Page 99 of Robb

Shifting back into his dingo form, he watched as James crashed into the maze’s dead end, embedding himself into a thick wall of greenery.

That won’t hold him for long, though.

Robb tried to decide which direction to go.

On the one hand, he wanted to go through the hole that James had made earlier, so he could check on Tahnee.

On the other hand, he wanted to lead James as far away as possible from her.

The second option, he thought grimly. He couldn’t risk her safety. And he hadn’t felt anything through the mate bond, so he had to assume that she was okay. For now.

He took a moment to catch his breath and wait for James to pull himself clear of the bushes. There was no point in trying to lead James on a merry chase, as he’d put it, if James didn’t know which way he was going. He had to make sure that James followed him away from Tahnee’s last known location.

Shuffling backwards, James finally managed to extricate himself from the hedge, snorting furiously. Robb would have been amused, if the situation hadn’t been so serious.

He took a few steps backwards, ready to turn and start running –

And then a brolga stumbled through the gap in the destroyed section of the hedge, barely keeping its feet.

Robb’s breath caught in his throat.

Tahnee! he thought wildly, and his dingo howled in rage and fear.

The brolga was clearly injured, one of its wings sticking out at a strange angle, its feet dragging.

Robb bared his teeth, fury coursing through him.

James will die for this.

The boar, for its part, seemed to find the situation entertaining, letting out what Robb could only describe as a chuckle. It nudged at her gently with its snout, quivering with amusement as she staggered.

With a growl, Robb launched himself forward –

And then skidded to a stop as the brolga spread its wings and easily launched itself into the air, landing on the astonished boar’s back.

Stunned, Robb watched as the boar bucked and thrashed about, trying to throw Tahnee off, but she held on tight.

The dingo also could do nothing but watch in amazement.

She is incredible, it said, awestruck.

I’ve heard of birds performing broken wing displays, Robb thought, but I’ve never seen it in action.

The dingo noted that it would be a worthwhile technique to keep in mind in case any bird shifters ever joined the team – it never really stopped thinking about how it could do its job better – but Robb simply watched Tahnee with a combination of respect and concern, wondering how he could best help her without getting in the way of whatever her plan was.

We could bite him in the leg, he thought, with a bit less of the unemotional detachment he usually felt in these kinds of situations. He shouldn’t be wanting to bite James – to tear him limb from limb – but that didn’t change the fact that he very much did.

Tensing, Robb prepared to launch himself forward once more –

And once more he stopped cold.

But this time, it was because the brolga was using its beak to attack James’s face. With a vengeance.

Robb watched, a strange mixture of emotions passing through him as Tahnee stood on the boar’s back and proceeded to try and peck its eyes out.

And she seemed to be doing a pretty good job of it, too, if the horrendous shrieking coming from the boar’s throat and the blood dripping down its face were any indication. It hurled itself about, but she held on tenaciously, continuing her unrelenting attack.

Not only had she softened James up considerably, but she’d also bought Robb time to recover from his injuries. He wasn’t fully healed, but he was doing well enough that he was confident he would now be more of a help than a hindrance.