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Then almost faster than I can watch, he leaps forward, and I’m snatching at air. He crashes into the first man, ripping out his jugular, blood spraying the corridor.

Holy shit.

The air shivers with magic—I’m guessing the others are trying to shift, but they’re too slow. Within seconds, Fury stands over the dead bodies of all four guards, crimson dripping from his huge fangs, a growl rumbling in his chest.

Beside me, Sheela whimpers, but I don’t let my attention waver from the huge wolf. His nostrils flare.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

His eyes look crazed, matching the blood that’s pretty much everywhere.

I take a deep breath, and I force myself to walk forward, hand outstretched, my gaze locked with his. His eyes narrow, but he doesn’t leap at me. At least it would be a quick death. Those men hadn’t stood a chance.

“Bad fucking dog,” I mutter. “They’d surrendered. That is so not good.”

His teeth snap together.

I blow out my breath. I don’t think I’m going to get an apology. “Time to go. Now.”

I edge around the pile of bodies that surround him and head down the corridor. A second later, he falls in beside me. Sheela gives him a wide berth and walks on my other side; she casts a glance at the men strewn around the floor.

“On a positive note,” she mutters, “they were dead anyway. My uncle would have made them suffer for their part in this.” She shrugs. “At least this way, their families might be spared.”

I give a bright—and totally false—smile. “Right. It’s all good then. Absolutely super. Fury was just doing them a fucking favor.” I sigh. “You know, I don’t think this is a very nice place.”

“It was once. And maybe it could be again.” She gives Fury a quick glance. “Come on, let’s hurry. The meeting will be over soon, and he’s not very inconspicuous.”

I’m totally in agreement with that plan. And we scurry away, retracing our steps, through the guard room, up the stairs and finally through the small metal gate and we’re outside the palace.

In the open, Fury raises his head to the sky and howls.

I sort of get it. It must be amazing being out in the fresh air after that disgusting cell. But all the same, it’s hardly going to help our discreet escape. I have to wonder if his brain is totally scrambled in there.

“Shut the fuck up,” I snap. “You’ll bring everyone down on us. Including your father.”

He shuts up. I pat his head and can’t resist saying, “Good dog.”

Sheela makes a choking noise. “It’s amazing,” she says. “He actually listens to you. I thought he was too far gone.”

Yeah, he’d totally listened to me back there when he’d been ripping those guards to pieces.

Then we’re moving again. Fury stays close to my side and keeps giving me little sideways glances. As if he can’t believe I’m real. That this is all a dream. I really hope that’s not true. It would suck big time.

I say a quick thank you to Hecate for all the physical training she put me through. Our pace is fast and I’m not even slightly out of breath. I can’t say the same for Sheela—she’s panting more than Fury as we race through the city streets. We see no one. Until we reach the gate that leads out of the city.

Green stands to attention.

We skid to a halt.

He turns to look at us, his eyes widening. He raises some sort of horn to his lips just as Fury leaps forward and crashes into him before he can send out the alarm.

Blood sprays on the white walls. Fury crouches over the body and there’s this sort of wet slurping sound as he… Actually, I don’t want to think about what he’s doing. I get it. He’s probably starving, but we don’t have time to stop for dinner.

“Khaosti,” I yell. “We need to go.”

He peers at me with those eerie red eyes, and I gulp. And for a second, I’m sure I’m going to be next. Then he blinks and steps back.

I glance at the body. Should we hide it?