3 - ATTACK

The world spun in a dizzying blur of shattered glass and crunching metal before everything slammed to a halt and left me hanging upside down against the crushing grip of my seatbelt.

My ears rang with a high-pitched whine, and the horrible noise drowned out the steady drumming of the rain against the crumpled roof of the SUV.

I blinked hot blood out of my eyes, and I gagged as the thick stench of leaking gasoline filled the cramped space.

The dashboard sparked with a hiss of dying electronics, and the faint glow illuminated the horrific damage to the front of the vehicle.

Our driver was slumped over the steering wheel, and a quick glance at his twisted posture told me he was already gone.

"Liora," a rough voice groaned from the driver's side, and the sound barely registered through the awful ringing in my head.

I turned my head an inch, and I hissed through my teeth because sharp pain flared down my neck and across my bruised ribs.

Darian hung beside me with a nasty gash across his forehead, but the bleeding was already starting to slow down as his wolf healing kicked in to repair the damage.

He shook his head to clear the disorientation, and his glowing eyes snapped to mine with immediate panic.

"D-Darian, the gas," I stuttered out, and I clawed at the jammed buckle of my seatbelt with shaking fingers because the chemical smell was making me dizzy.

He didn't waste time arguing with the mangled buckle, and he simply reached over and snapped the thick nylon strap with his bare hands before catching me as I dropped toward the shattered ceiling.

I hit the broken glass hard and grunted, and Darian was already kicking his heavy boots against the crushed frame of the passenger door.

The metal shrieked in protest until the hinges finally snapped and sent the door tumbling out into the muddy ditch.

Darian grabbed my jacket and dragged me out of the wreckage into the freezing rain, and we scrambled up the slick embankment while the wrecked SUV hissed behind us.

I collapsed onto my hands and knees in the wet grass, and I coughed up a mouthful of smoke while my lungs burned for oxygen.

The freezing downpour soaked through my clothes instantly, and the mud coated my hands as I struggled to find my balance on the steep hill.

"Are you hurt?" Darian asked, and he gripped my shoulders to pull me upright while his eyes darted nervously toward the dark treeline.

"I will live," I wheezed out, and I wiped the mud from my face just as a low, wet growl echoed through the pine trees.

The terrifying sound made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and I froze when three massive shadows slunk out from the darkness of the woods.

These were not the disciplined wolves from Kiefer's pack, and their fur was matted with filth while their yellow eyes burned with a starving, rabid desperation.

The wind shifted and carried the rancid smell of rotting meat toward us, and I pressed a hand over my nose while my stomach rolled in disgust.

"Rogues," Darian muttered, and he shoved me behind his broad back while he bared his teeth at the approaching monsters.

"Run, Liora," he ordered, and his voice deepened into a guttural snarl as his bones began to crack and pop under his skin.

"I am not leaving you here to die," I yelled back over the rain, and I dug my boots into the mud while I reached for the pocket of my cargo pants.

"Get the fuck out of here!" Darian roared, and his human words dissolved into a terrifying howl as he forced a painful shift and exploded into a massive, silver-furred wolf.

I had never seen him shift so fast, and he didn't have a choice because the largest rogue was already lunging through the air with its jaws aimed straight for his throat.

Darian met the rogue in mid-air with a sickening crunch of bone and muscle, and the two massive beasts crashed into the mud while tearing at each other with lethal intent.

The sheer violence of the clash shook the ground beneath my feet, and the sound of snapping jaws echoed over the howling wind.

I scrambled backward and pulled my silver-laced wrench from my pocket, and my fingers gripped the cold metal so tight my knuckles turned white.

I watched the two wolves roll through the wet grass, and the rogue scratched frantically at Darian's face while Darian tried to secure a hold on its neck.

A second rogue circled the fight and kept its belly low to the ground, and its rabid eyes locked onto Darian's exposed flank while he was busy pinning the leader.

"Darian, behind you!" I screamed, and the rain and the snarling drowned out my warning as the second rogue coiled its powerful hind legs to strike.

I didn't think about the danger or the fact that I was just a human, and I simply ran forward and threw myself into the chaotic mess of teeth and claws.

The rogue launched itself toward Darian's blind spot, and I slid across the wet grass and swung my heavy wrench with every ounce of strength I had left in my bruised body.

The silver connected with the side of the rogue's skull with a loud crack, and the beast let out a high-pitched yelp as the metal seared its skin.

The force of the blow sent a painful shockwave up my arm, and the wrench slipped from my wet fingers and tumbled into the mud.

The rogue tumbled to the side and thrashed wildly in the dirt, and the distraction gave Darian exactly the opening he needed to finish his own fight.

Darian clamped his jaws down on the leader's neck and ripped its throat out, and a spray of hot, dark blood hit the grass before the rogue went limp.

He spun around and stalked toward the injured rogue that I had just hit, and he didn't hesitate before driving his heavy paws into its chest and snapping its neck with a brutal bite.

The third rogue realized it was outnumbered and let out a terrified whimper before turning its tail and sprinting back into the safety of the dark forest.

The sudden silence was deafening, and the only sounds left were the heavy rain hitting the trees and my own stuttering breaths echoing in my ears.

I dropped to my knees in the mud and wrapped my arms around my chest, and I squeezed my eyes shut while the adrenaline slowly drained out of my shaking limbs.

The reality of how close we had just come to dying settled over me, and my chest heaved as I struggled to force air into my burning lungs.

I hated feeling this vulnerable, and I hated the way my heart hammered painfully against my ribs while I waited for the panic to fade.

Darian shifted back into his human form, and he stood naked in the rain for a brief second before pulling a torn, blood-stained shirt from a piece of luggage that had scattered from the wreck.

He pulled the ruined fabric over his head and walked over to me, and he dropped to his knees in the mud so he could check my face for injuries.

"I told you to run," Darian said, and his rough voice lacked any real anger as he gently wiped a streak of rogue blood from my cheek.