Unhappily Ever After

Chapter 28 - Don't Cry Over Spilt Blood

"I think that's enough," a new voice called. "Ten against one?"

Half of the flockies turned to look again. The other half kept their eyes fixed on me; they were over the interruptions, and they just wanted to finish the kill. I risked a glance at the newcomer — no, newcomers. Tom stood at the head of an entire raiding team. Lee's raiding team, all of whom knew me and had fought with me before.

Maybe I wouldn't die in this field after all.

"Cowards," he said quietly. And I could see that single word bite deeper than my teeth had ever managed. The closest, the ones who had been baiting me, seemed to physically recoil. Most of them slunk backwards, because they were now caught between my jaws and a small army. Suddenly, it was not in their interests to provoke a fight.

I growl-yipped in the hunting speak for a question. It could be where, who, what ­­­– it didn't matter. Wolves didn't differentiate between them. Three heartbeats passed before Eira answered me from the other side of the car, and I could finally breathe properly. She was okay. Better than okay, even, because a dark pelt appeared beside the bonnet, weaving through the packlings with careless impunity. Alex followed in her wake with his tail sweeping back and forth.

Eira stopped beside me and rubbed her shoulder along my ribs, heedless of the open wounds. She was bleeding, too, but less so than I was, and mainly from a bite to the base of her skull. It wasn't fair, really ­– she was scrawny, a smaller target. I caught one of her ears and chewed it, and she snapped at me playfully.

Tom seemed to be waiting for instructions. The packlings seemed to be waiting for a way to back down without looking like pansies all over again. So I gave all of them what they wanted.

"Could you speak for me?" I asked Tom.

His lips twitched. "Of course."

So I spoke the words into the link, and Tom said them aloud.

"Your pack has been recognised," he told the packlings. "You're not welcome here anymore. Go back to the village and wait for Vik. He might be a while — he's stranded in the Silverstones because I... I mean Rhodric, here, stole his car, as you can see."

Some of them threw me dirty looks.

"Didn't you hear? Take your bastard flockie arses back to where you belong."

"What about our share of the ransom?" one of them demanded through the link.

Tom raised his eyebrows at me before relaying the next part, but I just stared back until he decided it wasn't worth the fight. "The offer was ten thousand to any rogue. And, thanks to your Alpha, none of you are rogues."

I looked beyond Tom, catching the attention of Lee's raiders, and nodded my head once. Most of them shifted on the spot, just to show the packlings that we were serious.

"If you don't get a move on, your friends are going to bleed out."

These words were his own, and he was referring to the three wolves who were lying motionless at my feet. None of their wounds would be fatal ... as long as they got stitches in the next twenty minutes. The flockies must have realised it, too, because two of them shifted back and pulled on their discarded clothes.

Between them, they dragged the injured wolves into the back seat and the boot. I couldn't help wondering whether Vik would be more pissed off about his car being nicked or the bloodstained upholstery.

The rest of the flockies banded together, and the raiders stepped back to give them a clear route into the woods. Within a minute, they were lost from sight. I could feel my sides heaving as I struggled to keep breathe normally. Too fast, too erratic. My body was trying to fill my empty veins with air.