Wolf Girl (Book 3)

Chapter 7: Carys

"What do you think I'm trying to do? I'm trying to help her!" I yell furiously.

"She needs you to stay safe, if you keep on this way you will only do yourself further damage," he lets go of me.

"And I need her alive."

I make another attempt to run but he grabs me by my hips and slings me over his shoulder just like Rhydian did.

    Rhydian was just trying to keep me out of harm's way, and that is exactly what Aran is trying to do now, but I'm the only one who can stop Ingrid from hurting anyone else. I'm the one she has a problem with, if I just let her have me, maybe she'll leave everyone alone and tell them where Bryn is.

    Ingrid's agility is vastly underestimated, she's not big, but she's strong and moves faster than lightning. She could probably take Aran, maybe even Alric if it was one on one. I suppose it makes sense, Jana said Meinir taught her everything she knows.

    Aran carries me back to camp and I don't stop screaming the whole way. Until I realize that everyone will think I'm losing my mind already, and I can't have that, especially not at a time like this. He puts me down and I push him away one last time. He's about to retaliate but I throw my hands up in surrender, knowing that he's right. If I keep fighting him, I'll be no good to anyone. I angrily walk back to the tent where mum and dad are standing staring at me. They think I've lost it again too.

I let out another strained cough, "He won't let me help, he called me weak," frustrated tears form in my eyes.

    "You are weak, Cariad. You're injured, exhausted, you should be resting," Mum pulls me in for a hug but I jerk away from her. "Come ins-"

    "I'm fine! I'm not relapsing! I know that's what you all think, and yeah okay I'm not making it very believable by acting like this, but you know what it's like when the people you love are in danger. You would act the same way. I'm terrified mum, and no one will let me do anything to help!"

Mum starts to cry, "We're trying to help you!"

I hate seeing mum this way, "I'm sorry," I say, and reach for her hands, "I didn't mean for any of this to happen, please don't cry."

    "Oh Cariad, it's not your fault, none of this was your fault. Okay?" She hugs me again, and I let her, "Just take a big breath for me, remember the exercises that Dr Stevens showed you?"

She and dad stand with me as I focus on a few deep breaths, and push away the panic attack that has been building up inside me for days.

"Better?" Dad asks.

"Yeah," I hug him and mum.

"Bryn's in the tent," Mum says, "Maddy went to gather herbs for me and she found him in one of the caves."

    "Oh my God, is he okay? Is he hurt?" I pull the curtain back to go and see my little brother.

    "Carys, wait," Dad says, but I ignore him and step inside.

    Bryn lies completely still, pale as a ghost, unconscious. Across his torso is a long, gaping wound. His chest moves up and down so fast, he squirms and lets out a quiet moan.

"Bryn?" I say, taking a step closer to him.

    "Ceri, he's burning up," Maddy crouches next to him and dabs at a gash that stretches from his shoulder down to his belly.

    "The remedies should be improving his condition," she and dad kneel beside him, "They should have prevented an infection from spreading."

I drop to my knees next to my brother, "I'll kill her for this," I take his clammy hand, "I swear to god I'll kill her Bryn, she won't get away with this," I seethe at the thought of Ingrid doing this to him.

    "He'll be okay, your mum knows what she's doing," Dad sits next to me, "He just needs time to recover."

I grit my teeth and try to keep my wolf at bay for now, "I'll kill her."

I have to get to Jana and Rhydian, find Ingrid, and tear her to shreds. It's the least she deserves with what she's putting my pack through.

    "Carys," Maddy looks at me, "Your mouth."

Everyone looks at me, so I raise a hand to my face, and it comes away bloody. I start coughing again and clot lands in my hand. I ignore it, and while everyone is too distracted looking for a rag to wipe my mouth with, I start sprinting out of the tent and into the forest.

    I tear through the woods, praying that they've managed to hold their own against her. I look through the trees and see a faint glow of red hair on the ground. Jana lies in the dirt unconscious. As I get closer, I see Rhydian and Ingrid fighting in wolf form. Jana stays completely still on the ground. Alric and Aran are challenging Tove and Beca. They all transform.

"Jana?" I reach her, and drop to her side, "Jana, wake up!" I plead.

The others all continue fighting, biting, scratching and punching on each other, and I can't take another second of it.

"STOP!" I scream.

Rhydian transforms back when he sees me, and kicks Ingrid backwards. She stumbles into Tove, and Aran launches Beca backwards too, and they all fall into a pile. They transform back.

Ingrid brushes herself off and looks right at me, "I TOLD YOU WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU TOLD," she's angry, but she's crying too.

She charges at me, and knocks me flat on my back. She doesn't hesitate to start throwing punches. In between the blows to my face, she makes sure to knee me in the ribs, causing more blood to come spurting out of my throat as I cough. I try to hold her off, but I'm losing the strength to fight back.

    "Carys!" I hear Jana's voice and look over to see Alric has managed to rouse her.

Aran and Rhydian are holding Tove and Beca back. It's a fair fight between them, but me against Ingrid, it's bound to end in blood. My blood. Ingrid wraps her hands around my throat just as I try to yell out Jana's name. She screams for me again. I choke on Ingrid's mighty force; everything starts to blur and darken.

One thought swims through my head before the darkness consumes me; if I had just told my family what she did in the first place, then maybe the pack could have dealt with her before all of this. Jana wouldn't be hurt, and Bryn wouldn't be hanging on to life by a thread. This is how it's going to end. With one mistake. One stupid mistake.