Amber Silverblood: Silverpack

Chapter Forty Nine

I snarled at the Nandi Bear and crouched low, ready to fight. My body was filled with so much strength, so much power, that I felt like I could tear the planet itself apart. Becky wouldn't even be a challenge. This impudent animal had invaded my territory, and now I was going to make her pay! Becky quickly overcame her surprise and growled back at me.

DIE! I screamed inside my head, and charged at her. Becky sprinted back at me, and we met halfway. I immediately reared up on my back legs, swiping my claws at her face, and Becky retaliated by driving her shoulder into my gut. I fell over backwards, but rolled back to my paws with reflexes faster than I'd ever had before, even as a werewolf, and darted in to snap at her throat.

Becky backed off for a second, and then roared at me and pounced. Her full weight collided with me, knocking me over again and sending us both rolling through the snow. Her claws raked at me anywhere they could reach, slicing open skin with every haphazard swipe, but I found I could barely feel the pain. There wasn't room for anything in my brain besides anger. It was what fueled me, strengthened me, but I hated it at the same time. Becky was the only living thing I could see, which meant she must be the cause of it. Once I killed her, it would go away and I'd feel better.

With that encouraging thought, I kicked her in the stomach with both my back legs, sending her flying through the wintery night. She collided with a tree in midair, reducing it to splinters before crashing back down into the snow. I got up again and leaped on top of her, wasting no time in burying my teeth in her throat. Blood gushed out from her veins and onto my tongue, only serving to excite me more. Once I finished her off, I was going to eat her!

Becky roared again, and smacked me across the snout with her paw. I tried to keep hold of her, clamping my jaws shut as tight as I could, and a big chunk of her flesh and fur tore free when I went skidding away from her. I spat it out and got back up just as she came charging at me again. One mouthful wasn't worth my time when there was an entire feast to be had! I turned slightly just as the Nandi Bear slammed into me again, and this time I was prepared. She managed to push me back a few feet, but I braced myself and threw my weight back against her. We struggled against each other for a few seconds, neither one of us clearly stronger than the other, and I snarled into her ear.

DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE! I wanted to yell at her, but my wolfish mouth couldn't form the human words. It didn't matter anyway. I wasn't human. I was a wolf— a giant wolf. For all I knew, that was the all I'd ever been. I dimly remembered something about a scrawny, cowardly redheaded human girl, but I pushed that out of my mind. Whoever she was, she didn't matter. Only the giant hyena and I mattered, and soon enough the hyena would be dead and my belly would be full.

Then the hyena pulled a dirty move. Reaching its claws down into the snow, it threw a pawful of it into my face, blinding me. In the split second that I was caught off guard, it darted backwards, and I fell forward into the snow, unable to catch my balance so suddenly. I started to get up, but then a crushing weight came down on top of me, and a set of sharp teeth buried themselves in my neck. The scent of my own blood mingled with the hyena's as I struggled to throw it off, to no avail. She was too heavy for me lift— so instead, I rolled over. Our weight was suddenly reversed, with me on top of the hyena, both of us on our backs. I curled my neck up as high as I could, and then brought back down, smashing the hyena's head against the ground. That stunned it enough to loosen its grip so I could escape, and I rolled off of it. My throat was bleeding profusely, but I ignored it and sucked in even more moonlight. The forest went pitch black for a couple of seconds, and when the light came back my neck didn't hurt anymore.

GET UP, I thought angrily at the hyena lying in front of me. NOT DONE FIGHT NOW GET UP!

A few seconds later, it groaned and rolled over, getting back to its paws. It growled at me, eyes alight with rage. It didn't compare to my own rage, though. That's why I was going to win. That's why I was dominant. It didn't matter how big it was, I was the huntress here and it was the prey. It swiped its claws at me again, but I merely leaned back out of its way. Then, before it could regain its balance, I pounced. Yet again, we went rolling through the snow, and suddenly the ground dropped out from beneath us. We'd gone over the edge of a hill, and we bounced, slid, and rolled the whole way down, colliding with trees every other second. We came to a rest at the bottom, still snapping and clawing at each other, and my ears perked up when I heard a groan coming from above us. The hyena and I both paused and turned to look just as one of the trees we'd run into fell over, completely uprooted by our speed and weight, and came rolling down the hill after us.