Chapter 386: The Increment of Light and Dark
Greyback hadn't moved. His chest still rose and fell, but the yellow eyes stayed fixed on Regulus, pupils shrinking and widening, a cornered animal trying to read what the predator meant to do next.
The rest of the pack watched from a distance. Seeing that Regulus wasn't finished, Lucius narrowed his eyes and waited in silence.
Regulus lifted his gaze, met Greyback's, and drove his mind straight in.
Greyback's body locked rigid. His jaw dropped to howl and only a strangled whine came out. His mind threw up a wall on instinct. Coarse, hard, nothing but brute animal force piled into a barrier. Against Regulus's will it might as well have been paper. It split with a crack, crumbled, and got shoved aside.
Outside, Greyback grunted and swayed, legs nearly folding.
The wolf had probably never been subjected to Legilimency in his life. He knew now. A hand reaching into his skull, fingers pressing outward against the bone until his eyes felt ready to burst, then pain splitting downward like a chisel driven from the crown.
The animal in him detonated, every hair rising, and the eruption stopped halfway. Reason held it down.
Don't move. Don't move at all.
He stood with both clawed hands clenched shut and let Regulus rummage.