”In your car,” the bald soldier repeated. ”Now.”

”You know what your bosses are planning to do with me, right?” Astrid asked the soldier.

”We’re going to stop the end of the world,” the soldier replied. ”And if we have to kill you to accomplish that, then that’s no problem. As long as we bring back your body—alive or dead—we get paid. A bit more if we bring you back alive, and even more if we don’t damage you at all. So we’d prefer it if you came with us willingly.” He glanced at me and swore. ”Looks like you’re dead too, kid. I went and ran my mouth, and I’m sorry for that. You can’t be allowed to live, knowing what you now know. Wrong place, wrong time, buddy.”

The bald soldier lifted his rifle and pointed it toward Astrid, and I got a good look at the runes marking its black surface.

Enchanted weapons.

A quick glance at the others showed me that all the soldiers were using enchanted weapons. The moonlight illuminated one of the symbols enough for me to read the runes on the rifle wielded by the leader of the group. I wasn’t exactly an expert on offensive spells because we didn’t craft with them much at my job, but I could at least tell the elemental affinities.

Lightning. Fire.

There were all kinds of spells that went under the lightning umbrella, and any number of them would disable their targets. Others could leave a person crippled, and the worst of them would kill.

Fire spells, on the other hand, were purely destructive. There was no disabling someone with a fire spell. They went home in body bags, their corpses almost always charred to the point where dental records were needed to confirm identification. Only the most challenging fights required such brutal spells.

In a world without magic, mundane bullets would have done the trick just fine, but it seemed that these men were hunting Outworlders who could cultivate. It was no wonder that they needed magical means of disabling their targets.

And it sounded like Astrid was their target tonight.

Well, I’d only just met the woman, but she looked like she was one date who would be worth fighting for. Anyway, these guys seemed determined to take me down with her.

In that moment, I decided I wouldn’t let them take her, or me.

I would fight.

I had only two spells at my disposal: Ensnare and Force Barrier. Neither were effective offensive techniques, but they were all I had.

”We’re collecting our bounty,” the bald soldier said, his rifle still pointed at Astrid. ”You’re coming with us, lycan.”

The six soldiers circled around Astrid and me. There didn’t seem to be any way we could escape.