My knuckles creak as I tighten my grip on my daggers. “Well, hello. It would seem you panthers are lost. This is wolf territory. You’d all benefit from moving on.”
The man grins and belts out a laugh. “Judging by the flaming blades, I assume you are the one they call Suntouched. Cara, is it? Yes, we’ve heard of you.” He straightens and takes a step forward. My men growl in response, though the panther is still well out of reach. He’d have to shift mid-leap to lay a claw on me yet. “I do not recognize your authority, Cara. I do not acknowledge yourterritory. I suggest you take your wounded pup and leave while I’m feeling generous.”
“While I’m sure your generosity knows no bounds, I must decline.” As I talk, I inch backwards until my heel bumps the prone wolf on the ground. There. Now I’m closer in case another one of the panthers attacks her. “May I make an alternate suggestion?”
The man’s smile turns ice cold. “You can suggest all you want. I am under no obligation to listen.”
I have to give credit to our soldiers’ training; without me uttering a single command, they inch into a tighter formation, back-to-back, creating a ring of bodies around myself and the injured wolf woman. They’re poised to protect us at the cost of their lives if need be, which under normal circumstances would be desirable. Unfortunately, for me to summon a Solar Flare—the strongest of my abilities, easily able to incinerate the surrounding panthers—I would need them all tovacatethe area, not get closer to me. I want them to grab the hurt wolf and make a run for it, but I can’t fault them for trying to be noble.
Perhaps with a little more stalling I can figure out something else.
“Well, I suggest you panthers pack up and leave my sight before I’m forced to take measures that would be … unpleasant.”
Flames appear at my fingertips as I ready myself to summon the Call of the Sun. If I can’t fry them all, the least I can do is scorch their leader. Maybe if he gets hurt, the others will turn tail and run.
Before I can release the energies stored within me, a stream of flame shoots past me, winding around branches and bushes to hit the naked panther man square in the chest. He bellows and falls to his knees, and I have barely enough time to turn and trace the path of the fire back to the outstretched hand of the very wolf I’m trying to protect. She stares with wide amber eyes at the scorched mark on his flesh before fainting, her body falling still once more.
Another Suntouched Soul? Where did she come from?
I won’t get answers just yet because the surrounding panthers leap forward to defend their leader.
The scene erupts in a flurry of fur, fangs, claws, and swords. I step back, straddling the young woman on the ground, and release a wall of flames between us and the closest attackers. Behind us, yelps and howls resound as wolves and panthers clash. The stench of blood, bile, and perforated bowel fills my nose.
A lone panther makes it through the flame wall to pounce at me, but I dodge its outstretched paws and slash with my blades, disemboweling it midflight. Innards rain down on me and my ward, bathing us in blood.
With the other nearby enemies busy trying to snuff the flames that lick at their skin, I turn to see how the wolves behind me are faring.
Not well, it seems.
Hugh stands over a fallen Sym, whose breathing comes in ragged gasps. I want to go to him, but until we’ve eliminated the threat, I can’t stop to help the injured. A handful of wolves lie frozen in various stages of shift with huge gashes ripped through their skin and fur. I glance to my right to see Corvin wavering on his feet, hand over his bleeding midsection. Before him lies a beheaded panther, and behind that crouch two others readying to finish him off. What few of our people still stand rush to his side with weapons drawn or teeth bared, though they’re still outnumbered by the enemy.
It’s a total nightmare.
The only good thing about our current situation is that my men had the forethought to position themselves so that my eyes could draw an invisible line between them and the panthers around us. We may be fewer in number, but we now have a way to end this. Well,Ihave a way.
I summon all my strength and focus on the panther shifters across the way. The air around them superheats, creating a shimmering visual effect, and with a shout I release the Sun God’s power inside me, manifesting in a fifty-foot-high column of flame, centered on the farthest beast. The flaming pillar extends to the closest of our foes, encompassing all but its snout, which opens in a silent roar of pain and agony.
Powerful as the Solar Flare gift is, I can only sustain it for a scant few seconds, but a few seconds is all I need. When the blinding fires recede, nothing remains of the panthers before us. A quick glance behind me shows the ones burned by my charge’s fire turning literal tail and running through the trees in retreat, carrying the charred body of their leader.
We did it.
Barely.
I turn to three wolves panting on the side. “You! Are you injured?”
They shake their heads and shift back to human form.
“Good. You and you, start gathering up our dead and carrying them to the cart. You, go help Corvin and the wounded. Do what you can here to get them stable for transport back to the closest healers.”
I sheathe my daggers and bend to lift the injured wolf woman. Hugh shifts and picks up Sym, and we dash through the woods as fast as we can. The girl in my arms moans and shivers, concerning me. How long had she been hurt before we found her, and how much blood has she lost?
Sym doesn’t fare much better. He still sucks in rattling breaths, a sick, wet sound. We need to get them both back to town as fast as possible.
Corvin, much to my surprise, delivers himself to the cart. He heaves himself up onto it as I lay the girl down next to Sym and climb in between them. I brush short dark hair off her cheek and inspect her to determine the extent of her injuries. In addition to multiple lacerations from the panthers’ claws, she also has a broken arm and a slashed leg. I do what I can to stop the bleeding, but I worry we might have been too late.
As I tie off a makeshift tourniquet from some torn rags, her eyelids flutter open. Amber eyes framed in thick, dark lashes meet mine before rolling to either side to take in Corvin, Sym, and the other injured wolves being loaded into the cart. She reaches across me to touch Sym’s shredded skin, and a bright flame flares over the wound. Hugh screams, and I snatch her arm away, but the fire snuffs in an instant, leaving smooth yet reddened skin in its place. Sym’s fur regrows over the spot as I watch.
Her fire healed him!
