32
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Riley
We stepped into the warzone and it was madness.
My wolf senses were overwhelmed. The clash of bodies, the snarls and howls, wolves everywhere fighting on both sides. Some were in their beast forms, some had shifted back to human with swords. It was chaos, and I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do.
Great. My first real battle and I was basically a fluffy white liability.
I caught a familiar scent first. Patt. I spotted him a second later, in wolf form, huge and dark-furred, but he was limping. He was still fighting, still holding his own, but he was hurt. My chest tightened. He was Caelan’s brother, and he was here because of us.
Then I saw Soren.
He was on the floor, pinned beneath the King’s massive paws. The King had Soren’s throat in his jaws, not biting down but holding, keeping the traitor immobile. Elspeth was behind him, covering her mate’s back, lunging at any enemy who dared approach.
They were winning. The good guys were actually winning.
Caelan moved forward, and I followed. He made a path through the mayhem, his golden fur a beacon in the darkness. Wolves tried to intercept us, but Caelan was relentless, clearing the way for me and Thessa.
A wolf lunged at Caelan from the side. He dodged, but not fast enough. The attacker’s claws caught his flank before Caelan spun and took him down.
My wolf whimpered. He was injured. My mate was bleeding.
But there was no time to stop. We had to keep moving. We were almost to the other side of the room when Thessa got pulled away.
A brown wolf slammed into her from the left, separating her from the group. I watched in horror as Thessa tumbled across the floor, the brown wolf on top of her.
I tried to call out to Caelan. But I was in wolf form and I couldn’t speak, could only whimper and yip. Very helpful. Ten out of ten communication skills.
Caelan was still pushing forward, not realizing his sister was no longer behind us.
I made a decision.
I broke away from Caelan, racing toward Thessa. She was fighting back, but she was pinned. And I could see another wolf circling behind her, going for her exposed back while she was focused on the one in front.
Thessa didn’t see it.
I did.
I slammed my body into the gray wolf before it could strike. Heroic? Yes. Smart? Debatable. We went down in a tangle of fur and claws.
I tried to find my footing, tried to orient myself, but I wasn’t good on my paws. I’d barely learned to walk in this form, let alone fight. Fantastic. Really great timing to discover I had zero combat skills.
The gray wolf recovered faster than I did, spinning to face me with bared fangs.
He was bigger, stronger, more experienced. In seconds he had me pinned, his weight crushing the air from my lungs.
Fuck. This was not how I pictured my heroic rescue going. I was supposed to save Thessa and look badass doing it, not get immediately flattened by the first enemy I encountered.
I lifted my paw, claws extended, trying to buy myself even a second of breathing room. But he saw it coming, dodged, andI thought this is it, this is how it ends, taken out by a random henchman wolf...
The wolf was ripped off me.Caelan.The dramatic bastard always had impeccable timing.
He was there in a blur of golden fury, tackling my attacker and taking him down before I could blink. The enemy wolf didn’t get back up.
Caelan turned to me, his amber eyes panicked, scanning my body for damage. He nudged me with his snout, whimpering, then started fussing over my scratches. Which, okay, was actually kind of adorable. My terrifying warrior prince, reduced to anxious whimpering because I got a few scrapes.
