We circled each other, both of us bleeding now, both of us hurting. My arm was screaming from the rogue attack earlier, and every movement sent fresh waves of pain through my body. But I couldn’t stop. Couldn’t give up.
Blake was counting on me. Thomas was counting on me. Part of my pack was watching, waiting to see if their human Luna could hold her own.
Mary lunged again, and I managed to dodge most of it, but her claws caught my hip, tearing through fabric and skin. I bit back a scream and drove the knife into her side, feeling it sink into muscle before she wrenched away.
We were both a mess now. Blood ran down my thigh and hip, staining my clothes dark. Mary had wounds on her flank, shoulder, and side, all of them bleeding freely.
From somewhere off to my left, I heard Mira’s voice, dripping with contempt.
“Pathetic,” she called out. “Did she really think she could beat Mary? A wolf against a human? This is embarrassing to watch.”
I ignored her, keeping my focus on Mary.
The wolf circled me again, limping slightly from the wound in her side. Her movements were slower now, more cautious. But she was still dangerous. Still a predator looking for an opening.
She found one.
Mary lunged low, going for my legs instead of my torso. I tried to jump back but I wasn’t fast enough. Her weight slammed into me, driving me to the ground. The knife flew from my grip, skittering across the dirt, too far away to reach.
Mary’s paws pinned my shoulders, her massive wolf face inches from mine, saliva dripping from her jaws onto my cheek. She threw her head back and howled in triumph, the sound echoing across the clearing.
Movement at the edge of my vision caught my attention. Through the crowd of wolves surrounding us, I saw a figure pushing through. Pale and bloody, one arm hanging awkwardly, but upright. Awake.
Knox.
His gray eyes met mine across the distance, and I saw horror written across his face. He tried to move forward, tried to reach me, but Hunt was there, holding him back, whispering urgently in his ear.
I had closed the bond before the fight started, not wanting him to feel my pain, not wanting to distract him from healing. But now, seeing him there, watching, I reached through that connection and sent him everything I had.
Love. Strength. A promise that this wasn’t over yet.
He sent love back, and worry, so much worry it nearly choked me. But underneath that, I felt something else. Faith. He believed in me. Even pinned beneath a wolf twice my size, bleeding and battered, he believed I could win.
I wasn’t going to let him down.
Mary was still howling above me, celebrating her victory too soon, too caught up in her own triumph to notice that I wasn’t as helpless as I seemed.
My hand crept toward my belt, where the taser was still clipped.
I brought my knee up hard, slamming it into Mary’s underbelly with all the strength I could muster. She yelped in surprise, her weight shifting just enough for me to twist out from under her.
Noah had taught me this move. How to use an opponent’s momentum against them, how to escape from a pin, how to turn defense into offense. Thank god for brothers-in-law.
I rolled away from Mary, my hand finding the taser and yanking it free. She was already recovering, already turning to face me, her fangs bared in a snarl.
I jammed the taser against her neck and pulled the trigger.
The effect was immediate. Mary’s body went rigid, every muscle seizing at once, a high-pitched whine escaping her throat. She collapsed, twitching and spasming, her wolf form convulsing on the ground.
I kept the taser pressed against her, watching as the electricity coursed through her body. Watching as the fight drained out of her, as all that strength and speed became useless against fifty thousand volts.
Finally, I pulled the taser away.
Mary was still twitching, her wolf form flickering, and then the shift took over. Bones cracked and reformed, fur receding, until she was human again, naked and shaking on the ground.
Her eyes, those hateful, burning eyes, still glared up at me with defiance.
“Yield,” I demanded, standing over her.
