The Wolf Came on Christmas (Johanna and Alexander) novel Chapter 88

Chapter 88-1

After a few minutes, Nika said something foul in German, very slowly:

“There he is.” she murmured after the outburst, baring her teeth. To my great surprise, I discovered that she also had sharp fangs, although I hadn’t seen them before. “That shitty panther is still alive. I thought Richie had hurt him badly enough for him to bleed out…”

“Where is he?” I asked, frantic.

“In a tree, outside the clearing. He’s watching the boy. He knows someone is going to come for him at any moment. I think he has something in his hand… I can’t make out what it is.” She paused and frowned without stopping her observation through the scope. She turned a knob above the lens tube-I assumed to increase the zoom. Then she went pale and spat through clenched teeth: “Damn it, it’s a detonator!”

“What!?”

I pushed myself up on my elbows. I was about to run toward the clearing, but Nika grabbed my arm again and shoved me face-first into the snow. I looked at her with the same rising fury with which she snapped back at me:

“DON’T MOVE!” she hissed, furious. “If we alert the panther, he’ll detonate whatever he’s set up! We don’t know if the explosives are on the child or somewhere else. Why don’t you calm

down for a moment?”

I think all the air left my lungs when she mentioned the possibility that there were explosive charges on Andre’s body. The world started spinning, and I had to press my face into the snow for a moment to recover from the nausea the panic caused me. André, blown to pieces. I bet that would have been a magnificent revenge for those heartless felines. No, no- no! I didn’t want to think about that. Fortunately, it didn’t take me long to clear my mind; but my eyes were already full of tears and my face was freezing-this situation was completely beyond my control and understanding.

“What are we going to do, Nika?” I whimpered, disoriented.

“Wait.” she told me, as if nothing.

I immediately flew into a rage, but what Nika said next (combined with her smug smile) calmed me again:

“Oh, good. There’s Alejandro. And over there is Rex. I think Rex has already seen the panther- or at least sensed him, he’s moving closer. And do you know what the best part is, Johanna?”

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<Chapter 88-1

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Nika turned to look at me again, with a proud expression. At least she called me by my name and didn’t sound contemptuous. I clenched my teeth a little, because it seemed to me she was overlooking the most important thing of all:

“You have a rifle! SHOOT HIM!” I roared, irritated.

“Straight ahead.”

She turned back to the scope, and before anything else could happen, she squeezed the trigger with all the satisfaction in the world. The shot sounded like a small muffled explosion in my ears, a thunderclap that echoed across the whole mountain.

At first, I thought it was just the resonance of the shot bouncing through the air, but…

Then I realized that the echo following the shot wasn’t from the shot itself, but from another kind of detonation. The hidden explosive charges had gone off, opening a circular hole in the frozen surface of a small lagoon hidden beneath several layers of thick snow, dry branches, rotten leaves, and pine needles.

Andre was no longer there.

He had just sunk into the water.

I don’t know exactly how much time passed between the small explosion and Alexander’s roar as he came running out of the trees toward the hole left in the ice. As for me, I jumped up and ran toward it too, frantic with fear.

“ANDRÉ!!” I thought, horrified.

Because I could see his tiny stiff hands coming out of the water among shards of broken ice several centimeters thick, and my tongue was dry, stuck to the roof of my mouth. My voice was trapped in my chest. I almost ran out of breath; I felt unable to control my own body. All I wanted was to reach him and pull him out of there.

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Was he drugged? Nothing would have surprised me.

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<Chapter 88-2

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I swallowed another scream and finally pulled out the knife. In a split second, Álvaro saw it and twisted in midair-he was going to swipe my hand clean off.

A huge werewolf with fur in shades of gray, reddish-brown, and black appeared from my right and stepped in front of me, taking the panther’s swipe full in the muzzle. A horrible yelp filled the air-the whine of a struck dog-and a dull impact, more thuds.

It had to be Rex.

He staggered back a step and shoved me in the chest with his enormous white-stained claw-hand, pushing me away.

I fell, but that didn’t stop me from getting up and stepping back again.

Álvaro landed on Agent Aguilera, his feet planted on Rex’s’ broad shoulders and his clawed hands buried in the wolf’s furry neck. Rex absorbed the impact with tremendous strength, though he almost fell onto his back. It was terrifying to see the black beast open its jaws to roar and bare its teeth, ears pinned to its head (one of them-half of the other was missing).

Rex howled and his long arms wrapped around the black monster’s neck. He threw himself sideways into the snow, and they rolled over the brittle ice in fury, slashing, punching, and trying to shove each other with their feet-especially the panther…

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