As I manage to flip onto my ass, sitting up to reach out into the western edges of the forest, I finally am able to get an image of Walter’s Axis Pack. Thousands and thousands of wolves are darting through the trees. Rows and rows of them, leaping forward, fangs bared, eyes yellow, and hungry for blood. It’s a violent wave crashing down on us, an unstoppable torrent. A deluge of wolves with one thing on their mind—kill, kill, kill.
I rise to one knee, throw my hands out to the sides, trying to harness more of the moon’s energy and send an image of the incoming Axis Pack to my comrades.
“They’re coming,”I say, ignoring procedure, forgetting that I’m supposed to relay my messages to the officers, and instead speaking to the entire Elite and Rocky Packs.“They’re coming!”
“Max!”Jasper’s voice bellows in my head.“Shift and get back here, now!”
“Right, coming!”
I do as Jasper says. I don’t want to be alone out here any more than he wants me to be.
I let my wolf out. The seams of my clothes tear as the fabric shreds and falls away. Caramel fur sprouts all over my body. My bones break and reconfigure. Finally, I fall onto all fours, the pads of my paws softening the landing. I stand as my wolf, at the edge of the cliff, and as if on instinct, let out an almighty howl.
I’m in this now, time to do what I was meant to!
Not wanting to go the way of my solo attacker, I find another way to descend the cliff, which takes me in a wide arching path through the forest.
Trying to run and keep track of the onslaught of Axis Pack wolves is tricky and at one point I slide to a screeching halt, right at the edge of a line of trees, a hair’s breath away from rocketing into a current of wolves pummeling the earth.
Luckily, they don’t notice me as I change direction, running alongside the never-ending stream of Axis wolves while staying out of sight.
Once I feel like I’ve found my footing I’m able to reach out again and get a new lay of the land.
“Jasper,” I say.“The Axis Pack has split up, they’re converging on the campsite from three angles, at nine, eleven, and seven o’clock. We need to head them off, create the funnels around these streams.”
“Got it,”he says, signaling to his battalion to join him as they race to where one stream of Axis wolves is heading.“Tell the others.”
I send the same message to the heads of each battalion, hoping we can close ranks in time to stop any wolves from slipping through to the camp. And at the same time, I adjust my trajectory, intending to meet up with Jasper and his wolves.
The moment of impact comes with a crash. As our battalions diverge from their positions to meet the onslaught of attackers, wolves collide in an explosion of teeth and fur. Aftershocks ripple through the forest.
I arrive at the spot where Jasper and his team are already in the middle of an epic dogfight. Luckily the trees have forced Walter’s wolves to spread out, and with three of our battalions all combating our enemy at once, the odds seem fairly even.
Jasper is central to it all, tossing Axis Pack wolves aside by their necks like they weigh nothing. His hind legs propel him into the air, his muscles working like machinery, propulsive and unstoppable. He leaps to help one of his wolves who’s been pinned down, knocking their attacker clear across the forest and into the trunk of a nearby oak.
He spins around and whips his paw through the air, taking out two more at the same time.
Honestly, I could stay and watch this all day, but four Axis wolves have spotted me and are charging in my direction. I growl and reach into their consciousnesses, each of them faltering, howling in pain, then falling to the ground in quivering piles of dirt-matted fur. Knowing I can’t stay back any longer, I jump into the battle, using a mix of my speed to evade attacks, what little physical strength I have to keep my would-be attackers at bay, and my blood-wolf powers to render them emotionally incapacitated.
Somehow, Jasper and I end up in the same small clearing, standing back-to-back, fighting off each and every wolf that comes our way. Jasper snatches a wolf between his mighty jaws and tosses it across the clearing, and before it can rise I latchon to its deepest darkest, most painful memory and amplify it tenfold. The wolf collapses.
“Nice work,”Jasper says, his wolf winking at me, before spinning to swipe at an approaching attacker.
We fight and we fight, but no matter how many Axis wolves we seem to defeat, more appear.
As if their numbers are infinite, the Axis Pack continue to flood the forest, their wolves beginning to spread out as they realize we’ve managed to funnel them into three streams.
“They’re breaking off from the pack,”I communicate to our troops.“Don’t let them get past the tree line.”
But as our numbers are divided, going after the Axis wolves who’ve abandoned their stream, Walter’s advantage comes into play. We’re severely outgunned and with our formation fractured, more and more Axis Wolves are slipping past.
“Rocky Pack!”I call out, connecting with our allies stationed around the camp perimeter.“Get ready! They’re breaking through!”
Through the eyes of the Rocky Pack, I’m able to see when the first line of Axis wolves emerges from the tree line, charging at them like rabid zombies.
“Mason, watch your back!”
A frenzied rogue has snuck up on Mason but on my warning, he spins and is able to fight him off.
