TWENTY-FIVE
Wolves could heal from fatal wounds and were harder to kill, but they didn’t heal as fast as many of the other species. A slash across the chest could heal in about thirty minutes, but a bullet to the chest, unless silver, would take a half a day. Silver could be fatal if not treated right away. With that in mind, Jo and Nic dressed in their fire-retardant, slightly armored jumpsuits over their normal clothing as they stood next to Frankie on the starting line. If anything, it would help protect them from small wounds. Besides, fire hurt, and so they wore their brilliant yellow monstrosities dutifully.
This was what happened when Cricket Snapdragon took charge of the wardrobe, Jo thought as she pulled up the zipper and began to snap the buttons in place. At least the outfits were comfortable.
“I look like a lemon,” Jo commented as she finished up the suit. They wouldn’t be wearing helmets only because they would limit their already excellent vision and hearing.
“But a very cute lemon,” Nic teased, grinning. “Make all the boy lemons go. . .what sound would a lemon make?”
Jo snorted and shook her head. But something had her stopping and looking at Nic as he snapped up his own buttons. When he finished, he met her gaze and didn’t look away. In that moment, Jo realized just how different it felt to do so since the beginning. She’d been so full of anger, of disdain in the beginning, she’d hardly seen the man beneath. Now that she had, she wasn’t sure she could continue on as she had, pretending he didn’t exist. Nicolas Olcan existed, and her entire world had shifted toward him, and she wasn’t as afraid anymore. Nic had made it clear he didn’t want to hold her back. He only wanted a chance to stand beside her.
“You keep looking at me like that, the reporters are going to have plenty to talk about,” Nic warned, but his eyes sparkled like he hoped she wouldn’t look away. When she didn’t, he added, “Jo.”
That was it. Her name. Two letters.
Jo didn’t look away.
With a growl, Nic came around Frankie and reached toward her, his fingers curling into her yellow-clad hips and pulling her in. “Once I knew you existed, my life has never been the same,” he breathed, and then he pressed his lips to hers.
The crowd around them exploded, but it all faded into the background as Jo looped her arms around Nic’s shoulders, as she kissed him back as if this might be the last time. And it could be. They could die on this track and never get the chance to go on that first date, but in this moment, Jo only knew that Nic was it. Despite everything—their mistakes ten years ago, their avoidance, their fear—their fate had already been written and it ended in one way.
With them together.
Only when they both began to run out of air did Nic pull back, but he kept her wrapped in his arms for a few seconds longer. With a grin, he threw his head back and howled. The wolves in the stands joined in. The reporters tried to rush forward to take pictures, only held back by security. The crowd was chanting something they couldn’t make out until the howling stopped.
“Fur and Claws, Teeth and Howls, Rip them up and take them down! Fur and Claws, Teeth and Howls, Rip them up and take them down!”
“Do you hear that?” Nic asked, grinning down at Jo. “They’re cheering us on because of you.”
“Me?”
“You’re giving them hope, Jo.” He tilted his head back to absorb the sounds. “You’re leading the wolves to their dreams.”
Jo blinked and looked around at the crowd, at the large number of wolves who’d felt brave enough to be present despite the dangers. The tickets were expensive for this sort of race so she wasn’t sure how they could have. . .
Cricket Snapdragon stood in the front row, her chin tilted up, a smile on her face, her wings flared wide behind her. A beacon. A symbol. Beside her, Radley Whiteclaw stood stoic, his arms folded across his chest. When she met his eyes, he nodded in respect.
If Jo was leading the wolves to their dreams, Cricket Snapdragon and Radley Whiteclaw were paving the way.
“Fur and Claws! Teeth and Howls! Rip them up and take them down!”
With a grin, Jo threw her fist into the air, a statement of her own, and the wolves howled in solidarity, their own arms going high. This was it. This was the change that needed to happen, and the wolves would pry their victory from beneath the boot of those who would keep them down.
“Time to focus,” Nic murmured. “We have to do one more check on Frankie before the race starts.”
They turned away toward the hulking monstrosity that was Frankie. Around them, the other cars were glossy beautiful things, built for speed and aerodynamics. Frankie was the opposite of that. She was heavier than the others and looked like she belonged in battle more than anything else. But one little ding on the side wouldn’t hurt Frankie at all. It would crack the fiberglass of most of the others. The goblins were the only other vehicle comparable, their own cars cobbled together with parts from different vehicles. These goblins didn’t even care that they’d fixed a truck bed to the back of a car that wasn’t meant to pull it. They seemed content to shout at the crowd.
“Check for bombs underneath,” Jo instructed. “Cricket warned that it was a favored tactic.”
Nic dropped to his hands and knees and looked beneath the car, checking every crevice, and listening for any beeps. “All good. Either they didn’t think to use that tactic, or they haven’t been able to get to Frankie.”
Jo nodded and went over her other checks before picking up her old tablet. Since the race was about to begin, all information should be uploaded. The map was there, ready to go, the section names blazing for her to see, but the sponsor tab called her attention. She clicked on it and stared.
“It’s blank.”
“What?” Nic came around the car. “What’s blank?”
“The sponsor list. It says we have no sponsors.”
Nic frowned. “But both Danica and Cricket were sponsoring you. Didn’t you say Iliad was also trying to sponsor you?”
Jo nodded and held her phone up. She sent a quick text to her friend. His reply was instant.
“It was rejected,” Jo murmured. “They rejected all of them.”
“It couldn’t have been all on a money basis because both Danica and Cricket have plenty.” Nic scowled. “They can’t do that, can they?”
Jo looked out over the crowd, into the box that was meant for the council members. Danica sat there beside King Yophiel, clear worry on her face, but there was also anger. Something was brewing within the council itself and Danica was clearly being railroaded in her decisions. The Vampire King wouldn’t stand for that for very long judging by the serene chill on his own face.
“Looks like we’re on our own,” Jo murmured with a shake of her head.
“At every turn, they try to stop us.” Nic ran a hand through his hair, clearly agitated.
“Well, they’re in for a rude awakening,” Jo growled, and then she looked up into the cameras hovering around, zooming in on her. The drones all focused on her expression. The cameras leaned in. And the tv screens around them filled with the image of her fierce gaze. She didn’t say anything, didn’t do anything, but she shot that challenge out into the ether. Whichever god was watching would see if for the threat it was.
Wolves were always meant to be free and wild. . .