Page 67 of Supernova

My heart stopped as a large shadow appeared in the dark depths of the alley. My heart continued its non-beating as the shadow prowled towards us and I took in the scruffy, tattered grey fur.

A wolf.

For a split-second my pulse raced as I wondered if it could be one of the pack members. But as this creature stalked closer, I immediately knew it wasn’t the case. It's almost red eyes were nothing like River’s or any of the wolves I’d once called my friends. This beast looked more like the angry, feral wolf I saw in my dream. As it snarled at us, I saw the drool fall from it’s razer sharp teeth. This wolf would kill without a doubt. There was no humanity in its eyes like I was used to seeing in the pack.

A rogue.

Just like the one who had killed my dad. Who had almost ripped my mum's leg off. And just like that, all my training, all my reasonable thought, disappeared. And I froze.

The wolf barrelled down the alleyway, a predatory growl ripping from its mouth as it pounced and its body flew towards us. Towards the open city street and the innocent people.

That woke me up. But I was too late.

Sienna on the other hand was not. She spun, landing a kick right to the side of the suspended wolf’s face. It whimpered as it fell to the ground further back in the alley. But it quickly got up.

Sienna was ready, taking out a concealed blade from her boot she ran towards it, knife out, prepared to attack. Somehow the wolf ducked and snapped at her ankle, grazing it as she shrieked and dropped the knife. I watched as it skidded along the ground, too far for her to reach as the wolf prowled back towards her.

My instincts kicked in and I ran towards the weapon on the floor.

“SIENNA!” I screamed as I spun the knife through the air like a dagger. It clanked as it hit the floor only a few centimetres away from her. She reached out and grabbed it, ready to stab it into the wolf. Only now I was the unarmed one—the easier target. And I had just gained its attention. It jumped over her and ran at me at full speed. There was nothing I could do, so I threw my arm up to block the brunt of the bite and kicked my leg out to keep it as far away as I could. I waited for the force of its body and the sting of its sharp teeth.

But instead, the wolf bellowed in pain as Griffin landed on its back, knocking its head to the ground with a silver blade pierced in its neck.

“You alright?” He grumbled. I nodded, feeling stunned at the encounter as well as extremely stupid for not being able to hold my own when it came down to it. For needing protection.

I looked down and noticed red dripping from my arm. The rogue had somehow grazed me but thankfully it was no way near as bad as it could have been. Griffin came just in time.

The wolf was not dead yet, still trying to fight with all its remaining energy. Blindly and ungainly snapping its jaw at anything it could. Carter was by Griffin’s side in a moment, holding the wolf down as Griff took his blade out and this time stabbed it directly in its chest. Right through its heart. Blood sprayed onto his charcoal shirt but Griff’s face was stone cold—a warrior.

Kitana and Billie appeared a second after, looking like they had followed the boys out only seconds later, but time seemed to act differently when your life was at stake. While it had only been a matter of minutes, if not seconds, the things that occurred in that time frame were monumental. They both looked at me, eyes wide with concern. It probably looked worse than it was; me on the floor against the alley wall with a bloodied arm, a dead wolf with two hunters not far off and Sienna on the other side on all fours trying to get herself up.

Kit ran to me, crouching down to inspect my arm. Leaving Billie to unwillingly check on Sienna. When the wolf ceased its struggling, Griff pulled the dagger out and proceeded to clean the silver blade on his top before wiping his hands on it too. Carter was already calling the compound for a squad truck to be sent when Griffin walked over to me, his eyes capturing mine as he rubbed the blood off his jaw with his thumb. His gaze roamed my form, looking me over for any other damage while Kit got up to check for witnesses.

This was my first real experience with a wolf. With me on the other side. And boy was this memorable.

CHAPTER 38

Two cars arrived. One truck and one Jeep. Billie, Carter and Griff loaded the wolf’s body into the back of the truck with the help of a couple of the other Knights, ones that had finished their training and were usually off on missions. They’d use the corpse to study and extract the venom. Juliet had arrived in the Jeep with Tom, the quiet brunette’s twin brother. The male twin had the same shade of brown hair as his sister. It was longer at the front, the straight pieces falling to his chin. He was almost just as reticent as her but had more of an edgy look, his whole upper body covered in tattoos up to his neck. The two of them brought first aid supplies and as Tom checked me over and cleaned my wounds, I noticed he had the same warm brown eyes as his twin too.

She had the unfortunate task of working on Sienna.

I had been accepted into my little clique so quickly that I didn’t talk to the other recruits like Tom or Juliet often but had sparred with them occasionally. He’d always seemed a bit standoffish, but he was nice enough.

He gave my arm a little pat when he had finished bandaging it up. “Good as new.”

“Thanks, Tom.” I gave him a small smile.

“No problem,” he replied as he stood, offering me a hand up.

I dusted myself off, not knowing how to be useful right now.

Juliet walked up to us when she had finished with Sienna.

“Glad to see you're okay, Vee.” She nodded, offering me a smile. “The first encounter is always the worst. But you did great.” I thanked her for her kind words and went to check on the others.

Sienna stepped in my path.

She looked me over. Hesitating. “Thank you. For throwing me the knife. Things would have gotten pretty messy if you didn’t. I guess we can call it even now.”

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