Chapter 17

**** Alyssa ****

Mustering the remnants of my energy, I turn and lunge over the cliff’s edge. For one wild moment, I feel gloriously free. Until a split second later, a sharp pain grips my arm at the elbow. I flail and twist like a hooked fish on a line, desperate to wiggle free, but I’m definitely stuck. I know it’s him pulling me back up. With his jaws clamping tight and his teeth puncturing my skin, I can feel my skin tearing from my futile resistance. He tosses me back on the dirt and away from the cliff edge like a discarded flipping chew toy. I roll across the ground, my leg muscles aching from the run, my chest heaving, my skin burning from the abrasions, and now my arm is a bloody ragged mess.

He steps toward me and sniffs my arm, I see sadness swirling in the golden orbs of his wolf. Maybe his wolf is less of a dickwad; still, on impulse, I yank my arm away from his nose. I do not want to be touched by either him or his wolf in any way or ever again. He whines before backin