Page 4 of Pack Captive

The leader was staring at the rune on my forehead, and licked his lips with a blackened tongue.

I wondered what their game was. They could all tear us apart in no time, but even as I wondered, the other eight wolves fanned around me and Fenn, encircling us completely.

My nihilistic little chuckle came out as a growl. So much for thinking that we had a chance at all.

I’ve got left, Fenn said in my mind.

And I’ll take the right, old friend.

I turned in place to guard against the wolves on the right, watching them surround us, preparing for the feel of sharp teeth ripping into my flesh.

They panted as they paced around us, dripping bloody saliva, letting out yips of excitement for the impending kill.

This is where it ended. The last of Pack Vesper, the last Caller of my line.

At least I would die defending the last of what I loved.

Rustling noises came from the forest. The head Fenris wolf’s ears twitched, his first sign of discontent, and then those bloody eyes flashed red.

Snarls erupted from the shadow wolves, but instead of launching themselves atus, they streamed towards the forest around us.

Wolves burst from the trees.

Wolves I’ve never seen before, with lunar runes gleaming a clear, pure blue.

As they drew closer to us, the runes brightened with a burst of power, and the new pack fell on the shadow wolves, ripping into their dark, smoky flesh.

I felt Fenn’s shock in my head clearly, followed by a burst of his relief.The pack is saved. The valley is saved, Ayla!

All I could think was—why now?

Who the hell were they, and why were theyhere?

There were tons of them, surrounding the Fenris wolves, the blue light of their runes nearly drowning out the fading sunlight.

One of the shadow wolves broke away, his teeth flashing as he angled towards me.

I curled into a defensive stance, letting out a vicious bark, but he rammed into me as hard as he could, knocking me away from the rest of the pack.

Pain erupted through me as I landed on the hard stones of the riverbed, the shadow wolf leaping on top of me and snapping.

I lunged upwards, my teeth sinking into his shoulder. A disgusting, bitter taste filled my mouth.

He snapped his teeth, grazing my leg and drawing a line of blood, but one of the new wolves plowed into him, dragging him off me.

From his enormous size, it was easy to see that the wolf was an Alpha, the leader of this new pack. Even in the growing dark, his lunar runes were brilliant and blinding.

With a vicious snarl, the Alpha dug his teeth into the Fenris creature’s throat and shook his head violently, ripping him apart in a spray of blackened blood.

The rage of battle whirled around us, the glow of the lunar runes gleaming brighter and brighter against the blood and smoke of the Fenris wolves.

It made no sense. They had no Caller of their own; I would’ve felt another Caller’s presence in my own runes.

The Alpha threw the corpse aside and met my eyes. He stepped over the dead shadow wolves, stalking towards me.

Fenn limped to my side, growling wildly, his fur splattered with blood. He was making a display for these new wolves and warning them away from me.

Dazed by how quickly it had all happened, I realized that in the span of mere minutes, the shadow wolves had been completely destroyed by this pack.

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