Page 99 of Crucible
One of those paws finds my shoulder, and I scream.
Sharp claws dig in and shred through my flesh, and I pray that I blackout from the pain so that I won’t feel it when the rest comes.
But I don’t.
Even when the pain is blinding and blood oozes from the wound, I stay woefully conscious.
And unlike me, the wolf shows no signs of tiring.
My arms are already trembling from the effort it takes to hold it off. If my predicament weren’t so terrifying, I’d laugh at God’s twisted sense of humor.
I survived a plane crash, three days in the wild, and six days with three feral mountain men just to be torn apart by wolves. I’d been spared those other times so that I might suffer the worst possible death.
Well, that tracks.
Even with my focus on staying alive, I can still hear Cassie’s pleas. I can still see her pretty face twisted with pain and fear as they fed on her.
Tears prick my eyes, knowing I’d failed her, but they don’t fall. They never fall.
Cassie’s dead when it should have been me.
If I hadn’t been such a bitch to Tania, if I hadn’t been so determined to destroy the life I hated so much, my uncle wouldn’t have felt the need to exile me. None of this would have happened if I’d just done that stupid interview a year ago, told my side, and moved on.
“Cassie, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t fight harder,” I plead in vain.
She’s gone just like the others.
My sobs cause my grip to loosen on the branch, and the maw of the wolf and its flesh-shredding teeth gain an inch.
As I stare death in the eye, a dark thought scales the stubborn wall my mind has built.
The glowing green eyes of the wolf are almost hypnotic as I think about how much easier it would be to let it kill me.Coward.Maybe this death will go quicker than I think.It won’t.The longer I stare, the more numb I become, and when my hold loosens on the branch this time, it’s not entirely unintentional.
One last memory pierces my thoughts, but this time, it rises from the icy moat built around my heart where I trapped it.
“I like you, Sunshine. A lot.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ll never stop fighting. You won’t give up like I did.”
You won’t give up like I did.
You won’t give up like I did.
You won’t give up like I did.
You won’t give up…I did.
The frozen surface of that icy moat cracks and blue flames explode from the fissure in my heart as I lift my head and shout at the gray wolf. “Fuck you!”
My injured shoulder burns when I push the branch tighter against its throat and heave my body up. I throw the wolf off me, and it skids several feet away as it scrambles to right itself. Reaching for the knife that fell when the first wolf attacked me, I have just managed to wrap my hand around the handle when another wolf lunges forward.
I can’t stop it from sinking its teeth into my arm, and I scream.
The bite of the alpha burns like acid as I tighten my grip around the knife before returning the favor. I plunge the short blade into the wolf’s black fur, and it yelps but holds onto myarms. Tearing the knife free, I stab it again, over and over, until the wolf unlocks its jaws and falls to the ground.
I forget about the other wolves as I stab their alpha over and over while it stares up at me through eyes that I realize are more golden than yellow. They feel like a mirror.
