Page 94 of In Rising Tides

Wilder didn’t fancy having a conversation with this beast, but the longer he talked, the longer it gave the rest of their group to arrive.

“What’s that?”

Maelor shook a long, clawed finger in the air beside his head. “That she entered into a bargain with the High King.”

“And that is important to you?” Wilder asked.

Maelor shrugged. “It is important to us all, is it not? A mermaid aligning herself with elves … that kind of imbalance—” he sucked a breath through his teeth, and the sound elicited a low whining in the wulvers nearest him.

They twitched where they stood, their reflective red eyes narrowing on Wilder and his friends.

Wilder chuckled and shook his head. “You’ll be relieved to hear the bargain was to help the balance. Lyra agreed to break the tidal tithe.”

Maelys shifted on her feet and glanced at Wilder, not wanting to take her eyes off the threat for too long. “I feel like we shouldn’t be sharing information,” she said between gritted teeth.

“That’s good to hear,” Maelor replied, his voice an octave lower. It rumbled in the space between them. The wulvers began disappearing into the shadows as they retreated. “But there’s a debt to be settled.”

Wilder sensed the others approaching like a wind sweeping through the trees.

“A debt?” Wilder tilted his head to the side.

“The mermaid was in your custody when she struck down our alpha. We seek vengeance.”

Maelor squatted on his haunches and picked up the remnants of a pixie wing. He chomped down on it, and it sounded like a wine glass being crunched beneath a boot.

Wilder’s stomach rolled, and bile rose in his throat.

“You’ve found more than enough vengeance. You’re done.”

Wilder blinked, and Maelor was back on his feet. “Are you acting on orders of your High King?”

“No.”

Claws glinted in the moonlight as Maelor flexed his hands. “Then you have no authority here.”

Cedric, Oak, Dust and Oron appeared in the darkness behind them, their weapons already drawn. Wilder felt their presence, then sighed with relief.

Wilder raised his blade, pointing it right at Maelor’s chest. “You will stop your assault on my kingdom, or I will take your head.”

A low rumble shook Maelor’s chest. He took a step forward and let loose a howl.

The wulvers launched themselves across the empty ground.

Teeth met steel.

Wilder grunted as Maelor’s body made impact with us. They collided against the trunk of a tree, and Wilder slung Maelor off him.

Maelys impaled a wulver on the end of her blade as Ridge used vines to hold it in place. Maelor growled as he threw himself at Wilder.

Wind whipped from Wilder’s fingertips, slinging Maelor back a few feet.

Maelor threw himself against the gale, his claws ripping up the earth and roots as he struggled forward.

The sounds of battle were muffled behind the sheer force of wind Wilder hurled at him.

Wilder pulled back his magic.

Cedric and Oron battled back to back, their blades swift as they swept through the air. The black blood of wulvers sprayed where they met flesh.