into the cover of the forest that struck me as interesting. I found it interesting because the head also included a showy set of antlers, well, one showy antler anyway. The other one had been hacked off and done so crudely. I glanced down at the area immediately around the carcass and shifted what snow there was, but the other antler was nowhere to be seen. Based on the one that was still intact, however, I was pretty sure it was a perfect mate to the antler handle that had been used to fashion the knife Miguel and I had found shoved into the chest of our John Doe, months ago…
Or, rather, shoved into the chest of Donovan Johnson, months ago.
Chapter Twenty-four
“Alex!” I yelled as soon as the realization hit me.
From all possible vantage points, it looked like Achak had been the one to fashion the antler dagger with the silver blade that had ‘killed’ Donovan. There was still a chance he was innocent and I definitely lived my life by the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ code but, as far as I was concerned, he was my number-one suspect.
It felt like slow motion as I pivoted on my toes and turned around, my heart riding up into my throat while my heartbeat echoed through my ears. Before I could take another step or open my mouth to scream, I saw him.
A brown wolf and one I recognized. A huge, growling wolf the color of milk chocolate with its hackles raised. A wolf whose yellow eyes glared at me with human hatred.
Achak…
I started to back away as I instinctively brought my gun hand up and took aim at the enormous beast. The wolf was just as fast. He leapt at me at the same time that I pulled the trigger and felt the gun kick back in my hand. I was vaguely aware of the sound of yelping and could only hope I’d somehow managed to hit my target.
That thought was stolen from me as the wolf crashed into me. I felt myself thrown backward, the acrid smell of dog now suffusing my nostrils. I landed in a pillow of snow, which initially softened my landing, but then I felt the hardness of the cement as it hit the back of my head, my shoulders and my upper back. Everything went black for the space of a few heartbeats as I fought to catch my breath. But I couldn’t breathe. I felt as if my lungs had been flattened, as if there was no possible way the air would ever find its way in or out of them again.
“Elodie!”
The sound of a growl exploded in my ears as I fought to open my eyes but the darkness was insistent and wouldn’t let up. Without realizing what I was doing, I suddenly inhaled deeply and my chest burned with the effort. It felt like someone or something was pushing down on me, keeping the air from fully filling my lungs.
Force yourself to breathe, I commanded myself as I attempted to inhale, but the resulting burning made it nearly impossible. Force your way through the pain, Elodie.
I could feel something heavy and hot on top of me. I gripped onto what I recognized as fur and tried to push the mammoth creature away from me, but it was like trying to move a boulder.
It’s the wolf, I thought. You have to get away from it.
It took me a few seconds to blink the stars out of my eyes, but once I did, I opened them fully and allowed my blurry vision to dissipate until I could focus again. I was staring up at the snowy branches overhead, the full moon peeking through a break in the trees. A throbbing ache suddenly started from the back of my head, radiating its fingers of pain outward to my forehead but I fought through it. I had to.
A concussion, I told myself. It’s just a concussion.
I glanced down and noticed the brown wolf, Achak, was lying prostrate on top of me. Its head was resting on my chest and judging by the way it almost hissed as it inhaled and exhaled, its breathing was labored. I’d hit it with the bullet, of that much I was sure. Just how much damage I’d done still remained to be seen.
Wounded or not, I had to get away from the wolf before it decided to rip me to shreds. I pushed my hands underneath its massive shoulders and attempted