Bloodbond

Chapter 25

Gabriel's shift was nearly instantaneous. It had been a blurr to me; one second, he resembled the man that I knew and the next, his wolf had taken over. He lept up to meet Walker and their bodies crashed together in a whirlwind of limbs before they fell to the floor, with Gabriel on top.

They were mere feet from me and there was nothing I could do about it. I was tied to the support beam, which kept me from moving clear of the line of fire. The most I could do was creep behind the beam so that there would at least be something standing between me and two fighting werewolves, not that a beanpole would offer up much protection against them.

It didn't take long for Walker to recover from his position, and he took his claws and slashed at Gabriel's throat. Thankfully, he jerked back just in time, but doing so allowed Walker to pull himself from underneath Gabriel's body. They both circled each other, neither one making a move. I got the feeling that they were trying to get a read on what to expect from their opponent.

I worried about Gabriel's wound. While it wasn't nearly as pronounced in his wolf form, it was still there and I knew that it was effecting his ability to fight. His movements were slightly jerky and blood still dripped from his stomach. I had no doubt that Walker would use this to his advantage.

Looking at each one of their faces as they eyed each other, terrified me. Animal or not, the pure hate and desire to rip the other to shreds was clear. If I didn't know and love Gabriel with all my heart, I would have feared for my life. As it was, I only feared for Gabriel's. The faint noise of fighting that came in through the door told me that the rest of the pack was still grappling with Walker's men, but it just wasn't as important.

What mattered most was the outcome of the battle in this room. If Gabriel went down, so would his pack. He was their leader, the man they looked to in times of need. Walker would not let them go if he succeeded in taking down Gabriel. Because of this, Gabriel had to win. There were no other options.

I watched with bated breath as Walker finally advanced and attempted to kick out at Gabriel. His leg skimmed the side of Gabriel's head, missing by mere inches. The opening that this created allowed Gabriel to lock his jaw around Walker's upper thigh. The minute his teeth made contact, Walker screamed in pain, the sound nearly shattering my ear drums. The pain only seemed to amplify his anger towards Gabriel. He slashed his claw down the side of Gabriel's neck, causing him to release Walker's thigh and dance back a few steps.

Because he was covered in hair and they never stopped moving, I had a hard time trying to see if the fresh wound on Gabriel's neck was serious or not. Either way, I found myself holding my breath, worried that Gabriel might not make it. My focus was solely on the two giant wolf-like figures dodging back and forth in the middle of the room. Their claws and sharp teeth lashing out at one another, trying to cause as much damage as possible.

Blood was being splattered across the floor and it was impossible to tell who it belonged to, as both were sporting open wounds.

At one point, Gabriel launched himself at Walker's throat, but Walker lept to the side to avoid the attack, bringing him just a few feet from where I sat behind my beam. The closeness of Walker's fearsome teeth and strength snapped me out of my fearful bystander role and I tried shifting back further, but was brought up short by the rope around my hands, securing me to the beam.

This was a huge problem. I knew that being so close probably made Gabriel nervous, since he needed to watch out for me during the fight when he should be focusing all of his attention on Walker. Gabriel was injured and they weren't small cuts that could easily be healed; they were wounds that impeded his fighting abilities so that any further distraction could potentially cost him his life. The blood that could now be seen pooling in small puddles around the room told the story well enough.