Chapter 2 How Werewolves Deal With An Ambush

"Run?" I repeated, because my brain was still buffering. "Run where?!"

Neither Kieran nor Rowan answered. Kieran grabbed my wrist, Rowan grabbed my other arm, and suddenly I was being yanked between two of them and we were sprinting like track stars on steroids.

"Wait! What the hell is happening?!" I half-screamed, half-wheezed, my bare feet slapping against damp earth as I tried desperately to keep up with them. "Wait, what was that howl? Who the hell was that? Oh my God, what's happening?"

I had died, died by the hands of a Dorito chip of all things, and woken up in this medieval nightmare hellscape, and now now I was being chased down to my death by a bloodthirsty God knows what.

"Quiet," Kieran snapped without looking back.

"Quiet?!" I tripped over a root, barely caught myself. "You can't just drop me into the middle of Twilight but with rabies and tell me to be quiet!"

Rowan shot Kieran a glare over my head. "You're scaring her."

"She should be scared, fear will keep her moving and keep her alive." Kieran said.

I yanked my arms back and stopped dead. "Okay, no. Timeout. I'm not moving until someone tells me what the hell is going on. One second I'm eating chips and talking with my sister and my friend on video, the next I'm in this... furry fever dream!"

They both turned to stare at me like I'd been hit over the head and had started speaking dolphin.

Rowan stepped closer, voice low. "That howl means another pack is on our land."

Kieran's jaw tightened. "They're hunting."

"Hunting what?" My voice cracked.

Both pairs of eyes landed on me.

"Oh, hell no." My pulse kicked up. "Nope, not me. I'm not edible in the least, I only ever eat chips and drink coffee. No nutritional quality in that."

Kieran's nostrils flared slightly, which was unsettling on a whole new level. I was watching a werewolf sniff the air for scents in real life, if only Lila was here to see this.

"They'll smell you from miles away."

I stared at him. "You mean the me who doesn't actually belong here and is just visiting from a universe where you're fictional? I'm serious about that by the way, I'm not crazy."

Rowan had just opened his mouth to ask something, maybe to ask for the millionth time if I was feeling okay, when another howl cut through the night, closer this time. The hair on my neck stood up as I felt biblical levels of fear for my life.

He grabbed my hand. "We're wasting time, we have to go."

And just like that, we were moving again. I did my best to stumble along, muttering curses under my breath. "This is insane. Absolutely insane. I'm not the girl from the book. She's probably still alive in my world, doing whatever innocent little woodland creature things she does, and I'm here ruining her plotline!"

"For Luna's sake, what are you talking about?" Rowan asked.

"Nothing!"

Branches whipped at my face as we tore through the forest. My lungs burned, my legs ached, and my brain was stuck on an endless loop of What about Dani? and Oh God, my econ paper! and What kind of afterlife even was this?

We broke into a small clearing where the moonlight spiled over mossy rocks. Kieran stopped suddenly, sniffing the air.

"They're gaining on us," he said.

Rowan's grip on me tightened. "We can make the ridge before they cut us off."

"What happens if they cut us off?" I asked, already regretting that question.

Neither of them answered, instead they just started moving again, faster this time, until my foot hit something slick, my legs flew out from under me, and I hit the ground hard, pain shooting up my spine.

Kieran was there in a heartbeat, hauling me up like I weighed nothing. "Watch your step."

"Watch my-" I cut myself off before telling him exactly where he could shove his advice. My throat was raw, my hair was sticking to my face, and the air smelled like pine and something metallic underneath, like blood.

Rowan moved ahead, scanning the trees. His shoulders went tense. "They're here."

I froze. "How can you tell..."

One shape moved at the edge of the clearing, another from the left, then another from the right, each having glowing yellow eyes that blinked at me from the shadows.

"Is that a..." My words died when the first one stepped into the light.

It was huge, much bigger than the Great Dane I had as a kid and twice the size of any normal wolf, fur dark as the trees, with long sharp teeth that bared in an ominous snarl. The air seemed to vibrate with the sound.

A real life shifted werewolf.

"Fuck me," I whispered. "That's definitely not in the book."

Two more appeared beside it, flanking like a bizarre soldier formation as my heart tried to climb out of my throat and leave me there.

Kieran shifted his stance. "Stay behind me."

Rowan didn't move back. "We can't fight all of them."

"I'm not running again," Kieran said.

"You'll get her killed."

"She's mine to protect."

"Oh, for the love of..." I stepped between them, hands up. "Can we not do the testosterone showdown right now? Maybe we just... negotiate? What if we offered them a gift basket?"

The wolves growled in unison. Not a fan of gift baskets, apparently.

Then the one in front lunged at me faster than I could register. Thankfully Rowan shoved me sideways out of its way, and I hit the ground just as Kieran slammed into the wolf mid-air, creating a sound I can only describe as a sickening mix of snarls and bones breaking.

Another wolf came at me, and this time my body moved on pure panic, scrambling backwards until my hands hit rocks. I grabbed the first thing I could, some kind of broken branch, and swung wildly at it.

It connected with a small thud. The wolf yelped, more surprised than hurt, and backed off a step. My arms shook so hard I nearly dropped the branch.

Rowan was suddenly there, yanking me to my feet. "Run!"

He didn't have to tell me twice, the sound of paws pounding the earth behind us was a hell of a motivator, it was escape or die.

We crested the ridge, and I stopped dead, below us was a sheer drop into blackness and certain death.

"Please tell me there's a bridge," I panted.

"There's no bridge," Rowan said.

The growls were getting closer.

Kieran appeared at my side, blood on his shirt. "Jump."

I stared at him. "Are you insane? Jump over that?!"

"Trust me. I'll keep you safe," he said.

Another howl split the night, closer than ever.

Rowan took my hand. "Choose. Now."