He padded over to the fighting arena and I followed in wolf form.
‘We fight as a team. One unit.’ Walsh’s wolf’s voice was gruff and calculated. You could tell his head was already in the fight. My wolf nodded and he went on.‘If I clamp down on one of their wrists, it means I’m going to pin him down so you can rip out his throat. Can you do that?’
Fear surged through my human half, but my wolf was unfazed.‘Yes,’she replied simply.
‘If I go left, you go right. We need to keep their attention divided and take them down one by one.’
Again my wolf nodded. I tapped into her feelings and was shocked to feel nothing. Not one ounce of fear. If anything she was… bloodthirsty. She looked at the cages holding the animals and I understood. She wanted revenge for this, for keeping all of the animals in cages, experimenting on them and selling them.
The crowd grew louder as Walsh and my wolf approached and he stopped and looked at her.‘I don’t know what powers your wolf has, but I don’t want to see them out there. If you show that you are anything but an ordinary werewolf, you’ll be in a cage. Got it?’
I could feel rebellion rise up in my wolf, but she nodded.
She respected Walsh and would listen to him.
Trip grinned, opening the large fighter cage, and I let my gaze fall on the two giants inside of it. The same ones from the office. I took time to really appraise them now. They were massive, the size of a full-grown bear, but they were definitely Ithaki. Half troll and half… dark fey?
My stomach tightened as I had a wild thought: what would happen if my wolf died? Would I die too? We were connected, but also apart, so I really had no idea and I didn’t want to find out now. We stepped into the large fifty-foot square cage and stood in front of the giant troll-fey Ithaki.
“Place all final bets!” Trip shouted to the crowd as Walsh bared his lips and growled at the purple mohawk Ithaki.
‘You need to mentally psych them out. Show them you aren’t weak,’Walsh coached my wolf.
Without warning, she tipped her head back and let out the most spine-chilling howl I’d ever heard. It was deep and long and gut wrenching. Suddenly the Paladin in its cage right behind us howled back, and then Walsh joined in. Soon all of the animals in the room started to go nuts. Horses, monkeys, even the dragon all made agitated sounds and shook the doors of their cages.
Trip’s face fell, marred with shock at the disruption my wolf’s howl had caused in his animals, and so did the two Ithaki’s.
My wolf had some kind of effect on all of the animals… I couldfeelit. She had a connection to them.
Whatever she’d done, it had worked to mentally psych out the two trolls. When the fight bell went off, they stood there stunned, staring at my wolf as Walsh burst into the air.
‘Get behind them and start tearing at their ankles,’Walsh told my wolf.
The troll-Ithaki went from staring at my wolf like idiots to craning their necks at the werewolf flying directly at their faces. The troll on the left was slightly taller and redheaded, while the one on the right had the purple mohawk and looked more fey-like. Walsh went for the redhead and I remembered his instructions.
We attack as a team.
I darted between the troll’s legs and went right for Red’s ankle as Walsh had commanded. Taking the back of his heel into my mouth, I clamped down until my teeth sank deep into warm flesh, and then tore my jaws away, yanking out tendons and muscle.
A roar of pain filled the space and I stepped out of the way just in time for the Ithaki to fall forward in pain. He crashed against the mat, practically shaking the walls of the barn with his fall, lying helplessly on the ground as he held his ankle, which was bleeding a dark greenish black.
Whoa. That was awesome—
The crowd went wild.
Thin rivulets of the greenish blood trickled onto the dirt-packed floor as the injured troll made a fist and aimed for me. I turned to run but was too slow. His knuckles crashed into my ribs and the wind knocked right out of me. I padded across the cage wheezing, trying to get a lungful of air.
That bastard.
Walsh was circling the redhead, taking nips of his flesh here and there, weakening him, when my wolf bared her teeth and charged forward to finish him off.
‘Look out!’Walsh cried but it was too late. Giant fingers dug into my fur as I’d forgotten all about Mr. Mohawk. I was yanked up into the air by the skin of my back, and tight pain seared across my fur as my skin pulled taut.
A howl ripped from my throat and the crowd went wild.
My jaws snapped left and right but couldn’t reach the douchebag’s arm. I was like a little yipping chihuahua to this guy. He pulled me close to his face and inhaled. I was still too far to bite him though, so it only served to piss me off.
“You smell like magic,” he cooed and I gulped. “What a tasty treat you will make.”
