Catapulted into the air, I tucked into a ball and closed my eyes as I somersaulted toward Luke.  Remember.  Remember. I’d never done this myself.  Never my own body.  But another of my sisters had.  I opened my eyes as I felt the downward pull of gravity.  The wolf was just below me.  He wasn’t paying attention, but others around him were.  They moved to try to catch me.  Luke looked up, causing an opening for another injury.

I swore again, untucked myself, and twisted to land on the wolf with the knife in his eye, bringing us both to the ground.  The impact killed my stomach, ripping me further.  I grunted in pain but still managed to pull the knife from his eye.  It caught slightly on the bone of his socket.  The wolf screamed.  I silenced him with a swipe before I stood.  A wall of man-wolf bodies leaned in around me.  Luke growled and raged just beyond.

“Time to die,” I whispered with a slight smile.

Several pairs of eyes widened in surprise as I swiped out in a spinning turn and sliced open their soft under bellies barely covered with fur.  Yeah, I knew how bad that hurt.  Ignoring the grunts of pain, I dodged their attempts to grab at me.  I fell to my knees and swiped again, darting the blade behind their knees.  Three dropped to my level.  Three more crowded in.  The handle started to slip in my grip.  I swung out again.

A horn blared long and loud.  A few of the wolves around me looked up as a white wolf landed on the three new wolves thinking to have at me.  Another wolf with a brown coat landed behind me, his growl sent a shiver down my spine.  He didn’t attack anyone.  He partially transformed to lift me, his big hands gentle.  Something in his soft brown eyes stayed my knife.

He jumped and brought me back into the circle of six bodies that still surrounded the bike.  There he set me on my feet with a firm “stay” and leapt back into the dying fray.  Despite the odds, we were winning.  Four of the wolves fighting with us moved with such incredible speed and agility that they faced at least four opponents at once.

Bodies started flying through the air as the wolf who’d saved me started throwing the injured and dead away from the immediate area.  The attackers’ numbers halved.  And then, as one, they turned and fled.  No one gave chase.  As the road cleared of attackers, two cars sped past and turned the curve in the road that I knew led to the Compound.  Several of the wolves turned their heads to watch the vehicles pass, but no one made a move to stop or follow them.  In the window of one, I saw a little boy’s face.

I bent slightly, curving an arm around my stomach again and was surprised my guts weren’t leaking out, yet.  Then Luke was beside me, pushing me toward the bike.  He bled from several lacerations and no longer wore a shirt.  Tinker Bell covered his bottom half.  I smiled and sobbed at the same time.

Luke sat on the bike, and someone lifted me behind him.  Everyone moved quickly. We all recognized the need to leave before another bout could begin.  I draped against him too hurt and tired to do more.  Finding a clean spot near his shoulder blade, I turned my head and gave him a kiss.

Somehow, we’d done it again.  Survived.  Tears trailed down my cheeks to drip onto his skin.

The wolves ran beside us as we sped to the Compound.  I shook and clung to Luke.  Blood covered his back, again.

Chapter Thirteen

Admittedly, I’d expected more from the Compound than what I saw when I lifted my head from Luke’s back.  A scattering of dilapidated buildings came into view.  Someone had put a lot of effort into in an attempt to make them look better.  The old wooden structures worried me.  I’d watched my family die in flames so many times.

Luke pulled the bike up to the porch, right next to one of the two cars that had sped past us.  Wolves surrounded us. Some had helped us during the fight, but a few new ones joined the group.  A short brunette woman stepped outside with a robe and tossed it to the white wolf who caught the material with its mouth.

“Come on,” Luke said, holding out an arm so I could dismount first.

My stomach cramped with pain as I tried to stand.  I hesitated to swing my leg off the bike.

“How badly were you hurt?” a woman asked from behind me.

An older woman with white hair wore the robe the white wolf had caught. The white wolf was gone.  I shouldn’t have been surprised.  Girls could fight, too.  I knew that.  Yet, I’d foolishly assumed they were all male back there.

“Just a nick,” I mumbled.  I wasn’t about to admit any weakness in front of the large group.  Who knew which of them might betray me?  The woman with the white hair moved to my side and helped me off the bike.  She was stronger than she looked.

“Let’s get you inside.”  Still holding my arm, she turned to glance at the brown wolf.  “Jim, Emmitt’s saying the boys are worried.”  She herded me toward the door while calling out instructions.  “You should go reassure them.  Grey and Sam can handle things out here.”  Everyone did as she said.  Since inside was safer than outside, I didn’t try to fight her.

A stack of pants waited just inside the door.  Made sense.

I shuffled a few more steps before Luke turned and scooped me up in his arms.

“About time,” the woman reprimanded.

“Who are you?” I asked, peering over Luke’s shoulder at her.

“Winifred Lewis.  You can call me Nana Wini,” she said with a kind smile.  “The woman behind me is Mary, and the man who will be following us shortly, the one who pulled you from that dog pile, is Jim.”  She looked at me expectantly.

“Oh, I’m Bethi.”

“Luke, bring her upstairs.  Second door on the right should be open,” she said as we neared a set of stairs.  “We’ll be right up with some bandages.”

Luke took the stairs two at a time and had me in a chair in short order.

As soon as he sat me down, he dropped to his knees in front of me and cupped my face between his hands.  After everything we’d just gone through, his gentle touch brought tears back to my eyes.

We’d made it.  But the place I’d thought would save me was a dump of tinderbox buildings out in the woods.  We’d be dead in hours.  I already felt dead inside.  And tired.  All that running.  The fighting.  Had there been any point to it?

The worry in his eyes tugged at my heart, and I felt a stab of guilt as I thought of everything he’d gone through to get me here.

“Go,” I said reaching up to squeeze one of his hands.  “Take a shower and put on your own pants.”

He snorted a laugh then smoothed a thumb over my cheek.

“I’d rather stay with you,” his eyes flicked to my very bloodstained shirt.

“There’s nothing for you to do right now,” I said, crossing an arm over my stomach.  I didn’t want him to look at it before I could.  “They’ll fix me up, I’m sure.”

Reluctantly, he stood.  I arched a brow and shooed him toward the door.  Watching him walk away, I couldn’t remember Tinker Bell ever looking so good.

When he closed the door behind him, I eased out of the shredded jacket and lifted the shirt.  I almost gagged.  Pulling it back down, I eyed the blood-soaked fabric.  The cut needed stitches.  A lot of them, really.  I did not want to be awake for that.  I’d had enough pain for...oh, ever.

The door opened behind me and an older man with merry grey eyes poked his head in.  When he saw me, he smiled and held up my bag.  Perfect.  I waved him in the room and accepted the bag.  He nodded and left without a word, but I caught his worried glance at my stomach.

I tipped the bag onto the floor and found my bottle of pills.  I still had two sleeping pills mixed in with the other ones I’d tried.