Chapter 41 · And if I don't?

"And if I don't?"

"I'll drag you."

"You'd really drag an Alpha commander through a wolf attack?"

"I dragged you through a checkpoint while you bled on me. Don't make me repeat myself."

The black wolf sprang.

Rayne fired twice. The first bullet grazed its ear. The second hit its front leg.

It still reached us.

I drove my knife into the ice and kicked the wolf's chest as it came down. Rayne seized the back of its neck and twisted. The animal snapped at his face, teeth flashing inches from his throat.

"Break the mark!" I yelled.

"I'm trying!"

"Try harder!"

The wolf's claws ripped through Rayne's sleeve. Blood ran down his arm.

The sight of it ripped something loose in me.

My lungs pulled in air that tasted like iron and snow.

The valley narrowed.

The guns faded.

The screaming faded.

All I could hear was the pup crying behind me and Rayne's heartbeat stuttering beneath my hands.

"Sera!" he shouted. "Don't!"

I turned my head. "Don't what?"

"Don't use your voice.