Even though I want to hide, I’m afraid to close my eyes, convinced that if I do, the next time I open them it’ll be to a bloodbath. Sucking down a deep breath, I force myself to scream, since it’s the only thing I can actually do to help. “Bane!”
Mason shoves me to the ground in the next instant, so when the wolf launches itself at us, the two of them go flying over me instead of crashing into me. Scrambling to my feet, I watch as Mason sacrifices his left arm, letting the wolf sink its teeth into it so that he can reach its neck without getting his face bitten off.
In a flash, fangs appear in Mason’s mouth, only to disappear beneath fur and flesh. With a yelp, the wolf releases his arm, rearing back before setting its eyes on me, gauging the distance to see if he can make it past Mason. It feigns one way, enough to throw Mason off balance, able to correct its course easier.
A strange sense of calm cuts through my fear, helping me think clearly instead of shutting down and bracing for impact. I track its speed, the way its muscles bunch on one side the same way it did when trying to trick Mason. Rather than sprint to the side, I wait another heartbeat before stepping into its path.
Too late to correct the move, it continues its turn, narrowly bypassing me by a foot. I take a step back, wincing as the various cuts on my feet get dirt and debris in them, pulling them open a bit more.
“Risa, move!” Mason demands, but his voice is muffled, like I’m hearing him from underwater.
I don’t even notice the sound of my own heartbeat, wholly attuned to the wolf’s, to the rush of its breaths, the scuff of dirt beneath its claws when it’s about to launch forward. For several breathless moments, I wait until the moment it snarls, pebbles shifting beneath its paws. Without second guessing myself, I launch forward, pressing my body flat onto the ground.
Claws slice deep grooves into my lower back, but better that than taking a chunk of flesh. When I start to push myself up, Stryker’s there, grabbing my arm to haul me to my feet. “You suicidal woman,” he rushes out, panting. “You’re going to give me a heart attack.”
A look over his shoulder shows Bane straddling the wolf’s back, using an arm to crush its windpipe, his other hand removing a bloodied blade from its ribcage. Slumping to the ground, the wolf’s breathing grows labored, but Bane doesn’t let up. Mason’s shifted at this point, the amethyst viper striking one of the wolf’s front legs, close to its chest.
All things aside, I feel relatively numb when I ask, “Is he going to die?”
Stryker hisses in a sharp breath, probing at the bloody scratches on my lower back. “Slowly, if I have anything to say about it. Come on, let’s get you home.”
“What about the others?”
Careful to wrap an arm around the middle of my back so that he doesn’t brush against the raw flesh, he bends down to slip the other beneath my thighs, lifting me up. Only when the pressure isn’t on my feet anymore, the adrenaline beginning to wear off, do I notice how torn up they actually are.
“You wanted to help Mason, right?” He starts walking towards the house, the wolf releasing a pained whine behind us that echoes through the night. “Nothing’s more cathartic for the guy than revenge. So let’s get you cleaned up, because if they come home and still smell you bleeding, it’s entirely likely those two will go after Marcus’ brothers next.”
Chapter 10
Risa
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Iwill keep my handsto myself.The words carved into Marcus’ now human back don’t bleed, done post mortem. The sun beats down without mercy on his still form in the center of the clearing as I gaze out the window from the safety of the house. I should feel worse about it than I do, but I just keep picturing the wolf’s teeth buried in Mason’s arm, and it helps ease my guilt.
If it had been my fault, it’d be one thing. But not only did I do nothing to provoke him, even by accident, he chose to attack Mason. From what they’ve told me, that was an incredibly idiotic thing to do, upsetting the balance of peace and safety these people were after by coming here.
