Page 79 of A Token of Blood and Betrayal

“Is it a fey?”I asked.

Neither replied, but they moved, Eli drifting closer to me, his gaze on the parking lot.Thordis focused in the opposite direction, where a small field separated the apartment complex from a railroad track.Warehouses and office space lined the road beyond that.Countless places for a paranorm to hide, all around us.

“Wolves,” Thordis said.“Three of them.”

I looked at Eli.

He shook his head.“I don’t recognize them.”

“Take out the southern wolf,” Thordis ordered.She now held two sharp blades.“I will kill the ones to the north.Kennedy.”Her gaze pinned me.“Go upstairs.”

She didn’t wait for me to comply.Neither did Eli.Both paranorms cut through the night.They were more equipped to deal with what was out there than I was.If I didn’t go back to my apartment, I would be a distraction or worse, become a hostage that the wolves used to get whatever they were after.

And they were after me.Had to be.I was the only variable that had changed here.Unless…

I frowned in the direction Thordis had disappeared.She’d been in the Null for the past few years.She’d overreacted when Eli had recognized her.Could this be the past catching up with her?Why would werewolves be after a Valkyrie?

Maybe they were after Deagan’s dossier.I’d hidden it in the trunk where the spare tire should have been.

It didn’t matter who or what the target was.I needed to help, and the best way to do that was to call for backup.I’d left my phone in my room.I turned to run up the stairs—

A bellow of pain shattered the night’s silence.

Eli!

Instinct or stupidity kicked in, driving me away from my apartment building and toward the elemental who’d been looking out for me ever since I’d moved in.Yes, I’d be a distraction, hopefully one big enough to catch the wolf’s attention and give Eli a chance to fight.

I hunched-ran between cars, searching.A grunt and a loud thump came from my right.

“Eli!”

A huge, dark wolf raised its head.Gold eyes locked on me.Blood and flesh coated its fangs.It turned its heavy body my direction, muscles coiling, preparing to propel itself toward me.

It leaped, but only three clawed paws made it off the ground.The pavement broke beneath its hind leg, and a thick black vine encircled it all the way to the knee.

The wolf landed hard, snarled and snapped at the vine.

The vine thickened at its base, chipping at the hole it had created in the concrete until itcracked.

Cracked and buckled and exploded along a giant fissure, debris shrapneling the night.

I crouched and covered my face, protecting it from the gravel, dust, and chipped rock pelting my skin.When I lowered my arms and straightened, the single black vine had morphed into a savage, tangled undergrowth.Thorned branches, sharp leaves, and roots that looked like they were covered in a thick, sticky sap wove together, then coiled up and around the wolf, enclosing it in a living, constricting cage.

My heartbeatboomedin my ears, not in a quick, fast rhythm but deep, steady, and resounding.Before that moment, I never would have described plants as lethal or threatening.I never would have dreamed an earth elemental had so much power.I never would have…

I spotted Eli.He sat on the ground, breathing heavily, his back leaning against the side of a red sedan.He watched his creation as it squeezed and squeezed, cutting off the wolf’s whimpers, shrinking it smaller and smaller.

“Run,” Eli said.

My gaze landed on his shoulder, covered in blood and missing a significant chunk of flesh.

Right.Phone.Help.Healing.Eli would need it.

I spun to sprint back to my apartment, almost made it to the stairs.

My peripheral vision caught something shooting toward me.I started to turn—

A huge wolf plowed into my side, launching me into the air.I felt the crack of a rib, heard the snapping of teeth, registered the exact moment my head collided with the side of the building…