Werewolf Compilations novel Chapter 48

I weave through the trees as the cries of battle shrink behind me. My breathing fills my ears as I try not to fall, tripping on roots and branches. Everything around me seems to close in, threatening to crush me, a feeling so familiar. My mind taunts me, convincing me that if I glance to the side I will see my family slain as I did before.

I want to be home, safe and sound, no longer running through the forest, running for my life and my child's. How can a single man cause so much terror? Does he feel nothing for the pain he has caused my family? Then again, Richard is no man, no wolf, he is something powerful and evil, something that torments children in their dreams. He torments me in my own dreams.

Coming to a stop, my gasping lungs force me against a tree while my legs beg for rest. I lean over, breathing heavy, until sudden movement steals my peace.

My eyes shoot up to the man himself.

"Didn't think you could get away that easy huh?" He strives over with visible cuts and marks on his face. "Come, before I change my mind and hurt you."

I dash behind the tree and push my legs as hard as I can to continue on my run. The sounds of paws smack and thud on the forest floor, telling me that he has shifted into something more dangerous, more unstoppable.

Defeat threatens to overtake me, trying to get me to give in to protect my child, but how safe will my baby be with him? I will not let him hurt me. I will not let Richard take my life from me.

Reaching a hill, my feet slip from the wet ground as rain begins to fall down on me. Trying endlessly to get up and to continue climbing, I fight back screams and shouts of frustration. Why is the world working against me? Why can I not receive one break, one minute of an advantage? My fingers claw at the dirt which is now dampening, turning into a muddy mixture.

Richards teeth clamp down on my ankle, making cries erupt from my throat like a bursting volcano. He drags me and swings me to the side, throwing me against a tree and into forest brush. My hands reach for my wounded ankle, but there is no time to focus on my fresh injury as Richard is stalking closer and closer.

I want to give in, to throw my hands up in defeat. I want to tell that he won, Richard won and I have lost my freedom and chance at happiness.

My head falls to the dirt as tears of exhaustion roll across my face and into my hair, which is now sprawled in the weeds.

"Go away!" I cry. "Go away!"

Before his wolf can steal me away, a quick blur dashes by me, wiping him out of view.

It is Tyler.

With a sudden burst of hope, I struggle to my feet just in time to catch him in a relentlessly fight. Wanting to help take the bastard down, I near but Tyler blocks me after taking an advantage. His eyes dig into mine, praying that I stay away from the difficult brawl.

Jacksons wolf comes flying through the trees and dives in, helping Tyler in anyway possible, more than I ever could.

Teeth, claws, rich, thick fur torn, I fight to look away but I cannot shift my eyes from Tyler as I back away.

Richard is a Lycan, only another beast of his species can wipe him from existence. Tyler, Jackson, they are not his kind, they can fight as much as they want but the only way to kill Richard without being a Lycan would be by natural causes. The look in Tyler's eyes as they meet mine for a split second tells me that he knows, he knows this fight will be endless unless he is the one being ended.

Something not done by a person is the only way. Drowning, heart attack, starving, burning, burning to death. Surely if Richard dies in a fire he cannot survive.