Page 77 of The Alpha Dire Wolf
I dove to the side, narrowly avoiding being gored. The thing was fast, and I would need—
The barbed tail I hadn’t seen before came whipping around and slugged me in the flank. I lost my balance and rolled. Bouncing back to my feet, I snarled.
Okay, it wasn’t just fast. It wasreallyfast.
It came again, but I charged to meet it. At the last second, though, I leaped up and over. Despite its horns, I cleared the beast with ease.
Ryker had Chase, and they were picking up speed, heading for the river now. That was good. All I had to do was delay long enough.
Snarling at my opponent, I went at it. Ducking the antlers, I raked a paw down its flank. My claws caught on its already peeling hide and tore great pieces of it free. Blood flowed with the wound, but the elk-beast didn’t flinch. It just stopped almost instantly and then struck out with its hind legs.
Two impossibly hard hooves drove the wind from my chest and surely did more than leave bruises as I hit a tree and slumped to the ground. Searching for my breath, I got to my feet, fighting down the shakiness in my stance.
The elk-beast was eyeing up Chase, thinking me down. So I leaped on its back, and tried to ride the bull for as long as I could. Every second that passed, my claws were digging deep into its back, ripping it apart.
A full ten-count later, I was finally bucked off, leaping clear into the forest while snarling a challenge at the beast. It’s violet eyes glowing with hatred, it raced after me. I edged to my right slowly as it came, only a few inches at a time. Then at the last second I darted even more. The elk tried to follow me around the tree, but its antler snagged on the trunk and it went down, losing its balance.
I was on it in a flash, ripping more gashes into its hide to buy my people time. But I was too preoccupied. The barbed tail came flashing up and clubbed me in the head. I staggered backward, right into the path of the beast’s horns. Two of them pierced my side as it thrust upward, the tips emerging six inches from where they went in as it impaled me.
The elk shrieked in triumph and whipped me around until I slid free in a spray of blood. I hit the ground, each bump sending fresh agony through my body until I came to a halt. The world spun for a moment until I told it to stop.
Fury filled my veins, burning away the pain, burning away any fear I might have felt. Only rage remained. My power shonebrightly from within me, and I used it to shed the pain of my wounds, to ignore the fatigue from the blood loss pouring down my flank. I would pay for it later, but for now, I had a foe that needed to be put down.
The elk gained its feet, and we started to dance again, circling one another. It charged, and I raced to meet it. Ducking under its head once more, I twisted my head and, with a flick, tore out its throat. The great beast thumped to a halt against a tree, shaking the entire trunk hard enough to shower us with leaves.
But then it staggered. The blood pumping from the gaping wound splashed the ground around it, immediately soaking into the rot and decay. I slowly spat out its neck, letting the thick fur and flesh chunk fall to the ground.
The elk stared hatefully and then slumped down.
I turned to go—
And it landed on my back, somehow still alive. I thrashed and flung it free, getting to my feet while trying to ignore the screams of my body, the protests over continued use. I was losing a lot of blood. I needed to end this fight now.
The elk’s throat was closing up. It moved steadily. Easily. Stalking me.
Which is when three wolves flashed through the open area out of nowhere. Each struck with fresh force, ripping the elk apart. One of them even took a leg with it. The beast looked one way, and another wolf would hit it, leaving it vulnerable.
I pounced, bearing it to the ground. This time I didn’t just take out its throat. I ripped the entire neck apart and tossed the horned head deep into the bushes.
Looking at Gerratt, I nodded thanks and then led him after Chase and Ryker. We caught up to them easily, and together we cleared the frigid waters of the river.
The shock of the cold didn’t last long, and when it started to fade, I knew I was in trouble. Making it back to the den to report the spread of the Chained was worse than we thought was going to be the least of my worries. Showing up to see Sylvie in this condition was out of the cards. I couldn’t explain my wounds, nor how they would heal so fast.
I was going to have to wait and heal.
I was going to have to break my promise.
Chapter Thirty
Sylvie
“Staring at it isn’t going to make him magically un-ghost you,” I tried to tell myself while still staring morosely at my phone and the unanswered calls and unread texts.
He’d said sunrise. As I adjusted myself on the faded floral pattern of the daybed in my grandmother’s sitting room, the sun dipped low over the forest, preparing to set. The golden hour rays filled the room fully, lighting ablaze the wall-length bookcase across from me and providing the perfect light to read from.
If only I felt like reading. My fingers toyed with the spine of my grandmother’s journal, but then I put it down. My thoughts were still on Lincoln. I replayed the phone call in my head. The sound of his voice, the worry for me. Had I imagined his desire to come to me then? And who the hell had something he simply could not shake that late at night?
Another woman. That was the logical answer. But I had heard talking in the background, and at least one distinct voice, all male. So unless that woman had a voracious appetite, I was probably barking up the wrong tree. Which left me withprecisely no clues and only a reminder that as intense as things were between us, I still knew next to nothing about Lincoln.
