The leaves and bushes shook. Screaming drifted out through the trees. Someone yelled for them to flee. Another asked where the onslaught was coming from. These people clearly had zero experience.

“Havoc, Chaos, Mordecai, help send them on their way,” I shouted, walking faster now, my blood pumping in my ears like a battle drum. “Remember. No killing.”

Havoc launched forward, and then the screams increased in pitch. Chaos bounded into the greenery with a deep growl that did not match his cute, fluffy exterior. Mordecai darted in at the side, taking the flank as the cats assaulted our would-be attackers head-on. Red whirled in the middle, barely visible in the thick foliage, looking like a tornado in the trees.

A man stumbled out of the melee and onto the walkway. The sun sparkled along the glistening blood running down his temple. He staggered and then his legs buckled, dumping him onto the concrete. A woman ran past, bleeding from three different locations. She didn’t so much as look at her fallen teammate. The others scattered deeper into the garden, all different directions, no two people sticking together, until they were out of my range.

Red strolled out of the trees, wiping her blade on a black rag before tucking the dirty cloth into her belt. She stopped beside the man cowering on the ground. The cats and Mordecai slunk out from the greenery next, surrounding the man.

Boman pulled our cover away. Zorn shoved me forward so I was in the lead.

“Pl-please.” The man looked around wildly, his eyes rounded. Havoc stopped near his feet and lowered her head, crimson splattered across her furry, snow-white face. He yanked his feet in tighter to his body. “Please do-don’t hurt me.”

Zorn shoved me forward again, and I took the hint, walking toward the man, no idea what I was supposed to do when I got there.

The man caught my movement, contorted so he could look my way, and started to shake. “Pl-please, I’m sor-sorry. Please don’t hurt me.”

“What in the ever-loving hell…” Jerry’s confused muttering drifted away.

“He’s begging,” Boman said. “This dude does not belong at this summit.”

Taking a page out of Mick’s book from the bar back home, I flung my hand like an old man trying to get kids or dogs off his lawn. “Git! Begone! I don’t want to see you here again.”

“Y-yes, ma’am. Thank you. Th-thank you, ma’am.” The guy struggled to get up and groaned, clutching his side.

“This is hard to watch,” Thane whispered. “It’s a bit much.”

Blood gushed from the man’s side and ran over his hip. He doubled over, clearly in pain, and only managed two small steps before the strength went out of him again. He collapsed, whimpering, and curled up in a bleeding ball on the concrete.

“What’s with the dramatics?” Daisy asked.

“Are we sure he has a blood oath and can heal?” I asked, worried we may have accidentally killed him.

Boman grimaced. The others shifted uncertainly.

I’d be damned if the very first battle ended in a death. “Havoc, Chaos, Mordecai—go round up one of his teammates. He needs to be taken to get medical attention. Zorn, go with them in gas form. If they can’t corral someone, force them back, understood? We’ll stay here and wait. Don’t take long.”

The cats wasted no time, able to understand me as well as Mordecai could, something I’d learned not to question. They bounded into the trees, Mordecai on their heels, and Zorn poofed into nothing.

“I mean…or we could just walk on. Nobody would blink about a guy bleeding out,” Bria said, eyeing her hand trailer. “Everyone knows the risks when you bring someone without an oath.”

“Don’t you dare call dibs on him,” Jerry ground out. Donovan and Boman snickered.

I rounded on her, incredulous. “Then why the hell are you here?”

She palmed her chest. “I’m a Necromancer. We play with spirits and cadavers. It’s like I said, we’re usually left alone. Red is probably fucked, though.”

“I’m good.” Red tucked away her cleaned knife. “This place is less dangerous than anything we’ve done as a group so far.”

“True,” Bria said as souls entered my radar again. “Though you had a helluva time healing after Lydia’s thing.”

Largely because she’d fought Thane in his Berserker state.

“I don’t know how many times I can say sorry for that.” He frowned. “I sent flowers. Chocolates. I gave massages, even. What else can I do?”

“Shut up about it, maybe,” Red responded. “She wasn’t talking to you.”

Zorn emerged from the trees, dragging a couple of terrified level fours, a man and a woman, by their upper arms. Mordie and the cats trailed behind him.

“The Soul Stealer is too sweet by half. She is sparing this waste of flesh.” Zorn pushed the people at the cowering man. The injured man whimpered, his face ashen. “Get this sad sack some help. Looks like he’s about to bleed out.”

The guy’s teammates stared at him for a moment, wide-eyed. Their gazes found me a moment later.

“Well?” I motioned at him. “You’d really run off and leave one of your own behind? Help him out, for God’s sake! Hurry up.”

The woman blinked slowly. She nudged the man beside her. “Thank you,” she murmured, and grabbed the fallen guy roughly.