All around us I see the occasional flash of fur and hear paws hitting the ground, leaves rustling, and low growls as the remaining wolves surround us. The guys try to form a circle around me, but I push through Zeke and Khalil and load anarrow just in time for the wolves to finally show themselves. They push through the cover of the denser foliage to the small clearing where the four of us chose to stand our ground.
I realize with the force of a boulder falling into the pit of my stomach that they’re not like Meera. They don’t have the intelligent look I could swear I’ve glimpsed in her eyes. They look truly wild and, a few of them, alarmingly rabid.
My gaze flicks to the open wound on Khalil’s shoulder. He wasn’t bitten thankfully, but if even a drop of saliva had gotten into the wound during their struggle…
I take in a resolving breath to keep from spilling my guts and giving the wolves the weak link they are currently searching for.
“I count seven,” I whisper.
“Eight,” Thorin corrects.
“Nine,” Zeke says hoarsely.
We don’t stand a fucking chance. There are too many.
“Keep eye contact,” Thorin warns, “and whatever you do, donotfucking run.”
Thankfully, I’ve been living with predators for months now, so I already knew running would only trigger the wolves’ instinct to chase.
“Anyone got a plan?” Zeke asks.
“Yeah,” Khalil bites back sarcastically. “Don’t miss.”
A moment later, my ears are ringing from the thunderous crack that suddenly rends the air from too close behind me. The burnt and acrid scent of smokeless gunpowder follows, mixing with the petrichor of last night’s rain.
The wolves are attacking.
Thorin fires another shot just as Zeke takes the offensive and looses another green arrow at a black wolf that darts by. There’s no time to wonder if the arrow hits its target because a wolf with tawny fur like Meera’s bursts over a fallen log and leaps for Zeke, whose focus is on the growth where the black wolf disappeared.
Swallowing the scream rising from the depths of my soul, I spin, breaking rank and leaving myself exposed. There’s no time to hesitate or second-guess. I let my arrow loose and then I’m frozen, watching it cut through air misted with blood, rain, and fear until it pierces the wolf’s eye midair.
Holy fucking shit.
I’m about to ask if anyone saw that when Khalil screams my name, and I’m reminded in the most horrifying way that this is a battle for my life—ourlives—and not target practice.
There’s a brown wolf with patches of gray fur sprinting straight for me, and I know there’s no time for me to react. No time to draw another arrow and load it before it’s on me. I’m most surprised by how easily my fate slides over me.
It never sat right with me that I was the one to survive and make a life for myself after the plane crash when so many others died. It was only a matter of time before the hand of karma pointed its finger at me once more.
The wolf lunges, and I close my eyes. A moment later, I’m knocked back and pinned to the ground by an impossible weight that knocks all the breath out of my lungs.
The fucking wolf is heavier than I thought.
Not wanting to see my death coming, I keep my eyes screwed shut and wait for claws and teeth to shred me apart. Someone screams in pain, but I realize belatedly that it isn’t me.
“Shit! Zeke!”
Hearing Thorin’s panicked shout, my eyes fly open at the startling realization that it’s Zeke on top of me, fending off the wolf that already has its teeth sunk into his forearm.
It only takes me half a second to realize how it happened. Zeke threw himself between the wolf and me. There wouldn’t have been enough time for him to hesitate or consider if I was worth it. For him, it was an easy decision that spoke to truths I couldn’t think about right now.
Zeke is in trouble, and the reminder of what will happen if I don’t do something is more terrifying than the wolves. Thorin and Khalil are still shooting, busy keeping the other wolves off our asses because if they swarm us, we’re done.
Do something!I scream internally.
In my peripheral vision, I spot the black wolf stalking us from the brush, its yellow gaze pinned on Zeke. Thorin and Khalil don’t see it, and from the sounds of the vicious swearing and commands coming from them behind me, stealing their focus away would mean certain death for us all.
There’s a knife tucked into my hip quiver, but it’s pinned under me and I can’t risk jostling Zeke to go for it. My gaze is searching the ground for a weapon when I eye the crossbow that Zeke dropped. It already has an arrow loaded. I splay and stretch my fingers toward it, but the weapon is just out of reach. The black wolf stalks a little closer to the edge of the brush and I strain once more to reach for the shoulder sling.
