Page 52 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

“You two have a choice. I send you packing with a few well-placed punches to make it look like you gave a fight, or my friend here could feed your blood to the earth. Either way, doesn’t make a difference to me.” Alia shrugged, picking dirt from beneath her fingernails with a blade.

I stepped forward, allowing my fangs to show from beneath my hood and a fierce growl to erupt from my throat.

The man took a step back.

“Alright, we don’t want no troubles,” he said, keeping his hands up and off his blade. Smart man.

“You two wanna punch each other?” Alia asked, rather politely.

The woman groaned. “My last black eye just healed,” she groaned.

“Wasn’t that the fifth one in a row?”

She glared at the man.

It pleased me that Alia was along to prevent a slaughter. Did not take much to realize these two were not a bad sort, they were just pawns in a greater scheme. Just like me, although much more innocent than I.

They slugged each other. Alia blew a dart which hit one in the shoulder and the other just above the collarbone. They went down in a heap.

“Well d?—”

Displaced air at my back was the only warning.

Alia

I turned to Shen,expecting to see a tiny glimmer of a smirk. Instead, I saw a massive form behind him a split second before a sword came down, glimmering in the scant light.

Shenmoved.

As in, I’ve never seen someone or something move that quickly. He was a blur, dodging what should’ve been certaindeath. His body twisted, and before I shouted a warning, he had the figure on the ground and a blade at the figure’s throat.

“Look away,” he growled, but I couldn’t. I watched as he slit the elf’s throat.

He stood with his eyes glowing, and in that moment I saw his darkness. I saw the animal beneath the man.

And it terrified me.

He put the still blood-slicked knife in his fingers point first and threw. I felt the wind off the blade as it sailed past my ear and landed with a meaty thwack just behind me. A grunt and a thud sounded immediately after, but I could not take my eyes off the predator before me.

He was protecting me now. Yet what if the one who held his leash pitted him against me or my family? I didn’t know who would win.

My blood chilled in my veins even as I felt the dying need of the elf behind me.

A differentneedslipped past my barriers and branded itself against my soul. I tried to hide the wince. After two consecutive deaths slicing into my soul, thisneedfelt too much like continuously dipping a gash into ale.

I glanced back at the two mages where theneedoriginated from. It was unusual in that it was linked to safety and tinged with unease. It beingthissharp meant it was a life-or-death situation.

My Gift didn’t work like that, though. It told me when someone was in pain or inneed, but it wasn’t clairvoyant.

The zing of an arrow met my ears. I dove for cover, but I wasn’t the target. The arrow pierced the male mage. Rage thawed the ice in my veins until my heart pounded fire through my body. They would kill an already subdued individual? Why?

I loaded a glass ball into my blow gun.

“Close your eyes!” I shouted.

Then I blew. The light which flashed nearly blinded me even though I’d turned and covered my eyes with my hood. I blinked away bright spots and dove for the mages.

Shen was at my side, pulling me inside the door.

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