Page 22 of Lies That Bleed
“Tetra, you have to fight it,” Imanaged to get out without falling into sobs. If one human in this world could make me cry, it was the little blonde right in front of me, gripping her cane like an axe. I hadn’t even gotten her a bow and arrow. She had her cane and a hunting knife and a lot of sass. It would have to be enough.
The wolf was staring her in the eyes, and she right back. When I noticed she wasn’t looking away and neither was the wolf, I started to feel slight hope.
“I’m good,” I told Alek, who let go of my arms.
They were locked in a dominance stare, neither backing down.
“Tetra, this is a good match. Whatever strength you have inside of you, he sees that,” I told her. The staring was a good sign. If she was able to hold this wolf’s gaze for this long, it meant they were on even territory for a bonding.
“She,” Tetra corrected me, pulling the twelve-inch hunting blade out from her pack slowly.
Holy crap, this was happening.
She already knew it was a she? I had heard that wolves sort of imprinted their name and gender on you before the bond while the rest of us had to wait until during or after.
With a warrior cry that would have made Elaine proud, Tetra burst from where she had been crouched, dragging her twisted foot behind her, and grappled with the wolf head-on. She was playing this smart, on her knees where she could move freely without heraffected limb getting in the way. With her cane, she cracked the wolf in the jaw and it snarled, snapping at her wrist and taking it into its mouth, shaking it like a ragdoll.
Tetra wailed, but used the concealed knife she had in her other hand to swipe out at its ribcage. I noticed that she was holding back slightly, not wanting to kill the animal, which meant the bond was about to start. She had already felt something on a deeper level with it and didn’t want to end its life, only prove her worth. The wolf went berserk then, snapping out rapidly, biting her anywhere it could.
“Tetra, fight! Show your strength!” I begged, feeling like I would go out of my mind if I had to watch my best friend be mauled to death by a wolf.
Tetra used the hilt of her blade to crack the wolf across the face, and then dropped the knife to the ground in a gesture that said she would fight it no more. She wanted the wolf to live.
This could be seen as a weakness. All I could do was hold my breath.
The wolf tumbled to its side from the blow, and with her bloody arms Tetra grasped the wolf’s neck and yanked her upright, standing much like Meera had. The wolf dangled from her arms like a baby cub, and a starburst of color exploded from it and wrapped around my best friend.
I fell to my knees in relief, feeling like I might justhave to break my no tears streak right here and now, but I held it together.
Beside me, Alek and Roc began to chant Tetra’s name, and laughter bubbled in my throat.
She did it. She was going to be okay. I’d gotten her through The Wilds just as I promised her mother I would.
I glanced behind me to see that Anika was alive as well, and bonded. She lay on the ground with her creature, stroking its honey-colored fur and tracing the red glowing marks that ran along her back. They were both panting, bloody but not broken.
I looked back to Tetra and she was back on the ground now with the wolf curled in her lap. She was stroking her fur and smiling down at it.
“You okay?” I took a step closer and the wolf snapped its head in my direction and growled, its hackles rising.
Tetra bopped her on the nose like a mother cub. “She would never hurt me,” she taught the wolf.
With that, the wolf lay back in her lap and I sagged in relief.
Tetra peered up at me with tears in her eyes. “Aisling, nothing will prepare you for it. It’s not like the books. It’s so much…more.”
My heart beat wildly at her declaration. She looked like a changed woman. Was that possible?
“What’s her name?” I reached out and gave thewolf the back of my hand. She sniffed it, probably smelling Tetra, and licked it once.
Touching another person’s creature without permission was frowned upon, unless in a fight or something like that. It was beyond rude.
Tetra smiled. “Ariyel.”
“Hey.” Roc tapped my arm. “This is great news for Tetra and Anika, but I just saw a crocodile heading this way, so unless you guys want to tangle with that, we gotta move.”
I frowned. A crocodile was literally my worst nightmare of a creature to bond with, and if it drew blood I’d have no choice but to bond or kill it.
“You gonna be okay?” I asked Tetra, not prepared for just leaving her behind.
