Chapter 34 You Wet Yourself?
Ryan turned.
Marcus was holding one wolf off with his left hand while his knife remained buried in its neck. Another had fastened onto his leg.
A third came around the struggle and leaped for his throat.
Marcus saw the open jaws and knew he couldn’t stop them.
Then silver flashed across his vision.
A grilling fork struck the wolf through the eye. Its head snapped aside, its jaws missing his throat by inches, and it crashed to the ground.
Ryan arrived a heartbeat later.
He kicked the wolf gripping Marcus’s leg. It flew several feet, hit the dirt, and writhed without rising. Its spine was broken.
Marcus dragged in a breath. With his remaining strength, he shoved the animal he’d stabbed away and collapsed, gasping.
Ryan pulled his thrown fork free.
Only then did Marcus fully understand what had happened. Another second and those jaws would have closed around his neck.
Ryan had saved him.
Without a word, Ryan pushed the crossbow within reach and turned back toward the pack.
The surviving wolves hung back. They still growled, but they retreated whenever he stepped closer.
He quickened his pace.
The large male turned and ran.
Before it reached the trees, Ryan threw a fork. The steel struck the back of its neck, bringing it down.
It tried to rise. Ryan reached it first and drove the second fork through its eye.
The animal went still.
The remaining wolves scattered into the forest. Within moments, the darkness had swallowed them.
Ryan retrieved his weapons, caught the dead leader by the tail, and dragged it back to camp.
“Everyone all right?”
No one answered immediately.
They stared at his bare torso, the blood, the old scars beneath it. What they’d seen seemed impossible: one man moving through a pack of wolves, killing with ordinary grilling forks, striking from a distance with unerring accuracy.
It belonged in a movie.
But the blood was real. So was the death they’d narrowly escaped.
“Ryan!”
Chloe hurried to him, her eyes red.
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
She scanned his body.
“These scars…”
“Old injuries.” He wiped blood from one. “A couple of scratches tonight. Nothing serious.”
She looked at the long, deep marks and tried not to imagine what had caused them.
At least he was safe now.
“But the wolf bit your shoulder. I saw it.”
He turned so she could look. There were red marks, but no broken skin.
“Mostly caught my shirt. That’s why it tore.”
She frowned. She could have sworn it had bitten down on him.
Still, he was standing in front of her unharmed. For the moment, that was enough.
She bit her lip and looked at him with such tenderness that he cleared his throat.
“I should check Marcus. He was bitten.”
The others followed him. Seeing the blood soaking Marcus’s calf brought home how close they’d come, and how much they owed Ryan.
Megan’s gaze moved past him to Jason, still on the ground.
She stared.
“Jason. Why are your pants wet?”
Then realization crossed her face.
“Did you pee yourself?”