Page 504 of Once Upon a Fable

How many times had I seen that face on myself, on Jareth, on Wes, Maliki, and Neo? It looked manic and ferocious but beneath its show of violence was nothing but gut-churning fear.

“Who the hell tied you up out here, huh?” My hands curled. “Someone left you to die.”

The dog sneezed with its gums curled high over its teeth. Its snarling increased with warning.

I ducked to my haunches, holding out my hand for it to sniff. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

It growled louder, its claws digging into the dirt as its body twisted and coiled.

I knew the risk.

I recognized the signs of something so far retreated into its mind that only savagery remained. But I still reached out. I still tried to free him.

Grabbing the rope by its neck, I tugged a little.

The dog spun and bit me. Its fangs sank into my forearm, sending myown howl threading with his. “Shit!” Ripping my arm back, the dog came with me, its jaw clamped around my flesh, not willing to let me go.

Pain flared.

Every part of me wanted to punch it in the head so it let me go.

I raised my free hand.

I curled my fist.

But then I made eye contact with the rabid mutt, and I couldn’t do it.

Everything hit me like an avalanche.

The gala.

The midnight run.

Quell and Gemma and every fucking thing.

And I gave in.

I found a kindred, fucked-up soul deep in the forest, and it calmed me. I found the peace I’d been chasing, even while my blood flowed down its teeth. He thrashed and jerked, shaking me like I was his prey to tear apart.

I clenched my jaw and let him do what he needed. I let him take out his trauma. To hate on a man who’d done this to him. To get his revenge on a master who was meant to take care of him, not fucking leave him to rot in the woods.

Tears came to my eyes as he sank his teeth deeper.

Pain burned through me.

“It’s okay,” I whispered. “I know what it’s like to be betrayed. To be lied to. Beaten. Abandoned.”

A growl rumbled deep in his chest as it thrashed me again.

More pain radiated hotly through my arm.

In some sick way, it’d been so long since I’d felt pain that I liked it. I enjoyed the burn. The sting. The sensation of being alive after so much.

The dog gave no sign of letting me go, and the strangest thing happened.

The anger inside me disappeared. The rage, the confusion, the fear that I’d never be whole vanished all thanks to this rangy, skinny canine.

I saw myself in him.