Another one of them bit into her stomach, wrapping their massive jaws completely around her body. It was followed by a sick, wet crunch.
It took a moment, but I managed the strength to look into her eyes.
She was still alive, and I think in her last moments, she saw me. She looked right at me but couldn’t make a sound. It was a mercy when she went limp.
The wolves surrounded her, blocking off my view as they feasted on the dead girl.
Soaked in blood, they raised their heads and howled into the darkness above them. Some of them were so wet with it that it flattened their fur to their skulls and gave them the appearance of literal demons. Wasn’t that what they were?
Fucking monsters.
At that moment, the clouds rolled back from the moon, and a shock of silver fur caught my attention. A silver wolf.
It was him.
Rage and grief and a miasma of a dozen other emotions paralyzed me for several harrowing seconds before instinct kicked in.Run.
I whipped around and dashed away, running until my lungs burned and the muscles in my little feet ached.
The pit in my stomach grew until it threatened to swallow me whole. I’d just watched my cousin get ripped apart by wolves, and it was more barbaric than I could have imagined. This was what happened to Sarah when she’d been chosen—surrounded by feral monsters who saw her as nothing but a meal, scared and alone, knowing her family had purposely sent her here.
It made me sick.
How could the Elders do this to us? How had they so thoroughly brainwashed our burrow into thinking this was the only means of keeping peace with the wolves?
I hated feeling so helpless, unable to do anything but run when faced with the injustice of this evil. But I was so tired of running.
It was as if something was listening to my thoughts, a deity that heard my prayers and decided to throw me a bone. A gleam of something bright and metallic through the trees caught my eye. I followed it into a clearing, and at its center was a stump. A ray of moonlight illuminated the object sticking from the stump like a spotlight.
It was an ax.
I shifted back to my human form and approached the stump. Grasping the worn handle, I tugged it free and held it up. The moonlight caught on the blade, making the sharp edge gleam like it was Excalibur, only I didn’t feel like a knight in shining armor. I wasn’t even wearing pants.
All I had was an old ax for a weapon and fury for armor.
EIGHT
RUTH
Iwandered through the dark, the ax clutched tight in my hand. Naked. Cold.Pissed.My anger burned my fear to ash. Now, I almost hoped they’d find me. I’d probably end up like Hope, but at least I’d shed some blood with my new steely friend.
Something shifted in the dark ahead of me, and I tightened my grip on the ax.
Glowing eyes emerged from the shadows. My grip tightened around the ax handle even more, my sweaty palms making it slick.
A werewolf prowled forward, its attention fastened on me. A guttural growl rumbled from its chest, making the hairs on my nape stand.
The black wolf that tore out Hope’s throat.Her blood still dripped from its jowls.
It started to circle me, and I fought back against the instinct telling me to run. I couldn’t take my ax with me if I shifted. And I was done being the prey.
As it stalked around me in a wide circle, I noticed the swell of the monster’s belly. A deep discomfort burrowed in my gut. This she-wolf was pregnant.
The female hunched, her yellow eyes honing on me as she prepared to pounce. I braced myself, ax at the ready.
Before the black wolf could pounce, another sprang forward from the dark. It was a huge wolf with a pale coat matted in blood.
Asilverwolf.
