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.

the side, my heart pounding in frantic rhythm. The rush of blood overcomes

my ears.

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

again, the blade slicing through fur and flesh. A guttural yelp tears from his throat, but his

all the force of a large adult

lungs as I hit the ground,

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Fighting

clattering from my grasp. Stars explode across my vision before it fades,

pinned beneath Todd’s paws, pressing down on my shoulders with crushing force. His hot breath washes over

stench, his muzzle inches from

but his claws are like miniature daggers digging into my

unyielding.

one arm and lash out blindly, my nails raking across his

hit my mark, but it

snort, giving me a moment

scrambling for

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knife, its silver blade glinting in the moonlight. I’m bleeding. The scent of my blood mingles with the earthy aroma of the forest floor, a sickly metallic tang that

Ava: Fighting Back

Faster, damn it.

Todd crashes down where I’d been lying just moments before.

slicing a shallow gash across his ear, his neck. A guttural yelp rips from his throat as

other wolves are still involved in their own struggles several feet away. How many have set upon us? Too many to

can’t worry about them.

deal with

train. I stumble, gasping for air as his claws rake across my abdomen, tearing through

Agony.

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Fighting

jabs of my hand. I hit something, because blood coats my hilt and my grip slips time and

of his head and upper body somehow and I

back with a startled scream, and

to dodge. I have no time

ground beneath him. My fingers scrabble against the knife as I yank

my hands in slick streaks of crimson. A strangled whine escapes his muzzle before he finally goes

longer suffocated by his rancid breath. There’s no breath at all. Only blood