A shape moved in the trees to our right. We both turned as the shadow passed silently behind a thick-boughed spruce tree, then emerged from the woods.

The black wolf paced fifteen feet across the manicured lawn and fixed its milky eyes on us. Muscles rippled beneath its shaggy coat, its canine body too large for my brain to comprehend. Not quite dire-wolf-sized, but pretty damn close.

As adrenaline shivered through my muscles, Aaron swore under his breath.

“Who’s hunting who?” he muttered. “Be careful, Tori.”

He reached over his shoulder and drew Sharpie from its sheath with a steely slither. I scrabbled in my pouch, slid my brass knuckles on, and risked a glance over my shoulder. We’d walked well past the academy and I couldn’t see the others. The wind had picked up, blowing against our backs—and it would carry our voices away if we shouted for help.

“Should we retreat?” I asked sharply.

Aaron angled his blade toward the shifter. “He’s here for a fight. If we don’t take him on, he’ll pick one with someone else.”

And “someone else” could be any student unlucky enough to wander outside.

I curled my hand into a fist, the hard edges of my brass knuckles digging into my palm. “What’s the plan?”

“I’m going in hot,” he said—an expression that was far more literal for a pyromage. “I’ll draw him back toward the others. If you have a chance to run for help—”

Tired of waiting, the wolf rushed us.

I backpedaled as Aaron lunged forward. Fire swept up his blade and he swung it at the wolf’s chest. The shifter ducked the flaming steel. As it darted past him, Aaron spun in a full circle and slammed the hilt into its shoulder.

The wolf tumbled across the grass, then came up on its feet, its lips pulled back in a ferocious canine grin.

I withdrew farther, getting clear as fire coated Aaron’s arms and shoulders. He took a slow step, then launched at the wolf. The shifter evaded with preternatural speed, faster than the mutated werewolves we’d fought.

Aaron and the wolf danced in a lethal circle, the shifter silent and deadly as it lunged repeatedly, seeking a way past the pyromage’s long blade. Holding my breath, I hovered on my tiptoes, ready to sprint for help but not daring to leave. Against a single wolf, Aaron should’ve already won, but the shifter’s every movement broadcast its strength and speed. Sharpie’s reach was Aaron’s only advantage.

The shifter spun past Aaron’s left side, then cut in behind him. As he pivoted, sword snapping around, the wolf slammed its shoulder into Aaron’s hip. The powerful impact threw Aaron off his feet. He landed hard on his back—and the wolf was on him.

Ignoring the fire licking across Aaron’s hand, the shifter bit down on Sharpie’s long, leather-wrapped hilt and tore the sword away. It flew ten feet and landed in the grass.

Aaron swung his fist into the shifter’s muzzle. The blow connected with a dull thud, and as the wolf reared back, Aaron launched up. Fire leaped off his arms, the flames turning blue and the surrounding air rippling with heat.

The shifter didn’t care about the fire. Jaws open and fangs bared, it circled him again—with lazy confidence instead of caution. Without his sword, Aaron had lost his best advantage.

I tracked the distance between me and Sharpie, then observed the wolf. When it pounced, I launched forward. Fire burst off Aaron as I sprinted for the sword. Slipping on the slick grass, I crouched and grabbed the hilt, my fingers biting into the leather grip.

“Tori!”

Beneath Aaron’s warning cry, I heard the thudding paws coming my way. Without looking, without knowing where I should aim, I wrenched the heavy weapon off the ground and swung it behind me in a wild arc.

The wolf skidded on all four paws, skirting the deadly steel edge—but I’d swung too hard. As the momentum pulled me around, the shifter surged toward my exposed side.

A fireball exploded against the wolf’s back and its snapping jaws missed my arm by an inch. I unceremoniously flung the sword in Aaron’s direction. As the wolf whirled toward me, I fell into the fighting stance I’d been practicing for weeks. Muscle memory took over.

I jabbed with my right fist. The wolf dodged, but my left fist was already flying. “Ori amplifico!”

The wolf was too fast for an inexperienced fighter like me, and the air rippled harmlessly as my punch sailed above its head. Planting my lead foot, I finished the combo with a furious side kick. The sole of my boot slammed into the wolf’s face, buying me an instant’s reprieve.

Then Aaron was there, Sharpie in his hands. He stepped in front of me, heat radiating off him.

“Queen of Spades!” he commanded as he raised Sharpie.

I leaped back, grabbing the card from my pocket. A wall of hot air buffeted me as Aaron pointed his sword at the pale sky, then let it fall sideways, the gleaming tip drawing a sparking circle in front of him.

The air smelled vaguely of burning metal—the scent of intense heat.

“Ori repercutio,” I cried, thrusting the card out.

Flames engulfed Aaron and his sword. They blasted toward me and hit the Queen’s rebound spell. The fire reversed direction and joined the inferno expanding in a ten-foot-tall barrier on either side of Aaron. The blazing walls swept across the grass, curving toward each other in an ensnaring circle that would trap the shifter in its center.

My vision filled with roaring flames fed by Aaron’s power and fury. The fiery trap closed, the towering walls slamming together in an explosion of heat and boiling smoke that reared skyward.

I shielded my face with my arms, exposed skin aching and my eyes stinging. Flames rippled over Aaron, dancing across his fireproof combat gear, and Sharpie’s blade glowed hotly.

He lowered his weapon and the flames shrank, leaving scattered embers on the burnt lawn. Where his lethal ring of flame had closed, the ground was bare, the earth blackened, drifting soot all that remained of the grass.

There was no shifter corpse in the demolished circle. The black wolf had escaped again.

Chapter Seventeen

My feet dragged with exhaustion as I followed Aaron, Kai, and Ezra across the driveway to the carriage porch, the glowing windows of the manor holding back the evening’s darkness. Climbing the half-dozen steps to the huge oak door was almost too much for my overworked legs.

After the black wolf’s audacious attack this morning, we’d spent the rest of the day combing the woods for any sign of it. Tobias had sent the alumni out to search too, but none of us had any luck. Whatever the shifter’s game was, it was winning.

Dominic waited for us in the vestibule, and Aaron dragged his baldric off before removing his coat. He passed both to the butler with a mumbled, “Thanks.”

Kai and Ezra handed over their jackets and weapons. I gave up my coat and belt, wishing glumly that I had a scary weapon too. Then again, I’d need to build up my strength before I could swing a sword around for more than thirty seconds.

A booming voice brought my head up as we walked into the living room. Tobias and Valerie stood beside Kelvin Compton, and the transmutation alchemist was beaming through his beard as Sin lowered an empty glass from her lips.

“Tori!” she burst out. “Kelvin did it!”

I gawked intelligently. “Huh?”

She flew past the guys and flung her arms around me. “He just finished a potion for me!”

My gaze shot to the looming mythic. “You sure?”

Kelvin nodded. “I haven’t identified all the alchemic components, but I pinpointed the transmutation framework. I tested eighteen possible counters before developing this one. It will more than sufficiently diminish the lupine spirit for an exorcism, regardless of the transmutation’s effects.”

My whole body lightened with relief and I squeezed Sin. “Yes! Did you just take it? Let’s call that druid lady back right now!”

“Ah, not so quick, my dear,” Kelvin cut in. “I’m administering the potion to Sin in three doses, as some ingredients are toxic in high quantities.” He indicated the sideboard, where a vial of pink liquid waited. “She can take the next one tomorrow morning, and I’ll have the final dose ready that night. The lupine spirit will be ready for removal by the time the druidess arrives.”

“I’m so relieved.” Sin backed out of our hug and dropped onto the sofa, her admiring eyes on the master alchemist. “Thank you, Kelvin.”

Valerie brought her hands together in a single sharp clap. “Let’s celebrate with a late dinner. Tori and the boys have been working hard too. Kelvin, will you and your apprentice join us?”

“We’d be happy to.”

As she bustled off, I sat beside Sin. After a cold, frustrating, exhausting day traipsing through the woods and accomplishing nothing, I felt buoyed by this victory. The black wolf might be playing games, but Sin would be okay. Not a complete victory, but I’d take it.

Kai and Ezra joined us, filling out the sofa. Sin asked how the hunt went and Kai answered. Half listening, I slumped back, daydreaming about my bed. So damn tired.

Ezra was beside me, our arms touching. The memory of his demon controlling him lingered in the back of my thoughts, but Ezra had been his usual self all day. It was surprisingly easy to ignore Eterran when I was happy to spend time with Ezra after so many weeks of distance.

He stifled a yawn—which triggered my jaw to pop open. Sin caught it next. Kai resisted for a long moment, then clapped his hand over his mouth.

“If seeing other people yawn doesn’t make you yawn,” I told him, “it means you’re a psychopath.”

He snorted, then paused as a quiet voice drifted over from the other end of the room.

“So you found no sign of the alpha wolf?” Tobias asked.

“We found plenty of signs,” Aaron answered. “Fur, scat, tracks everywhere. But locating a single shifter, especially one that’s taunting us, in over a thousand acres of forest is worse than finding a needle in a haystack.”

Tobias was quiet for a moment. “And do you feel your efforts today were the best you could contribute? Did you accomplish as much with only Kai and Ezra to help you as you could have leading a team of alumni—as I suggested this morning?”