deep enough, he could slice right through my artery, and I would bleed to death in minutes.
“Stop fucking around. Let’s go,” Ryden barks, fear dripping from his voice as he looks around wildly. He picks Saul up from the ground, who’s now bleeding from both eyes. “We still need to get back to the car, and you know a sentry or something heard this little bitch screaming,” he declares, shaking Saul for good measure and eliciting a whimper in return. How that pisser ever became a beta, I’ll never know.
My hands start to go numb from the drug, and I can practically feel it moving up my arms and legs, deadening everything in its path.
“Coming,” Conrad says, a sinister smile on his face. “I just want to give Rabid here a little taste of what she has to look forward to.” I feel him flip the knife in his hand and press the handle of it to my opening.
I snarl and fight to get away, panic and a zing of pain shooting through me. But out of nowhere, a wolf leaps from the surrounding bushes and barrels into Conrad. A menacing snarl roars through the air all around me, and Conrad slams back from the impact, his knife flying out of his hands. The white and red wolf rips into the bastard beta’s arm and thrashes as hard as she can, opening deep wounds that have Conrad screaming for help.
Presley lets go of his arm and snaps for his face, but Conrad flips her off of him. I struggle with everything I have to roll over, the sounds of Conrad shifting into his wolf spurring me on. I look to see if Tyran is with her, but no other wolves join in on the fight, and I lurch to my feet with a growl of effort, turning around as Presley attacks Conrad.
The sound of a vicious fight is all I can hear as my vision starts to blur and my limbs grow even heavier. I pitch forward, trying to focus, and see that Ryden has put Saul down and is instead scrabbling to grab Conrad’s knife so he can attack. I beg my body for just a little more as Ryden grips the handle and picks it up.
Presley forces Conrad back, and even though his wolf has to have a solid fifty pounds on hers, she fights ruthlessly and tirelessly to get the upper hand. Ryden jabs at the white and red wolf, going for her throat, but I lurch forward, stepping between them at the perfect time. The knife sinks into my stomach instead, and I gasp at the burning sensation and the pain that hammers through me.
I look down at the blade sunk into my skin, blood dripping from the metal. The drug has disconnected me, or maybe it’s the shock, because even though I feel the pain, it’s sluggish, almost separated from the rest of me. I want to rip the blade out and slit the throat of the spineless piece of shit in front of me, but I can’t feel my hands, and my legs give out beneath me, sending me crashing to the ground. A high-pitched yelp assaults the forest, and I look to see Conrad back in his skin, and Presley struggling in his chokehold.
“No, don’t fucking hurt her,” I yell at him, but the order lacks all power and sounds more like a croak as pain slurs my heavy tongue.
“Let’s go!” Conrad shouts at Ryden, picking Presley up and carrying her with him, keeping a hand on her muzzle and legs pinned. “Leave Saul,” the beta barks, and Ryden scoops me up from the ground and starts running behind Conrad.
Fear and fury crash inside of me, but I think it might be Tyran’s emotions, because all I feel right now is resounding pain. Ryden runs clumsily through the trees and foliage, jostling me with every step and leaving a trail of blood in our wake. At least Tyran won’t have to track my scent to find me.
Conrad runs hard, Presley’s wolf still gripped in his hands, and Ryden falls further and further behind. I work to keep my eyes open, but they keep trying to shut. I think I hear a snarl coming from the woods.
Tyran.
“Fuck this shit, you’re not worth it!” Ryden growls, and suddenly, he throws my body to the ground before he takes off after Conrad, my weight no longer slowing him down and allowing him to shift.
I slam against