Blood: The Third Course

Chapter Forty-Two

William shoved Priya back as she moved to pounce at Darren, putting her useless between the two sets of fighting. She couldn't bring herself to attack Kaleb, but William wouldn't let her anywhere near Darren, and Carson and Jemima were already tearing into each other, paws slashing and jaws snapping.

She prowled between the two fights, watching as Spencer danced around Vince's teeth and claws. He threw his punches when he could, trying to unbalance the youngest wolf, or at least tire him. Vince showed no signs of that happening any time soon.

A gunshot rang into the air, but it didn't pause the fighting for even a moment. Priya flattened herself to the ground, staring into the black distance through the forest. She was of no use here. Darting out from between the fighting, she ran as hard and as fast as she could back towards the farm house.

Blood drenched the air, tasting as sweet and as tempting as she had ever known it. Heavy, laboured breath echoed out into the silence, coiling like the smoke rising up from the barrel of a gun. Matthew stood behind the van, staring in through the open back doors, a shotgun hanging from one hand. Priya knew her target before her paws left the hard ground on the far side of the fence.

He didn't have time to reload. He wouldn't have even had time to aim before her front paws landed against his chest. He sprawled to the floor, his head hitting the gravel with a crunch. A new scent of blood seeped into the air. Before Matthew had time to try to fight her off, she lunged in, clamping her jaws down on his throat. She shook her body, wrenching and twisting against his flesh with her teeth. Her claws drove deep into muscled flesh, holding him down. Within moments, he didn't need pinning anymore.

Priya leapt off him, turning full circle. She shook her head, drops of blood flying in every direction. Raking her claws into the gravel, she coated the blood in dirt.

"Priya."

She jumped up, putting her front paws on the bumper of the van. Staring in, her eyes widened and her tongue flicked involuntarily to taste the blood in the air. A pool was spreading across the floor of the van. Edeline clutched her thigh with both hands, panting and whining.

Leaping into the back of the van, Priya tried not to breathe. She tried not to get another taste of that sweet scent as she grabbed her abandoned jeans between her teeth and threw them closer. Edeline understood immediately. Folding the jeans in half, she wrapped both legs tight around her thigh.

"Rope," she hissed.

Priya jumped down out of the van and ran to the barn. The horses whickered and stamped, thrashing their heads against the ropes holding them as they tried to get as far from her as possible. She searched up and down the length of the barn until she found an abandoned coil beside one of the horses. Creeping closer to avoid getting stamped on, she snatched the coil and bolted back to the van.

Even in the dark, she could see how pale Edeline was. She threw the rope at her and crept closer, taking the end of the rope and helping Edeline pull it tight around her leg. They did the same again below the wound, fixing the jeans in place over it.

Her laboured breathing turned panicked.

"Spencer's losing," she said.

Priya leapt out of the van, turning back when she heard movement. Edeline was shuffling closer to the edge of the van, and no matter how Priya whined and shook her head put her off it. Edeline suddenly paused, leaning back and smearing her hands through the pool of blood on the floor. She coated her hands in it and as much of her arms as she could before pushing herself to the edge of the van, wobbling dangerously as she tried to stand.