The direwolves crept forward. The four snarled unintelligently. I bared my fangs at them. I didn't bother holding back my rage. Every hair on my back bristled. Of the five of us, I was the smallest by half a foot.

  It was impossible to tell who I was the most angry at: Velleigh for taking the kid, Luther for planning the entire thing, the wolves for attacking me when I wanted to kill Luther so badly, or myself for not being strong enough to protect the boy.

  Then I'll just make a list. Then starting with the direwolves, I will kill them all!

  I darted to the one furthest to the left. The bite wound on my side slowed me down a fraction of a second.

  Pain stabbed my side where the earlier wound still bled. It slowed me enough that another wolf’s jaw closed over my flank a heartbeat before I reached my target. Teeth bit into my fur and hide; the shock made me reel. The wolf in front of me aimed to bite me in the back of the neck from above.

  I rolled through the movement, my body twisting beneath the direwolf that was aiming for the kill. As I dipped lower, I curled back up to sink my teeth into his throat from below. The wolf behind me tore away, leaving my leg weak.

  A sharp tug and twist with my jaws followed by a quick snap preceded the system message.

  Enemy defeated. Progress to level 6: 20%.

  The system message was nothing more than noise. The other three were already converging.

  They were coordinated in a way wild animals rarely were. Two fanned left and right while the third tried to come straight at me.

  But now I had a weapon in my mouth. I spun, forcing myself to move my feet despite my wounds.

  My improvised weapon flailed out in a diagonal arc downward. It clipped the leftmost wolf in the ribs. He yelped and tumbled further away. The other two cleanly avoided the attack.

  The wolf to my right lunged. I hopped and spun with the strike. His claws skimmed the skin along my shoulder and down to my ribs. Pain exploded and weakened both my landing and retaliation. I answered with a slap of the direwolf corpse in my mouth. The blow landed hard enough to stagger it, but not send it away.

  I knew the final wolf would strike in the apparent opening. He aimed for my good back leg.

  So I gave it to him. My paw connected with the side of his face. The impact reverberated in my bones; something in its snout cracked with a muffled crunch. The wolf reeled, blood and froth on its lips as a few shards of its teeth dusted the ground.

  The third pounced from the other side. I yanked the corpse in my mouth to use as a shield. The direwolf sank its fangs into it. As it hit the ground, it pulled, attempting to disarm me.

  We were evenly matched. Neither one of us moved as our claws dug into the ground.

  I pushed into the little tug of war. My prey wasn't ready for it and tripped backwards. He released it and rolled onto his back.

  The wolf I kicked in the face was running away.

  No! You're going to die here.

  I spun and threw the corpse like a disk. My impromptu projectile slammed into his back legs. They folded in, and I heard something pop as the beast yelped.

  One snapped at my hindquarters and grazed the tendon by my hip. The pain bloomed as the rest of my leg was swallowed in numbness. I staggered. The world spun, and I slashed my claws defensively. They hit nothing, but it allowed me a moment to back away to find my footing.

  Then the three of us watched each other, our heavy breaths pluming with mist around each of our muzzles. I could feel the blood leaking from my wounds.

  Reason slowly started to take hold in my mind. I still wanted them to die, but I held back just enough of my wrath to concentrate on my magic again.

  First I prepared to summon a frost shield. Then I baited a retreat. The two wolves took the bait and rushed me.

  At the last instant I summoned a kite shield sideways and stuffed the point into one of their mouths. Before it could be down and shatter it, I threw my shoulder into the shield. The sharp edge split the wolf's face and half its neck.

  The direwolf slumped to the ground and gurgled in agony. The other wolf found my functioning hind leg and licked its jaw around it.

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  I howled as I tried to curl back on him. He just backpedaled and thrashed his head from side to side. My leg snapped instantly, and I started seeing black spots scattered through my vision.

  Just as I reached for his head with my claws, he threw me to the side. I rolled until my side slammed into a rock. Dizziness and pain threatened to steal my consciousness.

  Enemy defeated. Progress to level 6: 40%.

  The message was the least of my concerns as the final wolf stalked towards me.

  I promised to keep that boy safe. You are in the way!

  Mana built in my mouth. Frost coated my fangs as I prepared an ice spike. My opponent didn't recognize the threat as he stood over me. His mouth opened wide as he lunged for my throat.

  I released the charged ice spike. It went into his mouth and out the back with a shower of bone, blood, and brains.

  Enemy defeated. Progress to level 6: 60%.

  The corpse dropped onto me with a heavy thud. It should've been silent. But there was one more opponent scraping along the ground to flee.

  There is no tomorrow for you.

  I didn't even bother to push the corpse off me. Both my hind legs were useless, one broken and the other with a severed tendon. So I crawled. Yet I wasn't the only one. The direwolf I threw the corpse at had similar issues with his hind legs.

  One paw in front of the other, I dragged myself towards him. I caught up and dug my claws into his back. He howled and turned on me. His first snap came up short. The second one I caught his head in my jaws. The crown of his head crunched and collapsed beneath my fangs.

  Enemy defeated. Progress to level 6: 80%.

  I spat out the bone, brain, and fur. Brains never had much flavor, but I never liked their texture—too grainy.

  A tiny pull in the back of my mind urged me to eat my prey. But it was wrong. They weren't my prey. They were obstacles. My prey had a name.

  Luther.

  Nothing was going to stop me. I had to rescue Keagan, even if I had to drag myself the entire time.

  It took far too long to reach the town. The sun was almost setting when it came into view. I was burning through reserves. Each movement was agony laced with rage. My underside was rubbed raw and bleeding from the rocky terrain.

  The first person to see me was a man with a burlap sack in his arms and wearing an apron. He paused and watched me crawl forward another three steps. His face scrunched up like he was thinking really hard.

  I mostly ignored him and just kept going further to the town.

  “Are you…” he began before someone else tapped his waist.

  A little old lady who used a cane to help her walk waved to me. “Don’t just stand there, Jack. Go help the poor thing.”

  Jack hesitated but put the bag down. “You sure it isn’t wild, Grandma?”

  The grandmother slapped the man in the back of the head with her cane. “Use your head for once. A wild monster this wounded wouldn’t come to a town. That’s someone’s partner. Can’t you see? She’s focused on something that’s not you.”

  “Okay,” he said.

  As he got closer, I growled at him. “Where is he? Where’s Luther? Where’s Keagan?” My voice was hoarse, cutting away much of my intimidation.

  Jack flinched. “Uh, who’s Luther? I don’t know anybody by that name. And I don’t know any Keagans either.”

  “Who is your partner, dear?” the woman asked as she slowly approached. “What happened? Will you let us help you?”

  “If you don’t know, then stay out of my way,” I rasped.

  The old lady sighed. “You’re not even walking. What has you so possessed? Is Luther your trainer?”

  “Never!” I snapped. “The only thing left between us is his death!”

  The little old lady blinked while Jack took a couple steps back. Jack turned to her. “What do we do in this situation, Grandma? I’ve never seen a… a monster without their trainer.”

  The grandma tapped his leg with the cane. “Go to the guild, explain everything to them. Have them bring someone who can carry her. Obviously something happened with this Luther, Keagan, and…” She waved to me. “What’s your name?”

  I stopped trying to move. “Lucia. My name is Lucia.” If they don’t know his name, then they may still have seen him. “Did you see a one-armed reaper carrying a boy with a middle-aged man?”

  Jack blinked. “A reaper? I don’t know about that. But I saw that floating cloak carrying someone.”

  The old woman chuckled. “That’s a reaper, Jack.”

  He scratched his cheek. “Oh.” Then he turned around.

  “Where did they go? Tell me!” I dug my claws into the dirt road.

  Jack pointed towards the center of the town. “They went that direction. I don’t know exactly where, but I just thought that whatever happened wasn’t any of my business and was being taken care of.”

  “He kidnapped him from me!”

  “Ah,” the lady said. “I can see why you’re upset now. Did that reaper do this to you?”

  I bit back a growl. “It doesn’t matter. I have to save him.”

  “Go, Jack. I’ll stay here with her.” The woman nodded to the guild hall.

  The man took off running. As he did, I saw a familiar face. Fayna saw Jack running and turned towards us.

  Her eyes went wide, and she sprinted towards me. “Lucia? What in the gods’ names happened to you?”

  The grandma turned to look at her. “You know her?”

  Sereth floated up behind her. “Oh, it’s the fluffy wolf! We fought in the tournament a couple of days ago.” She grimaced once she got a closer look at me. “I didn’t even do that much damage to you? Who did you piss off? And how are you still alive?”

  Fayna flicked the wyverling in the back of the head. “Don’t make assumptions.” She turned to the old woman. “But, yes, Gilda, we know her.”

  Her eyes looked behind me. “Lucia, where’s Keagan? Why isn’t he with you?”

  I lowered my head. “Keagan was kidnapped by Luther, and he tried to kill me with four wild direwolves.”

  All three of their mouths fell open.

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