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.

his throat and I dash to the side, my heart pounding in frantic rhythm. The rush of blood overcomes all sound in the area, a static.

my

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

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

a large adult wolf and an entire lifetime of anger issues.

my lungs as I

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Ava: Fighting

grasp. Stars explode across my vision before it fades,

down on my shoulders with crushing force. His hot breath washes over me in

muzzle inches from my

writhe, but his claws are like miniature daggers

unyielding.

free one arm and lash

my mark, but it startles him.

snort, giving me

to the side, scrambling for the

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

Fighting Back

Faster, damn it.

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 foam coat

out wildly, the blade slicing a shallow gash across his ear, his neck. A guttural yelp rips from his throat as he snaps at my arm, ripping skin as I dash backward, scrambling to my feet.

route. No other weapons. The other wolves are still involved in their own struggles several feet away. How many have set upon us? Too

can’t worry about

to deal with

stumble, gasping

Agony.

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Fighting

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

of his head and

with a startled scream, and he’s

I have no time

raise an arm to protect my face as I 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

my hands in slick streaks of crimson. A strangled whine escapes his muzzle

breath. There’s no breath at all. Only blood and