Page 76 of Forgotten Arcane

“Having said that, if they attack and you have no choice, then do what you have to,” Eamon adds grimly.

Everyone nods.

Unfortunately, it’s clear when we get to the gate that any hope of talking it out isn’t going to happen. The guard that raised the alarm is lying torn to shreds at the feet of three wolves, while the other wolves all shift around uneasily behind them.

My eyebrows draw down, something doesn’t seem right, but before I can pinpoint what exactly it is, the wolves charge us, growling and snapping their jaws. There is absolutely no mistaking that they intend to attack and kill us.

I pull on my magic, getting ready to call on my wings. I know that I haven’t practiced flying and fighting with weapons yet, but I’m fairly certain that I can wield a weapon while flying, and the height would actually help in this situation. Before I can shift though, the Voices mutter in warning, and I know that I’m not supposed to use them.

If they’re telling me not to, then there must be a pretty damn good reason why I shouldn’t. So, even though it would give me a big advantage, I listen because if I don’t listen to the Voices, then I almost always end up in a worse situation.

Everyone is fighting, and it’s fucking vicious.

I spot a wolf launch itself at River’s back, and I pull one of the knives from my thigh and throw it. It hits the wolf between the eyes and kills it instantly as it drops to the floor with a thump.

River finishes the wolf that he was fighting, and then looks behind him in shock.

When he looks back at me, I grin.

“So hot!” he yells, and then gets pulled into another fight.

Calling Asael to me, I waste no more time and dive into the battle.

I really fucking hope that we don’t lose any more of our people.

As we fight, I begin to realize something. My instincts are behaving in a confusing way. Even though all of the wolves are attacking us, with the intention to kill us, I’m not killing them all. For a few of them, my instinct insists that I knock them out instead, rather than take their lives.

I’m not going to argue with it, but it does make me realize that something more than the obvious is going on.

All thoughts disappear when I suddenly find myself surrounded by seven wolves, all of them circling me and lunging for me and trying to take chunks out of me. I swing Asael, killing the first one that lunges for me, but knocking out the next two. The only problem with just knocking them out is that they recover really quickly, and then they come back and try to kill me again.

It's exhausting.

All of the guys are fighting their own wolves, either one-on-one or two-on-one. All of Calia and Eamon’s people are also in the same situation, where they are only dealing with one or two of the wolves.

So why are so many of them gathered around me?

I would think that it’s because I’m the weakest, so they think that they can take me down easier, but I’ve already taken several of them out and proven how easily I can kill them, so it can’t be that.

They double down on their attack, moving quicker, and I have to continuously move to make sure that I don’t get caught by one of them. They’re closing in on me, and I can’t keep this up for much longer.

River catches my gaze, and his eyes widen as he sees me surrounded.

“Enough!” he shouts.

Immediately, the fighting stops, and all of the wolves stop attacking.

“What the fuck?” Eamon curses as he looks around at the now still wolves in shock.

River shrugs, in response to Eamon’s question, he can’t exactly explain it right now.

He continues what he’s doing and somehow manages to aim his alpha voice only at the wolves, as he orders, “Shift back.”

My eyes widen along with everyone else’s as the wolves all shift back to their human forms, even the dead ones.

That’s fucking interesting. I was fairly certain that the alpha command didn’t work on the dead wolves.

It must be a part of his new magic, and I know that Raiden is taking notes so that he can look into it later.

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