Lola looked up at the sky and realized it was barely evening. Ray had gotten to and back from the castle in a shockingly quick amount of time.

“That was fast,” she said. “I really should have listened more to my lessons in school. I take it that when you transform into a wolf, you can move much faster than a human?”

“Much faster than most things,” he said with a nod. The look of grim determination was back on his face. “Except for vamps. They’re even faster.”

“Vampires?” Lola asked. She didn’t want to think about what was about to happen so instead, her rambling brain kept furiously trying to divert her attention elsewhere. “I didn’t think there were any left.”

“They’re still around,” he replied. “They just hate humans, ghouls, werewolves, wendigo, other were-shifters, and just about everything else.”

“Oh,” she said. “Got it.”

“Let’s go. We ain’t got all day. Best to get this whole mess done and over with,” Ray barked.

Roland opened his eyes and stood up, brushing dirt and bits of grass off himself. Reid hopped off the boulder he’d been sitting on and joined his brother. Rutger threw the clump of grass he’d been plucking and got up.

Lola watched them carefully but Russel didn’t bother with that now. They didn’t matter anymore. With his father’s acceptance of the challenge, his brothers no longer posed a threat to them.

“I’m going to shift into my wolf form,” he said to Lola. “I want you to get on my back and hold on as tightly as possible.”

“You want me to ride you like a horse?” she asked, incredulous despite herself. “Is that really wise? I am going to let you know that I’m not great with that. I usually end up falling off and smashing into the ground.”

Russel blinked a few times, not sure what to do with that information.

“You don’t ride horses?” he asked.

“Yeah. I thought that was pretty obvious by now. Why do you think I was always so quick to walk instead of riding Serk?” she asked.

“Uh. I thought…”

“Yeah, that was a lie. I hate riding animals. Especially horses. Also, they don’t like me either so the feeling is mutual.”

“Okay, well I don’t hate you and I will make sure not to let you fall, okay? Trust me, this will be the quickest and easiest way to get to the castle,” Russel said.

Lola gave him a sly, conspiratorial look.

“Or…we use this as an excuse and stall this fight as long as possible. Maybe by the time we get to the castle, we will have a better solution?”

“That won’t work, Lola. Once a Blood Challenge is issued, there is no taking it back. It must be seen all the way to its end, good or bad.” He smiled at her though. “But thank you for trying. I promise though, this is the only way I can keep you safe. If I don’t try, there will be nowhere to run or hide. As you’ve heard, my father’s spy network is vast. Unfortunately, much larger than I gave him credit for.”

“Can you beat him?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Russel answered, wishing he could give her an answer that was more uplifting than that. “He’s always been so strong my whole life. But there’s something I have now that I didn't have growing up.”

“I hope you’re going to say me,” Lola said with a grin but on the inside, her heart was hammering rapidly against her chest. All she kept seeing in her mind was him being killed by a dark and powerful werewolf king over and over again. She wanted to shut the images down and shove them out of her brain but they wouldn’t leave her alone.