Sheridan Wolfe

Chapter 13 : LEVEL UP!

LOCATION: @FORREST

TIME: FIRST QUARTER MOON

LEVI -

The three of us stumble backward. I can see Sterling fighting the urge to shift. Neither one of us want to scare Ity more than she already is. But to avoid changing in front of her, might be an unrealistic goal.

The Brown-Female is fierce. Though she's smaller than Hank, her speed makes up for it all. Her swift motions are deliberate, even calculated. Hank manages to dodge but each of his attacks fall short of his target.

Rory hit the shifty Gray-Wolf. He's smaller and fast but the Gray-Wolf doesn't seem to be putting all his strength into his attacks, which means he's either underestimating Rory, or toying with him.

Moments pass as I stand frozen watching my friend's family fight for our lives. Trinity pulls her elbow free and runs between the two separate wrestling matches.

Time slows. I can hear her boots pounding through the squish of snow and mud. Her brown hair whips behind her and side glances from every wolf shift in her direction, but not long enough to distract from their battles.

Shaking the shock from my head, time returns to normal as Ity slides, feet first, in the snow beside the motorbike. Which seems to wake me up,

Trusting Rory and Hank, Sterling and I follow Ity to the side of the motorbike. The extra adrenaline from our impending doom gives me the extra strength needed to pull the awkwardly shaped machine from the trees.

A yelp from Hank sends a shiver down my back, but it's the smell of blood that makes me jump on the bike faster. Ity ducks behind the machine as I put all my weight onto the kick starter.

Nothing happens.

Sterling maneuvers between myself and the fighting. It isn't going well. The smell of fear and worry rope off of him in thick vapors. He was preparing to shift and join the fight.

I reach down and flip the choke, trying again to start the machine, but in return nothing happens. Useless piece of junk. I knew it before I'd pulled it from the garage, but ramming it into a tree surely hadn't been helpful either.

A glance over my shoulder reveals the worst. Rory had been pushed back, and Hank's open shoulder wound is gushing bright red blood across his lovely white fur.

I slip off the motorbike crouching beside Ity, putting my arm around her shoulders. I'm not sure why I thought that was a good idea. Perhaps I thought it would help comfort her for what was coming.

Sterling lets out a howl seconds before he jumps and shifts into his wolf form. He charges for Rory's attacker snapping low at his heels. The Gray-Wolf falls back and Rory takes a sharp turn, attacking Hank's opponent from behind and throwing her off balance enough to give Hank a breath.

It's comforting to see how fast Sterling is. He's much smaller than all the wolves in the space, but the Gray-Wolf doesn't expect him to be so fearless. That gives Sterling the advantage, at least for the first few moments.

I look to Ity, the shock of seeing a shift for the first time would be a lot, but unlike me, she doesn't have time to process it.

Her face is ... confusing. Her eyebrows are pulled together, eyes darting back and forth, but she bit back on her bottom lip. It's the fight she's watching closely so I know there's no way she could have missed Sterling's supernatural change.

Her eyes shift to me, fully aware that I'm watching her. My face flushes with heat, while my mind empties out of all thought. Like my sheet of white college ruled paper on a Monday morning, right after my teacher instructed us to write an interpretive paper on one of Shakespeare's sonnets ... blank.