability to inspire madness and possess animals, they’re fucked. He could take control, or worse strip their control.”
“How is that worse?”
“It would leave them mindless beasts with the destructive power of a tank and the disposition of a rabid badger. You ever seen one of those? They’re vicious. A bunch of out of control wolves in the middle of Columbus? You’re talking a pretty high body count.”
And because of me, they knew exactly what they were looking for and his most recent hunting grounds.
“Is there some way to stop them?”
The sorcerer shrugged. “Maybe, but I don’t really care one way or the other if they go homicidal on the humans.”
I gave him a nonplussed look. “Isn’t that why you’ve had me running all over the city after this thing? To find and stop it.”
“That was just to get you on board with hunting it. I just want the two items. Taking care of the draugr was a side benefit. Not the main goal.” He gave me a side long glance. “Though maybe I could be convinced if this cuff was removed.”
I was tempted. If my inaction caused a bunch of deaths, I was just as responsible as if I’d done the murdering myself. Two things stopped me. First, there was no guarantee the sorcerer would actually help once free. He’d already made it clear his goals didn’t really include protecting the wolves. Secondly, I was pretty sure he didn’t have the power to do what he was planning, which made his release a moot point and would probably only cause further harm.
“I’ll think about it.” We drove in silence for a few more minutes. I needed to decide where we were going soon. We were almost out of campus. “Theoretically, how would you help?”
He cocked his head and sent me a sly smile that said he thought he’d won. Not by a long shot, but he didn’t need to know that.
“I’d probably cast a summoning spell for the items,” he said thoughtfully. “You control those and you’ll have some control over the draugr. You might even be able to force him back into his grave. It wouldn’t kill him, but it might contain him and lull him back to sleep.”
I stared out the window. Earlier he’d been gung ho about getting the items for his own mysterious purposes. Now, it sounded like he wanted to use them to contain the draugr. What had changed? Or was this another trick? One meant to lull me into thinking he was working with me when really he had his own agenda.
“Sounds like a difficult spell. You sure you can cast something like that?”
He scoffed. “Any sorcerer or witch who has passed their trial could cast something as simple as that.”
I smirked. Just what I’d wanted to hear. I flicked on my turn signal and took a left. Looked like I knew my destination.
