Page 21 of Alpha's Claim

I never thought I’d be the damsel in distress. Then again, judging by my response I still wasn’t in distress. That part would likely come when we reached the grove, wherever that was. It was just so funny that I had been right all along and everyone who said I should try to work with him was dead wrong. Well, I would be dead right I guessed, since Preston had every intention to kill me that night.

“Laugh all you want, Cora, I’m not going to show you any mercy just because you’ve lost your mind, clearly.” He sneered at me and I sneered right back at him.

“Then why does it bother you so much?” I smirked at him. “Why stop and address me? We both know that one of us is not coming out of this alive. I might be hurt but you know that I’ll fight. I don’t care. I’ll take a bite out of you yet.” I said, secretly grateful that I was able to stop for just a moment. It gave my ribs a small break from the pain. My lower back was burning, though. Walking too fast and with an unusual gait was probably the problem. Resting seemed to help my ribs and harm my back. “Are we even close, Preston?” I asked, and he turned again to yank me along. “We’ve been walking forever.” I breathed out.

“We’re almost there, Cora.” He said. And he was right- between the trees I could see the grove, glittering and peaceful. When we got to the pond he threw me into the shallow water and stood over me with a victorious look on his face. He was finally going to kill his hated foe. I saw him raise the knife. I watched as he started to bring it down. Everything seemed to be in slow motion at the time- I was hyper-focused on the blade coming toward me and trying to dodge out of the way. I didn’t even see him when he got there at first, but before Preston could finish the strike Weston burst through the trees with a howl. Even in his wolf form, I could see that he was furious, and focused on Preston. My hope had come true.

Chapter twenty-one

Weston

Ididn’tbothertoshift back when I saw him. My body seemed to know exactly what I was supposed to do. Every instinct in my body told me to lunge at him and rip his throat from his neck. In an instant I was sprinting toward him, all four legs pushing me harder and farther toward him. In the instant I leapt at him he shifted himself. I didn’t care that he was bigger than me, I just needed to get to him and neutralize the threat. I feinted to get between him and my mate. There was nothing that could stop me from protecting her with everything I had. She was hurt. It was obvious. In the time I was distracted by my concern was the moment he took to leap at me. He got me by the back of the neck and threw me to the ground. While it hurt, it didn’t take me down. I realized I had to change the way I fought. This guy was an ambush predator, not a face-to-face fighter. It took me a moment to get back up and I bit down on his neck, wrenching at his skin with my teeth. I yanked against him, tasting blood on my tongue as my teeth pierced his skin. He pulled away from me, but I held on, moving with him. I pulled back, pulling him toward me. I held on until he yanked away and I took a tuft of hair and skin with me. He pulled back and as he did I felt my hackles raise up. My lips pulled back as I snarled and bared my teeth at him, winding my way between him and Cora.

I moved first, raising up on my hind legs and going again for his throat. This time, though, he managed to grab me as I went for him. He was larger, and more experienced. I knew that he would be difficult to fight, but I would take it to protect Cora. It didn’t matter how much pain I was in - I would fight for her.

I felt his teeth dig deep into the flesh of my throat. My first instinct was to rear back, but as I did he tore a gash in my neck, his teeth dragging through my skin, tearing into me. His muzzle was covered in blood. My blood. I could feel myself bleeding down my front legs, but I just crouched low, snapping my teeth at him. The injury was bad, but not lethal. I had to keep going. I had to ignore the pain right now and keep him away from Cora. From behind me, I heard her cry out and it elicited a low whine from me. She was in such pain because of the wolf in front of me with my blood running down his front.

I went back in again, snarling. This time I went for the side of his neck, biting down as hard as I could. The problem was that it freed him up to go after my throat again. My jaws tightened on his neck as he gouged me. I didn’t want to give him the leverage he would need to tear my throat apart further, but I couldn’t let go as he tore at the wound. The blood dripping down my front got faster and thicker and eventually I had to let go to fall back. The wound wasn’t lethal yet, but he’d keep after it until it was if I wasn’t careful. Rather than go back on the attack I decided to take a defensive stance. I just kept myself between the attacker and my mate.

I may have trained for this but I’d never been in an actual fight before. The situation was becoming more dire as I kept bleeding and I didn’t know quite what to do other than keeping my body between the attacker and Cora. He lunged again and I snapped at him when he got close. It was a hit, finally, and I felt my teeth sink into the skin of his shoulder. I didn’t try to rend away his flesh, I just bit down to injure him. He let out a sharp cry and I backed up further toward Cora, turning so that my whole body was between us. I was waning. My heart was pounding in my chest as he lunged again and I went for another bite at his leg, but he moved too quickly. He pinned me down and growled in my face before taking another snap at my throat, piercing the skin there. It didn’t go into the cartilage of my throat but it hurt like I was being burned with a hot iron.

Behind me I heard a low growl before a jet of black fur shot over me and landed to attack him from the other side. Cora was attacking him from the other side. Her attacker turned to snap at her and she wasn’t quick enough to dodge it. She was so injured and she wanted to help protect me too. I got back up and grabbed him by the neck, fighting to get him down on his back and vulnerable. It seemed to be working until he kicked Cora off of him, sending her skidding through the trees with a yelp of pain. I managed to lunge back in again and take a deep chunk out of his shoulder. I just had to keep picking away at him, injuring him in small ways so he would struggle to fight effectively. We flanked him, circling around him to keep him contained and outgunned.

He struck like a cobra, biting around my eyes. Blood began to pour from my scalp and I began to be blinded by my own blood flowing into my eyes. I let out a whine of pain and frustration, but I heard an unfamiliar yelp from him. Cora must have gotten him, because it sounded too close to be her. I pawed at my eyes but I couldn’t get all the blood out, making it hard for me to see him. I got in a bit on his back leg and yanked to pull him off balance. It felt like his stance was changed- I was at a different part of his body. I couldn’t keep attacking from the same position if I couldn’t see him, and those targeted bites would have thrown him off much more than random attacks.

Without clear sight, I couldn’t fall back. I had to stay close to keep up the pressure, especially when I heard Cora yowl in pain. She was too hurt to be fighting and I couldn’t see. My heart was breaking in my chest at her cry of pain and I growled, moving in to bite whatever I could reach. I was glad I had some sight left- if I blinked rapidly I could see enough to know who I was attacking. Cora had sleek, black fur, but her attacker was brown and grey. I could target him well enough.

My plan of attack was just to stay close and keep up the pressure where I could. It was the only thing I could do. As backward as it seemed I was now relying on Cora to help me. My injuries were bad, and I didn’t know how bad. I couldn’t see enough to fight intelligently. She was my eyes and I tried to be her strength. It wasn’t long before he turned his attack on me again. I was thrown away and impacted something hard, skidding across the forest floor.

Now things were really bad. I didn’t even know where he was or what he was doing. I used my wrists to rub the drying, sticky blood from my eyes. My sense of hearing made me aware of the coming attack before it actually hit- not that it was any help. The pain still came just as quick and hard- tearing at my throat again. That wouldn’t take me out - not yet. If this kept going I would bleed to death, or drown in my own blood if he managed to puncture my trachea.

There wasn’t even an instinctive sound of pain as I was attacked, but I took the opportunity to tear at whatever I could. I dug my teeth into his flesh, tearing at his fur and skin. Everything in me wanted to hurt him like he hurt us. Cause him the same pain he caused us. Cora and I were in this together now, and I knew that when I heard him cry out with pain from an attack I couldn’t see. I knew it was her.

Her cries mingled with his and I got back to my feet, lashing out at him, gnashing my teeth until I caught his fur in my mouth. I was fighting by smell and sound now. I couldn’t bite or claw until I could smell him so I didn’t attack my own mate in my struggle. My strength was waning too. This was the first time in my life I’d really been gravely injured like this. It felt inside of me like I was dying, slowly, and I was fighting in vain. Both of us would die. At least we would die together. I was determined that he would die with us as well.

I began just tearing out chunks of his flesh as I latched on, gripping tight with my jaws. The taste of his blood was the only thing that kept me snapping at him, hoping that I would taste it again. As disgusting and metallic as it tasted it meant I was hurting him too.

His bites were taking a heavy toll on me, though. Every injury slowed me down. I couldn’t react against him because I couldn’t see well enough to avoid the damage. The tearing hurt me, weakened me, and I knew I couldn’t keep fighting forever. It wouldn’t be long until I was exhausted completely and bleeding out.

Cora was sounding bad as well, her breathing was coming out in short pants and whines. She was hurt before this even started- I didn’t know how much longer she could hang on, and my heart was breaking. I had never known true fear until I felt her fading. It reenergized me enough to get me back on my feet, shaking but defiant. My teeth still sought his flesh, my tongue begged for his blood. My soul was crying out to her, relying on Cora for the strength I needed to keep standing back up and keep fighting. ‘

It killed me not to know how injured he was. Without it I couldn’t be sure I was even doing anything at all. It must be- his breathing was ragged and tired as well. This was a longer fight than any of us had expected, but we all had our reasons for fighting, no matter how twisted his must be. But even as my legs began to give out and my jaws lost strength I fought the need to lay down and rest. My heart was weak but my soul was stronger and I had to hang on to that strength. I was weakening him too.

I heard a high cry of pain- Cora. Something was happening and I lunged back in, following my sense of smell to grab onto him and pull back. I used all of my strength to pull him toward me, as feeble as my efforts were. My legs gave out under me as I dragged him away, but I just forced myself up and pulled him back inch by inch. He was so much stronger than me right now. I was terrified. I didn’t want my life to end like this, but I had to at least fight until the end.

Chapter twenty-two

Cora

Iwaswatchinghimdie. I was watching him bleed out his life for me and there was nothing I could do. My body was weak and exhausted, wracked with pain. Every movement hurt and my breathing was beginning to rattle in my chest. This time I was his hope, and I couldn’t help him. Preston threw me off of him again and in the moment of impact on the ground as I screamed my vision was turned to the pond. At first, I wasn’t sure what I was seeing, but I knew I was seeing something strange. When I pushed myself up on my elbow my wolf had dropped and I was laying there, naked, holding myself up with my wounded arm. I hadn’t been the one to drop my wolf. It was so strange. I could hear the fight behind me, but I couldn’t turn away.

There, across the lake, was a black figure. At first, it stood still, but as I watched it began to move toward me. As it moved toward me it opened its arms. For a moment I thought maybe I was dead. Maybe if I looked down I’d see my wolf form solid underneath me, lifeless, while I was propped up by a ghostly arm. But I still felt pain and weakness in my body- if I had died, wouldn’t the pain have ended?

Behind me, I heard a cry of pain. A very human cry of pain. I turned to see Preston, still a wolf, with his teeth buried deep into the shoulder of my mate.

“Weston,” I breathed out, and he looked toward me, moving to wipe the blood out of his eyes. I crawled to him as best I could, fighting for every inch it took to get there. I made it to him, finally, and sat up to cradle his head in my lap. By now Preston was standing over us, human, with a smirk of victory on his face. As I glanced past him I saw that the figure was close now, arms fully extended, and I frantically wiped the blood out of Weston’s eyes so he could see too. “Do you see her?” I whispered, and he nodded feebly, blood trickling down his throat and his chest from the deep wounds in his neck and shoulder. I moved as best I could to try to shield him. The curse was coming toward us- I felt certain of it.

I averted my eyes for a moment, convinced that Preston had been right. The curse was here for me and it would consume us- myself and my mate. But I heard a choked cry and I looked back up to see Preston. The black form was consuming him as if stepping into his space and taking him over. It got larger and darker- it reminded me of a swarm of bees taking over the frame of a person. I relaxed my hold on Weston. The curse was here for him, I thought. Not me. Not Weston. It had chosen to protect us and kill him.

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