Blood Burden

« Chapter Seventeen »

She could hear them. 

Several paws thundering through the forest, echoing from tree to tree, as they surged forward like an army ready to defeat their prey. She knew her pack had little chance to outrun these rogues, they were wild for blood, so she had to provide a distraction. She waited until her pack had shifted and sprinted towards the pack that would hopefully provide them safety. 

She knelt down and fur sprouted from the pores of her skin. She felt like a warrior placing on their armor for a long and bloody battle. She was by no means a warrior. However, she knew how to play a game of cat and mouse. It may not work forever but it would buy her pack time. 

'What are you doing?!' Fabian shouted over the mind-link when he realized she wasn't among their group. 

'Get them to safety and stay there.' She ordered with a deep breath before closing the mindlink. She didn't need any distractions, she needed to focus. 

Her wolf understood she would need all the strength she could get and she felt the power surging through her veins. She prayed to the moon goddess for quick paws. Shaking out her fur and lifting her tail in bravery, she crouched and waited for the first rogue. 

She could hear her heartbeat in her ears, it thrummed like a hummingbird's wings, and she tried to will her insides to cease its twisting. But, she was literally facing death. One mistake would end her life. Not that it would really be that bad. She had lived long enough to experience life. 

The first rogue appeared from the forest, then five more, she snarled loud enough to catch their attention, and then she took off. She ran straight towards them for a breath of a second and then she veered beneath their swiping claws and darted off into the forest. She heard them growl in anger and their heavy paws chasing her. 

Her paws barely touched the earth, she flew over the land with her wolf sharing conscience. She soared over fallen logs, dodged dense bushes, and avoided large boulders. Weaving through the trunks of the tree like an expert, small pieces of bark tumbled from her coat as she cut some of the turns close. She only ran a few hundred feet before she looped back, following the stench trail of rogues. 

She felt nipping a hairs length from her hindlegs and she made a hard right turn, skinning beneath a large log. She heard a pained yelp from the rogue behind her but she didn't look back. She had to keep her focus forward. She stretched her legs, forcing them to take up more ground, her muscles were burning but adrenaline fueled her. 

She caught up with the rest of the rogues from behind. She tore by one of them, who wasn't paying attention, and she bit his shoulder with the speed of lightning before veering away from his claws. His snarling caught the attention of other rogues. She counted in her head. Fourteen. 

With more than half of them chasing her, she prayed her pack had made it to safety. 

She could only run for so long and by the twelfth minute, she could feel fatigue settling into her bones. She wasn't exactly the fittest wolf and she was still recovering from malnourishment. She hadn't really thought her plan through because now she was certain to be torn apart. 

She risked turning her head sideways, they were gaining on her. Some were almost running parallel with her. They were surrounding her with glinting teeth and crazed eyes. They knew they were going to catch her and her heart leaped in fear. She wasn't afraid of death but she definitely wasn't going down without a fight. And she was overly fond of the idea of dying in the most painful way possible. 

Suddenly, she saw the rest of the rogues running back her way. She almost faltered in her step. They were chasing another wolf. A wolf that certainly wasn't a rogue. He was running full speed towards her. He barked.