The Rocky Pack is strong and their numbers great but even still, it doesn’t take long till they’re suffering as much as we are.
Morven is quickly overrun, as formidable a fighter as he is, even he can’t defend against ten, twenty rogues. All around me Jasper’s wolves are beginning to fall as well. The onslaught is becoming too much.
Desperately, I spread my mind out across the battlefield to check on the status of our troops, hoping someone can come toour aid. But as my consciousness flies like a bird through the trees I’m met with complete and utter devastation.
Salazar fights on bravely, but he’s losing ground and wolves fast. Our troops lie scattered under the pounding paws of our attackers, who are still coming like a herd of antelope, unstoppable, innumerable. Surely, this is more than ten thousand.
Olivia is cornered, back up against a pine tree, with five wolves, snarling and snapping, about to close in.
I check in on the volunteer brigade, but they’ve been completely disbanded, broken apart like a shattered vase. Aisha is alone, fighting for her life, but she’s wounded, a deep gash is spilling blood from her side. Omar comes charging through a wall of Axis wolves to stand with her, snapping fiercely, but he’s hopping on three of his legs, one of them hangs limply behind him. Yet more Axis wolves descend on them.
I try to think of what to do. How can we regroup?
Finally, the pain of the injured and terrified becomes too much.
I’m no longer simply a witness, the cries of the Elite Pack tear through my soul, the pained howls of the Rocky Pack. Aisha’s burning wound, Omar’s broken leg. Katie is sweating, overwhelmed at the volume of injured limping or being carried into the great hall. There are no free beds left, and there is so much blood.
Across the clearing Jasper is still battling. But it’s four against one. And as he’s distracted by the three wolves in front of him, the fourth is able to leap onto his back, its teeth tearing into Jasper’s neck.
A scream is ripped from my lips as Jasper’s blood is spilled.
Jasper drops to the ground as his attackers overtake him.
Blood flows across the soil, seeping in, poisoning the land.
The world has turned red.
Everything is pain.
We’re outnumbered.
Wounded.
Done for.
And still Axis wolves continue to flood the forest.
I spin in circles as the wounds of my people stab at my brain, knocking me sideways, making me too dizzy to stand.
This is it, I think, as a wolf at least twice my size saunters from the edge of the clearing, a sadistic grin spreading on his curling lips, saliva dangling from the corner of his mouth, his eyes sickly yellow.
“Walter says hi.”This wolf speaks to me, somehow able to communicate via mind-link.
I try to block out the noise, to ignore the pain and the cries of my people, so that I can use my powers to take out this hulking demon wolf, but it’s too much.
Too loud. The hurt is too great.
Even without four wolves pulling me down, my legs buckle under the weight of it all.
The yellow-eyed monster towers over me, his lips curling back.
I’m powerless. Too worn out to move, my mind split in pieces.
“Max!”Jasper calls out, his voice hoarse and pained even in my mind. He’s still fighting, even though there’s no way he can win, even though he’s bleeding and broken.
“Jasp,”I say back.“I’m—”
The wolf above me opens his maw wide, ready to tear out my throat.
