Page 54 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

Shen continued sneezing. It was the sneeze of a kitten when it gets pollen in its nose.

I grabbed his tunic and drew him up the passageway, away from the bomb. His eyes were watering and he was still sneezing. “Here.” I drew two vials from beneath my hood. “Open your mouth.”

“Kind of—sneeze, sneeze, sneeze,—hard,” he panted.

“You can still sneeze while I stick these under your tongue.”

He opened his mouth and I stuck the drops under his tongue. He sneezed on my hand, but I didn’t mind.

“So—sneeze—rry,” he said.

“You know we need to hurry this up, right?” I said as his sneezes calmed.

“You—sneeze—were the one who insisted on saving the black mage’s life.”

“You aren’t wrong, but we’ve been…” I couldn’t figure out the word for it.

He straightened, wiping his nose. He looked a lot less dangerous when his eyes were red and watery and his nose was red as an Ambrose scar. “Enjoying ourselves while delaying the inevitable?”

A crooked grin crossed my face that he couldn’t see beneath my cowl. “Yeah. That. But soon there will be backup and I don’t fancy fighting our way out of this place.”

He nodded, and in that moment he went from playful to… I didn’t know what to call it. But it was as if the emotions, scant as they were, was sucked out of his very being.

“It has been fun, Little Red,” he said, sticking out his hand.

“Same here, Wolfie,” I said, shaking it.

A tiny smile crossed his face and then vanished as if it never happened.

He turned and the fun was gone. It was time to rescue a kidnapee.

Shen picked up the mage, and we ran. It was a race against time to get to the kidnapped person before the cavalry arrived. Shen sniffed the air. I squeaked when he grabbed the back of my tunic to drag us into an alcove while five mages raced past. A few had lightning twirling up their arms. Fun.

We continued up the passageway until he opened a door into a room with cobwebs and sheet-covered furniture. He laid the mage down on the bed and a poof of dust went up. He walked to the window.

“Are you going to do what I think you’re going to do?” I whispered.

He didn’t answer, but we both knew he was going to do exactly what I thought he was going to do.

“Stay here,” he said.

“Why?”

He paused. “Because I can climb faster and easier with my claws.”

“How do you know?”

He opened and closed his mouth. Then he sighed. “You may not like what I must do in that room.”

“Don’t leave me behind because darkness is knocking. That’s when you need help the most.”

He gave a quick nod and climbed out the window. I followed close behind him, carefully slipping out to the eaves and then hopping to the next one. He pointed to the next window over. I nodded. He hopped with the grace of a mountain goat to the last window. I leapt to the next window. It creaked beneath me, sending my heart fluttering in my chest. I leapt again before it gave.

I clung to the wall and tried to ignore the black void that lasted for at least three stories beneath me. A tiny squeal escaped me as the wood gave way beneath my feet and plunged me into darkness.

Shen grabbed my arm. “I have you.” He hauled me up to the window beside him.

“Thanks,” I said, my heart attempting to bruise my ribs.

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