Chương 82: 082

Time stepped back, but not fast enough. The wolf would reach him in less than a heartbeat. Something in me snapped. Not thought. Not strategy. Instinct. I moved. The dagger was suddenly in my hand and I threw myself between them. Teeth clamped onto my shoulder. Pain detonated next, white-hot and blinding. I didn't scream. I didn't think. I drove the blade forward. It sank into the wolf's eye with a sickening resistance. A high, keening yelp tore from its throat, vibrating through my bones. I twisted.

Hot wetness sprayed across my hands. The pressure on my shoulder loosened, and the wolf staggered, shuddered… And collapsed. Silence fell like a dropped curtain. I let the dagger fall as if it burned me, my hand flying to my shoulder instead. Warmth spilled between my fingers, slick and unstoppable. The metallic scent flooded my nose, thick enough to taste. Copper. Copper and salt and something else. Pain throbbed in rhythm with my heartbeat. Hands pressed over mine.

"Nikolas, heal yourself!" Time. He sounded strained and I opened my eyes. Big mistake. Red coated everything. It drenched my shirt. My sleeve. My hands… Until I couldn't see skin beneath it. It streaked Time's arms too, smeared across his pale skin as he tried to stanch the bleeding. The world narrowed to that color. Red. The buzzing in my ears rose, swallowing his words. The smell crawled into my throat, into my lungs, until breathing felt like drowning. Then a crack. Pain flared at the back of my skull.

Dominicus lowered his hand, expression carved from stone.

"Focus through the panic and heal yourself, or the blood will be the least of your worries." The words punched through the fog, but so did something else. A knife sliding into my gut. Concrete floor under my back. A belt snapping through air, the buckle a flash of light in the dark. That fucking basement-. Hands framed my face, firm but not cruel. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Time's eyes filled my vision.

"Nikolas. Breathe. You are not there anymore." Breathe?... Was I not? My lungs burned as if to confirm that, so I sucked in a breath. That cleared some of the fog, so I did it again, and again. The clearing wavered, but it held. I risked another glance down. Red. Too much red. Focus through the panic and heal yourself, or the blood will be the least of your worries. Right, fuck. I tore my gaze away from the wound and reached inward, grasping for mana with shaking fingers. It answered.

Green unfurled over my shoulder, moss spilling across torn fabric and slick skin. It spread in a thick, living carpet, vibrant and impossibly bright against the blood. Green. Green was safe. Green was life. The bleeding slowed. The pain dulled to a distant pulse. I didn't look at it again. Instead, I closed my eyes and kept breathing, counting each inhale like a lifeline. Fuck. That had been so much worse than I'd imagined.

"Good." Dominicus's voice sliced through the lingering fog in my skull.

"It took you longer than I would prefer to recover and you required assistance, but it's a start. There are more wolves nearby. They will suffice for more practice." For a second, the words didn't register. Then they did, hitting like a slap. Motherfucker. He wanted to throw me at more of them. Panic detonated all over again. The blood still slicked my hands, sticky against my skin, the metallic stench clawing up my throat like a warning bell that wouldn't stop ringing. I shouldn't have let them talk me into this.

The thought came sharp and vicious. I should have demanded to go with Dura. Hell, I should have just cut my own fucking hand. The idea flared, reckless and desperate. Quick. Controlled. My terms. I'd sworn I would never go back to that. Never carve into myself for any reason. But this would be different. I wasn't hurting myself to feel alive or to die. It was for the sake of overcoming this safely. Time's expression tightened, catching the spiral as it spilled unchecked through our bond.

Normally the invasion would've made me bristle. Right now? Fuck it. The day was already a disaster. My shoulder throbbed beneath the moss. Once I peeled it back, the blood would still be there. Caked into fabric, dried against skin. My hands were still stained a sickening ruby. And Dominicus… Dominicus looked satisfied. That did it. Rage surged up through the panic, hot and blinding.

"You think this is a fucking success?" I snarled.

"If I'd been half a second slower, that wolf would've had Thomas's throat!" Not to mention the hell it was currently putting me through, though he clearly didn't give a fuck about that. Dominicus didn't flinch. Didn't bristle. Didn't even look mildly inconvenienced by my anger.

"Yes," he said calmly.

"Given his position near the clearing, I anticipated the wolf would target him." The world tilted.

"You-. What?" Time went very still. His gaze lifted slowly to Dominicus, something sharp and ancient settling behind his eyes.

"You intended to use me as bait," he said, voice stripped of warmth.

"To force Nikolas into action." Dominicus inclined his head.

"Correct. Nikolas has repeatedly demonstrated a stronger instinct to protect others than himself. Your presence increased the probability of success. Dura wouldn't have been suitable. She eliminates threats too quickly." A sound bubbled up in my throat.

"You planned this." That miserable fucker, did he not think about how it could go badly? Or did he just not care?