Behind him, Rylee approached and stood next to him. She lowered her gaze and studied the wolf warlock. “Looks like someone killed Varg the bonekeeper.”
The pack looked up at them and snarled. Lev flared his nostrils. The smell of decay reminded him how his wound had festered. Poison. He could not allow Team Greywolf to get bitten. He spoke in wolf. “Ma’am. Keep Team Greywolf away.”
“You don’t get to have revenge all by yourself.”
“Their bite is deadly.”
She sniffed and cocked her head to the side. “They do reek of lethal venom.”
“I feel it in my heart Rachel is alive.”
“GPS, or at least her jacket is underground, but I smell her above ground, too.”
Three more members of Team Greywolf arrived. Thorn in human form approached carrying a high power rifle.
The warlock laughed. “One Russian bear and four team members?”
Lev stood on two legs and roared. One mutant bear is all that is needed. He landed on the hard snow and swiped at it, like bears often did in warning. Only instead of chunks of ice flying in all directions, water splashed. He radiated heat, melting a circle of soggy ground.
Rylee glowered at the warlock. “Surrender, Andrew Joki.”
“I’m Andres Calopus, Wolf Mage. Your new master.” He smiled and sprinkled something over the bones. He glowered at her. “Today, you die, bitch.”
“I kill him now,” growled Lev.
“Wait.” Rylee cocked her head at the sound of rattling. “What the fuck?” She shuddered. Lev had never seen her show fear, until now.
The bones vibrated and formed into wolf skeletons. The potion smelled like venom and other fluids. Blood. Lev sniffed. The decaying rot imbued with Stallo’s venom to elicit the change.
The wolf skeletons snapped and stood at attention, their bones rattling like rain sticks.
Thorn wrinkled his nose. “Do you smell that?”
“Yes. Pure venom.” Rylee backed away. “Their bite is lethal. We need to leave and radio for a missile strike.”
Varg the bonekeeper, who lay dead, rose and stood in front of Joki. His large frame protecting the warlock from a shot.
Thorn whispered to Rylee, “Should I take out Varg and then the voodoo king?”
“Better to get a shot from the air.”
“Ma’am?”
“That’s an order!”
Lev backed her decision. “You might kill two, maybe three, but then you’ll be overrun.”
The wolf skeletons surrounded their evil leader and growled at them.
“I’m staying to find Rachel. My mutation protects me against poison.”
The warlock shouted, “Attack. Bite them.” He turned to the pack, both the furred ones and the skeletons. “Kill the bear and the bitch’s pack.”
Lev growled. “Go. I’ll keep them at bay.”
Rylee snapped. “Okay, but don’t die.”
“Only they die.”