Page 35 of Keeper of Death (Ouroboros Academy #1)

T his was all me and I could feel it. I mean, I had some loud ass badgers that kept flooding my head with images that the shifters were mine, too, and I had a duty to protect them. A mama bear got mad they were telling me too much and, apparently, humans coined that term for a reason because the badgers immediately apologized to the mama bear.

I didn’t want to fight any wolves, and I believed Sage. They didn’t want to fight us, either. Still, I wasn’t my Da. I wasn’t waltzing out there like I was the bloody King of England and expecting everyone to bow down and kiss my arse. And I said that even knowing I was a reincarnated god who was growing something out my forehead and could talk to animals.

And I knew enough to know we couldn’t see them, and we were hiding, but the wolves knew we were here. They weren’t rash creatures, and they wouldn’t make the first move. They were waiting on us.

Smart. The wolves Sage saw were scouts, and that was why they didn’t approach. They didn’t need to mind speak like the animals did with me. They could just shift and report. But yeah, if they’d be creeping on us, then they knew Lucian liked to impale people in his first life and got bitey in this one.

Sage and Khalid were just sensing trouble when we got near the crystal. Sage might have needed fairy food to unlock some of her magic like Lucian needed blood. But Khalid felt it, too, and he knew who he was as soon as he took a dip in the pool. He was one of those educated blokes, so if Anubis had dietary requirements, he would have known.

So, I was pretty sure the murdery folks were reincarnations, and they only got close recently. I also knew the wolves’ scouts probably hadn’t come back yet to warn them. And with us here, they wouldn’t.

I tried communicating with the wolves with my big, beautiful brain like the animals did.

“You’ve got some problems headed this way, and it’s not us.”

There was silence for a minute, but then a woman answered back. And shifters didn’t communicate in images, but I could talk to them.

“You don’t smell like a wolf, so how are you talking to us?”

“I haven’t seen a bar of soap since the day before I was kidnapped and I’ve been walking a lot, so I imagine I smell like a baby diaper that was vomited in and then set on fire. And no, I’m not a wolf, but the wild animals said you were kin, and I should help you. They don’t like what’s headed this way, either.”

“We can handle it. Worry about yourselves.”

“Yeah, see there’s this redheaded lass with us with legs for days that I had some kind of instalove thing with as soon as I saw her and I’m pretty sure it’s a cosmic thing. We can’t see you, but we knew you were hiding, and she caught some feelings that you just want to play a lil’ game of chase. You don’t want to fight anyone. The arseholes she’s sensing not only want to fight, they view these trials as murder freebies.”

“As I said, worry about yourself. We were trained by one of the best wolves alive and the reincarnation of Ares. You might have hints of magic coming through, but you’re still practically human except for the vampire.”

“As a human, I was groomed to takeover the Irish mafia. The vampire is a bit of a prim ponce, but he’s had my blood and some of his superpowers have kicked in. I have this thing with associating with the law, but Khalid isn’t a snitch and his Da probably taught him self defense. Sage needs fight training, but she had some neat gift kick in where she could see how the fight would turn out if we took this head on. You might think we’re useless, but you’re going to want her for strategy.”

“I’m only agreeing to work with you because the other animals vouched for you, and the girl is how we’ll deal with this. We won’t chase you, but we also won’t help you with the traps the witches set.”

That was fair and honestly, expected. Whatever I was, I wasn’t the original werewolf. They didn’t worship me like the vampires did Lucian. The animals didn’t worship me, either, even though they were helping me. It was more like this copacetic kinship based on respect. They’d turn on me if I broke that and they should.

I turned to my team.

“They basically don’t give a shit about our fighting abilities. Something about werewolf superheroes and Ares. This is Sage’s time to shine with that beautiful new ability.”

Ah, fuck. I meant to talk her up a bit because she’d been a bit down she hadn’t gotten any magic yet.

She looked terrified.