Thorin curses and then reaches for his belt. He quickly unbuckles it and then snatches it from the loops in his jeans before kneeling in front of Meera. The pups’ ears flatten, and they growl but don’t attack. Neither does Meera, who I realize is conscious but weak. Her eyes are glued to Thorin, and worry still churns my stomach at the thought of him getting hurt becauseof me. My vision is blurry as I watch him wrap the belt tightly around Meera’s snout, creating a makeshift muzzle, but I pay the unshed tears no mind. Instead, I kneel when she growls, and for the first time, I allow my fingers to run through Meera’s tawny fur. A warm feeling spreads through me when Meera stops growling.
I hear Khalil and Zeke also removing their belts and quickly securing them around her forearms and hind legs.
“That should be enough to get her to the truck,” Khalil says before he carefully scoops Meera up. The wolf whines and then goes deathly still in his arms.
Thorin and Zeke grab Remy and Rom by their scruffs, and then we’re off.
I realize, after we’ve taken two steps and I hear footsteps all around us, that their arms are full and we’re really fucking exposed.
Meera, the pups, and my mountain men—I’m their only line of defense.
“Aurelia,” Thorin warns when he spots the same thing I do. A large wolf stalking us from the brush up ahead. The wolves that attacked Meera have returned to finish the job. “Take Remy.”
“That’s okay,” I say as I draw an arrow from my quiver, load it, and take aim. “I got this.”
My gaze snags on Rom. His ears, which were previously flat with displeasure over being carried are now twitching in awareness. A moment later, Remy’s ears do the same, and he whines as he stares off into the bushes.
Khalil shifts his hold on Meera. “Goldilocks, I really think—”
A wolf we didn’t see stalking Khalil lunges from the bushes. There’s no hope for Khalil to react in time, so heart in throat, I don’t think. I spin toward the sound and let the arrow loose the moment I see my target. It only takes a single breath, but it feelslike a lifetime before the arrowhead spears the wolf in its hind leg and sends it flying back into the bushes.
“Shit,” Khalil chokes out when he sees how close he came to death. “Guys, I think she’s got this.”
“We need to hurry this the fuck up,” Zeke says. He hands Rom off to Thorin and then removes the crossbow from his shoulder.
Anticipating a second attack, I quickly load another arrow, and Zeke does the same while falling behind to take up the rear. I continue to lead the way five paces ahead.
We nearly make it to the clearing when the wolves try their luck again.
One goes for Khalil again, and I’m not quick enough to stop the large, gray wolf from tackling him. Meera tumbles out of his hold and the pups yip and whine, but I don’t look to see if the she-wolf stirs. My focus is trained on the snapping teeth and foaming mouth of the wolf currently trying to rip out Khalil’s throat. His own teeth are gritted from the effort of holding the wolf back. My confidence wavers as I redirect my aim to the struggling forms ten feet away.
What if I hit Khalil?
Or worse. What if I hit Khalil and it leaves an opening for the wolf to finish the job? All it would take is the smallest opening, and Khalil would be lost to me. Lost to us all.
Sweat forms on my brow, and my arm quivers from the strain of keeping the arrow drawn, but still I don’t fire.
“One of you better take the fucking shot,” Thorin warns quietly. “Now.” He’s a better shot than all of us, but his hands are full with Meera’s pups, who are doing their best to wriggle free and go to their mother.
It’s only then I realize that Zeke hasn’t fired either, but I don’t dare look away from the battle to see that pinch in his brow that tells me he’s worried about the same thing.
A moment later, Khalil roars in pain. Blood blooms through his shirt near his shoulder where the wolf’s claws shredded his skin to gain purchase.
My uncertainty fades as if it had never been, and Zeke and I fire at the same time, sending two arrows into the wolf’s side. It falls to the side with a yelp and Khalil shoves it off him with a groan before clutching his shoulder. Zeke steps forward to help him to his feet.
Nearby, a wolf howls and several more—too many to count—follow in a bone-chilling chorus.
“This isn’t over,” Thorin warns. His hands are free now to yank the rifle off his shoulder and quickly chamber a round. “The first two were tests of our strength. Get ready.”
I hear him flick the safety off his hunting rifle while my frantic gaze follows the sounds of the pups’ cries to a tree with a small burrow halfway up the trunk. Rom and Remy are huddled inside, safely out of reach. Meera is lying at the base of the tree, her shallow breaths coming too far apart to settle the knot in my gut.
We’re not far from the cabin. If it were winter, we would probably even see smoke curling from the chimney above the trees. We could make a run for it, but that would mean leaving Meera and her pups behind to be slaughtered.
Obviously, that’s not an option.
“Are you okay to shoot?” Thorin asks and I tear my gaze away from Meera and the pups to see him inspecting Khalil’s shoulder while Zeke keeps an eye out for more wolves.
“I’m fine.” Khalil’s jaw is clenched as he yanks the shotgun off his shoulder.
