Page 24 of Wolf Bound

Pruitt

Itake off running through the woods, but unlike the night before I’m not afraid for my life. This time it’s Ryker who’s chasing after me, and I wouldn’t mind getting caught. But that doesn’t mean I plan on making it easy for him. The sun is still shining brightly over us, so I’m able to dodge low hanging branches easily instead of running directly into them like I did last night. I make the mistake of looking behind me to see how close he is and almost run directly into a pine tree. I spin around it and sprint to the left, hoping to buy some time before he catches me.

“Shouldn’t you be tired of being chased through the woods by now?” I hear him holler from behind me.

“Well, this time, it’s fun!” I call over my shoulder. The sound of his chuckle bounces off the trees, and I grin. Making him laugh makes my insides twist and turn in happiness. I don’t get the impression he’s spent a lot of his time smiling or laughing in the past years, and I’m happy I’m able to do that for him. “Better keep up!”

I push my legs to their limit and leap over a fallen log. A burst of energy enters my body, and I’m suddenly flying though the trees, moving faster than I ever have in my life. If I had this energy last night, I might have been able to get away from the red wolf that chased me.

The trees are a blur as I sprint past them, and I barely notice my feet touching the ground.

Holy shit!

“Hey!” I hear Ryker’s voice shout at me, but it’s faint, almost a whisper. I don’t stop. I dig deep and move faster. I have no idea what is causing it or how it’s happening, but I’m enjoying it too much to slow down. I continue to jump over and evade trees with little effort. I make it into a clearing with yellow flowers blossoming all over and skid to a stop, my sneaker-clad feet digging deep into the earth. I’m moving so fast, I have to put my hands down to regain my balance.

Breathless, I stand up and look around the clearing. It’s similar to the one in my dream, but mine never had flowers and green grass like this one. The one in my dream is always so dark and ominous looking.

I hear bushes shift to my right and spin around. “Ryker?” I ask, but no one answers. “Ryker, is that you?” I ask again, this time a little louder.

My heart that was beating wildly only a second ago stops, and my stomach sinks to the ground. He stands in front of me, looking as he did last night, his soulless black eyes staring at me as he stands, observing the area around us. White foam still leaks from the sides of his mouth, and his patchy fur looks even worse in the daylight.

The red wolf.

“Shit!” I shout. When I had asked Ryker earlier today about the wolf, he had promised it had been taken care of. But someone is lying because that mangy animal stands only yards away from me.

His lip lifts in a guttural snarl, and he stalks forward. I can’t help the scream that escapes my throat as I watch in horror, unable to move this time. My body is frozen in place, even though I’m screaming at it tomove. I was just running faster than I have in my entire life, and now I can’t get my legs to cooperate.

“Run! Get out of here!” Ryker’s voice doesn’t sound right when it bellows across the clearing, and I turn and gasp when I see him. His eyes are glowing gold, and his teeth have elongated into…Fangs?

What the fuck?

With a running start, Ryker lunges at the wolf, and all I can do is stand there and watch the transformation take place. One second I’m looking at the tattooed man I’ve been with all day, and the next I’m looking at the black wolf that occupies my dreams. I can’t even gasp in surprise because, like my legs, everything else has stopped working, all I do is stand there slack-jawed and wide-eyed.

I want to blame what I’m seeing on the concussion from last night, but I can feel the ground shake as the two wolves charge each other, and the rush of air blow over me when the black wolf flies past me.

The black wolf—Ryker—slams into the red wolf, and it’s a mess of claws and teeth before they finally come to a standstill a few yards away.

They slowly circle each other, each of them waiting for the other to make a move. It’s the red wolf that finally grows impatient and attempts to take a bite out of the black wolf’s leg.

But the black wolf is quicker and swats his attacker away with a large paw, wasting no time on a counterattack. He springs, and his teeth sink into the shoulder of the red wolf.

The smaller wolf cries out in pain and uses his sharp claws to scratch and swipe at Ryker’s face, who has no option but to let go or be blinded by his opponent.

The red wolf is smaller, but he’s quick. He moves so fast I barely see it happen, but suddenly he has hold of the black wolf’s leg, and the sound of bones snapping makes me cover my mouth in horror. The black wolf throws his head back in a howl of pain, and it causes something in my heart to break.

No!

I did not spend the past ten months dreaming and obsessing over this black wolf to watch it die protecting me. I reach down and find a decent-sized rock, and without much hesitation, I hurl it at the red wolf’s head.

The satisfyingclunkit makes when it connects with his skull is short-lived with its soulless eyes looking at me. He lets go of Ryker’s front leg and charges me.

I’m only able to back up a couple feet when my foot snags on a tree root, and I land on my butt. The red wolf’s teeth are only inches away when they try to bite down on my leg, but something pulls it away just in time.

Looking over the red wolf’s shoulder, I find Ryker’s teeth locked onto its back leg, and the snapping noise of the red wolf’s leg is a welcomed sound.

Moving so fast I barely caught the movement at all, the black wolf releases the hind leg and shoots forward, his powerful jaw locking onto the red wolf’s neck. The smaller wolf doesn’t even see it coming and doesn’t have time to react when his jugular is crushed. It makes a whimpering noise, and after a minute or so of struggling, it finally stills.

The black wolf shakes his head in an action similar to what a dog would do with its favorite chew toy in its mouth. He shakes the lifeless animal, a low growl emitting from his throat, and all I do is watch, not knowing what I’m supposed to do.

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