I can smell them now. Even though I’m human, I can smell the foreign scent of shifters I don’t know. Wolves who are my enemies.
I thought they might smell like Emlyn. They don’t. They smell like sweat and dirt, and I can’t believe she comes from these people.
I brace myself for attack.
Chapter 51
NATE
EvenbeforeIseethem, I know we’re in trouble. The two I heard talking have joined up with two more. We thought we’d have the numbers on them, but we don’t. They’ve got the numbers on us.
It’s a damn good thing I’m here. There’s no way Em and Milo would have been able to handle this fight alone.
But they’re not alone. They’ve got me. And I’m the equal of any wolf I meet. I’m the best fighter of our generation. I’m sure of that, and now’s my chance to prove it.
I take the leader, hurling myself at him, not even waiting to see what Em and Milo are doing behind me.
In the split second before our bodies collide, I can see that he’s taken aback by me. The wolf pack called in reinforcements, but it never occurred to them that Em and Milo would have reinforcements of their own. They expected this fight to be against two, not three, and they expected to get the drop on them.
That gives me a surge of satisfaction. They might have gotten one up on us, showing up with these extra numbers. But we’ve got one up on them too.
This is still anybody’s fight.
The other wolf leaps at me, so the impact force is intense, and we both go to the ground snarling and snapping. I bring up my hind legs, kick him off, and roll over, slashing as I go. I feel his body beneath my claws.
First blood to me!
He backs away, wary of me now, as he should be.
I take the break to glance over at Em and Milo. They’re doing…something. I’m not sure what. I guess it must be magic.
Freaky Moon Caster shit. None of us would be in this situation if it wasn’t for that Moon Caster shit.
But I can’t worry about that now because the wolf I’m fighting is circling me, looking for weaknesses, looking for where he can get his next blow in.
He feints to the left. It’s a good ploy, and I get the feeling he was probably a strong fighter at some point in his life, but he’s slow, and I dodge away. He has gray fur on his face. This must be Bruce, the alpha, the old man who held Emlyn captive on the beach.
I ran from this fucker once. I won’t do it again. This time, I’m going to have his blood on my teeth.
He feints again, and this time I’m ready. I go low, rolling on the ground, coming up behind him. He doesn’t turn quickly enough to see what I’m doing, so he doesn’t have time to stop my teeth from sinking into the skin of his neck.
He howls and tries to shake me loose, but he can’t. My grip is like iron. I drag him to the ground, exultant, hoping that Emlyn has her eyes on me. She won’t be able to doubt my loyalty if I’m the one who kills her alpha—
Something strikes me hard from behind.
I’m shocked into letting go of my death grip on the alpha. I roll away and come up on my feet, shaking myself off—but now I’m in between two of them. Another wolf has joined the melee.
I glance around. One of the remaining two is staring intently at Milo with bared teeth. He looks like he’s leaning into a fierce wind, as if he’s trying to walk forward against a force that is pushing him back.
The final wolf is circling Emlyn.
She has a hand out just like Milo does. She’s trying to do whatever he’s doing to ward her attacker off. But I don’t think it’s working because the wolf is drawing closer and closer to her.Heisn’t having any trouble breaking through.
Of course he isn’t. How could she have thought that she would win a fight using magic? She’s never used magic in a fight before.
I’m brought back to my own circumstances by one of my two attackers taking a swipe at me. I wasn’t paying close enough attention, and this time, the swipe connects. I feel the claws rake my shoulder and I stagger to the side, thrown off balance by the attack.
Immediately, the other one jumps on me. He’s younger than the alpha, but he’s stupider too. I can tell by the fact that he attacked me as soon as he saw an opening rather than waiting for the ideal moment. I throw him off—