If he came to my rescue, Alvin would want me dead for sure. Harvey made it sound like they wanted to hurt me. Even Alvin had said that tonight was to teach a lesson. I didn’t want to shift and run with them, but at least I would see another day. This wasn’t the end.
“You do,” I said finally.
Alvin rocked back on his heels. He didn’t seem pleased in the least. He’d likely wanted me to submit right away. I’d held out for a while just to piss him off. Fuck me, they were going to make sure that I lost at least half of my tail tonight. I would have to run fast.
Alvin patronizingly patted the side of my face, hard enough to sting the skin. “You’ll learn your place tonight.” He stepped back and acknowledged everyone at once. When he spoke, arcana imbued his voice with power. “Shift!”
People bent all around me. Their grunts and groans filled the air while I held out. Alvin’s magic gripped my spine and tried to bend me. My hound growled and gave me her strength. While everyone around me changed forms, I stood tall and stared Alvin down.
He paused, caution finally reaching his eyes as he watched me. My lips twisted into a snarl.
“Run,” Alvin said. “Run and hope that I don’t put you out of my misery tonight.”
I spared no time in shifting. The moment I let go of my hound, she leapt free. Thunder cracked and made the pack whine. I landed on all fours and set off, running. My paws slapped the earth and turned the forest into a blur around me.
The smell of new, summer growth filled my nostrils. The scent of ozone soon followed. The storm that always followed me brewed overhead. I wished that I could command it and strike down my foes with lightning from above. Instead, it stayed out of reach. Whatever arcana commanded it refused to answer to me.
I had to rely on my hound tonight. The stormy winds cleared the air of the forest’s scents. I caught Harvey not far behind me. His father would be behind him, waiting to pounce the moment that Harvey had me cornered. I searched the myriad of pack smells for signs of my father, but he seemed far away.
He wasn’t going to help me. The thought made my hound howl with sorrow. The sound echoed between the trees. While I’d marked my location with the howl, it wasn’t like they couldn’t find me with the storm overhead.
A flash of cinnamon fur appeared to my side. I tensed, and my feet tangled with one another, sending me tumbling. I rolled and bounced back on my feet, but the fall left my front shoulder throbbing. Each footfall sent a jolt of pain up my leg. It flared hot over my shoulder and onto my back.
Connor closed in on me. I didn’t know what to expect from him. His intentions seemed unclear. I couldn’t trust his kindness to keep me safe. Connor would bow to Alvin’s will no matter what.
I veered away from him and jumped over a fallen log. My leg gave out and made me eat dirt. The thunder rolled once more. It almost sounded like a warning, but to who? I wanted to howl my fury to the clouds above.
Before I could make another sound, Alvin’s barks broke the silence behind me. He was closer than I’d thought. I had to pick myself up and hope that I could keep running.
Connor nudged me. I snapped at him and caught a chunk of his fur between my teeth. I spit the fur out when he backed away. He gave me a wary look. I didn’t need his help. He couldn’t do anything for me.
But when I stood, my legs buckled. The fall I’d taken had pulled something. If I waited and poured some power into the shoulder, I could heal. I didn’t have time to wait, though. Alvin and Harvey were closing in. They would rip me to shreds if they caught up.
I didn’t want to go through the meat grinder tonight. I wanted to wake up from this nightmare and pile into my car for my shift at Bad Moon. I wanted to see my friends’ smiles and hear their laughter.
I wanted to see Ryder one last time and maybe figure out what his peach-colored lips tasted like.
Connor dragged a bundle of broken branches over to me. He was going to cover me with them, but I knew that the branches wouldn’t be enough to hide my scent. I wanted to scream at him to stop being a damned fool. He wasn’t helping.
I forced myself to my feet. My front leg refused to work, but I could run on the other three. Maybe I wouldn’t be as fast, but at least I could keep moving. Connor yipped when I limped away from him. Like hell would I look back.
In the time that I’d been on the ground, Alvin had circled around. I didn’t even stop to sniff the wind before taking off. In no time flat, I ran right into him. He leapt out from behind a tree and threw me off balance. I landed hard on my busted shoulder and yelped.
Growls filled the air around me. They were all half-hearted. The pack didn’t care as much about this hunt as Alvin did. The others were here because they had no choice.
I couldn’t hate them, even as my beast snarled and snapped at those who closed in around me. I saw no break in their ranks. No one left even a gap for me to run through. It wasn’t like I could get very far on three legs anyway.
Above, the storm darkened. Winds whipped between the trees and tossed foliage into the air. Twigs slapped wolf hides before tumbling away into the distance. The sky flashed bright with lightning that was still trapped in the clouds. Darkness settled back in, thicker than before.
My heart lodged itself in my throat. My hound had a fighting spirit, but we couldn’t take on Alvin and Harvey together. Had I been smarter, I would have separated them somehow. Instead, my feet had betrayed me and made me too slow to do anything so cunning.
Ryder
The storm pulledat my wings. It’d been too long since I’d been able to lose myself in the clouds of a tempest. I couldn’t let the winds take me tonight, either. I had another task at hand. The Barghest woman needed help. Ness hadn’t asked for help outright, but she had been dealt a shitty hand of cards, and I had the power to help her.
My vision pierced the thick clouds around me. Far below, a pack of wolves surrounded the black hound who kept one wounded paw close to her chest. My dragon roared. The sound shook the clouds. Venomous anger flooded my body.
I snapped my wings tight to my body and plummeted toward the ground. If the wolves didn’t scatter, I would hit a few. They deserved punishment for what they were doing to Ness. The Barghest woman had a sharp tongue and an attitude to match, but she didn’t deserve this.