Piper pulled her dagger out of its sheath.

Then Jason stepped forward and said something in Latin.

Piper didn’t think a dead language would have much effect on wild animals, but the alpha wolf curled his lip. The fur stood up along his spine. One of his lieutenants tried to advance, but the alpha wolf snapped at his ear. Then all of the wolves backed into the dark.

“Dude, I gotta study Latin.” Leo’s hammer shook in his hand. “What’d you say, Jason?”

Hedge cursed. “Whatever it was, it wasn’t enough. Look.”

The wolves were coming back, but the alpha wolf wasn’t with them. They didn’t attack. They waited—at least a dozen now, in a rough semicircle just outside the firelight, blocking the cave exit.

The Lost Hero, Chapter XXXIV