The wolf choked and instinctively loosened his jaw, but I wasn’t done. I’d practiced this a million times with my dad—although not injured and bleeding like this. Adrenaline coursed through me, keeping most of the pain at bay.
I pushed back harder, still holding the animal’s head and pressing my forearm into his mouth, climbing to my knees. The wolf fell backward, gagging, and yanked his head away from me, releasing my arm from his jaws. I’d been able to get to my feet, which increased my chances of survival, but it would take a few days for the damage on my arm to heal—even with our quick healing regeneration.
Time to go on the offense. I called up my wolf, there just under the surface, but when I tried to shift. Nothing.
Dammit! Plan B.
Reaching out, I grasped the wolf by the back of the neck, bunching his fur into my fingers. It was risky, but there was no way I could run from this fight. He’d attack me from behind and then leave me to bleed out. Whoever this wolf was, he wanted me dead.
I drove my knee into the animal’s neck, aiming for the larynx but hitting the wolf in its chest instead. It yipped and tried to back up, but luck was on my side. Still holding its neck skin in a firm grasp with my good hand, I drove my knee forward a second time just as the animal dipped toward me. The crunch of bone made me grin as my knee smashed into its throat. As the wolf tore loose from my hold, the glint of broken glass caught my eye.Perfect.Reaching over, I grabbed for the broken bottle while blood continued to pour down from the open gash in my arm, saturating the sand. After picking up my makeshift weapon, I then faced the wolf.
“Let’s dance, asshole!” My vision tunneled, but if I showed weakness, I was dead. 91.5% of these fights were bluffing. I might still die, especially if I fainted from blood loss, but I needed to appear strong. “Come on!”
The animal lowered its head, wheezing and sputtering. Hopefully, I’d smashed his trachea. Go, me. Dad would be proud … if I lived to tell him. I sucked in a deep breath through my nose to scent the wolf.
Male musk and heavy pinewood smoke, something wolves did to mask their scent. Of course it was a male. Females didn’t initiate dominance fights nearly as often as males. I stared him in the eyes, begging my wolf to come to the surface.
Come on, baby. Shift and tear this guy in two.
The wolf stilled, cocking his head to the side.
My wolf hesitated, and shame burned my cheeks.
Not again.
“Nai?” Noble called.
His voice was far off, but it was enough to spook the wolf. He snarled at me before darting into the trees.
“Coward!” I screamed as my legs crumpled. I collapsed in the sand, dropping the glass shard and staring at the stars above me while they swirled.
Shit. My armhurt. As the adrenaline from the fight wore off, pain throbbed through my arm from my wrist to my elbow. I panted, trying to maintain consciousness while blood seeped through my fingers and soaked into the sand.
Someone set me up. They set me upgood.
This wasn’t a dominance fight. That was done in front of peers and witnesses. This was a mother-freaking ambush.
Even though I didn’t knowwhy, I did have an inkling as towhocould’ve set this up. No matter how many times my father and I did that damn drill, calling up my wolf when under duress had always been my biggest weakness. Only someone fromCrescentcould know that.
But was Nolan’s wolf that psycho? He would benefit from my death, but to do it like this, in a dark patch of forest without anyone around, it was low, even for him. I wasn’t aware of any other enemies though.
So before I died here, bleeding out on the sand, I wanted to know one thing:
Did my freaking cousin just try to kill me?
If I survived, I’d ask him with a sword in my hand for good measure. The coward.
“Help!” I managed to get out before weakness pummeled me. How was there so much blood? I leaned over and saw the stained red sand around my arm. It was clumpy; my gash was still free-flowing.
Did hehit an artery?More dizziness gripped me. Or was that fear?
Things started to spin when I heard Noble shout; his voice louder than before which,hopefully, meant he was closer.
“Over … here,” I gasped.
Seconds later, I felt his presence, and relief coursed through me. As the darkness rushed up to meet me, I was scooped up by a pair of giant muscular arms, and the owner’s smell hit my nose like a truck.
Rage.
