I turn toward Ares. He’s already scanning the field, calculating distance, spell range, death toll. There’s a glint in his eyes I’ve only ever seen in my father. Except on Ares, it isn’t cruelty. It’s purpose.
I raise my wand and move first.
The nearest poacher barely has time to inhale before my magic hits him. His body folds violently inward, the air punched from his lungs in a ragged croak as he collapses at my feet. I don’t stop. The Wendigo is trying to break free of the pain anchoring it, claws dragging furrows through the dirt as it pushes up with trembling limbs.
My focus sharpens into a blade.
My wand lifts again and I seize its ankles in an unyielding grip of force. The memory of bones cracking burns across my mind, giving the spell shape. Power surges down my arm. The Wendigo screams, a piercing shriek that rattles leaves from the trees. Blood floods its legs, swelling beneath its skin. The creature thrashes, choking on its own agony.
Somewhere beside me, Poppy screams my name.
I pivot just in time to see movement, steel glinting, a shadow emerging behind me.
Ares reacts faster.
His hand clamps around my arm and yanks me toward him with such force my breath bursts from my lungs. A blade slices across my side a heartbeat too late, just grazing where I stood. Pain blooms hot and immediate, radiating through my ribs.
Another poacher leaps from the brush and seizes Ares’s wrist, twisting sharply until his wand flies from his grip and skitters across the ground. He curses beneath his breath. I stumble into him, shoulder colliding with the solid heat of his chest before I right myself.
The physical contact sparks my pulse to life. For a sliver of a second, even through the chaos, his arm steadies me, firm and grounding...almost protective.
Then everything explodes again.
I shove the poacher who grabbed him, slamming my shoulder into his ribs until he stumbles back. Ares drops to the ground in a controlled roll, snatching up his wand mid-motion. Before the man can recover, Ares is on him, angrier this time. He pins the man and drives a knife deep into his chest, the wet choke of impact echoing through the trees.
Another poacher lunges at me.
He bypasses the wand entirely, going straight for brutality. A knife glints near my face as he slams his weight onto me, tackling me backward. The world tilts, sky, branches, dirt, all blurring, until I hit the ground with a bone-rattling thud. My breath leaves in a sharp cry.
His knee digs into my sternum, crushing, pinning me in place. I claw at his thigh, nails scraping for leverage, for pain, for anything to free myself, but he’s heavy.
Ares finishes off his opponent, chest heaving, eyes already scanning for me.
He sees me pinned beneath the poacher.
And something in his expression snaps.
The look he gives the man atop me is not human. It’s lethal.
I’m barely able to draw in a breath before the poacher digs his filthy finger into the open slice at my side. The pressure splits the wound wider, sending a jolt of white-hot pain through my ribs that nearly knocks the sound out of me. Hisweight bears down with an ugly confidence, knee pinning my sternum, breath thick and sour against my cheek as he growls his taunt.
“Shouldn’t keep running from him, Harper-”
The words drag across my nerves like a dull blade. My vision blurs, then sharpens, then blurs again. I claw at his thigh, trying to shove him off, but he’s unyielding, reveling in every twitch of agony he pulls from me. Blood trickles warm beneath my shirt. The forest spins. My heartbeat crashes against my ears.
And then his voice is cut short.
Not by a threat.
Not by a scream.
By a wet, brutal choke.
His body slumps forward, heavy and boneless, crushing the air out of my lungs. The sudden weight forces a gasp from me, but even that is smothered beneath him. His head lolls to the side. His eyes are already vacant.
Ares rips him off me.
He drags the corpse away with a single vicious motion and flings it hard enough that it thuds against a tree trunk. Without hesitation, without even a breath to mark the shift, he drops to his knees beside the body and drives his knife into the man’s chest. Once. Twice. Again. And again.
