Mallow just wasn’t the same without Amelie, but four mugs of hot chocolate went a long way toward filling the hole left by her absence. With calories. The extra marshmallows helped too. Especially the baggie of fluffy hand cut squares Linus bought for me to bring home when I indicated a fifth cup might be called for. One he offered to make. Once we got back to Woolly. It was a cheap bribe, but I took it. If there was one thing better than their hot chocolate, it would be his.

“You can’t drown your sorrows in chocolate” was his sage advice.

“Literally no one believes you” was my less sage response.

The next evening, however, I was spared from the dream waking me thanks to my bladder. After I sloshed to the bathroom to relieve myself and showered, I dressed in jeans and a tee, both new with nary a hole to be seen, and joined Linus in the kitchen. Or, I would have, had he been in there.

“Linus?” I checked the office in case he had gotten absorbed in a book, but he wasn’t there either. “Woolly, have you seen him?”

In answer, Woolly killed all the lights in the house and plunged me into darkness.

“Is that a no?”

The light in the room next to this one flickered on, and I went to investigate. Room to room, she led me to the front door, which she opened and then shut.

“He left?”

The foyer chandelier tinkled an affirmative.

“I’m not sure I remember how to breakfast without him.” I glanced back at the kitchen but wrote it off as a loss. There was no food in there. Only ingredients. “Guess I’m ordering takeout.” I stepped onto the porch. “Midas?” Thanks to his heightened senses, I wasn’t reduced to yelling. “You out here?”

“He’s on a grocery run,” Lethe called back. “What’s up?”

“I was going to invite him to join me for breakfast since Linus ditched me.” Yeah, yeah. I didn’t have to sound so bitter. The guy misses one morning, and I lose my cool. This is why they say not to feed wild animals. Once you tame them, they develop expectations. Bacon was now one of mine. “Would you care to join me?”

“I could eat.” She walked into view, grinning. “Are you sure you don’t want to wait on him? He’ll be back any minute.”

“Nah. You’ll do.” I waved her up the stairs. “I’ve gotten used to having company for breakfast.”

Lethe snickered. “That sounds like one of my lines.”

“What…? Oh.” I laughed too. “I’ve gotten used to having company join me for breakfast. Better?”

“Much.” She pressed her palm to the column nearest the topmost step, allowing Woolly to get a read on her before she joined me on the porch. “Don’t get me wrong, I come from a long line of women who aren’t afraid of chewing people up and spitting them out, but breakfast is sacred.”

To shifters and necromancers apparently. “Bacon.”

“Bacon,” she agreed.

“I’m glad we had this conversation.” I showed her into the kitchen. “What do you like?”

“Meat, meat, and more meat. I’ll take a side of meat with that if you’ve got it.”

Tears threatened at this moment of perfect kinship. “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

“I get that a lot.” She flipped her blue hair behind her shoulder then settled her hand over her stomach. “Not gonna lie, the amount of meat I can consume turns guys on.”

I spluttered a laugh that got caught in my throat. Grinning wide, she gave me a moment to recover.

“Is Hood still in the doghouse?” I reached for the fridge. “Was that in poor taste? I didn’t mean…”

“I know what you meant, and it definitely applies here.” She placed a hand over her stomach. “It’s not like I asked him to stay at home and knit beer cozies. I asked him to sleep eight extra hours while holes in his body filled in. I feel skin is an important part of that whole keeping organs inside our bodies where they belong thing.”

“I agree. Skin is essential. Skin without holes is even better.”

“See? You get it.” She noticed her hand, noticed me trying not to notice her hand, and barked out a laugh. “You don’t have to waste your acting skills on me. I know you know I’m pregnant. Midas is a blabbermouth. I told him thirty-six hours ago. I’m willing to bet you a strip of crispy bacon from my plate that he told you within the first twenty-four.”

“As much as it pains me to turn down free bacon, I can’t rat him out for loving his sister.”

While she mumbled about girls sticking together, I dialed up the Waffle Iron and placed our order.

That done, I wrenched open the fridge. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“Orange juice, please.”

“Hope you like fresh-squeezed.” A kiss of cool air hit my face as I scanned the shelves. “My live-in chef is particular.”

I lost the thread of our conversation when I spotted the stainless-steel cup sitting on the top shelf. It was one of those double-walled deals that was popular at the moment, and it didn’t belong to me. There was a note folded and propped in front of it, and I reached for that and the drink, having an idea of its contents.

“What’s that?” Lethe flared her nostrils. “Smells fruity, and coppery.”

“Pre-breakfast,” I told her, certain that was the case. “Linus left it for me.”

“Oh?” Casual as you please, she propped up on the counter. “Where was he off to in such a rush?”

“Let’s find out.” I unfolded the note and read it aloud. “I was summoned to the Lyceum on business. I should return before you wake, but if not, here’s breakfast. Yours, Linus.”

“Huh.” She crossed her legs and started kicking one of her ankles. “I didn’t realize necromancers courted with food too.”

“He’s not courting me.” I tucked the note away in a drawer, and the way she tracked the move made me wish I had thrown it in the trash instead. “I’m a science experiment. This is putting a theory into practice.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“I’m serious.”

“All I’m saying is there’s blood in that drink, and its smells an awful lot like Linus.” She drew on the marble countertop with her fingertip. “The fact he’s not only feeding you, but sustaining you with a part of himself…”

“It’s complicated.” Explaining Maud set us on this path took more effort than I had to expend this early.

“These things usually are,” she agreed on a sigh. “Lucky for us, breakfast is easy.”

So was our chatter while we waited on the food to arrive, and it was nice having a girl to talk to again.

The doorbell rang after she stood, breaking off her last comment, her keen ears picking up the delivery vehicle’s approach. She pointed at the front door, and we both went to greet the driver. An extra set of hands was a must considering the size of the order. I paid, tipped well for quick service, then divvied up the bags with Lethe to carry into the kitchen.

While she started shoveling in sausage and ham and bacon, I sipped my smoothie.

The weird factor sank in without Linus around to make drinking blood seem more clinical and less my new reality.

“That’s not getting any colder.” She pointed a crisp strip at me. “No one likes congealed bacon grease.”

“I’m supposed to drink all of this before I eat.” Truth be told, I didn’t mind. The flavor, as long as I divorced my mind from the source, didn’t offend. And it satisfied me in a way food hadn’t in a long time. “I’ll make it quick.” I slurped to prove a point and then winced. “Brain freeze.”

“Have you tried it warm?”

“It’s a smoothie.” I caught her meaning about the time she laughed. “Blood?” I wrinkled my nose. “No.”

“Hey, don’t knock it ’til you try it.” She gestured between us with the same piece of bacon. “From one predator to another, nothing beats it hot from the source.”

“I’m not a…” I clamped my mouth shut at her droll look. “Actually, I like the sound of being a predator.”

Hard to be a victim when you’re top of the food chain.

“You’re a half-blood, right?” She crunched down. “We are too. Our line, I mean. Midas and me. It’s the only reason our pack broke free of Faerie rule. One of our gwyllgi ancestors bred with a female warg, creating a new breed. That gave us grounds to declare ourselves native supernaturals. A few others escaped the same way, that’s where Hood’s people come from, but that loophole was stapled closed.” She shoved a whole sausage patty in her mouth, barely stopping to chew before she swallowed. “We’re the best of both worlds, if you ask me.”

“I wondered what a gwyllgi pack was doing working for the Faraday.”

“The Faraday makes for a good home base. The pay is great, tips are freaking awesome, and it’s a hub of paranormal activity. Ears like ours? We hear everything. Between Hood at the front door, Midas at the rear, and me walking the beat, there’s not much happening in Atlanta and beyond we don’t know.”

“That’s what Midas said too.”

“Really? He told you that?” Her hand lowered to her stomach. “I shouldn’t be surprised after Hood marked you. That makes you pack. You belong to us, so why wouldn’t he share with you?” She rolled her eyes. “Like I said—blabbermouth.”

I choked on my lump-free smoothie. “Hood did what?”

“Every time he licks you? He’s not being a cute doggy. He’s tagging you.” She tapped the side of her head. “We’re cognizant when we shift. Not all gwyllgi or wargs can say the same. We’re in total control in both forms. Though, to be fair, our primal sides can go off the rails given proper motivation.” Again, her fingers drummed her navel. “Any adorable antics on his part are calculated to disarm. Believe that.”

Turning my hand over in front of me, I imagined all the drool my skin must have absorbed over the past few weeks. “How do I get untagged?”

“The mark fades over time, but we’ll always be able to detect it on you.”

My jaw came unhinged. “I’m pack for life?”

“Yep.” She kept cramming food into her mouth. “That’s what an honor debt means. We owe you big. We value no one more than our packmates. The mark? It makes you an honorary one of us, and it ensures we treat you as such. Our primal sides won’t accept anything less.” She reached out and pinched my cheek. “You’re like a cute little mostly hairless puppy we’ve adopted.”

Just when I thought my life couldn’t get weirder. “Does that apply to the rest of the Atlanta pack?”

“Yes and no.” The answer was serious enough she swallowed before speaking. “The Atlanta gwyllgi will recognize the mark and understand it’s ours. They won’t attack as long as you don’t back them into a corner.”

“Good to know.” I polished off my smoothie and set it in the sink to rinse out later. “It should be a nonissue. I have no plans to go back in the foreseeable future.”

Her hand paused halfway to her mouth. “You’re not going to visit Linus?”

“I don’t like to think about him leaving.” I opened my takeout box and crunched on a strip of salty bacon. “We fight when we talk about it, so I’m keeping my mouth shut going forward. Problem solved.”

“That’s not how it works, pup.” Sympathy darkened her eyes. “You get the problem, right?”

“I don’t want him to go.” I hadn’t meant to say it out loud. I hadn’t really meant to think it. But there it was. “I don’t want to lose him too.” The overhead light dimmed, and I stroked the wall beside me. “We don’t want to be alone again.”

“You don’t want him to go?” She started eyeing my food. “Give him a reason to stay.”

Saving the eggs and toast for myself, I passed her my bacon. “I’m not ready to make any promises.”

“That’s fine.” She grinned in thanks. “Just don’t expect him to either.”

Solid advice. That didn’t mean I enjoyed getting beaten with the truth stick.

That was going to leave a mark.

Midas and I were finishing up our session when I noticed Linus watching from the doorway. I wasn’t sure how long he had been standing there. Woolly hadn’t ratted him out, and Midas had ignored him to focus on our lesson. I was the only one caught unawares, and it cost me.

“Oomph.”

The new mats absorbed impacts like a dream—they were so much better than grass with an underlayer of dirt—but it still knocked the breath out of me when I landed on my back. Midas might be careful, but that didn’t mean he took it easy.

Linus leaned over me, his feet at my head. “I didn’t mean to distract you.”

“How long have you been standing there?” I wheezed through the pain.

“Twenty minutes or so.” He extended his hand toward me, and I clasped his cool palm. “You look good.”

“You can see my boob sweat, my hair is greasy, and my cheeks are splotchy.” I bounced in place for a beat when he pulled me onto my feet. “You might want to clean your glasses and try again.”

Midas wiped a hand over his mouth, but his eyes lightened. “I think he meant your form.”

Linus ducked his head, but it was getting harder for him to hide those tiny smiles from me now that I knew to look for them.

“Oh.” Using the hem of my tee to pat my face dry, I bought myself a moment to die in private. “Thanks.”

Cool fingers tapped my elbow until I lowered my fabric shield. “Are you ready for another field trip?”

“Sure.” I plucked at the damp material. “I just need to grab a shower first.”

He swatted aside the suggestion. “You’ll only need another one after we’re finished.”

“That sounds promising.” I waved to Midas as he let himself out then turned back to Linus. “Where are we going?”

“To gather marsh woundwort.”

“I’ll need my waders then.” As the name implied, the herb grew in marshy conditions. “Bug spray is probably a good idea too.”

Maud kept woundwort in her first-aid kit in various forms. The fresh herb applied directly to cuts and scrapes halted bleeding. The essential oil had antispasmodic and antiseptic properties. Powdered leaves made a medicinal tea that treated fevers, heart and liver ailments, and internal hemorrhaging. It was one of the few herbs she had insisted on gathering wild from a plot she tended. Most everything else, she grew at home.

Restoring her extensive herb garden was yet another item on my lengthy to-do list. Odette had given me the windowsill version during her brief stay, but there was more to be done in the greenhouse.

Truthfully, Maud had been twice the gardener I claimed to be, and I always appreciated the fruits of her labors. Fresh veggies for meals. Herbs for the kitchen as well as the lab. Flowers to perfume the house. Natural beauty that invited you to step outside, breathe in the night air, and linger under the moon.

Yanking my thoughts back on task, I headed for the living room. “We’re going to the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge?”

“Yes.”

“The same patch where Maud used to take us?”

“I haven’t been there in years.” His gaze went distant. “I thought it would be fitting.”

“She would get a kick out of us using her favorite spot. It ought to be a wild tangle by now.”

“You hated going,” he reminded me. “I always got roped into those trips.”

“All those bugs?” A shudder rippled through me. “Don’t even get me started on the snakes.”

We hit the porch, and I grabbed my waders before we started down the driveway. He was right. There was no point cleaning up when we would come back sticky with sweat, flecked with mud, and covered in itchy, red mosquito bites.

“Do you remember the time you bent to pick up a stick,” he asked, “but it was a moccasin?”

“How could I forget?” I mimed dancing a jig. “Maud stomped it to death. I didn’t even know that was possible. She weighed maybe a hundred and twenty pounds, and the snake was almost longer than she was tall.”

“You never went back after that,” he mused.

“What was the point when she had you?” Bitterness I recognized from the way Amelie spoke of me and my talent edged into my voice, and I loathed hearing that pettiness in me. Understanding we all envied someone made forgiving her possible when I wanted to hold on to my anger. Possible, not likely. “I didn’t mean to go there. The thing with Maud had nothing to do with you. It was between her and me.”

“I understand how difficult it is to be civil to a person who has what you want.”

I cut a look at him from the corner of my eye. “Here I always thought you had everything you wanted.”

“No.” He looked right back. “Not everything.”

Skin flushed, I threw myself into opening the gates and scanning the road for Hood. Thankfully, he pulled around before I was forced to make small talk with Linus, which would have involved looking him in the face. Not waiting for him to be the gentleman, I slid open the door and climbed in. He gave me time to get settled before joining me, proving yet again he was too perceptive and far too chill for me while I was in this raw mood.

“Nothing rattles you.” I tipped my head against the seatback. “You’re so calm, it makes me want to shake you sometimes.”

“I’m sorry if that bothers you,” he said, polite to a fault.

“Oh no you don’t.” I bolted upright. “Take off the mask.”

“This is my face.” Cold, precise, cutting. “I can’t remove it.”

“Do you need help?” My fingertips itched to claw at his seams. “I’m willing to lend you a hand.”

“Calm down, kids.” Hood pulled out into the late-evening traffic. “No one is clawing off anyone’s face back there.”

Softer, Linus asked, “Why does this matter so much to you?”

Because Lethe had put a bug in my ear. Because I wanted to know why I couldn’t let him be. Because I thought for so long that I loved a man who could never love me back, and I was terrified of caring for one who might have deified me the same way I had sainted Boaz.

The way Linus looked at me…I had to be sure he saw me. Not his crush. Not his muse. Me.

And I wanted a good, long look at him. Not snatches of truth and snippets of real. I wanted it all.

I had no clue where my heart was in this, but my head was learning to be smarter about these things. Every time Atlanta crossed my mind, my gut twisted, and my temper blazed hot enough to scorch us both. Maybe Woolly was right about talking out my feelings. Maybe bottling this up was toxic for me.

“Boaz was an open book, and he still lied so well I couldn’t tell them from the truth.”

A stillness overtook Linus, and wisps of black mist licked at his ankles before trickling over mine.

“Using that logic, you must believe since I keep my own counsel, I’m more likely to deceive you.”

Until I blurted it out, I hadn’t realized that was the exact thorn in my side. “Yes.”

“Boaz had a luxury few of us can afford. He led an obligation-free life. He did what he wanted, when he wanted, with whom he wanted. He read like an open book because his pages were blank. He was a hedonist. He craved the fame of infamy. He spat on his familial obligations while using their resources to pursue his own passions.” The mask ripped away as black swallowed his eyes. “I have many advantages, but I didn’t have that one. I wasn’t allowed to shuck responsibility and do as I please. I wasn’t permitted the freedom to say what I thought, to conjure my own dreams, to embrace who I am.”

“Who are you?” I whispered so softly even Hood might have missed it.

“All great necromancers skirt the edge of darkness.” Night blossomed across his chest, the stain spreading like blood until the tattered wraith’s coat I had only glimpsed settled about his shoulders. “I am Maud’s heir in the worst ways.” The moonlit scythe I recalled materialized in his hands as if summoned. “I’m a lot of things, Grier. I’m a lot of people. They can’t all fit in me at once. I have to show them to you one at a time.”

Chills blasted my arms as the darkness spread over my lap, licking at my skin with icy tongues of energy.

“I want you to see me. I want you to understand. I want you…” He bit the sentence in half. “Each of the masks you condemn serves a purpose. Each is every bit as real as the others. Your favorite version of me? It’s just that. Another mask designed with you in mind.”

Heart pounding, I opened my hand and allowed his magic to pool in my palm. “You’re wrong.”

“No, Grier, I’m not.” The gloom swirled away, evaporating from his skin like fog exposed to sunlight. Slowly, he leaned forward until his eyes, lightening to blue, were on my level. “Let me be honest with you. Believe me when I tell you the person I am when I’m with you is who I always wanted to be, but I’m not him. Not all the time. Not even most of the time.” A tired smile bent his mouth. “You’re the only person who’s ever fought for me, any facet of me, and you’re the only one who’s seen this many.”

I braced for the ultimatum I sensed coming.

“You’re the only one who can decide if you can live with my duplicity.”

“Is it really duplicitous if you’re open with me about it?” I wasn’t being flip, I was honestly conflicted.

“That much I can promise you. I’ll let you in as far as you want to go.”

Two men. Two different approaches. One hiding what might hurt me, the other embracing what might frighten me. The first showing me what he wanted me to see, the second peeling back the layers to reveal what I wanted to know. They couldn’t be more different. So why was parsing my feelings for one from the other still so difficult?

We let the droning insects and wildlife calls fill the silence for us on our trek out to Maud’s favorite spot. It wasn’t heavy or awkward, but it was there. The wall I kept banging my head against. Except now I had a pillow to cushion the impact if I chose to use it, if I could accept that a lie from Boaz and an omission from Linus each carried a different weight.

“This isn’t right.” Linus broke into my thoughts. “Look at the grass. It’s tamped down. Someone’s been here recently.”

“It’s public land,” I reasoned. “Plenty of necromancers harvest in the area.”

We rounded the bend and set eyes on what should have been one of the largest wild patches of woundwort in the preserve to find the stalks cut to the root and the entire harvest stolen. Okay, so it technically wasn’t ours either. But Maud had tended this plot. She couldn’t help herself. Plants adored her, and I had often wondered if she had hedge witches in her line.

But that had been years ago. This was truly a wild bit of earth now. Or it had been before someone came in and razed it to the waterline. Only the trampled nubs above the buried tubers remained.

Good news for the area. This meant it would regrow. Bad news for those of us needing supplies for an upcoming resuscitation. Looks like we would have to search elsewhere to fill our quota.

“Are you experiencing déjà vu,” I asked him, “or is it just me?”

“There are boom years when more than the usual number of vampires are resuscitated,” he said, wading out deeper in search of any salvageable plants, “but demand for easily sourced necromantic supplies is never this high.”

“What’s the purpose of all this?” I started my own search in the nearby weeds. “Who’s the target?”

“You’re the obvious answer,” he said, but he didn’t sound convinced.

“Only someone aware of the upcoming resuscitation would know what supplies we would be gathering. They might be targeting Maud’s protégé rather than her heir.” Giving it up as a lost cause, I swatted a stand of cattails in annoyance. “Whoever is doing this knows Maud well enough to guess where you would go for supplies.”

Black mist whispered between his fingers as he wove the dark strands back and forth. “I don’t like this.”

Mesmerized, I watched too long, and my answer came a beat too late. “That makes two of us.”

“I question the timing. The clan who petitioned for a new member might be sworn to the master.”

“They must have suspected you and I would work together. It’s common knowledge you’re tutoring me.” And that he was living with me. “It came out during Amelie’s trial.”

“The contract might have been a ruse to draw you out into the open,” he said, going rigid. “Have you seen Hood since we arrived?”

“No.”

Proving his hearing was far superior to ours since we hadn’t heard his approach on soft paws, Hood stuck his blocky head out from the stand of cattails where I had been moments earlier and uttered a droll, “Woof.”

“I’m assuming you heard all that.” I tucked my hands away from him. “Are we good to keep going?”

Offended, he grumbled as if to say I’m here, why wouldn’t you be safe? before ditching us.

“Guess he answered that question.” I examined the sky but saw only the moon. “Where’s Cletus?”

“Back at the van,” Linus said, distracted. “I left him as a deterrent.”

“You expected this to happen?” A heads-up would have been nice.

“You were shot at by a vampiric archer with no apparent ties to any clan. He’s a shadow. A mercenary. A thug for hire. I expect another of his ilk to attempt finishing what his comrade started.”

“Seriously?” I wheeled on him. “You’re telling me you let me out of the house to act as bait?”

“I don’t let you go anywhere. I invite you to accompany me on errands when I feel certain I can provide adequate protection to keep you safe.” His gaze slid past my shoulder. “Hood has taken an arrow for you. He would do it again. It’s his nature.” His eyes snapped back to me. “It’s mine too, where you’re concerned.”

“Cletus isn’t shabby either,” I admitted, still grumpy and unconvinced.

This reminded me of how Boaz used Oscar as bait for the dybbuk. I didn’t want to be used as a lure.

“I won’t let them hurt you,” he promised. “They won’t take you while I’m alive.”

Oh, Linus. I should have known the life he would be gambling with was his.

“What made you pick this contract?” Necromancers only accepted one a year at most after they put their apprenticeship behind them. Practitioners on his level would accept a petition once every three to five years. “How long has it been since your last progeny?”

“It’s been six years.” He went on to answer my unasked question as well. “This will be my third.” He mulled over the rest while leading me back the way we came. “I hoped to share this experience with you, so that was a factor, but I wouldn’t have accepted if I didn’t feel the individual in question will make a solid addition to the clan sponsoring her.”

“A woman?” I fell in step with him. “Does that change the experience?”

“For some, yes.” He lifted a shoulder. “I keep those relationships professional.”

“I never put any thought into it, but I like the sound of that.”

Some necromancers took their clients on as lovers. They believed that an intense physical connection with their creator helped strengthen the bond between a fledgling vampire’s soul and its body. Me? I always thought it sounded too much like taking advantage, inventing a fringe benefit. But I came from good stock. Marchands weren’t required to stoop so low, and their blood was in my veins. Woolworths had no need for gimmicks, and Maud was the same as a mother to me. I wouldn’t have had to resort to such tactics to ensure a resuscitation stuck. Blood and talent would have guaranteed that for me.

Given what my blood had done for Cletus and Oscar, plus my own wayward progeny, I had no doubt I could do the job the Grande Dame would one day require of me.

“I’m not a fan of crossing moral lines.” Linus bent to examine a small cluster of flowering plants. “After a while, you stop seeing them. Willful blindness is dangerous for someone like me.”

A man who made life-or-death decisions in his city demanded an intractable moral compass.

“Those are footprints.” I pointed to his left, in a muddy section of ground. “The standing water makes it hard to tell, but you can see the outline. Looks like two sets.”

He investigated my find, taking a moment to snap several photos of the evidence. “You’re right.”

Cletus materialized before me, and his emaciated arm pointed toward the cut stalks.

The wraith piqued my curiosity. “Got something to share?”

A man of few words, he continued to aim a bony finger toward the decimated patch.

“Linus, a little help here?” I caught his attention. “Care to translate?”

Black flooded his eyes in a rush. “A pattern has been cut into the grass on the other side.”

“They’re heavy into symbolism, huh?” I could guess the design and its purpose but not how the vandals thought it would help them without a sacrifice to fuel the tribute. “Will you call this in too?” I nudged a bent stalk with the toe of my wader. “It’s not a crime but…”

“It’s too coincidental. I’ll have to mention it. There might be evidence here that links both incidents.” He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his wrist. “We don’t know what this means, if it means anything at all. Until we figure out what’s happening and why, I’m taking every precaution.”

That meant the area would be crawling with Elite soon, and I didn’t want to be here when they arrived.

“Let’s go home.” I started plodding toward the van. “I want to shower for ten years and then eat.”

Linus dried his hands on his pants, his lips pressed flat at the distastefulness of the act. “Save some hot water for me.”

Boaz would have seen that same opening and dove right through it, asking me if I wanted company.

Ugh.

Impact drove me to the ground before I registered its source.