Page 33 of Artemis’ Bow (Halfling Academy #5)

“ T he town is destroyed. I have only seen this kind of destruction one other time.” I gaze at the carnage, the damn bird completely forgotten.

“You think they brought the indestructible bacon back after we destroyed it?” Raven asks.

“It’s possible. I have faced the Minotaur more than once. It wouldn’t surprise me that the biggest weapons are brought back again as the stakes get higher.”

“That’s fucking terrifying. We were lucky with the indestructible bacon the last time that it was on pack land and not destroying a city and hurting people,” Jayden says.

“How do we even find it?” I ask.

“The shifters will be tracking it. I would head to their pack house and get an update on everything that’s happening before we try to jump in with everything we have.” Greyson sits forward, pointing. “Turn here.”

The streets are deserted as we weave through them to the pack house. It’s not surprising considering the destruction. Several buildings we pass are collapsed and others have chunks of plaster scattered along the streets and appear to be ripped apart by something sharp like a tusk or a horn.

“I think this is the indestructible bacon asshole,” Greyson groans.

“It has to be the Erymanthian boar or something just as big and that’s not comforting at all.” I agree.

When we finally pull up to the pack house, several shifters are out front on guard duty with weapons drawn. I jump out of the vehicle before anyone can stop me.

“I know Tristan warned you we were coming. It’s not his style to start an incident between us and his pack when we’re here to help.” I cross my arms over my chest and glare at them.

“You’re the demigoddess?” one of the shifters says, eyeing me up and down with interest.

“You want to keep those eyes?” Jayden snarls, slamming the door to the SUV.

“Jayden, we aren’t here to cause trouble for Tristan.” I sigh.

“I won’t have them disrespecting you by ogling you.” Jayden tugs me into his arms.

“Beth, what the hell?” Raven yells. “We do not hop out of the car that way when surrounded by hostile shifters.”

“They shouldn’t be hostile. Tristan told them we were coming to help. This is the thanks we get.” I flip my hair over my shoulder.

“What is the meaning of this?” A man steps out the front door who’s vaguely familiar. “You’re to be watching for the giant boar, not starting fights you can’t win with our allies.”

“You, Dominic?” I ask.

“Yes. I apologize for the idiots. They are all on edge with the creature terrorizing the city. We all are to be honest.” Dominic scrubs a hand down his face.

“You called it a boar? Are you absolutely sure that’s what it is? Could you have been mistaken?” Raven asks.

“No, it’s a giant rampaging boar with sharp tusks, not horns or antlers,” Dominic says.

“Has anyone successfully injured the creature?” I ask.

Maybe it’s a different giant boar from Ancient Greece. There was more than one, right? I just really don’t want to try to trap that thing again. It wasn’t the worst of what we faced, but he was difficult, still annoying as hell, and the most destructive.

“I think someone said they got a shot at it, but it barely slowed the thing down,” Dominic says.

“Was there blood?” I ask in horror. “Did it get on anyone?”

“It’s not indestructible bacon.” Raven blows out a relieved breath.

“Blood? No, that’s the weird part. Something yellow oozed from it,” Dominic says.

“Shit, shit, shit. I need you to remember very carefully. Did anyone touch the yellow oozing stuff? Did anyone get sprayed with it?” I step forward into his personal space.

A shifter growls at me but Dominic waves a hand at the idiot, stopping him from attacking. I couldn’t care less if he tried right now.

“This is extremely important,” I say. “Greyson, come here, please.”

Greyson steps forward and every wolf in front of me whimpers and bares their throat to him in submission.

“What the fuck?” Dominic whispers. “What is going on here?”

“This is why I need you to think carefully about whether anyone came into contact with the creature’s blood. He could have forced every one of you to show him your belly if he’d wanted to. That kind of power left unchecked or in the wrong hands could be catastrophic for shifters.”

“Shit, you’re right. Where is Derek?” he asks his guys behind him.

“Derek is out on patrol. Do you want me to call him back?”

“Not here,” we all yell in unison, including Dominic.

“Do not bring a phone out around them. In fact, none of you should even have phones on you right now. I told you that when I stationed you here to watch for them.” Dominic spins on the guy.

“You will bring that thing down on us before we’re ready,” I scoff.

“It’s just a phone,” the guy grumbles.

“The alpha thought that too when we first met them in Winslow. The second he tried to hand his phone to her, we were attacked by flying metal birds that shit acid at us. I’m not taking any chances.” Dominic glares and the man’s face pales.

He glances at the sky and then our group before sprinting into the house away from us. At least we know he’s not a complete moron.

“If anyone else has a phone on you, I suggest you follow his example. That thing will sense us more clearly with tech nearby.” I glance at the others.

None of the men move and my shoulders slump. That guy was the only idiot who didn’t follow his boss’ orders. “Good. Now, what about this guy Derek you mentioned? Did he get something on him?”

“Yeah, he’s been acting off since it happened as well. More aggressive with pack members and he already had a giant chip on his shoulder. He’s my brother and he’s pissed Tristan chose me to lead this place.” Dominic shakes his head.

“We need to find him and get him to Halfling Academy for containment.” I turn to Greyson.

“Yeah, he shouldn’t be around shifters until he can learn to control the dominance and extra abilities he has,” Greyson says with a sigh.

The idiot from before peeks his head out, frowning at Dominic. “He’s not answering his phone and Kai said he ran off on his own an hour ago.”

“Shit. We need every available shifter out looking for this guy,” I say. “He’s unstable and dangerous right now.”

“What about the boar?” Dominic asks.

“You guys can’t help us with that. You would just be in the way and in danger of becoming like Derek or dying. I don’t recommend either if you want to be around shifters anytime soon.”

“Okay, Alpha Tristan trusts you with this. I’ll handle my brother, and we’ll get him down here and contained.” Dominic nods his understanding.

“Hey, B? We got a problem,” Raven says, patting me on the shoulder.

“What problem?” I ask.

“How is he going to get to the academy? If he puts up a fight, the shifters won’t be able to contain him, and I doubt he would willingly go to the academy to help himself. If what Dominic says is true, this power is going to go to his head, and he could be exactly the thing we feared.”

“Hopefully they find him quickly. I wonder what it would take to get Hermes to transport him there once the shifters find him.” I tap my finger against my chin.

“You rang, baby sister?” Hermes bows at the waist with a wink.

“I didn’t actually call for you yet,” I grumble.

“You know I always keep a close eye on my favorites and for now, that’s you.” Hermes chuckles.

“The boar terrorizing this place infected a shifter with ichor. He needs to be contained away from other shifters before he becomes a problem for all of them.”

“Why do we care?” Hermes asks, genuinely curious.

“Because the shifters are our allies. They don’t deserve to suffer because of something that happened because of the gods,” I say, my voice firm.

“Fine. Give them this and once the shifter in question is caught, have them spin around three times while saying my name.” Hermes drops a gold coin in my hand.

“You’re so full of shit, Hermes. That’s from a human movie. What do they really need to do?” I ask.

“ Beetlejuice is a cult classic, I’ll have you know.”

“I don’t even want to know how you know that. I don’t have time for games. Can you tell me how they can call you when they catch him, please?” My shoulders slump.

“They just flip the coin and I’ll be there. Good luck with the Calydonian Boar and try to avoid the ichor getting on you more. We have no idea what it will do to you a second time.” Hermes blinks out of existence.

“Do you believe what just happened?” I ask my friends.

“Who knew the gods watched human TV?” Raven says.

“That was all you got from that conversation?” I groan.

“Wait,” Adrian speaks up, cutting off Raven’s retort. “Did you hear what he said?”

A roar breaks through the stillness and the ground rumbles beneath our feet, sending me stumbling into Jayden.

“Whoa, what pissed it off?” Jayden asks.

“I think it’s either our presence here or a certain shifter with a god complex.”

“It’s the Calydonian Boar. That one isn’t indestructible. It was killed but it is massive and kind of resembles a giant warthog,” Adrian calls out.

“They need me to kill Pumba on steroids?” I ask, aghast.

“Basically, but this beast at least can be killed. He was slain by a female warrior, Atalanta, with an arrow.”

“It looks like you’re up this time, Adrian. I don’t know anyone who’s a better shot than you.” I nod to the son of Apollo. “We’ll keep it distracted while you continuously pelt it with arrows.”

The ground shakes again, faster this time, as if the creature is charging. The leaves around the clearing rustle just before a gigantic black warthog stampedes out of the forest, barreling straight for us.

“Thad, protect Adrian with everything you have. Greyson, sit this one out.” I bark bracing myself for the charging creature. “We will distract it.”

“I can help,” Greyson mutters. “My wolf can dodge and weave between its legs.”

“That puts you in the splash zone for ichor. We have no idea what you will become if that happens again,” I remind him.

“Fine, but if one of you gets in trouble, I’m jumping in,” he says just as Adrian lets an arrow fly.