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“Shit,” I barked, fumbling and almost dropping my phone again.

11

The eyes staredup at me, unblinking. A long moment passed before I could pick out the rest of the furry form, waist-deep in water and… was that a chain hanging from its sharp claws? FromDuncan’ssharp claws?

As I’d suspected, he had taken his bipedfuris form. Nearly twenty feet down, he might have fallen or climbed down there after defeating the magical robot dog.

“Are you possessed?” I eyed his forehead, checking the scar there.

In this form, his salt-and-pepper fur wasn’t as long and thick as when he was a wolf, but it did fully cover his muscular bipedal body, including his face. Only when the scar glowed was it noticeable. I did catch a slight hint of that glow, but it wasn’t as bright, as strong, as when we’d been at the perfume factory and Abrams had been pointing the control device at Duncan’s forehead.

An inquiring grunt wafted up, Duncan’s short snout parted to reveal fangs. He didn’t look menacing, despite the earlier roars. Maybe he recognized me.

“I came to rescue you,” I said. “I expected a dungeon and shackles, not a bat cave.”

He grunted again, probably not understanding me fully. I could recognize human words when I was a wolf but didn’t always get their full meaning. And the bipedfuris… Well, I had no experience being one, so I didn’t know how it worked, but that form seemed even more savage—more primal—than that of the wolf.

Duncan thrust his furred hands upward, the fingers curled, the claws long and sharp. Had we been closer, the gesture would have been alarming, but I realized he was showing me the chain. A square medallion hung on it, something silver with green gems—emeralds?—embedded in the center in a tree-shaped design.

“Please don’t tell me I’ve been worried about you for days, and you’ve been treasure hunting,” I said.

He roared and sprang out of the water, landing several feet up, claws finding purchase on the side of the hole. His powerful muscles flexed, and he climbed toward me.

Startled, and not sure if he was under our enemies’ control or not, I skittered back. My heel bumped against the dog head, and it clattered away, its orange eyes flashing as it rolled. Duncan surged out of the hole and stood, his head almost brushing the roof of the cave.

Alarmed all over again, I backpedaled until my shoulder blades hit a stone wall. I still held the sword and tightened my grip, though I didn’t point it at Duncan. I didn’t want to fight him. I’d come to rescue him, damn it.

The bipedfuris stooped to face me, jaws again parted. In this form, he stood two feet taller than I did. When he’d been in the hole, his height hadn’t been that intimidating, but now…

Chain still dangling from his claws, he bent forward, hands dropping to the ground. He lowered his head too. His tail—hell, I hadn’t even noticed he had a tail in that form before—swished back and forth, and his brown eyes glinted. Even though that scarglowed faintly, he didn’t look like he meant to attack. If anything…

“Is that supposed to be a play bow?” I asked.

The tail swished again, and he lay the medallion on the ground, as if offering it to me.

“I’m sure that’s very nice, but it doesn’t go with the collection.” I pointed the sword toward the emerald tree on the front. Now that the medallion was only a few feet away, I could sense magic within it, but there wasn’t any sign of a wolf head, which all the other artifacts Radomir had collected had.

Duncan issued a mournful noise, something between a groan and a growl, then sat back on his haunches. His aura shifted before his body changed and he grew more compact and less furred.

Soon, he crouched before me in his human form. Hisnakedhuman form.

A pair of puncture wounds in the side of his thigh leaked blood. The robot dog must have bitten him before he’d gotten the best of it.

Sympathy welled in my chest, and I longed to spring forward and hug him, but the faint orange glow on his forehead was more noticeable without fur covering it, and I hesitated.

“It’s good to see you, my lady.” Duncan straightened and bowed. He took a step toward me, lifting his arms, but maybe he understood the reason for my hesitation, because he didn’t come all the way forward. Instead, he stopped beside the medallion. “And you brought the sword.”

He beamed a pleased smile at me.

“Yeah, I’ve had a single lesson with it now, so I’m pretty badass.”

“I knew that to be true the day I met you.” He winked.

“The day you met me, I was carrying a toilet.”

“Exactly.”

“So…” I looked around the cave and waved at the destroyed robot-dog pieces. “I came to rescue you.” I wasn’t sure he’d parsed that in his other form. “I expected you to be more dungeon-based and shackles-adorned.”