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.

pounding in frantic rhythm.

my ears.

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

slicing through fur and flesh. A

with all the force of a large adult wolf and an entire lifetime of anger

my lungs as

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Fighting Back

from my grasp. Stars explode across my vision

back in a rush. I’m pinned beneath Todd’s paws, pressing down on

stench, his muzzle inches from

writhe, but his claws are like miniature daggers digging into my skin, immovable

unyielding.

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

mark, but it startles him.

back with a snort, giving me a

scrambling for

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

Ava: Fighting

Faster, damn it.

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

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

can’t worry about

deal

mine like a fucking freight train. I stumble, gasping for air as

Agony.

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Fighting

into anything I can, wild jabs of my hand. I

with a wide movement of his head and upper body somehow and I backpedal, my heel catching on a gnarled root.

scream, and he’s on me

dodge. I have no time to

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 he snaps and bites at my face, my shoulders, in between

streaks of crimson. A strangled whine

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