Page 47 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

“What do you mean? Oh, one of the useless buffoons we have keeping the grounds?”

I saw the new brother’s face cloud instantly, and in a flash, he lifted his hand, sending a blast of magic out the door. America and I jumped to our feet. “You’re such a fucking idiot, Millicent.”

It looked like the fight was on.

Gripping the banister, I launched myself over it, shifting into my wolf form in mid-air. It hurt to do it so rapidly, flesh tearing and joints breaking, then reforming, but I figured we could use the steam to help obscure our onslaught.

Because there was most certainly an onslaught. I heard Chiga shift behind me, the unmistakable, haunting bellow of a moose filling up the room like the howl of something entirely alien. I always tended to forget how creepy the giant animals sounded.

But Chiga wasn’t the only one barreling in. Pretty much every door except the one the brother had come through burst off its hinges to let different members of my team in. Within seconds, we were all in the room, attacking the last two members of the warlock bloodline.

I went for the one who had sussed us out. I had hoped to get the drop on him quite literally, however, I never quite touched ground. A moment or two before I was about to land, the potted plant next to Millicent rapidly grew in size. The next thing I knew, two giant leaves wrapped around me and flung me across the room.

Ah, that had to be Frederick, the plant user. If the tricks Ven had pulled at the manor were anything like the plant user in front of me, no wonder she’d thrown Alric for such a loop. There was something particularly uncanny about foliage coming to life and acting like a sentient creature. Like it was breaking all the rules of our world and how it was supposed to work.

I recovered quickly and found my footing, only to have two security guards run in with guns. If I had to guess, those weren’t as benign as the ones I had tangled with at Chadwicke’s manor. Meaning, they most definitely had silver bullets.

That certainly wouldn’t do. While not everyone in my group were wolf shifters, and therefore didn’t have the silver allergy we did, a majority were. I pivoted my attention from Frederick and focused on disarming the new pair, hoping that if anyone elsehad run in from other directions, my allies would choose to do the same.

I leaped at the first one, closing my jaws around his wrist. I bit as hard as I could, appreciating the crunch of bone as I jerked his arm back and forth. If he survived, he would never have use of that hand again.

Good.

He screamed. I let go of his bleeding limb and head-butted him in his chest for all I was worth. He toppled backward and didn’t get up. Old Leo might have taken the time to stop and chomp on his throat right then and there, but I’d learned that I didn’t always have the time to make sure every single enemy I faced had a completely satisfying end. What was important was that he was out of the fight, and I could focus on the brothers.

Oh, and also all of the plants in the room.

Never in my life did I think I would have to have a showdown with some foliage, but that was exactly what was going on. Vines burst from the floor and broke through the windows, trying to grab whoever they could, while the tree and other plants were tripling or even quadrupling in size, their leaves turning into limbs.

A quick glance told me Chiga was most definitely being our MVP. His truly mammoth animal form was too big for most of the vines to pick up and fling around, and his mouth was especially suited for destroying plant matter within seconds. After all, moose had the ability to dive down in the water and rip out mouthfuls of hearty aquatic greens all in one breath. I never thought a battle could be influenced by someone beingreallygood at eating salad, but, God, was I grateful we had Chiga on our team. His teeth weren’t just meant for ripping and tearing flesh.

However, I couldn’t leave it all up to the moose. I charged at the plant that had tossed me aside, ducking this way and thatbeneath each swipe. It was strange how they moved, almost like they were a second delayed. It made it harder to predict their movements. It was probably because they didn’t have a nervous system that could send signals to their muscles, so the way they were moving was so completely foreign to what I was used to. However, I still managed to get close enough to the ornate pot. I immediately started digging in the dirt.

I nearly laughed. Here I was, in a battle for pretty much all shifters in a multi-state area, and it was suddenly very important how fast I could dig a hole.

I was so focused on the dirt that I lost track of the fight. Suddenly, I felt a white-hot slice on my thigh. Jerking around, I saw a security guard wielding a giant thorn, magic crackling in his other hand.

He didn’t smell like a warlock, which meant he was likely a witch. I’d dealt with witches before, and while they were certainly powerful foes, they were nothing like the brothers. I could work with that.

But before I could whirl to face him, two smaller, tawny figures jumped on him, one going for his extended arm, the other for his throat. He screamed, but not before both coyotes tore into him. The two shifters jumped off the man as he crumpled, and I realized it was America and one of her cousins. I gave them the shortest, most appreciative nod before getting back to digging.

It took maybe two more seconds before I found the root ball. I hadn’t even known what a root ball was until I met Ven, and I sent up a prayer for her love of info-dumping about plants. Eager to get a heavy hitter out of the way, I dug my teeth into the root ball andripped with everything I had.

I swore the plant squealed, which was something truly uncanny, but I didn’t let go. Even when one of its leaves suddenly slammed into me and lifted me off my feet again—amistake on the plant’s part, because I didn’t let go of its root ball as I flew through the air.

I knew Frederick would simply heal the plant, but from how Ven had described things, it was less him controlling the plants and more giving them a sort of magical half-life. Hopefully, he wouldn’t even notice the plant was gone until he saw it, and then he would have to waste time and energy bringing it back to life.

So, I bit and I tore, even using my paws and claws to tear away chunks of densely packed roots. Sure enough, once I got down to the heart of the root ball, the leaves finally stopped moving and fell to the floor.

Massive footsteps sounded behind me, and I whirled around, ready for another fight. Instead, I saw a giant moose smiling at me. I had no idea what he could be so happy about, but then he nodded at the mess I’d made of the plant.

Oh! Well,bon appetit.

While he hoovered it up to make sure it truly couldn’t be used again, I spun to go for Frederick again. But once more, I was thwarted as a geyser of water burst from the floor and spun up to the ceiling. For a split second, I was completely baffled, until I smelled the distinct rust of an old pipe. Millicent had used his powers to summon the water from below the marble floor. That was clever and far more resourceful than I thought he would be. It looked like the battle had gotten that much more complicated.

We needed to end it, and fast, before Millie and Freddie got any more creative. Otherwise, we might not survive.

12

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