A sensation akin to giddiness overwhelmed me as we faced each other, as she twirled my knife between her fingers. But I didn’t let my emotions betray me. Unlike Lou, I could control them. I could master them. I would master them.

“Are you ready?” Her smirk had returned, and her posture remained relaxed. Arrogant. Ansel scrambled to the cover of the nearest tree. Cypress. Even Coco backed away, tugging Beau with her. “Shall we count to three?”

I kept my own grip on my knife light. “One.”

She tossed her knife in the air. “Two.”

We locked eyes.

“Three,” I breathed.

She sprang immediately, surprising me, and attacked with unexpected strength. I blocked her easily enough, countering with a strike of my own. Half force. I just needed to subdue her, not bludgeon her, and she was so small—

Darting around me, she used my momentum to kick the back of my knee and send me sprawling forward. Worse, she half tackled, half rode me to the ground, ensuring I landed face-first in the snow. Her knife touched my throat as my own skidded out of reach. Chuckling, she dug her knees into my back and brushed a kiss to my neck.

“First lesson, Ansel: find your opponent’s weaknesses and exploit them.”

Furious, I spat snow from my mouth and shoved her knife away. “Get off me.”

She laughed again and rolled to the side, freeing me, before springing to her feet. “So, what did Reid do wrong? Besides falling on his face and losing his weapon?” Winking, she plucked it from the ground and returned it to me.

Ansel fidgeted under the tree, refusing to make eye contact. “He—he didn’t want to hurt you. He held back.”

I pushed to my feet. Heat burned up my neck and ears as I beat the snow and mud from my coat, my pants. Fuck. “A mistake I won’t make twice.”

Lou’s eyes danced. “Shall we try for round two?”

“Yes.”

“On your count.”

I took the offensive this time, striking hard and fast. I’d underestimated her quickness before, but not again. Maintaining my momentum and balance, I kept my movements controlled, forceful. She might’ve been faster, but I was stronger. Much, much stronger.

Her smirk vanished after a particularly powerful blow to her sword arm. I didn’t hesitate. Again and again I struck, driving her back toward the cypress tree. Trapping her. Exploiting her weakness. Her arms shook with effort, but she could scarcely deflect my attacks, let alone counter. I didn’t stop.

With one last strike, I knocked away her knife, pinning her against the tree with my forearm. Panting. Grinning. Triumphant. “Yield.”

She bared her teeth and lifted her hands. “Never.”

The blast came before I could react. And the smell. The smell. It singed my nose and burned my throat, following me as I soared through the air—as I smashed into a branch and slid into the snow. Something warm and wet burst from my crown. I touched the spot gingerly, and my fingers came away red. Bloody.

“You—” My throat tightened with disbelief. With rage. “You cheated.”

“Second lesson,” she snarled, swooping down to retrieve our fallen knives. “There’s no such thing as cheating. Use every weapon in your arsenal.”

Ansel watched with wide, terrified eyes. Pale and motionless.

I rose slowly. Deliberately. My voice shook. “Give me a knife.”

“No.” She lifted her chin, eyes overbright, and slid it through her belt loop. “That’s twice you’ve lost yours. Win it back.”

“Lou.” Ansel stepped forward tentatively, hands outstretched between us as if placating wild animals. “Maybe—maybe you should just give it—”

His words ended in a cry as I tackled her to the ground. Rolling to my back, I absorbed the worst of the impact, seizing her wrists and tearing her own knife away. She clawed at me, shrieking, but I kept her hands pinned together with one of my own, using the other to reach—to search—

Her teeth sank into my wrist before I could find her belt.

“Shit!” I released her with a snarl, welts forming from the teeth marks. “Are you crazy—?”

“Pathetic. Surely the great captain can do better than this—”

Vaguely, I could hear Ansel shouting something in the distance, but the roaring in my ears drowned out everything but Lou. Lou. I rolled, diving for her discarded knife, but she leapt after me.

I reached it first.

Instinctively, I swung out in a wide, vicious arc, defending my back. Lou should’ve danced out of reach. She should’ve anticipated the move and countered, ducked beneath my outstretched arm and charged.

But she didn’t.

My knife connected.

I watched in slow motion—bile rising in my throat—as the blade tore through her coat, as her mouth widened in a surprised O. As she tripped, clutching her chest, and tumbled to the ground.

“No.” I gasped the word before dropping to my knees beside her. The roaring in my ears went abruptly silent. “Lou—”

“Reid!” Ansel’s voice shattered the silence as he raced toward us, splattering snow and mud in every direction. He skidded to a stop and fell forward, hands fluttering wildly over the gash in her coat. He sat back with a sigh. “Thank God—”

“Coco,” I said.

“But she isn’t—”

“COCO!”

A quiet chuckle sounded below us. My vision tunneled on Lou’s pale form. A grin touched her lips, wicked, and she rose to her elbows.

“Stay down,” I pleaded, my voice cracking. “Please. Coco will heal you—”

But she didn’t stay down. No, she continued to rise, lifting her hands in a peculiar gesture. My mind—sluggish and slow with panic—didn’t comprehend the movement, didn’t understand her intent until it was too late—

The blast lifted me into the air. I didn’t stop until my back slammed into the tree once more. Doubling over, I choked and tried to regain my breath.

Another chuckle, this one louder than the last. She strode toward me, opening her coat to reveal her shirt, her skin. Both intact. Not even a scratch. “Third lesson: the fight isn’t over until one of you is dead. Even then, check twice. Always kick them when they’re down.”

A Debt of Blood

Reid

If the tension between us had been thick before, now it was impassable. Each step a brick between us. Each moment a wall.

We walked for a long time.

Though Lou sent the black fox—Brigitte, she had named it—ahead with our request to meet, the Beast of Gévaudan didn’t answer.

No one said another word until dusk fell. Cypress trees had gradually replaced pine and birch, and the ground beneath us had softened. It squelched underfoot, more mud now than moss and lichen. Brine flavored the cold winter air, and above us, a lone seagull cawed. Though water soaked my boots, luck was on our side—the tide hadn’t yet risen.

“It’ll be dark soon,” Beau whispered. “Do you know where they live?”

Lou pressed closer to my side. Gooseflesh steepled her skin. “I doubt they invited him in for tea.”

I resisted the urge to wrap an arm around her, to hold her tight. She hadn’t apologized this time. I hadn’t expected it. “We caught strays unaware last time. I . . . don’t know where the pack resides.”

“Strays unaware?” Lou looked up at me sharply. “You told me you found the pack.”

“I wanted to impress you.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Coco glanced at the sky, at the ghost of the moon in the purple sunset. Full tonight. Growing brighter by the minute. “They’ll find us.”

Beau followed her gaze, paling. “And until then?”

A howl pierced the night.

Now I did take Lou’s hand. “We keep going.”

True darkness fell within the hour. With it, deeper shadows materialized, flitting through the trees. “They’re here.” Voice soft, Lou tipped her head to our left, where a silver wolf slipped out of sight. Another streaked ahead without a sound. More howls echoed the first until a chorus of cries surrounded us. We drew together collectively.

“Stay calm,” I breathed. Though anxious to draw a blade, I kept my hand firmly in Lou’s. This first moment was critical. If they suspected danger, they wouldn’t hesitate. “They haven’t attacked yet.”

Beau’s voice heightened to a squeak. “Yet?”

“Everyone kneel.” Slowly, warily, I sank into a crouch, bowing my head, guiding Lou down with me. Our fingers threaded together in the mire. With each of her breaths, I synchronized my own. Centered myself. Anticipation corded my neck, my arms. Perhaps Blaise wouldn’t listen to me. Despite what I’d told Lou, perhaps he wouldn’t accept my challenge. Perhaps he’d just kill us. “Make eye contact with only those you wish to challenge.”

As if awaiting my words, the wolves descended. Three dozen of them, at least. They emerged from every direction, as silent as the moon overhead. Surrounding us. Lou’s face went white. Beside her, Ansel trembled.

We were outnumbered.

Alarmingly outnumbered.

“What’s happening?” Beau asked on a ragged breath. He’d pressed his forehead into Coco’s shoulder, clenching his eyes shut.