Tangled

<79 Ava: Fighting Back

79 Ava: Fighting Back

Todd’s wolf form prowls closer, his hackles bristling with menace. His eyes burn with a feral hunger that sends tremors through me. Anticipation hums in the

air between us.

The tree trunk is rough against my back as I use it for support, forcing my body to its feet. The cool weight of the pocketknife in my hand keeps me centered.

I will not cower.

The mysterious energy from before, that primal force filling my veins, is gone. It’s a fleeting whisper of the past, eluding my grasp no matter how desperately I

search for it.

All I have is my training and the small knife I’d stolen from home.

I flip open the blade with a flick of my thumb, the soft click lost amidst the snarls and growls of the ongoing battle around us. At least, I hope it’s lost. I know wolf hearing is keen, but I don’t know its limitations.

Todd’s lips peel back in a vicious snarl, revealing

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79 Ava: Fighting Back

yellowed canines. It figures that even his wolf’s teeth

would need some work. His breath had always smelled

like those tuna sandwiches he eats.

He lunges, a blur of ruddy fur and gnashing jaws.

Instinct has me diving to the side, scrabbling for purchase on the uneven ground. He whirls to face me as I roll to my knees, gripping the knife tightly as I swipe at his muzzle. The blade catches a superficial level of skin and fur, drawing a thin line of crimson that only seems to enrage him further.

deafening snarl rips from his throat and I dash to the side, my heart pounding in frantic rhythm. The rush of blood overcomes all sound

my

inches from my face. Nausea churns in my belly, courtesy of his rancid

flesh. A guttural yelp tears from his throat, but his momentum carries him

into me with all the force of a large adult wolf and an entire

whooshes from my lungs as I hit

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Ava: Fighting

clattering from my grasp. Stars explode across my

pressing down on my shoulders with crushing force.

his muzzle inches from my

his claws are like

unyielding.

of adrenaline–fueled strength, I manage to free one arm and lash out blindly, my nails raking across his

my mark, but it

snort, giving me a

roll to the side, scrambling for the knife

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my fingers scrabble for the knife, its silver blade glinting in the moonlight. I’m bleeding. The scent

Ava: Fighting

Faster, damn it.

whirl onto my back just as Todd crashes down where I’d been lying just moments before. His jaws snap shut with a resounding clack. Flecks of spittle and

his neck. A guttural yelp rips from his throat as he snaps at my arm,

are still involved in their own struggles several feet away. How many have set

worry about them.

have to deal

train. I stumble, gasping for air

Agony.

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Ava: Fighting

wild jabs of my hand. I hit

shoves me to the ground with a wide movement of his head and upper body somehow

sprawl back with a startled scream,

in no position to dodge. I have no time to think.

stab low and blind, grunting as his weight slams me into the ground beneath him. My fingers scrabble against the knife as I yank it out and stab again and again, even as

violently, his blood coating my hands in slick streaks of crimson. A strangled whine escapes his muzzle before he finally goes limp, his full weight collapsing

his rancid breath. There’s no breath at all. Only