Page 43 of Just Dare Me
She whips me around, shaking her head side-to-side. To keep my neck from snapping from whiplash, I hug all four limbs to her head. I feel the pad of my right hind paw slide across a smooth, round surface.
An eyeball.
I extend my claws and dig in with all my strength. A horrendous shriek blasts from her throat as she drops me and staggers backward, her left eye oozing dark blood.
Enraged, she leaps high in the air, her black wings thrown forward, ready to propel herself at me like an arrow. This time, I keep composed, and instead of jumping away, I dart straight beneath her feet, forcing her to twist awkwardly in the air to readjust her aim. It buys me just enough time to scramble beneath exposed tree roots before she strikes. The black shaft of her razor beak impales a root above my head.
Flattening myself to the dirt, I crawl among the maze of roots as she throws herself against them, reaching her talons in after me, searching, stabbing, clawing. Whenever she catches sight of me through a crack or a hole, she drives her beak through the gap, hoping to skewer me.
I can’t stay here. There’s an opening ahead. It’s too obvious—she’ll pounce on me—but I’ve got no other choice. I leap upwards and wriggle through the gap. With a lightning quick swipe to my backside, she spins me like a top, her talons opening three gashes in my left upper thigh. Searing pain screams through my body.
I limp backward on three quivering limbs as Beyona advances with careful steps. She has to tilt her head to see me out of her one good eye. She takes another step forward, but doesn’t attack.
Her unblinking, sideways look is chilling. When I hop around to her bad side, she turns quickly, keeping me pinned with her shiny black orb. I want to pluck it out with my claws.Stop staring at me.
She takes a step back. I’m confused by her mixed signals. Why is she not attacking? The answer comes with a familiar scent on the wind. I’ve often run from that scent, but now I’m invigorated by it. Nolan is here.
Beyona takes two hops to her left, pivoting to keep me in her view, and that’s when I see Nolan—he’d been stalking up from behind. We’ve got her flanked. With rapid twitches of her head, she struggles to keep her attention on both of us at once.
Renewed confidence makes the pain in my hip bearable. I lower my paw to the ground, testing my weight, slowly applying pressure. I’ll need to run, and soon. Nolan has tipped the odds in my favor, but maybe too much. Beyona might just cut and run. All she’d have to do is fly. One leap into the air, and she’s gone. Just the thought of her escaping brings a low, rolling growl into my throat. I won’t spend another second of my life checking the skies, wondering if she’s out there, who she’ll strike next, and when.
No. This endsnow.
Nolan senses my initiative. He rushes at Beyona with a hungry snarl. As soon as she turns her face to him, I surge at her. My first few leaps are awkward, my hind leg feeling stiff, but then muscle memory takes over, pushing through the pain.
Beyona’s trapped. Her only option is up. She crouches, raises her wings, and springs upward. But I’m already there, vaulting up to meet her. My jaws clamp onto her throat. I wrap my body around her neck like a scarf and dig my claws in. Panicking, she twists blindly, thrashing her wings, and crashes into a tree trunk. I hear Nolan snap his jaws around one of her ankles.
She kicks at him with her free foot, then tries to claw at me, but can’t reach. I sink my teeth into her throat, tasting blood. Beyona goes crazy, bucking and twisting. It’s like riding a bull. I tense all my muscles, which drives my teeth deeper and deeper, until I feel bones and tendons. Her screeching becomes a wet gurgle.
She thrashes at Nolan with her claws, then tries to fly again, but he’s relentless, snapping at her ankles, chewing on them, jerking her to the ground. She tries to spear him with her beak, which forces him to jump back. I feel her tense, ready to take flight, but then she’s hit from the other side. I recognize Randy’s higher-pitched snarls as he gnaws on her calf.
Another familiar scent arrives. It’s my mom. She bites down on Beyona’s left wing and twists, breaking several bones. Another coyote takes the other wing, and a golden orange fox bites into a meaty thigh. Under the weight of a half-dozen shifters, Beyona collapses. With a surge of ferocity, I thrash my head left and right, until her neck finally snaps. She twitches a couple times, then goes limp.
All together, we shift. My heart swells with emotion as I look into familiar faces—Nolan, Mom, Randy, Mrs. Cody, and my sister, Blanche. One happy, savage family, all with gory faces and bloodstained teeth. Puffing out his chest with pride, Randy spits on the corpse of our fresh kill. For the first time ever, I feel honest respect for the little guy. I offer him my knuckles for a fist bump.
When I glance at my mom, she turns away, pretending to scan for other threats. Not surprising. I fully expect her to act like I don’t exist for the rest of her life.
Blanche sucks in a breath. “Doesn’t that hurt?”
She means my hip. Blood gushes down my thigh from three deep gashes. I shouldn’t have looked at it, because now the pain comes screaming in, taking my breath away.
“Shayne, look at me,” Nolan says.
I force myself to take deep, even breaths. “It’s okay. I just need to—”
“No,” he interrupts with warning in his voice. “Just keep your eyes on me. Anddon’t move.”
Too late. I’ve already spotted him out in the woods—a mottled gray coyote with black streaks angled down in a scowl over yellow eyes. We make eye contact.
It’s Ben. With a menacing snarl, he bares his teeth.
We watch as Ben’s coyotecreeps up the path toward us. He’s blocking my way out of the woods.
Mrs. Cody wrings her hands. “He doesn’t mean it. He wouldn’t.”
“He would,” Nolan states grimly. “And he will.”
“But this…it was a special circumstance,” she babbles. “It’s our territory, yes, but this wasShayne’sfight. She had a right to be here.”
