Page 15 of Wolves Betrayed

She sat up and blinked, glancing around to locate who had woken her. The haze of sleep faded away as the sounds of the present came to her: the sounds of battle.

Misti jumped to her feet, wide awake now. Dawn hadn’t approached yet, and she knew that between her lack of sleep and her new injuries, she was not in prime condition. Still, she wasn’t about to allow those she had just mended to be left behind as dead or for the living to fight the battle for her.

So she plunged into the thick of it, changing into her wolf as she went. A claw struck a man just beneath his right eye. Her teeth snapped at another’s paw. With speed she shouldn’t have, she darted out of the way of blows, crouched down, and would then launch an assault of her own. For a long while, she kept up this dance and even put down several wolves.

But then blinding pain filled her almost before the slash came. It was long and deep and across her back. She collapsed to the ground. A heavy weight, that of a werewolf standing on top of her, kept her down. Paws reached for her throat. Suffocation. So this was to be her end.

No. No, she would not go out this way. She would not give up and surrender and allow death to come and take her.

With a howl, she lifted onto all fours and rocked her hips so suddenly, the werewolf tumbled from her back. Snarling, he leaped at her, but Misti was ready. She wound up and slashed him, her claws digging deep from above his collarbone down against his ribs. Stickiness coated her fangs as she pulled away.

The werewolf staggered and then collapsed. In no time, a puddle of blood leaked out and all around him.

Misti took two steps and collapsed. Her back, the injury was too severe, and despite her best intentions, she couldn’t keep on fighting.

Crawling, she inched toward the outer ridges of the battle and tried to hide in some underbrush. Better to live for another day and fight then instead of dying now from stupidly fighting on.

This battlefield was becoming as body-littered as the first one. Her gaze roved over the werewolves until she located the two men in her life: Anders and Talon. They were exchanging words. Strange that they were in human form. Neither seemed happy. In fact, they looked quite angry. Without warning, they both shifted. Good. They were going to enter or reenter the battle and…

Or not. All Misti could do was watch in horror as the two men attacked each other.

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