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 ears.

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

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

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

whooshes from my lungs as I hit

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Fighting Back

my grasp. Stars explode across my vision

Todd’s paws, pressing down on my shoulders with crushing force.

stench, his muzzle inches from

are like miniature daggers digging into my skin, immovable and

unyielding.

arm and lash out blindly, my nails raking across his muzzle and smacking against one eye.

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

back with a snort, giving me

scrambling for the

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bleeding. The scent of my blood mingles with the earthy aroma of the forest floor, a sickly metallic

Fighting Back

Faster, damn it.

knife and whirl onto my back just as Todd crashes down where I’d been lying just moments before. His jaws snap shut with a resounding clack.

a white–knuckled grip, I lash out wildly, the blade slicing a shallow gash across his ear, his neck. A

no escape route. No other weapons. The other wolves are still involved in their own struggles several feet away. How many have set upon us? Too many to count. Did the entire pack make

I can’t worry about them.

deal

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

Agony.

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Ava: 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 upper body somehow and I backpedal, my heel catching on a

scream, and

in no position to dodge. I have no time to

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

violently, his blood coating my hands in slick streaks of crimson. A strangled whine escapes his muzzle before he finally goes limp, his full weight

air, no longer suffocated by his rancid breath. There’s no breath at