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.

and I dash to the side, my heart pounding in frantic rhythm.

in my

shut inches from my face. Nausea churns

knife again, the blade slicing through fur and flesh. A guttural

a large

as I hit the ground, the

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Fighting

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

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

inches from my

his claws are like miniature daggers digging into my skin,

unyielding.

free one arm and lash out blindly, my

my mark, but

a snort, giving me a

for the knife as he

on Gøøglᴇ to

my way as my fingers scrabble for the 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

Ava: Fighting Back

Faster, damn it.

just as Todd crashes down where I’d been lying just moments before. His jaws snap shut with

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.

in their own struggles several feet

worry

have to deal with Todd.

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

Agony.

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Fighting Back

anything I can, wild jabs of my hand. I hit something, because blood

ground with a wide movement of his head and upper body somehow and

with a startled scream, and he’s

I have no

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 before he finally goes limp,

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