“Good hit, Will,” I muttered, waggling my jaw back into place.
“You’re thinking all offense, Dresden,” Bear said. “You have to think defense at the same time. Everyone you ever fight to the death is undefeated. They are looking to take you apart. You can’t rely on all-out offense. Will’s smart, balanced, and strong.” She awarded Will a deep bow of her head. “That was properly done, warrior.”
“Thank you,” Will said quietly. I’d bloodied his lip for him earlier and he’d barely noticed. Damn he was quick for someone built as solidly as he was.
Will frowned and lifted his head to the evening wind, his nostrils flaring.
“Who?” I asked him.
Will considered for a moment before nodding slowly. “Ramirez and the Russian,” he said.
“Well, good. I can pass along Lord Darkdoom’s invitation. Bear,” I said, “the kid.”
“I’ll see to him,” the Valkyrie said, and hurried down off the roof.
“Will,” I said, “send them up here, would you?”
“You’re going to go after those Black Court bastards, aren’t you?” Will said.
I exhaled. “Well. Yeah, probably, sooner or later.”
“I’m going with you,” Will said.
“Will, I’m not going to be able to look out for you,” I said.
“I’ve been giving you an awful lot of my life lately, Harry. Also, hey, where’d you get all those bruises?” he asked. “Look, man. I told Bear what I had in mind. She’s been training me before you get up. And in case you didn’t notice, I just spent the last hour handing the Winter Knight his ass.”
I growled. “Yeah, well.”
“You remember that bruise on the cheek you gave me first round?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“You see it now?”
I frowned and peered at him in the gathering dark. There was no mark on his face.
“Bruises take about a minute to go away,” he said. “Split my lip, it’s better in two. And rare meat is freaking ambrosia.”
“How?” I asked quietly.
“All the shifting lately,” he said. “And since the night of the battle I’ve…I don’t know. Felt things differently.” He met my eyes. His reflected light, like a wolf’s. “A lot of things changed that night.”
There had been an insane amount of power flowing through the city the night of the battle, God knew. It had awakened Council-level power in Fitz, after all. It had taken me days to realize how drunk I had been on it for a while. I had unfurled a psychic banner of pure will and used it to make my allies stronger in that heady brew of terror and fury and pure arcane power that had roiled over the city. I knew I had been stronger then, more able to affect the world around me.
Maybe a lot more.
Maybe with more consequence than I had realized.
I broke my gaze with Will before it got any more complicated. Hell’s bells, what had I unleashed without knowing?
I extended my wizard’s senses toward the other man and felt…
…kind of threatened, actually.
Will had always been dangerous as a werewolf. But he was changing. I could feel the shift in energy around him. He had gone through the fire, and he’d come out changed. Harder. Stronger.
“I’ll think about it,” I relented. “Will, I…thank you. For your help lately. I know I’m not firing on all cylinders right now. So…thank you.”
