For a moment, I thought that that would change the tide of the entire fight. But then he bashed his metal fist into her jaw a dozen times in less than a breath, and she had to retreat to recover.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one who could heal rapidly. I watched as the blood stopped flowing out from the holes in his robe and body armor, then his knee realigned itself, cracking once again.
We were so fucked.
It was down to the Whisper. Tadgh had lost his wolf form and rolled to the side, clutching his neck as it sewed itself back together, but not fast enough for him to rejoin the battle. And although I was sure the Chevaliers’ niece only needed maybe another minute, a minute might as well have been an eternity in battle.
To her credit, the Whisper didn’t back down. No, instead she faced the man defiantly and brought up her hands, which were now the thick, heavy branches of a weeping willow, ready to beat the absolute shit out of someone. No wonder she’d built such a reputation for herself in the black market.
“Who are you, mystery man? You’re no hired hand I’ve seen before.” While I was sure that everyone else in the room had instantly recognized my brother’s face, it made sense that the Whisper was the one person who would have no idea why we all reacted so strongly to his unmasking. Especially since Iwas fairly certain she couldn’t hear shifter-speak. Even Cherry, who’d never met Luther, had seen photos in the viewing room, and I had no doubt that she’d learned what he looked like from her internet deep dives.
He didn’t answer, and if we weren’t all so subdued by his alpha voice, I would have thought he was mute. Instead, he lurched back to his feet and ran at the Whisper with full speed.
Surely, if he really was our alpha, he would shift into his wolf form. Although we were capable of fighting in our human bodies, it was unnatural and not nearly as strong as our animal side. We didn’t heal as fast, we didn’t react as fast, and we weren’t nearly as strong. It made no sense for him to be in such a life-and-death situation and not choose his ultimate form. That had to mean he was some kind of fraud, right? That whatever sorcerer had hijacked his head and other parts of his body had found a way to replicate his alpha voice but ultimately couldn’t fake something like a full shift.
Yeah, that had to be it.
The assassin’s metal fist went straight for the Whisper’s head, but she blocked it with one of her massive tree arms while delivering her own uppercut that had the assassin stumbling back. Meanwhile, I kept fighting to rise to my feet and finally managed to get one of my paws flat on the ground. Just three more to go.
The two continued to box each other, with the occasional sword slash from him and the thorny vine or rush of blinding pollen from the Whisper. It was like watching two melee fighters who had multi-classed into mage. It would have been impressive if I weren’t putting all my focus into getting onto my feet.
Two paws. Three paws. The niece joined the fight again, this time intercepting a blow that might have taken the Whisper for a surprise, only to find out just like I had how insanely hard the metal of his arm was.
That small moment of being rattled, in this case quite literally, cost her the hold she had, and the assassin brought his silver blade down on her head. Luckily, she was able to dodge, but not entirely. The edge of the blade took off most of her right ear.
The sound she let out was truly awful, and it seemed to trigger something within the Whisper, because when she rushed the assassin once again, her form continued to change. She didn’t just have giant, tree limb arms anymore. No, her legs had grown to make her tower over the killer, and a large, Venus flytrap-like growth had sprung from her back like a pair of demonic wings, the two halves of its jaws snapping violently toward the assassin.
For the first time in the entire encounter, the monster wearing my brother’s stolen face looked shocked. If it hadn’t been for that one expression, I would have thought he was incapable of emoting at all, which went right along with everything Cherry had said.
My mind flickered with concern and started to slide down the path of wondering where Cherry was, if she was safe, or if she had done the smart thing and abandoned us, but I clamped down on those thoughts. They couldn’t take priority. While this wasn’t the time forpeace, serenity,orcontrol,it did demand all the mental fortitude I had spent so many years honing.
Breathe deep. Rise up. Breathe out. Rise up. That is not your alpha. His command is not valid. Breathe deep, rise up.
Although it hurt every muscle in my body and made my wolf instincts scream in panic, I made it all the way to my feet. And strangely enough, the more I straightened my legs, the easier it became to defy all the instincts screaming inside me.
And just in time too, because as the Whisper had the assassin pinned against the wall, he pulled out two glass orbs from hispouch, slamming one on the ground in front of him, and the other right into the dryad’s face.
The first one exploded into a thick, noxious cloud. The second burst into another giant orb of flame like the one he’d thrown at her when she’d been on the pillar. The scream the Whisper let out was truly horrifying, and that broke the last of my restraints, allowing me to stumble forward.
The assassin continued to press his advantage, going between swinging his blade and dealing crushing blows with his fists. As she shrieked and tried to put out the flames, she managed to catch all the blade strikes on a wooden armored part of her body, but she didn’t block the blows. I saw her take more than one to the ribs, one to the gut, and one to her chest that must have knocked her breath right out of her.
By the time I reached her, most of her plant-like limbs had returned to normal, but she was still on fire. I jumped between the two, kicking her back as gently as I could. It wasn’t the nicest move, but it gave her the space to drop to the floor and roll around wildly, finally putting the flames out.
Now it was just my faux-brother and I again. We stared at each other, both still for several belabored breaths, as if we were sizing each other up.
But really, I was just looking for something in his gaze that would either prove or disprove that he was the same person who had been there for me through so much, who had grown up into a gentle giant, who had been quiet but never unkind, who had always had rather kind eyes.
I couldn’t find anything there. It was just... empty. Not a hint of anything I could identify of Luther in his gaze.
That meant it couldn’t be him, right?
I didn’t get an answer, at least not literally. What I got was a flash somewhere within the depths of his gaze, and then that damned alpha voice echoed through my head again.
“Submit.”
There it was, tearing at my mind, compelling me to obey as rapidly as possible to prove I was a loyal and worthy pack mate. My body shook, rattling me to my teeth.
But I did not submit.