The Hunger Games: Staying True. (Completed)

Chapter Twenty; The Right Thing. [Edited]

"Peeta!"

The wolf goes straight for Peeta's throat, and I launch myself after her.

If he didn't have the good sense to throw himself back, she would have got a mouthful of jugular.

But he does, and I'm quick enough to catch her, my arms locking around her throat, our bodies smashing together with enough force to bruise us both. I feel like I've been struck by lightning - every single bone in my body gives a sharp jolt of pain.

We hit the ground rolling, and the wolf is snarling, straining to get back at Peeta.

"Stop!" I holler at her, wrestling to get her huge body under mine, but she's having none of it. "Stop it, you stupid creature!"

Again, she ignores me, tossing her body this way and that to dislodge me. But I hang on tight, trying to get on top of her, both of us vying for dominance. She's stronger than me, bigger, wilder, and my old injuries still ache, but I won't allow her to get to him.

I get a mouthful of fur as we tussle in the mud, and I jam my knees and elbows into her sides, hopefully bringing her to her sense, trying to tell her with my hollers to stop, that he's safe, that she can't hurt him.

She gives a particularly vicious snarl, and I feel a searing pain in my leg as a claw tears through my trousers and the skin underneath.

My cry of pain is short and sharp, but the wolf releases a whine in response, and her unyielding body goes slack suddenly. I pause long enough to decide whether or not she's waiting to go again for Peeta before I roll off her.

She leaps to her feet, starting back towards him with a low growl.

"Enough!" I snap, rolling until I'm blocking him from view, we're nose to nose, her eyes as pitch black as mine are bright green.

She snarls right in my face.

"No." I tell her, my voice hard as stone and sharp as steel, "Not him."

Again she growls, moves to dart around me, but I block her on my knees.

She looks at me, long and hard, then looks behind me towards him. She gives a snort of disapproval.

Don't trust him, her eyes say.

"Not him." I tell her again, firmer.

She whines, a sound full of echoing pain, and gives me another look that I think urges me to change my mind. I shake my head, and she gives Peeta a very menacing snarl.

When she turns back to me, her eyes grow sad, and she pads forwards to nudge at my cheek with her nose, gives me a lasting stare, before she turns and walks away, slowly at first, but in only a moment she's running, and soon she's no longer visible through the trees.

I'm still gazing after her when there's a hand on my arm.

His grip is gentle and so is he as he pulls me carefully to my feet, like I might be quite fragile and need to be handled with care.

"Emerald?"

"I'll miss her."

I'm still standing stunned at the sudden departure of my faithful companion, but when my eyes leave the distance, it's his face I find staring down at me.

"Peeta?" My voice is full of confusion.

"The one and only." He gives me a small grin.

***

"Honestly, what the fuck?" I shove away from him, stumbling out of the ditch we're stood in and away from the blast sight of his arrival.

"I expected a warmer welcome." He says, pacing after me.