She tore into the lead wolf with a furious growl, ripping his shoulder apart. Two wolves moved to flank her while she fought, and I started firing. The wolves were fast, but not a thousand feet per second fast. I put three rounds into the one on the right before he dropped, then shifted aim to the black wolf on the left. I got off one shot when I saw a blur out of the corner of my eye; the next thing I knew, a brown wolf had my forearm in his grip and my gun was scattering away on the road.
I screamed in pain as his teeth ripped into my arm. Instead of trying to pull away, I leaned down and bit him across his nose and jaw. He whined in pain, but didn’t let go so I used the good fingers on my left hand and poked his left eye hard. That did the trick, he let go and I pulled the knife free from the sling and sliced his throat.
There was a growl from behind me and I turned to see another wolf launching himself towards me, jaws open for my neck. I dropped to the ground, raising my knife into his soft belly as he flew over me. He howled in agony as his momentum split his guts open, spraying blood on me. He landed hard and didn’t get up.
I looked over to where Remi was holding her ground in the uphill ditch against two wolves. Running forward, I distracted one long enough for her to get his throat and rip it out. She was bleeding from multiple places and her right front leg was hanging funny.
The second wolf turned towards me and charged. I braced myself, silver knife brandished, when he suddenly stopped and looked at me. He was a huge black wolf, in his prime, with a white tip on his tail and a white streak down the center of his chest. His eyes were a bright green, and he blinked a few times as he tilted his head to the side and sniffed deeply. He started to circle me, sniffing the air while I tried to move between him and Remi. He wasn’t growling at me, he was whining.
I heard the diesel engine fire up as my truck accelerated forward. Sparing a glance at the road, I could see Renee in the driver’s side, she was standing on the gas pedal and holding tight to the steering wheel. The truck roared past as I kept my eyes on the threat in front of me. Remi whined behind me and struggled to her feet just as there was a loud crunch. The black wolf stilled, then turned around and ran back into the forest.
I heard the truck squeal to a halt and looked back that way. Darryl lay still on the roadway, surrounded by four dead wolves. I looked back at Remi, she had shifted to her human form and was cradling her broken arm. “Go,” she said. I slid the first aid kit to her as I ran forward to my Beta.
I kept my knife out as I reached them, but I didn’t need it. One had its throat ripped out and the others were all dead, I could see head injuries and bones sticking out. I knelt next to Darryl, my hand moving his wolf’s head aside to see his neck ripped open. He was bleeding out rapidly; his eyes opened and locked on mine, then he gave one long breath and he was gone. “NOOOO!” I grabbed his chest and cried into his fur.
“Is he…” Renee had walked up behind me and put her hand on my back.
“Help your Mom,” I said. She ran back to her while I sat there petting his chest. The fire in my arm stopped my mourning, I was still bleeding and I needed to do something about it. I stood up walked back to them. Looking Remi over, her wounds weren’t that bad but her arm needed to be splinted. “Renee, go back to the truck and grab the ice scraper.” She ran off as I dug through the first aid kit. I found a battle dressing and tore the mylar bag open. It was about four by six inches and had a strip at each corner you used to tie it off. It was also coated with Quickclot, which would help with the bleeding.
Renee came back, and I got her to tear off my sleeve and tie the dressing tight.
Once I was taken care of, I took the snow brush and scraper off, leaving the handle. I placed this along Remi’s forearm, then had Renee hold her still while I wrapped it and her arm with an Ace bandage. Finally, we put her arm in a sling before starting to clean and bandage the other bites and cuts she had.
We helped her back to the truck and into the seat just as a group of Johnson Pack wolves burst onto the scene. The lead wolf shifted, and Doug raced forward to embrace his daughter and check on his mate. I dug through Darryl’s bag and found a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and handed them to him.
“Doc’s coming in the medical van, he’ll be here in ten. Are you all right?” He was busy checking her for injuries.
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “Renee, are you all right?”
“Yes, Mom.” She kind of looked at her like she was being overly protective. “I did fine, I got three of them.”
“WHAT?” Doug looked at her.
“Well, Mom was hurt, Ella was fighting one, and Darryl was being torn apart by three. I put the truck in gear and ran them over.” She looked rather pleased with herself. “I think I killed the most of them.”
“Nope, we tied,” I said. “I got one with the Glock and two with the knife. My last one turned tail and ran off. Your Mom got two, Darryl one.” She high fived me as I hugged her to my side. “You didn’t hurt my truck, did you?”
“I doubt it, that brushguard on front took the impact.” She gave her Dad a hug as he looked down at her with pride.
“Ten on four, you did well. The trackers are already following the one who left,” Doug said. “Where did your security go?”
Remi tried to link them, but they didn’t answer. “Send some people after them, something is wrong. The whole thing was a setup, there’s no way these wolves ambush us here without that guy being a part of it.”
The van arrived, and the three of them plus Doug were loaded in for the short drive back to the Pack hospital. “My truck?”
“One of the men will drive it back.” Doug looked out the window. “Darryl has been wrapped and placed inside, we’ll have his ceremony tonight. What do you want to do with the others?”
I thought about it, they were Pack wolves, not rogues. This was no random attack, this was probably the North Shore pack. “Skin ’em and burn ’em. I’m making a blanket.” We drove off, my mind going back to the mysterious green-eyed wolf as the pain medication started to take effect.