company in their misery.”
“We should play,” Fenris said, giving me a light squeeze. “At least until Adira gets here.”
I nodded, knowing he was right but feeling sicker by the second. He seemed to know it, though. He looped his arm around my waist and pulled me to his side as the girls set up the tower. Laughter rang out around us. I tried to focus, but I could feel my insides going hot.
A sudden chill in the air had me looking over my shoulder at the door. Adira walked through, her gaze sweeping the room before catching my eye.
“This is not what the Roost is intended for,” Adira said once she reached our little group.
“Fun?” I asked. “You’re absolutely right. It’s never been fun.”
She gave me a steely look.
“You know why you’re here.”
“Right. And I agreed it’s not to have a good time, which I’m not having, by the way.”
“So your mother informed me. What happened?”
“We flooded the hunting grounds with too many predators in our attempt to attract more prey,” Fenris said, smoothly. “Some fighting occurred. Just part of the hunting process, right?”
Adira’s gaze flicked to him before returning to me.
“Show me.”
I turned slightly and twisted my arm to show her the back of it.
“It’s a small scratch that you would easily heal with an immediate feeding.”
I looked up at Fenris.
“Tell my mom I love her. Take care of the brownie, and whatever you do, don’t send anyone to feed the goblin. He’ll just throw his shoes at everyone.”
Fenris’s lips infinitesimally twitched.
“Does this mean I can have the hoard of chocolate bars you’ve hidden around the Academy?”
“No, I’m bequeathing those to Jenna. She deserves them for all the time she spent trying to deal with Elbner.”
Adira sighed.
“Your dramatics aren’t entertaining. Handing you a cure will only delay the inevitable, which is your need for a proper—”
Adira’s lecture was cut short by an unholy scream. The sound filled the room and echoed off the walls, growing in volume and making my ears ache worse than my arm. A second voice joined the first. Then a third.
I clapped my hands over my ears. My watering gaze bounced around the room, looking for the source and finding the table we’d surrendered to the waif-like trio. Heads tipped back, they sat straight and stiff with their mouths open and their eyes completely white.
Banshees.
Chaos exploded around us. People started running in fear. Some stumbled, blood running from their ears. It felt like my eardrums were two seconds from doing the same.
Fenris picked me up and ran for the exit. The rest of the girls were right beside us. He cleared the door and kept going down the sidewalk to my car where he finally stopped.
People milled all around us. Their mouths moved but, with my hands over my ears, I heard nothing. Hesitantly, I removed them. I couldn’t hear the screaming anymore or anything else for that matter. All I heard was a persistent high-pitched ringing, and my ears ached fiercely—almost as much as my arm.
Fenris opened his mouth and shouted something.
Transfixed, I stared at the vein pulsing in his temple and the hard muscles twitching in his jaw. Angry Fenris was something extraordinary to behold. My gaze dropped to his lips as he opened his mouth again.
“Heal her now!”
I blinked at the faint echo of his voice as he shouted. Turning my head, I saw Adira standing a few feet away, her gaze flicking from him to me then back.
“It’s not her, Fenris.” Her words sounded like she was underwater.
Still, Adira quickly applied her hand to my arm. A stinging cold pierced my skin and made me hiss. The sound was less muffled, and other noises, like the rumble of engines, began to register before the pain went numb.
“Peel away the green,” Adira said, her words clearer. “She should be fine. She needs to feed, Fenris. If you have any influence with her at all, get her to feed. I need to get back inside. Go home.”
He looked down at me then. Something shifted in his expression when he caught me looking at him.
“Fenris, it’s not just them,” Willow said. “Listen.”
He lifted his gaze from mine. Each of the werewolves cocked their heads, their gazes becoming unfocused.
“She’s right,” Jenna said.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
Fenris’s grim gaze locked with mine.
“It sounds like every banshee in Uttira is singing death’s song.”
Turning my head, I searched for Adira, but she was already gone. A sick feeling settled into my stomach that had nothing to do with the