Amber Silverblood: Silverpack

Chapter Forty Eight

Digging her claws into the floor, Becky came charging at me from across the room. I closed my eyes, but that didn't do anything to block out the pain when she rammed into me with the force of an out of control truck. She carried me all the way across the room, and a moment later I slammed into Stark's bedroom wall from behind with enough force to knock the air out of my lungs. The thin, brittle drywall was no match for the Becky's strength, though. She burst straight through it like it was made of paper mache, and the next thing I knew I was being battered by an icy cold wind.

Becky jerked her head to the side, throwing me off of her, and I landed in a pile of snow. Dazed and dizzy, I struggled to roll over, and when I did I looked up just in time to see Becky's gigantic paw come flying towards me. It was so big that it struck my face and my entire torso at the same time, sending me flying across Stark's yard. I hit the ground hard, rolling through the snow until I came to a rest, completely buried in the freezing white powder so that I didn't know which way was up. I lay still, pain flashing through my body, and waited. Sure enough, a few seconds later a massive pair of jaws burrowed down into the snow and clamped onto my shoulder. If I'd been able to breathe, I would have screamed, but my lungs were weighed down by too much snow so I just let Becky haul me back out into the frigid night air and hung limp as a rag from her teeth.

"Amber!" I heard somebody yell, but I was in too much pain to focus on their voice.

Becky's teeth were buried in my shoulder, and that hurt plenty, but it seemed like it was getting even worse somehow. I forced my eyes open, and saw that my body was shifting into its wolf form, even with an eleven inch long fang stabbed through it. My muscles contracted, stretched, and grew, only serving to do even more damage to themselves as the tooth tore them apart without even having to move. The worst part was, I couldn't do a thing to stop it. I was in full view of the moon, and my body lapped up its rays heedless of whether I wanted it to or not. I let out a high pitched whine, no longer capable of human speech, and Becky laughed mockingly in reply.

Just end it, I silently begged her. I knew I was being a coward, but... oh, God, it hurt! Just kill me!

Becky looked down her snout at me with her glowing red eyes, and I braced myself for whatever she had planned. Just as she was beginning to draw her head up to throw me again, a loud BANG rang through the night, and Becky lurched to the side. Her jaws opened, and I fell back down into the snow again. Through hazy vision, I saw Becky stumble back a couple steps before regaining her balance. Dark red blood was running down of her shoulder, staining her fur and melting the snow where it pooled around her paws. Baring her teeth, she swung her massive bulk around to face her new enemy. I followed her gaze, and saw a vague shadow standing in the distance. A long, thin object was propped against its shoulder, and even as I watched the tip flared with light and another BANG filled the forest.

Stark!

Becky's head snapped to the side when the second bullet took her in the neck, and even more blood began to gush out. A bullet to the throat would have killed, or at least crippled, pretty much anything else on Earth, but the pain only seemed to piss Becky off even more. Growling, she crouched down and pounced at my alpha, clearing the distance between them in a single bound. Stark reacted like the spring trap he was and spun deftly out of the way. She landed, only missing him by a couple feet, and Stark immediately leveled the gun at her again. Now they were so close that the muzzle actually touched Becky's side as he aimed it, and the bullet had to travel less than an inch before drilling into her skull. Becky howled in pain and swiped at Stark, hitting him on the side and throwing him across the yard. Even as he was careening through the air, he managed to cock the rifle again and fire another shot into her. This one took her in the leg, and it buckled underneath her just as Stark hit the ground and went rolling through the snow until he collided with a tree.