Warriors

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Sun Ritual

I wake up before Stris and try to get to my feet, but it's proving difficult. I'm still in wolf form, and everyone is sitting around watching me. I'm really dizzy and end up stumbling when I try to walk and fall back to the floor. I grunt and try again, and Fergus kneels and pets my head.

"How do you feel?"

"Dizzy. Drunk. Pissed."

Stris starts to stir, and I growl, Fergus puts his hand on my muzzle, and I lick him.

"You're hurt enough, baby. No fighting."

"No promises."

I feel a little better now; I can stand and walk without falling. Stris tries to get up, but she's still too dizzy.

"What happened?"

"I shot you with a tranquilizer gun. Mallory is too hurt to keep fighting."

"She's too injured? She bit me and cut me open!"

"Consider yourself lucky bitch. You should be dead."

"You will be when I tell my uncle about this. You have no idea what you've just done."

"Oh, I understand completely what I did. I just don't give a flying fuck. I'm tired of staying calm. If I get my chance, I'll rip your throat out and watch you choke on your blood until you drown in it."

"My uncle will sentence you to death."

"I could sleep."

"Alright, Mallory, enough. What is this? What are you doing?"

"I'm tired of being taken advantage of, Fergus! Everyone keeps walking all over me because they can, and I'm done! I'm done being nice and trying to keep the peace between everyone! If you want to keep trying to kill Onyx every chance you get, then fine, but don't fucking condemn me for the same thing! Why do I have to be the one to play both sides and keep everyone calm? It's bullshit!"

"You're terrible at calming people down. I can calm Fergus down, though, all night. He'll sleep like a baby after I ride..."

"That's it!"

I lunge for her and crash into her side with a snarl. She yelps loud as I feel something crack, hopefully a few ribs, and keep running until I slam her into the wall. She yelps louder and drags her claws down my shoulder, opening more wounds as fresh blood splatters the floor. I whimper and shake the pain out, and she latches onto my throat in my distraction. She starts crushing my windpipe, and I can't breathe; I try to whine, but it sounds choked. Fergus tries to pry her off, but she lashes out at him, and he backs up to avoid getting hit. He shifts and bites into her side, and she finally lets go of me. She's looking at Fergus and distracted, so I waste no time and lunge for her when Shadow suddenly throws himself between us. I don't have time to react or stop in time and bite down onto his face, causing him to yelp and whine loudly, and I instantly shift back.

"Shadow! Why the fuck would you do something so stupid?!"

He shifts back and lays on the floor, crying and holding his face. I kneel and move his hands to look at his face. He has a deep bite above his eye, and blood is running down his nose and mouth and dripping on the floor.

"God, what have I done? Baby, I'm so sorry, I couldn't stop in time! Why would you run in between us?!"

"You would've killed her, and then you would've been killed. I was trying to save you."

"Mallory, back up. Now."

I look at Fergus, and tears spill over my eyes.

"What? I would never hurt him. You know that!"