Chapter Fifty-Five
To Lily’s horror, a red spot bloomed on Col’s abdomen as he knocked Jordy over. Cadmus’s scream of frustration filled the air as Col and Jordy both crashed to the ground in front of her. Lily instantly recoiled, her first instinct to use her own body to shield the two unconscious twins. The red continued to blossom on Col’s unconscious form as he lay on the gravel, and her mind seized with terror. She couldn’t remember—couldn’t think if he had said — would he be able to survive a gunshot at such close range? Let alone all the other wounds that were now pumping out even more blood from his sudden exertion.
The gun! Jordy had let it go as Col landed on her and — Thank God. There it was. Lily spotted it only a few feet away on the ground. It was shining brightly, with the sun directly on it.
She lunged for it, but Jordy had the same idea. The shorter girl had propelled herself in the same direction, and her outstretched arm blocked Lily’s even as her body landed, painfully, on the gravel. They both scrambled, the small rock pieces shooting out like shrapnel, but they fell short of reaching the gun. Lily pushed out at Jordy, in an attempt to prevent her from scrambling to her feet first, and the other girl threw her weight onto Lily.
They rolled together on the ground, each trying to prevent the other from being the first to reach the gun. A glimpse of Col’s inert body at eye level, and Lily was filled with an unyielding fury.
She’d had enough of being threatened and beaten. And if this girl here felt it ok to hurt little kids? Fuck her. And fuck her for wounding Col.
She wasn’t holding back any longer. She pummeled Jordy, despite the cheap shots that the other girl was taking at her. Lily absorbed the knees to her belly, the pulls on her hair, she didn’t care.
Fuck this bitch.
She was dimly aware in the background of the sounds of a car engine nearing, the excited barks of several wolves growing louder. And then the shouting. Billy Bob’s, Cadmus’s. That was just noise. All she could focus on was saving the kids and Col from the immediate danger that was Jordy.
But then more gunshots rang out.
Lily jerked her head to see Billy Bob with a gun, shooting at three—no,fourlarge, growling wolves that were attacking Billy Bob and Cadmus. The black one and the one with brown and white markings let her know that Barric and Merek were here. The silver one and the golden-brown one had to be Aylwyn and Tybalt. All had gnashing teeth and claws, intent on inflicting as much damage as possible.
But Cadmus seemed to be enveloped, maybe armored, with some kind of blur, a close cousin to the one at the lingerie shop, right before he—
Jordy took advantage of the distraction, and sharply jabbed Lily in the solar plexus. The sudden intensity of the blow was enough to take Lily’s breath away, and Jordy scrambled for the gun.
A streak of snarling silver hurled itself at the shorter girl, and Lily screamed as she saw the glint of metal in the girl’s hand. Shots rang out, and red bloomed against the white fur.
With a loud roar, the silver wolf opened its massive jaws and clamped down on the girl’s screaming head, shaking it fiercely.
The screaming stopped.
At least Jordy’s, at any rate.
Lily was finally able to move, and she rushed over to where Col lay unmoving, trying to remember her First Aid and CPR training. She needed to check that he was still breathing, and then stanch the bleeding if he was, or else start chest compressions. Beyond, the battle raged, and she tried to block out the sounds, listen for Col’s breaths, see if his chest was moving.
Thank God, it was rising and falling. Col was breathing. Now to stop the bleeding — A sudden change in the background noise had her whipping her head up. Barric was over Billy Bob’s prone body, his muzzle bloodied from pulling out —oh my God, was that viscera? — with his jaws. The metallic smell of copper saturated the air, and Lily fought the impulse to gag.
The golden wolf and Merek were trying to get at Cadmus, but were held back by whatever that blur was around him. A blur that was starting to spin, and slowly turn into a twister like the one she had seen last night.
Like the one that had killed Rey.
“Get away from him,” Lily shouted.
The golden wolf and Merek acknowledged her warning by bolting a short, watchful distance away, steering clear as the twister expanded, grew more opaque. Sparks started shooting out, but not hitting any of them. The blur continued to spin, picking up speed before there was a sudden flash of light that lit up the entire interior of the carport.
And then it was gone.
As was Cadmus.
The battle was over. The golden wolf pulsed out a wave of energy, and Tybalt appeared. A similar pulse from the black wolf resulted in the welcome sight of Merek’s giant form, and the brown and white wolf transformed into the even larger Barric.
“You must needs shift Col immediately,Vixar. His wounds are grave.”
Tybalt moved towards Col, as Merek and Barric ran over to the silver wolf, now prone, its jaws still covered in blood. Beside the silver wolf were several bloody lumps on the ground. Lumps that were formerly Jordy. Lily turned her head away.
Tybalt was already over Col, and his brow furrowed. A pulse of energy knocked Lily back, and when she recovered, she saw that a huge auburn wolf lay in Col’s place.
He was still unconscious, but the rise and fall of the massive chest was easily discernible. The blood was still flowing from multiple spots, but even to Lily’s eyes it seemed to have slowed down.
