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.

side, my heart pounding in frantic rhythm. The rush

in my

my face. Nausea churns in my

lash out with the knife again, the blade slicing through fur and flesh. A guttural yelp tears from his throat, but his momentum

force of a large adult wolf and

my lungs as I hit the ground, the

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Fighting

Stars explode across my vision before it fades, just for

pressing down on my shoulders with

his muzzle inches from my

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

unyielding.

and lash out blindly, my nails raking across his muzzle and

don’t hit my mark, but it startles him.

with a snort, giving me a moment of opportunity.

to the side, scrambling for the knife as he

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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 tang that pushes me

Ava: Fighting

Faster, damn it.

I’d been lying just moments before. His jaws snap shut with a

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

their own struggles several feet away. How many

can’t worry about

have to deal with Todd.

body slamming into mine like a fucking freight train. I stumble, gasping for air as his claws rake

Agony.

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Fighting

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

shoves me to the ground with a wide movement of his head and upper body somehow and I backpedal, my heel catching

sprawl back with a startled scream,

to dodge. I have no time to

blind, grunting as his weight slams me into the ground beneath him. My fingers scrabble against

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

suffocated by his rancid breath.