Page 48 of Into the Isle

Red-hot pain lanced through my left calf as I finished my roll. Warm blood spilled down my leg. I landed awkwardly on my side, pushing myself up with a limp.

Three jagged claw marks ripped down my leg.

Fuck. These bastards are going to try to kill me.

My fighter’s instinct came alive. Something snapped inside me, adrenaline coursing through my veins.

The nearest wolf launched at me, almost playfully, and I stepped back and surprised it with a kick to the teeth. It whined with a woof and skittered away.

Two others circled me, smelling blood on the wind, fear in my sweat. The wolf that had charged at me took the front and howled in a low timbre—low enough it wouldn’t carry past the woods and alert Huscarls.

I yelled at it, baring my teeth in a snarl. “Fuck you!”

Its yellow eyes glittered. It was the largest, a sheen of black mingled on its gray fur. Clearly the ringleader.

So I charged.

The wolf dodged me easily, using powerful hind legs to pounce away—

As the two flanking wolves rammed me in opposite directions. They didn’t bite, rather headbutting me, slamming into my ribs. As they crossed and moved to opposite sides of me, completing the circle of four wolves, I staggered to one knee, wincing in pain, grabbing at my side.

I was used to fighting humans. I had confidence in that arena, and could take down even the largest of men. But wolf shifters? At night, with hardly a smattering of moon to light my way? I was defeated before the battle even began.

It was hard to prepare for a battle you didn’t know was coming. These animals ambushed me. For what cause? To play with their meal before they rip the flesh from my bones? Surely the academy wouldn’t allow the shifters, no matter how esteemed or influential, to kill their students . . .

Right? The “best and the brightest?”

If this was a test, I was failing.

“What in Odin’s name do you want with me?” I called out in a ragged voice to the circling pack, pushing up to my feet and crouching.

They seemed to smile at me, showing their teeth and predatory eyes. They let out little yips and barks.

Breathing heavily, I took the measure of my enemy. They moved too swiftly, gray and black blurs around the glade. I’d have even worse odds in the trees themselves, so I had to make my stand here.

My blood calmed, knowing there was no way out. I put myself into my fighter’s stance. I have to focus on one at a time. Might take more strikes from the others, but that’s the only way—

The forest rumbled in front of me, branches cracking and snapping, bushes trampled under something large.

My eyes widened as I glanced past the wolves separating me from the edge of the glade. I heard thudding feet, trembling the earth. Moving fast.

At the last moment, two of the wolves froze and glanced back over their shoulders, while the other two kept their eyes on me.

With a thunderous roar, a giant form catapulted out of the trees into the glade, lumbering on four stocky legs.

My mouth fell open as a huge white bear entered the glade, the jaws of its giant head opening on an ear-splitting bellow.

I staggered back a step.

The bear charged right for us. One of the wolves got out of its line, but the second could only look in horror as the bear bore down on it and swiped at its side with a massive paw.

The wolf went flying, crying out in a high-pitched mewl before rolling side-over-side into a tree trunk. With a whimper, it stood on shaky legs.

The two wolves circling streamed past me on either side, charging at the enemy bear.

The huge beast went on its hind legs and swiped at all three wolves. The incapacitated fourth one off to the side had jagged streaks across its hindquarters where it had gotten ragdolled through the air.

With the three other wolves keeping the bear occupied, I charged in, kicking and screaming. My hand latched onto a collar of coarse gray fur and I pulled back hard, tossing one of the wolves out of the fray.

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