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Binx abruptly stiffened, then stood up.

“You hear the boar?” I asked.

Binx nodded as she stretched, loosening up her muscles.

“Anyone want some poison?” Grove asked.

Maybe I should say yes sometime, just to please him—but today it won’t work since I need to use my gun.“No thank you, Grove.” I removed my firearm from its holster and flicked off the safety, pointing it at the ground before I racked it, loading a bullet. “I’ll be aiming for its chest, Binx. It seemed like bullets just broke the skin when I aimed at its skull last time.”

Binx made this squeaking-chirp noise that sounded like it should have come from a bird, which was her version of acknowledging what I’d said.

I could hear the boar, now, along with the heavy thuds of Medium-Sized Robert chasing after him.

I eased my way to the edge of the bush so I was still hidden by it and could see better.

The boar ran down the center of the street picking up more speed than I would have liked given Sarge’s orders.

We needed to slow it down.

While I was good enough with my gun to be trusted to use it within the city limits, I didn’t want to take chances. “Grove, can you use one of your poisons to blind it?” I asked. “You can throw it when I try shooting it.”

Grove leaped to his feet. “Of course! I can’t be trusted with a gun, but I’m a crack shot with throwing things!” He frantically dug through his bag.

“We have to be quiet,” I warned him before I started to edge into the street, Binx stalking next to me.

The boar was half a block up and rapidly closing in.

I felt the soft touch of fae magic in my mind—Sarge must have been charging up a water attack.

“At your mark, Binx,” I whispered.

Binx trotted a little up the street and then crouched down, every muscle in her body taut, before she launched herself at the boar.

She landed on its back, digging her claws deep into its hide as she screamed—a hair raising noise that gave me goosebumps.

The boar squealed, rearing its head back and bucking as it tried to dislodge her.

This gave me the perfect target, but I didn’t have much time to line my shot up since it was writhing.

I held my hands steady and took my shot, hitting it in the chest.

I must not have gotten it perfectly in the heart because it staggered and didn’t fall.

“Hi-yah!” Grove—hiding behind me—threw a glass vial, hitting it square in the left eye. The glass shattered on impact, and the boar shrieked—either from the poison or because Binx bit into its neck.

I need to get it with this next shot—it’s too wild.

I did a quick scan of the street. It was thankfully empty, though I still felt the magic Sarge was charging.

I slunk closer to lower the potential risk of missing—I could no longer afford to miss.

The boar whirled in a circle trying to dislodge Binx.

Binx’s back legs slipped, and she scrabbled for a hold but kept her front claws dug in and bit more deeply into the animal’s hide.

I narrowed my eyes, honing my focus. When the boar whirled past me I saw an opening and pulled the trigger, shooting it.

The boar collapsed, a shrieking squeal ripping from it before it went quiet.